February 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

FEBRUARY 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]

SPRING BREAKS LOOSE

Content Warnings: extreme weather

the time is near

The earth is awakening.

You are aware of this fact before consciousness truly returns. One minute you were a falling star but as your body reforms you can sense the freshness of spring just around the corner. In your minds eye you can see circling birds in the sky, feel the first warm breeze of the season, and hear icicles melting into crystal puddles.

But something isn't right.

The moment you are truly awake you find yourself in what could generously be described as a shack built in the snowy wasteland of Wintermute. You and another Star Child are at least being kept warm by an electric heater, but there really isn't much in the way of amenities otherwise. More disturbingly, the entire shack has a deeply oppressive aura to it, encouraging the pair of you to leave as soon as you can.

But where can you possibly go?

Stepping outside reveals the answer, as parked not far from the shed is a dogsled, complete with warm winter gear to protect you from the cold.

The dogs themselves are the real marvels; not flesh and blood, the sled dogs are in fact automatons. The winter sun reflects off of their silver and copper bodies and the steady tick of their inner workings breaks the chilly silence. Each dog has a key sticking out of its back, turning slowly.

The oppressive sense you felt in the shack continues to grow. Your thoughts begin to turn negative: sad, paranoid, fearful. It is quite unbearable... until your eye falls on a delicate splash of purple against the snow.

Close to the dogsled, a single crocus pokes out of the ground.

The very sight of it calms you down. Picking it will make you feel happy, and you will find yourself blurting out the first pleasant memory that comes to mind.

The robodogs bark, delighted, encouraging you to climb aboard the sled and look for more of those flowers!

Every crocus you collect will make you feel positive emotions and the urge to share good personal moments with your companion. The more you find, the happier you will be... and you might get quite close to a total stranger as a result as well!

in from the snow

While you are out and about, you'll want to keep an eye on your team of dogs - they can and will lose power after a point. Your job as a good dog driver is to keep them wound up! Yes, you'll have to stop and physically wind the dogs back up when they lose steam.

You are likely to discover weapons jutting up from the snow. These are all unenchanted items, basic swords, guns, shields, etc., but the second you pull them from the snow the weather will take a turn for the worse. You may even be subject to a sudden avalanche! Hopefully you got the dogs wound up enough that they can get you out of there without any damage!

Eventually the dogs will choose to take you to Akhlut Station in Wintermute where you can catch the train somewhere a little warmer.

BUT SO DOES FEAR

Content Warnings: Fungus, spores, live burial, mental confusion and hallucinations.

putting roots in my dreamland

Willow is definitely warmer than Wintermute. The tail end of winter means that while much of the farmland is still blanketed in snow, the more wooded areas have large clear patches beneath the conifers. The ground here is damp and rich smelling. Poking out of the soil are tiny white mushrooms. These fungi glisten wetly, strangely compelling in their little rings of earth. You just want to take a closer look... maybe have a seat under the conifers and listen to the snow melt...

The mushrooms enchant anyone who gets close to them into simply staying put. They cloud the mind, leaving you in a dimly pleasant haze, while your body sinks slowly into the earth. The longer you stay, the more you sink - maybe a passerby can come and pull you out! If you don't wind up suffocated by dirt you will find that your head clears on its own once night falls. You will probably still need a hand pulling yourself out of the ground, but at least now you know what's going on.

The woods at night are not still - there are mice and owls and the usual nocturnal critters. There is also something else, something that moves slowly beneath the trees checking the mushroom traps. About eight feet tall, this lanky creature resembles a human skeleton held together by muscles and tendons of moss and fungus. Its head is a huge mushroom cap, underneath from which glitter a pair of bright blue eyes. If it finds any unfortunates stuck in the traps without anyone to help them, it will push their heads beneath the soil and hold them there until they die.

The sight of this creature inspires feelings of disorientation and hopelessness. These feelings are lessened when you are in close physical proximity with another Star Child, so it is to your advantage to stick together. The mushroom creature's objective remains the same: to feed the living earth with your body.

The creature is not particularly tough - its flesh is soft and gives way easily. You can defeat it easily with weapons or even your fists provided you can get close enough without succumbing to the disorientation and hopeless feelings. Oh, and you may not want to hit it on the head...

