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

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?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Not sure," Ezra admits. "I just got to this little festival, really. I've smelled a lot of seafood? Also a lot of love it or hate it flavors and textures in that corner of cuisine, too, come to think of it."

He pauses. "If I say sushi, you have no idea what I mean, do you?"

[blackclad]

"Nope," he says with a smile and a louder pop on the 'p'. "If you're wiling to try it, so'm I."

Luke is only just arrived and mostly broke, so he might need to hustle a bit to get some money or rely on the kindness of strangers. Either way, he's confident that he can get by.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Yeah, if Luke - this Luke - grew up on Tatooine, that's utterly unsurprising. He nods, and starts looking around at vendors.

"There's probably plenty of places with lots of oceans that do something like sushi, what I'm thinking of is a particular style from the nation of Japan on this little planet called Earth. And if you're here for long, you'll probably hear a lot about that planet. And maybe Japan specifically, for that matter."

[blackclad]

Do you really want to know what he ate on a dare as a teen? Do you even want to know how many legs it had? Yeah. There's not much to do out on the Dune Seas but tickling your hypothalamus with the Four Fs - feeding, fighting, flying too fast, and making friends.

"I just got here, so I can't take the tab on it, but if you're willing to help me do a bit of work for the locals, we can split the bill?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

Oh boy, is he that fresh?

"Have you found your spoon yet?" is all he says, at first.

[blackclad]

Slow blink.

"Uh, it's a work in progress."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra huffs a silent laugh, and takes pity.

"You can pay for things with labor or favors, but mostly it's the energy you create by interacting with people, and it's stored in a special spoon. I'm flush; don't worry about it."

[blackclad]

"If you're willing to pay, I'm here to eat." Is there such a thing as a free lunch? No, but Luke is pretty sure that he'll be able to handle whatever the eventual cost is going to be.

With a shrug, he offers a hand to shake: "Luke."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Bingo.

The corner of his mouth curls up, pleased, and he reaches back a hand (sturdy green linen, matched with his other hand) back, without hesitation to shake.

"Ezra. Ezra Bridger."

[blackclad]

"Good to meet you." Luke tends to keep his sense of self in the Force as buttoned down as he can. Not that it really helps when he's out here introducing himself using his real name. (He did briefly consider lying about it and pretending to be someone more or less interesting.)

"Other than 'charging my spoon' -" If you know what I mean. "What else do I need to know?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Let's see." He tilts his head thoughtfully. "People can come here from all over time or space, even other, very different realities. Or parallel realities that are a little different. There's at least one guy I knew from back home I'm pretty sure came from the moment of his death. Maybe even experienced dying? Unclear, and he's not likely to spell it out for me, anytime soon."

He waves and hand out, in a 'so forth' moment. "It's just - I know, in my past, how he died, and he said he'd had that fight, so-" He shrugs.

[blackclad]

"So it only stands to reason." Ah, it's some sort of high-grade Force drek. That makes the most sense and doesn't seem to overly upset or startle Luke. Something, something, mysterious ways, and so on.

"And the fox?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

"She has a number of incarnations you'll come across. Several of them are involved in the various schools here. The other big thing is there are...Trials every month or so. Technically, this may be one," he says, nodding around at the boats.

"Some of them are much less pleasant, or...highly mixed." A beat, and he adds, "Depending your point of view."

His smile goes funny. "Last month I experienced a life with the sort of childhood I might have had if certain events before I was born had gone...differently."

[blackclad]

"Ah."

That's certainly nothing that Luke would like to experience, but he can accept that it might be a passable learning experience. Of sorts. (It still sounds awful, but he has to put it in perspective. He has to.)

"Maybe I'd be taller."

Har har.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra blinks hard, thinking.

"OK, you know what, I think I was."

Not having to fend for yourself for half your childhood could do that.

[blackclad]

"Huh." He'd been joking, mostly, but there was some truth to it as well. As a child, Luke ate regularly, if not always as well as some. There were lean years and average years, but not really many good harvests.

Blame the Hutts.

"I suppose the Force works how it wills and we just ride along the khamsin and try to keep from dragging our feet too much."

[ezra_of_lothal]

He refocus on Luke. "Khamsin's the new one on me. What's that mean?"

[blackclad]

"It's a kind of wind. Blows in strong, buries up your farm in sand, and you just need to wait it out and hope for the best." He shrugs and looks over towards a food stall. There's something on a stick? Could it be delicious? Is that what sushi is?

It's a universal fact that every culture that has festivals has something-onna-stick.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Gotcha. I come more from grasslands farm country originally. So...yes, that sounds about right."

He glances over at the stall that's caught Luke's attention. "That does look like tasty kebab."

He points down to a stall with symbols he think are supposed to be two pieces of maki and chopsticks."And that looks like a sushi stall."

[blackclad]

"Let's do it, then." Luke gestures that Ezra can go first and he'll follow along behind. If the Force is messing around with him, he might as well take the time to try 'soo-shee'.

"You've had it before?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Yep!" He hums, considering. "Part of my mishmash cultural heritage, sort of."

A beat, and he adds, "Last month was not the first time I got an alternate life."