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Entry tags:
October 2022 Test Drive Meme
OCTOBER 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: Possible insanity via freezing. Temporary nullification of abilities.
COLD AS YOU
KEEP YOUR BRITTLE HEART WARM
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.
Content Warnings: Monster sighting, optional violence.
GLITCH
BAD OMEN
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!
no subject
[ He repeats, trailing off in contemplation -- index finger and thumb massaging the point of his chin. Titans might not exist here and unlike Belos's world, who knows if they ever did. But titans could take a variety of different shapes and in particular Tech thinks of the Titan Gods of greek mythology -- beings of extreme power. Any sort of creature along those lines should make progress in Belos's attempted experimentation. ]
I'll find it.
[ It's not a hypothetical. Not I'll look or I'll try. This is a fact. He will find it. He'll find any variation of titan blood Belos might need to see this through. ]
Fortunately we got nothing but time in this place. Obviously, the sooner you can do it, the better. But just getting it done is enough. I'm immortal. What's a few years? The blood, however, we'll find well before that so you can set up shop sooner rather than later. How much we talking? A pint or two or like fucking...bleed them dry?
no subject
[ He asked, almost curious. Titans were extinct, that was why it was such a troublesome ploy, to get them. There was even fools blood, deep down where there should have been deposits of the real thing. Perhaps, however, this Technical Boy could find some way to bring their blood.
Mind, Belos didn't tell him how large they were -- or that the Boiling Isles themselves were the corpse of a titan. ]
The more the better. I can use less than a pint, to power a door, if made properly, but... the experiment itself may require far more. We may need to experiment.
no subject
[ The conviction is still in his voice, but it's laced with the faintest trace of annoyance. He never likes being questioned about his capabilities. And sure, he can rationalize that Belos doesn't know him. He doesn't know Tech's a god. He doesn't know in Tech's experience there's always ways to get something in these worlds between worlds. Tech Boy doubts this world is an exception to the rule. Even if titan blood can't be found within its boundaries, there will always be a way to outsource items from another world. Whether that's through magic or pestering the fox enough. ]
And I'll get it in abundance. But I wonder if we should also look into other possibilities. After all, titan's blood worked with your original door because it was a rare and I assume powerful creature in your world. But what if there's something rare and powerful in this land to draw on? Like I don't know, unicorn blood or some shit. And should there be something from the place I'm trying to get to?
no subject
[ Well, Belos doesn't know that his mortal enemy keeps her own baby Titan. No worry, right? That won't be a buried lede for later or anything. ]
I think it is not unwise to start experimenting. Anything we can use with sufficient power could hold potential. None of it worked where I was from, but... [ There's a slight shrug -- almost imperceptible in the motion in his shoulders, from beneath those all-too-heavy robes. ] The rules may be different here. My world and the Human Realm were linked by the power of a titan, but there's nothing to say it will be the same. My door was separate from any other link, but it still worked.
[ After almost 400 years of working on it. Don't worry about it. ]
no subject
Time to be optimistic here. Maybe the titan blood will work through its connection to Belos. Maybe Tech's own blood will work as a being of divine power. Maybe there are a variety of other creatures here of equal or greater power. There are options. ]
Agreed. I prefer to hedge my bets wherever possible. We can start with my own blood -- see if there's anything you can do with it. I'm a god. The god of technology. I might not be full of magic, but there is power in what I am. And the good thing is I regenerate fast, so you basically got an unlimited supply straight from the fucking tap.
[ And ideally it'll be as simple as that. But Tech Boy knows better than to put his hope in the ideal. Still, it's a start -- something that will help Belos get to work right away. And there's something else. Something that might make his own blood a suitable substitute... ]
....there's a possibility -- [ he begins with a hint of reluctance ] -- there's a possibility I might have titan blood in me anyway. I don't remember who I am. But I know I've been alive for a long, long time. Long enough to have gifted humanity its first fire. And there's this story of a titan god by the name of Prometheus who did much the same. So if it works, that will answer the question I've always wondered.
no subject
[ There's a note of skepticism in his voice, but only the slightest thread of it. Belos managed to keep the most of it out of his tone, and he was... so very good at lying. Gods, the concept of them, Was heresy, at the very least. Belos would not knowledge it beyond repeating the statement, to not give himself away, but he certainly wouldn't think of this Technical Boy as a god.
That was impossible, after all. As was the story about some titan god with fire -- but well. It was still better than allying oneself with witches, wasn't it? He'd already committed the gravest of sins in the effort to put an end to the scourge infecting the Boiling Isles, but he would take whatever sins were necessary to eradicate them all.
He smiled, thin, wrinkled lips tightened slightly. ]
Well then, perhaps we'll find out if you are this Prometheus, yes? Or perhaps even related. [ Gloved fingers steepled together, he turned them forward to the "god" before him. ]
We'll have plenty of time for experiments, I think. Once we escape this maze.
no subject
As Belos speaks of potentially finding out the truth, Tech Boy looks up with a faint glimmer of hope. He tries not to hope so much these days because it's often met with disappointment. But the prospect of finally knowing who he is? It's all he's ever wanted. ]
Right. The maze.
[ Tech had gotten so swept away in the future alliance, he'd nearly forgotten the immediate predicament. He continues down the north most path. And for a while says nothing more until he starts to hear the sound of water in the distance. Impulse leads him to turn his steps toward it. ]
You got a name I can call you or anything?
no subject
Yes, you may call me Belos.
[ You may call me, not my name is. It had once been Emperor Belos, but now... Now it was closer to just Belos, at least until he could return to the Isles. It had been something different than that, so many years ago, but he didn't think of himself in that name these days, and until he could return to the Human Realm victorious, it did not matter that he could have once been a man just named Philip.
It was a name for the past, but it was still his name. ]
And yours? I assume it is not Prometheus, hm?
no subject
Don't have a name. Maybe I will after these experiments of yours. But for now? Just call me Tech.
[ And there it is -- through the clearing where the sound of water rises up, he can see the glowing light. Fire? Lanterns? He's not sure which. But it seems as though this is the way out. ]
And would ya look at that? Freedom. I think that's as good a sign as any that you and I are gonna do fucking great work together.
[ Before they part ways, though, Tech Boy turns to Belos and extends his hand. Just a way to sort of seal the deal. ]
I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, Belos.
no subject
No matter, he supposed. This world would take all types, and as long as Belos thinks that he can... send them all back to their own worlds, he will work with the oddest of beings that he will meet. If just so that he can find the answer to returning to the Isles -- and then home. ]
I feel the same way, Tech.
We'll convene again soon, hm? Start working towards our mutual goal?
[ Perhaps then, Belos will have collected enough to get his staff together. Perhaps. ]