The mushroom cap, when struck, showers spores everywhere. These spores burn if they land on your skin, and if they get in your eyes they cause vivid hallucinations of ghostly figures reaching for you, trying to immobilize you. These hallucinations are so real that it is likely you will act as if they are real, standing still as if you are restrained.

If you defeat the mushroom creature, it will dissolve into the ground and leave in its place a wooden chest. Inside each of you will find some canon clothes and/or an item from your homeworlds.

coast is clear

Not far from the forest treeline, a bonfire burns merrily in the center of a circle of light green tents. The tents are kept warm by portable heaters, with some containing food and drink, and others offering small packs of seeds as gifts. These seeds are for common earth flowers and vegetables. One of the tents provides first aid supplies, in case you got roughed up fighting a giant mushroom or something.

The tents are staffed by squirrels and chipmunks. Just plain old ordinary squirrels and chipmunks. They don't speak - only chitter and occasionally screech - but they will help as best as their tiny paws allow.

This is a good time to recover, and also to talk to any other Star Children you may see.

Comments

[owedadance]

Oh.

[She's not exactly sure how to address that. She's very much alive back home. At least, she's rather sure now that she's aware that this isn't some strange dream or nightmare or something else.

But the reverse of situations is ironic and a bit painful. Not even in another reality is she allowed to be with Steve.]

The war has been over for a year. I've been working for the SSR as an agent since V-E Day.

[mightysmall]

That's great! [ He's genuinely glad to hear the war is over in her universe. There are days it feels like it'll never end. Hopefully, that's not something that'll be different for him. ] Give it another year and you'll be running the SSR.

[ Because clearly, the best person to take that over is Peggy Carter, no question. ]

I don't know what's going to happen to me after the war. Probably go with Howard and test suits of armor for him. Or maybe finally be a professional artist. [ He shrugs his shoulders. ] I'll figure that out when the war ends.

[owedadance]

Yes, it is nice that the war is over. [However, what she's lost to the Axis powers is far more than she's willing to admit. Especially when she'd finally made moves to start living her life and moving on after losing Steve.] I'm not certain that that's the case. It would appear that being a woman is more of a problem for returned GIs than anyone is willing to admit.

[She won't let it stop her, of course, but it will take longer than the year he's giving her.]

It might even take three years.

[She looks at Steve and shakes her head.]

Do me a favor. If you return, make sure you tell him to get better security for his "bad babies". And find out if he has some Captain Carter's blood.

[mightysmall]

Uh, sure, I can do that. The Army has her blood. She told me they drew a lot of it during her first medical examination. Called herself a pin cushion. [ They had a lot of talks in the gym while he was going through his physical therapy. That shot had done a lot of damage to him. ]

But if someone needs to keep an eye on Howard I can do that. We're pretty good friends.

[owedadance]

The Army is hardly the least of yours or hers problems. I remember being here when they drew a lot of Steve's blood. What I didn't know was that Howard palmed some of it after the serum was administered. Something tells me that he wouldn't change his ways with the switch in rolls.

[And she nearly died getting Steve's back, for obvious reasons. And she would do it again.]

Ah, do you know Mr Jarvis? He's a very stereotypical English butler in many ways, but working for Howard has made him a bit more interesting.

[mightysmall]

That does sound like Howard. [ He huffs out a breath, nodding slightly. ] I'll make sure to talk to him when I get back. I can't promise I can keep him from doing something reckless but I'll try.

No, I don't anyone by that name.

[owedadance]

I wish you luck with that. Knowing him, you'll need it.

And hopefully you do meet Edwin Jarvis. He's probably the only person that can be around Howard without sometimes wanting to strangle him. Though, I must admit that I didn't meet him until recently myself.

[mightysmall]

Yeah, he's a lot but he didn't give up on me just because I didn't get the serum. He found a way for me to fight.

That's possible?

[owedadance]

[Peggy lets out a laugh at Steve's question.]

He's very well paid to feel that way. Besides, Howard's not all bad, as you know.

And Mr Jarvis has a life outside of Howard, so I suppose that helps keep his temper.

[mightysmall]

No, he's not all bad. He's just a really big personality and that can be hard to take all the time.

I'm glad Howard's got a friend like that.

[owedadance]

He can be a bit much when he's attempting to flirt, certainly, but he's a good man. And a good friend.

Sometimes.

I'm glad that Howard has a mature person to keep him in line. I feel like that would be a full time position.