May 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

MAY 2022 TDM

INTRODUCTION

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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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

A PLACE IN THIS WORLD

Content Warnings: Possible insanity via cuts by thorns. Temporary nullification of abilities.

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?

ENCHANTED

Content Warnings: Optional selective amensia and/or altered sense of self, possible monster/creature violence, temporary enchantments, forced relocations.

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.

Comments

Junpei Yoshino | Jujutsu Kaisen | Familiar

[moondregs]

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

[ There was a horror film he'd seen like this once.

He hates that he can't stop thinking about it. Now is not the time.

... but that was in a cornfield maze, not a hedge maze. Much better suited for a horror movie and the special effects had been quite impressive. Still, various factors made him feel as if he should probably be sufficiently creeped out by his current circumstances.

And yet ... and yet ...

Around every corner he feels his anticipation reach a fever pitch and when he finds yet another leafy corridor empty it falls back to the floor. What is he hoping for? Or who? The question is an itch tingling on whatever the cerebral equivalent of the tip of his tongue is.

Then, suddenly, a corridor is not empty. His heart soars. Before he knows it he's walking quickly towards them, then running. ]

Please ... I ...

[ He what? Just please. Look at him. Acknowledge him. Don't. Go. ]

OUT OF THE WOODS

[ The folks patching arrivals up are having some ... issues. With Junpei. He'd gotten a little spooked at some point and as a result had run afoul of thorns, streaks of red decorating his arms in contrast to his pale skin. Well, that's when he has arms. Insanity combined with his new animal transformation abilities as a familiar mean he's popping in and out of various species wildly in a panic. When he's a rabbit he's fairly easy to keep a hold of in spite of being very kicky, but a beat later when he poofs into an ostrich things get dicey. Everything inside of him is telling him he can't just be held still, he has to find ... them! He'll never find them if he's stuck here! He has to GO GO GO! One meaty leg juts out to kick some poor soul right in the gut, sending them crashing to the ground.

He seems to be switching through the animals he knows at random, and it's taking a number of hands to hold him down long enough to begin to treat the cuts.

Finally, once he's managed to exhaust himself, he collapses. Feathers are dancing in the air around him from his ostrich freak out, eventually gently landing on and around him in a way that would almost look pretty if not for the previous chaos. His eyes are still wide, his chest rising and falling rapidly, but at least for the moment he's not lashing about or going through the greatest hits of a box of animal crackers.

Finally, once he manages to catch his breath, he declares in a daze: ]

... n-no ... I've got to ... go ...

LONG STORY SHORT

[ In theory, turning into an animal is one of those abilities you see in a movie or read about in a story and think it would be an amazing thing to be able to do.

Junpei's quite over it already by the time he finds himself stuck as a very tiny, very unfortunate looking ... no, not a duckling. He knows this story. He's a cygnet. He tilts his head back to let out a frustrated curse, and -- ]

HONK! ... honk! HONK! Hooooonk!

[ How is he supposed to finish this? Just wait around to grow up? Like, in real time? Oh he's so frustrated, but sadly anything he does just looks pathetically cute as he flaps his little fuzz covered wings.

When someone appears he'll run over on tiny little webbed feet plap plap plap plap plap! and honk at them desperately! ]

long story short

[givehead]

(What the fresh fuck. Dirk, dressed to the tens in his Prince of Heart outfit on steroids, stares down at his newfound companion. He doesn't really give the impression that he's the sort to be particularly moved by animals, but...)

Awww...look at you little fucker. (He squats down, resting his elbows on his knees.) Goddamn you're adorable. Holy shit. You're gonna get killed out here on your own.

(It...does not occur to him immediately what story he's in yet. There are a lot of animal based stories, okay. Sue him. He's gonna reach a finger out to poke at the duckling's little chest.)

The fox is gonna get you.

[moondregs]

[ There are a number of things a teenage boy who takes himself seriously probably doesn't want to be called - adorable is fairly high up on that list.

Then he gets poked! Right in the chest! Oh, he's letting out the most indignant little HONK at that, snapping his bill at Dirk and giving him a look that's supposed to be perturbed but again just looks incredibly cute.

