October 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

OCTOBER 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]

SHINING

Content Warnings: Possible insanity via freezing. Temporary nullification of abilities.

COLD AS YOU

You were falling...

The world snaps into place all at once; you are laying on the ground, surrounded on all sides by towering bushes that stretch up towards a beautiful sunset sky. The bushes were clearly flowered at one point, but now the flowers have died and all that remains are browning leaves that are beginning to fall. On the chill air you can sometimes hear the sound of music, too faint to completely determine.

As you stand, you are filled with an intense desire to find someone. You might have an idea of who, but chances are you do not - you just know that somewhere ahead of you is someone that you need to reach. Whether they are friend or lover or enemy remains to be seen.

You wander the maze. If you're the impatient type and you have the ability, you might try to fly out but you will simply be vaulted right back down if you do. Something clearly expects you to play by rules which were never actually explained. As you move through the twisting passages of nature, you will notice that there is a frost creeping along the branches on either side of you. This frost brings a deep chill with it, and it encourages you to move faster, to find that nameless person now now now! If you take a very long time to wander the maze you may very well be on the verge of freezing and half mad with the desire to find someone. If you try to force your way through the bushes, the frost will crawl over your limbs and inspire both the freezing and near madness at once.

When you find your Person, the cold evaporates. The air suddenly feels merely crisp, and the leaves on the bushes seem more vibrant. The two of you now can focus on finding the way out - so much easier now - but any sense of urgency will have passed and you may just walk for hours, talking and sharing things about yourselves.

It is possible to solve the maze alone, but it is much easier (and more pleasant!) with someone else.

KEEP YOUR BRITTLE HEART WARM

When you exit the hedge maze you will find a stunning display of lights: hundreds of candles and lanterns decorate the ground and hang from trees, illuminating a clear path over a gently sloping hill. When you crest the hill you can look down and see a beautiful hot spring sprawled out below. It too is lit up by hundreds of lights, all of them glowing under the late autumn sky as it darkens towards night. There are changing rooms where you can stash your clothes (yes, there are bathing suits for the very shy) and bathing stations to ensure that you are clean before entering.

The water of the springs soothes madness and heals physical injuries or any frostbite that may have been sustained in the maze. It also relaxes you, making you perhaps more likely to open up to anybody else present.

The hot spring is staffed by many mice. They don't speak, but they squeak to one another in such a way that it sounds like they are singing - high lilting chants that seem to promise that everything will be okay. They are happy enough to band together to bring you towels or hot tea. The spring is open 24/7, always with lights to fight the cold and darkness of winter.

HIGH STRANGENESS

Content Warnings: Monster sighting, optional violence.

GLITCH

Folkmore has trains and of course the cat bus, but it also has roads, mostly utilized by horses and bicycles. Maybe you're looking for the convivence store, or maybe you just like walking. However it happens, you find yourself on a lonely road at dusk. It is unusually quiet, almost as if the world is holding its breath.

Suddenly you hear the sound of wings. A man-sized creature soars above you, something with huge red glowing eyes. It drops something at your feet: a walkie-talkie. The creature lands some distance away, staring at you, and a thought arises unbidden in your mind:

Help them.

The walkie crackles and you can hear someone speaking, asking if anyone is there. It is another Star Child, brought into this trial as well. They are in danger somewhere nearby; maybe stuck on the edge of a cliff, or trapped on a rope bridge - whatever it is, they need someone else to help them get to safety. If they have any powers, they have been temporarily nullified, but if the rescuer has powers they remain intact. That's where you come in! Using the walkie you must communicate with one another so that the rescuer can reach the person in trouble in time!

But what if you don't make it in time? Or decide that you're not the hero type? Well. The rescue-ee will suffer a terrible fate... for a few seconds. Then the entire world fuzzes and resets, but this time the roles have been reversed. Both parties will remember what has already happened, so if you just ran off into the woods with no intent of helping the first time you miiiight get your just desserts! This process will repeat over and over, people switching sides every time, until someone is finally rescued or the sun rises. Whichever comes first!

