May 2022 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

MAY 2022 TDM

INTRODUCTION

[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
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

Izuku Midoriya | My Hero Academia | Myth

[defendure]

1. DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

[ Luckily Izuku's costume covers pretty much every available bit of skin minus his face. Go figure. It's pretty good for traversing a path laden with thorns - and flowers. Izuku doesn't know who he's looking for exactly, but he's running anyway. Taking lefts every time out of a sense of knowing it's a maze, once he figured out that going through the flowers doesn't seem very useful and good. There are too many thorns, sharp and vicious looking, and anyway Izuku's first instinct to float upwards got him bopped back down. So he's going to play nice and not use any powers for the moment until he knows what's going on...it's easy to come across him wandering around cautiously, occasionally closing his eyes and murmuring, or taking out a notebook to note down a new turn. He's trying to map the maze as he goes, hoping it isn't changing on him as he goes.

If you don't sneak up on him, though, you'll see his shoulders slump with obvious relief when he notices your approach. The faint worry eases, turning to true concern. ]

You're here! I've been looking everywhere... [ Whether or not he knows them. He's not thinking about that part initially, so eager to come over to the other person's side. Checking them over visually, scanning for injuries. The last thing he remembers was a fight, after all, and this place is so - odd. He doesn't really expect anyone in this strange maze to be entirely okay, and if he finds they are - he'll be relieved. More than he already is. ]

2. OUT OF THE WOODS

A. DANCING
[ Izuku's bad at saying "no" to cats who don't even talk, it turns out. He's shooed into the company of someone he's met or hasn't, sheepish smile on his lips as he offers up a hand. He's a bit of mess, but his eyes are warm and green and his hand looks human. That smile is a little sharper than it should be at the corners, though - but somehow not in a way that seems at all worrying. ]

Um, I should warn you I'm not all that great at this. Just sort of aggressively average?

B. MEDIC
[ Or maybe you're too injured or tired or disinterested to dance? If he sees anyone in the recovery area who looks like they might need to talk, or who might be patching themselves up, Izuku approaches, looking a little bit nervous. Not because he's worried about anything he's doing specifically, but he's just a bit awkward around new people sometimes. He'll get over it pretty quickly. He holds up a roll of bandages with a shy smile. ]

Ah, hey! Do you want help with that? I'm pretty good at first aid.

3. LONG STORY SHORT

A. CINDERELLA
[ There isn't a glass slipper to be found here. If you're picking up a lost shoe, it's a red sneaker and Izuku would appreciate you giving it back at some point, please. He didn't actually mean to lose it...actually, he keeps trying to get it back himself, which restarts the whole thing, but he only does that loop about twice before admitting he can't pick up his own shoe.

He doesn't seem that annoyed or anything when you run into him - wicked stepmother, prince/ss, mouse? Anyone who seems a bit out of place gets a smile, although a sort of aggravated one. ]

Is it bad I'm considering a wedding just to get my shoe back? Because I kind of am.

B. RAPUNZEL
[ Being stuck in a tower is almost worse than the Cinderella bit. Izuku is the type to go stir crazy if he doesn't have something to do, and he spends a decent amount of time trying to get out of the tower himself before giving up, even though after the first loop he probably should have stopped. But once he does stop, he waits for either Gothel or whomever is supposed to rescue him. Not his preference - he tends to prefer more active roles, but sometimes you have to bide your time...

Still, leaning out the tower to call down to anyone who wants up: ]

My hair's not that long still, sorry? How do you feel about bedsheets?

WILD.

[ If none of these work, feel free to throw me something different or hit me up via PM to discuss alternatives! I'm very happy to figure something out, so don't be afraid to reach out. ]

2. A

[anthropophagite]

[ kaneki just wanted to wallflower, that's all he really wanted. rejecting cats is indeed hard, however, therefor he ends up being shoved towards someone else he never met and gestured to dance along with them.

Kaneki just stares back at Izuku and offers a smile of his own ]

I never even danced before. [ so at least you are average izuku! Kaneki, on the other hand, has a feeling is about to step on this boy's feet, for sure. ]

[defendure]

[ That's okay, Izuku's feet are rather sturdy. He can totally handle being stepped on a little bit, and he's too nice to say anything bad if Kaneki does it. ]

I've only done it a few times! And I don't know what dances are popular here, you know?

