November 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

NOVEMBER 2022 TDM

INTRODUCTION

[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
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]

BUNNY BUSINESS

You snap to awareness, ready perhaps to fight or flee, and find that you are… sitting on a couch. Huh.

Yes, you have fallen from the sky, Star Child, to wind up inside a cozy lodge There are several other couches dotting the spacious room, host largely to new arrivals like yourself. The lodge is rustic, built of wooden logs and stone, with a massive fireplace dominating one wall. Through an open archway just past the fireplace there is a mellowly lit bar serving free hot chocolate as well as spirits. The bar is tended by a tall, fluffy white creature with earmuffs on. Star Children from Earth might think it looks like a bigfoot or a yeti, but cute. The bartender speaks in a soft, low voice and can direct you to the other half of the lodge, where you can borrow winter clothes and outdoor equipment.

What sort of equipment? Skis, of course! And snowboards, and snowshoes too!

Step outside the lodge and you will discover that you are at the base of one of the mountains in Wintermute. It rises majestically, the very tip lost amongst white clouds. The snow is a perfect powder, ideal for beginners and experts alike.

There is a wooden sign near the rental area pointing the way to the Bunny Hill.

The ski hill is manned entirely by rabbits. They are mostly white and grey, but you can spot them against the snow because they are all wearing little winter coats. They will help get you into your skis or on your board or what-have-you, and they will be your silent instructors. If you don’t want to downhill ski and would rather snowshoe around, one of the bunnies will guide you to safe paths. No matter what you’re doing, the rabbits insist on pairing you with another Star Child. Bunnies believe in the buddy system! Might be a good time to get to know someone else. In fact, you’ll notice that the more you talk to someone else, the more your winter sports skills improve, and the happier you will feel.

If you go off course, whether on ski or board or shoe, having a buddy makes it far more likely that you can find your way back to the lodge safely!

GRAY NOVEMBER

Content Warnings: Monster fighting, optional violence.

ADDRESSED TO THE FIRE

Among the snow laden pines, all is not still. There is a soft chiming noise you may be able to hear, and amongst the tree branches move hundreds of tiny blue forms. These humanoid figures are no more than three inches tall, sparkling like fresh fallen snow. Wherever their feet touch frost forms, and they flit and dance overhead joyfully, occasionally causing snow to dislodge from the branches and fall to the ground below. You may be hit with a light shower of the stuff if you happen to be below, which is all in great fun… but you best be careful where you step, as a heavy load of snow can hurt you quite badly.

These little ice spirits seem friendly enough, flying down to inspect you. You might not even notice that they are herding you further into the evergreen forest, away from the sun and into the shadows. If you do notice and try to resist, they will dart lightly across any exposed skin, causing sharp stabs of cold. If they do this enough, there is a real danger of frostbite. The spirits don’t die if you squish them - they just puff into a cloud of snow, and there are so many of them that it’s unlikely you could hurt enough of them to escape.

The ice spirits lead you to a clearing before they abruptly vanish - they have done a wonderful job of disorienting you, and their icy feet have filled up your footprints so you cannot follow your own trail back. Here, it is quite dark, and trying to find your way back is nigh impossible. In the center of the clearing is a small pile of wood and kindling, just waiting for a spark. There is a a small metal box next to this and inside is a pack of matches and a note reading:

The heart, like fire, must be fed to stay alight.
Memories held dear burn brightest of all.

You will find that you can light the fire very easily, but keeping it from going out is a challenge! It keeps guttering and threatening to plunge you into the cold darkness. That is, unless you take a cue from the note and share some things about yourself with your companion. The more you share, or the more private the story, the more strongly the fire will burn. It never requires more wood - if you have a good conversation with someone it will last til morning quite easily, and keep you warm the whole time.

Once morning does arrive, you will find that somehow another box has appeared, set just to the side of the clearing. This one is a proper wooden chest, and inside you will discover some canon item from your homeworld - this can include magical objects or weapons.

A racoon in a red and yellow sweater will waddle into the clearing once you have discovered your prize and escort you safely out of the evergreen forest.

WILDEST WINTER

Okay, but maybe you hate sharing time. Maybe you’d rather take your chances with the dark woods. It’s possible to create a torch with the supplies in the clearing, or maybe you have other ways of lighting your way. Heck, maybe you just have halfway decent night vision!

As you make your way through the woods, you might notice that there are weapons half covered by snow lying about. These are all normal, unenchanted weapons - knives, swords, guns. Sweet, free swag!

But be warned: the moment you touch any of these weapons you will hear the howling of a blizzard wind. The air will turn colder still, and then out of the darkness will stalk a monstrous being roughly the size and shape of a polar bear, but haphazardly covered in ice-like spikes. These ice crystals are deadly sharp and incredibly hard, so you’ll have to aim carefully between them to pierce the monster’s flesh. It is possible to melt them if you have the means to generate enough heat.

