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Entry tags:
January 2023 Test Drive Meme
JANUARY 2023 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: mood altering substances.
hot chocolate
winter games
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.
Content Warnings: potential monster fights.
sing your life
poetry in lights
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.
no subject
"A mile." Is that a space mile or...? She doesn't voice her question out of not wanting to be rude but there is a certain doubtful look. How long is this mile? Can she trust what the townspeople have to offer? "Thank you." She thinks she can walk that distance as long as there are no more snow monsters.
"My name is Kate, by the way."
no subject
It's a little strange not to introduce himself with the title but being Marshal is meaningless here. There's no law enforcement that he can figure out. No real crime either. Folks are just kind to each other and trust. It doesn't sit easy with him, that sort of peace. Feels false.
"You need someone to walk with you?" he asks, taking her hesitation as fear. It's not a brightly lit path back and the shadows can look like monsters in the trees. He's still getting used to trees in general.
no subject
She shakes her head. "Thank you but no. I can make it." Would she like someone to walk with? Yes. Is she too stubborn to ask for that assistance? Yes, which means that once she gets to town she's going to have a hard time asking for help. It's her problem to figure out.
She turns and is about to start heading in the pointed out way but stops. She turns her attention back to Cobb. "I know this is going to be a weird question but you did you see any snow monsters along the way? Or hear them?"
no subject
If he'd known kidnapping had been the plan he wouldn't have agreed to the whole business of reaching his full potential.
He raises an eyebrow at her question. "Can't say I did. Don't know what snow monsters should sound like though. Don't have snow back home."
No snow. No water. Just sand and the creatures that live in it. Cobb can name most Tatooine predators by their calls but anything involving snow is beyond him.
no subject
"I was chased by one," she says. "It was very big and ominous looking." Well, as ominous as a big mound of snow that's chasing someone can be. "I finally lost it. I'm not eager to run into another one." When she had gotten back to the safety of the singing. Losing it had involved running as best she could through the snow. She had fallen a few times. That is why she looks so disheveled.
"You don't have snow? Are you from a jungle or desert planet? How many moons do you have?"
no subject
People seem to be coming and going to this festival without a problem. Cobb didn't see any danger on his way here and he'd just been casually walking around. Didn't think anything of a danger in this place with a bunch of rabbits and hot chocolate.
"Don't think you should be walkin' back alone if there's a beast out there." Cobb takes a second look around the festival. He doesn't have his blaster but he's a true scavenger. He can find and make a weapon from just about anything. If there's anything worth making a weapon from.
no subject
"I don't know. I didn't see it before or after I heard the singing. And to be fair, I had gotten myself a little lost." A little? That is something of a fib. "I only found my way here with help."
She wonders what he's looking for. She doesn't see anything immediately useful to her or his situation. Maybe Vanth had abilities that she simply does not have.
"Oh. I don't think you have to do that. I think the monsters are a long ways off from here."
no subject
The only useful weapon he can think of in this pleasant little festival are the sparklers which compel someone to write. He would rather it didn't compel anything. A burning hot stick of magnesium to the eye would discourage most creatures when they attacked.
"You remember how big they were?" he asks. Maybe one of the hanging bits of ice could do it? He's not sure how strong ice is though. They did make a building out of it. Maybe it could be a weapon. Would it work on a creature made of snow, though?
no subject
"It was a lot taller than I was. It moved slow too. It also made a thwumping noise as it moved. I heard it more than I saw it."
no subject
Will he always say something smart? That's up for debate.
"Look, we'll start walkin' together," he says, jerking his chin in the direction of the town. "If you hear it, we'll deal with it."
He flexes the fingers of his prosthetic. It's calibrated to normal human strength but he doesn't really feel pain with it. He could use it in a fight a lot longer than a flesh and blood arm.
"Take a couple of the sparklers with us and a lamp so we can see." And in a pinch, Cobb figures he can write fast and stab after. Maybe he'll just forget how to write all together. Happens sometimes since he learned late in life.
no subject
"I'll get the lantern." She goes and gets one of the lanterns and holds it by its handle. She can feel the warmth radiating upwards and it helps to thaw out her hand and bring some feeling back.
She's not going to touch the sparklers, not yet. She doesn't like the idea of what she might write, even if he can't read it others may. At least she can't read what Vanth writes, she'll let him handle those instead.
no subject
It'll have to do. Cobb's gotten by on less. At least he doesn't try to write another word since he's already written the one.
"Come on then, we'll wander our way back." At least the road is clear to the town. Cobb walked it to get here. He'll remember how to walk it back.
no subject
"I'm ready when you are."
She holds the lantern aloft as they head back. It casts a little light around it. They are fortunate that the night is so clear and the moon and stars provide enough lighting to see.
"So..."
no subject
"So? What? You got more questions for me?" Cobb figures that's it or that she wants to talk about the snow creatures so more.
Either way, the door is open now if she wants to talk. He may or may not answer her questions but that she'll figure out eventually. Cobb doesn't mind a good conversation but he isn't about to tell a stranger all his secrets. No point in that.
no subject
no subject
It was cold. Colder than a Tatooine night and those were bitter and sharp compared to the burning heat of the day. There was also snow which was a completely foreign experience. He had ideas about water, snow, and ice but he'd never interacted with them before.
"It seems like a quiet place with a few dangers," he says more seriously as he scans the horizon. "Don't trust the surface. You never know what's buried under the sand."
He kicked a bit of snow. "Or in this case, the earth."
no subject
Kate certainly feels cold. The walking is helping and the lantern that she holds helps her hands at least. However, she is no warmer for moving. She thinks her clothing is going to freeze on her or at least that's what it feels like.
"That's good advice. When I arrived here, bunnies were giving out hot chocolate. I couldn't trust that."
no subject
"Nothin' wrong with it," Cobb shrugged. "Had a few cups to keep warm. Gotta balance that paranoia and survival."
He was wary of the place, looking for the threat under the surface but he didn't think this was the sort of place to drug the food and water. Not like back home. This was the sort of place to stab you in the back while smiling at you. That was the sense Cobb got from it.
no subject