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

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel's smirk becomes an interested, curious half-smile. They've slept together yes but only a handful of times. "I'd more than give you a kiss," Mel mutters. Perhaps those crocuses have left her tongue a little looser when it comes to the happier side of things. Perhaps it's simply that being with Jayce is the first truly relaxed moment in Folkmore.

"Thank you," Mel says and accepts the pouch with great respect and care. She holds it to her chest, and her eyes look down, remaining on the small pouch carrying such a heavy burden. It may be physically light, but it has the chest, as well as Jayce's hammer and whatever else he deemed important enough to carry at all times. She nods in response to his question.

Immediately, Jayce picks her up with complete ease because no matter that he is a councilor and a scientist trained at the academy, he comes from a family known for building hammers, for working in the forge, and he is built like it. Mel cradles the pouch with one hand and reaches to wrap the other arm around his neck. That's when she gets the view of Jayce's wings. Her first astonished impression is the brilliant golden color, outlining the framework that fills with light. It reminds her of Solnari artwork, of solar magic. The idea that Jayce's form in Folkmore would be so in line with her father's sect takes her aback. A few seconds later, his feet off the ground, already flying them toward the tent he spoke of, Mel notices that they are butterfly wings—a delicate creature for a man built like a Noxian.

Her arm settles around Jayce's neck because it doesn't seem in the way, but Mel continues to watch his wings as they fly. "Jayce, they're so beautiful. Your wings are incredible," Mel says.

[defenderoftomorrow]

Sex is rarely the first thing on Jayce's mind, but there's no denying that Mel, and he had a fantastic time together. He wants to be with her in all possible ways, and he's a sucker for physical affection, so Mel's 'more than a kiss' comment earns her an interested look.

Jayce waits until she gets a good hold on both the pouch and his neck to flap the wings and take flight. In a matter of seconds they gets high enough that any nearby creature can't catch or try to attack them, but not so much that the air would get too cold and be unpleasant to Mel. She weighs less than his hammer, and being a Legend gives Jayce enhanced strength, so keeping a stable flight isn't too difficult.

Head tilting slightly at the mention of his wings, Jayce starts to fight another smile but then doesn't bother. Instead, he murmurs a soft but heartfelt 'Thank you' and holds her tighter. Butterfly wings are something he feels is too delicate for him, and they made him somewhat self-conscious at the beginning. Seeing the way she stares at them makes Jayce feel all warm inside.

"Once we land, and things calm down, you're free to touch them and study them for as long as you want. You should have a pair of wings of your own, too. If I am not mistaken, you are a legend like me. Do you remember the fox talking about it?"

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel rests her chin on Jayce's shoulder so she can watch Jayce's wings as they fly. They truly are remarkable, like something out of the very scrolls in the chest within the pouch she holds against her. Unreasonably, that makes Mel happy. The magic is not from Runeterra, it's from Folkmore. It isn't solar magic but that which comes from roles. Mel knows all that, but she cannot deny the way Jayce's wings look and how it makes her feel—that they match, that they are similar, that in a small way, this confirms that they belong together.

"I would like that, Jayce," Mel says softly, "I'd like to paint them. To paint you with them." Once she has art supplies.

"The fox told me I was a Legend when she explained everything," Mel says, "Her explanations were both simple and cryptic, much like my father's lessons. I am unsure whether I must earn my wings, whether they shall manifest on their own over time, whether they shall come as part of some trial, or whether her words meant something altogether different. It is easy to make assumptions and hard to parse out exact meaning from a being you do not know about powers you have previously never heard of from a land you've never visited."

She smiles. "They will come, Jayce." Because Mel forges her own destiny.

[defenderoftomorrow]

He tilts his head toward her briefly, his cheek rubbing against Mel's in a brief gesture of affection. Jayce has counted the times he's seen her smile, smile for real, both here and in Piltover. It's happened far too few times, and that's why he treasures her real smiles when they happen. If his wings bring her happiness, if painting them is something Mel would enjoy, who is Jayce to deny it? It makes him a little self-conscious, he's never been anyone's model, but he won't tell her no.

"Then you will. I have some drawing supplies at home, but not the paints you usually use. I'll get them for you." He wants to show her what Epiphany and the rest of Folkmore have to offer, but first things first. Turning towards their left, Jayce speeds up when he sees the tents in the distance, small figures moving around.

"I don't think you could have been anything else. All roles are important in their own way, but Legends represent kindness and selflessness. Protectiveness as well. And yes, the wings will come."

The issue Jayce had with his wings at first is that he had trouble hiding them, not with the summoning aspect. Mel being Mel —hardworking, stubborn Mel— will have fewer problems. He can't wait to see how they look.

It doesn't take them long to reach their destination, and it hasn't been a minute since Jayce landed that little chipmunks and squirrels were moving toward them to assist the newcomers. Jayce gently places Mel on the ground but keeps an arm around her waist as they move towards the tent offering healing aid.

A little later, once he's sure she will be safe, Jayce will leave to find her some clean clothes, and return to instead find Mel gone. Before he has the chance to panic or wonder if he has been dreaming it all, he gets a message from Viktor letting him know where they are. Relief eases Jayce's worries, so much that he only huffs once in frustration at being left behind. Then he heads to the lab, choosing to fly there to get to the building sooner.