[anthropophagite]

I don't think it matters much. They are cats. [ ... actual cats. Kaneki sure said that with his own mouth, while he looks at a cat with his own eyes. This whole place is... strange.

kaneki still shakes his head and takes a deep breath as if gaining enough courage for this. Do men dance together? No, they probably don't? But the cats are insistent and kaneki can not say no. ]

Waltz would be the easiest, right? Withe the box step. [ He has only read about dancing before and somehow remembers what he read ]

[defendure]

[ Men can dance together if they want! Izuku is more concerned with, like, not messing up the dance than who he dances it with or what they might identify as. What if he steps on a foot? Man or woman, that would be bad! Or what if he forgets a step? But he thinks he SHOULD be okay... ]

Ah! I do know a box step. Um, do you want to lead, or should I?

1.

[xploud]

[It's probably the telltale sound of an explosion going off, or the smell of smoke, that even led Deku to the person he knows extremely well, or at least should. Katsuki's wearing his school uniform, but decidedly the winter variation - thicker pants, a more insulated blazer, and his scarf is still wrapped around his neck as well. Yeah it's causing him to sweat, but...that's not a bad thing. It means he's going to be prepped and armed in case of an attack, considering one of his Grenadier Gauntlets is attacked to one of his arms.

He whirls around though, hearing the voice, and looks absolutely fucking pissed when the little shitnerd hurries toward him. You little freckled fucktruck...he was looking everywhere for you!! And by god that alone makes Katsuki seethe. Why was he so worried about Deku? And Todoroki, too? Why was he doggedly trying to find them, pace going from an annoyed stomping to a panicked run the longer he stayed in this fucking maze. He doesn't have too many cuts on him, the clothes keep the thorn and brambles away, but there was a few covering his free hand - the ungloved one - and a light scratch on his cheek bleeds slightly.]

Deeekkkuuuu.... [Buddy chum friend pal amigo tomodachi...you might wanna turn right round and run the other way.]

[defendure]

[ Running away might be wise. But when has Izuku ever been wise about Katsuki? He smells that acrid smoke, hears that explosion, and Izuku knows immediately who it has to be. And even seeing Katsuki stalking to him, he doesn't bolt.

Izuki is in costume. A newer version a Katsuki in winter uniform might not recognize, a tattered yellow cape around his neck like a scarf.

His eyes widen, but he doesn't run. ]

K-Kacchan?

[xploud]

[Never. Not once in his life. The new costume definitely gets a raised brow - what the fuck, since when did the loser have that lying around? Where the fuck did he stash it? And Katsuki does pause for a moment to look the nerd up and down. Something about all this only seems to aggravate him further, and he clocks Izuku solidly on the head with a fist.

Not damaging, but he'll definitely feel it. You little shit, he was looking for you. You and Todoroki. Maybe Endeavor, too, but the smelly old man's not as important. But this is only half the proverbial pie, the urge is still strong, to find that other piece. Even so, Katsuki can at least take the moment to holler.]

Nah, I'm a figment of your imagination - WHO ELSE WOULD I BE?! Tch...took your ass long enough to find me. The fuck's with the get-up? And where's IcyHot? You find that bastard yet?

[defendure]

[ Izuku tries to fend off the blow, more than a little surprised about it. Not like Katsuki doesn't do that often, but he's cut back on it a little bit since apologizing at least. Sort of. Mostly it's verbal these days. More he's just kind of confused by why Katsuki's asking about someone from another team entirely...

But he doesn't think Katsuki would know anything about that if he asked right now. ]

N-no, I wasn't looking for him.

1 hello i'm here and awake & realized the exact single most intense canon point i could take fromoop

[blondshell]

(Katsuki was emotionally raw when he arrived in the flower fields. He actually lays there for a solid hour, listening to the music, trying to figure out what the actual hell was going on in his life. The last thing he could remember was desperately trying to get to Izuku because he needed to tell him so much, he needed to make sure Izuku knew...

And then he never reached him. He never got to tell Izuku what he meant. How incredibly fucking sorry he was. That he didn't hate him: he respected the ever-loving hell out of him. What if he had been too late? The paranoia begins to rise, only worsened by the effects of the flowers surrounding him and at last, he gets to his feet. He couldn't be too late.

He absolutely refused.

He didn't care where the hell he was or what was going on. He would find Izuku if his life depended on it and no amount of fucking flowers could get in his way. He tears through them like a bat out of hell, leaving destroyed flowers in his wake. He gets a few knicks here and there along the way that only make his rampaging search all the more prominent.

