January 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

JANUARY 2023 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]

beautiful sunshine ray

Content Warnings: mood altering substances.

hot chocolate

The weather across Folkmore is universally chill: Wintermute is frozen, Willow covered in snowdrifts, Epiphany a mess of slush, Cruel Summer dangerously cold at night, and Exile wrapped in a numbing fog. You wouldn't know it, but things are at least a little nicer than they have been - with the exception of Wintermute, you at least are not likely to freeze to death just by wandering around.

Or so you'll discover eventually. Right now? Well, you just got here! One minute you’re falling through the sky, and the next you’re in the middle of an ice fort. The walls are chiseled with care, rising up about seven feet high. Skinny windows are cut in the ice at regular intervals. There is no roof, and above you the sky is a cold, clear blue only marred by the occasional fluffy white cloud. Set inside the fort is a hot chocolate bar staffed entirely by white rabbits. They are the size of regular rabbits, but they don't seem to have any issue standing on their hind legs and using their little paws to pour drinks from large red cannisters into red paper cups.

By request, they will also drop a marshmallow into your cup. You have your choice of colours, and each one will have a different effect:


Pink: Causes you to feel bold and confident!
Blue: Grants you a mild sense of euphoria!
Yellow: Makes you feel quite flirty!
White: Nothing. It's a marshmallow.

winter games

Outside of the ice fort, you will find yourself among gently rolling hills covered in snow. It's perfect for packing... which you may very well find out when you're hit with a snowball. Who threw that? Who cares! The very instant you're struck you have the irresistible urge to get in on a no-holds-barred snowball fight! You might wind up throwing snowballs at other Star Children, or maybe you team up with another person to take out anyone else you see. Or maybe instead you see that there are toboggans and crazy carpets at the tops of some of these hills and you decide to take a ride with someone instead. There are snow angels and snowmen to make, too!

No matter what you decide to do, the moment you are hit with a snowball you just want to engage in light hearted fun and what some might call childish behaviour. You might be a little embarrassed later, but right now you're not concerned at all! And really, this is a great way to maybe make some new friends.

beautiful moonlight shine

Content Warnings: potential monster fights.

sing your life

Maybe you stay out having fun in the snow just a little too long, or maybe you've wandered to an entirely different part of Folkmore. However it happens, the sun has set and a brilliant sliver of moon has risen instead.

Folkmore is home to many Star Children, but it is also home to many spirits. As you move through the night, you realise that you can see some of these in your peripheral vision: pale, insubstantial things that inhabit the natural world. The idea might be creepy, but these spirits are all singing and the sound of it makes you feel safe. When you encounter another Star Child, you are happy to have them with you, happy to share this sense of comfort. You feel like you could walk forever under the new moon and have no harm ever befall you again.

...until it stops.

The sudden stillness falls like a blow, only to broken by the sound of an awful lot of snow hitting the ground - a loud thwump. When you turn to find he source of the noise, you will find one or more vaguely humanoid snow creatures ponderously headed your way!

You can fight them, of course. They are a little slow, but they are aggressive and have an annoying habit of reforming. You will notice that there are weapons hidden here and there - normal, unenchanted swords or guns or spears. You can find these and use them to smash the snow monsters apart until they stop trying to reform.

Or you may realise that these creatures only showed up when the other spirits stopped singing. What does that mean?

Weaponized karaoke!

When you sing, the monsters retreat. A duet will encourage them to do so even quicker. And when they are finally gone, you will find that they have left behind a sturdy wooden chest, inside of which is one item from home for each of you.

poetry in lights

In your travels at night, at some point you will find that you can see warm lights up ahead. Once you get close enough, you can see that the light comes from red lanterns hung everywhere. There are Star Children and even some spirits present, many of them moon gazing.

There is a kiosk set up, manned by black rabbits. If you have been injured in your fight with the snow monsters or some other way, they will patch you up with basic first aid at once.

The rabbits are also handing out sparklers. People are drawing shapes in the air with them, laughing and having a great time.

When a sparkler is put into your hand all you really want to do is trace words against the velvet night sky. What words? You are compelled to spell out something from the heart: it can be a deep hurt, or a secret hope. Something intensely personal that you may not otherwise share, now written in light visible to all.

Maybe you feel the urge to explain, or defend. Or maybe you want to ask someone else about their own words hanging there in the air like a neon sign.

What a way to get to know someone.

Comments

This should be interesting! Hello! Hot Chocolate.

[thornspawn]

[Marus is bundled up, trying to keep warm, but his horns preclude any sort of hat, leaving the tiny spark of light between them visible. He finds himself being addressed by someone unfamiliar, new perhaps? He manages a smile despite the chill. At least he doesn't seem wicked or cruel...]

Yes, it truly is. I've been here a while, yet I never seen anywhere like this.

[As he speaks, his forked tail uncurls from around one hooved leg and collects a mug of hot cocoa, currently marshmallow-free.]

((OOC: Tiefling paladin with not an ounce of wickedness in his heart but a truly monstrous appearance, enter stage right.))

[thirdaspect]

[Don't mind Michael as he starts to choke on his hot chocolate, his eyes actually watering as he feels the liquid scorch through his throat before settling uncomfortably in his stomach. It's one of those times that he wishes his body was incompletely invulnerable to this sort of pain, but alas, no such luck. He turns slightly to cough, and maybe to stop the unease he has upon seeing Marcus.

So. That's a demon, right?

A full-fledged one hasn't walked the Earth yet, but Raphael mentioned that it's coming at some point. He's not sure if they're going to end up looking like that, but...]

Yeah! Uh, it's very unusual...

[He may need to work on the whole tact thing, because he's still staring at his forked tail and hooved leg.]

