January 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

JANUARY 2023 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]

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

[savagegardens]

Lestat wipes hurriedly at his eyes, blinking a few times before casting a closed-lipped smile towards the girl. He hated being caught being overly emotional, preferring to keep his feelings as hidden away and unreachable as possible.

"One of them died," he explains, and clears his throat a little. Trying not to think of Akasha's head rolling towards him across the floor. "But I still love the other. I don't think there's anything I could discover about him that would make me stop."

[woenesday]

A sentiment Wednesday would at least vaguely respect. Emotions, particularly tears, were a sign of weakness, a sentiment she had learned at a very young age. Not that she wasn't still rather young.

"Was it recent?" Surely if he still had such a reaction it must be recent. She opened her mouth as she contemplated offering up her own experience with recent (and not so recent) losses that bothered her. Sharing wasn't something she was particularly used to yet and so she closed her mouth just as quickly as she opened it. "No? Even if you found out he'd just been manipulating you or was secretly a psychopath?"

[savagegardens]

That was the sentiment his father and brothers had drilled to him, when he was young, as well. Show no weakness.

"Rather recent, yes." A few months ago, by his reckoning. Though his time on Night Island afterwards was something of a blur. Had so little time passed? It felt like centuries and the blink of an eye, at the same time. "What a curiously specific question," he ponders, arching an eyebrow. "But no, I don't think so. I'm rather fatally in love with him, I fear."

[woenesday]

"At least you weren't forced to choose." At least she assumed that to be the case since the other died. It didn't particularly occur to her that he may have been in that situation prior to their death. "Having two trying to force a choice on you is exceedingly dull and distracting." But perhaps she was the only one that would see affection in such a way.

"Is it? Well, I am a writer." And it's definitely not because it's something she'd directly experienced in her own life. "Fatally? An interesting way to describe it."

[savagegardens]

Lestat jumps on the topic, glad for a distraction. "Are you? I fancy myself a writer, as well. Or at least I've written a few books. Something tells me you don't write grand romances, if you find such things dull and distracting. Some people might be flattered by having two people vying for their affection."

[woenesday]

"I've written several myself. Publishers at large are a bunch of cowards though and refuse to accept them without heavy alterations." Which she of course is unwilling to make. "Only extremely vapid people would find themselves flattered by it."

[savagegardens]

"It sounds like a mistake on the publishers' ends, personally. What have you written about, that makes publishers so wary to accept your works? Something rather controversial, I hope. Those are always the most exciting books to read. A book that strives to break all the rules."

[woenesday]

"Detective novels. They claim they're too morbid." Maybe they were, but what was so wrong about that? Was there really something wrong with a morbid story? Real life was often morbid and gruesome. "People prefer to hide in a world where everything is exactly the same and doesn't deviate from their perceived and shallow norms."

[savagegardens]

"You're quite the clever one, aren't you? I agree with you entirely. Some people don't want to face the truth that something they don't like or don't agree with exists in their world." Which is part of the reason his and Louis' books are firmly placed on the fiction shelves, rather than among the memoirs and biographies.

"I do enjoy detective novels. Sam Spade, and that sort of things. If you had any writing here, I'd very much like to read it. I don't mind if things get a little morbid."

[woenesday]

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Except maybe just the tiniest bit of pride (because of course she's clever) mixed with a sprinkle of suspicion. "I would argue that most people don't want to see the truth at all, regardless of who it comes from." For just a second she casts her gaze down as if remembering that perhaps that applied to her as well. "'Their' world is often a shallow concept of reality. It's almost impressive how much someone can deny the truth right in front of them. Or prejudice dictates that they jump to their own wild truths."

She arches an eyebrow at that. "None of my things from home are here. Not my manuscript, my typewriter, my cello, or..." or her companion. But she stops at that. "You would think if the Fox wants us to reach our potential she would provide us with more tools." But no, they're thrust here and told to make money by socializing. "I'm working towards earning the spoons to request them."

[savagegardens]

"A musician as well? We truly are well met. I was a singer, for a brief period of time," he says, trying his best not to be reminded of some of his darker philosophical conversations with Nicki. When his friend was in one of his more sombre, angry-at-the-world moods.

"Ah yes, the currency system here is intriguing. Paying for things with these spoons. I'm not certain what I would request from home, had I enough spoons to do so. A typewriter as well, perhaps. To chronicle my adventures here.

Although we both believe in eschewing societal conventions whenever possible, I do feel compelled to ask your name."

[woenesday]

"Why did you give it up?" Direct and to the point.

"The currency system is frustrating. Forcing us to interact for even basic necessities seems counter-productive to her alleged goals. People will always be left to wonder if the relationships they forge are genuine or simply a matter of one needing more spoons." Or perhaps she was just overly paranoid and reflecting her own motives. Ah, she can appreciate that he'd want a typewriter too though. He understands their superiority. "Most people have moved beyond typewriters." She hesitates for a second before offering up her name. "Wednesday."