Then he stops, panting from the exertion of using his blasts to move faster than he normally would. If he couldn't fly above the flowers then he would just rip through them. No biggie, but it wasn't getting him anywhere. So he thinks. If Izuku were somewhere in this maze...

Simple. Katsuki puts his hands together and raises them over his head. He gathers an enormous amount of energy - which is easy enough to do given how much he was sweating from running around - and blasts off a direct stun bomb. A beacon of explosive, telltale light. If Izuku were around, Katsuki was positive he would know who it belonged to. If he wasn't? Well, then some people might get scared shitless, but that was a price he was willing to pay.

He sets off another one, then another one. Pulsing the blasts, staying where he is, because he knew the 101s of how to find someone in a bad situation like this.)

i am always here for the most intense options

[defendure]

[ If Izuku's in the maze, of course he'd hear and see that commotion. Probably everyone in the maze can see it, can hear the constant explosions over and over again. Izuku hears the first one and jolts, dropping his notebook and fumbling to catch it as he looks over his shoulder, eyes wide. There's a sudden wave of relief to see that explosion. It could be something else, sure, but he's so intimately familiar with every attack Katsuki has to throw that Izuku doesn't think it is something else.

Or maybe his mind won't let himself contemplate that possibility. There's one person he wants to see more than anyone, in this flower maze, with that intense idea that there's someone he has to find. ]

Kacchan! [ Softly, clutching his notebook and then putting it away. There's pauses between explosions as Katsuki works up the energy again, but it acts as a beacon. Izuku tries to take turns going towards the explosion, but he comes across more than a few dead ends - and then, frantic energy rising, he finally starts crashing through some of the hedges.

Stumbles through the last one right as another explosion goes off, this time close enough to smell the acrid scent of smoke and sweat as Izuku crashes right into Katsuki. ]

dramatic reunions are my theme song

[blondshell]

(Katsuki would do it as long as he needed to do it. Even as he could start to feel a bit of fatigue settling into his arms. It was because the explosions were so big, but he needed Izuku to see. He completely ignores the pain, doesn't slow down, and doesn't hold back.

He hears something crashing towards him and winds up setting off his final flare. Katsuki whips around just in time to catch Izuku just as he comes crashing into him. Katsuki is...bigger than the last time they saw each other. Not older, just bigger. A full head taller than Izuku, broader, denser with thicker muscle.

His arms automatically curl around Izuku to steady him, his hands screaming with the effort of the blasts. He has to ignore that desperate instinct. They clearly weren't back home, clearly weren't in the middle of the fight they had been in when Katsuki had been racing to find Izuku. Izuku was here.

Izuku was safe. Breathing against him. Katsuki simmers.)

You damn nerd. (Scared! The shit! Out of him!) I thought I lost your stupid ass.

you have a bkdk icon for every occasion lol...

[defendure]

[ Wow, yeah, okay, he notices the size difference like immediately. The changes to Izuku are...not fully complete yet, and a little more subtle. He'd have to open his mouth all the way for those fangs to be visible, and he'll figure out his wing situation later on...right now he's just clinging to Katsuki, though. Relieved someone else from home is here in the maze, although he doesn't quite understand what the hell is going on yet.

Monoma really messed up, or something. ]

I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go through the wrong portal...

[ But more importantly: ]

Kacchan, what happened to you? Were you hit by a Quirk?

2A

[integrous]

[ Luckily - (luckily?) - Asahi doesn't seem to be paying too much attention to Izuku's appearance here. Though the reason for it is definitely a little less luckily, since Izuku himself may be looking half-sheepish here, but Asahi looks like a kettle containing boiling water, on the verge of bursting. The blush on her face makes her skin so red that it's starting to match the shade of her hair, and though she's frowning at him, she seems more flustered than angry.

.. at him, anyway, since: ]

Oh, if there's anything aggressive here, it's me! [ Please, Asahi. Slow down in front of this poor guy. ] I can't believe they're making us do this..!

[ Yes, she's just majorly flustered. Which in Asahi's case always outs itself as flustered frustration. She can't even walk away, since it seems that the people sure are insistent on the two of them dancing together here, no matter how awkward this initial meeting might be. ]

[defendure]

Oh, um, well - it doesn't seem like they mean badly - ?

