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April-May 2024 Test Drive Meme
April-May 2024 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 and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Playing and interacting with the 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.
🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore.
and then... you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.
🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.
Perhaps you follow the falling stars on your own, or perhaps the Fox simply teleports you there, but it appears you too will be part of this.
Content Warnings: Forced Relocation, Forced Sharing, Potential Violence & Harm
New Star Children arrive in Wintermute. Not at the hot springs, the school, or anywhere else near civilization. They arrive in the middle of white, snowy nowhere. The good news is that Wintermute is no longer dark twenty-four seven. There is enough light to avoid crevasses, blocked up wells, and other dangerous features of the landscape. Further, no one is expected to figure out how to get out of there on their own.
Usually Thoth finds the lost travelers in the cold expanse of Wintermute. However, she's busy exploring the multiverse for new and interesting ideas for technology. Not to fret! She hasn't abandoned ye who've entered here. There's a new emergency lost and found network:
The Wandering Dog food carts are now open twenty-four seven! The dogs work in shifts, but the food remains as delicious as ever. When a Star Child gets lost in Wintermute, another Star Child will happen to be buying food from a Wandering Dog somewhere in Folkmore. One such lucky unlucky Star Child gets transported to the School of Thoth. Specifically, to where the mechanical sled dogs hang out. They receive a warm winter coat over whatever they were wearing and another one on hand for whoever they are rescuing. Then it's off across the snow! Don't worry, non-mushing experts, the dogs know what they're doing and lead the sled right to the designated lost Star Child.
The rescuee gets to lay in the sled for the ride back, wrapped up warm and cozy in their new winter coat (it may be spring, but it's always cold in Wintermute). The sled dogs bring Star Children back to the hot springs, so that they can warm up even more. Alternatively, Star Children can explore the Cutting Edge, the School of Thoth, or something else in Wintermute. However, the Star Children cannot part ways or leave Wintermute immediately.
The sled dogs, yes the whole team, will stay with the pair to enforce this. They may surround the pair like a pack, cuddle pile on top of them, or lay around the edges of a hot spring. No matter how long it takes to realize the dogs are doing this and that there's a reason for it, Star Children will eventually find instructions in one of the dogs' collars: Share something that other people have refused to listen to you about. Everyone ought to be listened to.
Only once both Star Children have shared something with each other will the dogs let them part ways and see, perhaps, the rest of Folkmore.
On the walk to Akhlut Station, Star Children will see plain weapons sticking out of the snow: swords, guns, knives. These are simple, non-magical practical weapons. Experienced Star Children may know to suspect such free offerings, but nothing immediately happens upon picking one up. However, once on the train, the train will be attacked by frost spirits. These icy spirits must either be hacked to pieces until they can no longer reform or melted with fire. Innocent passengers who didn't pick up a weapon may be forced to get involved, but the frost spirits will be most focused on those who picked up weapons.
New Star Children arrive in Wintermute. Not at the hot springs, the school, or anywhere else near civilization. They arrive in the middle of white, snowy nowhere. The good news is that Wintermute is no longer dark twenty-four seven. There is enough light to avoid crevasses, blocked up wells, and other dangerous features of the landscape. Further, no one is expected to figure out how to get out of there on their own.
Usually Thoth finds the lost travelers in the cold expanse of Wintermute. However, she's busy exploring the multiverse for new and interesting ideas for technology. Not to fret! She hasn't abandoned ye who've entered here. There's a new emergency lost and found network:
The Wandering Dog food carts are now open twenty-four seven! The dogs work in shifts, but the food remains as delicious as ever. When a Star Child gets lost in Wintermute, another Star Child will happen to be buying food from a Wandering Dog somewhere in Folkmore. One such lucky unlucky Star Child gets transported to the School of Thoth. Specifically, to where the mechanical sled dogs hang out. They receive a warm winter coat over whatever they were wearing and another one on hand for whoever they are rescuing. Then it's off across the snow! Don't worry, non-mushing experts, the dogs know what they're doing and lead the sled right to the designated lost Star Child.
The rescuee gets to lay in the sled for the ride back, wrapped up warm and cozy in their new winter coat (it may be spring, but it's always cold in Wintermute). The sled dogs bring Star Children back to the hot springs, so that they can warm up even more. Alternatively, Star Children can explore the Cutting Edge, the School of Thoth, or something else in Wintermute. However, the Star Children cannot part ways or leave Wintermute immediately.
The sled dogs, yes the whole team, will stay with the pair to enforce this. They may surround the pair like a pack, cuddle pile on top of them, or lay around the edges of a hot spring. No matter how long it takes to realize the dogs are doing this and that there's a reason for it, Star Children will eventually find instructions in one of the dogs' collars: Share something that other people have refused to listen to you about. Everyone ought to be listened to.
