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

[foundpurpose]

[Vax shifts until he's settled as comfortably as he's going to get. He puts one hand against the ground as he sighs. He shoves some feelings threatening to rise back into the box in the back of his mind. They have no place here.

This is about connecting and sorting through the confusion.] I don't know if elves or dragons exist in your world. But they do in mine. My father is one of the former. A group of the latter are terrorizing the people of the Tal'dorei continent. [He taps his pointed ear and drops his hand.]

I can't imagine how much this is to process. But take your time with it, okay? You can ask me anything to help you sort through it.

[integrous]

[ Vax truly is such a good bean to be so patient with her here. Especially since Asahi has a lot to work through here. There are no elves or anything else fantasy-related in her world outside of books, but at least that feels like it kind of makes sense here. She already talked to a fox that could speak to her, so what's so different to meeting an elf compared to that? Especially since Vax's pointy ears do seem to confirm it - and she can tell that he's not lying about it either.

But the idea of elves not having Irises is weirder. What if she's the only one with an Iris here? That'd be so.. weird.

Asahi exhales, but her breath is shaky, like she's on the verge of a breakdown here. But she, too, is trying in her own way to prevent that from happening, especially in front of a total stranger. ]

How.. are we supposed to come to terms with this place? It's like every single moment I'm hearing or experiencing something stranger than the last..

[ That sure is what her experience has been so far, anyway. ]

Everything feels so hard to understand. Where I come from, elves and dragons.. those only exist in stories.

[foundpurpose]

[Vax'ildan waits until her words fade before he says,] How about we do a little exercise to help you come to terms with this place. You can tell me what an Iris is and ask one thing of me. Could be as simple as where did you grow up? Or what kinds of dragons? What are elves like?

I can only tell you so much about the last one. I'm only half and they're not fond of us on a good day. [He skips past the possible awkwardness of that statement. He's so used to elves and men not having a place for him. He breaks his still warm bread in half again, then scoops some soup into it.]

But if you ask me what's the strangest thing you've dealt with. I'll need a minute to figure out what was the oddest.

[integrous]

[ ...

Well, it's worth a try, she thinks.

Asahi sucks in a breath, doing her best to just speak without thinking too much. ]

An Iris is the power to see something that other people can't. Everyone has one where I come from, which is why this is so weird to me. [ Especially when someone not having one is such a big deal where she comes from. Toru would have a field day here, Asahi thinks.

At least that explanation is relatively easy for her to force out. So right, mental checklist. Told him what an Iris is, next to ask him a question.

.. maybe a question that avoids - what sounds to her like - fantasy racism. ]

And, um.. Was your life back where you come from dangerous? You know, since there's dragons around and all. [ Those aren't exactly super safe creatures. Even running into a tiger sounds better, and it's not like that'd just happen in the middle of a Japanese metropolis. ]

[foundpurpose]

[He listens in silence, taking the time to eat now that he has it. He's halfway done with his bowl when she asks her question. His mind flashes back to the city of Emon in ruins. He can picture the fire darkening the sky as the heat of the land around them served as a backdrop for what he and his friends came to do.

He drags his fingers over the edge of the bowl.] Yeah, it was. It's always dangerous to travel but, we're in the business of making the world safer.

[He sets his hands on his knees as he says,] That comes with risk. Like anything worth doing. ...you mentioned I might be too old to have an Iris before. Do you just...age out of it?

[integrous]

[ She tries to imagine it, if not briefly. A world where there's dangers like dragons and maybe monsters all around, and yet this guy sitting next to her choosing to stand up to that. To fight, even though it's more dangerous than any danger in Asahi's own world.

.. it's a bit of a wild thought, and she figures she needs a few moments to try and properly wrap her mind around it, so she focuses on answering his question instead with a shake of her head. ]

No, it's just a recent phenomenon. [ As far as Asahi knows. She's not old enough to have experienced a world before Irises, after all.. ] The first kids with an Iris were born less than thirty years ago, but back then it was super rare. But then more and more kids were born with them, until basically everyone has one nowadays. That's why you usually don't see many people over 20 with an Iris, and no one at all over 30.

