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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.
No Dumb Ideas
"What exactly is this?" Gideon asks. "Looks like you've figured something out."
More than she has in all her glorious fifteen seconds of being here. She does a slow three sixty turn, but it reveals nothing to her. So she keeps her hands close and starts feeling around her with her long pangolin tail. It thumps lightly into something.
"Why hello there."
no subject
"Nice shades, by the way, very classic. Oh. There are stairs and bridges in here, too."
On the other side of the bridge, Quattro has to go up several stairs to something high enough to be a second floor; if there's a path beneath it, he hasn't found it. Then he walks confidently down the other side once he's located the tip of the descending stairs. It's a little unnerving, but no more than the first time getting in a panoramic cockpit sphere.
no subject
"Yours look snazzy too. A good pair of sunglasses should never be underestimated, and they're always useful." At least when the sun and also most indoor lighting prefer to send blinding light out all the time. Gideon navigates far better in the dark than most people in Folkmore. Their comeuppance for the lights. She's not sure why the lights are on at all in here when there is nothing to see.
Turning away from the whackadoodle view before her, Gideon takes hold of what her tail found to discover... rope. She feels to the side, closer to the back wall, and to the side again. Multiple ropes, heavy ropes. "Here goes nothing," Gideon mutters. She reaches up for as high a grip on the rope as she can manage, gets a second grip, and wraps her legs around it. Then she pulls her way higher, always making sure of herself since the rope is invisible.
no subject
"I'm Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena, by the way," He says, feeling oddly like he's talking to himself even though there's someone else in the room with him.
His toe touches something near the middle of the room. Feeling around carefully, he finds five square posts that are roughly five inches on each side and seem to go up to more or less table height.
"If you find any loose objects about the size of your fist, I think I found where they go," Quattro says unhappily as he feels out an recessed space at the top of each post. A hemisphere, a rectangular slot, half of a cube, a pyramidal hole, and a spot for something with five sides.
no subject
"Gideon Nav, wiggling at your service," Gideon says back with half a laugh. Because it sure feels and probably looks that way. A good imitation of a worm. The exercise doesn't even have her breathing hard.
She lightly bonks her hand against something lower than the ceiling. The first thing Gideon feels is what's securing the rope. However, she secures herself in place and feels around the top until she finds an edge. When she reaches up, her hand hits something light. It falls off the far side and unable to see it, Gideon swipes her tail through the air for nothing.
"Definitely loose," Gideon calls back after it makes a loud thump noise. The only way to check on it is to wiggle her way back down. If the fall didn't break it, Gideon doesn't need all her body weight to finish the job. When she gets to the bottom she crouches and feels around until she finds it, a decently sized cube. "One down... more to go."
no subject
"There are five posts in this room, so perhaps four more. I'll come get it," Quattro says, stepping neatly around the invisible post between himself and the exit, putting his hand on the wall mostly to make sure nothing has changed as he goes. Left turn, about three feet then another left turn. Four steps forward then he switches to touching the wall with his right hand as he goes down an invisible hallway. Three openings on the right side and then two steps and he can exit to the area Gideon is in.
"We must both look ridiculous by now," Quattro says as he holds out his hand to receive something he won't be able to see. Up close, he feels even more uneasy, but still isn't certain why. There's no feeling of danger, and his less than stellar Newtype senses don't detect any kind of unusual presence. He's either imagining things, or, more likely, has unconsciously become aware of something he failed to consciously notice.
no subject
She finds the next rope but waits until Quattro finishes marching like a toy soldier controlled by an invisible child around an imaginary battlefield. She turns her hand palm side down so she can lower the cube until it hits Quattro's hand. Then Gideon pauses until he seems to have it before letting go.
"Oh, we do," Gideon says with a laugh, "but it's far from the most ridiculous thing I've done here." She points her thumb at the sword she carries (and doesn't bother putting down to climb a rope). "I robbed my own tomb to get my sword back."
no subject
"That's a bit more macabre than ridiculous," Quattro says as he makes his way back to the opening in the wall without feeling his way along it, putting his hand out only to double check. If he tilts his head up and focuses on the ceiling he can almost convince himself he's not dealing with an invisible maze. "But since I have neither a tomb nor a sword myself, perhaps I can look forward to doing nothing worse than playing at being a mime."
no subject
"The sword is real," Gideon confirms. "I also keep facing fucking Crux over and over again and probably will until eternity. May he rot in hell." That's a little more personal, but as the conversation with Sharon confirmed, even with Eren gone, it's likely to happen.
"Anyone from your past haunt you?" Casually asked as she wiggles up the next rope.
no subject
That part of his past was easy to lay to rest. It's not the people he fought and killed who torment him even as he longs for every dream, for every whisper from beyond.
The cube fits neatly in the top of its post where he suspected, and Quattro makes his way to the next closest unexplored area of the invisible maze.
no subject
Because it's so unlikely, so small the odds that someone has something like this in common with Harrow, Gideon looks across the invisible maze at Quattro. "I sure hope you're not the second person I know with a dead girlfriend only you can hear."
Even if he is, it won't be as annoying as Harrow because she's Harrow's living girlfriend and much better than her dead one who does live in a tomb in a stupid block of ice. It probably says something about Thirteen and possibly Gideon that she found herself in the same situation as Harrow's dead girlfriend. She isn't going to touch that with a ten foot pole, invisible or otherwise. She has enough hornets pissed off in her mind.
no subject
He thought he was leaving all that behind him, but if Amuro is here too, that changes things. Quattro's distracted enough by the idea that he stops searching for a moment. This place is overwhelming in some ways and he's not sure if being a stronger Newtype would make it better or worse. If Amuro is here, he hasn't been close enough for Char to find him.
no subject
"Uh, no," Gideon says. "I was ribbing on my girlfriend. Cause she's obsessed with the body in the Locked Tomb. Who's, y'know, dead." Pretty sure she's dead. It's hard to be encased in ice and not be dead, but Gideon can't help but think of Steve Rogers who went through that and came out the other side very much not dead. Please no, she thinks, she doesn't want to compete with that.
"Sorry for your, uh, friend?" That doesn't feel quite right, but Gideon doesn't know what does.
no subject
Even though the way Gideon says it makes it sound different than the traditional way people have dead loved ones. Quattro turns his attention back to the invisible walls and feeling his way into the next section of the maze that he hasn't explored.
no subject
Gideon fetches the last key and stands at the entrance to the room. "Hey, you've done this before. What's the way to the pedestal room?"
Better than bumping around by herself.
no subject
"Once you're in the hall, head towards that end of the room and keep your hand on the left-hand wall. The other wall has small openings of various sizes. There's one gap about three feet wide, and then the next break in the wall is a turn. Take the turn and switch to the right-hand wall. Skip the first opening, the second leads into a small spiral that ends in the pedestal room."
no subject
"Thank you. It only took about six months to convince her Folkmore was real and not a bubble reality. Because, y'know, we have those. Weird as fuck places."