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Entry tags:
May 2022 Test Drive Meme
MAY 2022 TDM
INTRODUCTION
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. You can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Each TDM will provide a scenario for how characters arrive in-game that particular month.
Playing 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 allowed to have in-game characters react to TDMs via the Network or make a log with the prompts. Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Content Warnings: Possible insanity via cuts by thorns. Temporary nullification of abilities.
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
OUT OF THE WOODS
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
The world comes into focus in one sharp, overwhelming rush. You are laying on the ground surrounded by staggering walls of flowers of all types and colors. Their sweet scent fills the air and the sky above is clear, blue, beautiful, and endless. It would be easy to be lulled into a quiet nap in such a peaceful place. You can even hear a soft, disembodied voice singing songs from some unknown place all around you. After some time, this siren song creates an intense yearning that will eventually bring you to your feet and pull you forward. You are filled with the urge to find someone important. You may know who or you might just have some aimless, faceless person at the forefront of your mind.
All you know is that when you finally find them, you'll know. Is it love? Is it a friend you have always needed? The perfect enemy? Only time will tell, but for now, you must find them. The flower maze is dense and for now, it doesn't seem like flying out and above them is an option. If you try, you just wind up vaulted back into the maze. Nope! This trial is about using other means of exploration. Maybe you can destroy the flowers, but you will find that this flower field is apparently endless. If you get cut by thorns along the way, you will become increasingly hectic about finding this mystery person. Some have been thrown into insane desperation just looking for their People among the flowers.
But once you finally find them, you're both filled with relief and the flowers around you blossom wider. You can then treat the flower maze like a solvable puzzle and get your way out of it. However, some people spend a bit more time in the maze since once you do find your person or people, you will be stricken with the urge to talk to them, to "open up" about your yearning to find them...even if you've never met them before!
OUT OF THE WOODS
Just outside of the flower maze is a little festival set up just on the edge of Willow and partway into Epiphany! Little stalls of food and drinks have been set up - and we mean little! The good folk who set up these stalls are magical cats standing upright and wearing clothes like little people! All the stalls are cat-sized and so are the dishes and food - which means most of the people walking through will likely be quite a bit bigger! That's okay, the cat folk seem happy to serve you bigger or multiple helpings of their yummy soups and bread. None of them seem able to really communicate with the new arrivals, but that's okay, their cute meows are fun to listen to anyway.
The music is a bit more pronounced here and a handful of cat couples are dancing around. Don't be surprised if they encourage you to join in the dancing! Maybe you didn't actually find someone in the flower maze - if not, the cat folk will encourage you to dance with another new arrival to get to know them! Because apparently dancing with someone you don't know is a good formal introduction? Ah well. Sometimes it's just the idea that counts.
There will also be some supplies to help patch people up who have gotten a lot of cuts from the flower maze. Some of the bouts of insanity are probably still going a bit hectic, so you might want to lay down in the recovery area until you feel a bit more stable. Talking to people apparently helps with the stability, so maybe strike up a conversation with a fellow newbie?
Content Warnings: Optional selective amensia and/or altered sense of self, possible monster/creature violence, temporary enchantments, forced relocations.
LONG STORY SHORT
DAYLIGHT
LONG STORY SHORT
You're in a very unusual, specific outfit and in a place you might have seen once or twice in a storybook or in the imagination of your childhood. For some, you might pick up on what's happening immediately. For others, you might be so immersed in the role that you don't realize it - but you're featuring in a classic fairy tale. Maybe it's Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood or Tale of the White Snake or The Mirror of Matsuyama. Either way, you're the main character or the main antagonist and it looks like you're going to have to play out the story with whoever you're stuck with!
The other person in the trial can either match up to the other side of the story or just arrive as themselves and have to play along. Trying to just abandon the trial is quite literally impossible! You're stuck in the weird woods or high tower and trying to "leave" just results in you going in repeated cycles until you wind up where you started. You have a role to fill and you might as well get used to playing roles in Folkmore! It's time to understand how these trials work. What lesson are you supposed to take away?
If you're grumbling about it or are left confused, don't worry! Thirteen will appear to those struggling and explain the situation: "You need to play out the story! C'mon. Everyone knows this story...Right? Well, whatever, it's obvious! If you play your part, I promise I'll give you something you want." Can you really trust a fox though? Especially the fox who brought you here? She laughs before you can really pester her for more information and vanishes in a burst of red dust. Foxes really are mischievous, aren't they...At least most fairy tales are incredibly short, basic, and straightforward so most people should be able to figure it out!
