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

[apuckalypse]

[Casey doesn't give that connection much attention, afraid that acknowledging it will make it vanish. He just accepts it quietly, without judgment.]

That... sounds like a nice thing to say, yeah. But it's also... a lot of pressure, isn't it? You must be carrying a ton of weight.

[He doesn't know much about emperors, but they're leaders, aren't they? And he'd grown up watching Master Leonardo endure the weight of leading the rebellion. He'd been a full adult by the time Casey was born, in his thirties during his earliest memories. Hunter's not that old, maybe around his age. And Casey himself had felt such terrible pressure, believing that it was on him to save the world, and that was only for a day or so. He doesn't know how long it's been for Hunter, but it sounds like it's been a while. He must be exhausted by now, on some level.]

[pyrighteous]

[ Terribly exhausted in fact; his whole face has an awful hollow look to it, with deep bags under his eyes. Six months he’s been doing this. Six months too many.

That soft expression on his face hardens. ]

Nobody else is going to carry it. The human wants me dead more than she wants to save the Isles. And most of my old friends took her side.

[apuckalypse]

[Casey's brows furrow at that, genuinely confused and kind of horrified.]

They joined with... the human who called the Collector? I don't understand... why would anyone choose that?

[If they're not puppets, wouldn't they want to live, and to be free? He remembers that there used to be fanatics of the Krang among the Foot Clan, but that just meant they were the first to be infected and turned. No one sided with the Krang after that- at least, no one who lived very long. Those monsters had no interest in sharing the limelight with sentient followers.]

[pyrighteous]

Because they’re wrong!

[ Now Hunter’s shaking and angry again, like he was at the start. This is a raw wound for him - even more so than his uncle’s death. ]

The human thinks that my uncle tried to kill everyone on the Day of Unity with his purifying spell. So she dragged in the Collector and made a deal with him to mess everything up - which just corrupted it into a draining spell! People DIED because of her!

[ He’s trembling a little, gesturing broadly with his free hand. ]

They all think my uncle was some kind of - I don’t even know! A genocidal maniac!

[apuckalypse]

[It's easy to tell how raw this wound is- the response is visceral, startling, and Casey has to stamp down his instinct to withdraw, still trained to have a hair-trigger for danger. This is just... venting, though. A very reasonable outburst for a terrible situation. Instead of doing or saying anything, Casey waits, allowing Hunter to finish, and allowing for a moment of silence afterwards. In part because he's not sure what to say, but also to let the tension settle down a bit. That was... a lot.

He's also seeing more layers to the whole... human hate. Which still sucks, but he kind of gets it. When he finally can respond, his tone is cautiously gentle, very careful not to be accusatory.]

What was his purifying spell supposed to do? What made your friends think something so awful? Nothing you've said made it sound like your uncle would do that kind of thing.

[If he can get that kind of impression from the few things Hunter's said, and the tone he speaks with, shouldn't his friends have known that, too? If someone thought his uncles were going to kill people, he'd be incredibly pissed, too.]

[pyrighteous]

[ Sorry, Casey. When you spend the last six months stewing in everyone else you love thinks your only family member is a horrible monster, things sure get pent up. At least he’s venting in general and not at Casey in particular. And as much as he is absolutely not in a position to admit it, he feels that support Casey is giving him. It gives him a moment to catch his breath and actually answer instead of shutting Casey out, which would be his first impulse. ]

It was supposed to use everyone’s coven sigils to cleanse the Isles of wild magic. Everyone has some, so it hurt at first.

[ He carefully peels back the sleeve on his right forearm, showing a winged triangular sigil just above his wrist - and surrounded by deep cracking scars that travel all the way up to his elbow. ]

When the Collector corrupted it, it turned into a draining spell instead. Something that devours all your magic and kills you. That’s what the others think my uncle was trying to do.

[apuckalypse]

[Casey can't blame him for his anger. Even just hearing about it, he's horrified. He doesn't know about wild magic, if it's good or bad, and maybe they didn't want to get rid of it. But there had to have been a better way, surely. Better than trying to kill someone.]

That's... so messed up. [What else does one even say to that? It's messed up that something good was used for evil. It's messed up that his friends turned on his family that way. It's messed up that even their attempt at a good deed is now destroying the world. And now they'd rather fight Hunter than right their wrongs, or fix the world they've broken?

Messed up. It's so messed up. The people he loves - loved - never doubted where their loyalties were, no matter how bad it got. They understood the stakes. He can't imagine something like this at all.]

What's... wild magic?

[pyrighteous]

Yeah. It is.

