August 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

AUGUST 2022 TDM

INTRODUCTION

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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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

Summer Is Over

Content Warnings: snakes, cultists, optional violence.

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.

Plaid Shirt Days and Nights

Content Warnings: Optional themes of identity and school trauma.

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.

Comments

[dreamsofwings]

[ True to his word (about this, anyway), Eren isn't standoffish about Tighnari moving closer. Eren's got a full foot in height on him, so he has to lean down, but that's fine.

He watches intently as Tighnari navigates through the process. Gideon had shown Eren some of how to use the Relic, but he hadn't even considered that you could take pictures that stay. He's fascinated by it. ]

I think I get it.

[ He takes out his own Relic and slowly repeats the process. His picture is a little off-centre, but it's not exactly rocket science to take one. ]

They just stay like this forever? Inside this…Relic thing?

[ WHAT. ]

[forestwatcher]

[Tighnari himself goes up on his toes a little to watch what Eren is doing as he goes through the same process he had just been shown. A good pupil. How satisfying. He smiles a little to himself and then chuckles softly at the question.]

I can't say anything as to the longevity of the data - I've barely just arrived myself. But it does seem to have a large amount of space available for these images.

[He expects that video recordings and other things might be able to be saved as well, but he hasn't spent that much time delving into the workings of these devices just yet. His tail swishes lightly behind him.]

If you think you have the hang of it already, then we can make a start with this scavenger hunt.

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren at least glances at Tighnari as confirmation that he's doing it right. In the end, taking a picture isn't that hard. Someday someone will have to teach him to take one that doesn't suck, but baby steps. ]

That's incredible…

[ He's not very expressive with his tone these days, but he does absolutely mean it. This technology is so beyond him. He barely understands what a printed photograph is, and sure as hell doesn't know how it works. The digital ones might as well be magic. ]

Okay. So we just have to hold hands for the first one, right?

[ He offers a hand easily enough. Really, he likes casual touch. Or at least he missed having it, so holding hands seems like an easy ask. Knowing this place, it could have been something weird instead. ]

[forestwatcher]

Mhm, seems like that's it.

[Tighnari moves to offer his hand in turn, then pauses and draws it back. He looks speculatively at the gloves he's wearing, then puffs out a sigh.]

Well, I suppose now I've thought of it it might affect the results. [And then he quickly takes one off. The hand inside is slender and pale, uncalloused but with a few coloured stains dotting the fingers. He smiles and then with his glove clasped in his other hand he grips hold of Eren's outstretched one.]

Do you want to take the picture? Call it practice.

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren's own hand is proportionately large. He's tall and strong, though he's not really overly tall or strong, not in regular human form. But he has no calluses, no scars, nothing. He might as well have a baby's hand. All of him is like that, thanks to his titan powers healing anything that might have happened to him.

He glances curiously at the stains on Tighnari's fingers, but doesn't ask about them yet. He just lets their hands slot together. ]

Okay.

[ It takes him a little to get it aimed right and the app focused with one hand. He's just started, after all. He takes two of them, though then he's not entirely sure how to pick one or anything else.

He offers the Relic to Tighnari. ]

Are those okay?

[ They're off-centre but maybe that's just artistic choice (it isn't). ]

[forestwatcher]

[Tighnari easily slides into the tutor role in many scenarios and this is no different to how he might guide someone through how to tell two similar-looking mushrooms apart or how to put together an effective patrol route. He watches patiently while Eren tries to aim the camera, and gently slips his hand free once the photos are taken. There's no rush to put his glove back on, so he takes a look at the images.]

They look just fine to me.

[Nothing in the notes said they had to be professional shots, and with one hand Tighnari probably couldn't have done much better.]

What was the next thing?

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren doesn't make any effort to keep hold of Tighnari's hand; once they've got the picture there isn't much point. As long as it's passable for this scavenger hunt, he's satisfied. Will he ever have an actual eye for photography? Who knows.

He looks at the list again. ]

Feet with autumn leaves. Do you think it means bare feet?

[forestwatcher]

It might... but shoes should do just as well?

['Feet' is really a matter of interpretation here, and Tighnari isn't sure how much their thoughts of what the prompts might mean could influence the outcome.]

Though if it doesn't bother you, I have no objections to taking my boots off.

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren just shrugs. He's not sure how to interpret it, but "feet" seems safe enough to do barefoot. ]

I don't care about taking my shoes off. Might as well.

[ He's spent a good deal of time barefoot, having lost shoes when he's lost limbs or whatever IT'S FINE. So he toes his feet out of his boots. Socks take more work but not much. The leaves are crisp under them. ]

You wanna take this one?

[forestwatcher]

[Tighnari loosens his laces and pulls his own boots off, then the socks. While something vaguely non-human could be forgiven for being expected, his feet are incredibly human-looking.

He wiggles his toes against the leaves and grass.]

Ah? Sure, why not. [He moves up close to Eren's side and points the camera down at their feet, snapping a photo of their feet side by side.]

What do you think?