folkooc | August & September 2023 Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

*tdm

August & September 2023 Test Drive Meme

August & September 2023 TDM

Introduction

[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hunter is much more at ease with animals than he is with humans; this brings back a cozy hint of nostalgia for him. When he still had Flapjack... He winds up leaning his elbow on his leg, watching Casey rest his head. ]

Huh. Maybe you like being an animal more than a human?

Mm... maybe. I like some parts of it. Everything feels... different, I guess? Like, the whole world is different, kind of. I can't see very well, but I can hear and smell so much better like this. [His nose scrunches up a bit.] The air's so much more salty here...

[Even Hunter smells like the ocean, after his earlier unwilling dive, though there's plenty of other smells around he can't identify. He's quiet for a moment, hesitating, then adds softly,]

My world didn't... really have animals anymore. Just about everything was dead. Maybe I like being one because I never got to see any before.

[He didn't even know what this was before Donnie told him.]

[ Hunter distinctly smells of ocean for sure. Past that, he smells ... weird? Kind of vegetal, actually, like a piece of wood that's just a bit moldy. Not at all human or fleshy.

Not that Hunter notices any of that, of course. He winds up idly offering a finger to Casey to pet his cute lil armored head. ]

Oh. The Krang killed all of them?

[ He assumes so from context but. ]

[Casey hasn't transformed around humans at all, really, so he doesn't know what things should smell like just yet. But the wooden scent is actually kind of comforting, instinctively. He doesn't know why (he really needs to get Donnie to send him the file on pangolins at this point) but it feels safe.

As for the offered finger, with his poor eyesight and the angle, Casey doesn't see it coming. And he... has never been pet before. THE CHOICE IS YOURS, HUNTER-]

Yeah. They killed the world, they dried up the oceans... most things couldn't survive. We mostly had insects, and... rats.

[He shivers. Now that he's been here and tasted good food, he never wants to go back to eating those.]

But here there's lots of animals. Sometimes I'm one of them. That's... pretty cool, I think.

[ Well. In THAT case. Guess what Casey? You're gettin' pet. Hunter is very gentle, at least; a pangolin is much sturdier than a cardinal anyway.

His other hand clenches in the sand on the beach. He's picturing his own apocalypse in progress. It's not the same, but it's similar enough that he can understand. ]

Is this place ... better? For you?

[O-oh, he... sure is being pet. He blinks a few times, just feeling it out, then ultimately settling into place more comfortably. It's not a bad sensation by any means. Sort of like getting his head pat by one of his family, considering the size difference. That's nice.

Petting a pangolin isn't anything like petting something with fur or feathers, though. It's sort of like petting a series of giant fingernails, smooth and textured in different areas.]

I... [He hesitates. That's a tough question.] In just about every way, it's better. There's food here, there's water, and people. No one's fighting a war. No one's... dying. I like it here. [His little front claws click together anxiously.] ...It's not home though. That world was horrible, but... until the end, I had my family. So I can't hate it either.

[ That part is fine by Hunter, to be quite honest; the Isle are full of creatures that would be considered unpettable by Human standards. This reminds him of petting a selkidomus calf - at least, before he had to drag it back to the Emperor.

He nods slowly at that. At this point, he has NO idea if he’s going to like this place at all, much less better. So. Is that hopeful? … maybe? ]

Family is everything. I’d be a lot happier if my uncle were still with me.

Yeah... me too.

[He knows he's lucky, in a sense. His family is here, just... different. And he's probably not family to them. Not yet. Maybe he will be one day though. Not everyone gets even that much.

At the same time, it's not like he'd be any better off at home. His uncles would still be dead.]

Here, we're kind of... finding our new family, and making the best of it. It's not a bad place, really. There's a lot of good people. I... hope you like it here, Hunter.

[ Hunter pets in silence for a moment as he turns over the very thought of liking where he is. What he’s doing. Who he’s with.

It’s more terrifying than anything else. ]

How long have you been here?

Not that long- A month and a bit, maybe. [He hasn't been tracking time exactly, but it's about that.] Just enough to be a little but not a lot helpful to newcomers.

[Pangolins can't really smile traditionally, but he's doing the closest equivalent his face is capable of.]

… That’s still a decent chunk of time, I guess. Longer than what I’ve got.

[ Longer than what he’s ever had, too. When WAS the last time Hunter felt like he could decide something for himself without the pressure of his role or the apocalypse weighing down on him? ]

People come and go a lot here. It's hard to say what counts as a long or short stay- seems different for everybody.

[And whether or not someone leaves at their 'full potential'... that, he really has no idea about. He's only heard about people leaving, he has yet to lose anyone personally.]

Did the fox tell you what you're supposed to be?

Well - I need to get back to my world as soon as I can. Even if there’s no time passing.

