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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.
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[ Rin looks away while fiddling with a loose strand of hair. ]
Renzo did actually try to exact vengeance once. But on Manji, not on me. See, Manji had lied to him and told him he killed Araya over a gambling debt.
So Renzo wanted to take Manji's arms... and I offered him my arms instead. Because in that moment, I thought it's alright as long as I get to see my journey through. I could see Anotsu Kagehisa die without my arms, and if anyone would fight, it'd be Manji anyway.
[ A gulp. ]
Well, luckily, that didn't happen, because everyone else intervened! Hehe... actually, your buddy Magatsu did, too. He gave me a whole lecture. But I mean, he was not wrong. I was trying to shield Renzo from the full truth for my own gain at that moment, too.
[ Yeah, the whole thing was very messy, indeed. From the start, Rin had put her own goals above taking care of Renzo. And that is her regret, even though she's not sure she'd do anything different, given the choice anew. ]
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She is taken more by a different thing that comes up here.]
...so Renzo never knew the real reason behind his father's death?
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[ Rin wonders if that is good for him. It's not knowledge a child should have. Then again, he'd been with Shira... Rin doesn't even want to imagine what that man might have done to Renzo. ]
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Rin, may I ask a sensitive question?
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Go ahead.
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Before the docks, you had a chance to take your revenge and did not. Why didn't you?
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Well, uhm... I suppose that's true. But... you know I could never have taken him in a fight. The only real opportunity I had was on the trip back from Kaga, when he was sick.
And at first, I thought I might, but then he just got sicker and sicker and... look, I just didn't have the heart. Killing a guy who can't even walk anymore. Felt scummy. So I didn't.
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Rin and Kagehisa have certain things in common. It is not something she will say aloud.]
You could have simply abandoned him. That you didn't... I am grateful. But you perceive your desire for vengeance with nuance now that you are older and more experienced, is that not so?
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Hmmm. You know, Makie-san... for two years. For two years since that night, I was alone. There was no one to really talk to, or touch, or anything...
And then I met Manji-san, and from then on, I met many more people. Everyone had something to say. All different things. So I considered. I started doubting. I met Araya and that whole thing went horribly south, too.
You know, I ran into Anotsu in the woods one time? I stupidly tried to ambush him. He ended up explaining his philosophy to me. That was weird...
[ As Rin recounts all this, she fidgets with her thumbs in her lap. Why is she telling Makie all this? Maybe it's more about her own need to reflect. ]
So I couldn't help thinking, but what if he's right? I just felt like I had only just entered the world and I didn't know anything. Soon after that, I followed him to Kaga and it felt like things got both clearer and more muddled at the same time. But I was more sure that I didn't know everything there is to know yet, and I decided that was okay. I can wait.
And then there were the immortality experiments. Doa and I fought like hell in that horrible prison, to get our men out. And that... felt like a better thing to fight for than vengeance.
But still. I had to see. See where his path went, how it ended. That was the one thing I still had to do.
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At the beginning of any harrowing journey, you will see only the end you desire. But you grow and learn along the way. A young woman seeking vengeance on the man who slew her parents. It is no longer as clear, free of nuance, by the end. [She hesitates.]
A young boy seeking vengeance on the young woman in turn. I imagine as he grows older and learns more about the situation, things might change. Who can say...? You can only wait.
Was Renzo like his father?
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She considers the question, digging her fingertips into her cheeks as she mulls it over. ]
I don't think so. He was a bit of a brat when I first met him, but a good kid. But after everything that's happened... I don't know if and how that will change him.
But he's with Master Sori now. I think that's going to be a good environment for him! [ Rin smiles at the thought. She's glad to see Renzo cared for. Especially with Tatsu around. ]
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It sounds like you did the best you could by him. I hope he understands that some day.
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[ Rin's smile has a tinge of sadness to it. After all, those were her wishes for Renzo in the first place -- that he wouldn't know the pain she did, walk the same path of revenge. ]
But, you see? It's just as you said. In the end, revenge is nothing but senseless murder. And it goes on and on and on.
And yet, ironically enough, that's why I had to do it in the end. [ A bitter laugh. ]
Remember -- I think you were there -- back at the docks, when suddenly he started talking of children?
[ For a moment, it occurs to Rin that Makie might have had very different thoughts when he said that. She sweeps the thought aside and continues. ]
He said he'd have kids and train them in the arts of war, and... one day they'd come back to Japan to be a threat again.
That's when I knew.
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[She says that part firmly.]
It hurts. It's painful, and it will not make you feel better. But you aren't a wild animal, Rin. You've thought, and thought again, and second guessed yourself, and weighed the consequences and emotions. You are not a mindless killer. You had a justified grievance.
[The thing is, many of the men Rin killed--or had killed--were deranged killers. Kagehisa knew that about them, had distaste for it, but he didn't stop them. And the shogunate had many more such people fighting against them. Makie doesn't think there are many decent men with a sword. That Rin is tearing herself apart over this even now... well, that is familiar.
She cannot tell Rin that she was right. But she was also very far from wrong. The world operates in shades of grey.]
...he talked of children?
[She did not hear that part.
(She was dead by then. Carried by Kagehisa, who refused to leave her behind, but far from being able to hear him all the same.)]
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Anotsu? She'd had her doubts. Had sometimes wondered if, in a different world, they might have gotten along. But which of the things that went wrong would have had to go right for that to be possible? All the way back to their grandparents, that first grievance that ignited the feud?
In the end, things are as they are, and Rin knew, back at the docks, she had to stop him.
