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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.
no subject
I am not the least skilled.....But your song was lovely! Thank you for sharing it.
[ She's a slip of a girl, really, dressed in antiquated clothing with a
broadsword
sheathed at one hip (from defeating mushroom monsters). SHE DID WELL AND RECEIVED A BLESSING. THAT'S HOW THIS WORKS YES. ]
no subject
It's not always about skill, you know. It's also about the heart you put into it!
[ She looks down...and that's when she notices the broadsword. ]
...Huh. Where'd ya get that?
[ She points. ]
no subject
[ She's honest. ]
It is the sword of Saint Michael!
[ ....Still, somehow, honest. ]
no subject
Saint Michael? As in the arcangel?
[ Could this be similar to a relic situation, somehow? ]
no subject
[ It's a conceptual weapon. It's straight-up a conceptual weapon. It's a stupidly powerful conceptual weapon.
Jeannette has no clue. ]
no subject
[ She has no idea if this is for real or not, or that Jeannette is even from her world. Still...she's wondering if this might be a girl having lofty ideas about things. ]
Does...it have any special powers?
no subject
[ Which is going to be fun in this jamjar, because I have no intention of leaving things at that. ]
But even without powers, it helped me defend my hometown. So I'm terribly glad to have it again.....
[ She pats the hilt with an almost nostalgic fondness. She hadn't had this sword with her when she'd been taken captive, and then she was captive for a year before her execution.....It's been many long months since she's held any sword, and even longer since this holding this one. Yet her muscles remembered. She could still make a difference, could save people.
As long as Jeannette can protect what she loves......little else matters to her. ]
no subject
I understand what you're saying. There's...things I feel the same way about.
no subject
[ Jeannette wants to hear all about this! She draws closer, intending to ask....but her eyes are drawn down with that motion, down to the pendant.
She blinks. What? Her head...there's....there's something....something all a muddle, in her memories, but....that pendant is a part of it.... ]
That....
no subject
[ She notices Jeannette staring at her pendant, and pulls it closer to her protectively. ]
What? What's wrong?
no subject
[ Jeannette puts a hand to her head. ]
I know that pendant....where....
.......and your face.......
[ Mingled memories, of a life lived and lost, and then dragged back to the living realm, but twisted, begin slotting into place.... ]
no subject
What do you mean 'my face'? And how do you know my pendant?!
[ The only people who did were other wielders, and members of S.O.N.G. Unless... was this girl somehow connected to Finé?! If she had a legendary sword like that, a relic, then the odds of that only increased... ]
no subject
I recognize you.....you're.....
[ Oh, her mind is swirling, her memories - had she tampered these down? Not wanted to recall? How dreadfully cowardly of her, and yet, how awful, as it all floods back in, how terrible......
The picture completes. Tears leak out of her eyes. She knows now! Her life had ended at the stake, but her spirit, her personality, came back, once! This is one of the girls she had judged as unrighteous, when Gilles had muddled with her mind! She, who has no right to make such condemnations - and she'd even - to her angel - she'd departed again, spending her all to rescue everyone she'd hurt, so to see this girl, whoever she is, again.....
Jeannette, now blubbering but in, like, a pure and righteous way, hiccups. Relief breaks over her like the waves of the ocean she'd only ever seen once, and that in captivity. Vast, and deep, and all-encompassing. Fading away was the meanest price to pay if - if everyone else is safe - ]
......thank the Lord.....you're all right......
no subject
H-Hey, calm down! Just...calm down and explain yourself, okay? I'm really confused here so I don't know what you mean!
[ Okay, if she was blubbering like this...maybe not an associate of her old mistress after all. But who exactly was she? ]
no subject
[ Something very strange is going on, but that would also explain why this person had no reaction to seeing her. Jeannette sniffles, hurries to wipe her tears with her fingers. ]
We fought, and I.... [ Oh, she's horrified. She's horrified at everything she's done. ] I was not myself, but that is no excuse. I tried to erase your friend - and you took the blow....
[ How could she ever have done such a wicked thing?! She has no right to judge! She has no right to condemn! ]
You must care for that girl in yellow armor so much.....
no subject
That...never happened to me. But you definitely sound like you know us...
no subject
[ Jeannette normally has an excellent memory, when it's not being messed with by Gilles de Rais's yandere bullshit.
She reaches out to try and clasp Chris's hands. Poor girl! She knows, given the above yandere bullshit, how distressing it is to have one's memories tampered with! Jeannette would not wish that on anyone - is there something she can do - ]
Think back! Perhaps we can unlock your memories! It's me! Angel-sama's friend - Jeanne d'Arc!
no subject
Wait. No time to focus on that. This girl just said something insane. ]
W-wait! You're Jeanne d'Arc?! The Jeanne d'arc?! And who the hell is "Angel-sama"?!
no subject
[ How foolish of Jeannette, to not consider Angel-sama's desire to move incognito among humans! Forgive her, Angel-sama. But you were friends with this girl, so surely, this will be all right, yes? ]
no subject
Saint-Germain?! She tried to kill me! And then...well okay, she kinda gave up her life to save me too, but!
[ Yeah, she's kind of at a loss for words right now. ]
no subject
Angel-sama is dead?!
no subject
[ Hopefully she can answer that through all the worry about her "Angel-sama"... ]
no subject
[ But she'll try! She'll try SO HARD. After all, if Angel-sama has died, that only means that she has returned, to heaven, where angels belong....s-so it's not as sad as if.....
....no, it's still sad......
....but she needs to answer the questioonnnnnnn...... ]
I....I was.....n-not myself......I thought you were enemies of God. I am so very sorry!! There was you....a-and the girl in yellow armor, and Angel-sama.......and the girl in white armor, and the girl in orange armor. You all fought with song.....
[ What else can she use as points of identification? ]
I-I erased you, but when I realized what I'd done, I brought you back....
.....if you can't remember because of that, if I couldn't bring all your memories, I am so very sorrrrrryyyyyy....
no subject
That...that never happened to me. I can count the number of times I met your "Angel-sama" on one hand.
[ Suddenly, a thought occurs to her. ]
What if...you met a different version of me? Like. There are people from all sorts of worlds here already. Maybe there's worlds with multiple versions of myself, and that's the one you met?
first *your* idiot and now this idiot. saint-germain's swag is undeniable, chris
S-so your Angel-sama is dead.....and mine might....still be alive.....?
[ The important questions. ]
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