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 jolts at that, eying the cloaking broach. ]

M - me? I ... guess but ...

[ He has no idea what he'd look like. ]

You don't have to. Just if you were curious.

[He's curious, too. Would it just round his ears or turn him into a yokai too?]

[ Hunter hesitates. Then reaches out for it? If Casey is still offering. ]

I guess it would be interesting. Yeah.

[He is still offering! Casey hands it over and sits back, watching to see how it goes.]

[ Hunter takes the broach, then, and taps it?

The broach seems to glitch for a moment, not quite able to decide which way to go. Witches ARE very humanoid after all, and there are so many good options for yokai Hunter too. In the end, though, it reacts to what HUNTER considers to be his opposite, which means...

His ears become round. Those bright magenta eyes of his dull to brown, and the myriad scars on his face fade to nothing. His clothing, too, shifts to a yellow themed mirror of Luz's hoodie and jeans, so that he just looks like a regular teenager.

Hunter blinks after, staring down at his clothing and the lack of scars. Alas, he can't see his ears or his eyes. ]

Whoa.

[Casey watches it happen, eyes wide as the form settles on a human version. He hadn't expected the difference to be so stark- he really had figured it might just change the ears. Maybe the eyes, since most humans didn't have such bright colours naturally. But without the scars, Hunter almost looks like he'd lived a whole new life. Maybe this was Hunter if he'd grown up in a human world, without all the dangers that caused such injuries.]

Whoa, is right! Look at you...

[ Hunter keeps looking down at his scar-free hands, the lack of sigil, the restored fingers. There's an odd life about him too? He's still pale, but there's a peachy warmth instead of the weird grayish tinge he had before. ]

I ... didn't expect THAT much of a change. Scars make a difference huh.

[Casey's gaze drops to his hand and- oh. That too, huh. Where he'd lost fingers, Hunter gained...]

It... feels weird, doesn't it. It's a different kind of magic from an illusion. [He hesitates to ask, because of the whole human... issue... but,] Is it bad?

[He hadn't really noticed how pale Hunter was until just now. The scars and paleness didn't look bad either, in Casey's eyes, but the sudden shift has made his normal appearance look more different than he'd expected. Clearly it's not just a rounding of ears after all.]

N-no, it feels - nice?

[ It feels nice to be fully human. That’s WEIRD. He’s rather not feel nice when he’s human thanks!! And it may not be a full transformation, but there sure is a physicality to it, isn’t there? Not just an illusion. Not like the cloak broaches he knew back home at all…

He winds up gulping for breath a bit. ]

—- why is my chest vibrating?

[ Someone has never had a real heartbeat until now. ]

Your chest? Let me see-

[Concerned at once, Casey reaches out without thinking to rest his hand on Hunter's chest, trying to feel for any vibration that might be out of the ordinary. He's no doctor, but he has some basic field medic training, and he knows what's normal for a human on account of being one, so...

...huh.]

I just feel your heartbeat.

[He looks up at Hunter's face, confused.]

[ Oh. Hunter knows what a heartbeat is - know his usual state of being is an odd one - but accidentally telling on himself is more than a little mortifying. He goes ashen, then kind of red. Part of that is the fact that Casey is, you know. Touching him. ]

R. Right! My extremely normal heartbeat. That I have all the time!

[That was... not very subtle. You don't need to be as quick-witted as sensei to read between those lines. Beneath his hand, that extremely normal heartbeat is pulsing even faster.

He opens his mouth to question it,] ...You- [but stops himself at once, recognizing the hastiness of Hunter's very bad answer for what it is: evasion. This isn't something he's supposed to share.

...And... Casey feels bad about it. He's already gotten one secret out of Hunter today, and it had seemed like a really big deal. Something that could put him in danger. He really doesn't like the idea of being the one to cause him more anxiety.

Slowly he draws his hand back, expression relaxing gently, and starts again.]

You... had me worried for a second there. I thought something had gone wrong with the magic. I didn't want it to end up hurting you by accident.

[ It is JACKHAMMERING beneath Hunter’s chest as he waits to see if the lie lands or not. He really doesn’t expect it to - Casey sure seems smart - so when he backs off, Hunter’s relief is absolute. He’s darn close to trusting a HUMAN of all things. It’s a little terrifying to get close to these deeper things that his uncle told him so strictly not to mention to everyone, or simply left him in the dark with a strong implication that anything abnormal would get him killed. ]

N-no, that part is fine. I think. I just - um -

[ Casey backing off and letting Hunter handle this on his own is what lets the words spill out now. ]

I can’t cast magic. I told you that. It’s because I’m - I’m missing something that normal witches have. Here.

[ He gestures at the spot where his heart is still currently beating. ]

Normally my heart doesn’t beat like that. It’s really slow.

[A witch's heart is different...? And Hunter's heart is even more different than normal? No wonder he was so surprised to feel it beating. Human hearts are so... active.

He considers those words quietly for a long moment, then reaches a hand out.]

Can you give me your hand for a minute? I want to check something.

[His expression is calm, but giving; he'll accept a no, but this is important.]