[ It's okay, he's dealt with a lot of very aggressive people over the course of his life. Izuku's cheeks are for sure a little flushed, but he doesn't seem to mind being made to dance so much as he's worried about not being competent enough at it. But aggressively average should be decent enough to get through it without TOO many issues...maybe. ]

That is, I think they just want us to make friends, and for some reason that involves dancing for them?

[integrous]

.. [ She lets out a grumbling sort of sound, her gaze moving completely off to the side at this point. As if she can't even bring herself to look at Izuku's face without blushing even more than she already is. ]

Who even makes friends through dancing..?

[ People in dance clubs, for one. ]

B-But.. I guess if there's really no choice, then we've just.. got to go for it. Uh, somehow. Because..

[ Her voice trails off for a moment, but then she just very openly admits: ] I'm not a good dancer either.

[ Which means they're off to a great start together, huh. Look at these aggressively average dancers at best. ]

3A

[overnightoaks]

[ Henry looks a little uncomfortable in his Prince Charming getup, walking around with a red sneaker in hand. He's figured out by now the role he's supposed to play, and has asked no small number of people if the shoe is theirs at this point, when he finally runs into a young man who he has a sinking suspicion might be the Cinder-fella in question.

He looks from the teen to the shoe in his hand, looking anxious. ]

Oh, well, that feels like it would be extremely problematic... For one thing, I'm already happily married to my wife, Mercedes Oak-Garcia. For another, I'm pretty sure I'm at least twice your age, young man. But... You can have your shoe back if you want?

[ He holds out the sneaker. ]

[defendure]

[ He's fine without the wedding if he gets the shoe. Izuku reaches for it, then pauses. ]

Um. This is gonna sound weird, but I think I might need you to put it on for me? It seems like if we step out of line too much it starts over again. But that should, presumably, stop this whole thing...and then I won't be half-barefoot.

[overnightoaks]

Oh, that's right! That is what happened in the Disney movie, isn't it?

[ He's more familiar with the Cinderella story from the movie than from hearing the story growing up. It wasn't a story that was told in the Forgotten Realms.

Henry gets down on one knee and starts opening up the mouth of the shoe, preparing to slip it over the boy's foot. ]

I used to put my beautiful boys' shoes on all the time when they were little! You can just hold onto my shoulder if you feel unsteady. I'm Henry Oak, by the way, I don't know if I introduced myself.

A. DANCING

[phantomthot]

[Tinya's like. completely at ease among the folk-dancing, surprisingly sophisticated kitty cats. can she understand their meowing? no. is she cooing over them and telling them how sweet they are and what good chefs they are and sweet Mistress, they're all too precious!

she wants every last one of them to come live with her somewhere. or she'll live with them, if they'll let her. after all, cats were the only other beings to Travel, they're revered and blessed and held sacred to the Mistress.

so when one of her feline friends gently nudges her towards a young man offering her a hand, she smiled brightly and took his hand.

just took it. didn't shake it or anything. she's not quite sure what to do with it so she held it, momentarily analyzing the sharpness of his smile when compared to his everything else]

Okay! So let's dance!

[defendure]

S-should I lead? [ Izuku doesn't know too many dances, but he thinks he can pick up the one the cats are leading them through. Though the cats are making it look easy, far more graceful than most humans could be...

Still, he's game to try it, smiling at Tinya as he starts to lead her out to where the dancers are. ]

[phantomthot]

Yes, please! It's nicer to be led in a dance. [not that she really has much experience with such things. ever since she tested, she's been studying and practicing and preparing herself for her role.

essential, potentially dangerous, painfully boring.

and she smiles brightly back, letting herself be led. the dancing looked great, all of the kitties doing their dances were obviously having fun]

So, I'm from Bgztl. Where are you from?

2: medic

[natzoom]

--oh. [After being fussed over by an assortment of felines, seeing another person has Natsume rather taken aback. He blinks up at the other boy for a moment, in the middle of trying to tie off a bandage around his arm one-handed (and not doing great at it, but not...horrifically failing either?).

Then, rather stupidly:] You aren't a cat.

[defendure]

Um - should I be? [ Izuku is sorry he is not a cat, but he is a Myth, surely that counts for something! Not that he quite understands what a Myth is yet or anything, or even that he is one. ]

[natzoom]

-- ah, no. [Natsume blinks a couple times, then shakes his head, looking sheepish now.] Of course not, that's a...foolish thing to say. I was just surprised to see another human. There's mostly cats here, you see. Obviously.