At the mention of becoming a meal for the fox he stills, looking around nervously. Could that be true? Was he brought here just for that?

No. That's not how The Ugly Duckling goes. He shakes his tiny head.

But ... he doesn't remember any kind of ... prince in that story either? He gives Dirk a loooooong stare. ]

... honk.

[givehead]

Baby. (Cooing! He yanks his hand back lightning fast (literally) before that bill can snap around his finger. He shakes his finger at the duckling.)

Naughty. We don't bite until we're older.

(He lowers his hand to the ground, curious to see if the duckling would get into his palm.

Wait.

That duckling definitely just shook his head.)

Can you understand me?

[moondregs]

[ Being called a baby - being spoken to like a baby - it’s all so insulting! Why couldn’t he have he been in any other story? Preferably one where he was a human?

The palm is considered for a moment, but suddenly Junpei gets an idea. Padding over to a stick nearby he picks it up in his bill and starts to scrawl in the dirt: ]

AM MAN

[ Short, and it’s super shaky, but it gets the point across. Once he’s done he looks up at Dirk, hoping this will earn him some damn dignity! ]

[givehead]

(Oh...

Yeah, that works. And probably solves every problem in every fairy tale in about three seconds. Dirk rubs his chin thoughtfully. Then asks the only question that really matters:)

Are you a hot man?

[moondregs]

[ Junpei’s jaw drops, the stick clattering into the dirt as a result.

What the hell? Why did that matter? At first, his instinct is to shake his head as he didn’t consider himself to be attractive by anyone’s standards. It’d never bothered him or anything, it meant he didn’t stand out and could be ignored.

Then, a realization hits him: If this guy is asking this, is he going to just peace out if he’s honest? Only want to help him if he’s good looking?

He can lie. He can just nod his head. It’d be so easy.

... but he finds himself shaking his head with a sigh. He’s boned. In a beat he’s already turning away from Dirk, discouraged. ]

long story

[overnightoaks]

[ There's a young... goose...? currently plap plap plapping its way up to Henry, and he can tell that it wants something from him, so he does the only reasonable thing for a druid to do!

He casts Speak With Animal. ]

Hail and well met, my feathered friend! My name is Henry Oak.

[moondregs]

[ This man is talking to a bird like it’s a person.

Well, he is the bird and actually a person, but this guy doesn’t know that right?

Oh well, he needs to stop overthinking for once. This isn’t the place for it. Raising his fuzzy wings he opens his mouth and expects more honks to come out. ]

I AM NOT -

[ A pause. He looks crosseyed down at his bill. Words?

Relief washes over his little soft face and he starts rambling on in his excitement. ]

- I can speak! Thank goodness! Ah, my name is Junpei Yoshino ... I’m not usually a baby swan. It’s just for this ... task? Quest? Whatever the fox that brought me here wanted me to complete. I’m The Ugly Duckling, I guess.

[overnightoaks]

[ No, Henry does not know the bird is actually a person. So yes, he's talking to the bird as though it's a person. That's just something he does.

But he lucks out this time! ]

Oh. Huh! That's... neat. I haven't read that one, but isn't it something to do with recognizing your own strengths and inner beauty, and learning to love and accept yourself for who you are? I can get behind a message like that!

How can I help?

[moondregs]

I guess that’s the gist of it. I only know the broad strokes really.

[ Looking deep in thought - which again being a cygnet he just looks cute and not especially perplexed - he tries to remember how the story goes. ]

It’s a Western story. I know it starts off with the character getting teased ... and that it ends with him actually being a swan. But that’s just the passage of time. I can’t just sit around here waiting for a year to pass.

[overnightoaks]

[ "Western story?" Hmm, Junpei is a Japanese name, isn't it? Guess this whatever-this-place-is is taking people from more than just San Dimas... ]

Hm, that does put us in kind of a bind, huh? If I still had that remote control, I could just press fast forward, but...

