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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.
long story
Uhhhh...
[ He didn't grow up with this fairy tale, but he's familiar enough with it to know the part he's been cast in, and what that entails. ]
Sorry, kid. I can do magic, but I don't think I can do that kind of magic.
no subject
kaneki looks at the other man, perhaps for a lot longer than he wanted, before he quickly shakes his head. Oh my god, what is with this place? ]
S-sorry! I didn't know there were other people. [ it's embarrassing there are other people. But!! At least this man is wearing a dress too ]
Uhm-- are you my Fairy Godmother? [ he did just say those words with his mouth didn't he? ]
no subject
[ It's not the one he's chosen for himself, but then, he isn't sure that he would have chosen Cinderella at all. ]
I guess... I'm here to grant your wishes? Somehow?
no subject
Right... but only the wishes in the story. I hope I don't have to sing about it. [ he would rather not sing! ]
Ah, I'm Kaneki. It's nice to meet you. [ he nods his head politely ] Or "Cinderella", in this particular case.
no subject
So, if I remember this story right, I'm supposed to get you ready to go to a ball of some kind? Right?
no subject
But even so, the fox told him to finish the story so what can they do?]
There are many versions of this story, but I'm assuming it's a current one since there were singing mice. [ y e a h
But that also makes it easier. Earlier versions of this story involved the evil step sisters having to dance with iron shoes on fire. So let's not do that.]
But yes, you are meant to use magic so I will get a dress- [ another pause. This Is Dumb.] and a carriage to take me to the palace
no subject
Okay, well, I'll try...
[ He does what he knows— He casts Druidcraft to create plant growth, but when he does, what springs forth from him isn't just a small leaf, but many leaves, one after another, blowing in some invisible wind that curls around Kaneki's feet and rises to his head, finally settling around him in the form of a beautiful gown the color of an Autumn forest. ]
no subject
Magic leaves wrap around him and suddenly his worn out maid outfit is transformed into a dress. While Henry might now have planned that, Kaneki's dirty slippers transform into glass shoes that somehow fit him perfectly and somehow aren't absolutely a nightmare to wear.
Kaneki gasps a little, looking down at the dress, touching it for a moment. ] ... It would be a really nice dress if it were on a cute girl. [ he is so embarrassed ]
no subject
Hey, now, I think it looks plenty nice on you! Looking cute isn't limited only to girls and women!
no subject
No, not really. He just wants his to be over and not be embarrassed any further ]
Ah... I'm not sure how to take that as a compliment. [ kaneki does smile just a little ] Burt well, I suppose now I can go to the ball... [ kaneki sighs again. Will he have to dance with a prince? Really? ]
no subject
Henry looks around, spotting a door that he thinks might lead outside. ]
Here, this way!
[ He exits the small house, and sees a conveniently placed pumpkin patch in the garden outside. He tries to cast Enlarge on one of the pumpkins— not a spell he normally has access to, but one he thinks is expected of him— and the pumpkin swells and grows, transforming into a pumpkin-shaped carriage. ]
There we go! Now we just need horses, right?
no subject
He follows through the door, holding the dress so he won't fall on his face if she stumbles on it, and then glances at the pumpkin. RIGHT, that's part of the story too, a carriage made out of a pumpkin. And also... ] The horses come from mice, I believe.
no subject
[ Only Henry isn't sure where to find a mouse... And he definitely doesn't know how to Polymorph a mouse into a horse.
He scratches his chin, crouching and creeping along the edge of the house, calling out, ] Here, mousey mousey! Where are you, little mousies?
[ After a few minutes of trying that with no luck (probably because his voice was scaring the mice away), Henry gives up. ]
Ahh, this isn't working... You know what? I'll just do it myself.
[ And then he uses Wild Shape to just. Turn into a horse. ]
no subject
Nothing seems to happen, though, and after a pause, kaneki starts: ] Ah... maybe it doesn't ma--
[ except the man decides to do something himself and... transform into an actual horse???? kaneki gasps, eyes wide, staring ]
W-what?! [ w h a t ]
no subject
Even weirder than that, he turns his big horse head on his thick horse neck towards Kaneki and says. ]
Okay, you're going to have to hook me up to the carriage. I'd do it myself, but... No thumbs.
no subject
w h a t ]
Are... are you sure? Because -- [ he gestures a little ] Isn't this weird? [ it's so weird! ]
no subject
You're playing the part of Cinderella, and I'm your fairy godmother. Isn't that all a little weird?
no subject
I... guess?
[ look, no, he needs a second here. Kaneki shakes his head ] I'm sorry, but this... this is insane. There is no magic where I'm from.