![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
December 2023 & January 2024 Test Drive Meme
December 2023 - January 2024 TDM
Introduction
Overflow TDM post found here
[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly 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.
🦊 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.
Content Warnings: School Detention, Time Not Passing, Forced Reflection/Confession, Potential Violence
Welcome to detention. Star Children, whether they're new arrivals to Folkmore or old hands, find themselves sitting at two person desks in a library. Perhaps there's only two Star Children, perhaps up to four or five. Regardless, each Star Child has a slip of paper in their hands which spells out why they are in detention, a secret detention slip no one else can read. Which, whew, because the reason any Star Child is in detention is for something they've never been punished for, something they might reasonably have thought they got away with, something they know was wrong.
The door to the library opens, and Kuma Lisa enters. She explains that Star Children will be in detention for four hours, and by the end of detention, they will need to reflect on what they did and express contrition. The headmistress gives no further guidance before leaving and closing the doors behind her.
Four hours is a notable chunk of time, but it's not so long, is it? Surely it's possible to wait it out without making good on the assignment… Or perhaps it's enough to write about it in one of the notebooks on the table in front of each student, without explaining it to another soul. Star Children are welcome to try whatever they want. However, they may notice an oddity with the clock. Namely, no matter how many times the second hand ticks around a circle to mark a whole minute, the minute and hour hands don't progress. It's the same minute over and over and over—
Detention is four hours, but how long four hours takes is entirely up to the Star Children in detention. Read every book in the library. Throw a dance party. Get high. Pull weapons out of the books. All matter of non-magical weapons. Nothing immediately happens upon pulling those weapons—no monsters to make detention less boring. Unless people make progress reflecting on their transgression, communicating about it with another Star Child, and showing penitence for it, time won't pass. Reality warps to stay in the same minute, minute after minute, hour after hour.
What's it going to be? Never ending detention or personal accountability?
However long it takes, it only takes four hours in the realm of Folkmore.
A word of warning to those who grabbed weapons, they will be attacked on their way home after detention. They will be attacked by creatures out of storybooks. Star Children will need to know the literary weaknesses of these creatures, good luck, or the help of someone else coming along who does know their weaknesses. At least there's some excitement in the day after four long long hours.
Welcome to detention. Star Children, whether they're new arrivals to Folkmore or old hands, find themselves sitting at two person desks in a library. Perhaps there's only two Star Children, perhaps up to four or five. Regardless, each Star Child has a slip of paper in their hands which spells out why they are in detention, a secret detention slip no one else can read. Which, whew, because the reason any Star Child is in detention is for something they've never been punished for, something they might reasonably have thought they got away with, something they know was wrong.
The door to the library opens, and Kuma Lisa enters. She explains that Star Children will be in detention for four hours, and by the end of detention, they will need to reflect on what they did and express contrition. The headmistress gives no further guidance before leaving and closing the doors behind her.
Four hours is a notable chunk of time, but it's not so long, is it? Surely it's possible to wait it out without making good on the assignment… Or perhaps it's enough to write about it in one of the notebooks on the table in front of each student, without explaining it to another soul. Star Children are welcome to try whatever they want. However, they may notice an oddity with the clock. Namely, no matter how many times the second hand ticks around a circle to mark a whole minute, the minute and hour hands don't progress. It's the same minute over and over and over—
Detention is four hours, but how long four hours takes is entirely up to the Star Children in detention. Read every book in the library. Throw a dance party. Get high. Pull weapons out of the books. All matter of non-magical weapons. Nothing immediately happens upon pulling those weapons—no monsters to make detention less boring. Unless people make progress reflecting on their transgression, communicating about it with another Star Child, and showing penitence for it, time won't pass. Reality warps to stay in the same minute, minute after minute, hour after hour.
What's it going to be? Never ending detention or personal accountability?
However long it takes, it only takes four hours in the realm of Folkmore.
A word of warning to those who grabbed weapons, they will be attacked on their way home after detention. They will be attacked by creatures out of storybooks. Star Children will need to know the literary weaknesses of these creatures, good luck, or the help of someone else coming along who does know their weaknesses. At least there's some excitement in the day after four long long hours.
🦊 Star Children, new and old, in groups of 2-5 are in detention for something they did wrong & haven't been punished for.
