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

[descender]

[He can't help but smile and chuckle things he'd possibly trouble him. Aether doesn't know how things were between them when Zhongli lived as Rex Lapis, but he also doesn't see Zhongli having a radical personality shift after his retirement.]

I can't read his mind, but I don't think he'd feel troubled. It might be good for him to know that he has someone from Liyue here. [It felt reassuring to Aether when he first found his friends here even if he didn't wish them to be here. Now that Xiao's here, he can't help but realize he missed speaking with him.] I could ask him if he'd like to have some tea or lunch with the two of us. He'd invite me to tea and to hear stories back when we were in Liyue together.

[Aether's glad to hear that, but then the next daunting task is to find things they can do together. He'll have to give it more thought, but there's bound to be plenty of things.]

That's a big responsibility. I hope I don't disappoint you. [He smiles, joking at his own statement.]

[quellen]

Tea would be.. nice. [ he doesn't indulge in much human food, of course--aether already knows that--but tea's another story. it's more about the experience and the company than the actual drink, at least in xiao's experience, and in spite of himself, he's startlingly pleased by the idea of having it with his god and his.. friend? they are friends, aren't they?

he clicks his tongue at the younger man's humble hope, chin tipping slightly, the tilt of his head almost birdlike. ] You won't. [ it's a reassurance, but also a simple fact. how can he disappoint xiao, when xiao has no real experience in life outside his work? he has brief times of idleness, but he doesn't often stray far from the marshes in those cases.

they round a corner in the maze, and something in the other direction catches his attention. in spite of his earlier decision not to touch, gloved fingers catch aether's briefly to grab his attention. with his free hand, he points to what looks like a break in the hedges further down. ] --I believe we've found the exit.

[descender]

Then I'll ask. [He can't imagine Zhongli turning either of them down. He even seems to encourage such interactions between him and Xiao. He can recall the time with the special adepti medicine and also during the Lantern Rite festival too. It might be good for Xiao to see in person that Zhongli is doing all right. Zhongli also has a knack at passing on lessons through time spent together too. Maybe he could help Xiao with that, too.]

[Even if the statement was a joke, it has some partial truth. To be reassured, it does feel nice. He's not intimated by Xiao, but more like he wants things to go well for him.

As for when he sees the exit and Xiao confirms it, there is sigh of relief. He turns to look at Xiao and starts wondering what's next. They could split up but that would be kind of rude. He could bring Xiao back to the place he shares with Albedo, but he rather not disturb Albedo with his work. Maybe there's something nearby here? A reward for completing the maze?

It doesn't take long for Aether to see the "reward", with such a beautiful display of candles and lanterns. It reminds him a bit of the Lantern Rite in Liyue in its beauty.] Let's follow the path and see where it takes it. There might be a reward for completing the maze there.