[ Hunter delicately tugs his sleeve back into place, covering sigil and scars alike. It’s… hard to think of that day now. The betrayal he’d felt when Luz had made it clear she’d rather fight than listen to Hunter - what she’d try to claim about his uncle’s goals. He’d thought they were friend, but she still knocked him out and prevented him from helping his uncle with the spell. If he’d been stronger, maybe…

He swallows thickly. And draws up a different part of his sleeve, exposing the circular glyph that Casey saw before. The one that generated the light spell. ]

It’s the magic of the Isles that was there before the Coven system. Too much of it corrupts you. If people could use it responsibly, it might not be so bad but…

[ Well. Hunter sure doesn’t trust anyone any more, if he ever did. ]

Wild magic is why my uncle is my only family. He took me in when I was small.

[apuckalypse]

Oh...

[This sounds like something way beyond his understanding. He knows about magic, but he's only ever experienced it around him, never channelled it personally. He'd wanted to, for pretty much all his life. He'd longed for the power to protect his family the way they protected him- for the magic they'd been able to wield against the Krang. When they were his age they were fighting the likes of the Shredder demon and the Krang when they first arrived on Earth, not winning but still holding their own. Casey's just... Casey. And most of what he knows of magic is what he's observed or been told. He doesn't know the difference between one kind or another.

A part of him really wants to hear the other side of this. Did his friends use wild magic and not want it taken away? Were they corrupted by this Collector beforehand and led astray (or corrupted by their own wild magic, if that's what it does), given false proof or led to believe that this spell would be a lot worse than it was meant to be? What made it all worth throwing away a friendship? Were both of them a little wrong or right for different reasons?

That's not the kind of thing you say to someone who was just (understandably) yelling about it though, and he doesn't think Hunter is lying or anything, so. He bites his lip, feeling anxious and kind of helpless, then says quietly,]

I'm sorry it ended up like that. Friends should be able to talk things through. It's... really terrible, when someone you care about takes that kind of choice away from you.

[When they think they know what's best, or that there's no other way... he hates that mentality, now. Just doesn't sit right with him.]

[pyrighteous]

[ It’s a messy, complicated situation; Hunter definitely doesn’t have the whole story. If any version of Luz were to turn up, she could have a very different perspective on all this.

But this Hunter only knows his own perspective: that the human he risked everything to trust and befriend murdered his uncle and brought an apocalypse to his home. ]

Yeah, well. If she’d wanted to talk instead of yelling about how brainwashed I was and trying to kidnap me away from Belos, I might have listened.

[apuckalypse]

Yeah...

[He can only imagine how messy that argument must have been. And obviously it didn't end well for either of them, considering... yeah. Their poor world. Torn apart because of some awful misunderstanding-to-betrayal between friends.

Casey lowers his gaze to the sand, nudging a piece of flotsam into the water and, for a few moments, watching it float out towards the boats. It's a pretty scene, at least. They're all lit up, the soft crashing of the waves is soothing... it's not a bad place at all to sit and settle. This conversation could have gone a lot worse.

Finally he breaks the quiet with,]

This might seem like a weird question, but... you said the Collector was summoned. Could it be possible to send it back to where it came from?

[pyrighteous]

[ It's nice, isn't it? The lack of steam rising from the water is weird to Hunter, but it's quiet. Reminds him of the stories of the Human Realm that his uncle had told him about from time to time. Clearly they're not going to walk to the port town any time soon, so he stretches his legs out, boot heels digging lightly into the sand.

He turns back to Casey as that question punctuates the silence. It's a good question? Not that he knows how, but. ]

Maybe? I - I guess there would have to be a way. He was able to call his siblings, so ...

[apuckalypse]

[At that, Casey flings a hand into the air, exhaling an irritated sound through his nose, immediately losing his original train of thought.]

Seriously? The Krang were a group of siblings, too! How does this keep happening?

[This is TOO MUCH.]

[pyrighteous]

[ Hunter jolts at that. ]

I - uh - sorry? I don't know??

... What are the Krang like?

[apuckalypse]

[Oops. Sheepishly Casey settles back down again, ducking his head.]

Um- sorry, sorry. I just... it's so crazy. [He scuffs a hand through his hair, tucking it into place beneath where the mask rests on top of his head. Best not lose his cool for this subject, either... though he does want to rail. He could say a lot about the Krang, and none of it good.]

They're... horrible. They're slimy and have a bunch of tentacles, they can spread their infection through the ground so it's impossible to know what's safe to walk on most times. They love conquest and murder, they're so fast and powerful... they had a huge ship with missiles and lasers and attack drones that could blow up whatever we threw against them. Nothing about them is fair. [Despite his efforts, his voice is rising the longer he goes. His turn to vent a bit, it seems.] And the monsters they make out of whatever they infect are so creepy! Covered in a bunch of extra eyes, dripping gross pink goo, with spikes and claws... they're the worst!