🦊 Kuma Lisa explains detention lasts four hours, and people have to express regret for what they did by the end.
🦊 Time doesn't pass unless Star Children make progress toward that assignment.
🦊 It always takes four hours in Folkmore time.
🦊 Star Children who draw weapons from books during detention will be attacked on their way home.
🦊 Kuma Lisa explains detention lasts four hours, and people have to express regret for what they did by the end.
🦊 Time doesn't pass unless Star Children make progress toward that assignment.
🦊 It always takes four hours in Folkmore time.
🦊 Star Children who draw weapons from books during detention will be attacked on their way home.
Content Warnings: Theft, Glitter Bombs, Minor Power Nerfing
There's a problem with the nonexistent mail delivery system in Folkmore. Gifts are being delivered to residents' addresses—their correct addresses, even if they live in the woods—but those recipients, written on a fat cream label, cannot pick them up, teleport them, or otherwise move them under their own power. These gifts sit in garish and contrasting colors that make certain to draw attention to themselves. Hello, here they are.
Anyone else can pick these packages up, from the person next door to a stranger walking by. There's so many gifts around it's easy to pick one up, remove the label, and go on one's way. Few people are home all the time, and even if they are, what are they going to do? Pick it up themselves? Ha! It's freereal estate. Star Children with abilities to see inside the packages can see something they want badly within as extra motivation to go for it.
When Star Children open their ill gotten gains, these packages explode in a glitter bomb that coats everyone within a ten foot radius. This glitter is impossible to wash out, magic away, or otherwise remove for twenty-four hours. Walk, swim, fly, or otherwise go about with glittery evidence of the crime committed.
Almost always. If it were guaranteed, where would the fun be in that?
The rare fortunate criminal or the original recipient, helped by another Star Child, will receive an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Those who receive an item will stop receiving gifts on their doorstep, whether they stole the gift or received it from a package addressed to them. They can keep stealing other people's gifts, but they will only receive a glitter bomb from then on.
Mischievous Star Children can even prank each other by changing the label and redelivering packages to someone else. Should that person get help to bring the gift inside, it still isn't their gift, not really, so it too will explode in glitter.
There's a problem with the nonexistent mail delivery system in Folkmore. Gifts are being delivered to residents' addresses—their correct addresses, even if they live in the woods—but those recipients, written on a fat cream label, cannot pick them up, teleport them, or otherwise move them under their own power. These gifts sit in garish and contrasting colors that make certain to draw attention to themselves. Hello, here they are.
Anyone else can pick these packages up, from the person next door to a stranger walking by. There's so many gifts around it's easy to pick one up, remove the label, and go on one's way. Few people are home all the time, and even if they are, what are they going to do? Pick it up themselves? Ha! It's free
When Star Children open their ill gotten gains, these packages explode in a glitter bomb that coats everyone within a ten foot radius. This glitter is impossible to wash out, magic away, or otherwise remove for twenty-four hours. Walk, swim, fly, or otherwise go about with glittery evidence of the crime committed.
Almost always. If it were guaranteed, where would the fun be in that?
The rare fortunate criminal or the original recipient, helped by another Star Child, will receive an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Those who receive an item will stop receiving gifts on their doorstep, whether they stole the gift or received it from a package addressed to them. They can keep stealing other people's gifts, but they will only receive a glitter bomb from then on.
Mischievous Star Children can even prank each other by changing the label and redelivering packages to someone else. Should that person get help to bring the gift inside, it still isn't their gift, not really, so it too will explode in glitter.
🦊 Gifts appear outside Star Children's residences, even those without residences.
🦊 Recipients cannot pick up the gift but any other Star Child can.
🦊 Almost all stolen gifts explode in a glitter bomb that leaves glitter for 24 hours.
🦊 Star Children can receive an item from home, even a weapon or magical item.
🦊 Star Children can prank each other by changing the labels/moving the packages.
🦊 Recipients cannot pick up the gift but any other Star Child can.
🦊 Almost all stolen gifts explode in a glitter bomb that leaves glitter for 24 hours.
🦊 Star Children can receive an item from home, even a weapon or magical item.
🦊 Star Children can prank each other by changing the labels/moving the packages.
no subject
But Casey calls, and no broken heart would ever stop Rue from keeping thier promise to always answer.]
