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

[dedoink]

A cliff?

[ Grog bends down to properly scoop up the talk box, and then stands up to get a good look around. ]

Hang on... I think I see where you're at. I see a mountain with a bit of a steep drop. Can you look down here an' see me?

[ He waves his arms as big as he can, but even at eight foot seven, he's still probably too far away to be seen with the naked eye. ]

[reborneve]

[Eve turns her head and glances over the rock outcropping yet again. He had said look down and so she does so, spotting something she hadn't quite noted through the low-laying fog.]

I am afraid not. I do see a pathway beneath me though, a good ways down. Perhaps you are there if you can see the mountain itself?

[The fog really had made it look like there was little but gray below her but now she can see the dots of greenery that must be trees and the bare smudge of what must be a path. Given how tiny it all is she sighs out some, brow wrinkling in displeasure.]

A great ways down.

[Once again she keenly feels the disadvantage of that leg of hers. If she could only get a steady foothold she could have some hope of climbing her way up to the lip of the cliff.]

[dedoink]

[ Grog stops waving his arms, but his voice still sounds enthusiastically hopeful. ]

I am! I am on a path!

[ That settles it. Someone needs his help! Who would he be if he ignored that need? This is the first time since he got here that he feels he has clear direction on what needs doing. ]

You stay put. I'm gonna climb up an' getcha. Jus' hunker down and I'll be up there in a jiffy!

[reborneve]

... You're going to climb up here? From the bottom?

[It's not that she doesn't appreciate it but the disbelief in her tone is thick.]

[dedoink]

[ Grog halts in his tracks, frowning. He's not exactly known for his tactical prowess, but he'd thought his plan was a good one. ]

Uhm. Yeah? It makes more sense than climbing all the way to the top, then back down to get you.

[reborneve]

[Well, yes, he does have a point but --]

Do you have the gear to climb so far?

[Or so she understood climbers needed gear of some sort, at least in a more modern age. By now she's knelt by the edge of the outcropping, her bad leg a little stiff with the cold but otherwise a mere afterthought.]

... Forgive me, I do not mean to question your charity.

[dedoink]

I got hands, don't I?

[ Any and all gear he'd had is back in his world, along with his bag of holding. If he'd that, he would've had access to some handaxes and rope that might've made the process easier.

Still, Grog doesn't sound daunted. ]

I've climbed taller mountains 'an this! I'll be up to getcha in a jiffy!

[reborneve]

[Just hands, he says. What sort of a man has she been dropped into contact with here? She blinks slowly at the box, glances back over the edge of her rock outcropping and then turns back to the box to reply:]

Thank you. I will repay the favor eventually.

[How she hasn't a clue. It had been many years since she had been indebted to anyone and her interactions with humans as a whole were meager and scant these last hundred or so years. It was almost hard to remember how to converse amiably beyond a few lines.]

[dedoink]

[ Approaching the side of the mountain, Grog decides to wrap a leather cord from his wrist around the walkie talkie, freeing up his hands to climb, and holding down the talk button, so they can stay in communication with each other while he climbs. ]

Say, wha's yer name, talk box lady? I don' think I asked before.

[reborneve]

Eve.

[It's the first time in several dozen years she's heard her own name to be perfectly honest. Even the fox hadn't called her by name.]

May I ask yours as well?

[That was the polite thing to do, yes?]

[dedoink]

Name's Grog Strongjaw, at your service, Miss Eve!

[ There comes through some grunts of effort as Grog starts climbing the face of the rock. ]

Can you see me now? I oughtta be right under ya!

[reborneve]

[Miss Eve. How unique. All of these interactions today as different as they have all been really do take her back to those first stumbling days after she first woke up.

She leans over the edge of the outcropping once more and to her surprise does see something now. It's astounding he's made it as far as he has so quickly.]

Yes, I see you.

[After a moment of hesitation she waves. From where he is she's likely a speck of green against the dull tones of the rocks. Long strands of her dirty blonde hair sway in the wind and as he grows closer the relative shade of her cloak's hood makes her eyes seem a luminescent green like the eyes of a wolf in the forest.]

[dedoink]

Alrigh' then! You stay put... an' I'll be up ta getchya in a jiffy...

[ His words come with the slow pace of someone who's talking while exerting a great physical effort, as he hauls himself up the side of the cliff face. Thankfully, he rolled a 28 Athletics check is very good at climbing, so after several minutes of dedicated effort, he manages to make his way up to the ledge where Eve is stuck, at which point she'll get a good look at her savior. All 8'7" of him, grey skin and black tattoos, with a full black beard.

He steps out onto the ledge, pausing to lean against the rock face and catch his breath, before he greets Eve with a smile. ]

Hey... I told ya... hah... that I'd come getchya... HOO!

[reborneve]

[Eve both does and doesn't look stunned by the time he makes it up over the ledge. She's moved back a bit now, giving him enough room to have a solid footing and all. Thankfully the ledge isn't small so much as it's simply high up.

Tilting her head back a little as he leans to catch his breath she gives him a tentative, fledgling bit of a smile. The action feels as awkward as she imagines it must look on her but she is trying here.]

And you were correct. A very impressive feat of physicality indeed.

[She's a tall woman herself but nowhere near his height of course. He has a little over two feet on her and so she ends up more chest height than towering over others like she typically does.

She turns her gaze upward to the top of this cliff after a moment.]

If you can boost me up I might be able to reach the lip and pull myself the rest of the way. I could not reach before and I do not trust my leg to bear my full weight in climbing.

[dedoink]

[ Once Grog catches his breath, he looks rather proud of himself for having reached the leg and saved the day!

Or, well... The day's not quite saved yet. ]

Give ya a boost? Sure, tha's not a problem.

[ He crouches and laces his fingers together to provide a platform for Eve to step on. He does it with the practiced ease that belies much experience of boosting up people smaller than him. ]

[reborneve]

[Perfect. She hopes he doesn't mind her taking a moment to gather her balance as she steps up. With the two of them combined [insert Captain Planet joke here] Eve has more than enough leverage to not just grasp the edge of the climb but pretty much be halfway over it. From there she can very easily pull herself up.

Once she does she turns and offers a hand down to Grog himself. She had seen other people do so in the past and thought it was likely a form of politeness. Generosity as well maybe?]

You have my gratitude, sir. I will be sure to repay you however you like.

[dedoink]

[ The offered hand is nice of her, but he's pretty sure if he gave her any his weight to pull up, he's end up pulling her right back down over the edge again. So, he hoists himself up under his own power, before dusting his hands off and smiling down at her. ]

No need to repay me, Miss Eve. Just happy to help a lady out.

[ Just then, he catches movement out of the corner of his eyes, and turns to look. There, nearby where they're standing, two chests suddenly appear in view, where there were definitely no chests before. ]

Ooh... Treasure!

[ Not even thinking about the possibility that the chests might be a mimic or something, Grog rushes over to open one. ]