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June 2023 Test Drive Meme
June 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 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.
🦊 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.
Content Warnings: Alternate Universe, Memory alteration/altered sense of self, Exhibition
If This Was a Movie
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.Big Red Button
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.
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.
Content Warnings: Optional mind/body split, Possible invasion of privacy, Possible monster/creature violence
Eyes Open
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.Cowboy Like Me
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.
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.
no subject
... But, no, his response reminds her that there are few more crucial things he needs to know. Annie presses her lips together into a hard, thin line.
She is certain that fighting Eren in this world isn't going to accomplish anything worthwhile. Other than that, she isn't sure what to do with him. Is there an option more reasonable than live and let live? Annie will have to let Bertolt decide for himself. Mostly, she just doesn't want him to get hurt or die in a needless fight.
"You're right," she says. "I left out something important. Zeke is Eren's half-brother, and also has Fritz royal blood. They conspired together against Marley. Zeke's plan was to use the Founder's power to sterilize the Eldian race, to keep us all from having kids, and wiping us out that way. Eren pretended to go along with it, and once the two came in contact, Eren is the one who ended up in control."
Annie pauses. It's a depressing and exhausting topic for her. Her gaze starts to slip, but she hardens her expression again and presses on.
"As far as I can tell, he ended up in this world from a time before he makes contact with Zeke. With the Founder's full power, he could completely control us and alter our memories." She sighs. "Try to track him down and talk to him if you want. I doubt he'll attack you, unless you give him a reason to. That's how it was with me."
no subject
Slowly, Bertolt lowers his drink, visibly sickened, unable to fully process Zeke's plan beyond feeling utterly revolted. How could the young man they grew up alongside plan such a thing? How could the so-called "Boy Wonder" turn against Marley in the first place? However, Bertolt puts such questions aside as he continues to listen. Continues to keep his eyes on Annie, watching as her hard expression briefly wanes. Hearing about such events is terrible enough. What was it like for Annie to live through them?
Bertolt knows better than to ask Annie such questions directly. It was terrible to live through; that much is evident from the look in her eyes and the sigh that escapes her. There's no point in Bertolt cruelly digging into her wounds. He can only hope that his future self was able to help her through it, if only a little.
"Eren…" Bertolt's brows furrow slightly, gaze drifting to the side as a memory surfaces, one so confusing he'd dismissed it until now. "I think … I dreamed about him. Maybe."
Could it be called a dream? Bertolt doesn't know what to make of that experience: the melding of minds; the life that was and was not his own; the simple, painful fact that his dream self cared about Eren so profoundly.
He shakes his head, his eyes returning to Annie's, dismissing talk of dreams for more relevant information. "Eren made it pretty explicit before," he says, a trace of resignation in his tone. "He wants me and Reiner to suffer and die in the worst way possible. If he's like you said, even more unstable… I doubt that's changed."
Not that Bertolt sounds worried, really. (No more than usual.) He's different than he was even a few months ago. He no longer harbors a desire to beg and plead with his old friends for forgiveness. Their world is unrelentingly cruel, so…
… So Bertolt is here, the slaughter left behind. He's here, and so is Annie.
And so is Eren.
Bertolt sets those implications aside, resolving to turn them over in his mind later. It's enough to know that there are three people with the Power of the Titans here. Or rather, at least three.
"Is it just the three of us here?" he asks, hoping for good news but braced for more bad.
no subject
Well, whatever. She only has a few final thoughts on the subject, for now, and Bertolt can then deal with Eren however he likes. There's no chain of command here, and Annie has no interest in trying to order Bertolt around. It would just be awkward, for starters.
"Maybe you're right," she says. "He might still hate you and Reiner that much, so it makes the most sense to avoid him. Or I can keep tabs on him, if you're worried. The way he is now, here in this place, I still don't think he'll attack you. He used to focus all his hate on pure titans, and us traitors, but... that's what's different. At some point he snapped and decided that it was fine for him to destroy most of the fucking world. It goes way beyond you two."
Annie shrugs a little, then glances upward, staring briefly at a little layer of dust on the rafters. "There are two more old Scouts here. Commander Erwin and Captain Levi. We aren't fighting, though. In the future, once I'm free from the crystal, I agree to fight alongside Levi, and Armin, and a few others from the 104th. To stop Eren. There wasn't any other choice, honestly."
She runs her fingers once through her bangs, then holds Bertolt's eye. "I know that's a lot to hear. Sorry. The silver lining is that we're at peace here. No war or much fighting like we know it. I think there's a chance it can stay that way, too."
no subject
Besides, Bertolt knows that if it comes down to it, he can defend himself from Eren. He just doesn't want anyone else to be caught up in it, literally or figuratively. He doesn't want Annie to be caught up in it.