I'm here. [Now that he has broken the boundary Rue was so terrified to cross, there's only a moment of his tugging before Rue is rolling their shoulders and then wrapping the boy up in a hug, tighter than they'd normally allow, something desperate and fearful and not fully trusting his words.]
I promised I would remain at your side, did I not? I've gone nowhere. Hush those fears, I'm here. You owe me no apology, you've done exactly what I've asked.
[Painful as it was to hear, Casey did exactly that.]
But it frightens me greatly that you would feel such a way.
no subject
I'm- [sorry, is of course what he means, but they've hushed him, so he hushes. No apology. ...One more apology, rebelliously.] I'm sorry. I wasn't... doing so good, then. [Incredible understatement.] Everyone died that day... back home. And then I was in the past, and they were alive again... I-I thought, maybe we'd be okay. But it wasn't them. And then to lose Leo, I- [He shakes his head.] I was so tired... of losing everyone... why was it always me who got left behind...?
no subject
I hear you.
[Because they do. They've gone round and round with this one before, about how utterly unfair it is for Casey to have lived the life of loss that he has. Of course he must be exhausted with always losing others, of always being the one left behind, but what could anyone ever say to ease that pain for him? He has seen so much and lost even more than that.]
But Casey, I hope you will answer me truthfully when I ask you this, but is that how you still feel? Even today?
no subject
He can't not answer, though. How does he feel? Really and truly? Today, and any other day?]
...Not... exactly, [is how he starts, very tentatively.] I can't say I don't ever. Just- sometimes, if I think too hard about the portal, or I can tell Leo's struggling with it, I... [He hesitates again, shaking his head.] I know it's not rational. It's not... healthy. Mostly, I'm fine, I don't think about it or I can make myself stop. Just... sometimes. That's all.
no subject
Will you tell me when those feelings come up? If you feel comfortable to, of course. I know I can not magic them away, but not having to deal with them alone, I feel that would only be beneficial.
[Difficult, definitely, but helpful once they manage to get there.]
To be honest, it worries me to hear you say such things, but it is not something to be ashamed of that needs to be hidden. Feelings that like should be shared, so that you don't have to carry that burden alone. But - [now they hesitate, beak trembling, but only because the words feel so heavy on their tongue. The emotion comes through, as much as they try to fix their voice back into that perfect cadence.]
Forgive me, I know none of this is about me, but the thought of losing you fills me with a dread unlike anything I've ever known before. I do not blame you for those thoughts, truly, I understand where you are coming from, but your life to me means more than you could ever know. You deserve the chance to live and grow and be happy. And hard as it may be to believe, you are worthy of surviving.
You deserve better than you've been given.
no subject
Finally, his answer comes in a whisper,]
I know it... hurts you. I wish I never thought any of this. [He wishes the Krang never came to Earth, he wishes he'd found the key first like sensei wanted him to, he wishes the choice to make a sacrifice was never on the cards, he wishes Leo's plan had worked perfectly-] But if I can't shake it off, I'll... I'll tell you.
[He hesitates again, then swallows it back and looks up, trying to regain some of his faltering strength. His hands find theirs, his hold urgent, still a little shaky but not letting go.]
Listen. This isn't... please don't misunderstand. I-I don't... want to die. Even when I think this stuff, it's not... [He exhales, tremulous and heavy, takes a deep breath in.] It's not that. Sacrifice isn't...
[He trails off, reluctant to say the word lest it somehow manifest itself into some terrible new fear. It's not that. It isn't good, but at least it's not that.]
...I want to live. So d-don't... don't think I'm going anywhere. That's not the plan.
no subject
[There are a million wishes that will never come true, divergences in the path that Casey will never get to explore, but the fact that he trusts Rue enough to grant them this one request, the relief that breaks out across their face is undeniable.
Rue's expression pinches and quivers with emotion, just to know that their son will not be forced to face such torturous thoughts all on his own. It's the first step, not a magic fix, but that first desperate crawl forward that they spoke about. Anything is better than forever standing still.
Casey's hands clutching their paw, shaky but strong, is all that it takes for Rue's reflective eyes to blink back down at Casey's. They aren't quite certain what they find there, but behind the wet cheeks and the puffy eyes and the weight of the world that has lived on his shoulders for most of his life, it doesn't entire surprise the owlbear to see that simmering strength too.
