August & September 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

August & September 2023 TDM

Introduction

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
Welcome to Folkmore's bimonthly 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 also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’

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]

Oh How Quiet . ★

Content Warnings: Difficulty seeing, possibility of drowning, forced relocation

Fog & Footsteps

Some Star Children find themselves on land. The air is foggy and damp, blurring and distorting vision making it difficult to tell where they are, what’s real and what isn’t until–finally–Star Children find themselves on wet sand. Continue marching forward and trees begin to form a skeletal border, dark shadows growing and stretching further into their depths. Star Children who have experienced being exiled before can feel a path through the trees should they choose to venture further. Star Children who haven’t been exiled can feel resentment building around them and have greater difficulty navigating the path ahead.

Anyone who glances back may find footsteps in the sand alongside theirs. The more anyone looks back, the more prints appear. They’re inconsistent like their maker hops or flies part of the time or fades in and out of the physical universe… or something else. They may be human, or animal, or something Star Children can’t quite put a name to.

The Will or the Wisp

The longer Star Children dwell on them, the more tempting they are to follow—familiarity, comfort, curiosity, something. The footsteps eventually lead Star Children down a branching path toward a wall of thick, colorless fog. Inside the fog, there are enchanting wisps of light dancing just out of reach, urging Star Children to keep following. Just a little further, the sweet voices promise.

Continue onward and soon outlines appear in the mist, showing just who (or what) the earlier footsteps belong to–distorted human or animal shapes that exist only where fog is displaced by the will-o’-the-wisps they carry like lanterns. They lure Star Children deeper into Exile, all the while making promises they have no intention of keeping...

Salvation comes in the form of a fellow Star Child guided toward someone in distress by shifting sands. They radiate starlight that pierces through the thick fog around them, allowing people to find the sandy forest path toward The Beach. Once Star Children reach it, they will both find an old, sea-battered treasure chest which offers characters a personal item from home and either a nonfunctional compass or lantern. A will-o-the-wisp will fly directly into the item, which doesn’t seem to make it work. The compass needle points toward somewhere in Exile, not north. The lantern doesn’t light up. However, when the Star Child is truly lost, the compass will point where they need to go and the lantern will light up any darkness. Each Star Child can only receive either the compass or the lantern.

A Magical Day

Whether passing directly through the forest path or guided back to it, Star Children find a shoreline extending in either direction. Some water laps against the beach, but farther out is the long expanse of tenuous reality. Come September, it fades into the distance until it can no longer be seen. The beach itself is in Exile, heavy with the weight of magic. It feels reassuring and encouraging. Star Children can indulge in a sunless day at the beach, playing in the sand, and soaking in the magic. Those wishing for a bit more warmth can explore the shoreline north to the Boat Bonanza at the port where the Encantado reaches the ocean.

Key Points:

🦊 Star Children may pass through a thick fog to reach a wet, sandy path that passes through trees and leads to The Beach in Exile.
🦊 If they keep looking behind them on the path they will find footprints following alongside their own. Those footprints will try luring characters deep into fog using will-o’-the-wisp lanterns, leading them into the swamp so they can drown them.
🦊 A fellow Star Child can act as a light to guide lost characters back to the safety of shore.
🦊 Star Children that are rescued from the lure or who rescue another Star Child will be rewarded with a non-weapon memento from home and either a compass or a lantern (not both).
🦊 Star Children that don’t succumb will simply continue forward to The Beach without issue and will have opportunities to find a non-personal item from their home worlds being sold at the market. See below.

Christening Ceremony . ★

Content Warnings: Possibility of drowning, fetch quests

Boat Bonanza

Whether venturing up the coastline from Exile, floating down the Encantado River, or simply being plopped into the water, Star Children new and old find themselves in water. A strong wave rolls up the beach to drag suspecting and unsuspecting alike. Playful pinkish-red dolphins spray people off boats into the river. Or Star Children find themselves treading water deeper than they are tall with no land in sight. No worries, those who need help getting out of the water will get it. Along the shore, spirits in boats will pick up anyone in need of a ride and bring them back through the fog to the sounds of shouts and cheers and music to a large clear spot in the fog.