The creature is every bit as fast and strong as a polar bear, so you really don’t want to let it catch you! Teamwork is probably your best option to fight it - running might not be your best option in this case, although the bear might be too big to be able to climb a tree with much success. Maybe. Possibly. You sure you want to risk it?

If you defeat the ice bear, it will melt away to nothing, leaving in its place a heart-shaped box. Inside you will find a canon item. If you manage to make it to morning without killing the creature, you will escape with your life and whatever unenchanted weapon you picked up.

The sweatered racoon will appear at dawn to guide you back to the ski lodge.

Comments

bigby wolf • fables

[jurisdict]

❅ addressed to the fire ;

[ Well, one thing's for damned sure: he's not in Kansas anymore.

He's got more reason than some to be wary of the little ice spirits that seem to flitter and fly around him given their traditionally tricky nature, and their tendency to ally themselves with powerful figures irregardless of — you know, morals. And a quick swatting at the damned things determinedly gathers more of a crowd of them that pinch and prick at his skin until he's got no choice but to move into the trees against his will.

The cold cuts deep and Bigby's always run hotter than your usual, sure, but even he isn't impervious to the winter chill in this ... form. But as he comes across the clearing, studying the beginnings of a fire and the ever-so-helpful note, and sees you shivering ... well, something in him just ... relents.

He lets out a breath; it comes out sounding a lot more like an exasperated sigh. His voice is gravely and deep when he speaks, and he reaches into his back pocket for a well-worn carton of cigarettes. ]

All right, let's get this over with.

❅ wildest winter ;

[ Yeah. Yeah, he absolutely hates sharing time.

After doing his best with it, or seeing that person to someone else who might be a little more ... suitable for the gig, Bigby makes his excuses (piss-poor though they may be), throws the last remaining dredges of his cigarette down into the trodden snow path, and continues onwards into the woods. Maybe you'll follow. Maybe you'll see a large-ish man head off towards the dark woods without a torchlight or supplies or just about anything and seek to join him out of the goodness of your own heart. (Or to see if he's got anything worth robbing off of him after the woods gets him. Who knows, we aren't your mother.)

He'll know you're following him, though he doesn't make that known until he's well into the trees, coming across those glinting weapons in the snow just waiting for hands to touch them. ]

You might not want to touch those.

[ At least not until he's done ... surveying the area for any more little tricky ice spirits or forms lurking in the dark.

Nothing. (That he can detect anyway.)

The moment his hand grazes the grip of a small pistol gun however, he swears aloud. ]

Fuck.

[ And then because he's doomed anyway, the monstrous polar bear-like creature lumbering in his direction, he grabs the pistol and a loose magazine, and clicks it into place. ]

You ever fought one of these before?

☼ wildcard ;

[ ooc: for those familiar with canon, bigby's roughly coming in from a little after charming has taken over fabletown as mayor and he's just left his position as sheriff. also— feel free to leave your own starter below if nothing above hits your vibe. PM this journal for plotting! ]

Addressed to the Fire

[keeperofkeys]

Fran studies the note curiously. "I like a good riddle," she says, half to the man next to her, half to herself. The fire sparks a little, and burns hotter for a moment before cooling down again.

"Oh! Let me try that again." She scoots closer, talking to the embers more directly. "I have a black cat. My parents got him for me for my birthday. His name is Mister Midnight, and I can understand him when he talks." Another flicker, and the fire grows a little.

"You try it! Tell the fire something about yourself."

[jurisdict]

Bigby watches the way the fire literally reacts to her shared information, small and seemingly insignificant though it may seem. It's still something though.

Huh.

Now, is this fire merely sharing in a good memory or is it attempting to take it for keeps? That's something Bigby can't be too sure of. So, sure. He, too, will start with something ... small. Something that might as well be common knowledge to anyone who knows him, but to this stranger seated beside him, and to this fire? It's new. Maybe even interesting.

"Okay," he says, albeit still vaguely reluctant. "I was a sheriff once."

[keeperofkeys]

"Oh really? I've never met a once-sheriff before. Though I have met a king." The fire seems to be enjoying the information it's being given and the flames dance a little higher.

"He was a tree. Though I was a tree too, at the time."

Wildest Winter

[redprayer]

[Bigby had the draw of being someone that is moving, which is how he’d wound up with the Red Priest not entirely intentionally stalking him. Rezo’s merely operating under the logic that if you’re going to be lost in the woods at night, you may as well be lost with someone else. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem that Bigby’s taken offense, since he was kind enough to warn Rezo about the suspicious weaponry.

While Bigby’s surveying the area Rezo asks ‘Are you looking for something?’ but any chance of conversation on that matter is nixed by the blast of winter wind and the roar of the ice bear.

