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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.
no subject
Reminds me of a friend and her dead stares. Very useful, a strong dead stare.
( With the cloak gone, she rubs at one shoulder with her hand, exhaling in apparent relief. )
Think I'll run without the dress—more of a leggings person, myself.
( Tossing a glance toward where the clerk had disappeared to, adding: )
Feel like nabbing the one you're looking at and paying the more sensible clerk in a two-person escape plan?
( Easy offer of finite companionship, as easily taken as left behind. Leave the clerk without her clientele to dress as various fall vegetable crops. )
no subject
[Especially when it comes to men. It makes them very uncomfortable, no matter where they come from.]
It is easier to run outside of a skirt, but sometimes a girl likes to feel pretty. A dress is useful for that. We can't always fight.
[And, well, if you can't fight in a skirt, what fun is it, really?]
If you're ready to run, we can just leave. There's nothing here that I can't just come back for when she's not here.
no subject
( she says, allowing herself something of a short laugh. It's not a shared perspective on what's worn, but on having more than fighting in life, she's always agreed. in fact would prefer far less fighting, hence the use of more diplomatic means where she could.
not terribly relevant here, and so she nods her head toward the doors. )
Ready to run, see if there's anything more weather appropriate and less opinionated elsewhere in town. Is most this place run by, er... I'm honestly not even sure what to call the variety of peoples here.
( heading for the exit now, and at a loss, because spirits is certainly not the word to describe most of them, from where she stands in understanding spirits (or demons, as it were). )
no subject
I've found that men are more likely to underestimate a woman in a skirt because they think we'll default to modesty. Personally, I like living over propriety.
[Natasha returns the dress, but she notes it and the black one not that far away as she takes a step back casually.]
My friend Steve calls them spirit folk. They remind me of characters from folklore on our world, but seeing as he's been here for a while, I'll default to that.
no subject
Nice hearing some things are familiar enough constants between worlds. Being underestimated, classic mistake.
( Steve? Just a name, but it means another person who this one's familiar with, so there's at least people more familiar with each other being fished out by the Fox. Not surprising, given the Fox's very loosely stated goal for all of them. One more thing to know, however. )
Spirit folk will work, different as they are from the folk I know and have met who are spirits. Then again, I suppose that's what we all are in a sense at the moment, or partial... spirits? Whatever we count as here.
( The freedom! Outside in what feels like a fairly decent fall day, more of the unfamiliar shops lining the road. More people, largely spirit folks... or was there much of a difference? Given the additions people had claimed were new from here, it's difficult for her to say. )
no subject
There's always someone underestimating those they see as lesser. It's a human failing that they can't escape.
[Steve is of the upright and moral kind, so at least she knows that she can trust what he tells her to be the truth.]
I'm still not quite sure what I would categorize this entire place. Hallucinogenic fever dream seems the most fitting, so spirit folk is as good as anything else.
[The second they're out of the shop and away from overenthusiastic shopkeepers, she takes a deep breath and looks around.]
We shouldn't linger if we don't want them to hunt us down.
dives back in, please feel free to drop if feels too late!
... look, sometimes we have exes, and sometimes we're on the grim path of not letting Bad Decision Makers continue making Bad Decisions on flawed principles and the hope that somehow, this time, mass murder or destruction will lead to different, better results. It won't. )
Not just human, trust me on that one.
( A slight nod of her head, to emphasise her ears. Human, Elven, Dwarven, Qunari, probably even the Titans. Darkspawn... large cave spiders... wyverns... poorly placed irate dragons... )
Hm? Yes, right enough about that. This looks like a good direction to lead our Fox-granted hallucination, and I'm not only saying that because it smells more like cooking and looks less like people carrying bundles out stores with bemused expressions on their faces.
( That said, she really does strike out toward what ends up being a mostly small eatery and street stall sort of area, catering more toward an idea of autumn appropriate fare, including one storefront with a cheerful, large sign declaring the arrival of: Pumpkin Spice Mead.
