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Entry tags:
December 2022 Test Drive Meme
DECEMBER 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: being followed, potential violence.
what could've been lights
weird but fucking beautiful
what could've been lights
One minute you’re falling through the sky, and the next you’re sitting on a cold bench in the middle of the woods. It’s wintertime, but luckily you’re not surrounded by snowdrifts; a bitingly cold fog instead drifts between the trees. You don’t know it yet, but you’ve arrived at the edge of Exile.
The bench you’re on is in the center of a clearing that probably isn’t natural judging by the fact that around you are dozens of miniature buildings. These buildings may resemble places from your homeworld, or places as described or depicted in your favourite pieces of media. They are all just miniatures, but they are lit up and the glow from their tiny windows is warm.
At least, until you move from the bench. When you do the lights stutter several times before they go out for good, leaving you in darkness. But wait, not completely - there on one of the miniature streets is a small glowing orb about the size of a marble. Better than nothing?
Look around and you will be able to see more lights. These are other Star Children, either carrying their own small lights or waking up in their own miniature villages. You can find them either wandering in the fog, or maybe going full Godzilla on those poor buildings. However it happens, you will find someone else so that you are not alone.
But as you move towards this other Star Child you might not feel alone. To put it bluntly, it feels like someone (or something!) is watching you.
Once you’ve met up with someone, it’s probably safer to try and find your way out of the woods. The darkness presses in on every side of you, and the frigid fog is certainly not helping matters. You may well find yourself edging closer to your companion, or talking to them to try and fill the eerie silence.
Then, off to one side, there is light. Soft, diffused by the fog, there are two (or more) glowing circles floating high up. Even if at first you thought they were lamps, it quickly becomes evident that they are eyes. The moment you realise that, you are struck with an irrational terror and the urge to flee. This is extremely dangerous: the second you run the one light you do have will go out, plunging you into total darkness. You will definitely get lost, and could be injured very easily. The giant floating eyes will follow you no matter how quickly you run. If you can fly, you will find no matter how high you go you will not be able to break the treeline, and the eyes will continue to follow you.
There are weapons to be found sticking out of the frozen ground. These are unenchanted items, and you can pull them free with some effort if you choose to try and fight the creature following you. The creature will not actually engage - the eyes always stay just far enough away that you cannot see it clearly, and you certainly can’t hurt it. Your terror and confusion will only grow the more you try to fight, and it is possible you’ll hurt anyone who comes after you.
Your companion is the only thing that can keep you from bolting into the darkness. Their voice and/or touch can work to calm you down. You’ll still be frightened, but you will be able to think. (Of course, if you attack them with a sword or something, this might prove to be a little harder!)
weird but fucking beautiful
If you stay put with your companion you will see what has been following you: an enormous fog-coloured animal.
It may be a deer, an owl, a cat, a lizard or a fish. It may be something unique to your homeworld. Whatever it is, it is an animal that you have a personal connection to in some way. (This can be as profound as a vision of an animal guide you once had, or as mundane as ‘I did a report on this in third grade.’) This massive animal means you no harm and will even let you pet it.
Your new giant animal friend will lead you first to a chest inside which is an item for each of you from your home world. It will then lead you safely out of the forest before it returns back to the fog.
If you are injured and in need of aid, you will find that where your animal friend has taken you is also home to a collection of round, cheerful flying squirrels. These little guys will take one look at your injuries, squeak with concern, and then fetch you first aid supplies from holes in the trees. They are unconventional nurses, but undeniably helpful!
Content Warnings: potential NSFW scenarios in comments
what I once saw on a screen
what I once saw on a screen
As you acquaint yourself with this strange new world you’ve found yourself in, you will find that sometime, somehow, you’ve wound up with a red string tied around one of your fingers. Strange. Even stranger is that the string trails off into the distance, presumably tied to something else. Clearly the best course of action here is to follow that string to wherever it terminates. Alright, it might not actually be the best, but you will feel a growing compulsion to do just that.
The red string leads you through chilly streets, down icy roads, up over snowy hills. The weather is getting worse as you walk, but turning back doesn’t seem like an option; you really want to get to wherever the string is leading you.
Thankfully, right ahead of you is a tiny little shack of a cabin. You reach it just in time - the weather has become a full fledged winter storm!
Once inside you’ll notice two things: it’s extremely cold, and you are not alone.
Yes, there’s another Star Child in the cabin with you, and what’s more they also have a red string tied around their finger. And both of your strings connect... to a very small knitted blanket.
The cabin has no firewood and no fireplace to burn it in anyway. It has no furniture outside of a toilet and sink in a small attached bathroom. There is a small battery operated lantern, and the blanket. That’s it.
The blanket is just barely big enough to cover two people. If you want to stay warm it looks like you’ll have to get real close!