Only once both Star Children have shared something with each other will the dogs let them part ways and see, perhaps, the rest of Folkmore.
On the walk to Akhlut Station, Star Children will see plain weapons sticking out of the snow: swords, guns, knives. These are simple, non-magical practical weapons. Experienced Star Children may know to suspect such free offerings, but nothing immediately happens upon picking one up. However, once on the train, the train will be attacked by frost spirits. These icy spirits must either be hacked to pieces until they can no longer reform or melted with fire. Innocent passengers who didn't pick up a weapon may be forced to get involved, but the frost spirits will be most focused on those who picked up weapons.
- New Star Children arrive in remote areas of Wintermute.
- Star Children buying food from The Wandering Dog get teleported to the School of Thoth to rescue people with a team of sled dogs.
- Star Children get amazing new winter coats!
- Star Children cannot part ways until they share something others have refused to listen to! The dogs enforce this.
- Simple, non-magical weapons stick out of the snow on the way to the train station.
- Anyone who picks up one of those weapons will see their train get attacked by frost spirits.
Content Warnings: Potential Forced Participation, Potential Harm
Thoth has been listening to any and all ideas people have had around science in the last few months. Whether they were shower thoughts or a discussion between scientific colleagues or anywhere in between, she's made her list and built every one as an experiment. On a human scale. A human test subject scale. Because every idea has merit. That's right: Thoth believes in you.
Posters saying Thoth Needs You! go up around Folkmore. They offer a reward for participating in an experiment. Simply tear off a piece of paper from the bottom of the poster, and at some point in the future, you're in. Now, there might be a little hiccup here or there. These posters are experimental too! So some Star Children who don't tear off a slip might get pulled into an experiment as well. (Who said Thirteen ought to recruit for her trials? Thoth listened… or she tried.) Oh well, at least it's all in the name of science!
Perhaps Star Children need to sing Baby It's Cold Outside to convince the other to stay (it really will be cold outside). Perhaps they have a choice of spinners, buttons, levers, or other devices to interact with. Perhaps they make their way through a maze. Perhaps they try a new contraption. Perhaps they even recognize their own idea come to life! There's a multitude of new tech to try, and it has not been safety tested.
Nothing will explode. Probably. Maybe. Okay, some experiments are definitely going to have explosions. How about pressing that button anyway and finding out if it's this one?
Once Star Children survive the experiment—and they will, Thoth may be a loose cannon of a scientist, but she's ensured that much—they will emerge from one of the School of Thoth's laboratories. Togo, the grey wolf mascot, waits on the other side with an item for each test subject: an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item.
No one is left to the cold to fend for themselves. One of the nearby classrooms has been set up as a first aid center. Dog spirits of all sizes, from the smallest Maltipoo spirit to the largest Great Dane spirit, staff a healing clinic and will treat any injuries Star Children received in the experiments (or already sported). They offer hot lemonade—lemon juice, molasses, and hot water—to everyone to warm their soul. Injured Star Children can find a corner to rest by themselves or company with which to discuss their experiments.
Thoth has been listening to any and all ideas people have had around science in the last few months. Whether they were shower thoughts or a discussion between scientific colleagues or anywhere in between, she's made her list and built every one as an experiment. On a human scale. A human test subject scale. Because every idea has merit. That's right: Thoth believes in you.
Posters saying Thoth Needs You! go up around Folkmore. They offer a reward for participating in an experiment. Simply tear off a piece of paper from the bottom of the poster, and at some point in the future, you're in. Now, there might be a little hiccup here or there. These posters are experimental too! So some Star Children who don't tear off a slip might get pulled into an experiment as well. (Who said Thirteen ought to recruit for her trials? Thoth listened… or she tried.) Oh well, at least it's all in the name of science!
Perhaps Star Children need to sing Baby It's Cold Outside to convince the other to stay (it really will be cold outside). Perhaps they have a choice of spinners, buttons, levers, or other devices to interact with. Perhaps they make their way through a maze. Perhaps they try a new contraption. Perhaps they even recognize their own idea come to life! There's a multitude of new tech to try, and it has not been safety tested.
Nothing will explode. Probably. Maybe. Okay, some experiments are definitely going to have explosions. How about pressing that button anyway and finding out if it's this one?
Once Star Children survive the experiment—and they will, Thoth may be a loose cannon of a scientist, but she's ensured that much—they will emerge from one of the School of Thoth's laboratories. Togo, the grey wolf mascot, waits on the other side with an item for each test subject: an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item.
No one is left to the cold to fend for themselves. One of the nearby classrooms has been set up as a first aid center. Dog spirits of all sizes, from the smallest Maltipoo spirit to the largest Great Dane spirit, staff a healing clinic and will treat any injuries Star Children received in the experiments (or already sported). They offer hot lemonade—lemon juice, molasses, and hot water—to everyone to warm their soul. Injured Star Children can find a corner to rest by themselves or company with which to discuss their experiments.