Not even a latte.
Just straight up mead. )
So is this a whole, we added spice to the mead along with the squash, you think, or is there some form of squash that is used as a spice?
( She's mostly joking. Also amused, as she's never seen a storefront painted to advertise its mead before. )
no subject
At the other woman's comment, she can't help but snort.]
Trust me, I've learned it. Demi-gods are just as bad.
[She laughs at the woman's comment about cooking versus clothing.]
It reminds me of fall in the United States. It smells like... Thanksgiving.
[And then she spots the sign and groans.]
It's a marking trend. They use the spices for pumpkin pie, but not the actual pumpkin, in everything: coffee, creamers, cakes, cookies, candles. It's considered very middle class white woman. I've had actual mead and I wouldn't put that crap in it.
no subject
The United States, would that be your country? Or more like a city?
( The framing of the words would imply to her something more like a connected Free Marches, but it's hard for her to say, and she's not inclined to guess too hard unless she must. )
Thanksgiving must be some kind of feasting celebration if all this is smelling of it.
( Then there's all this information that's given after a groan, Ellana's brows raising slowly over the entirety of it. )
I mean, I've had decent spiced mead, but it's had nothing to do with pumpkins or pies. Is the actual pie worthwhile? Or is that also part of this middle class white woman trend?
( Guessing entirely at what that means, and being approximately 23% right, but who needs full accuracy when it's clearly a trend. )
no subject
The United States of America is a country. It's colloquially called "America", even in other countries. And Thanksgiving is a federal holiday for that country that is filled with pumpkin pies, turkey, stuffing and a lot of eating.
[Not that she minded it as a child. Those three years in Ohio were the nicest break she and Yelena had spent before being ripped from their lives and sent back to training.]
There's nothing wrong with spiced mead, but pumpkin spice? I just can't see it working out well. As for the pies, they're pretty tasty. They're best part of Thanksgiving, in my opinion.
[Natasha doesn't really like the whole "pumpkin spice" trend, but give her a pumpkin pie any day.]
no subject
( said good naturedly enough. they had their own, for sure, and then the inquisition had its share of them. more reactionary and celebratory after the first, congratulations, skyhold can host visitors without having the ceiling try to collapse on them for extra party theatrics, but still. )
Think we can find any of those around here, or only the horrors of pumpkin spice drinks?
( seeing another sign on the street, she adds: )
Or baked goods. And everything else you mentioned before, apparently.
no subject
[Well, as a child, when she had a family of sorts. And the one time that Clint made her come to his house with his wife and children for the holiday. However, as an adult, she hasn't had a lot of opportunity to really enjoy it. Western holidays always seemed so much better than those she had back as a child in Russia. ]
Oh, I'm sure that any bakery worth their weight in salt will have pies, cookies, cakes and bread full of pumpkin. And none of those are even bad. I ran into a friend from home who has been here a while and he's said that one of his new friends has a bakery. How about we go there to see exactly what's on display?
[She gives her a slightly more sincere smile.]
I'm sure we'll even find some pumpkin spice coffee, if you're really interested in trying it out.
no subject
I've had masochistic tendencies, I may be tempted. So yes, if you'd be so kind as to guide us toward the bakery of your friend's friend, I'd be happy to try any of the pumpkin baked goods that might be on display. Have to start spending these, er, spoons sometime!
( Patting at the one currently tucked under the scarf around her neck, until she can pluck it out and tug it sideways on its string. The fact this is how a whole magical currency system operates... is hilarious, really. Efficient too! In its own manner. )
I think this is a good place to end?
Like I said, it's not that bad. It's just... everywhere as soon as autumn starts to creep up. Nothing like the tail end of an overly hot summer and people are trying to shove a pumpkin spice latte in your face.
[Natasha's not the type to take another person's arm, but she does head over to where Steve told her the bakery is located.]
sounds excellent to me!