[ Asahi is still speaking about it in general terms, rather than it just being about her own world, but she's also still trying to come to terms with the fact that it's not normal here. ]

[foundpurpose]

So, something happened and caused kids to be born with Iris. [Vax says as he leans back a little as he processes that. It’s a lot to think of a world where kids started seeing things no one else could.

And for a reason they wouldn’t know. How many kids weren’t understood? Scared? He shakes his head slightly.]

Mages can see things others can’t. Anyone whose god is talking to them a lot. [He grimaces at that. All he has to do is think of the Matron of Ravens white porcelain mask suspended above him.]

Sorcerors are a different thing all together. [They can’t ask Gilmore anything about them. He isn’t sure she could even handle Gilmore if he were here.]

[integrous]

Hmm.. We don't have that kind of thing where I come from either.

[ Mages. Sorcerors. .. People who have a god talking to them is a little more debatable, but considering Asahi herself isn't particularly religious - and has seen way too many religious scammers - she's leaning towards that also not being a thing where she comes from. ]

An Iris is just seen as a normal ability, since pretty much everyone is born with one by now. But being able to do anything else.. we'd just call that magic. [ Even if said magic might have a different place in society and daily life in his world than in hers. ] And that's something no one can do where I'm from, so people would just say that's not real.

[foundpurpose]

I can't say there's a common ability like that for us. Some of us have magic. Some don't. We're different races...you get the idea. [He sets his soup bowl down and picks up a stick. He starts to draw what he remembers of Emon. The city is vast with a number of sections. All of it is built around a castle.

Then he sketches another city. This one is sheltered by mountains and forest. The city looks a bit battered. He makes eye contact with Asahi as he does it. The action is deliberate. It too has a castle. But the third, a ruined wreck does not have a castle.]

Past three cities I've been in. Emon. Whitestone. Westrunn. Made of stone, metal, and wood. Most travel is by horse. Unless you have magic or an airship. So you have a frame of reference for what technology I know.

[integrous]

[ She does get the idea.

It's a weird idea, but she gets it. Magic is a normal thing in his world, but it's not something that everyone has - like how all people her age have an Iris. It's somewhere more in the middle.

And while Asahi is contemplating that, she stares at his drawings in the sand. The girl is definitely noticing something about how those three cities sure are different when it comes to their condition, though she isn't sure if asking about that might bring forth some awkward feelings on Vax's part, depending on whether those cities have been that way for long or not.. ]

Uh. [ She says, snapping out of the thought momentarily when the other speaks on. ] We usually use cars. Or bikes, if you don't have to go too far.

[ She looks over at him. ]

Have you heard of those? [ Who knows, maybe someone else here told him about them. Maybe he saw one here.

(Do they have cars here? Asahi isn't sure, she hasn't checked yet.) ]

I can try to draw those for you, but.. uh, I don't think it'll be as nice as your drawings. [ Look, she knows where her talents lie! And it certainly isn't with drawing. ]

[foundpurpose]

[He stares at her. Cars? Bikes? He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it. He offers her the stick as he says,] I have no idea what any of that is. I just get the feeling that a friend of mine would be delighted and ask you so many questions.

Please, draw them. If it makes you feel better I couldn't track my way out of a forest in broad daylight. My talents are all in looking pretty and being quick. [He grins, hoping to distract her a little from her thoughts about her supposed shortcomings.]

[integrous]

Hey, people love pretty men!

[ .. apparently not Asahi, since rather than looking at him, she's instead just taking the stick and starting to draw - with a bit more enthusiasm than she'd usually have if it wasn't for the fact that he's so tactful about making sure she doesn't feel bad. It makes her hesitate less, and instead just start drawing.

The drawings are.. indeed not so great. They're basically just doodles. But she can at least make the general shape of a car here. ]

Do you know that in my world there are tons of people out there who basically just earn a living by being pretty? [ Congratulations, Vax.

You're being compared to idols.

At least it sounds like the girl's earlier worries are pretty far from her mind right now, especially since she seems to be speaking with casual candor over here. ]

[foundpurpose]

Oh sure, there is a lot of people that do that in my realm too. In other realms too. I’ll tell you about the Feywild some time. [He says as he peers at the doodles. There is something here.]