"I hope so," he says when she finishes speaking. "I…"
He trails off, his gaze sliding away, struggling to give voice to his thoughts. He knows that he's Marley's greatest weapon, a walking "god of destruction" one sliced finger away from destroying everything around him. He knows the responsibility he took on when he was ten years old. He knows that if he has to, he can leave nothing but burned bodies and utter devastation in his wake. He resolved to kill his beloved comrades from the 104th. If he has to kill their enemies here—Erwin, Levi, even Eren—he will.
But Bertolt has never relished bloodshed. He doesn't want to kill anyone. He never has.
"… I hope it's over." His gaze returns to Annie's, unaware that the green of his eyes is gleaming more brightly than before. "I don't want either of us to have to fight anymore."
no subject
Since there are no battles to fight, she's had plenty of time to consider the metaphysical aspects of this removed, comparatively benevolent existence. In the meantime, what concern should she have for the lands that Eren is hell-bent on destroying? She was already willing to give up on them once the struggle became overwhelming, but to hell with it. What does she owe that disgusting, cruel place? Even Eren must understand that his actions, no matter how extreme, can't change the fundamental nature of its people. Should he succeed, widespread violence and war will continue to exist. It will start again on Paradis and it will spread as the rest of society rebuilds itself.
These thoughts and concerns creep into her mind way more often than she'd like. At the very least, she needs a distraction—though she can hope for something more substantive, too. For now, Bertolt is here, and they have this relatively peaceful world at their disposal. Why focus on the negative at this point? Annie is even pretty sure that the two of them can deal with Eren, and the other two. There are just no grounds for serious conflict here. She thinks that rationale will win out.
"I know," she says. "Me neither."
Then, during a short pause, Annie almost smiles. "Not like I've been taking it totally easy. Old habits and all that, and I still expect the worst when it seems like shit might go down. It's a weird adjustment, though. You'll see."
Her eyes lower to his drink. "That taste any good? I could use something warm. Had to trudge across a giant bog to get here, so you should be grateful."
no subject
A weird adjustment, huh? Maybe it's arrogant of Bertolt to assume, but he thinks he can handle that. They adjusted to possessing the Power of the Titans; they adjusted to shedding their armbands and living amongst the people of Paradis; they adjusted to a new military with new rules and regulations. If Annie adjusted to this place, weird as it may be, then Bertolt thinks he can, too.
"Oh, um." Bertolt glances down at his drink, neglected for so long that it's nearly cold. "To be honest, I wasn't really tasting it. It's tea. But," he raises his eyes to Annie's again, tone dropping somewhat conspiratorially, "they have hot chocolate."
Hot chocolate: a treat that Bertolt has never tasted before, too rare in Liberio and nonexistent in Paradis. The availability of such a drink here was too much for Bertolt to initially process, what with everything else going on. But now that Annie sits across from him, the idea of trying it seems fun, not frightening.
He begins to rise from his seat, intending to take his cup back and retrieve something fresh for Annie and himself. "Do you want to try that? Or do you want tea? I think they have coffee, too."
A drink that he's not interested in tasting again just yet, memories of the early morning atop Wall Maria still too fresh in his mind.
no subject
On cue: Annie finds herself fixating on his face and his voice when he reveals the accessibility of hot chocolate. She really likes sweets, but does he even know that about her? True that in Liberio and on Paradis they rarely had access to chocolate, or anything sugary, but still. This actuallty presents a good opportunity for her to open up a little.
"I'll take the hot chocolate," Annie says. Her voices pitches upward a bit with uncharacteristic enthusiasm as she goes on. "I've tried it other places, but not here. I told you it's nothing like home. We can go anywhere, and eat anything we want. There are bakeries that have warm donuts every morning. Little stores that have crunchy salted snacks and sweet, bubbly drinks. And—"
Abruptly, she cuts herself off, and tries to keep herself from blushing. Too much. Especially since that all came out with Bertolt halfway standing. "Well... you get the idea. I can show you around sometime."
no subject
Has he ever heard Annie speak so enthusiastically about anything? He can't recall. Maybe when they were children, back in those days before they left for Paradis. But even then, Bertolt doubts it. He thinks he'd have remembered such a thing, burned it into his mind as one sweet memory among so many sour ones.
Speaking of which, he had no idea Annie had a sweet tooth. Would he have ever discovered that back in their world?
Suddenly, he feels a swell of gratitude toward the Fox. Not for his own arrival here, although he's grateful for that, too; he wanted nothing more than to end the slaughter, and the Fox allowed him to step away. No, he's grateful that the Fox brought Annie here. He's grateful that she's able to try so many different sweet things.
If this world can make Annie sound so excited, it can't possibly be bad.
Bertolt nods, rising fully to his feet, still smiling. "Yeah. I'd like that. And … I am grateful."
For Annie trudging across a bog, he means—but really, it goes far deeper than that. He's grateful that she's here. He's grateful that she found him. He's grateful that neither of them has to fight Marley's wars anymore. He's grateful that he gets to learn new things about her. He's grateful that he can hear her voice rise with enthusiasm.
His eyes dart to the side, slightly embarrassed, as he adds, "I'll go get our drinks."