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!

[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."

[hasmuchtolearn]

Obi-Wan snorts at that. “Perhaps asking if younglings are around is the first thing you should do.” Instead of, you know, spouting off and then asking as an afterthought? Either way, he’s a bit amused.

“That I can agree with, though perhaps not with your choice in vulgarities. You swear like a spice pirate.”

[blackclad]

"Spice runners aren't the finest lot, but they do have a way with words." Luke scrubs his hand against his thigh and offers it to shake. He recognizes the style of clothing and checks (yep) for a lightsaber.

"Luke."

[hasmuchtolearn]

“And I suppose you would know?” Are you a pirate sir? That might explain all the black. But he’s friendly regardless, and Obi-Wan can’t help his own grin as he shakes that man’s hand.

“Obi-Wan.”

[blackclad]

"So I've heard, at any rate." Karrde certainly had his merits and Luke will grant him a way with words. (There. That's kind enough.)

"And it's good to meet you, Obi-Wan." Surreal, but good. Ezra had warned him that there could be other people, from other times, but from similar worlds. He'd thought a bit about it, but hadn't really put much thought into the practicalities.

[hasmuchtolearn]

All right, so not a pirate then. That’s good. He’s picked up a glimmer in the Force, but he wasn’t sure if the guy was shielding or something else. It didn’t really matter too much though.

“And you, Luke. … So, where are you from?” Clearly they were from the same galaxy, but that covered a lot. Swearing like that though he would guess somewhere in the Outter Rim.

[blackclad]

"Nowhere interesting." He laughs and shakes his head. "That's not fair. Go to nowhere interesting, then hop a couple systems further away and you might just find it. How about yourself?"

They can either keep working and helping out, or maybe they should wander further into town to see what's happening.

[hasmuchtolearn]

“It can’t be that bad.” Come on Luke, what’s not fair is leaving him hanging like that! But fine, he can be the first to give an actual answer.

“Coruscant. And if you’re going to give me a hard time about being a core worlder too we can stop right there.”

He’s already gotten an earful from Cobb, thanks. Putting the rope down he looks around. “Was there anything else that needed to be done here?”

[blackclad]

"Touchy subject?" Luke is not exactly laughing at Obi-Wan, but he does find it funny that it's an issue. "I will behave, but I may occasionally have to comment on the accent."

...says the hayseed hick.

"And no, I don't think so. I think we ought to have a walk and maybe a chat."

[hasmuchtolearn]

"Let's just say, I expressed my contempt for Tatooine and a certain resident of that planet took it personally."

If anything Cobb was the touchy one. Obi-Wan had a gift when it came to sticking his foot in his mouth around the man. But they still managed to get along most of the time despite that. At the suggestion of taking a walk and having a chat, Obi-Wan looked at Luke a bit curiously.

"All right. I was going to take a look around anyway before I ran into you."

With that he nimbly hops to the next boat, content to lead the way as he had spotted what looked like vendor stalls in the distance.

[blackclad]

"Oh, if it was Tatooine you can be forgiven. I can't deny, it's not somewhere I'd prefer to live." He's not wrong. Luke left that planet and has done his level best not to look back. Although, he acknowledges that for a little blip in the middle of nowhere, an awful lot of important things have happened on the sand.

As they hop along from one boat to the next, Luke considers how to break the news: "I spoke with someone named Ezra. Do you know him?"

He could lie or just 'omit the truth', and a nasty little part of him is interested to see how Obi-Wan likes it, but it won't do either of them any good.

[hasmuchtolearn]

"Not from his point of view," Obi-Wan says with an amused snort. "It's hot as blazes there." Poor guy has no idea he's going to spend a large chunk of his life there in the future.

The mention of Ezra gets a glance as he hops to another boat. Of course he's spoken to Ezra already. Ezra seems to have never known a stranger. He's far more of a social butterfly than he was. "I do. We actually share an apartment together. Apparently I'm his master at some point."

Tread carefully Luke. Obi-Wan has had some... EXPERIENCES lately with people omitting truths, only to have them dumped on him later, and it didn't go well for anyone.

[blackclad]

"Ah." Luke nods and files that little bit of information away. This odd place is looking like it's Jedi all the way down. "That's good for you. For you both, I mean."

Luke isn't diplomatic. He never has been. It's always just been easier to blaze a trail and deal with the fallout afterwards. And yet, he is making an effort because he doesn't want to hurt Obi-Wan.

