September 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

SEPTEMBER 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]

GOLD WAS THE COLOUR

Content Warnings: mood-altering substances.

What a Wonderful Harvest

It's harvest season in Folkmore. Apples, squash, potatoes, onions, peaches, sweet corn... all manner of crops are ready to be gathered, and golden fields fall willingly before the scythe. The air has a chill to it that you can mostly ignore in the sun but runs deep when you stand in the shadows.

After arrival you will find yourself out in said fields, maybe a little disoriented but not in any danger. It's peaceful.

In the farmlands you might be able to hear music floating on the wind. Follow it, or just wander by accident, and you'll find yourself coming upon what looks like some kind of costume party: people dressed up in cloth and vegetables - mostly gourds as masks - are singing and dancing around an enormous pole surmounted by the biggest Jack-O-Lantern you've ever seen.

The pumpkin people seem shy, but they won't turn you away if you wish to join their celebration - there are other Star Children like yourself here, and you might feel a little more comfortable with them. At least you can see their real faces. You can drink some apple cider and carve some pumpkins yourself if you like, or help out by husking some corn.

At some point, you will become aware of the fact that the dancers have stopped, and the object they've been dancing around has moved. The Jack-O-Lantern is looking at you.

The pumpkin king leans down, eternally smiling.

"Trick or treat?" he asks you in a deep voice. You'll have to pick one!

"TRICK."

The partygoers all watch you carefully. The lord of the harvest appears to think for a moment, then nods his massive head. One of the veggie dancers approaches you with a tray upon which are five cups of cider.

"Pick your poison," you're told, and you can only hope it's not literal!

Four of the cups of cider will have no effect whatsoever. But the fifth?

That fifth cup of cider makes you feel more social. Less reserved. Downright friendly, even. You want to talk and joke with people even if that isn't normally something you'd do. You might even join the vegetable dancers for a spin, and drag someone else along with you! Your judgment isn't quite impaired, but your inhibitions are definitely lowered. Might be a quick way to make some new friends, though!

"TREAT."

You are offered a large basket, held so that you cannot see inside. After some fumbling, you pull something out. What is it? It's an envelope. Or a cassette tape. Or a photograph. It might be the mixed tape you created for your high school crush, the poem you wrote about your broken heart, the letter you never mailed to your estranged father. It's something personal that is connected to someone from home somehow. As you hold it in your hands, you will feel an irresistible urge to explain it to the person next to you no matter how embarrassing or painful it might be. You can only hope that they aren't a colossal dick about it.

HELL WAS THE JOURNEY

Content Warnings: aggressive dogs, decapitated spectres, potential violence.

GET AHEAD

The sun sets earlier and earlier every day, but that doesn't mean there's suddenly nothing to do! The warm lights of homes all over Folkmore welcome people inside for parties. Of course, the Spirit People of Folkmore are rarely humanoid, so you may find yourself at a dance for frogs or a cocktail party for round fuzzy critters with giant eyes. Regardless of what kind of creatures you wind up partying with, they are excellent hosts!

When food has been had and drinks are flowing, someone suggests a time honoured tradition: the telling of ghost stories.

The guests take turns, spinning tales both familiar and not. One such tale is that of the Horseman and his Hounds.

This, the storyteller insists, is a true tale, and is as follows:

Folkmore is home to many Spirit People, and many other creatures besides. While most of these wish only to live their lives, there are certain powers that Thirteen leaves to their own devices, no doubt for reasons all her own. When the autumn harvests come and the leaves burn with colour and fall to the ground, the dominant spirit of lonely places is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head. Some versions of the story claim the horseman's head is carried before him on the pommel of his saddle, while others say instead the spirit carries a lit Jack-O-Lantern in place of it... and wishes to find a more suitable replacement. No matter the variation, the rest of the legend is the same: in autumn, on lonely roads, unlucky travelers will hear the baying of hounds. Moments later they will see the Horseman upon his stallion, and then the unholy troop will pursue the hapless travelers across hill and valley.

Some tales are told of Star Children fighting off the spectral hounds and challenging the Horseman to a fight, with varying levels of success. All are in agreement, however, that the sure method of survival is to escape over running water. Easy enough in some parts of Folkmore... less so if you happen to be caught out in the desert of Cruel Summer.

All parties must end, and this one does too, which means you now have to make your way home. Not that you're scared or anything, but maybe it's wise to walk with someone else tonight...

Not that it matters. Ultimately you and your companion will find yourself on a lonely stretch of road somewhere, and just as you've managed to convince yourselves that nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen you hear it.

The Hounds.

Turn and you'll see them, dark and sleek, and beyond them their infernal master. Atop a gleaming black stallion, the Horseman is gigantic in height and muffled in a cloak.

