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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.
no subject
[Not really but once again, who is he to judge? His master has a strong affinity for animals as well, mainly cats. He doesn't quite understand why that is but sometimes humans end up treating other creatures like their own children. Rosen assumes it's a testament to mankind's loving nature.]
Have you ever thought of trying to summon him back?
[He questions in hopes of fully understanding the full scope of Henry and his Druid ways.]
Most mages and witches are capable of such feats.
no subject
[ Oh, he does know the Reincarnate spell now, doesn't he? He isn't sure that it would work on a dead parrot— especially one that's been dead for years at this point— but in any case, he doesn't think he wants to find out. ]
No... Losing Beanie was hard for me, but he's at peace now. I don't think I could bring him back and go through all that again.
no subject
[A mischievous glint lingers within his eye as he regards Henry with a hint of mirth.]
You have the power within your grasp but you lack the will to use it. How intriguing.
[He's nothing like his master, Luna. The Dream Witch willing toes the line between morality and immorality for the sake of her goals no matter how trivial. It's odd to meet someone so different from her, especially someone who could possibly be as powerful.]
Perhaps it would be best to let your fine feathered friend rest in peace. However, I do implore you to seek a familiar in this whimsical realm.
no subject
It reminds him of his father. Barry Oak, Bear-Ry Oak. The man who was never satisfied with Henry until he managed to find a way out from under his thumb. The man who instilled this chaos within him that Henry is terrified of... a chaos that he has now unwittingly passed down to his own sons.
Of course he isn't willing to use the power inside him. The power inside him is the kind of stuff that destroys worlds. ]
Ah, ah... I'll take that suggestion into consideration. Thanks.
no subject
The way Henry tensed up is signal enough for Rosenkrantz who watches him with that solitary jade eye. Did he accidentally say something wrong? It seems like it since Henry has his guard up now. He tilts his head to the side as he watches the squirrelly fellow. Leave it to a nightmarish arkana to stumble upon someone’s deep-rooted trauma like a moth to a flame. It’s truly a skill of his.
He takes a moment to assess the situation before allowing an easy-going grin to linger upon his lips.]
But what will you do now? You’re stuck among a chowder of frisky felines who want to dance with you.
[Just as he says that, a pair of chatty cats dressed in their Sunday’s best approaches with big little grins. They meow insistently at Henry, clearly asking their guests if they want to dance. A gray feline nearby is playing the fiddle and all of the cheerful furballs are in a frenzy now. It’s sickenly cute in Rosen’s opinion.]
no subject
Mm, oh?
[ The cat meows an explanation, that they encourage everyone to get together and dance. Truthfully, Henry doesn't feel much like dancing, but more than that, he doesn't want to be an ungracious guest, so he just sort of smiles sheepishly, and holds a hand out to Rosenkrantz. ]
I guess they'd like to see us two-step...?
no subject
[The arkana can't help but arch his brow a little. Rosen might be rather knowledgable about certain genres of music but dancing? Oof. He's not much of a dancer but that's only because he finds it embarrassing. Even so, he's willing to give it a try for the sake of erasing whatever nasty thought that slipped through Henry's mind. ]
Isn't that a Western dance? [He asks before offering Henry his hand.] I'm not really a fan of country music but I don't mind humoring the kittens.
[It's your lead, Henry.]
no subject
[ He turns to the kitty musician and meows some kind of instruction. The cat meows back its understanding and switches to a new tune, lively and upbeat. Another cat picks up a shaker and starts playing percussion accompaniment.
Henry starts swaying his hips to the beat— not expertly, mind you, he is still a middle aged white man with not a great sense of rhythm, but well enough to get a dance started. ]
But I did take salsa lessons for my wedding to my beautiful wife, mi corazón, Mercedes Oak-Garcia!
[ Carefully, with the hesitation of a man who hasn't done this in several years, he leads Rosenkrantz through the basic steps of the salsa. ]
no subject
Oh, this is groovy!
[Judging from the sudden approval in his tone, Rosen might be a fan of salsa after this. That is if he can survive the secondhand embarrassment of watching a middle-age white guy gyrating those middle-age hips. Rosen does his best not to laugh but he eventually caves in with a hearty chuckle.]
I take it that those dancing lessons really paid off!
[He follows after Henry’s lead perfectly, doing his best not to make a total ass of himself. It helps that Rosen is a bit more limber than his human companion. That and fact he’s some eldritch nightmare monster and not actually human. Hell, even does a little spin to boot. Dancing isn’t his kind of thing but he can mimic well enough.]
I bet it was the cool dance moves that won your wife over.
[Probably not but Rosen can’t help but tease.]
no subject
[ He's not actually sure if anyone else uses it as slang in that way, but if it helps Rosenkrantz understand what he means, then so be it.
The little spin is appreciated, and Henry continues the festive air with an attempt at a dip as the song comes to a close. It's hard, dipping someone who's taller than you, but he does his best. ]
Oh, I don't know about that. I think she's the one who won me over, actually.
[ And it wasn't any dance moves that did it. It was sitting by his side in his hospital bed for weeks, until he woke up from his coma. ]
no subject
[He can't help but look a bit intrigued right now, especially since Henry reminds him of one of the lovesick protagonists from one of those cheesy romance novels he likes to read. Henry is hardly as dashing and attractive as those silly characters but he certainly seems like a hopeless romantic at least. That makes Rosen smile a little.]
Then where is your dearheart now? It would be wise to keep such a wonderful woman close lest you want her to get snatched up by some strapping young fellow.
[He suspects that Mrs. Oak-Garica is nowhere to be found here but he asks nonetheless.]
no subject
Oh, well... She's back home, with our beautiful boys.
[ He's glad his sons are at least safe at home. Though, given what had just happened before the Fox took him away, maybe "safe" is too big of an assumption. ]