The click of the handgun’s magazine being loaded is a much cleaner sound than Rezo is used to hearing from a gun, but it’s enough for him to accurately guess what Bigby is doing. Accordingly, he’s going to take advantage of the few seconds they have before the monster gains on them to move a little off to Bigby’s side, where he will hopefully not be subject to friendly fire. Rezo doesn’t bother hunting for a weapon but he raises his hands defensively in front of him.]

It’s loud, large, and hostile. Is there anything else I need to know?

[jurisdict]

No. [ Bigby's mouth quirks to one side, his voice a deep rumble. ] That just about sums it up.

[ One might think that a gigantic, monstrous creature with sharp teeth coming right for you would shake a man down to his core, but the unflappable Bigby Wolf almost looks a little bored. There's an unmistakable tension in his shoulders though, and the stance he poses is one of strong defense, like this isn't his first rodeo, and the gun doesn't actually really matter. It's just a prop. If things start barreling rapidly towards the shitter, he's got a back-up plan. But it's the kind of back-up plan that comes as a last resort. It'd be a fine thing to expose his true nature on day one of being in this place. ]

You got a secret weapon I don't know about? [ The pistol is pointed directly towards the lumbering bear. ] Because now's a good time to grab one of those things.

[ He means one of the swords or daggers or guns still lying in the snow, of course. And as if on cue, the crystalline bear gains air to strike at the two of them, and as if on cue, Bigby fires a shot aimed between the bear's eyes.

It glints off of the sharp ice crystals protruding from its skin, but shatters some of the spikes at least. It also seems to do a great job of provoking it further. ]

[redprayer]

I wouldn’t call it a secret.

[That’s about all Rezo has time to explain before the ice bear cometh. There’s the sharp crack of gunfire and the groan and snap of something- ice, Rezo surmises- breaking apart. The bear roars, an accompanying blast of wind biting Rezo’s skin and ruffling his hair and clothes.

Bigby’s probably too occupied by the angry bear trying to murder him to notice, but off to the side Rezo adjusts the position of his hands in a pantomime of an archer pulling a bowstring taut and quietly utters an incantation. A line of fiery light forms between his hands-]

Flare Arrow!

[-and with that an arrow made of white-hot flames launches itself towards the bear. It connects in an explosion of steam and the bear rears back, swiping out blindly with its paw.]

[jurisdict]

Well that's one way of doing it.

[ Can't deny the fella doesn't have that Fable-like flair either.

If he'd been doubtful before, he certainly isn't now: this is not any Mundy world he knows of and the people here are clearly ... something else too. Not Fable though. At least he doesn't think so.

He shoots another round of bullets from his gun at the bear, which slows it down in its tracks. And while he doesn't speak bear, Bigby does gesture an offer for the great beast to rethink its life decisions.

And to his fire-wielding companion, he says: ]

If you're looking for an escape route, now might be the time.

[redprayer]

[Raising his voice to be heard over the wind and the bear’s snarling, Rezo replies:]

I’ll be fine.

[His tone is firm. His own world has no shortage of terrible monsters in it, and this creature is unlikely to be any worse. Rezo has fire magic to melt through the bear’s armor and burn its flesh, and he’s braced to cast a shielding spell if it decides to lunge in his direction. And if his companion gets injured it’ll be better to have the healer on hand, won’t it?

So Rezo stands his ground and launches another Flare Arrow at the beast, which shows no sign of intending to flee. Perhaps that’s a magic effect, the compulsion to fight to the death.]

wildest winter

[nada]

[Nadir had been wandering the forest alone as well, having found no partner and too impatient to wait for someone. Besides, if he got lost, he could just fly up high and find the lodge, so he wasn't worried.

The only reason he crossed paths with another person was due to following the little sprites' herding, and he considers approaching him right away, since that's what a guy like Nadir does while not realizing that makes him a nuisance. However, the stranger looked so grizzled and gruff it actually did make him pause and reconsider.

He then gets a whiff of a scent in the air. Something odd— well, maybe not, because he's getting a smell of wolf and he is in a forest. What is making it odd, however, is it's a fresh smell, and it's only one wolf, and it seems to be coming from the man.

A werewolf??

He floats up a foot so he's not walking through the crunchy snow and trails after him, thinking he's being super stealthy and forgetting that if his nose picked up a scent, then a (possible) werewolf could smell him, too.

He's shocked when the man so casually tells him he knows Nadir has been following him, making him draw up in the air, making a shocked noise in the back of his throat.]

Why shouldn't I—?

[He begins to nervously ask about the weapons, but is duly interrupted by a crazy looking bear bursting on scene, ready to fight. Nadir swoops in close to the man, shouting, annoyed:]

Why did you touch?! You said not to touch!!