folkooc | June 2023 Test Drive Meme

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*tdm

June 2023 Test Drive Meme

June 2023 TDM

Introduction

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
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 and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are allowed to have in-game characters react to TDMs via the Network or make a Log with the prompts they want to participate in.

TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.

Playing and interacting with the 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 always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!

🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore.

and then... you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.

🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.

Perhaps you follow the falling stars on your own, or perhaps the Fox simply teleports you there, but it appears you too will be part of this.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two ]

Right Where You Left Me . ★

Content Warnings: Alternate Universe, Memory alteration/altered sense of self, Exhibition

If This Was a Movie

You forget everything the fox told you on your way over. You forget your own history. You remember a completely new one, one that matches whatever story you're now in. It could be a story from your world—a folk tale, a novel, a movie, a telenovella—or one you've never heard of. Whatever it is, this is your life now. Your memories match as though you've lived here your whole life. The tone may match your world, or it may drastically differ.

And you're not alone.

Whatever scene you're in features at least one other Star Child in the same situation you are. They might also be a new arrival, or they may be someone Thirteen has plucked up out of Folkmore and brought here to join you. Whether you've known each other your whole previous life or never met before, you know each other as the people in the story—whatever relationship that is. You don't remember being placed here. It's your life! It always has been.

The two (or more) of you pick up at whatever point in the story it is. Perhaps it'll go the same way as the original story. Perhaps not. You still are you—memories redacted—after all. This story is yours to write together!

The outfits, the setting, the NPCs (played by Spirits going along with things), etc. all perfectly match the story and adapt with you as you create your own retelling.

Big Red Button

As it turns out, you aren't only in an entertainment, you are an entertainment. Across Folkmore, large screens showing these stories appear: in every school, in public squares, before a large meadow, in the middle of the desert, you name it. It's also streaming on everyone's relics. Everyone has the chance to see your story play out.

That's not all, Star Children are your key out of the story and into Folkmore itself. Along with these screens, there are big red buttons. Digitally, a big red button appears on people's relics when they watch these stories. It's pretty simple. Someone presses the big red button and you're free! The reason doesn't matter—boredom, pity, recognition, the irresistibility of buttons. These are the only way out, so when you get out is completely up to your fellow Star Children.

Once the button is pushed, an invisible wall between your story and Folkmore falls away. With it, you regain all your memories from home and from the walk to Folkmore with the fox. All you have to do is step out of the story and into the school of Baba Yaga. The school of magic. Thirteen isn't there personally, but you may feel her spirit around you. Baba Yaga—Thirteen—is the school itself.

A small chest is also there as soon as you leave the story containing an item from your homeworld. This may even be a weapon or magical item.

Small bat spirits have a couple stations set up within the school near where Star Children exit their stories. If you're injured or need to rest, they are ready to help treat you or provide you as many pillows and blankets as you wish. If you're hungry or thirsty, the other station has food and drink for all. Steaming tea, freshly baked bread, and all sorts of warm comforting foods. You'd be forgiven for thinking it might be autumn. They want you to be at your best when you leave Baba Yaga and enter the rest of Folkmore via Exile.

No Body, No Crime . ★

Content Warnings: Optional mind/body split, Possible invasion of privacy, Possible monster/creature violence

Eyes Open

When you leave Baba Yaga, you're somewhere in Exile. Not even the Spirits or experienced Star Children can tell you where exactly you are. The school walks around on its chicken legs. Unless someone leaves at the same time as you, you'll start in different places. You'll have to find your own way out.

If you have been exiled before, you'll have an easier time navigating the land. It'll help guide you toward where you want to go. If you have never been exiled before, you'll have a harder time navigating this section of Folkmore. The trees may try to push you back. Perhaps nothing happens, exactly, but the aura is one that doesn't want you. Regardless, there's enough fog that it's difficult to see where you're going. Attention certainly seems to be on you. Are the trees watching? Is the water listening? Those are simply stories Spirits share to scare new Star Children isn't it?

Suddenly, you may appear to be in another part of Folkmore! It could be anywhere. It could be a public area, a business, someone's home… Wherever it is, if you try to touch something, you realize you cannot. Instead you pass right through solid objects. You cannot open a door, but you can walk right through it. You may surprise someone with your sudden appearance, or perhaps you reach out to people you see for help. Perhaps you simply explore this new area where you were.

Take all the time you want. Hopefully nothing bad is happening back with your body still in Exile… On second thought, perhaps you don't want to spend too long away from your body. You can use your own skills or get help returning to your body or find yourself suddenly back in it. Time to take stock and maybe find your way back to the rest of Folkmore body included.

