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

[ferrokinetically]

"Bought time. Getting pretty sick of this snow and slush that shows up everywhere." Except it just made her wonder what summer would be like if winter was this extreme? Droughts probably. That was what her money was on.

Before she could caution him to be careful with random things here he'd already reached down and picked it up. Not like she could really say much to people doing things without thinking (it was sort of in her nature to do just that) so she just closed her mouth. Then opened it right back up when he said '31.

"Wait, do you mean 1931?" Would explain a few things about him right then and there if so. She tried to look at him with the least judgmental expression she could muster but it was real hard to picture this guy in a fight. "Getting into fights was a regular thing for you then?"

She shook her head and gave him a gentle smile. "Nah, don't apologize. It's a sweet memory. Nice of you to do that for your mother."

[mightysmall]

"I don't like bullies." Because that's the simplest explanation he can give. Sometimes he started the fight by opening his big mouth. Sometimes he got singled out because of his size. Steve always fought back and never stayed down.

He tucked the flower into a pocket on his flight suit. He wanted to keep it for some reason. "Yes, 1931. I take it you're not from around then?"

She definitely didn't look it. She looked like she was from a whole different world given her hair and clothes. Why a spiked jacket? Though, Steve did think it was kind of great. It made her look very tough and probably made people keep their distance.

"I was all ma had after dad died in the war." Steve considered the sled for a moment then just decided to climb on. He barely weighed anything. He doubted the dogs would even notice his extra weight and he'd have an easier time holding on like this instead of standing. "I tried to do my best for her. Outside of fighting."

He looked over his shoulder. "You ready?"

[ferrokinetically]

"I used to deal with bullies a lot when I was younger. Can't say I like them either." So, good on him for getting into a fight with them. Even if she could also get his mother's perspective. She'd be proud of her own daughter for standing up for herself, but also wouldn't want her fighting or thinking fighting was answer.

"Damn. No, 2018 for me." So...quite a long time from when he was from. "This place must be even more wild to you than me." It might not exactly be technologically advanced but it was definitely a long way from 1931.

"I'm sorry," she gave him a nod. "Yeah, I'm good to go. Lets see where these guys have in mind. What do people say? Mush?" The word sounded awkward coming out of her mouth since she wasn't entirely certain if that was the exact correct way. There was a jerk and then the dogs started off in a direction they seemed really satisfied with. "Hopefully they don't lead us to a dragon cave."

[mightysmall]

Wow. 2018. That was... so far in the future. Steve was stunned for a second. They might as well be from different worlds but it did explain her clothing. And her hair.

"I don't know, they're still using dog sleds in Alaska," Steve said as he took a firm grip on the sled. "We're not quite to robot dogs but a friend of mine could make one if he thought it was a good idea."

At the word mush the dogs whirred to life and set off at a full run. They didn't seem bothered by the snow or the two people on their sled and kept running forward. They didn't need directions either. The dogs wove between the trees without a problem and when they were in the open they really kicked into high gear.

"I'm Steve Rogers!" he called over his shoulder and over the sound of the wind as the dogs ran. "Nice to meet you!"

[ferrokinetically]

"Never been there myself, but pretty sure they still use them even in 2018." Or she'd been lied to by documentaries on TV. Which was possible, never trust tv documentaries. As the speed picked up her hair flew in front of her face and she fought to tuck it back into the hood of the jacket.

"We have a lot of robot things back home, none of them are good. Even the Roomba kind of sucks." Granted that was because the damn things never seemed to work right. "Never had great experiences with people who tampered with making robotic things though." She did at least recognize that was a personal bias born from the fact that most people in her world that did things like that were designing a robot to hunt her kind. This place really forced you to reconcile with preconceived notions sometimes.

"Lorna Dane," she responded back. "Wait--Steve Rogers? Like the Captain America guy?" She didn't know Steve well, she'd spoken to him a few times, but she knew others from his world that talked about him now and then. The fact that this place seemed to bring duplicates or different versions of people in was still a weird one for her.

[mightysmall]

Steve liked robots. Well, he like the Stomper which wasn't technically a robot. He did like Howard, though, and he talked about robots a lot. Maybe robots weren't so good in the future which was disappointing.

"No!" He shook his head. "I don't know who that is. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

Maybe if he'd gotten the serum Steve would get that name but no one called him that. It sounded like something the Army would make up to boost moral back home, you know, inspire people.

"I'm a pilot in the Army back home," he explained since he figured she'd have more questions. The Hydra Stomper was classified though so she wasn't getting the full story and probably wouldn't for awhile. Steve wasn't sure how much he could say in another dimension.