Whether you run or stand and fight is entirely up to you. As if to make it more of a fair fight, there are weapons hidden off the road - stumble into a ditch and you might find a rifle or a sword. The Hounds have very sharp teeth but they themselves cannot be injured - if struck they simply turn to black smoke and vanish. The Horseman cannot be killed - he has no head! - but if you fight him to a standstill he will reward you with the gift of something from your homeworld. This can be a weapon or magical item.

If you manage to cross a stream or a river, the spectres will vanish with howling and laughter.

ODDS BODKINS

You're likely to be shaken up after your encounter, so it's relief when you see that there's a bonfire lit not far past the water you've crossed. Perched all around it are a bunch of different owls, many wearing hats. They all swivel their heads to look at you before they hoot and gesture for you to come near. There, set up to one side of the bonfire, is a long low table laden with drinks in many different colours and little cakes and cookies. You always thought owls ate mice, but whooo's to say? Hoo? Get it? On another low table are supplies for patching people up in case your fight with the Horseman got a little intense! The owls don't have hands, but maybe there's a kind stranger nearby who'd be willing to help you? Or maybe you just want to talk to someone who has their head on right!

Comments

Bii | To Catch A Falling Star | Myth

[once_bitten_twice_shy]

..::|| Treat - CW: Suicide, murder, abuse ||::..

For a moment, Bii has to wonder if he's magically gone back in time. The farmlands seem so much like his home, if only for a moment. And he willingly takes it all in for a bit. Sure, it's vastly different to the living situation he was just in with the city lights everywhere. But this... it's just so nostalgic. Even if it stings just a little.

He can hear little pieces of a tune that sound far away, being carried through the fields. He tries to follow the sound only to find people dressed in strange costumes. The music sounds odd, too. And what's with the massive pumpkin with a face in the middle? Bii continues to wander around, his confusion growing. Until he's aware that, all of a sudden, the music has stopped. He looks around. Did that Jack O'Lantern move? It's... looking at him.

Bii gives an unsettled frown. This isn't like any dream he's ever had. Just what is going on?

Trick or treat? it asks him. For a moment he wonders just how he's supposed to answer, when he mentally decides that he definitely doesn't want any tricks (this place is more than enough, thank you). So he inevitably asks for:

"Treat." Though he says it with a sternness he didn't realise he was using, bracing himself for something else bizarre.

He's given a basket, and he hesitantly reaches a hand on, until something round falls into his hand, and his eyes glimmer with recognition before he can even pull it out. It's an orb, the size of one's hand, and Bii can't help but give a dumbfounded stare as he pulls it close.

"My roundlet," of course, this one's not the real deal. He'll discover that later. But he can't help but feel for just a few moments, he's gotten it back. "You know... I gave this to someone I loved..."

The smile on his face turns bittersweet, as the memory flows back.


..::|| Get Ahead ||::..

Bii was walking home. But after those ghost stories, he finds it particularly difficult not to look behind him from time to time, wide-eyed, with his fox ears perked up, trying to take in every sound. Every step is uneasy, but at least it's one step closer to being safe indoors. Then he can sleep off this dread he has. Despite that the storyteller insisted it was true, he tries to push it out of his mind.

"Every storyteller says that, to make it more scary!" he says outloud, almost desperate. Desperate to believe his own words. Desperate to believe he'll get home safely. But he still can't shake this feeling.

And when he hears a howl, he jolts, quick to turn on his heel and look. And his eyes grow even wider, the fear drops his stomach low. The hounds, and the horseman, are there. How can it be? He hesitates for a moment, before turning and dashing as fast as he can.

"I need to find water!"

He runs fast, in his human form, and it's dark, which brings him to the unfortunate mishap of not seeing the sword that trips him. He stumbles to the ground and hisses as he grabs his leg. Is it bleeding? He's not sure. But then one of the dogs launches at him and Bii lets out a scream. Someone please help him! He has no idea what to do!


..::|| Odds Bodkins ||::..

Bii limps into the campsite, and he can't help a sour frown.

Great. More strange beings. At least they're just... owls? Either way, that food looks delicious, and there's even a first aid table. In the bonfire light, he manages to get a better look at his leg and... it does appear to be bleeding. Shoot, he hopes the injury isn't too bad.

Bii hobbles to the table and plops himself on the ground, trying to tear away at his pant leg to get a better look at his leg. And he can't help but sigh. All of the outfits Yoosung bought for him are still at home. And a lot of the clothes in that world were strange enough. He hopes he can find ones similar to hanbok here.

One may find him struggling to keep his torn clothes away from the injury long enough to clean it properly, and Bii is getting a little frustrated. And he has to fight back tears.

"I just want to go home..."

That's what he's wanted since he came out into the modern era. Though what home does he want to return to, now? Geumgang? Yoosung? He's not sure anymore. He's not sure he likes it here, either.