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Entry tags:
August 2022 Test Drive Meme
AUGUST 2022 TDM
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.
All TDMs are game canon. You can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Each TDM will provide a scenario for how characters arrive in-game that particular month.
Playing TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.
Current players are allowed to have in-game characters react to TDMs via the Network or make a log with the prompts. Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Content Warnings: snakes, cultists, optional violence.
FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE
FALLING DOWN LIKE PIECES INTO PLACE
A breeze with the crisp smell of dying leaves caresses you awake. You sit up to find yourself in the middle of an apple orchard, rows spreading out in all directions. Mouth watering apples hang from the branches, and nobody will stop you from taking one. You can wander the orchard as long as you like, but eventually you will find yourself emerging into the front yard of a little farm. There’s a red barn with perfect white trim set far back, and to one side of the yard is a kiosk modeled to match the barn. This is staffed by a woman who sure looks a lot like the fox that brought you here.
On the side of the kiosk are advertised a few different items: pumpkin spice lattes, hot apple cider, cold alcoholic apple cider, and hot chocolate. The cider, you will be informed, is made on site. (But you have to be of legal age to be given that hard cider!)
There are two other things advertised: APPLE PICKING and a SCAVENGER HUNT.
“You need a buddy for those, though,” the woman running the kiosk will tell you. “Lucky for you there’s plenty of people you can pair up with.”
If you elect to try the scavenger hunt, you and your partner will be handed a piece of paper. On it reads the following:
TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FOLLOWING ON YOUR RELIC! :)
- YOU HOLDING HANDS WHILE YOU GO DOWN A PATH
- FEET WITH AUTUMN LEAVES
- SOMETHING YOU THINK IS TRULY BEAUTIFUL
- A GENUINE SMILE
“When you’re done, bring it back here and show me,” the woman instructs you. “You’ll get a prize if you do.”
It’s an easy enough list, right? Although you have to follow the instructions - you really DO have to find something you genuinely think is beautiful, and that smile can’t be forced! Those might require opening up to your partner a little bit!
If you succeed in the scavenger hunt, you will be gifted with an item from home.
Now, what if you decided to go apple picking?
You will be given a bucket. “Be careful to only pick apples from the trees in the rows,” the kiosk woman tells you with a secret smile. “You don’t want to bother the old trees off the path.”
Yeah. That sure sounds like a challenge, doesn’t it?
If you do stick to the orchard proper, you will be able to pick your fill of apples. All of them are crisp and sweet and delicious. But at some point you will see the other trees.
They’re both huge and old, standing on two sloping hills just past the orchard rows. One of them has apples red as blood, and the other apples gold as the sun. In the shade of these trees are weapons sticking half out of the earth, as if they were carelessly buried many years ago.
If you pick one of the red apples, you will find that you are suddenly besieged with huge snakes. They are as big as anacondas and an inky black that absorbs the light, with eyes the same red as the apples. They aren’t poisonous, but they bite and they crush, so you’ll have to fight them off at least long enough to run like hell!
If you pick the golden apples, a crowd of people will silently begin appearing from the orchard. They are all wearing animal masks… and they are all holding hand scythes. Uh oh. You’ll have to fight them off in order to escape! If you don’t manage that, well, in some places it’s traditional to have a big ol’ sacrificial bonfire…
All the weapons below the trees are non-enchanted items, but you may keep them.
Content Warnings: Optional themes of identity and school trauma.
IMAKEOVER MAKEOVER
SAVED BY THE BELL
IMAKEOVER MAKEOVER
Thirteen believes passionately in education. There are, after all, five academies in Folkmore all catering to different types of learning. While these academies are open year round, it becomes apparent if you walk through any of the districts housing shops that back to school is definitely a thing.
A new school year represents a chance to learn more about the world, and about yourself.
Also? It’s a great time for a makeover!
Yes, step into any of the shops selling clothing and accessories anywhere in Folkmore and you will find yourself passionately invested in helping another person discover who it is they want to look like! Do they want to look cool and aloof? Warm and approachable? Are they an e-boy or a cottagcore witch? Punk or prep? You two can figure it out together!
As you shop together you will find it easier and easier to open up to one another, sharing who it is you want to be.
You’ll also be able to score a sweet outfit. Nice.