[ferrokinetically]

If she hadn't been here as long as she had she might think that was really weird. Instead she just thought it was mildly weird. "There's another guy here with that name. Also evidently goes by Captain America. Has a suit and a shield." That was something she'd gotten to see thanks to Loki and it'd been an interesting sight to say the least. What can someone really say to a suit like the one Steve wore? Not too much actually.

"You must be flying into a lot of danger right about now when you're from." When seemed like such an odd way to put it, but it seemed more accurate in his case than anything else.

[mightysmall]

"Huh." Steve considered that for a second. A shield and suit. Sounded like Peggy to him but she went by Captain Carter. "I hope to meet the guy. He's probably great."

Hopefully he was great. Steve figured a similar name wasn't the strangest thing to encounter here. There were robot dogs pulling their sled right now. That was definitely weirder than someone already having his name.

"Yeah, it's dangerous." It was a war. There was always danger even in a giant suit of armor. "But it's what needs to be done. Hitler's a bastard that needs to be stopped."

[ferrokinetically]

"I'm sure you will. From what I hear he is pretty great. Has a lot of friends. Likes the Hobbit. Was nice to me when I first ended up here." Nicer than anyone probably should be.

"If it helps he got stopped in my world." She liked to think he got stopped in every world but who could really tell? Multiple people from multiple places could show up. She was just about to open her mouth to say something else when the dogs seemed to slow down and then one abruptly came to a stop altogether. The sled jerked as the others all began to wind down again as well.

"What happened?"

[mightysmall]

"The Hobbit's a great book," Steve agreed with a nod. It wasn't his favorite but he did like it. There was a great story in there and it was one of Bucky's favorites.

"We're gonna stop him. We've got him on the ropes." With Hydra destroyed because of Peggy's actions, they were making some real good progress against him. Steve knows they're going to win in the end.

Steve gripped the sled hard as they stopped. He looked at the dogs, frowning. "Are they out of power?" Steve got to his feet and walked over to them. "The Hydra Stomper just shuts down like this when it's out of power."

[ferrokinetically]

"People keep saying that. Guess I'm going to have to try reading it sometime." She figured there was never a better time than now to try out new hobbies.

"Good guys always win, right?" Or something like that. It wasn't entirely a sentiment she believed in, but in this particular instance it did seem right.

She took a step off the sled and looked over at them. "Guess so?" For some reason she hadn't really expected them to run out of power, but they were robotic. "Hydra Stomper is a hell of a name by the way," she said as she simultaneously looked around the dogs for some way to charge them. She moved a hand and it started to glow with a green mist, with a flick she began to wind them back up. The one she was working on started to bark again as it came back to makeshift life.

[mightysmall]

"Usually." But there was a cost for that victory. Steve thought about Peggy for a second and then shook it off. Right now wasn't the time to get lost in his feelings.

The green mist made his eyebrows jump up. He's seen some weird stuff in his time but that looked a lot like magic. Which probably shouldn't feel as impossible as it did because this was a place with robot dogs but still.

"Is that something you learned to do here?" he asked as the dogs came back to life, ready to pull the sled again for them. Steve was compelled to pat them and give them good ear scratches because they were dogs and that's what you did for good dogs.

[ferrokinetically]

She smiled as he patted the dog and did the same herself unconsciously before she stood back onto the sled to go again.

"Nah, technically I was born with the ability but it doesn't fully manifest until we hit puberty." The only thing she was fully born with was the green hair. Which was oddly enough a part of her entire mutation. "I did get an ability I didn't have before here after a trail in escape house."

[mightysmall]

Steve climbed onto the sled and gave the command to mush. The dogs went right back to running like they'd never stopped. It's incredible. He could absolutely see Howard wanting to take one apart to figure out how it works.

"Wow, that's incredible." A world were superpowers exist naturally and aren't given by a serum, that's something else. Steve's really impressed. "We can get powers too?"

He hadn't gotten much time to learn the finer details of this world. As soon as they were some place safe he would definitely catch up.

[ferrokinetically]

"Thanks. It's nice to hear a compliment about it." She had to raise her voice slightly as the dogs drove them through the snow bounding like the real deal.

"Yeah, people can get all sorts of abilities here. Some trials have rewards and that can include magic or other powers. Also heard they can give you mythical or fantastical animals. There's also a few people here that are capable of teaching magic. Plus some people get abilities from their role."

[mightysmall]

Steve wonders if any of those rewards can help fix all his physical aliments or not. He's not sure if curing his illness will help him reach his potential or not though. There's a lot going on right now that he's trying to figure out.

"Once we stop somewhere like a town I guess I'll find out if anything's changed for me." There are lights in the distance. Steve can just make them out over the flying snow and the dogs running ahead.

At the speed the dogs run it won't take them long to get there. Except for the occasional stop to wind them both up which hopefully won't be too frequent. The cold feels extra sharp with the rushing wind.