In theory.
DAYLIGHT
At least the Fox wasn't lying. When you complete the task of the story, the fairy tale world will melt into one of the settings in Folkmore and you will be brought back into the current reality. You will be left in the weird clothes, but fear not! A mystery trunk has appeared in front of you and whoever you completed the trial with. Inside the trunk, you will find some of your canon clothes and a few canon items. Nearby, there will be some weapons sticking out of the ground: basic swords, guns, shields, etc. These items might not be enchanted, but at least you have something to work with!
Better yet, you don't necessarily have to complete the Long Story Short prompt to find these trunks either! They seem to be dotted around Folkmore and you might find them just by virtue of exploration! The trunks seem to mysteriously know who is opening them so you won't find someone else's stuff by accident, but you might have to fight over who gets the sword in the stone...
A word of caution to those who grab the weapons...You will immediately be tested on how good you are with them. As soon as you have pulled them out of the ground, the ground will begin trembling and a serpent-like creature will form out of the ground. If you're in Wintermute, you have a sizeable icy creature to deal with. If you're in Cruel Summer, meet the fire-breathing snakey nightmare that's going to try and roast you alive. Don't think Epiphany or Willow will have gentler creatures! They might be covered in moss or flowers but they will hit just as hard. You have to defeat the angry creature - or try running for your life. They are relatively easy to beat and people without powers can manage if they are highly skilled or...really lucky...Or if someone far more capable finds them! Good luck. As a pro-tip, maybe don't pull weird swords out of the ground in the future.
The best type of protags tbh
I feel the same. I'm glad I found you. [ he offers the other boy his hand if he wishes to take it, and eventually starts walking, in no direction in particular]
How should I call you? [ since Sunny didn't introduce himself]
they look so similar it's wigging me out
It was.. so long ago.
He does take the hand, though, a little adamant about making sure Kaneki doesn't leave him. Oh.. right. Where are his manners.. ]
Omo--
[ No, that's not right. It's been four years since he's introduced himself to somebody in the real world and not his HEADSPACE. ]
Sunny.
I knooooooow I already think they are perfect
Kaneki smiles when Sunny finally introduces himself and nods] It's nice to meet you, Sunny.
Did you just arrive as well? [ Kaneki figures he did, since he is there and looks just as lost] Did... You meet the fox? [ or was Kaneki hallucinating somehow?]
idk anything about kaneki so LMAO
[ For a moment there, Sunny thought his mind was also playing tricks on him. After all, his headspace was full of talking animals and horrific dad puns. Colorful fantasy that brought him comfort everyday. To be frank, he doesn't know what's going on, but he's also too apathetic to really care. Maybe he doesn't even mind it. This world puts him further away from reality which has always been the goal..
... Until recently.
Until recently he's been wanting to discover the truth and why he is the way that he is. Maybe that can wait though. ]
... She seems nice.
[ DOES SHE THOUGH?? ]
He is... Something alright lmao...
Kaneki stares at him for a second and then looks back to the flower fields up ahead]
Uhm... I didn't ask to be brought here. Honestly, I would rather be back home. [ no, you absolutely would not, Kaneki, because back home he had just been kidnapped. But Kaneki holds on to the familiar and to the logic and this whole place is unfamiliar and not very logical.
And he is alone.
Well, not now. In fact, Kaneki squeezes Sunny's hand a little bit because the fact that he doesn't feel utterly alone right now is hard to miss, even though it's a feeling that plagues Kaneki every day. He glances back at Sunny and somehow smiles again] I guess it depends where we came from and our circumstances, right?
Although a talking fox is... Something else.
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I don't mind being here.
[ Oh. Um. Okay. Sunny doesn't elaborate on it, but it's further away from everything, so maybe it'll be easier to forget.. right when he was just beginning to remember. He didn't like being alone in an unfamiliar environment, but he loved being alone in his bedroom. His safe space where he was allowed to go on many fun adventures. Forgetting was always safer. That's what he told himself... or someone else told him, maybe. He's forgotten. ]
It's fine she can talk. I like it.