[pyrighteous]

[ Look. Hunter vented at Casey, so now it's his turn. He listens, wide-eyed - with some confusion? But it shifts to horror quickly enough. Tentacles and slime and being covered in extra eyes are entirely normal for the Boiling Isles. But conquest and murder? Still mega bad. And the thought of an infection taking over the Isles is enough to make Hunter shiver. At least the Collector(s) hadn't managed THAT. ]

If they can infect you and - and have ships and weapons, how do you fight them?

[apuckalypse]

...Stubbornness, mostly. [The people of Earth really are like their roaches- they refuse to give up, they refuse to die.] We spent most of the time hiding, while they hunted us. We'd fight wherever we could- taking out smaller groups of Krang zombies here and there, attacking their ships... it was a lot of smaller victories, doing just enough damage to make sure we stayed alive a little longer.

[He really, really doesn't like to admit it. They'd been hopeful at times, they'd fought so hard and celebrated those victories with their whole hearts. Closer to the end though, things just kept getting harder. Slow-boiling a frog, as some said at the base. ("Or a turtle!" sensei had joked, overhearing them. He'd laughed, but there'd been a strain to his smile.)]

For a while, we were actually doing okay. [Sort of. If eating rats and living underground with the surface world a hellscape covered in bones is "okay".] But once one of my uncles died, it started getting worse. We couldn't keep up with how fast they were spreading. We... weren't strong enough anymore. Like a table, you know? Lost a leg, lost our balance... fell over. [He wobbles his hand awkwardly, then scuffs it against his eyes, catching himself. No more crying, sheesh...]

[pyrighteous]

[ Oh. That's ... familiar too, isn't it. Not the infection part, but the sense of losing ground. His apocalypse isn't nearly as far along as Casey's, so he's not quite at that same level, but...

Yeah. It's heading that direction. Eventually.

Hunter nods at that, staring out across the sea. The flickering lights of some restaurant boat go gliding by, casting flecks of brightness along the waves. ]

So you're losing. Or - you were losing.

[apuckalypse]

[Casey shakes his head. That's far too generous, at least for the world he knew.]

We were losing, and then we lost. The last of the resistance was destroyed right before I got here.

[pyrighteous]

Oh.

[ Said quietly, more like the teenager he is rather than the adult he's been forced to become. ]

Nothing to save, then.

[apuckalypse]

[Casey says nothing. He curls up more tightly, nods, then transitions the motion into simply burying his face against his knees. He's tried hard not to think about it, as much as he could possibly avoid, but what Hunter says is the ugly truth.]

[pyrighteous]

[ Sorry, Casey. AS before, Hunter reaches out a hand to him. Hesitates at the last gap? His fingers tremble for a moment, but Casey is clearly busy with his own feelings, and ...

And that could be Hunter one day. In some ways, it already is - except Hunter has some vestige of hope left.

Slowly, Hunter lets his hand drop to Casey's shoulder and rests it there. He doesn't much else for a long moment. ]

Casey...

[apuckalypse]

[With his face buried, Casey doesn't see it coming, but after a few moments of contact, his hand snakes up to his shoulder and rests over Hunter's. He appreciates it, quietly, and for a little while he lets himself hide that way, grieving the dead world he left behind, and all the people who lost their lives fighting to save it. For sensei, Uncle Tello, Master Michelangelo and Uncle Raph. April. Master Draxum. Countless others, too many to name. It was a brutal world, full of fear and death, but it was his home, and he misses his family. Truly, he hopes Hunter's world has a better future than his own.

Eventually he settles again, slowly lifting his head, wiping at his eyes and blinking rapidly.]

...A-anyway... the reason I asked... my world has an alternate timeline now, where the Krang were stopped. And it's- because they were locked away in a mystic prison, the place they were summoned from. So.

[Maybe that's an option, somehow. Maybe another miracle can happen.]

[pyrighteous]

[ Hunter just stays like that, then. Not moving at all until Casey lifts his head again. He's quiet, still, anticipating maybe more emotions -

Not - well. That. He goes stock still for a moment, barely daring to hope. ]

You think they could be locked away again?

[apuckalypse]

Well... maybe. It wasn't easy, but it worked, so... there's a chance it could work for you, too.

[He sniffs, holding his glove against his nose. Crying is so messy, every time. Why is it impossible to grieve with grace?]

The- ah. [SNIFF. Ugh, he feels gross.] Greatest weapon is hope, right?