Boats come into view. Boats of all shapes and sizes, from single person kayaks to large houseboats, fishing craft and sailboats. They rise and fall with the waves but aren't otherwise moving. Ropes, planks, and bridges tie the boats together. Whether approaching by river or by sea, new boats explore the outskirts of the great conglomeration of boats and attach themselves—increasing the size of the gathered ships. So many boats are gathered that the shore isn't visible from new boats tying up.

Everyone's welcome aboard and to wander from boat to boat. Starfish spirits offer games of chance at low tables on broad open decks under awnings. There are even holes in the bottom of the deck, so players can dip their feet in cool water. A cephalopod band plays upbeat music other spirits and Star Children can dance to in competition with a scavenging of seagull spirits singing sea shanties as loudly as they can two boats over. Far from them, jellyfish spirits offer places to rest in quiet, with curtains drawn and sound dampened. Many spirits offer food and drink—seafood or seafood shaped candy or in the case of mystery flavored taffy, sometimes seafood flavored candy. Those who don't want freshly rolled sushi or take a chance with the candies can always see the Wandering Dog cart on the shore, where the dogs try very hard to be included.

Flotilla Afterparty

Come September, nymphs pop up in the waters and start shooing the boats away until only the houseboats and some submarines remain. Some go off on their lonesome, but more of them form flotillas that float along the coastline continuing their activities and coming to shore to pick up any who wish to join them. A restaurant flotilla, a meditative flotilla, music performance flotillas, and even gambling flotillas. Should people want off and the boats aren't ready to go to shore, sometimes Catbus shows up, able to leap whatever the distance.

Fetchquest

At any time, during the boat festival or smaller flotillas, Star Children may find non-personal items from their home world for sale. It may be a weapon or magical item. These spirits can sense who is from the same world as an item and will only offer them to those Star Children. These aren’t free! After all, these spirits pulled up these items from chests in the water. Star Children will need to do a few favors or barter something else to obtain the item from home. Star Children who help in Vasilisa’s, now mostly staffed by spirits, will find they have an easier time bartering… unless it’s in the Cuttlefish Curiosities shop. If the cuttlefish spirit smells a whiff of the grumpy old octopus spirit who has taken over as chef, that Star Child will have to do twice the work.

Key Points:

🦊 Explore your way to Nereid where the Encantado reaches the shore or get dropped into the water.
🦊 Enjoy an enormous boat festival! All kinds of boats! All kinds of activities!
🦊 In September, the boat festival will split into multiple flotillas floating around the shoreline.
🦊 Do favors or barter goods to receive a non-personal item from home. It may be a weapon or magical item. A magical gun from your world? Yes. Your personal magical gun with your dog’s name engraved in it? No.

Comments

Luke Skywalker ✸ Star Wars: Legends

[blackclad]

✸ Sand. It's always sand, isn't it?

Unlike some others, Luke isn't morally or fundamentally opposed to sand, but he does tend to be wary of it and the way it always manages to get under his synthskin and into his prosthetic. Is it dangerous or ill-advised to head away from the beach and towards the swamp? Probably, but there do seem to be other people there and swamps aren't so bad. He's had plenty of good times in a swamp.

Plenty of leeches, too.

"Hey, pal?"

✸ Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

Luke is always happy to help out where and when he can - tying knots, offering some tinkering, promising never ever to cook but being willing to fix the stove. (Seriously, do not let him near your food. He'll either eat it, overspice it, or both.)

He's far from home, but this is novel and no one recognizes him - both things conspire to put him in a great mood. Maybe he tries to drag your character into helping out or offers a bit of food that he'd earned as payment:

- "Here, hold this for a moment, I just need to..." as he wriggles under something to adjust a knob or rivet.