[ um.. ]
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still, kaneki keeps walking, hand still holding Sunny's as they pass through the flowers. The thorns are still presente, but they can't hurt Kaneki somehow, and he is careful to push them to the side so they won't hurt the other boy ]
Eh--- is it... normal where you are from? [ can you talk to foxes back home, Sunny??? ]
cw: omori spoilers, suicide mention, self depcrecation + depression
... Yes.
[ But maybe it's for the best. ]
But it seems fun here.
[ The question after that.. he has difficulty answering when he shouldn't. No, of course not. His home is average suburban United States, but lately, things that are typically reserved for his HEADSPACE have been drifting over into reality and vice versa. His two worlds were bleeding together, no doubt because he was moving away soon and had busied his mind thinking about what could happened between him and his friends. What was the hook and sinker for him becoming a recluse? There had to be something. It seemed painful to find out. It was challenging to reveal those memories. He was struggling. ]
It's.. normal.
[ It's not. But in his mind, it is. In his mind is where he dwells most of the time nowadays because it's safer. ]
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He focus on the whole fox situation instead ]
Hm, then I suppose that's why you are relaxed about it. In my world, talking animals are... well, fantasy! [ kaneki smiles back at Sunny ] It was really surprising when it happened.
[ and that's when he spots the hurt hand. kaneki suddenly stops, a worried expression appearing immediately on his face ] Ah- you are hurt, Sunny...!
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Kaneki points out his hand wound and he looks down at it. ]
Oh..
I had forgotten about that.
[ ... ]
It's okay.
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Hm- it's better if we get out of this flower field fast. [ he wraps the bandage around Sunny's hand while he smiles a little ]
There you go. Does it hurt?
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A bit stunned, his face barely shows it, but he does slowly look up at Kaneki and slowly shakes his head in response. A little lie. It did hurt, but it was tolerable. ]
You didn't have to do that.
[ ... ]
... Are you a big brother?
[ He seems very caring towards people who are younger than him. ]
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Kaneki smiles a little at that question] I'm an only child. But I met a little girl recently and have tried to do good by her. [ basically, he adopted Hinami as his little sister. Kaneki's smile softens, a bit sad but it's hard to pinpoint why. He adopted Hinami because her mother had been killed...]
But even so, i think things like this are just normal. [ caring for others, he means] That's what people do.
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[ So he wouldn't really know, but also, he feels like he doesn't even deserve any amount of positive attention, so to experience all of this from a stranger is bewildering. ]
What happened to your eye?
[ DON'T JUST ASK SOMETHING LIKE THAT?? Lack of social interaction also means lack of having tact, apparently. ]
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but his mother taught him so much about kindness. So he knows about it, how kind people are. And what kind people do ]
Ah- I had an accident, and sometimes my eye feels weird. [ kaneki actually pulls down his eyepatch. It looks like an absolutely normal eye ] I use the eyepatch just in case.
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[ HE'S??? SYMPATHETIC THAT YOU HAVE TO WORK.... SUNNY.
The second that Kaneki pulls down the eyepatch, he's interested, and even rolls up on his tippy toes to get a better look. He's a morbid teenager; anything gory is especially intriguing. ]
Was there blood?
[ A lot of it? ]
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the question, though, catches Kaneki off guard. he blinks, staring back at Sunny for a second, before he looks away. CHRIST, SUNNY, WHO EVEN ASKS THAT ]
Ah... a little. I don't remember very well.
1/2
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[ Kindred spirits. Only.. Sunny just said he doesn't remember much very well and not.. just one instance very well. The difference here. ]
It's okay.
[ ... ]
Do you think we will be stuck here?
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he supposes it is.
But at the question, kaneki frowns for a moment there before he tries to smile ]
Well, the fox said something about us reaching our potential. That means there is a point to all of it, right?
1/2
It sounds like a lot of effort. Doing things. Bettering yourself. Noooo. Noo. That's the opposite of what he's been doing for the past four years. He's just been letting his negative thoughts consume him, and, right now, he was at a fork in the road as far as where.. his life may drastically go.
Sunny makes a strangled noise. ]
..
2/2
[ He's accepted there's no potential for him. Not after what he's done. ]
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And then closes again.
I'm sorry, what ]
P-pass? What do you mean? [ CAN YOU EVEN JUST. PASS??? ]
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[ SO HE THINKS HE CAN JUST… NOT DO IT. ]
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... Life always takes effort, though.
Not just this place, but generally, it's not something you can say no to.
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1/2
2/2
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cw: suicide, death, self-harm, intrusive thoughts
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