That looks a bit like a cart. But it lacks horses. It runs on its own…how?

[integrous]

[ You know..

It's a good question. Sure, Asahi knows the basics, but anything even remotely technical is beyond her expertise. She raises her free hand to scratch the back of her head in thought. ]

There's a machine inside of it that makes it run. [ .. does he know what a machine is?

Who knows, Asahi thinks. But she's not sure she can explain this any other way. ]

It runs on gas, which is made out of oil.. you put that in the machine, and it then makes the car run. [ She shakes her head. ] I've never driven one before though. Too young for it!

[foundpurpose]

There’s an age requirement? [Vax asks before glancing around. The cat people are wandering around the way people in a village do.

He looks again at the drawing.] I can’t imagine exactly how gas and oil work in a machine to power that but, I know someone who probably does.

It’s about the size of a horse cart, right?

cw: mention of traffic accidents and their effects

[integrous]

Yeah.

[ .. Asahi imagines so, anyway. It's not like she sees horse carts every day, but she's pretty sure they have been in some series that she's watched.. and they seem comparable enough for her to nod at the other. ]

That sounds about right. They go a whole lot faster than horse carts though, that's why the age limit is there. If you don't know how to handle one, you can cause a whole lot of damage with it. [ Asahi at least seems a little more serious when she adds: ] You could kill people with it. That happens a lot in traffic accidents, actually.

[ She shakes her head. ]

So it's not like my world is some sort of perfect place with advanced technology that makes everything only better.

[ There's definite downsides to it too.

But Asahi would still prefer that place to this one ten times over. ]

[foundpurpose]

[Vax'ildan listens in silence and he isn't surprised at what he hears. He looks again at the doodle. Carts can be lethal but this reminds him of a few history lessons that are becoming far more relevant of late.]

Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't have believed it if you said that it was perfect. Even in great age of magic when towers were supposedly built in a day...they had their flaws and downsides.

[And every time Percy talks about tech he always stresses that tech has downsides and can be dangerous.]

I don't think a society or age will ever be perfect. But I guess the upside is is we can always strive to be better than we are.

[integrous]

[ Asahi glances up from the drawings in the sand, instead looking out right in front of them. ]

.. do you think this place could be like that too?

[ Sure, more than anything.. Asahi just wants to go back home. To her friends. To everything that's familiar. She definitely doesn't want to be stuck in this place for any longer than she has to be.. but she also hasn't quite spotted a way to leave here, especially since that fox sure doesn't seem to feel like bringing them back to their own world until they reach their 'full potential' or whatever.

So if they have to deal with this place until then.. ]

Do you think that we could make it better? [ Or at the very least a place where people's emotions aren't randomly being manipulated inside of a maze, thanks. That would already be a step up to Asahi, who really dislikes people being messed with like that.

Maybe she's asking Vax exactly because she's older than her. Asahi isn't really the type to just believe anyone because they're older, but in this case it at least means he's got a lot more life experience than her, which is something one could use while answering a question like that. ]

[foundpurpose]

[He doesn't answer right away. This deserves his best and he visibly thinks it over. But the answer is a lot easier than he expects it to be.] I don't know.

We know so little about this place. That doesn't mean we can't try to make it better. I think there's nothing wrong with trying. The more people try, the more likely we can change something.

[He leans back slightly and it makes the light fall on the runes in the scrollwork on his armor.] It's just finding what we want to try to change.

[integrous]

Then I want to try.

[ Even if his answer didn't really satisfy her.. but she doesn't blame him for that either. He's just being honest. Asahi is pretty sure that none of them who are suddenly stuck in this situation know what to do about it, or can even fully grasp it yet. Of course he doesn't know how to make things better, or whether they can at all.

No one does. There's no one who can comfort her by honestly telling her it'll be okay.

And while that's hard, she prefers it over white lies. So Asahi speaks up with those words from before, sounding determined about it. ]

Even if I don't know what to do yet.. I refuse to just sit here let us all be stuck in a place that's got some real crappy sides to it. I want to make it better. For everyone.

[ Maybe it's a little too idealistic, but she can't help it.

She glances over at him. ]

I don't know if I could live with myself if I just stood by and did nothing, you know?