folkooc | February 2023 Test Drive Meme

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*tdm

February 2023 Test Drive Meme

FEBRUARY 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]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Still doesn't exactly seem ideal. Can't imagine you'd get the best shave with something that bulky."

He leans back to stretch out on the ground, upper body propped up on his elbows and feet pointed toward Dante. They're kind of muddy, he'll have to do something about that before going into one of the tents.

"Why do you think I look so bad? It's all I had access to in Hell and it didn't really work."

He notes the casual form that Alastor is taking. Does this mean they're better off in whatever relationship they have than he realized? Maybe actually apologizing and promising to do better did something?

Huh, he'd have to consider doing so to others in the future. In the meantime, he sticks to sitting - he wants to be as close to the fire as possible without actually catching on fire.

"I'd say it sounds like Mundus ran the place into the ground, but there weren't exactly a ton of civilized areas in my day, either. Can't say I envy you...I'm not exactly eager for a proper homecoming."

He doubts his old home is even still intact anymore, for one. For another, he'd only be slightly less unwelcome there than Dante himself.

"What wasn't torn up by Mundus' antics was fucked over by the Qliphoth. It really doesn't look great there anymore."

He smirks.

"Plus, Vergil and I got rid of a buncha demons down there."

"If it was anything like last time, that tree sprouting would've brought all kinds of brutes out of the woodwork, so...not exactly surprised it's a mess."

He stretches out his wings, shifting his weight to one arm so he can idly poke at the feathers along the top of it. Having them definitely feels weird.

"Not surprised you've had to kill a lot of demons, either. Between stragglers hoping they can be the one to get the tree fruiting again, and loyalists looking to stamp out the bloodline of an infamous traitor, the surprise would be if you had more than a moment or two's rest."

"I don't think I've slept since I went back to Hell in the first place. Hey, maybe that's why you think I look bad? That's a long while without sleep."

It just didn't really impact him, considering his demon side. Besides, after you sleep for a month, you don't want to do it again for a long time.

Dante watches Alastor poke at his feathers, and thinks to examine his more closely as well. But the way he does it instead is by plucking a feather right off. It's only a temporary ouch.

"Maybe. Demons don't need as much sleep as humans, but you are only half. Not sure this is a great place for a nap, though, considering those mushroom things running around out there."

He winces slightly at the sight of Dante plucking a feather. Though the pain wouldn't phase him either, his own pride as a winged devil makes it hard to watch.

Yeah, he's not gonna be taking a nap here at all. Maybe once they get to a more safe place. But he'll stay awake as long as possible to figure this new world out.

"...did this bother you?" Dante waves the feather at Alastor. "It's not like it really hurt."

"I told you, my wings are my best feature."

He sits up to spread them out properly, even enlarging them to show them off.

"Seeing someone treat theirs so roughly is painful on principle, even if they aren't half as beautiful as mine."

"Okay, but if you show them off so much, you're gonna catch them on fire."

Dante thinks that'd be funny, but he's not going to say that. Not after they just made up.

"You might not think they're so beautiful then."

He glances at the fire and shrugs with a chuckle.

"That? Please, it takes a lot worse than that to hurt me. Should tell you about the time I got into a wrestling match with a guy whose entire body was covered in magical fire. That's the sort of thing it takes to leave a mark."

"Sounds pretty fun, actually."

Yes, that's all Dante got out of that.

"Eh, might have been if he hadn't landed on me when we fell. He's not one to underestimate, I'd even say he's close to being my equal."

And the fuel he'd added to his mane beforehand had done a good job of closing that gap. It had done serious damage...but he's not about to admit that.

"Didn't get a chance for a proper fight against him in a more sturdy arena, though. Last I saw, he went sulking off into a blizzard after having to give his brother a trouncing."

"What? What a weenie. Brother fighting is fun."

Maybe the most fun you can have outside sex and pizza! But he doubts Alastor would know much about either of those things.

He tests the feather out on his finger, trying to see if it's just subtly sharp or sharp enough to cut. He looks delighted when it draws blood.

"Eh...probably less fun when he's wrecking your girlfriend's castle, or when you don't know what shape he's in after. The whole thing was kind of messy."

He raises an eyebrow at the way the feather cuts Dante's finger. It's likely unsurprising that his eyes seem to be focused on that blood.

"I guess that does sound messy."

Dante raises his eyebrows back at Alastor, not even trying to suppress a smirk.

"You can't have any more of this until you make me food."

"Heh...fair enough. Let's hope there's a grocery store around here, huh? Unless you want grilled owl."

Not that grilled owl sounds entirely unappetizing to him, but herd animals do tend to be much more tender and juicy than carnivores.

"We probably shouldn't shoot down a bird, right? Considering we've got feathers too."

Well, something about the logic made sense to Dante, anyway. Not that he could defend it if asked to.

"Maybe there's something more than snacks in the tents?"

"Boy can I tell you grew up around humans. In the underworld, you eat what you can get."

He pushes himself to his feet and stretches his arms. His tail swishes idly behind his legs.

"One of the reasons I prefer the human world, to be honest. It's a lot easier to eat what you want, instead of having to hope something tasty happens to be wandering around the day's hunting grounds."

"I definitely ate some gross things in Hell. I feel bad for whatever your diet was before you crossed to the human world."

Maybe he just wanted something good for once!

"But hey, I'm not gonna complain about whatever you score up."

He pushes to his own feet as well.

"I definitely wouldn't give up a good burger for my old diet, I'll say that much."

He pauses to scrape some of the mud caked on his boots off onto the grass.

"Plus, if there's such a thing as demonic chocolate, I never found it."

"I gorge myself on chocolate once a year. Always get a bit of a baby belly from it, but it's only temporary."

See, look! He can eat something other than pizza! As for the mud on his own boots, he follows the cue to scrape it off his own. No need to track it inside the tents, after all.

"You should see some of the cakes I got to have while I was gone. The group I was part of for a while basically had their own butlers, and those guys were wizards in the kitchen."

The biankies might have been lousy as villainous minions, but they were great housekeepers. It's even their constant complaints that's drilled into him not to track mud indoors...even if 'indoors' is just inside a tent.

"Don't lie, who's better in the kitchen - them or you?"

He steps inside one of the tents and starts rummaging around for food.

"Them, hands down."

He shrugs as he ducks into the tent to do the same.

"I can take care of myself pretty well, but they could've run a gourmet restaurant if they weren't busy getting their butts kicked by superheroes."

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