- "Try this! I dunno what it is, but it's good." Or maybe, "Try this, it smells awful but tastes like...uh, something? Something good, but not good?"

✸ OOC

You got questions, I got answers. HMU at bootknife or on Disco as Bootknife.

Boats!

[ezra_of_lothal]

Sorry to break your streak, Luke. Here's someone who recognizes you. But he's in a possibly familiar style of robes, and has a lightsaber on his belt, and isn't looking awestruck?

"Is that...durian flavored candy?" is the first thing he says, mildly baffled. Such a thing seems a little out of place amongst the seafood theme, but ok.

He's just going to carry on with the conversation, and watch Luke's reactions, to figure out how to proceed from here.

[blackclad]

Alas, Luke has no idea who Ezra is or what a durian is, but he shrugs and breaks off a piece of whatever he's eating and passes it over.

"It's disgusting!" His bright, easy-going smile might clash a bit with the black on black (with added black) look he has going on. While Luke isn't sporting a lightsaber, he certainly recognizes the look on the other man and files that information away for later. "Really, you ought to have some."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Excuse you, durian's called the king of fruits in some venues," he shoots back mirroring that grin, before he accepts the tidbit.

"Yep," he confirms, after a few chews and then a swallow. "That's the stuff. Hopefully, no friendships are ended today over the love/hate divide."

[blackclad]

"Excuse you, Hutt of fruits, more like." And yet, he keeps eating it. It's good(?). Maybe? Maybe not. Luke can't quite make up his mind, so he continues to nibble away.

"Other than this, what else is good to eat around here? Any more fruit-based royalty I need to be wary of?"

Boats!

[hasmuchtolearn]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Obi-Wan doesn’t recognize him either. He just blinks as some random guy hands him a rope and tells him to hold it. “Um, all right.” Doing as he’s told while this guy does whatever it is he’s doing.

He’s dressed in Jedi attire, though minus his cloak and boots due to being on the water. Those things having been placed aside somewhere for now. A long braid draped over his shoulder, Obi-Wan looks very different compared to his much older version. There is a lightsaber at his side though, also different from the one he would have later.

Craning his head, Obi-Wan watches, waiting patiently until he can let go.

[blackclad]

"Great, thanks!" The voice calls out from under the boat as there's some scrabbling, some creative Huttese swearing, and eventually Luke slithers free from wherever he was. He is dressed in his usual black, with black, and a black accent of Chanel boots one black glove. It's called fashion, sweetie. (Or at least that's his story and he's sticking with it.)

It's likely that Obi-Wan can feel him in the Force, but on the whole, Luke tries to keep that sort of thing quiet. He's had some bad experiences being hunted for what he is and not advertising is prudent.

[hasmuchtolearn]

He’s leaning over the edge of the boat and looking on curiously. It’s actually the cursing that gets his attention first with a raised brow. But then he’s able to actually get a good look at him when the guy comes out.

“Was that Huttese?” He knows the language but isn’t familiar with all the expletives associated with it. Plus you didn’t hear it as much on Coruscant as, say, the Outter Rim.

He then looks the guy over, noting his taste in clothes. He sure seemed to like black. Definitely not his choice in colors.

[blackclad]

Maybe Luke is just really bad at matching his clothing? Or he's always dripping berry juice on it? Either way, black is practical.

"If there are kids around, no, those are just nonsense sounds that you never heard me say." Which implies, that if they are comparatively alone, he most certainly said a string of utterly appalling language. Another lop-sided grin as he shakes out his hand - nearly got it pinched by something. "But, sometimes a bit of technology, advanced or otherwise is a real chuff-sucking leech."

More effing boats

[horncrown]

Maul, too, does not recognize the man but he does recognize a sort of feeling in the Force. This of course wasn't what brought them together. Oh no, it was that he had been at one moment in a desert and another moment in the water. Just full emersion. Right in there. Luckily he had long abandoned the more complex Sith robing for something more him, a little less heavy, but he did still climb out of the water looking something akin to an angry wet cat.

