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

Flynn Scifo | Tales of Vesperia | legend

[thinkfirst]

1. Ghost, I know someone wants to be with you // in the flowers // cw: minor injuries

[ First there is the rustle of flowers, small and soft and far off. It almost sounds like the wind, except it's clearly purposeful, and getting closer. Maybe an animal trapped in this place too—

Except the rustling gets louder and louder, more pointed, closer, until finally there's a desperate sort of voice— ]

Hello? I'm close—

[ —and then all at once a blonde-haired wild-eyed young man bursts through a wall of blood-red azaleas and freezes. Blood trails from small scratches along his face, but the rest of him is protected with thick, real-life actual armor. He wastes no time tripping forward to drop to his knees in front of you, inclining his head with both palms pressed to the tiny buttercups under both of your feet. ]

I found you. Thank goodness. Please forgive me for taking so long.

[ Seems like you have your very own personal knight now! Do... you know this guy? ]

2. given the life that you wanted // at the festival

[ Sitting in the recovery area, clutching a tiny cup of tea much too small for his hands, is Flynn.

The wildness from the flowers—desperation crowding into his ears and his nose, thick-scented and driving—is beginning to fade, leaving him tired and sheepish and more than a little confused. Perhaps it's a bad idea to trust these cats, to trust what they're giving him, but they seem nice enough, and Flynn can give himself a small moment to rest before he figures out his next move. It's nicer out here: the air is sweet and full of music, and he finds himself smiling at whoever is nearby. ]

Do you suppose it's impolite to ask for another cup of tea? This one is, um, quite delicate.

[ Or maybe you find Flynn out in the festival, folded neatly to his knees and conversing seriously with a cat in a small robe who appears to own some sort of very small pastry stall. ]

There's nothing I can do to repay you for this? It must have taken so long to make...

[ The cat just meows at him, and Flynn looks up, catching your eye. Maybe you speak cat? Please help him. He just wants to pay the nice cat. ]

3. only you can let you out // long story short // flynn-belina!

a. only flynn's in the story

Pleaes watch your step!

[ If you're normal sized for this story, a tiny voice from near your feet echoes up, desperate and high. Flynn, only four inches tall and clinging desperately to a waving stem of grass, waves a hand, trying to get the attention of the massive person above him. He's been stuck down here among the plants for a while now, and catching a ride on someone much larger certainly seems like a good idea. The tiny dress he's in isn't precisely the best for climbing and adventuring, and his miniscule hands are so difficult to get around even the thinnest plant stem. ]

b. you're in the story too!

[ Alternatively: congrats, you're both tiny now, and—are those sparkling wings on your back? It sure seems like it! Every time you move, you shed glitter. How nice.

Good thing you can fly, because there is a tiny little person currently fighting off a swallow who's holding him in its beak, and he's in mid-air while doing this. He lets out a tiny, angry yell, slams his fist into the swallow's face, and... plummets.

Oops! ]

1

[bradward]

[ Brad is feeling his own need to find someone. Is it Mariner..? He's not sure. Their shape hasn't totally coalesced in his mind, but when he hears something rustle in the flowers, he isn't totally unprepared, or scared at all. He just wants. Wants, wants, wants whoever it is, and his hopes are up-- and then he's completely distracted by this man dropping to his knee in front of Brad, bowing before him like a Klingon warrior. He's a little flustered and a lot delighted by this guy who seems like a very real knight kneeling in front of him. Is this what he has to look forward to in this place? Don't mind if he does. ]

Oh, uh... no, nothing to forgive! You're right on time..? [ For what? He doesn't know. ]

[thinkfirst]

[ Relief floods Flynn at the words: he isn't late, the person he's been trying to find (finally, finally) isn't angry. Azaleas open their pink throats wide, and the buttercups begin to flare toward the sky. Forget-me-nots show their tiny blue faces as Flynn opens his eyes, looks up with a smile he feels from his heart. ]

All the same, I shouldn't have taken so long to find you. Something as simple as a flower field shouldn't...

[ But he's found... him. Him? Flynn blinks, some of his smile turning to confusion. ]

I was looking for you.

