December 2023 & January 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

December 2023 - January 2024 TDM

Introduction

Overflow TDM post found here

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
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.

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]

Thirteen Knows What You Did Last Summer . ★

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.

🦊 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.

To Prank or to be Pranked . ★

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 free real 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.

🦊 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.

Comments

[cursedwords]

I really only eat breakfast sandwiches, so I'd like to try yours.

He's more of a riceball kind of guy, unsurprisingly and his dinners are more complex, but he tends to have breakfast sandwiches. He wonders what Nanami would choose to make. He doesn't know that much about him.

I've been learning recipes from other people which is really fun. As fun as watching those videos online that I do.

[adherencetofacts]

"Mine are usually for lunch." Breakfast is usually savory and filling, well balanced. A good way to start the day. Lunch is, well, Nanami has a favorite sandwich he hasn't tired of eating in a decade. He can make other good sandwiches, such as when certain key ingredients were no longer available, but he is someone who can eat the same thing over and over. Dinner gets more variation.

He imagines Inumaki in his kitchen. The mental image, naturally, is of his apartment in Tokyo. It's appalling, if only because he practically never had anyone over, certainly not a student. That's going to have to change here.

"I don't have a kitchen here yet, but once I do, I would be happy to teach you how to make my preferred sandwiches," Nanami offers. He'll have to find a good source of ingredients. That's key. Yet perhaps via cooking he can connect with Inumaki.

[cursedwords]

I'd try them. I'm more of a riceball or bento kind of guy but I'll try it.

Toge is nodding, he seems receptive at least to a cooking lesson. He's curious too, about what it is Nanami would like.

He just likes learning new things.

[adherencetofacts]

"Bento is satisfying in its own way," Nanami agrees. The organization is... soothing. Everything in its right place. "I appreciate riceballs, but they're not an everyday occurrence for me."

Nanami wouldn't be surprised if Toge's riceballs are better than his, if by the virtue of how many he suspects Toge has eaten and made if nothing else. Add in the passion to the point they're how Toge chose what words to speak aloud, and it isn't much of a competition.

"In winter, I am partial to soups and stews."

[cursedwords]

He waves his hand side to side. He likes some soups and stews, but they tend to be the kind of thing he consumed when he was resting his throat, so they weren't particularly pleasing.

He taps on his relic.

Hot pot with everyone is pretty fun! I'm going to try and make some lasagna soon. I saw it on a show and I want to try it.

[adherencetofacts]

Not everyone is interested in the same flavors or textures. Soup, made incorrectly, can lead to terrible options. However, he doesn't need to understand why Toge is less into soup. He'll think about it more on his own time.

Hot pot is best done without Gojo Satoru present, Nanami thinks. It can be a fun group activity, but it's been some time since he did group activities. Hmm, perhaps best not to comment on that.

"Ah, lasagna. That can be tricky. I remember my first attempt retained far too much water to maintain its structural integrity." Nanami maintains a neutral face at the memory and the nights eating what felt more like lasagna soup than proper lasagna.

[cursedwords]

Toge likely knows that Gojo, the adult, is a total menace, but hope springs eternal that the younger version of him is less feral, and so he would probably be invited.

"Takana?" Toge blinks, asking without thinking about it. Did it turn out okay? What happened with the water? It shouldn't be watery, at least, the one he'd seen wasn't.

[adherencetofacts]

Though Nanami doesn't know exactly what Inumaki means by the question, he can guess it has to do with the less than ideal result of his first attempt at lasagna. No need for the kid to type his thoughts out.

"At the time, I worked a lot of overtime at a corporation, so I didn't have as much time for cooking as I would like. I was making the lasagna so I'd have leftovers for the whole week. As such, I used frozen spinach. I defrosted it, but it retained large amounts of water. The repeated layers atop it and the thick layer of cheese topping it off prevented the water from effectively evaporating. It looked fine in the pan, but as soon as it was cut into and any removed, it... collapsed." Nanami acknowledges the mistake for what it is. This cooking error isn't anything to feel ashamed over.

[cursedwords]

Toge wrinkles his nose at the mention of working overtime at a corporation. He might have never done it and had no aspirations to, but he understands how overtime works. He's been on many long, stupid missions, sometimes sacrificing sleep like in Shibuya. That was definitely overtime work.

"Sujiko." Toge muses. Spinach was wet, especially when frozen. You'd have to take the moisture out, that makes sense to him.

