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

[heypartner]

"If the fox decides you're a Myth, yeah, you might end up with horns." Cobb tilts his head towards Mando so he can get a closer look if he wants. They're not fake. They're genuinely growing from his temples like he's had them his whole life. "You might also get scales or claws. There's a lot of variation."

Cobb has yet to meet two Myths with the same traits. Everyone seems to be unique even if they're given the same title.

"If she decides you're a Familiar you can end up with horns or antlers and become that animal." Cobb rolls his eyes at all of the weird magical shit that happens in this world. It's nothing but bantha shit.

"Oh, most fun, there's no way home. We're stuck here." His smile is entirely sarcastic. There's no fun in this.

[foundlingfather]

Din gave a horns a good look over. Not the first time he's seen horns, many species in their world had them. However, humans typically did not. So they're definitely a strange sight. He's silently trying to place them.

"Horns...can be complicated for me." The helmet and all. The claws and scales, however? Might be easier to use. He's trying to process the idea of turning into some animal, when the whole thing of no way home comes out. Which gets a huff of annoyance.

"Dank farrick." He mutters. "Why are we here then?"

[heypartner]

"Yeah, these don't work with a bucket like that." Cobb would know. He used to wear the armor. Even a larger helmet provided by someone who'd been here awhile hadn't fit. There's nothing he can do about the horns besides have them and try not to crack them into things.

Mando's annoyance gets a little chuckle. Finally, someone who understands just how much bullshit this whole thing is. Well, someone he knows and trusts. Marc seemed to get it when they talked.

"To reach our full potential," Cobb says, tone significantly haughty. He snorts dismissively. "Not sure exactly what that means but that's what the fox is lookin' for. Us to grow and change. She'll test us too. Just went through one. Nothing as bad as a day on Tatooine but wasn't pleasant either."

[foundlingfather]

"When should I expect to get these...additions. Or find out if I'm one of these myths or familiars?" Din's never liked leaving things to chance. So the thought of leaving the whole thing to this fox, isn't sitting well with him.

But similarly, it's helping that he has at least one familiar face here. He huffs in annoyance at the whole reaching full potential. His hands coming to rest on his hips.

"Do these...tests usually involve burying people alive? With some sort of plants?" The cold shack, and robodogs he could deal with. But seeing someone sinking into what looked like solid ground was a whole other thing.

[heypartner]

"You could be a Legend, Mando. Don't sell yourself short." Cobb could see the fox settling on that for him. Mando did plenty of heroic things and a few of them were selfless. He was more a hero than Cobb had ever been. "I had my traits right away. Guess I'm less mysterious than you. Give it a few days. Somethin' will happen."

Something always happened around here. It's not dangerous like Tatooine is dangerous but the place isn't as peaceful as it first appears. Cobb's learning the rhythms and the risks involved in living here. It hasn't been very long.

"Could involve anything from what I know. Last one I was trapped living the same day over and over again. Lasted five before somethin' broke me out of it. Before that there was an ice palace and some sort of lantern festival." Cobb's pretty sure it was meeting Marc and getting his help. That's the sort of act the fox liked. Still made him restless being forced to know people. "When new folks start to arrive things get a bit weird. All this magical banthashit just happens. No warning."

[foundlingfather]

"...what additions do Legends get?" The idea of being a legend isn't the most comfortable to Din. While he'd done some pretty heroic things. To him, it was just what he needed to do, to get things done. Plus, the last time anyone actually called him a Legend, was Karga, which was two years ago. His helmet tilts as he listens to Cobb's stories.

"I woke up in a cold shack. With another person. I didn't like being in it." Something felt completely wrong about being in the shack. Something Din's not used to feeling. "Outside was some kind of transport. That was pulled by robotic dogs. That regularly needed to be...wound back up."

[heypartner]

"From what I've seen wings mostly. And shiny bits around their head." Cobb might be a little jealous of the wings. He does miss the days when he can fly and he knows some folks can do that with theirs. The horns really seem lacking after seeing folks like that. "Their eyes can change color too. One guy I met could do that. He didn't have wings though."

Didn't take much to figure out Jayce was a Legend though. Cobb talked with him for about two minutes and put that one together. He was just so damn genuinely nice, a rare thing on Tatooine. Eager to help too.

Cobb huffs out a breath. "Yeah, this place will play with your emotions like that. The answer always seems to be stick with another person. The fox likes us to make bonds and socialize."

He shoots Mando a rueful smile. "You'll do great with your winning smile."