[savagegardens]

"My first concert was a catastrophe, to say the very least. It lead to the death that I mentioned. It's all -- rather complicated. I was working on a book to tell that story, before I was pulled here.

Is that not always true, in some manner?" he asks, looking thoughtful. "We can never truly know what someone's motivations are for befriending us." Even telepathic abilities achieve messy results, at best, he's found.

"I like the feel of a typewriter. I've tried computers, which are all well and good, but there's something more satisfying about banging away on a typewriter. Or writing something out longhand. It feels more personal, that way."

It takes him a moment to realize that a name is being offered, and he gives a slight bow in return. "Wednesday, a pleasure. I am Lestat."

[woenesday]

"My first concert resulted in an explosion and the melting of a particularly hideous statue. Less impressive than a death." First concert with other people. Perhaps that was the real reason it was best to not try to force her to preform with others, in front of others, against her will.

"It is always true. Again, it's another truth most people would avoid looking at." Though, she certainly found herself appreciating that he seemed to see things that way. Most people would argue with her or insist that most people had genuine motivations. It was utterly exhausting having to listen to people like that. Particularly after her recent experience into the realm of falling for someone. No, after that she was never going to trust someone's motivations being genuine ever again. She'd been right all along to find people suspect.

She looked at him with a look of slight approval at his statement. "Precisely. It's the only way to tape into real creativity." An eyebrow quirks up at the bow. Interesting. "Are you always this formal, Lestat?"

[savagegardens]

He's been hurt too recently, too often to not be a little suspicious. Hopeful, perhaps, but also wary. Still, Wednesday seems interesting. And up front, at least, about her motivations for being social with him.

"I would say a melted statue is impressive. And I think it's less about the formality, and more that I'm a little old fashioned. Sometimes I forget myself and fall into old habits."

[woenesday]

"It did give me considerable satisfaction." Few people deserved their statue to be desecrated more than Crackstone. "We should have never been preforming in front of a statue to him." But some people were more concerned with appearances than acknowledging the truth.

"How old are you?"

[savagegardens]

"Twenty-one. Technically," he says with a crooked smile and a bit of a sly wink. "The higher powers where I'm from don't really want me sharing my actual age. One of those truths they believe people are unwilling or unable to cope with. But between the two of us, I'm closer to two hundred."

[woenesday]

"The higher powers hardly matter here." It wasn't as though they were here. It seemed the only higher Though her expression remains completely neutral at the admission. "People in your world don't know about outcasts then? I imagine that must make things easier."

[savagegardens]

"Outcasts? That's an interesting term for it. I've not heard that before. No, people in my world don't know about outcasts, unless they are one. We're meant to keep secret.

Which begs the question as to how you know about them."

[woenesday]

"We exist openly in my world. Psychics, sirens, werewolves, vampires, and much more all exist." Rather openly in some cases. "Nevermore Academy exists solely for us in a town full of normies who are well aware of what each of us are."

[savagegardens]

"What a novel concept. Existing out in the open. Since we're both outcasts, I might as well tell you that I am a vampire. May I ask -- if it's not too rude of course -- what sort of outcast you are?"

[woenesday]

"It causes more problems than good, but we shouldn't have to hide just to appease the baseless fears of normies." Were the fears entirely baseless? No, not really. But normies could be just as dangerous and psychotic as outcasts could. Everyone had the potential to be a villain, that was what it really boiled down to.

She hesitated just for a second as she judged if she wanted to fully reveal herself or not. He had and he seemed to have a fairly decent perspective on things. "Psychic. To be more precise I'm what we call a Raven. I see visions, but due to my ...disposition I only see darker things in them." She also had absolutely no control over them, but well, that didn't need to be admitted.

[savagegardens]

"It's a difficult life, having to hide in the shadows. Though it appears that here, some... aspects of ourselves are more difficult to hide than most." As if to prove his point, his tail swishes behind him, and he sighs with annoyance. "I still don't know how to control that thing.

But a psychic, how interesting. Sometimes one cannot help but see the darker things in life, I suppose."

[woenesday]

"Is it? I would think it easier than dealing with normies making it their undying mission to rid the world of your kind." But what would she know? There's just a flash of...an emotion that looks almost like envy as she glances at the tail. "There's no reason to hide it." If she had one she wouldn't. Alas, currently she'd only manifested rather disappointing claws that were hidden most of the time.

"Are there psychics in your world as well?"

[savagegardens]

"Perhaps for a psychic, yes. But when one cannot eat, drink, or go out during the daytime, it's a little more difficult to play pretend all the time.

I think there likely are. If vampires -- most of them, at least -- have telepathy, then I see no reason for psychics not to exist, as well."