SAVED BY THE BELL
Wander into any school in Folkmore and you will find a handmade poster instructing all new students and faculty to report to the auditorium. Normal enough, one supposes… but the moment you enter the room you will find reality swims all around you and all of a sudden you’re stuck in a school nightmare!
You know the kind. You’re late for class, no matter how fast you run. You’re in gym class, trying to climb that goddamn rope. You’re getting your books dumped. You’re naked and giving a book report.
These could be memories, but it’s just as likely that they aren’t - you and another person are just trapped in this cliche together. Whichever one of you is in the audience role could maybe help the other one out? Get them some pants or something? Yeah.
I'm sorry for missing this, I didn't get the notification!
and she smiles shyly. Alistair always makes her do that]
I certainly hope so! It's to be...quite the event. A prodigal king's wedding should be.
[and it should be a show of strength because she knew that other countries would try to test the previously unknown king]
I suppose a day can seem like a year? Or a year can be over in as much time it takes to snap one's fingers. Though, to be honest, it's felt rather slow with brief snaps of misfortune or trials. Those tend to make the day go by a little more quickly, but we're fortunate that they don't last forever. [and she frowns a little] And unfortunate that they have a way of slipping into our minds and pulling out what makes us vulnerable. And I'd imagine it's useless trying to understand the mind of such a being, even more attempting to determine which was first.
no apologies needed! been busy on my end
... in all truth, aren't they parts of their greater wholes being told to become something More (or Less, who's to say?) in this place? Memory may be more malleable than she realises. )
Oh, you'd be surprised how easy gods can be to understand, even by simply being mystifying.
( Said a touch dryly, but with the sort of second late grin that lets it be a joke. Coming from an elf, she's banking on anyone of strict Andrastian faith simply taking her as a heathen. Easy to hate, easy to forgive from a patronising standpoint. )
Met much of anyone from Thedas here already? Or do you have the dubious pleasure of being the forerunner?
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Mariane worries that her potential is to become even more ruthless than the Blight forced her to become. but that's not what she wants]
I suppose so. Though, my faith has been tested by everything which happened. Andraste may be kind when she wants to be, but no one can force kindness out of a god.
[after all, wouldn't a benevolent force intervene, stop her family from being slaughtered?]
I am the forerunner. There is someone here who knew a Grey Warden from another world, but when I brought up the Blight and the civil war, he didn't seem to know what I was speaking of. So perhaps he was from the past, perhaps he was from the future. He truly didn't know.
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( the sheer amount of history that's cropped up again over the years and demanded relevancy... then again, she did date part of that history, long before his mask was pulled down. more fool's me.
at least outside the store it's simply a nice autumn day, with an even, light breeze and sunlight reaching them through trees turning colours and surrendering their leaves as they did. )
Grey Wardens have existed for hundreds of years, and still did last I knew, though I believe they were all called back to Weisshaupt in the last year or so. What do you mean, though, that a person here know a Warden from another world?
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[she and Alistair, they had such ambitions. to renovate and empower the alienages, so that city elves had a say, to give the Dalish a place they could find home and give them a voice in the Landsmeet, to reform the Circle. there had been so much injustice they'd found in their travels, they would stay up until the wee hours discussing what they would change, if they could. then, dreams of what they would do because what use was power if one didn't use it for good?
and it reminds her of fall in Highever. mama and papa hosting festivals, feasts for all to attend. a tradition she wished to revive.
and a bit of alarm showing] Weisshaupt? But what of us with...other duties? Alistair and I, our duty is to Ferelden. Not the Wardens. Not anymore.
And I can only assume he was from the past. Truly, he who spoke of him seemed to know nothing about the Fifth Blight or its trials.
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Again.
There's something of a pattern of that in her life. Who knew after thirty got so exciting? )
There's a whole story of difference that we both know at true, so I'm not sure if what I'd guess means anything to what would be true for you. Alistair is... not in Weisshaupt in... my time, either, but he's also not ruler of Ferelden.
( A small shrug of her shoulders. )
Seems the Fox is reaching into more than one world, which is a whole new interesting headache I'd love to explore sometime. Anyway, what were we saying... Weisshaupt? No idea why, beyond the Wardens needing to recover after the losses suffered in recent years. Just know all the ones I was in touch with went that same way.