[ A tune he will change very soon here, but right now he’s still thinking about all the havoc the Collectors must be wreaking without him there to help. It’s hard to relax when that’s still fresh in his mind.

Also, he blinks at that question. ]

I - uh - a myth, I think? I don’t know what that means.

[Casey makes no comment to the former- he thinks it'd be nice if Hunter got a little vacation from the chaos of the war he's been dealing with, as well as time to get to know more people (make some friends! that would be good!) but that's halfway self-serving, so he keeps it to himself. Let Hunter decide for himself whether this place is good for him or not.

When he says myth, though, Casey lifts his head curiously.]

Can you show me your teeth?

That is such a WEIRD question. Maybe less weird when directed to a denizen of the Boiling Isles?

I - I guess but - look, trading teeth is illegal in the Boiling Isles, and I’m keeping mine intact.

[ … or maybe it just gets a weird response. Anyway. Hunter grimaces for Casey, showing a fine set of sharp chompers. He also has thorny green-black horns nestled in his hair, though given the fact that it’s getting kind of long, you’d be forgiven for not noticing the horns among his hair. ]

… When did my teeth get sharp…?

Wh- I don't want your teeth!

[Tooth trading?? That's... a horrifying statement. Casey scrutinizes the teeth on display; even with the pangolin's weak eyesight it's visible, and confirmed by Hunter's next comment.]

That's probably the myth stuff. It shows up differently for everybody. A friend of mine looks normal most of the time, but when he uses his mystic powers, his teeth get sharp and his eyes turn black. Do you feel anything else different?

I … I don’t know? I didn’t think about it until just now?

[ He scratches his head a bit - and finds the horns? Huh. He spends a moment feeling out those thorny planty tidbits. ]

Does anyone know why it happens?

[Okay, yeah, this feels like a be-a-person moment. Casey climbs over Hunter's lap - careful with his claws, because he may be small but they are big claws - and, once he's settled in the sand beside the other, changes back to himself. He flops onto his backside and out of the dinosaur pose, then peers up at the horns Hunter's found.]

Whoa... [Yep, sure looks like a myth.] You might want to ask someone else, sorry. It's supposed to help with Thirteen's 'trials', but I haven't even been through one yet.

[Okay, technically he has, but farting around an underwater city of artists didn't feel like much of a trial. (Though the sub journey through kraken territory sure did.)]

[ Thanks for not clawing him up, Casey. He tilts his head back and forth a bit, trying to see what he feels?? The angle is all wrong for him to get any glimpse of his own horns though. ]

Do you know what we’re supposed to DO for trials? Are we fighting?

[He really doesn't want to wound new ??friend?? who hates humans. ~~also apparently pangolin claws can dig through concrete yikes~~

Casey returns to his hip bag, digging out his relic and flipping it open. He holds it up over Hunter's head and takes a quick photo, which he offers out so he can at least see his own horns.]

I don't know yet. Maybe sometimes? This past month there was this giant, uh... cepha... something? [Yeah he's already forgotten.] Big thing in the ocean, with tentacles. I was worried we'd have to fight it, but we just talked a bit when I changed as a familiar. So maybe we can talk through stuff, too.

[ Hunter leans in to look at the image on the screen. So that's what it looks like ... his expression turns to something quiet and sad and aching. He looks like his uncle with those thorns poking out. It raises ... a concern that he quietly tucks away for later. ]

You're lucky it wanted to listen. Probably it should have eaten you.

[Hard to miss the muted response, there, but Casey can't really blame him. He'd felt weird about finding his own changes- the extended canines, or the patches of coloured scales beneath his clothes- and he still does at times. It can take a while to adjust, he figures.]

...Yeah, probably. I'd definitely have died that day. But I didn't, so... maybe the myth stuff will help you one day, too.

[ A small nod at that; Hunter looks up from the picture. ]

I'll make it work for me. Always do.

[Casey makes a quiet, affirmative noise, once again simply allowing the statement to speak for itself- and to give Hunter a few moments to mull over the new discoveries. He wishes he had more information, but in truth, he still doesn't know enough about the roles they've been given, the trials ahead, or what is required of them to go home. Can't exactly rush these things. And hopefully Hunter will know that if he needs help, he'll offer it in a heartbeat. If he doesn't, then Casey will just remind him... maybe when everything is less raw.

Before too long he sits up a bit, glancing over with an expression that is both sympathetic and (he hopes) encouraging.]

Want to keep going? I can at least show you the port. They have some cool stuff up for grabs, and I can buy you something to eat if you're hungry.

I -

[ I'm not hungry, he nearly says on instinct, but then his stomach growls at just the most inopportune moment. He reddens a little instead - and since Casey's made all this progress, he decides not to insist on his usual objections. ]

Yeah. I guess I should eat something. But I'll pay you back! As soon as I - have money!

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