[bradward]

[ When the knight looks up at him, Brad is hit with a strange sense of peace. This is who he was looking for! His own knight. A knight, who would have thought! It's like it's out of a fairytale.

He beams back, but it's slightly tempered when the knight looks distressed ]

Were you? You were! I was looking for you, too. Yeah, I was looking for you. And you fold me! Funny, how that happens.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn isn't sure what he was expecting, now that he thinks about it. The need had been an itchy thing racing like fire through him, lighting up his bones as he'd shoved his way through flowers and flowers. Long hair, he had thought about, and dark eyes and a twisting smile.

But this is surely who he was looking for, and so Flynn extends a hand, smiling up at the man he doesn't know but is so glad to have found. ]

Call it fate. Together we can surely find our way out of this place.

1.

[xploud]

[What.

The fuck.

Okay, so Katsuki was absolutely ready to blast whatever was approaching him from the hedgerows to cinders, palms out and glowing hot as his quirk in posed to literally explode the second he sees an enemy. The voice does give him pause - he was expecting some kind of animal - but Katsuki doesn't drop his guard...until there's a literal knight kneeling before him. Practically bowing to him and proclaiming he's been searching for him? Wh...what??? Sir?? Are you well? Are you drunk?]

Hah?

[thinkfirst]

[ It doesn't make any sense, really. Flynn's never seen this person before in his life and yet he is full of relief at having found him, sure that this is the person he was so desperately shoving his way through dense rosebushes and lilacs and foxgloves to find. He looks up, his eyes wide. This close, it's obvious that there are many more scratches on his face. His thoughts are a blurred mess. ]

I... was trying to find you.

[ Behind him, a leggy iris begins to open, bright and fierce. He was trying to find him, and yet... ]

What is your name?

[xploud]

I look like a princess to you, Lancelot?

[Katsuki sneers, clearly not...feeling the same sort of joy at being located. Yeah, he has no goddamn clue who this guy is...feels a little on edge about him supposedly trying to find him, too. Katsuki wants to believe it's some...knight-themed Hero or sidesick or something, but that doesn't seem right. This seems like a part of the fever dre--

...wait.]

You were looking for me, but don't even know my name? How chivalrous. I am swooning. My dear, prince charming...politely piss off.

3b

[integrous]

[ Every single time Asahi thinks this day can't get more wild, it does. Like clockwork.

And yet. And yet somehow Asahi was not expecting this. Being shrunk down like this would already be strange enough in and of itself, but then there's suddenly that giant swallow. Which is actually just a normal sized swallow, but with her current size, it looks like the person in that beak is about to be devoured by a house.

.. until said person starts dropping towards the ground.

Despite the fact that the girl still doesn't know a thing about what's happening here, she doesn't hesitate the moment she sees this part of it all happen. Disregarding the bird for a moment, she instead uses her wings to dive down towards where Flynn is dropping to the ground. It takes a few moments to catch up with him, but then she manages to only barely grab onto him, a tiny arm clutched between both of her own as Asahi frantically tries to bold up the weight of two small bodies with her wings. ]

Oh.. You're too heavy..!

[ Sorry, stranger.

But it's just a true fact about this current situation. ]

[thinkfirst]

Ah—oof!

[ Flynn's breathless scream is neatly interrupted by being yanked into someone's tiny arms. It's lucky for the both of them that in the spirit of this fairytale and the fact that gender is a put-on anyway, his heavy plate armor has been replaced with a once-white shift dress. It's a lot lighter, but he is still a heavily-muscled knight most of the time, and so of course he's dragging them both down. He is dizzy and breathless from the fall, clinging to his savior as they sink quickly toward the ground.

He is too heavy, and they're still falling fast. Flynn catches a glimpse of the bird high above, calling out shrill, and of shimmering wings. ]

That's— that's alright! If you can just slow the fall, I think we'll be alright!

[integrous]

Easier.. said.. than done...

[ It seems hard for the girl to even get the words out here. It'd be one thing to try and get used to flying in the first place, but having to do so while there's something nearby that could probably eat them if it tried and while she's trying to carry someone who's definitely heavier than she is.. well, it's bound to fail.