Of course, you don’t have to. But as with most things in Folkmore, there’s a bit of a catch: the more standoffish or unpleasant you are to the other Star Child trapped with you? The smaller the blanket gets. That’s right, it can shrink right down to the size of a washcloth if you’re not careful!
Conversely, getting close to someone by cuddling or even just by opening up and talking about yourselves will make the blanket grow. When you open up emotionally or physically you can wind up with a luxuriously warm and cozy blanket that you can wrap around yourselves with ease.
If you get very close to create some, er, body heat? Just try not to leave the blanket all crusty, okay?
ii
He's getting sick of Folkmore's "lost in the cold" bullshit, though, and he looks vaguely annoyed as the cabin door closes behind him. ]
Yeah, the string.
[ He's not surprised to find another person; Folkmore likes to trap people alone together until they ~share their feelings~ or some such thing. He's used to the methodology now, though what the point is, he can't even guess.
He comes close enough to reach for the blanket, but stops. ]
You don't have to freeze for me. It's probably some kind of stupid game. If we solve it, we get to be warmer. Maybe.
no subject
That would explain the attitude, but... )
I'm sorry, how can this be a game?
( A bewildered shake of his head. It isn't that he's doubtful — the young man seems so certain of it! — but Louis has always hated confusion. )
What is there to solve?
no subject
[ Eren is pretty good at being stoic, but he is cold. He's also tall, and that little blanket kind of seems like a joke either way. ]
If we solve what we're supposed to do and do it, that's how we win.
[ He shrugs. ]
This whole place runs on connections. Always something personal. Memories. Secrets. Sharing them with people.
[ There are also hideous monster encounters but why lead with that! ]
no subject
( Louis doesn't like it, but understanding the situation is certainly better than being confused. His distress smooths out into a vague discomfort instead. )
Then this entire situation is as contrived as it appears. And I presume the so-called game involves this blanket?
( He gives a deep, resigned sigh. )
If we're meant to share it, I apologize. I've always run cold.
( Starting off with a half-truth! This is already going well. )
no subject
It doesn't really look big enough to share, does it?
[ So what is the trick? That much, he doesn't know and can only guess at. ]
I run warm, so maybe we're well-balanced.
[ That isn't to say he's not cold out here today, because of course he is, but his titan powers do give him a higher body temperature in general. ]
I could probably generate more heat if we need it. This will sound weird, but I'd have to be hurt to do it.
[ Does he offer further explanation for what that means? He does not! He's not good at being forthcoming about details, sorry Louis. Neither of them is winning this communication game today. ]
no subject
( Louis is utterly baffled, mouth slightly agape and brow furrowed in confusion as he tries to make sense of what in the world that could possibly mean. Even here, in this utterly mad little world, it's a bizarre thing to contemplate. )
I hope you'll forgive me for saying so, but it does indeed "sound weird." I very much hope it doesn't come to that, but I admit to… well, as they say, a burning curiosity. I've never heard of such a thing.
How is it done, if I might ask? Is it by magic, or some physical means, or…?
( He knows it's impolite to be so nosy, but how can he not ask? )
cw self-injury, blood; SORRY I MADE IT WEIRD
It's not exactly common.
[ Understatement! ]
It's…we don't have magic in my world. I have abilities that some people with my bloodline can have. Healing from injury generates heat, though I don't know how much it would really be…
[ He's thinking about it now, though. He has no idea that Louis doesn't really need to be warm. He's working on the assumption that Louis is just a human, after all. How much titan steam would be needed to keep two people warm, anyway? The ambient heat from it might last a little while, since titans can get hot enough to seriously burn people. ]
It's probably just easier to show you.
[ He doesn't have a weapon on him, which he knows he should, but every time he picks up a weapon some monster or something attacks, so he doesn't tend to bother with them now. So he's stuck with the old way: biting. Never mind that it takes a lot of force for a person to bite into their own hand when they don't have the aid of fangs. He's gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother him.
He bites into his hand hard enough to bleed, but obviously without the intention of turning into a titan. That would be a wreck here.
He holds out his bleeding hand so Louis can see it. After a moment, the marks from his teeth knit themselves back together. Hot steam rises from the wounds until they're completely vanished, leaving only blood behind on his hand. ]
Like that.
NO I LOVE IT... sorry he's hungry now
… I see.
( Louis's voice is quiet and strained, his green eyes locked on the fresh blood now staining Eren's hand. He's quite suddenly keenly aware that he hasn't fed since coming here; thirst pulls at his veins with a low, persistent ache. It's all he can do not to lick his lips. If he didn't have two centuries of guilt and self-control under his belt, he would be lunging at the poor boy.
He takes a step back, his expression sharpened with distress. How can he explain…? )
My apologies. I have a… difficult time with blood.
( Except it isn't that he's squeamish, it's that he can't look away. He tries to force himself to meet Eren's eyes instead, but all his senses are trying to focus on that. )