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Entry tags:
February 2023 Test Drive Meme
FEBRUARY 2023 TDM
INTRODUCTION
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.
Content Warnings: extreme weather
the time is near
in from the snow
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.
Content Warnings: Fungus, spores, live burial, mental confusion and hallucinations.
putting roots in my dreamland
coast is clear
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.
well hello stranger
She just has an enormous angel-shaped blind spot.
And she must. Tell. This fellow.
About it. In excruciating detail. She MUST. Because of how HAPPY SHE IS. ]
I promised! I promised I would become her squire, when the war ended, to repay her....but my enemies captured me, and put me to the stake. I took many lives, so that's only natural - but you see, if I too am an angel -
[ Her wings flutter at the mere notion. She doesn't quite lift off the ground but she's in somewhat grave danger of doing so. ]
- if I have made it to the heavenly realm, we're sure to find each other again! And then I can repay her, for eternity! In PARADISE!!
[ She thrusts the flower at him, having finished her speech. This flower is so beautiful, yet she wishes not to keep it - she has so much happiness and goodness and wonder already, even for Heaven. It's selfish to want to hoard that. She'd much rather give beautiful things to others. ]
Would you like this?
no subject
[ He'd stopped to look at the wind-up dogs. They were nice, he supposed, if he had to have an opinion about them. But this squire's exuberance is so overwhelming and bright that he politely takes the flower.
And something in his expression softens, quieting the voice in his head telling him to leave. He awkwardly thrusts his coat at her, not that he has much insulation himself...but a turtleneck helps some.
(Gee it sure would help if he noticed that convenient stack of winter coats nearby. Some things are just too distracting, huh.) ]
You can't serve your angel as a popsicle. Come on, let's get out of here.
[ He starts toward the sled, knowing nothing about sledding but not letting that bother him. The dogs seem eager enough...oh, and there's another flower. He crouches and touches it, the ghost of a smile crossing his face. ]
It'll be easier to find her from a safer place, right?
no subject
[ Even through her elation she knows that much. She hurries after him, to drape the coat back over his shoulders now that he is, you know, in draping range. She does not know what a pup sickle is (the only pups around are those peculiar metal dogs), nor does she wish to be ungrateful, yet she can't have him troubling himself on her account. ]
You are very kind.....
no subject
[ He lifts his head and turns, and from this low angle...huh, what's that over there? He rises up and circles back toward the sled, now noticing the convenient pile of winter gear. ]
Then we split these. Don't think it'll be a short trip.
[ He'll sort through coats and gloves and hats, gesturing for her to get first pick. ]
no subject
[ You're not going to convince her otherwise, not this soon after receiving wings and a halo. Sorry.
Her companion and she are different enough sizes that Jeannette doesn't mind going first for the gear, making sure to set aside everything that seems larger for him. For herself, a coat and.....what well-made gloves! What are all these fabrics....? A scarf, she can recognize....
It takes her a bit to fold her wings up under the coat, and a bit more to figure out the zipper (what a clever device!), but she's a bright girl despite /gestures to all of her. She doesn't need help learning how it works.
Cramming a hat with ear flaps on to complete the ensemble, her halo floating stubbornly above it, she looks rather comic. But also well protected. Thank you for your consideration in leaving these, whoever you were! May God bless you. The strange new fabrics retain heat much better than what she's accustomed to. (Perhaps she can learn to make them, as she learned to spin and weave back home. It would be lovely to make clothing that could keep people so protected.)
By the time he's done, she's petting a robo-dog. They've surrounded her and seem quite taken with her Pure Aura, as befits an impossibly shoujo heroine. ]
Are you quite warm?
no subject
His favorite coat is draped over the sled, and he circles around to his companion. ]
Warm enough. I guess we're sledding out of here.
[ It's a bit of a tight fit on the sled, but they'll manage. He pats a few of the robo-dogs on his way, and settles down. ]
Do you happen to have any sledding experience?
no subject
[ is there a magnet inside seto kaiba that attracts short people with boundless confidence? ]
no subject
[ He waits for her to settle on the sled, and he'll let her take the first crack at commanding them. They seem eager to go. ]
It shouldn't be easy to end up somewhere worse.
no subject
The crocus she tucks behind an ear for safekeeping, and as she takes her position on the sled, she asks: ]
What is an "automobiiiiii"- iiiiiii!
[ That part's where the dogs, who definitely do have a destination in mind, surge forward. BORK BORK! ROBORK! WE LOVE TO R U N!!!! ]
no subject
The word means 'automatic motor vehicle'. If you charge an automobile with energy, like...like winding up the keys on these dogs' backs, they can move on their own without being pulled by live animals. But on my world, they were mostly enclosed, like...have you seen horse-drawn coaches before?
The coach would drive itself without having to tire out horses.
no subject
Oh, so you're a coachman! [ He'd said he "drove", so it sounds like even if automobiles can move on their own, they require someone to tell them where to go, just like horses do. ] How exciting! Did you serve a great lord?
no subject
Where I'm from, everyone is their own coachman. I actually paid someone to do that work for me at times, but I could've driven myself.
I was my own lord.
no subject
[ ....But the dogs are slowing. As Person in Charge of Looking After The Dogs (and also Person who Just Plain Cares About Other Living Beings), this is troubling. Jeannette peers down the road, to see whether anything might be distracting or disturbing them. ]
no subject
[ Ah, France....but wait. This isn't good. The dogs soon slow to a stop, and Kaiba hops off to walk over to them. Do those keys on their backs have anything to do with it? He turns one to see, and the dog immediately bounces up and borks again. ]
Oh. They really are wind-up toys. Automobiles don't usually need this much work.
[ He circles around to start winding them all up. He can't let them all freeze. ]
no subject
[ Simple enough. Jeannette hops off the sled to help with winding up dogs, patting them and thanking them for their hard work so far. Let's keep it up! ]
no subject
[ He finishes down his half of the line, then circles back once they all seem to be in working order. Maybe a few pets too, if they like that sort of thing. ]
What do you think is waiting for us once we get to wherever we're...going?
[ He's curious about her ideas on the whole 'heaven' thing. ]
no subject
[ If it were easy to put into words, it wouldn't be Heaven! ]
But there will be joy....and grace.....and bliss eternal. And if we are truly blessed....
[ A faint little smile. A giggle.
He knows about the angel, though, and she must not think or speak only of herself. ]
--Is there anyone you hope awaits you?