folkooc | February 2023 Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

*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

"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."

"Here I am, just a run of the mill gun for hire. Probably couldn't get served by them then, huh?"

He's not exactly sure what he's looking for, having not really cooked before. But he manages to find some tequila and oh boy that's a pleasant surprise.

"Score!"

"Honestly, I don't even know what happened to them after Jadow's collapse. Saw their old boss a few times, but none of them were with her."

He grabs a can of minced meat and gives it an unimpressed look.

"Better than nothing...and I thought we were looking for food, Dante."

"Shooting down an owl is better than whatever that is."

As for the comment on the tequila, Dante just laughs and takes it in stride. "Never hurts to lubricate a little, right?"

Especially after you've spent weeks in Hell.

"Can't argue about the owl part. At least then we'd actually know what part of the animal the meat came from..."

He shakes his head and tosses the can aside to go looking for something better.

"But if you get drunk and pass out, I'm not gonna stop those chipmunks from nesting in your hair."

"What?" Dante looks alarmed. "You think they would?" He pats down his hair with his free hand, the one not holding onto the bottle. "It's not that much of a rat's nest... just a little uncombed."

Yeah, he's not getting over this mental image right now.

"Try a lot uncombed. You do remember how much I had the wind whipping around out there, right?"

Alastor, for his part, looks amused. The mental image of Dante with a bunch of adorable rodents sleeping in his hair is honestly hilarious.

Dante tries running his fingers through his hair, but it only helps a little. He pouts, then, wondering if he should be looking for a comb instead.

"Not fair."

"Not my fault you need a haircut. That, or something to tie it up with."

He grabs a bag of jerky, hums over it for a moment, then grabs a handful out and tosses the bag to Dante.

"Something to chew on until we find real food."

"I kinda like it like this. So maybe I'll tie it back."

He catches the bag and looks pretty grateful. He, immediately, takes a bite of some of it.

"Hey, this isn't bad."

"It's alright, but it has the texture of an old boot."

Not that it stops him from chewing on some. His teeth aren't properly carnivorous in this form, but jaw strength is plenty enough to make up for it for just biting off a hunk of overly dry meat.

"I wouldn't know, I've never chowed down on an old boot."

Many had tried to make him kiss their boots, but he always managed to make them pay for the offense. Chewing thoroughly on the jerky, he starts looking around for food again.

"...maybe we should shoot something down. Doesn't seem to be anything great in here."

At this point, he'd eat it after all.

"It's called a figure of speech, chewing on leather sounds disgusting."

He runs a hand over his helmet and grabs another can to peer at the label.

"Well, there's some canned soups...not great, but better than minced mystery meat."

"Oh yeah? I haven't had soup since I was little."

He recognizes this sort of thing is bad, now. But that doesn't mean he can change the past - only what he eats next.

"I'm game."

He's trying not to show that he's touched that someone is actually willing to cook for him. It hasn't happened since his mom.

"I think I saw some bowls...think you can look for spoons? And a ladle, if there's one around."

He grabs another can of soup for himself, wrapping it in his tail to free up a hand so he can grab a pair of bowls and set them in a small pot.

"Yeah, sure."

Dante hunts for them, finding them easier to search out than the actual food. That was kinda funny, to him anyway. Coming back and presenting the spoons and ladle to Alastor, he looks proud to be helping.

It's the little things.

He nods and gestures out toward the fire. The heater is enough to keep the inside of the tent cozy, but he'll want some more direct heat for this.

"Thanks. You can hold onto the spoons and bowls for now, I'll just need the pot and ladle. And the soups, of course."

This time, there's definitely a small smile on his face. His demeanor is completely different from his earlier anger.

"Do you like cooking?" He takes ahold of the bowls like he was ordered to, keeping them along with the spoons. "You seem calmer."

It's enough to note, something that Dante wouldn't miss at all.

He pauses, then shrugs and hangs the pot on a hook over the fire.

"I think I just like doing mundane things in general. It's a nice change of pace, you know? Compared to everything I grew up with, not to mention what I saw on Mallet."

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