[thornspawn]

Is everything quite alright?

[He can tell the man is averting his eyes, but he can't tell where exactly he's looking. His sense motive is terrible like that. Meanwhile, his tail returns to its spot, six feet of prehensile length reflexively wrapping around his thigh for warmth, juuust visible under his coat. Normally he'd be more subtle, but no one here has cared yet.]

[thirdaspect]

[...He's so polite?? Unlike how Michael is being, especially as he finally manages to look towards Marcus, only to watch as his tail wraps itself around his thigh. That really is a tail, right? One that's connected to him, no less, because that's how tails work.

...

He's definitely not like anything he's seen in his life, with the exception of those stories and shows humans like to produce.]

Y-yes, I believe I just drank far too quickly. Happens to the best of us, correct?

[His eyes are still focused on his tail, rather than politely on his eyes.]

[thornspawn]

I suppose it may.

[He tries to follow the gaze... And confirms his suspicions by twitching his tail slightly, eyes locked on Michael's. Yep. That could be a problem.]

Ah. Have you never seen one of my kind before?

[thirdaspect]

[Michael jolts slightly when he's called out and well, he wasn't being subtle, was he? He cringes and a passing shame passes through the angel, suddenly lacking any interest in the hot chocolate. He's not going to admit anything about his own person, but he can still admit some things without lying.

He doesn't smile, but he finally draws his eyes to Marcus's face, no longer staring at his tail.]

My apologies... I didn't mean to stare so blatantly at you. [Well, he did mean it, but... guess he didn't mean to be so rude?? It's hard for him to describe.] I haven't seen your kind before, outside of fiction.

[thornspawn]

[That would explain it, though he's not sure he'll ever get used to explaining this to people who have never seen a tiefling. Marus's smile, at least, is beatific, even if his mind is in a bit of turmoil at the realization of what he's got to share now.]

I see.

[How to explain.... Hmm. He might as well ask the simple questions first?]

What do you know of fiends?

[thirdaspect]

[Fiends, demons. They're the same, right?]

Demons? Er, well, they're generally portrayed as terrible creatures that want to cause destruction and harm to everyone they see. Humans tend to be their first choice for that. I guess they're easy to torment.

[Not that he's tried doing so before. Honestly!]

...Although, you've been entirely polite so far.

[Maybe he's being pulled into a trick? That's always a possibility, he's seen it on television, but he's not living some fantasy show, this is actually happening to him right now. ...A small part of Michael realizes that he's probably fictional to many people back home too, but details.]

[thornspawn]

Demons can certainly be like that, but I am descended from devils. Creatures bound by law and prone to forming contracts to lure mortals into the hells. I believe they stand among my ancestors, but I am actually mostly human.

[Different he might be, but Marus is no demon.]

What I am is called a tiefling, a creature born to a corrupted bloodline. I am not a wicked man, to the best of my ability, and I am not a demon.

[thirdaspect]

[To Michael, it's just easy to lump demons and devils all into one group. Honestly, he uses them interchangeably, but apparently there is a difference.]

A tiefling. [He repeats back, but it's clear he's making an attempt to learn more about him. It's probably better that he understands him, as he's actually real. Maybe it'll give him an idea of what may eventually happen in his world. Maybe the corruption Raphael is worried about will merely change some humans into a different species.

...He can see that going very poorly.

Besides, it's all too possible that the corruption will just be terrible creatures that want to kill everyone in sight.]

So, what sort of role do you fulfill back home? Do you walk alongside regular humans?

[thornspawn]

[Humans changing species is how you end up with an elvish ethnostate in California. See Shadowrun for details.]

I walk among the many races of Golarion. We have humans, yes, but also elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings... Even the rarer races.

[He smiles, amused. He's met more than a few of each of those, but was especially close to a certain halfling.]

My partner is half vampire, and our other partner is half rakshasa, so I'm used to all kinds, really.

[thirdaspect]

[How blatant would it be if he asked this tiefling if he's ever spoken to an angel before? ...Probably pretty blatant, Michael realizes with some resignation. Maybe if he can pair it up with some other common fantasy creatures that he knows back home, it won't sound as obvious??

He thinks really hard about this, placing a hand against his chin.]

Most of those races you spoke of only exist in fantastical stories to me. Your world is certainly far more interesting than mine. Just humans and... more humans, if you don't count regular animals. [No shade, Father, really.]

Sooo. [Guess he's going to go for this, maybe see if angels exist in other worlds. Probably, right? Or maybe his version of angels, since this is a different planet or universe or something. Look, he thinks he's handling this pretty well!] If you have vampires, then there's werewolves? Mermaids? ...Angels?

[thornspawn]

I've heard that most consider such things fantastical. As for those... entities. I've heard tell of all three, though I've never met any, not even a true angel. Angels are beings of pure good. I have met a... cousin of theirs, though, an Azata, a being of good and chaos. She bade me travel outside of my home for a while on a pilgrimage for Desna, the goddess of dreams. [No shade, Cass. You were always a good friend.]

I am not a follower of Desna, but as she is one of the lovers of my goddess, I could hardly refuse.

[thirdaspect]

['Pure good,' huh? That's certainly a compliment. Gosh, he almost feels flustered hearing that, his eyes darting to the side for a moment. He wonders if he can meet such an expectation. There's varying opinions about his species, especially in recent times, but he still wants to live up to that better view.

He has no relation to an Azata, but he's come to accept that his world has its own rules.]

You lost me a little there, but that's just my own folly. [He feels a little guilty for not being entirely honest with Marcus, but it's not like he should go around telling people that's an angel, right? He definitely didn't do it back home, so maybe it's just old habits.]

It is important that the gods and goddesses don't get mad at us. I can see why you went on the pilgrimage.