But it's not like Asahi isn't even trying. Even though she knows the odds are stacked against them here, she's trying to keep them in the air as hard as her little wings can flap. She holds onto Flynn with a near-desperate grip, despite the fact that he's a total stranger. Like she isn't even considering the possibility of letting him go, despite the fact that they're still getting closer and closer to the ground. ]

Why-- Why did today.. turn out like this?!

[ Please, Asahi signed up for exactly none of these experiences.

She's supposed to be just a normal girl! What is she doing here, trying to save a knight while both being shrunk down? What did her life become? ]

3a

[foundpurpose]

[The man dressed like a prince halts in mid-step and puts his foot back down. He kneels down and squints at Flynn. Tall with ears that come to points, he has the smooth movement of someone used to being quick on their feet.] What the fuck?

I've heard of great things in small packages but this is ridiculous! [He sets his hands on his knees as he peers at him then offers his hands out.] Here, let me help.

[thinkfirst]

[ I'm fine is the first thing on Flynn's lips—his ever-present stubborn insistence that he can handle it, that he has this situation under control—but he bites it back before it can escape. He doesn't really have this under control, does he? He blinked awake in a tiny version of his own body, wearing a dress made of tiny flimsy fabric, swordless and alone. So far he has been chased by frogs talking of marriage and swooped by a swallow who seemed to think he was some sort of prize. Only some very large leaves shielded him from that fate.

And this person, point-eared and lavishly-dressed, is offering help. Flynn would be a fool not to take it.

Carefully, he steps around the stem of a graceful dandelion and toward the massive fingers, peering up at the face blotting out the sun. ]

You... aren't intending to kidnap me for marriage, I hope?

[foundpurpose]

Hell no. I’m here to work on being less of a mess. You? [He has a lot to work on before he can return to his wayward found family and the people he loves. Vex wouldn’t be pleased if she knew. But she doesn’t have to know.

For now.]

[moralabsolutism]

[What in the ever-loving fuck is going on here? That's pretty much all Rorschach can think of as what looks like a full-blown knight in armor comes and either kneels or collapses at his feet. What is going on? Why is this his life? Oh well, nothing really to do.

He offers a hand to help Flynn get back to his feet, and indeed, he's wondering how this strange young man knows him. Rorschach, for his part, doesn't say a word. The most striking thing about the short man is his mask. Pale white, there's black splotches that move constantly around it, never mixing in with the white to create grey and always in mirroring patterns on each side.]

[thinkfirst]

[ What a strange person. Still, Flynn is beyond relieved: the itching in his blood, the burning need to find and be found, has eased, and eases further when he accepts that hand and lets himself be pulled back to his feet. The armor is a heavy thing, but Flynn is used to moving under it. ]

I presume you're as lost as I am? I'm sure now that I've found you, we'll learn the best way out of those, though I can't be sure where we're aiming.

Re: Flynn Scifo | Tales of Vesperia | legend

[whatsmydestiny]

[Mariane, too, feels that there's someone important out there, someone she simply has to find. only she felt certain that it was Alistair, her future husband.

to find that it was not at all Alistair had her more than a little taken aback, though the only real sign of it would be a slight twitch of the brows.

the gesture of chivalry was different than what she was used to, but still recognizable enough. perhaps he was an Orlesian chevalier? though why an Orlesian would seek her couldn't be good.

so with a carefully measured tone, she replied] Of course I forgive you. Why would I not?

[thinkfirst]

I feel strongly that I should have found you earlier.

[ His own words don't make sense, though, even as they fall from his tongue. He doesn't know this girl. He's never seen her in his life, but everything in him is saying you've done it, you found her, time to get out. Flynn inclines his head respectfully, more than half a bow, before pushing himself to his feet. He's tall like this, nearly 6 feet, and in full armor he makes a pretty bulky figure among all these delicately-waving flowers. Lilacs nod sleepily in the breeze just over Mariane's shoulder.

Flynn frowns at them, wondering. ]

But I am here now. My name is Flynn Scifo. It's a pleasure to meet you.

[whatsmydestiny]

[she can't help blushing] But. I'm here now?