Cowboy Like Me

On your way through Exile, you may come across weapons sticking out of the ground. Swords, axes, shields, bows, guns… All manner of non-magical weapons. They're simply there, scattered here and there, free for the taking. It looks like someone had a bad time trying to get out of Exile. Whoever the weapons belonged to, they don't need them now.

A word of warning to those who grab the weapons, as soon as you do, one of the dangerous creatures in Exile will find you. These creatures don't only have sharp claws or fangs, poison or sharp senses, they are intelligent. You'll need not only the weapon(s) you grabbed but your wits to defeat them or the luck of someone else coming along to help you out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He keeps throwing rocks at the earthbender. She admires the persistance, but it's a lot like throwing water at a fish and hoping it will drown. ]

So how does this alchemy thing work. It makes some odd earth movements.

[ She's more curious about that now that he's brought it up, setting herself into a 'surf' position and riding the earth wave up, then back down. Fun! She's back in her patient pose, waiting for him to respond or send a proper attack her way.

She's always enjoyed responsive fights more. ]

[ He's had enough, he's going to close the gap between them, charging the space between because he's intending on punching her face on. ]

I'm just changing the shape of the ground to what I want it to be. Alchemy can do a lot of things, most things, actually, but this is just basics.

Seems kinda cool. Not bad for a beginner.

[ The taunting is also part of the distraction. It's the smallest movement, her foot just twists on the ground, and a small bit of rock pops up right above one of his feet as he's rushing. Sometimes the small things work best. ]

A begin-

[ He'd been charging at her and her trick small and effective as it may be, lead to Edward faceplanting on the ground. Well, that's embarrassing. ]

[ She doesn't even bother hiding the laugh, loud and boisterous as she walks over to him and crouches.

Her hand reaches down and taps his metal arm. ]

These are cool by the way. I've never felt anything like them before. That's some really complex metal.

[ Seems she's considered the fight over. It was some good steam blowing at least. ]

[ He sighs and sits upright, running his hand through his bangs and blinks at her tapping his arm. ]

It's automail. It's a kind of prosthetic that is surgically implanted to work with the nerves. It's complex, and something my mechanic knows far more about than I do.

[ He just messes with the chassis. He'll accept his loss semi-gratefully, but if Al is around he'll complain about this endlessly later. ]

A lot of those words don't mean a lot to me, but I kind of get it. Way cooler than anything where I'm from.

[ She shifts back to stand, and the rock beneath him lifts to slowly bring him to a standing position as well. "Slowly" for her at least. It can feel a bit sudden. ]

It's not just rocks I can bend though. I'm the first person ever to figure out how to bend metal, too!

[ She sounds so unreasonably proud of that. Her hand reaches out, open palm, and Edward quickly finds his own forcefully pulled in to give hers a shake. This may or may not be a horrifying revelation from the blind girl.

There's a very silent bit of respect from one physical disability to another. ]

I'm Toph. By the way.

It came about because it was necessary.

[ She can take a guess as to why such a thing is so necessary in his world but that's neither here nor there. Being pushed to his feet is surreal but being invisibly yanked into a handshake is just as weird. The squeak he lets out is rather awkward.

He will shake her hand though. ]

I'm Ed. I can work with metal...cloth..just about anything. What is bending exactly?

[ Now that he's less feral, he's more curious. ]

[ Yeah she can figure it out. Not a huge leap. Ahem. ]

What happens to something when you bend it?

[ It's mostly a rhetorical question, because she's going to keep talking. ]

You change its shape.

[ Both of her hands spread out, palms down, twisting up and then lifting. A circle around them lifts, rising into the air on a stone pillar until they're well above house-hieght, higher, higher. Double that. ]

It's an ancient technique to form the earth how you want.

[ Her palms twist back down, and their platform lowers, a bit slower, back to the ground. ]

But you need to be one with the rock, you have to out-will it!

[ He considers her words, thinking about how it related to something like Xing's version of alchemy - alkahestry, something he didn't exactly know a ton about either, just he'd seen it. It's different. This is also different, but she's talking more philosophically, probably closer to that than alchemy itself. ]

Alchemy doesn't really work like that. [ At least, not how she's describing. ]

Alchemy works with the principles of equivalent exchange, meaning that to make something, you need to have what you need to make it. So I need to have a basic idea of what the ground is made of, that's the understanding part, and what I need to pull out of it to get what I want. I also need to know the formula to do that, which is usually represented with a transmutation circle. I can do it without drawing one and just picturing it but that's not typical.