Only to have rope shoved at him. No, Mr. Skywalker. He doesn't think he will hold this rope. And now that he was here it became clear that the feeling was coming from this individual. Ah, he sees what Luke is trying to do. Allow him, just for curiosity sake, just to see how Luke reacts, reaching out with the Force to adjust said pesky little rivet. Don't ever tell him he's not helpful, Kenobi.

"There, now that was much easier wasn't it?"

[blackclad]

He is ever so helpful!

"Sure seems like it." With a wiggle and a squiggle, Luke gets himself out from under the boat and up on his feet. He doesn't react much to someone else using the Force around him; his smile is still bright and disarming as ever, but there's a hint of wariness around his eyes.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Luke."

[horncrown]

Maul looked like a concern on the best of days if you haven't really seen a Zabrak before or all too often. Let alone one that had been inconvenienced with a sudden bath, but no matter. It was likely what the Force could tell another user about him that was more concerning. Cold, very cold. Brighter than he'd once been but this meant little to someone meeting him the first time.

He watched the man as the name washed over him. That name; he'd heard it in a vision when the holochrons were combined. The attire is certainly interesting. Though Maul had learned quickly to assume nothing in this place. A hum.

"Indeed we have not and yet your name is familiar to me." Surprisingly not malicious. No, Luke. You are a special one indeed if you are the Luke. If. He pointed into himself, "I am Maul."

[blackclad]

"Ah, drek, really?" He sounds more hang-dog than actually upset at being recognized. With that, he folds away his more casual, natural self and stands just a little straighter. If he's supposed to be ~Last Jedi Master Skywalker~ he probably ought to try and do it justice.

"Sorry about that, it is good to meet you." In the same way that it's always good to meet another Force user. Even one so cold. If he were to be totally honest, cold is easier to deal with than the lightning cracking madness of C'baoth and, perhaps, a little of his relief seeps out into the Force?

let's take a jaunt to that swamp

[unapprovedtrash]

There's something weird about the swamp and Cal doesn't like it. OKay there's ALWAYS something weird about the swamp. Last month it was turning folk into monsters. So it's more like the swamp has discovered a newly weird thing to do. He heard some talk about strange lights and footprints.

He hasn't found any lights yet but there's footprints aplenty leading towards it, in ways that don't really make much sense! He's contemplating touching some, see if there's any echoes he can get off them. Even though he specifically wore some gloves here to prevent any of those kind of mishaps from happening.

And he's crouched down to examine the prints now, his little droid friend BD-1 perched precariously on his shoulder so he could get a good look at them too, when Luke happens upon them.

"Oh hey!" he looks up, unaware that he looks like a huge weirdo crouched ominously down here poking at footprints, "What's up? See any funky lights?"

[blackclad]

Conveniently, Luke is a short, slight weirdo looking off into the mist. It's almost like they match! (Except for Luke's lamentable lack of R2. Where is his rudest buddy? Who's going to tell him to **** **** **** his **** ****ing **** now?)

"I did, actually. Sort of fluttering around what looked almost like a person." But he didn't properly sense somewhere there. It was odd, but he's seen stranger things in Dark-aligned swamps in the past. At least there's no Dathomiri here, right?

"Are there normally lights in there? Some kinda bug?"

[unapprovedtrash]

Everyone deserved to have their best droid buddy with them! But please keep R2 away from BD. BD is already enough of a little troublemaker he doesn't need to add that kind of language to his lexicon.

"There's always weird kark going on in the swamp. The lights are new, least as far as I can tell. Don't know if they're bugs or not but I heard that a few people had disappeared after following them, so I thought I'd check it out. Where did you see yours?" He leans back on his heels a little and the droid clinging to his back chirps out a suggestion that just makes Cal roll his eyes, "No bud, you can't use me as bait so you can get close enough to scan it."