Strength they would be so happy emulate, but Casey reassures them in exactly the way that Rue needs and the dam breaks enough that they have to pull the teen tight against them, a few fat tears rolling down feathery cheeks onto Casey's head. Not a full on sob, but a quiet, relieved cry.]
I knew, I did, but just hearing you say the words washes some of the terror from my heart. The thought alone just - it does not matter. I am deeply relieved and so very sorry. My best is not quite enough today, but I'm trying. Truly.
no subject
You don't have to be your best every time. I'm trying, too. We can try together. I don't, um. [He falters, chewing on it for a moment first.] I don't want a perfect mom, I want a real one. With real feelings... even if they're scared or angry or need to yell and shake me for saying something terrible. Don't give me best, give me real.
[He doesn't even know if that makes sense. He hopes it does. He just doesn't want Rue to think they have to do everything perfect. Sensei didn't. He barely remembers his first mom but she was far from perfect. It made it more real to him. Helped him learn that he could be a screw-up, too. He's a mess, like his dad. And he loved his family anyway, warts and all. Just like they loved him.]
no subject
All of this is new to Rue, not just the familial aspects or the idea of being a parent, but these deep relationships with others too. To go from one friend in a hundred years to a family as big as theirs, it's overwhelming on all ends, especially while trying to navigate this role as a new parent to five teenage boys. So Casey gets Rue right in the heart with that one, the gentle reminder that failing is not the end of the world even for a parent, and that sometimes parents don't have all of the answers their kids look to them for.
It's a process, Rue is still learning, but for the moment, they can take Casey's words and hold them like a balm against their aching heart.
Casey does deserve better. But he also had the agency to make this choice for himself, and for whatever reason, he picked Rue. That has to mean something.
They hope he will not mind a trembly kiss into his hair. Rue is terribly sorry for the tears they've left all over him.]
For what it is worth, I am not looking for a perfect son either. This conversation has been difficult, there's no denying that, but it was necessary. It's just like all of the rest that we've already been through though, something we can navigate through together, because family does not let one another venture forward alone.
[Rue knows Casey's heart. And if this hasn't not frightened them away, nothing will.]
Earlier, you seemed terrified I might leave, but, dearest, I promise you never have to be. And I will keep repeating that as many times as you need.
no subject
...I... panicked. I thought I said too much. I'd never heard you like that before. [He pauses, then adds, recognizing that sounded as if he was blaming Rue, which is not his intent,] But I've... never said anything like that before, either. ...Um. I believe you.
[Rue won't leave him. Whatever's broken inside him, whatever mess his past has left behind, Rue won't leave. He has people he can depend on, here, no matter what dumb thoughts his brain cooks up day to day. It's important that he knows and remembers it.]
no subject
I did not mean to scare you, Casey, though I understand why you felt that way. I simply did not feel very well after hearing that. It was nothing, just a mistake on my part. I apologize for frightening you.
[It doesn't feel like nothing, but Casey is already struggling with the weight of this on his tiny frame. The last thing he needs is to carry Rue's rising worries too.]
I made a vow to stay, no matter what. You hold my heart and nothing could ever change that.
no subject
[If he had better control of himself, maybe he'd be in a better state. Could be this sort of fear gets tempered with age and experience. He's still young, with infinite loss compounded in his history. Losing everything, only to gain more and almost lose it again... that fear has latched and it won't let go any time soon.]
...You were... scared of losing me, too. Right? That's why.
no subject
Against him, Rue's feathery head nods.]
Deeply. The thought of losing you, of failing you in such an awful way, it will haunt me.
[Their poor, scarred children. If he will allow them, Rue will shift just enough to rub a giant paw at his back in soothing, gentle circles.]
It isn't your fault either, Casey. You have lived through so much, of course that still affects you today, no matter what time has passed. Grief, fear - those often do not make sense. They are feelings so visceral and natural, they go against all understanding.
no subject
He listens to everything, of course, but it's the first part that catches him off-guard and gets him thinking. The rest are statements he needs to mull over and dismantle through time and effort. The former, though...]
Why... do you think you would be failing me? My choices aren't yours. You didn't make any of this happen.
no subject
But still, something aches in their chest.]