If you do succeed at a rescue, you will hear the rustle of huge wings once more. This time you don't see the mysterious creature, but you will find a mystery trunk. Inside you will each find some of your canon clothes and a canon item. Looks like teamwork is rewarded! Nearby, there will also be some unenchanted weapons sticking out of the ground: basic swords, guns, shields, etc.

BAD OMEN

You don't necessarily have to have completed the rescue trial to get some goodies, though! Those aforementioned weapons are scattered all over Folkmore. But if you just go to grab any of them you'd better be prepared to fight; after all, nothing comes for free!

As soon as you have pulled a weapon out of the ground, a tall, man in a black suit and hat will appear from seemingly nowhere and attack you. He has no weapons but he is extremely strong. He's also just really creepy - his face looks like it might be fake, somehow. The only way he can be killed is with a wound to the heart - any other supposedly mortal injury will result in another man in black appearing. It is possible for someone with no combat training to beat these creatures, but they really might appreciate a little help from someone with more experience!

The good news is that they won't mess up your clothes any, as none of these creatures bleed. Because that is totally normal.

Good luck!

Comments

[shikanoinheizou]

Eh, I never liked to stand on ceremony with it. It's traditional in terms of politeness and all, but as you know, I'm a rather untraditional man.

[He chuckles, shaking his head and taking in Moriarty's clear mortification at having been using such a familiar term of address for him all this time. But if he'd told him, then... well, they would have both been irritated with what names the other was using.]

So keep calling me Heizou, if you would. Only my superiors, my ex-partner, and strangers call me Shikanoin to my face.

[divisors]

That you are, indubitably.

[HE REALLY IS. INSUFFERABLE TO HIS VERY CORE. BINCH!!!]

Hmmph. [He really does consider it for a long moment. He's no superior, not an ex-partner and...well. Not....really strangers, no. Damn it.] Very well. Heizou it will be.

[shikanoinheizou]

[He chuckles again before giving an airy, carefree reply.]

I knew you'd see it my way. [And now it's settled, and since Moriarty offered no alternative name directly, Heizou will simply continue to do what he's already been doing. It's only fair, isn't it?

He stretches his arms behind his head, the sleeves of his haori sliding down to bunch at his shoulders. A gesture that Moriarty is no doubt familiar with by now.]

Now, shall we look for a way out? It looks like the bite in the air is holding off for now, but neither of us are dressed for the cold.

[divisors]

Tch.

[A sharp click of the tongue, a closing of his eyes. A victory, indeed, but one he's not willing to straight up admit.]

A way out... [He cracks open one eye to look over at the other man, eyeing those bunched-up sleeves.] I can manage just fine. But I'm not the type to like running in circles if I can help it. Let us chart a course out of this mess.

[shikanoinheizou]

[His lips tilt in amusement. Ah, that's Moriarty all right. Prickly to the very last.

Heizou plants a hand on one hip and looks around them both. Now that he's not concentrating on keeping himself warm, he can apply more of his mind to their current task (the detective loves a puzzle, but when it comes right down to it basic survival will always come first).]

Now, normally I would say that we ought to combine the routes we have already taken trying to leave and try an entirely different route. But... [He makes a small gesture to the air around them.] Since the two of us met up, the climate has changed. We can't take for granted that previous dead ends are still dead ends.

[The young man's eyes narrow, his mind ticking over carefully.]

Come on, let's look for some clues. The way out will have the most evidence of recent foot traffic.

[divisors]

...You think things have changed simply from the act of us meeting?

[An interesting little theory - it is true. This place has transformed itself. it feels warm, comfortable. Looking at Heizou is warm, comfortable - ah. No. That's not-]

[He shakes his head a little, folding his arms as he peers down the route he just came from, before turning his head over to focus on the detective.]

Very well. I'll follow your lead. I'll keep the pathways in mind, as will you. I would expect nothing less of a great detective.

[shikanoinheizou]

I'm not going to rule it out. The temperature of the air changed, why not the pathways too?

[Look, he's open to anything right now and isn't this just like the kind of stupid game that that Tamamo fox would play, anyway? Heizou hasn't yet fully written off the idea that this might be some sort of trick, especially now that Moriarty is here as well.]

Ah, but flattery will get you everywhere. [He replies cheekily, then he tips his head towards an open pathway.] Flattened grass, compacted earth. We should try this direction first.