folkooc | December 2022 Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

*tdm

December 2022 Test Drive Meme

DECEMBER 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]

UNGLUED

Content Warnings: being followed, potential violence.

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!

AO3

Content Warnings: potential NSFW scenarios in comments

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( what could've been lights )

[Waking up when you don't expect to wake up is a... very strange experience. Zack jerks upright and is immediately glancing around, on edge, reaching over his shoulder for a blade that is no longer with him. He feels panicked at first before remembering- that's right. He gave it away. And then the rest of his memories trickle back, how he'd been pulled from home, followed some kind of fox-creature-god-thing, sent here. He still has a million questions, but for now it seems like exploring is his best option. Up he goes! And out into the fog.

When he spots another light in the fog, a part of him wants to be cautious - considering the last year spent on the run, is it any wonder? - but he has to remind himself that this is a totally different place. Different people. And if you have to be lost, you don't have to be alone.]

Hey there! Want some company?

( weird but fucking beautiful )

[After some time journeying through the fog, and not finding much of interest, Zack is starting to feel a mixture of frustration and boredom. Something surely needs to happen already, or he at least needs to reach civilization. Which is of course when, conveniently, a strange-looking winged dog formed from the smoky weather manifests in front of him, causing him to stop short and point.]

Whoa! What the hell are you doing here!?

( wildcard )

[Got another idea? Toss a prompt at him! or ping me, I am happy to plot.]

Edited (dingus forgot the full canon) 2023-01-03 04:46 (UTC)

[ There's something to be said about the familiarity of wandering around in the darkness; it's not exactly the same as being in the Lifestream, especially since her heart is beating again and she's back to being alive rather than a guiding spirit. It's an adjustment to say the least, and she's a little cautious as she pokes her way through this strange new world and follows the light in front of her - another metaphor she doesn't want to spend too long dwelling on.

A voice rings out towards her and there's nothing she can do to rationalise who it is. She would know that voice anywhere, and her footsteps quicken as she pushes through to find it, breaking into another clearing with wide eyes, almost panicked, just in case this is a dream.

She doesn't want this to be a dream - and if it is... She doesn't think she wants to wake up. ]

... Zack?

[When the voice calls back to him, that familiarity she feels is echoed at once in him. It cuts through the fog directly to his heart, a cadence he'd spent the last four years (plus however long since she'd written to him apparently) trying not to forget. He could hear it in her letter, and the note he'd found in his pocket to remind him of what truly mattered.

She's here. He doesn't know why she's here, he doesn't understand, but somehow - against all odds, against fate and death and the will of those assholes at Shinra - he's found her again.]

Aerith, [he breathes back, and then starts running towards her, eyes wide.]

Edited (somehow lost my subject and i wanted to yell) 2023-01-03 18:27 (UTC)

[ There is absolutely no hesitation in her when Zack begins to run at her - there's nothing to keep her away from him. As soon as she's close enough she's reaching up to throw her arms around him and press her face into his chest, his neck, any part of him that she can reach, the absolute joy on her face enough to make breathing feeling impossible.

It's been so long. She'd known, of course, when he'd gone, but she had sat and waited for any hint of him for year after year, to the point where seeing him now feels like every single one of those emotions has hit her straight in the heart, bubbling up and overflowing. What can she do other than grip at him, unable to let go for even a second?

Aerith is trying her best not to cry, but she can't help herself. She sniffles as she hides her face. ]

You're really here.

[He holds her back just as desperately, and while it's been years since he's gotten to hug anyone it's pure instinct that helps him to remember to mind his strength, his grasp protective rather than crushing. She says what he's thinking in his head already, a joyful echo of she's here, she's here, she's here over and over, and he can't help a brief, escaped laugh against her hair.]

I'm here. [And if this isn't a dream, he's going to thank that damned fox a million times.] Sorry I took so long.

[Understatement of the century, maybe, but he can't not apologize, either. If he'd beelined right for Midgar, maybe he'd have made it. But what-ifs are kind of pointless when the worst has already happened.]

[ It's hard not to laugh, a strange mixture of crying and laughter coming out of her mouth before she can lean back to look at him. He really is here - older than she remembers, but that makes sense. She probably looks older than he remembers too. She can't help the irresistible urge to lift her hand and punch him on the arm: it doesn't matter how hard she does it, it won't hurt him either way. ]

I waited for you for so long.

[ Years and years. Shaking her head, Aerith looks up at him, but there's no real anger in her at all: she's too happy, too relieved, and she breathes in to try and get rid of the sniffling, gross expression of her tears baring down on her. ]

It's okay. You don't have to explain.