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and she laser focuses on one thing, a crease forming between her eyebrows] Alistair is...not in Weisshaupt? [and with greater alarm] And not the king? Where is he? What is he doing? I must know! [hello, Violently Protective Soon to be Bride here.
her dark eyes are intent, like a hawk's]
But. You are from Thedas, correct? As am I. How can it be more than one world when it is only one world? It makes no sense. I don't understand!
((OOC: hoo boy. here we go! ❤))
dives back in, please feel free to drop if feels too late!
Hey, one question at a time, trust me, we get better answers that way. Unless we're Varric, but he invents most his own.
( Or uses his own spy network, but hush. )
I'm from Thedas, yes. 9:44 Dragon. As far as how, I'm not going to pretend to be any expert, but a close friend of mine is versed in time magic. That alone can change whole... ways of events for a world. Create two worlds, not just one. If the Fox can do something like that, take parts of ourselves from our worlds that have all been subtly changed in whatever way, then I can see it. Also feel the impending headache.
( A pause: )
Is there anywhere to get halfway decent alcohol around here?
never too late! also, I'm so sorry about her!
fortunately, no one in Ferelden seems to have figured that out yet.
and if anyone in Orlais does, she'll kill them]
...you didn't answer my question. Where. Is. Alistair?
hahaha there's no way she'll like this answer
( By choice and sacrifice, and not one made easily or willingly on Ellana's part. Between Alistair and Hawke, the warden who'd been fighting to uncover what was perverting his group's intentions to the woman likewise fighting to understand the same, for the sake her a family history, for her brother's sake...
It had been Alistair who fought Nightmare, yet again reformed, to buy her and Hawke time to escape. Alistair and Hawke, both demanding to be the one more likely to die.
There had been no winning. There had been no time. )
... and remained physically on the dreamer's side of the Veil.
( His death not guaranteed... but probable, yes. )
ooooh, shit. Countdown to homicidal in 1/3
2/3
3/3. and I'm SO SORRY about her!
she wants blood and she wants it now.
even as the thought of Alistair being left behind in the Fade makes it feel like someone's squeezing her heart with a hand of ice.
not someone. this woman before her. she did it.
the world's flattest and most deadly cold]....what.
[followed by a heated] How dare you. How dare you! Why didn't you stay? Why didn't you help? He deserves better than that!
hahaha, look, a human woman in a position of power mad at her, must be Thursday
Ellana breathes in, more resigned to it than anything else. Finding a trail leading to interesting, not strictly helpful answers in the process, but there's only so much to follow.
For Alistair to be king, for this woman to not be Anora, means she's a Ferelden noble. For her to be so closely tied by speech and emotion to the Grey Wardens indicates she must have been one, but the survivors of those in that order were few.
And the possiblity that occurs means she's telling one woman shoved into an impossible situation that she survived against incredible odds that... what? Things worked out differently in another world? That at least neither of theirs were overcome by Corypheus, and don't worry, she's working on her forever lover's terrible decision making process from being interrupted so he can stop chewing off his leg desperate to escape to an imagined paradise where only the best of a select number would ever be Real?
That she does feel at fault for Alistair, and hundreds, thousands more?
No, no, this is grief, and while it's not strictly warranted, it's also not rational. )
If it were something I could have prevented, I would have.
( said calmly, said with sympathy, and without backing down.
because if she's right, in another world, this woman was the Warden Commander of Ferelden, and the hero who stopped the fifth blight. With Alistair by her side. )
well, he is her ESA: Emotional Support Alistair. also (CW: mental illness)
that horrible, endless, Maker-forsaken year.
when she had the weight of all of Thedas on her shoulders.
if she was his something beautiful in all of the darkness, he was her candle.
a reminder that despite all of the pain and horror and misery that there were things--people--worth fighting for.
and she still considered it a miracle that he could love someone as fundamentally broken in mind and spirit as she was.
he seemed to have an uncanny way of knowing when her mind was about to be consumed by despair.
he'd smile and make a terrible joke and there he was. light in the darkness.
she genuinely can't comprehend a world without Alistair alive and well.
through gritted teeth and tears] ...why. Who. I'm going to kill them.
poor woman, but hey, he's fine!!! back home for her at least
I already have.
( Not alone, and never really alone; but handled. )
Take assurance, your Alistair is safe. There's no chance that as king he'll be involved with what happened.
