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Entry tags:
September 2022 Test Drive Meme
SEPTEMBER 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: mood-altering substances.
What a Wonderful Harvest
"TRICK."
"TREAT."
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.
Content Warnings: aggressive dogs, decapitated spectres, potential violence.
GET AHEAD
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!
no subject
Hopefully that's just it in terms of similarities, otherwise Sylvain might need to go find a quiet spot and scream for a second. Like if the guy, Belos, talked about how he invaded some random country to try to impose his version of order onto those random people who fucking didn't ask for it? Sylvain would need to take a second to scream.]
Of course, Your Majesty. [Winkwonk it's just a nice moment of respect between the two of them before they embrace the level playing field. Or something. Fortunately the gloves hide the whiteknuckling grip Sylvain's got around his mug of something-or-another.]
This land definitely has us all at a disadvantage. But I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity, in some respects. Am I succeeding? Not sure yet, but I'm trying.
[This would be easier if this guy was a duke or something less...that. Then Sylvain could say, "Oh, this is just yet another noble with a stick up his ass, I went to school with a bunch of nobles and some of them were related to other nobles who had fancy titles and sticks up their asses. I can handle this."]
no subject
Mind, it was to serve an end, but... ]
How positive, of you! [ He said, his tone sounded delighted. ] I cannot say that I've had much opportunity with new realms. Once, I did visit the Human Realm -- it was quite lovely, compared to my own home, but there was no...opportunity to be found, other than longing for such a calm, serene world.
[ And boy, did he long for the forests of Gravesfield, to know that his work was done, that there was a title to be had. ]
I suppose with time, this land will be...quite the adventure, yes? It seems...quite magical, at the very least.
[ He'd dominated one land filled with witches. What was another? ]
no subject
Honestly, I haven't really had a chance to get out of my country. [Sure, he lives on a border and has actually gone over to said other country quite a few times, and has plans for said other country, but right now? Right now they're just two happy guys chilling at a party. Drinking cider. Enjoying each other's company.
So he's just gonna gloss over that part and focus on the xenophobia his Fodlan is known for, because it makes things so much simpler.] It's something that's...discouraged. So all of this is new to me. It's nice knowing guys like you are around, people who've actually done this sort of thing in the past, by the sounds of it.
['Human Realm'? So many questions.]
no subject
If just to eradicate them all from existence.
See? Xenophobia. ]
I will admit, while I've been there before, I've not been able replicate it, so I wouldn't hold me in too high of a regard. [ He says, with mock self-deprecation. He brushed at his robe, dismissively. ]
But I can at least offer some tips, when one arrives in a new land. Perhaps it will give you appropriate direction?
no subject
If you don't mind? I'm pretty sure I could learn a thing or two from your experiences.
[Things like what this guy is like, how far the comparisons go, if he can just ignore Belos and submerge himself into SOL land or have to keep a hand on a sharp pointy object just in case, that sort of thing.
Also because all knowledge is worth having, so he might know something useful.
But also the other stuff.]
no subject
First of all, watch out for oneself. Locals may be friendly, yet we are...odd, and unusual. They may attack you, or they may try to trick you. I've had experience with that one, in particular.
[ He scratched at his face, near that large scar that bifurcated his face.
Okay, so Lilith had punched him in the nose, but... That wasn't important. It was because Witches were a nasty breed. ]
It may sound rather...negative, but I've found that watching ones back is the only way to keep myself safe in another realm.
The second, is learn everything. Voraciously. Consume it. Learn their ways, learn their culture, their powers. It's the only way one can become one with the locals. Otherwise, you're stuck being the odd one out.
[ A shrug. ]
They served me well, once.
no subject
But no one deserved that.]
Good to know. [Common sense, but hey, he's still...processing.] If I may ask, what happened to the one who... [He gestured to Belos' face, and the dramatic scar because damn. No one deserved that.] You know, did that. And if you don't want to talk, I understand.
no subject
This? Ah. It's... a very old wound these days. [ A beat, considering. He would speak truth, he decided, but perhaps not the whole story. ]
The woman who did this escaped. She was mad, because I insulted her and her companion. She broke it, but as you can see... [ A gesture, with his hand, at his nose. ] It never quite set right.
[ An understatement. ]
no subject
[This is the sound of him reaching the wrong conclusion. Sylvain's nodding knowingly, sympathetically, grimacing (a little, in sympathy) as he eyed his nose.] I guess you're lucky that's all you made it out with. Still, I don't envy you for having been in that situation in the first place.
[In the course of getting one's dick wet shit happens, it's rough.]
no subject
Ah, do not fret. I had the last laugh, in the end.
[ He shrugged. ]
They didn't end up getting in my way, and a little broken nose isn't enough to keep me from doing what is important, of course.
no subject
Overcoming obstacles and doing what's necessary to get what you want. I can drink to that.
no subject
Ah, and me without something to drink. [ A lift of his shoulders. It couldn't be helped. ]
May we both overcome any in the future, as well. I think we'll have more encounters like we both had tonight, before we are through.