- Thoth has built experiments to bring Star Children’s ideas to life.
- Pick a paper tab off a Thoth Needs You! poster to participate. Or don’t. A mishap may bring Star Children there regardless.
- Do science! Be a human experiment! Maybe experience explosions!
- Togo, the Thoth mascot, will have an item from home for every Star Child who participates.
- Dog spirits man (dog?) a first aid center in a nearby classroom.
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Not the warm, saccharine smile Ren saw at the station during his interview, but one that's crooked and a little sharp.]
You're keeping up.
[Not that Maruki is a threat to him just yet. Or rather, ever, now that they are both dead, but still.
Ren rudely - because it is rude - asks about Akechi's death and he shrugs as he slides back against the wall of other end of the hot spring. The topic of his death is hardly disturbing to him. If anything, it's more about the humiliation he endured. Sharing it with anyone is a blow to his fragile ego. But then again, Ren in any form has always been his one exception.
What Akechi does not say is, "I was working for my father and you simply got in the way".
Nor does he say, "A choice had to be made, so I sacrificed myself to be certain you could take Shido down".
Instead he settles on,] I was killed by my father's cognition of myself. Quite shameful, I'm well aware.
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Some part of him might even prefer it, getting to see Akechi's own rebellious streak. ]
I can't talk about shameful. [ Ren says after a long moment. ] I was killed by a Cerberus. [ He adds with a self-depreciating smile. He knows it was tougher than a regular enemy, sure, but it's still sort of a blow to his ego that he actually managed to die from it. He pictured himself waking up on the 30th, maybe playing it safe and smart and taking the night off instead of trying to finish their infiltration of Kaneshiro's bank.
...Who was he kidding? He'd never play it safe or smart, and he has learned a grand total of nothing at all, even from his own death.
That batch of thoughts sounded suspiciously like his mother's voice. ]
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A Cerberus? [What are you? Level twenty? Fucking NOOB] I've said it before, stop being so goddamn reckless, Amamiya. Especially if I'm not there to keep you from getting killed.
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That's right, he's a Phantom Thief, and the little detective knows it. So he doesn't have to hide or shy away from that rebellious streak of his, not around Akechi. He doesn't have to pretend. Show him who you are.
So Ren laughs. Like it's the funniest joke he's ever heard. ] What happened to wanting to blow my brains out, Akechi? [ He's used to danger, now, gets high on the adrenaline of nearly losing. Loves the rush of changing someone's heart. There's a taunting flirtation, like Arsene Lupin himself, hiding behind the smirk on his face. ] You only want me to die if you can be the one to kill me? That it?
cw: flirting??????
It isn't the Ren Amamiya he knew - the one he betrayed, the one who outsmarted him, the one who brought Akechi back from the dead - but it is Joker, the notorious leader of the Phantom Thieves, the criminals thrusting their own sense of wicked justice onto the unwilling around them.
Akechi ignores the sharp warmth that blooms within him at facing Joker again. The hot spring feels lukewarm in comparison.]
You are the most infuriating man alive. Is that what you want to hear, Joker? That I won’t let anyone touch you unless it’s my own hands around your throat?
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You're obsessive. Prideful. And killing me yourself means too much to you. [ There's an almost-pleasant but too-sharp smile on Ren's face, like he's attempting to discuss the weather with someone he despises. ] You're not angry I'm dead because it was some low level shadow, you're angry because you didn't manage to get there first.
cw: thoughts of murder, possessiveness
Because he's horrifically right. Was right. Before his death, Akechi would have done anything to be the one to strangle the light out of Joker's eyes, to see him be rightfully bested by his rival, to settle this feud between them once and for all. The sick, twisting satisfaction he'd felt when he shot the other teen in the head had been real, knowing he'd won, that he was better, that Akechi's own pathetic life was still worth more than Ren's-
But death changes everything it touches and Akechi was no exception.
The competitiveness remains, but not so much of the bloodlust. He'd much rather pin his rival to the floor than to pin his corpse like a trophy against the wall. He still wants to fight, to bicker and brawl, to sink his teeth into the other's neck, but Ren being alive is significant to him now. It's why he'd saved him in the Engine Room, why he'd kick Joker out of the way of attacks while they tear their way through Maruki's palace. No one else is allowed to touch him like that, just him.]
Your death is my right alone. Remember that. I won’t stand to let my greatest rival fall to a lesser enemy.
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Now, if you'll excuse me- [ Ren says, lifting himself out of the hot spring as if to leave. In an instant, dogs half-surround him, growling and barking. Ren draws back slightly, hesitates, like he's formulating a plan.