Rin nods at Makie's question. ]
Yes. He said his plan was to flee -- I think to the continent? Build a city there. Have children. Train them in the ways of the sword. And somewhere down the line, he or his descendants would come back.
It sounded a lot like revenge. Which, you know, is funny! Because I remember this one time, he gave me a lecture about how irresponsible it is to hand your unfinished business down to your descendants.
[ The corners of her mouth move upwards, into something that is more of a grimace than a grin, free of mirth. ]
He was really just a pathetic, cornered dog at that point!
[ She is vehement suddenly, buoyed by rage at how it had all gone down. Even if she doesn't quite know in which direction she's angry. At him, for ending up like that? At herself, for not taking him out sooner? It's all still a tangled mess.
But now he's dead and that is that. ]
no subject
You're calling her husband, the man she loved like no other, the man you murdered, a pathetic and cornered dog.
Makie listens quietly to the rant, wonders dully when he had this conversation-- before or after her death? If it was before, she has failed him. If it was after...
...either her death was that easy to recover from, or he was setting himself up. It hurts to think he would move on without her, but it would be right if that's what he wanted. She's hurt enough by Rin's rage that a dark part of her wants to point out Kagehisa's desire for children and the fact that he let her kill him don't... really mesh. It's pure spite to say so. It may not be true.
No. Rin is entitled to her grief. Makie has contributed to it. Instead, she turns her dark gaze away and lets her yell.]
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For a moment, she's unsure how to proceed. She can't quite bring herself to apologize for her words, so instead she drums her fingers on her thighs and worries at her lip. She scratches her head a little, more out of awkwardness than a real itch.
Finally, she remembers what Makie said before, and ventures: ]
Y-you know, I don't think... you were wrong either. About your revenge. I mean, he was still your father, right? I don't think you can be faulted for doing what you did because of your heart.
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But Rin tries, and what else is there to do in this room? Her voice is softer than before, a little flatter, but... Makie's just tired.]
When I found him, he was pathetic. I walked into his hovel and unsheathed my weapon, and he fell on his knees and cried.
...he was happy to see me. He told me he'd made a mistake.
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Oh...
[ And that's all she really knows to say to that. Silence stretches between them again as Rin ponders what she just learned about Makie. It really seems like this woman has already suffered so much... and now Rin took her loved one from her.
Rin swallows. Her eyes feel too full all of a sudden, as if she's about to cry, but she doesn't.
She knows why she did it. To protect the future. It ends with us. She'll just have to keep believing that. ]
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Still, Makie lets it draw out enough. At least until she gains some level of composure again, lifting her head to glance up at the high ceiling of this place.
And then continues.]
He wanted me to go and find my mother and apologise, and bring her home. He didn't know she was already dead. He wanted me to take her a comb. I...
[Stared at him, sickly and pathetic and half-mad, and couldn't bring herself to end his life. She was expecting pride and angry mockery, not...this.]
I told him I would take his message to her. And I left.
I think he lay down and died the moment I walked away. When I finally came to my senses and returned... it was too late.
no subject
[ Suddenly, she lets out a snort of a laugh; more out of nervousness than true mirth. ] I just remembered another thing -- I, uhm, don't know if this is gonna make it better or worse -- but y'know, back at Lake Suwa? When you were fighting those Shingyoto-ryu guys? You seemed pretty busy doing that, so maybe you didn't see, but we were both just kind of cowering on the ground, he and I, and watching you. And tetanus, it's also called lockjaw, cause it stiffens your muscles so much you can't talk eventually -- but suddenly, I heard him speak for the first time in days. It sounded like a huge effort. And he said something like "see what I can never be". As he said that, he was so clearly looking at you. You know, that kind of scary intense focus he could sometimes have? That's the kind of look he had.
[ All of that, Rin kind of said in rush, so she has to take a deep breath when she's done, and then looks away while rubbing her neck awkwardly. ]
A-anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but... that's what happened back there.
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For that, she should be thankful. But on the other hand...]
Do you know, we met as children? Kagehisa was the only person I met who neither feared nor abhorred my skill. He was in awe. It was... nice, after so long.
He was the only student I ever took on. He fights so well because I taught him.
[On the other hand, Rin should know all the facts. Kagehisa is deadly because Makie made him so.]
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Then again, allowing women in your very official sword school was also not really heard of. Makie, Doa. Rin thinks of Hyakurin, then, too. Of Mugai-ryu and Rokki-dan, neither of which had really been a sword school, but rather Habaki Kagimura's personal henchmen (-women) picked from criminals.
If you thought about it for a moment, Anotsu and Habaki had similar ways of going about things. ]
Ah, but... he did have that elegant sort of fighting style, didn't he? His axe describing those circles, not by brute force, but by using the axe's own movement. Not like Manji-san at all.
[ Rin had admired those movements once, right up until she'd seen the face of the kenshi who'd made them. ]
Of course, he never matched you.
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He didn't, did he...? He told me he would one day. But some things are... never to be.
[Despite that, she still smiles. It's melancholy, sure. But it's Makie.]
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But then she remembers Doa, who'd always been led by her impulses, and her impulses were deadly more times than not. And Manji, for all he acted tough, was motivated by the loss of his sister. If he scorned emotion as much as he claimed, he'd never have stayed at her side as long as he did; and it was this soft side, as much as his protection, that drew her to him.
Different ways to wield a weapon, indeed.
It also suddenly occurs to Rin that Makie keeps speaking of Anotsu in the present tense. Namu, she's really been insensitive, hasn't she? She clasps her hands to her cheeks and blushes. ]
So, uhm... what do we do now?
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