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

[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.

[xploud]

[The bop will be intercepted, which makes Katsuki huff a bit, but he wasn't actually trying to harm the little shitnerd. It's just...he was worried. About too many different things. Katsuki hates to admit it, truly hates to even think those thoughts, because they open up a part of his mind where a lot of very dark, roiling, festering insecurities and weakness have been sitting for months. It's a lot like his how his mom is, lashing out at him sometimes despite the love she has for him, and he of her. It's a complicated and very bizarre dynamic that they have, but it's how they show their care and concern for one another.

Honestly, it fits with his stuttering relationship with Deku, too. A low grumble-sigh escapes Katsuki's nose and mouth and he just shakes his head. There's something to be said about the calm that does come with finding Deku - it's one of his two friends and classmates, so...glass half full.]

Chasing after me then, hah? Shitty nerd... [His eyes scan the freckled boy up and down, narrowing more and more as he scowls.] Naa, s'with the get-up? Don't remember you upgrading your suit.

[Considering they were not even in full costume when Katsuki last saw Izuku not half an hour ago, before this mess. Hell, all Katsuki has is his school uniform and one of his grenadier gauntlets and gloves.]

[defendure]

This - this is what I was wearing before I got here. [ But Izuku's taking in Katsuki's uniform, the scarf, and he's thinking. That big brain of his is ticking away, turning the situation over and over, trying to figure out just what is happening... ]

Um. Kacchan - what's the last thing you remember? Because for me...it's spring already.

[xploud]

[Narrowing his eyes a little, Katsuki squares his shoulders and crosses his arms. Okay, something real fucking weird is going on here, and he's not a fan. Not a fan at all...because he's starting to put the pieces together one by one. Katsuki's smart, after all, he can usually figure things out with the right clues.

And what Deku says, fucking nails it in hard.]

It's winter. Winter fucking break, Deku. You, me, n' that Half and Half bastard had dinner with his shitty family, his brother got attacked by a shitty villain, and we took it down and saved him and a bunch of other civilians. [He blows out a long string of air, rubbing his face with the gloved hand. Deku's ahead of him. He's fucking ahead of him. Katsuki's teeth grind together and he growls, gripping his fist into his hair before exhaling again.] Whatever shit you went through...I don't wanna hear about it. Don't you dare fucking tell me anything about the future. I just wanna fucking know how. I saw your shitty face with everyone else less than an hour ago!!

[That fucking Fox...what the hell is it, really? What did it do?]

[defendure]

I don't know. Really, I thought at first I just went through the portal and ended up here, but I've been thinking for a while now it's a lot more than that.

[ Gesturing around. ]

Either this is all a Quirk-based delusion, or...we're probably not in our world right now. Or our time.

[xploud]

[Not in their world, or time...yeah. Yeah, katsuki actually hates that. He hates that!! Hates that it makes sense, at fucking impossible as it sounds. A quirk-based delusion would indeed be the more probable thing happening, but...it wouldn't explain how cognizant both he and Izuku are of it. Or the fact that, y'know...the nerd is completely different from what Katsuki remembers of him not too long ago.]

Aa, so how d'we fix it? Only option so far is finding that Fox skinning it alive to get some fucking answers.

[And something tells Katsuki, that finding the shitty kitsune going to be way harder than it sounds.]

[defendure]

Mm, well. I think we do have to locate who brought us here and ask about going back first, or why we're here...it might not get us the answers we want, but right now we're working on almost no information, so getting more information can only be the better choice. Of course, to do that we probably need to get out of this maze...

[ As usual, he's rambling aloud as he works through his thoughts, gesturing as he speaks, although he does try to speak at normal human speed for Katsuki. It half works, half doesn't. He's Izuku Midoriya and he's got to talk like a machine gun when he's nervous and thinking a mile a minute. ]

[xploud]

[Ugh, that muttering... It's so damn creepy!! But despite the grating sound, Katsuki does have to agree that the dork is correct. They have little to go on, no discernable direction to get out the maze, and a still pressing issue...at least on Katsuki's mind--]

Gotta find Todoroki, too. [The two boys were the first on his mind, the ones he wanted and needed to find. He's found one, but not the other. The itch hasn't been satisfied, merely dulled.] That damn idiot won't know heads or tails to get out of something like this....c'mon.

[Katsuki is keeping his eyes peeled, looking up to gauge the sun's position in the sky and use it to navigate. And also? Every ten yards or so, he stops a moment just to scorch a few of the brambles and branches as they go along with a small, controlled explosion. Nothing burnt, just charred and smoky black. A sort of "breadcrumb" trail to follow in case they get lost themselves.]

[defendure]

[ Izuku, meanwhile, has his notebook out again and is taking down a sketched map as best he can. Multiple ways to be able to try to find their bearings is the best way - he already tried Float and knows it's not going to fly (hah) in this particular maze. He doesn't have any problem falling into step with Katsuki - after years of being something he was cautious of, these days it feels almost natural (although admittedly still dangerous). ]

That's if he's here - I feel like our classmates would be doing something, uh...