Skywalkers and sand

[establishingfulcrum]

Ahsoka is starting to think the Fox enjoys putting sand everywhere. That's why when it appears to turn into a swamp, she heads in that direction. At least a swamp means trees and height, getting off the ground to avoid anything that creeps below.

An unfamiliar voice has her heading in the stranger's direction. A bright white light seems to cut through the darkness - in multiple ways. Another Jedi? She definitely has to check it out.

From up in a tree, Ahsoka spots someone that... feels more familiar than they should. "Who are you talking to?"

[blackclad]

"I thought I saw the outline of someone in the mist..." Luke turns towards the voice and breaks into a bright, easy-going sort of smile. He doesn't know this person, but he can get a vague sense of them in the Force and it's a good feeling.

"Maybe I was wrong. I can't really sense anyone, not properly, but that doesn't always mean much."

[establishingfulcrum]

Ahsoka drops from the tree with light ease, making it so that he doesn't have to look up at her and strain his neck so much. The stranger seems familiar, but she's certain she hasn't actually seen him before. Either way, he doesn't appear to be a threat and she moves closer.

"These places have a tendency to show us people who aren't really here. At least, that's been my experience so far." Not that she has much in the way of that, having only been here for one standard month.

"If you want to make sure that it isn't really a person, we can always go investigate together."

(Have you ever tried to land a freighter on) sand? He hates it too.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Kid."

Luke was not a kid anymore by any metric, but it didn't stop Han from calling him that. He supposed he still called him that because it reminded him of times that were simplier and he missed simple.

"What do you make of this place?"

His brother-in-law's intuition was undeniable and his council over the years had proven itself time and time again. When Han was at a loss, trying to make sense of it with the people he cared about and trusted was ... usually his first move.

And yes. He's frowning.

[blackclad]

"I couldn't tell you." Luke is so very relieved to see Han here. A friendly face that's the right age - none of this Baby-Wan strangeness. "I could try and be all mystical and say that the Force has given us this opportunity to learn something, but we'd both know it's just a pile of poodoo."

"What do think?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I have a bad feeling about this place."

Did he have a lot of good feelings about places he was entirely unfamiliar with? No. But being a man that traveled across a vast galaxy, he had been to places he didn't know much about before.

His lips upturned just slightly at his mystical joke. It was a smile that Luke knew pretty well.

"There's something weird around here."

Some kind of magic that he hoped could be written off as 'The Force' which he'd at least come to a tenuous acceptance of. If this wasn't something that Luke recognized than he was pretty sure he hated it.

Sand. It's always sand, isn't it? /this is gonna mess with her head soooo much

[makesrocksfloat]

It can't be.

No way.

She thought that she was prepared for just about anything. But there should have been two caveats: one, no telling her about her heritage that raised more questions than answers and two, seeing her former mentor-ish as a young man before he grew all grizzled and bitter would be a shock. A really big one.

So Rey just kind of stood there, slightly slack-jawed as she stared at young Luke Skywalker.

And his words jolt her back into reality. His presence in the Force is enormous, nearly blinding. Even so, she plasters on a smile and says "Hey, yourself. New, I take it?"

[blackclad]

"It shows doesn't it?" Luke's smile is gentle and easy-going. He does try to keep his Force signature wrapped up pretty tight, so it shouldn't be too bad. Right? Maybe?

"Fresh off the papple wagon. Wet behind the ears. Or, I don't know what the local phrase for that would be." If Rey doesn't mind, he'll move to shake hands.

[makesrocksfloat]

Rey grinned. "Just a little bit. But don't worry, I've been here a while." And Rey's not entirely sure how to hold hers back. There's significant light, but lurking around the corners? Shadows. Shadows she doesn't want to admit to, that would mean that what Maul said about her was true.

"No no, wet behind the ears works. Not a phrase I grew up with, but one I've heard and learned the meaning of here." And of course Rey doesn't mind, it's kinda nice to meet Luke before the...before. She eagerly takes his hand and shakes it firmly. "I'm Rey. It's--well, it's good to meet you."