[she was truly expecting Alistair. she needs to know what happened, why the fox led her from the platform erected in Denerim to see its Hero, other than her own ambivalence over the role assigned to her. she was the right person at the right time, much as it was hard to admit.

and she's a much less imposing one in leather armor. she's short, slender, a rogue's build]

Hello, Flynn Scifo. My name is Mariane Cousland. What do you want me to call you, ser?

[because she's had knights prefer either, but all responded to "ser"]

2 - teatime~

[natzoom]

[Natsume would be lying if he said it wasn't an amusing sight. The tiny teacups are fragile, delicate things, the perfect size for itty-bitty kitty paws, not human hands. Watching all the other human-shaped sorts try to sip from them without offending the cats is extremely enjoyable.

For his part, he's set the cup on a nearby stump-table, having quickly poured it out in a tuft of grass when no cats were watching. The question gets a stifled smile.]

Perhaps tell them you're more of a coffee drinker?

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn hadn't quite thought of that, and it makes him smile, true and small. The cup is really like a child's toy in his hands, and the only reason he hasn't dropped it yet is that one, he was smart enough to take off his gauntlets (which rest in a shining pile beside him), and two, he's been corralled by enough of the Lower Quarter's children into various tea parties to know how to hold tiny little vessels. ]

A cup of coffee would do wonders, I think, but I'd need at least four of these to make a proper cup, and it seems rude to ask them for so much. They're trying to help. I think. It's a bit like coming to the castle for the first time, now that I think about it. There are surely rules we can't be aware of!

[ A tiny calico, wearing a little set of overalls and bearing a tray with cream and sugar on it (so tiny!) along with a pot of something steaming, chooses that moment to come up to the two of them, holding out the tray like an offering. Flynn's smile softens. ]

Ah, thank you so much—

[ And before he can say anything, the cat is stepping closer to... pour him more tea.

Flynn doesn't say a word, except to quietly and sheepishly thank them.

He's kind of a pushover, huh. ]

[natzoom]

[Natsume has to duck his head and swallow back the snort of amusement as the insistent little feline refills the itty-bitty cup. Of course, then the attention is turned on him, and the overall-clad cat trots over to fill up the cup Natsume's set aside, mewing indignantly when the young man tries to decline.]

Ah, well -- all right. If you, um. Insist. [That's what you get for laughing, Natsume, it's your own fault. He meekly accepts the tiny cup, letting out a soft sigh before turning back to the other boy.]

You mentioned a castle? Is this... [Well, not normal, he can't imagine that.] ...not alarming to you?

3a

[vibing]

[ Yuri's walking sedately along. The flowers are nice, he's a little confused by everything that's happening, by his new appendages (black cat ears and tail, making his clothes awkward), but it's a nice place, this whole place feels a lot like Halure, making him feel comfortable despite everything.

But when he hears a small, high voice, he pauses, keeping his foot up off the ground and looking for the source of the voice only to spot... ]

Flynn?

[ Maybe?

He's so small. Yuri crouches down to peer closer at him, and he can't suppress a snort of a laugh ]

Is that a dress?

[thinkfirst]

[ Oh goddess his voice is so loud, echoing. Flynn flinches down behind the leaf he's half-taken shelter under, confused by the massive mess of features and ears sticking out of dark hair—

Dark hair.

All at once he straightens up, shoving the leaf aside, and stumbles toward a behemoth knee. ]

Yuri!

[ ...right? Has Yuri always had—well, Flynn's in a dress, and his back is strangely itchy, so maybe this is just... how this is going to go. It has to be a dream, right?

In which case, after making sure that it is in fact Yuri, Flynn pinches at the sides of the dress and dips into a neat-ish curtsy. ]

I woke up like this.

[vibing]

[ Goddess, that's cute. This could be a dream, Yuri doesn't know, but Flynn looks cute like this, and is curtseying like Estelle ]

You're really small.

[ To state the obvious. He stares at Flynn, trying to take this all in, trying to make sense of this tiny Flynn in a dress with--are those wings?--with the Flynn he knows, strong and solid and decked out in armor ]