[ He's really out of ideas. But he doesn't want to freak Junpei out, so he puts on his best "I'm ignoring all my problems so everything's gonna be okay!" smile. ]

I guess we'll just have to gan-batte!

[ And yes, he completely butchers the pronunciation. ]

[moondregs]

[ The awkward attempt earns an unimpressed look from Junpei. But he’s relying on this guy to help him, so he really should behave himself.

Instead, he looks around the scenery to see if anything gives him an idea on what to do.

After a moment he returns his gaze to Henry, and suggests: ]

Insult me.

long story short

[integrous]

[ Sure, sure. Asahi is concerned about where she's suddenly found herself, or what's even going on here. The way she suddenly went from her own world to this place because of that fox was weird enough, then arriving here was even weirder, and.. well, she isn't even sure anymore what's going on at this point. It feels like she's at least five layers removed from reality, and maybe that's why her brain is frantically latching onto an opportunity to think about anything but how strange all of this is.

Like, you know. A cute little duckling (no, Asahi, that's not a duck!!) waddling towards her. ]

Awww..!

[ Look, there's no one else around, so clearly Asahi can indulge in her love of cute things without having to worry about her reputation here, right?

It means she can squat and look at the little thing as it's still frantically trying to tell Asahi something which the girl absolutely does not seem to be picking up on. ]

Aren't you the absolute cutest little thing around?

[ .. she's very helpful, yes. ]

[moondregs]

[ Uuuugh! Even if he’s currently incredibly cute, he hates being called that! He lets out an indignant honk and shakes his head! Not cute! That’s the whole point of the story!

He’s starting to get an inkling of an idea what can be done to get the story to progress, but how to relay that to the girl?

He raises one webbed foot and harshly plops it back down, giving her the stink eye! ]

[integrous]

Huh?

[ At first she seems a little confused by the tiny animal's reaction.. but then when he starts giving her that stink eye, her reaction instead changes to an offended: ] What?!

[ Maybe someone is taking animal stink eye a little too personally, even if this time the stink eye was totally on purpose.. ]

Hey, what are you looking at me like that for, huh?! I didn't ask to be here..!

deathies

[bareskin]

(Gojo, meanwhile, is truly just vibing with a hydrangea bush.)

Wow! I wonder what kind of fertilizer they use...

(Like, admittedly, he is feeling that need to find someone, but he thinks if he just stands in the same place, that someone will come to him before he has to go to them. He's just about to touch one of the nearby flowers when he senses someone near.

Then, predictably, a shrewd voice piping up. Gojo turns away from the flowers, an absent smile on his face.)

Oh my! (What a frightened-looking young man...!

Oh...Why does he feel so relieved? Gojo isn't exactly the sentimental sort, but relief grips him all the same, leaving him feeling a bit fluttered and odd. To ignore that, he places his hand over his chest and puts on a wider smile.)

A guy like you shouldn't be wandering around all on your own!

[moondregs]

[ The moment he lays his eyes on Gojo, it all clicks into place like a missing puzzle piece. This is who he was looking for. He’s certain of it.

Who is it? He has no earthly idea. But inside he feels a vibration, like some machine stirring to life at the sight of him. When he stays put and allows Junpei to reach him, the relief he feels almost makes him swoon. ]

Hm? A guy like me?

[ But he holds out his palm to Gojo, wanting to make some kind of connection. A way to make sure he doesn’t vanish. Doesn’t leave him alone again. ]

[bareskin]

That's right. (There was something...really special about him, wasn't there? He could feel it settling into place. Gojo was rarely comforted by the presence of others...Actually, he doesn't think he ever has been.

It's an unfamiliar feeling that he kind of wants to chase the high of.

When Junpei holds out his hand, Gojo is left staring at it in open surprise. It's such a small gesture that the average person likely wouldn't think anything of. People touched each other all of the time.

Gojo allowed the world to touch him. He allowed people to touch him when he wanted and how he wanted. Always on his terms. He raises his hand to hover it just in front of Junpei's. There's an undeniable wall of something between them, a humming frequency of infinite space, bursting in upon itself between their fingers. Then, just like that, it's gone.