And then, he shrinks down, transforming into a curly-haired black rat and plops into the spring. Ren's little paws paddle somewhat ineffectively, but they at least keep his pointy nose and whiskers up above the water. ]
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What did you do to upset them -
[But it happens so fast, even for one so well acquainted with weirdness, Akechi can barely keep up. The biggest of the dogs twists towards Ren, growling, and instead of the dog snapping out or leaping to attack, the other teen draws back and ...turns into a rat?]
Are you kidding me?!
[Fighting off the intrusive thought that says to drown the curly-haired rat himself, Akechi jerks forward to pluck Ren the Rat out of the spring water, glaring down in disbelief.]
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Once he gets most of the water off of his face, at least, he looks up at Akechi, realizes how much larger the other boy is now, and actually takes a look at what happened to him, staring at his paws for several moments. Ren squeaks frantically, picking up the end of his tail for a moment before throwing it back down in mild horror.
Okay, this was officially a new kind of weird.
It takes a little bit, but once Ren is slightly more used to this new form, he waves up Akechi cheekily. ]
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Ren thinks he can just wave this away with a cheeky little wave huh, well Akechi is just going to let him drop right back into the water before he's approaching the dogs more carefully.
The biggest looks ready to full on body block the pair from escaping, but allows for the teen to touch him, a hesitate touch to the back of his neck, offering a scratch behind the ears.]
Who sent you to keep us here? [He idly wonders before he spots the paper rolled up beneath the dog's thick collar. Akechi plucks it out triumphantly, like it's a puzzle piece, before turning back to Ren, who he will (with the most exasperated sigh ever) pluck back up from the water.]
Someone left us a note.
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The rat makes a grabbing motion at the note, wanting to give it a look. He was well-versed in calling cards, after all. He could help out! Even... Even like this! ]
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Don't get your wet paws all over it! Here -
[It seems ridiculous to hold out a letter for a rat to read but here he is! The great detective prince! Unraveling the note and angling it just so for Ren to read over. Someone somewhere is laughing at him, Akechi can feel it.]
Share something that other people have refused to listen to you about. Everyone ought to be listened to.
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It's around the time he's ruminating on how he was supposed to get out of this one that he turns back into a human, and promptly splashes back into the spring, and out of Akechi's hands. Ren takes a moment to wring out his hair before gesturing at Akechi. ] You first, I guess. [ A beat. ] I've heard I'm a good listener.
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[Akechi doesn't even flinch when he's hit with that splash of Ren pops back into being a human.]
I am not playing the fox's games. And unless you want to explain to me how you just did that, you're not answering either.
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Your heart's pounding and you think you're panicking or losing your mind or your head's splitting open and it hurts for a bit and then it starts to feel good, like you can do the impossible.
[ A beat. Ren chuckles. ] Only this time I turned into a rat.
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Let it be said that Goro Akechi has NO DESIRE to turn into a rat. Never has, never will.
However, if Joker's able to turn into a rat, why the fuck can't he??? So he takes in that advice - just like summoning a persona for the first time, giving into his emotion, into the fear, letting himself jump off the deep end without knowing just where he will land - and nothing happens. Akechi squeezes his eyes shut, concentrating, teeth grit hard, and nothing fucking happens.
His disappointment is immeasurable and his day is ruined.]
You're lying. [Because of course that's the answer, it isn't that Akechi can't do it. Fucking Joker.] Well, it doesn't matter. We need to convince these dogs to go elsewhere so we can leave.
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He glances over his shoulder, over at the dogs, now once again lying down. ]
A distraction. [ Ren says after a while of letting himself think of some plans. ] I can turn into a rat again; I'll make a break for that little hole over there, in the fence, and the dogs should decide to chase me. That'll give you a chance to run to the door. [ Look at this little gentleman! ]
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Akechi looks at Ren, then over to the dogs, then back. His eyes narrow.]
You realize how small you are as a rat, don't you? They'll only need to get in close once and you'll be dead. Again.
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If you don't shut up, I'm going to strangle you.
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Why don't we just do what's on the note? [ He says with a shrug of his shoulder. ] I can admit something about the Phantom Thieves, for you. [ See? He's trying to help. ] And you can tell me something inconsequential about you that I don't know yet?
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[It feels a little like giving in to the fox's demands, but the heat is beginning to go to Akechi's head.]
Just don't be surprised when I already know everything you try to share. I was a part of your group, albeit temporarily.
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Something about myself then. [ Ren starts with. ] Did I ever tell you anything about... Why I came to Tokyo? [ He can only guess at the conversations he's had with Akechi since, after all. But he can imagine he didn't go into much detail about his arrest. ]
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Bits and pieces, though we hardly hashed out every particular detail. You were on probation after an assault charge, no? Sent to live under Sojiro Sakura's guardianship so you could continue your education?
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