February 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

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.

Comments

[expedient]

( his eyes widen slightly at being sorta reprimanded. is he being reprimanded? it sure feels like it. ) I didn't mean anything by it. It's cold out here. I just thought... ( okay. he's really not doing any better right now. because that did sound like a lame ass pick-up line that he would've used on the ladies ages ago, but he's really not that guy anymore. still, he can't blame peggy for thinking that he's being inappropriate. bucky lets out a sigh. )

Look, I apologize. I just think we should to get to somewhere safe. ( now that's better. ) I'm just going to make sure these dogs are properly secured and then we can ride this thing... ( yeah. he's just going to shut his mouth and get to work. thankfully, the mechanical dogs are easy enough to handle. they're happily getting up and looking like they're raring to go. no treats needed. )

[owedadance]

[He is and she's not at all sorry about trying to keep him in line. She knows that James is a good man. He and Steve had been friends since they were children and Steve had gone through a great deal to make sure that his best friend and brother was safe during a greater part of the war. They'd been an unstoppable team until they'd gone after Zola and Bucky had never returned.

How he's survived, she has no clue, but she does know that this isn't the man she knew before the accident. There's a shadow hanging over him and a sadness she can't quite place radiating from him.]

If you've any suggestions on where we can go, I'm listening. [It's then that she notices the winter gear on the back of the sled for the both of them.] Also, I'm almost positive that we should avail ourselves of these coats and boots before we do anything else. It is, as you've said, cold, and we'll regret a great deal later if we catch frostbite.

[expedient]

( bucky takes a good look around again. it's impossible to see what's up ahead, and aside from the shed, the area around them looks desolate. he checks out the sled, noting that there's just enough space for two to stand. who knows what sort of commands these dogs are used to. they might not even be able to control them, but it's not like they've got much of a choice here. )

I think they'll know where to go. ( he'll grab a coat and a pair of boots and puts it on before waiting for peggy to get on the sled. ) Ladies first. ( there's plenty he'd like to ask her, but all of that will have to wait until they're on the move. he's got a bad feeling about this place and the sooner they're able to leave, the better. as he steps forward, bucky crushes the crocus under his left boot. if he was feeling paranoid before, he's feeling a lot worse now. )

[owedadance]

That's a leap of faith I would expect from Steve.

[She does put on the coat and boots meant for her, happy to be out of the heels that would be absolutely useless in all this snow.

His chivalry feels like something he's relying on out of rote, but then again, Sergeant Barnes was very popular with the ladies, regardless of where the 107th was stationed. And most of the women whispered about the fun times they had with him, since Steve was obviously preoccupied.]

I hope you're right.

[She doesn't feel very positive about it, but she's willing to borrow some fake enthusiasm from the Steve she remembers to get out of this situation.]

[expedient]

( at the mention of steve, he just cracks a bit of a smile though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. at this point, bucky's not sure what to tell her about steve. about how he'd survived too, but that his best friend had woken up decades later after being pulled out of the ice. it's a lot. and he'd also have to talk a lot which would suck. it's really just too much to spew out. hell, he hardly spoke to his therapist. )

What year was it for you anyway? ( maybe start there. and also, stop staring into space and start getting the sled to move. he tugs on the ropes. ) Hold on tight. ( thankfully, it's a surprisingly smooth ride. of course it is. these dogs aren't real dogs. they're mechanical bots. hopefully they won't run into any issues and they'll make it to town quickly. it's getting dark soon and the last thing they'd want is to run into a pack of wolves or some kind of mystical beast or rabid creature. like godzilla. or predator. he should probably start reading more books instead of watching too many damn movies before bed. also, stop frowning and act natural. like the old bucky would. he forces out another smile as he waits for her response, thinking back to that time he'd tell people that he's no longer the winter soldier and that he's just bucky barnes, looking to make amends. )