[ Hunter startles a little, hesitating… but he offers his hand after a moment. Still pink and pudgy and human. ]

What are you checking?

Your pulse. I don't know if witches do it too- for humans, it's a better way to know someone's heartbeat.

[He turns Hunter's wrist over, resting two fingers against a vein. ...That is still way too fast, though. He reconsiders, instead moving both hands to hold Hunter's instead, trying to be reassuring. His family's helped him work through panic before, and he knows what it does to the human heart.]

It's beating so quick... better calm down first. Do you know any breathing exercises?

[ Casey's holding his hand. ]

[ He manages not to stare for QUITE so long this time, but there's still quite the distinct pause as he has to make his brain work again. Stupid brain, PROBABLY a result of being sort of human at the moment. ]

I - uh - no! Why would I need to practice BREATHING?

[With all this staring, Casey is getting the impression that Hunter doesn't get much in the way of physical touch, which is the MOST alien concept to him, a child raised by mutant turtles who never stop hugging each other. Was his uncle not a touchy guy? For the stretch of that pause he's torn between allowing Hunter his space and holding on so he'll adjust to it, maybe... but the question distracts him from that indecision, thankfully.]

It's- like I said, to calm down. Do it with me, okay? I'll teach you. Breathe in, real slow, 4 seconds. Then out, 4 seconds.

[Look, he'll even demonstrate.]

[ One day Casey should ask Hunter if Belos was a touchy guy. Just for fun. See what happens.

Anyway, Hunter still feels dimly insulted at the implication that he doesn't know how to BREATHE but. He does. Wheeze along. ]

In four ... out four ...

[ Slowly his pulse calms down a bit. ]

Yeah, you nailed it.

[Casey's expression relaxes, and as Hunter's heartrate settles, Casey checks his pulse again and counts quietly for a moment, getting a sense of its stable "human" rate. Once he's satisfied, he reaches out towards the brooch, not touching yet.]

Can I turn it off? Just for a minute. I wanna feel it.

[If Hunter gives permission or shifts it off himself, Casey will keep checking that pulse, to see the difference between the two. Just how slow is really slow?]

[ Once Hunter has calmed down, he levels out at a pretty normal rate? Nothing special really. There's a little spike again as Casey reaches out towards the brooch; he winds up gently tugging it off himself. Sorry Casey, the touching has been surprisingly good but he likes having control over this weird magic thing. ]

Y-yeah. It's - probably time to be done with it anyway. I like looking like myself.

[ As the brooch comes off, he fades back to his usual self. Pointed ears, scars, pallid skin, etc. And ...

Uh. His pulse stops? Completely?? It takes a full thirty seconds for something even LIKE a pulse to come, and it's a bit weird? More like a literal pulse of energy moving through Hunter like a wave vs. an artery twitching on a human. If not for the obvious warmth of his skin, Hunter sure would seem like a corpse or a tree for some reason! ]

[Casey doesn't question his comment- it makes sense, and he likes looking like himself, too. The brooch was fun for a few minutes, anyway, but it'd take some time to get used to wearing it for longer. He'll have to practice it at home before he shows Leo. And for Hunter there's an extra layer of complexity- someone who hates humans wouldn't want to look human for long, surely.

He's quiet for a long stretch as he waits for that pulse, brows furrowing the longer it goes on without doing anything. Once that first pulse is felt, he very nearly jumps, eyes widening, and keeps holding on as he waits for another. The silence would be too long for that, though, so while he does that-]

Wow... you weren't kidding. [It felt different, too. A pulse, but not quite normal. It hadn't felt at all like the beat of blood through a vein. He'd be concerned if Hunter didn't otherwise seem perfectly fine and healthy.] Sorry for making such a fuss... I just, uh. [He goes a bit red, embarrassed to admit it.] I like knowing what a regular heartbeat feels like, for people I know. In case something bad happens.

[He has no idea how this would work with Hunter, though. If someone checked his pulse in a hurry, they'd think he might be dead. Casey's glad he confirmed it now, though- at least someone else knows.]

[ As for Hunter, he grows a bit nervous the longer Casey waits and it seems obvious that this is unusual?? (But it's not, right? He'd asked his uncle, and his uncle had simply said that it's perfectly normal for them, but best not to bring it up among lesser witches, or - Titan forbid - give the impression that he's a powerless witch...

He winds up jolting a little too when Casey does, though that's with relief instead. ]

O-oh. I guess - you'd want to know if I was in trouble?

[ Casey cares if he's in trouble... ]

...Well... yeah. So I could help you.

[He does care! They're friends now! Or he wants to be, anyway. He's still holding on, at last feeling that next pulse. So maybe 2 beats per minute... he's really glad he did this now. If something happened and Hunter was hurt bad enough he needed to check for a pulse, feeling this could send him into a straight-up panic. Now he knows to check Hunter's breathing first.]

It sounds kind of morbid, I guess...

[He's just seen far too many people die in front of him to not need this little reassurance.]

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unknowingly sends thanks to willow across the universe

thanks willow

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