[ It appears Ed is just as willing to give a TED talk as Toph is. ]

Then you do the deconstruction, so I have to break the ground down into the parts I want out of it, and then the creation phase where I get the result I want. And what I can do is-

[ Now he's going to change the playbook a little bit. He won't move the ground like Toph does, or can, he'll clap his hands and pull a polearm out of the ground. It's going to feel a lot different, because the actual composition of the ground beneath his hand is going to completely change. She'll feel it. More than that, when he flips it so the base is on the ground, there's a divot left behind, and this thing is definitely primarily made of metal. ]

[ Her expression turns a little incredulous... but she is listening despite it, nodding along silently. And then he does something very strange, pulling something metal out of stone, and her head tilts. ]

Huh... That sounds really complex. But- neat?

[ Her hand reaches out, twisting in the air. There's an unpleasant creak, and the top of the polearm twists and crumples into a ball, tight and perfectly spherical. ]

Okay, definitely metal. Weird. And the ground around it feels different now. So you took all the metal out somehow?

[ She's figuring it out, at least.]

[ He chuckles a little bit, it is very complex and it can get more and more complex than this, but Ed nods. ]

Not all the metal, but some of it. It shouldn't mess with the integrity of the ground or anything, but I could probably rebalance it a little if it was unstable.

[ It didn't feel unstable though, so he's not going to do that. ]

I did it on a basic level. The ground usually has a ton of minerals and metals in it, just they're very small.

I'll stick to my bending for now. How much control does that give you though? Like...

[ Her hand twists again, lifting in a sharp motion, and a section of the ground beside them lifts up, a chunk of earth the size of Ed hovering in the hair a few meters away. ]

Do you have to touch it to use alchemy? Can you control it once it's moved away?

I have to touch it to do alchemy, because that's a part of how transmutation circles work. The only reason I don't have to draw them is because I have a shortcut.

[ And that would be all he said on that matter. ]

And that's a good question. I wouldn't think so, but I wonder if you could devise a formula to do that.

[ Quite a suspicious shortcut huh... Oh well, not like she can use it anyway. ]

Kindof neat either way. You could make metal for me to bend. Good to know.

[ Her tone's just a little taunting. ]

So. You're new here too I take it?

I mean, if you want to think of it that way sure. [ He laughs. ] Just don't warp my automail, Winry would kill me.

[ He sighs and nods. ]

Seems that way, although I'm not sure what to make of that yet.

I wasn't gonna. That stuff's pretty complex... I'm not sure I'd remember how to put it back together. [ She shrugs, and smiles. ] Besides, it's a part of you. I don't really want to do that.

But this place is weird, huh? I've been wandering around a little bit, and it feels a bit. Uh... Fake? Isolated? There's snow not that far from the desert... it doesn't make much sense to me.

Yeah, it'd hurt too. It's implanted. [ If she can tell that much, he's not sure. He doesn't know how she's sensing her surroundings, but she has a good enough movement and sense that she must have some technique. ]

Not the kind of thing I've seen before either, sounds impossible if you ask me, but definitely fake if that's the case. I think I'll have to do some investigating.

Yeah. That'd be like, blood bending. No thanks!

[ She's rude and sometimes brutal, but she does have at least some respect for bodily autonomy, given how much her own independence is important to her.

Kindof... She can feel the blurry blend of metal into flesh, and the rest her imagination kindof fills in. Anything non-stone is a bit more ambiguous to her outside of shape. ]

I mean. This whole place is a dream land... People keep telling me. It doesn't really have to "make sense"... I spent like half a day lost in a foggy forest. And I can't even see the fog! It just really wanted to trick me!

[ Yeah, he would not like anything that sounds like blood bending. ]

Huh, must've messed with whatever it is you're using to sense your surroundings. [ He might not know what she's doing, but it's something. ]

I'm looking forward to getting lost, I guess. [ He rolls his eyes. ]

[ No one in her world does, and she doubts anyone in his world would either. Well, you know, generic villains aside. ]

Something like that. Nice to know the forest was just as determined to get me lost as anyone else?

[ Weird way to encounter inclusivity huh. ]

But yeah. Uh... Welcome I think. I just got here recently too so... Honestly I can't tell you much. Doesn't feel like home though.

Yeah, that much is clear to me. [ Hm, he's not sure what to think about all of this. ]

Weird place. Alright well...guess I'd better see what I can figure out. See you around?

I can't say the same. But I'll find you around sometime!

[ She gives a wave, though, a brief smile, and then turns to start walking off. ]

(OOC: Happy to wrap there if you want! Thanks for the scene!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

June 2023 Test Drive Meme

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