[ How to put this nicely. ]

...loud and noticeable if they were here?

[ They are all of them agents of chaos. Izuku might be one of the worst in his own way... ]

[xploud]

[A drawn map...not a bad idea at all. Nerdy as hell, but the dork definitely did have the right idea. Katsuki knew it wouldn't be as easy as just blasting himself up and out, so he didn't even bother...and burning the maze to ashes wasn't a great plan with anyone else trapped inside. E-Even if he most definitely thought about it very quickly...ahem. He's doing better!! Slowly!

Stuck at a crossroads, Katsuki scowls at each side and waits for Izuku to catch up, albeit grudgingly. There's a snort and a smirk as the shorter boy mentions their class's, ah...lack of subtlety. Yeah, Katsuki may be the least subtle out of all of them - his quirk is literally explosions - but...the rest of them aren't far off, either.]

Heh! Not trained for stealth yet, aa? Maybe that Ponytail girl, and Lobes... Icy-Hot is an idiot, he'd be chasing his own shadow for hours. Same with Dunce Face and Shitty Hair... N' Racoon Eyes' head would cave in if she were expected to actually think for more than two minutes.

[He may be totally roasting his classmates, sure, but there's a fondness in the blond's tone that is extremely difficult to pick up if one doesn't know him well. They're fucking idiots, but they're capable.]

[defendure]

I feel like most of us just, ah, attract loud situations?

[ ...Also some of them are a bit dramatic, see, Aoyama. Although thinking about Aoyama right now is a bit hard...Izuku smiles all the same as he tilts his notebook so Katsuki can see his current map and heading. They need to work together to get out of here, after all. ]

Not exactly on purpose...

[xploud]

Tch, considering all the 'loud situations' we've been in? Yeah, that fucking scans.

[Katsuki knows not all of what their class has been through has specifically been their fault, mind you, but they still seem to just...attract that sort of thing. Neither good nor bad, they're Heroes - and will get into trouble one way or another - but it is still wild to think about the sort of things Class 1-A specifically has had to deal with. And made it through with flying colors.

All of them - all twenty.

Katsuki leans over a bit to take in the map Deku was drawing, looking forward and nodding his head when it looked pretty close to where they were going and where they've already been. Not bad, nerd, though he'll never say so aloud. Working together with Deku isn't the worst thing to Katsuki anymore, and the stink he usually puts up about it is mostly for show, or simple because he wants something different - his own space and time. He's a very private person, after all...and Deku has been chasing after his shadow for forever. There's times where Katsuki just wants to be away from him, just so he can breathe a little.

Now's not that time, though. Right now, they need to stay close so they don't get lost, and even the blond can't deny they work well together when they actually smack their heads together and focus. With the damn nerd's smarts and level of perception, and his own intellect, skill, and talent, they're a good combo.]

Aa, obviously none of us want to be put in hot water on purpose. Shit just happens. [He clicks his tongue, frowning. They've been walking a bit, and nothing has sprung out at them. That's so dull.] You'd think there'd be some shitty traps, or obstacles, or something.

[He's bored. He's bored and complaining about it.]

[defendure]

Hm...you say that, but I think there are traps. They're just...less obvious, and perhaps a bit more dangerous because of it.

[ Izuku taps his pen on his notebook as he walks, a thinking mechanism. Just trying to go back through it, turning it over and over in his head. ]

Normally your first instinct wouldn't be to come looking for me, after all.

[xploud]

[The harsh tch as Katsuki juts out his lower lip snapping his head away from Izuku's general direction, is pretty obvious he's not happy with that response. But he does double down in being far more vigilant and perceptive now that the damn nerd's said it. It's definitely felt pretty easygoing thus far, but he's right...if this is supposed to be some kind of 'trial' to prove oneself, then it won't be as easy as just leisurely walking through a maze.

But oh, that last bit there. Katsuki raises a brow rather abruptly and turns to look at Deku again, an expression on his face that is confused and a bit incredulous.]

Haah? No shit. I'm no one's fucking babysitter, Deku...let alone yours. [He takes a few broad strides forward, mostly so the shitnerd won't see his face, lifting his chin up and muttering in a slightly lower tone.] Y'don't need that crap, anyway.

[A...very Bakugou kind of compliment - vague and somewhat backhanded. They don't need to chase after each other, or keep a close eye on one another, it's not necessary. Because he trusts the nerd's strength and abilities, and that he'd be fine one his own. He's...strong. On his own, Deku is strong, he has grown on his own, with his own might, his own determination. They have never truly needed each other to prove their respective strengths.]

[defendure]

Well, my point was...I felt a certain sense of urgency to find someone, which I don't think was natural. And it seems like you might have too...which means the "traps" here might be more mental influence than anything else.

[ Not that he thinks they should dismiss the idea of physical traps entirely. Those are not something they should just assume don't exist, because that would set a very very dangerous precedent...and could potentially get them into trouble. ]