( She doesn't want to linger over wondering who will, and doesn't know if she'll ever know, but... two truths, at least. Two true worlds, and a third, the one Leliana had told Dorian so cuttingly was real for every person who had died within it.
Including, she sighs to herself, Solas. What Pride has wrought indeed. )
guess who wants to go home and smooch the ever-loving daylights out of her Alistair?
and it still does.
that and a still finely-tuned sense of revenge
emphatically and still crying] Who. Did it hurt? I want it to have hurt. [the memory of Rendon Howe's blood slick on her hands as she killed him by inches forces itself into her mind.
at the mention of her Alistair, she closes her eyes, tips her head back, and lets the tears flow while she murmured "my Alistair. my Alistair" repeatedly, trying to reassure herself.
after about five minutes of murmuring to herself, she brings her head down, dark eyes sharp despite the tears] Why will my Alistair stay safe?
clearly anora (no)
( you know, when the Golden City turned Black and the Maker supposedly turned his back on the world. getting into the theology of it all when she's already in the grips of dealing with her lifetime and culture's theology getting tossed out the window. )
Because the King of Ferelden can't walk off to Orlais following a false calling. I may not be nobility, but it's in my general understanding that it's unwise for any leader to go missing without word.
( tempting as it might be, time to time, if one could truly ever walk away and not simply walk another path forward. )
very much no! D:
[her faith was broken after her family (except Fergus) was slaughtered. she'll pay lip service to the Maker because everyone else seems to think it's a big deal, but her?
she believes in herself. her companions. Alistair, of course.
everyone else? not so much]
...a false Calling? Was the same magister responsible for that as well?
[and if so, how many times can he die because she wants to personally see to at least twenty times]
no subject
( Not that all of them were necessarily alive, or freed, or doing much of anything, but she's earned some pessimism on the subject. After all, the Old Gods keep cropping up, why not the magisters credited with bringing the Blights into being?
the elven pantheon wasn't quite as godly or quite as dead as it seemed, lyrium came from titans underground, and she's met so many elves who are so much older than the many human societies she's more and more ready to believe just about everything.
(so when will the other half of what Solas walked with come creeping forward again, or have they not, the whole time? questions, questions. let's stop the veil from crashing down first.) )
He was, through his work with the Fade... creature, Nightmare. A manipulation of the connection the taint creates between all those with it, but on that, you'd know more than I do, I suspect.
no subject
maybe given their ties to Darkspawn, she'd be able to find them and kill them herself? an errand on the way, although she already knew that she'd need to provide an heir. which meant that one of them had to stop being a Grey Warden.
both, if she was being honest. this idea of a false Calling rattled her nerves and she would not be parted from Alistair until they were both old and grey. which meant they would have to become "ordinary" humans once more.
and the notion of all of it makes her blood run cold and her temper run hot. but not directed at this woman, not anymore] I see. We can sense them, but they can sense us as well. If anyone could manipulate the bond between us, the Darkspawn, and tie us in with such a creature, they'd be very dangerous indeed.
no subject
It is... but it's not unmangeable, when one is aware. The problem being that secrets failing to stay secret, or their meanings distorting over time, can lead to the kinds of confusions where ancient corrupted Magisters escape ancient Warden prisons and end up trying to recreate a Tevinter Imperium that never properly could be what it once was.
( are you listening out there, Solas, does this sound at all familiar to you, hoodlum terror. )
The First Warden and the rest are dealing with it in some manner, but I'm not well informed as to their specifics. Not even Hawke of Kirkwall is, from what Viscount Varric last told me.
(CW: mental illness)
[and she fears that the answer is "not very possible," meaning an incredibly powerful Darkspawn/Magister with a poor grasp of sanity was out there somewhere, even during her time]
...Hawke? Varric? May I ask how long has it been between the settling of the Fifth Blight and when you're from?
no subject
( not bothering with the month; that's not what this woman is grappling with. )
The Fifth Blight ended in 9.31 Dragon.
( no comment on retained sanity in very, very old beings. it's a shifting, and at times too personal, mark. )
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...Maker's breath. [in a rush] But at least there's time to plan. Time to prepare. I must return to being my whole self to warn Alistair and the Ferelden Wardens at Vigil's Keep. We must know. We must be taken in confidence.
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(CW: mental illness)
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