Gojo folds his fingers through Junpei's, allowing their palms to make warm contact, allowing them to touch.

It's so warm.)

You have a soothing presence.

[moondregs]

[ Junpei had never held hands with —-

No. That wasn’t true. Just before coming here - the memory flashes in his mind the moment those fingers lace in his: A dark school hallway. His face soaked with tears. A comforting voice. Hands holding his. His insides a wreck. Turmoil gnawing on his innards.

Itadori. Itadori had held his hands.

But the draw to Gojo is strong. All of that enters and leaves his mind in a blink of an eye.

All that matters is now. His old existence is a memory. A movie he saw a day ago. A year ago. A century ago. How long had it actually been? Did it even matter?

His soul stopped its stressed fluttering away in its cage. Everything was fine.

He turns his large, dewy eyes up to Gojo. ]

I was thinking the same about you ... but ... who are you? I ... feel connected but ... you’re not familiar ...

[bareskin]

(The last time Gojo had willingly held hands with someone had been a long time ago. Had been with another boy in a life that barely seemed real most days. Despite his flirtatious and playful attitude, he hadn't really sought anything like this since he was a teen himself. The interest had simply not existed. Heartbreak would do that to anyone.

He just figured that was how it would go.

This felt like a silver lining to a cloud he hadn't realized existed. He wondered what gave this guy that look on his face? Like he was about to cry? Was it Gojo? No.

Despite eyes hidden by a blindfold, Gojo's stare is undeniable, obvious that he can see regardless of the cloth obscuring his gaze.)

Ah? (That amuses him for some reason. He's not so sure anyone thought he had a soothing presence. He was always a thorn in people's side.)

Gojo Satoru. And you? (He's used to people knowing who he is. Or recognizing his name once they heard it and the power behind it. For once, he kind of hopes he's unknown.)

out of the woods

[defendure]

[ Izuku's pretty sure that's a sentiment shared by a lot of people. He hasn't spoken to everyone yet or anything (that would be an undertaking of sheer willpower and he'll maybe try it over time, but it's not an immediate goal of his) but he's observed the people around them, the ones who look confused and out of sorts and who aren't...cats. Some of them are holding it together well, sure, but most of them...

Well, he can tell he isn't the only person stranded in a strange place. He only caught the tail end of Junpei's freakout, coming over around when he collapsed, and his hands are held up in a pacifying gesture. He's not here to make Junpei do anything or to do more than fuss. ]

I-I think maybe you should take it easy for a few more minutes? You look totally beat. I can grab you water or something?

[moondregs]

[ Junpei slowly turns his head to look at Izumi, a spacey expression on his flushed face. After a moment his eyes widen, and he looks generally shocked. He shoots up into a sitting position and reaches out to hold the other’s hands in his, seemingly regaining some energy simply by seeing him. ]

You ... it’s you ...

[ This is who he’d been looking for. He hadn’t even known what they looked like until just this second, but there was no mistaking it - his very soul was singing out! It was going to be okay. He’d found him. ]

... please. Stay with me. Don’t go.

[defendure]

[ Izuku may not know who Junpei is, but that's fine. He doesn't need to know. Whenever anyone reaches out to him for help, he has to help them. It's just part of being a hero...and a bleeding heart. So he squeezes Junpei's hands back, trying to calm him down. ]

Of course I won't leave you. We'll get out of this together, okay?

LONG STORY SHORT

[desiretoplease]

[he's in luck because he's found himself in front of Misty Day, friend to all animals.

what she's looking at isn't native to her corner of Louisiana, but it's little and obviously young. those by themselves would do a lot to endear him to Misty, the pleading look did the rest.

"But," had you asked Misty, "how can a small bird look pleading?"

she'd answer "look at the eyes. The eyes'll tell you all you need to know."

in this case, it wasn't all she needed to know, but it was close enough. Misty scooped him up carefully, saying] Well, what're you doing, li'l fella? You're gonna get stepped on if you're not careful, you know that? C'mon, let's get you somewhere safer." And off she went, presumably in search of somewhere safer.