[ She doesn't want to hear from his mouth that he died: she already knows. She doesn't think her heart can take it hearing it from him, not when he's right here. ]

[She does look older, now that he can give her a good once-over, and the way she's studying him in return is familiar, too. He remembers looking at himself in the mirror at the mansion, after they got out of the lab, feeling confused at the change to his appearance and wondering: how long had it been? Did I always look like this? He'd been able to look over at Cloud in the other tank, but seeing him every day meant that he couldn't recall exactly how the changes had occurred start to finish. The most he knew was that they'd still kind of been kids when they were captured, and now they were adults. And so, it seems, is Aerith.

She doesn't look angry, but he can't help feeling guilty about making her wait, even so. It wasn't for lack of trying. Still... she deserved better than years of him being missing, with not so much as a word. Especially after he'd promised to come see her.

Ah... he's such an idiot, isn't he.]

I missed you, [he manages, his voice pitched and struggling. He's grateful for her permission to dodge explaining for now. He's not even sure how to begin.]

[ There are so many questions that she knows she should ask - where did he go? What did he do? What happened to him? Why didn't she hear from him for so long? But given what she learned about Cloud from getting to know him, from watching her friends from the quiet safety of the Lifestream... She doesn't know, but she has enough of an idea to recognise that might be best for another day.

Lifting her head, she rests her forehead against his for a moment, brief and soft. She has to go up on her tiptoes to do it, but that's okay. It's still incredible that Zack is here, alive, breathing - and so is she.

Aerith can't be too upset at being here like this when it means the two of them are reunited. ]

At least it wasn't just me, then. [ When she leans back, her expression is soften, warmer; tender. ] We missed each other.

Yeah... lucky us.

[Distressing as it all is, he still musters a smile. He can't not smile for Aerith. Not when she's looking at him like that, glad to see him even after all this time, after she kept him waiting. He's so lucky. And while she looks different, older, some things remain the same. Her eyes, her smile, her hair, the kindness in her voice. She still smells like flowers. And- hang on.

He lifts a hand, giving one tip of her ribbon a playful tug.]

Hey, you kept it.

Oh, the ribbon?

[ Aerith's hand reaches up to touch it idly, her fingers trailing through her hair. It feels strange, to not have her mother's materia tucked away inside of it as well, but that's for the best. She's happier like this, knowing she did something good, that this is how it was meant to be.

It helped save the Planet, and that was what it was designed for.

Reaching up, she takes his hand between her own, her head tilting a little as she looks at him. ]

Someone told me that it looked good, so I thought I should keep it. Just in case.

[He grins at that, fingers curling around hers to hold her back.]

Sounds like someone who has good taste.

[He's marveling a little at her dedication, actually. That was years ago, and the ribbon still looks like it's in good condition. Something like that might be well-loved yet certainly replaceable, but she still held on to it. It makes his heart twinge. There are so many things he wants to ask her, too, though he's not sure if the parts of their lives that they'd each missed is a good topic for right now.

Instead he glances around, remembering where they are- or rather, where they aren't.]

We've probably got a million things to talk about, but it shouldn't happen here. Let's find somewhere safer first, okay?

Well, after a little bit of teaching, yes.

[ It's not as if she would ever have the strength or the heart to take it off. The idea of taking the ribbon out of her hair or leaving it aside felt like giving up, and even after she had learned what happened to Zack... It was almost like forgetting about him, which was impossible. Even when she had met Cloud and seen the echoes of him back in her life again...

It wasn't a betrayal. It just felt like losing a part of herself, something she had held dear for such a long time.

Taking a step back, she nods, her fingers not leaving his - she holds his hand like letting go would mean losing him forever all over again, and she isn't ready for that, no more than she's ready for the conversation where she has to tell him what happens. Something to worry herself over later. ]

Which way do you think we should go?

[He's not about to let go either, not when they only just found one another. People can call him paranoid if they like, he doesn't care. He's holding on for a while yet.

He turns them around slowly, holding up his little light bauble and checking for signs of where they ought to go next. Nothing sticks out at first, but the uncomfortable silence of the forest - outside of their breath and shifting footsteps - bothers him. His hearing's always been good, even before the mako enhancement, and in his experience nothing's ever this silent, especially nature, unless there's danger.]

If there was nothing in either of the directions we came from, that gives us two options. That means this way, or-

[He turns around once more, and that's when he spots the two lights in the dark, strange and unknowable at first. When it clicks that they're eyes, however, he can't fight the rush of fear that flows through him, and he takes a step back, tugging her with him, trying to navigate her behind his body.]

Uh... I vote whatever direction that isn't in.

Zack Fair | Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core) | Legend

slams into you - lights

hell yeah HELL YEAH

HELL YEAH RIGHT BACK

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