Maybe for my first one I won't use spinach, I'd have to think about how to take the water out of it.

[adherencetofacts]

Nanami shares Inumaki's feelings about overtime. He dislikes it in general, and that means the times he works overtime as a jujutsu sorcerer are truly terrible, awful times to warrant it. Like Shibuya. Shibuya was the worst of them. It's no reassurance that he won't have to work overtime again after Shibuya.

"I have had better luck with fresh spinach," Nanami says, "but yes, removing water is essential should you include it. There's excellent lasagna without spinach." It's not essential the way the noodles, sauce, and cheese are along with the herbs most frequently in the sauce.

[cursedwords]

It's very likely that Toge will have to work overtime again in the future, that bad things will keep happening, and he doesn't have to like it. He just has to survive.

"Salmon." Toge agrees with a nod. Fresh spinach would work better.

I haven't found a recipe yet. I might ask around. There's a lot of people from different places.

[adherencetofacts]

Nanami nods in agreement. Though it turns away from the discussion of food, the best common ground they found, Nanami needs to know more about this place. He asks, "How different of places do you mean?"

[cursedwords]

Some people aren't from Earth at all, to start with!

Toge chuckles a little bit.

Some places have totally different plants and animals, and even some people aren't humans.

[adherencetofacts]

Nanami considers the statement and nods. It makes sense. Someone he was in detention with traveled around space to other worlds, some worlds even with dead cultures passed before humans reached them. It has always been possible for alien life to exist. This place provides the means for them all to mingle. Theoretically and actually will still be... an adjustment.

"Fascinating. Have you met many of them? What does that make it like living here?"

[cursedwords]

I've met all kinds of people. Most of them are happy to tell you about where they're from, especially if you're just curious about it. Maybe they're a little homesick too? And this place is kind of cool. I don't really know what it's like to just have free rein in Tokyo, so like I imagine it's kind of like that? Maybe?

He's the worst at comparing it to ordinary life. Toge didn't have one. But he likes where he's at, he thinks everyone so far is pretty great and interesting, maybe he's not the most objective about this.

[adherencetofacts]

"You have demonstrated it has some good dining options. That's an important similarity for it to have with Tokyo, in my opinion." Nanami doesn't express any skepticism in the comparison because it speaks to how isolated Inumaki has been kept, something that he should not be mocked for. It saddens Nanami that Toge hasn't seen enough of Tokyo to know how the two compare. It's fine. Nanami can make that determination for himself. Yet, he's frustrated on the boy's behalf. He'd like to have some words with someone.

"I will have to meet people and listen to them about where they are from. I would truly like to know."

[cursedwords]

"Salmon salmon." It does have great dining options, he hasn't found anything to complain about there. He doesn't look like he's too sad about his isolation though, here he's not. There's a whole world to explore and he's been doing that. On his own whims. Whenever he wants to. Novel that may be, but it's what he's working with.

They're pretty interested about our world too, although I can't say they've got that good of an impression about it. Kinda on the bad end of places you can be from, honestly.

[adherencetofacts]

Nanami eats more of his food, nearly finishing it off, while Inumaki types. He considers the information and processes it for a couple moments. That's... interesting.

"Unfortunate though that may be for us, it is good for everyone else that they generally come from better places. On the whole, it means better lives for people on average, at least for those here."

It also may mean those people are less inclined to stay here the way jujutsu sorcerers may be. At least with some time, relaxation, and mental space. Spending time away from the jujutsu world did him a great deal of good, at least as much as his upbringing outside it.

[cursedwords]

It's a good warning, because he knows a couple of people who would like to go home. He just doesn't share that sentiment. Strange place aside, he would be perfectly fine living here for the rest of his days. That's his personal opinion.

Yeah, but some people are from rough places too. It's good if they're not. I wouldn't want them to have to put up with what we do.

Toge's compassionate to those who aren't him and he wants people to be safe and comfortable and whole. Their life isn't for them.

[adherencetofacts]

There's advantages and disadvantages either way. It's natural that people from nicer worlds want to return to those nice peaceful worlds and lives they have, while people who come from worse places are more likely to want to stay. They're more likely to see this place as a good thing in general. So those first people might have a rough time of it here.

"Unfortunate that they can understand something of our hardship, but we may be able to help each other, us fellow people from rough places."

At least they aren't complete outsiders. That wouldn't go well for the students.