I didn't know how badly you were hurting. I should have seen it, I knew what a terrible memory that was for you, but I did not realize you carried those kinds of feelings inside. [To look back and regret and want to change things is to be expected, but to wish so desperately that it had been him instead? How did Rue misstep so badly?]
I should have spoken to you after our conversation with Leo. That whole thing became such a mess and I can not imagine how deeply it must have hurt you to bring it back up.
no subject
[Casey lowers his gaze, at a loss for words for a time. He doesn't think that's fair, either. Rue's not omnipotent, they can't see or know everything that goes on around them. With how Leo's stress had been rising, and the two had moved in to support him, it would have been easy for anyone to miss how Casey had intentionally let himself fade into the background.
He can't remember much of the conversation, in truth, after the portal stuff came out. After he'd said what Casey did. As badly as he'd wanted to help beforehand, he'd failed to offer much of anything beyond a certain point. He'd all but shut down, trusting Leo's safety to those who know and love him better. He'd been frozen and worrying if it would change anything, if his act of betrayal would be seen for what it is and if he'd be deemed unworthy of being a son because he'd hurt another so gravely. When Leo left, he'd made himself scarce. And then nothing changed, neither Rue nor Peter treated him differently, and he let himself forget again. Things were okay.
What would it have changed, he wonders.]
I know you don't like it, but... it really wasn't about me. [His fingers fiddle anxiously with the hem of his shirt, twisting around a loose thread, needing to look at anything but Rue.] It was important that Leo got to talk about it. He's the one who went through the worst of it. I just...
[Closed a door.
Anyone can close a door.]
I could've reached out, [he says instead, swallowing past the rest.] I usually do. You were probably trusting me to, and I'm the one that failed.
no subject
Their paw curls gently through his hair, brushing it back and down, that careful brush of talons against his scalp.]
It was important and I would never have taken away from Loe's moment. He needed it so desperately, and though it did not immediately mend every issue we discussed, he heard us and, I hope, was able to feel heard as well. Truly, dear, I do not fault you for not speaking up then, your mind must have been otherwise preoccupied.
I just blame myself for not seeking you out myself later. Either way, I'm very sorry that you've had to carry this around yourself. I will not tell you your feelings aren't valid, because that would be cruel and an absolute lie, but I hope you will hear me when I say that I, personally, do not blame you, and I'm saying that as Leo's mother.
He is my son and I would do anything for him. [It's so hard to hear with their gentle cadence, but there is absolutely a brush of ferocity to that word. Rue already had to kill once for their children, they will do it again if necessary.] But I do not hold any blame against you for the difficult choice you had to make.
no subject
He doesn't know what else to do except cry, in light of all that, so he quietly bows his head and rests it against Rue, just letting the tears fall silently for a bit. It takes some time before his voice finds strength again.]
...Can we go? Isn't this enough? I want to go home...
no subject
Almost immediately after that heartbreaking request to go home, Rue is shifting to rise up on their taloned feet, Casey tucked safely into their wings. They place a soft paw to the back of his head, keeping him pressed close to their thick feathers, hoping that will give their son the privacy needed to just cry his feelings out against then.
As far as Rue is concerned, Casey has done more than enough apologizing, especially in regards to this particular incident. If for some reason anyone tries to tell Rue that he hasn't completed the assigned mission, the owlbear might just curse them all themself.]
Close your eyes, Casey. I will get you back to the apartment. It won't take long at all, I promise.
[Well, there's only one barrier left. Rue sighs deeply.
They hate having to pretend that they are at all regretful of something they very much do not regret, but for Casey, they will try to repent.]
I am deeply apologetic to have broken up an engagement or two during my time as Faerie's Emissary of Joy. It was all presumption upon my part that the parties involved truly wanted nothing to do with one another, and it is a mistake that I am obviously still paying for. ...Though I will also add, that fifty percent of those broken up couples are now happily married to another, so perhaps somewhere in this slip of paper I should also be thanked.
But fine, I'm very sorry, alright?
[They are already striding over with Casey in wing to kick down that door.]
no subject
It does seem to be enough, at least. The door offers no further barrier for them, and Rue is more than welcome to carry home their small bundle of sadness, still clinging, still with his eyes closed from the rest of the world.]