"Right." Right, he can do this. Past Obi-Wan, he looks to the horizon, finds his own centre and decides to push forward. "I'm from further along your timeline. We met, briefly. If you want to talk about it, we can; if you'd rather not know about a possible future, I don't mind avoiding the topic."

[hasmuchtolearn]

That's a bit of an odd thing to say. Obi-Wan glances at Luke akin with something akin to curiosity again and a bit of concern. But as the other man goes on, it becomes a bit more apparent.

He stops on the edge of a boat and keeps his back to Luke for a moment while letting out a sigh. "Of course. Everyone seems to know me in the future." Why would he expect anything different from this guy too? There's a bit of weary sadness in his tone, like this road has been tread upon already.

"I appreciate you being upfront about it," he says, finally turning to look back at Luke. Not everyone had been after all. He's already been deeply hurt and was still healing from that. "But I would rather not discuss a future where my people are all but extinct right now, if its all the same to you." Maybe... another time. But right now, he would rather focus his thoughts elsewhere.

[blackclad]

"Perfectly fair." His expression hovers somewhere between wistful and wry. Luke stalls on the edge of a boat, scrubs a hand through his hair, and nods in agreement. "And I whole-heartedly can appreciate that."

"And, just think, so long as we keep to lighter topics, I won't see you looking like a wet tooka and, in turn, I won't feel bad about fleecing you at cards." Or chess. Or any other game they might choose to play. It's not that Luke is mercenary, per se, just that he believes that all games are best played with stakes.

[hasmuchtolearn]

Luke's attempt to lighten the mood gets a little smirk. "Who is fleecing who now?" Don't underestimate him Luke. His master was also a master in gambling, and he has picked up a few things from Qui-Gon's, sometimes poor, example.

He goes back to jumping from boat to boat, his braid whipping around with the movements. "Now, if you want to talk about the past, my present, I will readily do so." Obi-Wan loves his life as a Jedi after all, even if the bleak future had shaken that for a time.

[blackclad]

"Sure, tell me all about it. I can guess you're a Jedi, but beyond that, I don't know much about you or them. Their Order?" Is that even the right word? Maybe he should've said the Temple? Hard to say.

Yoda was not exactly focused on Jedi lore so much as he was interested in getting Luke ready to fight.

[hasmuchtolearn]

That tracks he supposes. Not many people seemed to know much about the Jedi in the future, considering there aren't many around. That is unless you're a Jedi yourself. AHEM.

"Yes, our Order," Obi-Wan confirms as he keeps going. "I've been with them for... just about as long as I can remember. Since I was three years old. We all grow up in the Order. I'm what you would call a Padawan, a Jedi Learner. He pauses to give a tug at his long braid. That's what that's for."

[blackclad]

"The hair shows you're still learning. Got it. How do you move up from learner to knight or master?" Hey, look, there is some sort of snack over there. Maybe they should trade in a little of the good will Luke has earned and get something to eat? If it's not moving, it's fair game.

And if it is moving, well, it's just a more challenging sort of meal.

They grow 'em weird on the Outer Rim.

[hasmuchtolearn]

“Once a learner is determined to be ready, they go through a set of trials. If they pass they become a knight.”

Obi-Wan has his eye on the same place. Weaving through a few other people he gets closer to the stalls. He points at some various foods on sticks. “Those are pretty good,” he tells Luke. He had tried something similar from one of the many food stalls in Epiphany. “And those.” He points at some steaming croquets nearby.

[blackclad]

Anything onna-stick is where Luke is most comfortable. Legs, wiggly bits, vegetable? It doesn't matter much so long as it's well spiced and probably not going to make him regret too much.

"Interesting. What kind of trials? I, ah, did a little training, for someone Force sensitive, but never the full thing."

[hasmuchtolearn]

There’s a shrug of Obi-Wan’s shoulders. “The trials can take many forms, but there are nine steps to take. Teamwork, isolation, fear, anger, betrayal, focus, instinct, forgiveness, and protection.” He recites the steps like he knew it well, though he had yet to actually face them himself. Or so he thought.

But then he pauses as something else Luke had said suddenly clicks in his mind and he gives the other man a look. “It wasn’t me, was it?”

Luke said he had known him briefly. And just now said he did a little training with a force sensitive. Possible connection???