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June-July 2024 Test Drive Meme
June-July 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: Ghosts, Potential Violence, Potential Death
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.Do not pass go. Instead they will haunt the ghost town for one week in the room where they were killed. Other Star Children may recognize them and work to snap them out of their routines. Yet nothing will free the Star Children's spirits before the week is through. At the end of the week, they'll come to, alive, in their bodies in the room they died in. Best get through and out of the ghost town before dying again!
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
- Whispers, echoes of screams, etc become common throughout Cruel Summer
- Huts become bigger, interconnected, growing together. Anyone lost, overheated, in need of something in Cruel Summer gets a friendly spirit redirecting them to these buildings
- Buildings will still be in some state of disrepair, but like a whole twisting winding town
- Insides are a cool respite
supernatural ghost spirit air conditioning - Only way out is through, no turning back, as the exits disappear behind you
- Many are friendly, but some are not. One can attempt to talk to them, but how interactive they are varies
- Occasionally other creatures from Cruel Summer may burst in and attack
- If a Star Child dies, rather than return to life immediately, they stay a ghost for about a week, part of the tour
Content Warnings: Fire, Coerced Confessions
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessionshelp Folkmore grow as well. Gardens bloom in beautiful displays. Crops grow healthy and joyful. It’s even possible to hear humming from some of the vegetables and fruits. The land grows with the Star Children. Anyone who lacks a green thumb can work their way around that with confessions! Save that dying plant and grow those tomatoes.
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessions
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
- Last two weeks of June, wildfire burns across Folkmore. After that, they are rare.
- Confessions can protect or rescue buildings, land areas, and spirits.
- Come July, embers spark across Folkmore like fireflies. They provide insight for Star Children. Talking helps.
- Confessions help the land grow.
- Confessions reveal a jeweled box containing an item from home.
Sumire Yoshizawa || Persona 5 Royal || TDM || Undecided
A. Arrival
B. Ghost Tours
C. WILDCARD
b KICKING DOWN THE DOOR
[Whether or not Akechi even reacts to the familiar face remains a mystery as he aims a salt bullet straight at the rampaging spirit that was centimeters away from taking off Sumire's head before she was spinning expertly out of the way. The shot evaporates it in an instant, the spirit dissipating into a shrieking twist of swirling frigid air.]
Normal attacks don't damage them. You'll need this.
[Akechi tosses an iron poker in Sumire's direction, not worried in the slightest about whether or not she'll actually be able to catch it, his own attention shifting to the spirit roaring him down this time.]
Show them no mercy, Violet!
NAV AKECHI
[She's so shocked to see him for a second that she almost doesn't get out of the way of the next spirit that wails in fury. But she gets her wits about her fast, snatching up the poker thrown at her with agility and grace, immediately moving to wield it like her rapier. There is no hesitation, these ghosts attacked first.]
Got it! Time to show them we're no amateurs!
[With that she's moving forward to flip into an attack and stab the poker into the center of the ghost before ducking from another attack. The weapon is heavier than her ribbon wand or her rapier, but she compensates for it well enough as she swings the weapon to cut across the ghost, it shrieks and evaporates.]
Two down, two more to go.
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[But there's no hiding the way amusement curls just at the end of his tone as he calls back out to her, turning to peer over his shoulder just long enough to watch the way she flips forward and ruthlessly pierces right into the center of one of the raging spirits.
Relief floods him even as Akechi turns back just in time for one of the twisted creatures to bellow and shriek as it descends upon him. He whips an iron hunting knife out from his jacket pocket and stabs it at full force into it's 'heart' with a cackling laugh, gleeful as it vanishes just as quickly as it appeared. Seeing Sumire again is comforting enough on it's own, but to know she remembers him as he was, that she hasn't forgotten what they went through back in January- it is a gift he wasn't fully expecting to be given.
Though going through that with Ren is more than enough.]
Last one! Don't let up!
[As Sumire focuses the iron poker on a single spirit swooping in at her head on, Akechi raises his borrowed revolver and blasts the creature in the head, not quite killing it, but giving the gymnast enough time to go for the killing blow.]
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Was it strange to find your slaughter happy senpai a comforting presence? Probably.
She doesn't let that slow her down, taking a step back only long enough to survey the battle field before leaping back into the fray, she brings up her poker to protect herself, but then Crow-senpai was shooting it and giving her the perfect opening.]
Thank you very much! [She chirps as she pirouettes into a swinging move with the iron poker up and over her head before bringing the point straight down into the gunshot wound and piercing forward and through the ghost, dissipating it in a ghostly shriek.
Breathing a little heavy, she looks around for any other ghosts that are coming at them, but all the rest seem to be busy doing their own thing, unaware of what they just did... It reminds her of the people in Doctor Maruki's palace, uncaring when they killed shadows right in front of them.]
Seems like we got them all. I... What is this place? These seem more like ghosts than shadows.
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There will be more to fight, he has no doubt about that, but it'll be easier now with a partner he trusts in.]
Yoshizawa-san.
[And if it came from anyone else, it would be the most casual greeting imaginable, but for Akechi, for his hand gloved hand to rest at the younger teen's shoulder for half of a second, is about as warm an acknowledgement as he gives before he's pulling away, tipping his head to peer at Sumire, his bleeding halo canted along with him.]
I will answer every question you have, but it would help me first to know the date you last remember.
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She smiles at the touch, because she understands it for what it is. Akechi-san wasn't someone to casually touch people, so she accepts it-- Ah! Her eyes go wide at the halo above his head! She was about to ask about it, because she's never seen him have that before, especially when they were both dressed rather normally, but then he clarifies he needs information first.]
The last date I remember? March 20th. I just was saying goodbye to Amamiya-senpai when Thirteen-sama brought me here... [But why was he asking that question--Oh!] Don't tell me that she can take us from different times as well as different worlds?
[She could imagine the possibility of it, afterall Akechi-san was alive right in front of her.]
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Past my expiration date, I see. [too soon?] Good. Then you'll have full understanding of the situation and you can fill me in on what I missed after Maruki's Palace.
[The relevant facts, that is. Akechi doesn't need to hear all of the meaningless bullshit the rest of the Thieves have been up to.]
Astute of you, Yoshizawa-san. Yes, Thirteen has the ability to draw anyone in from any world or timeline, alternate or otherwise. Obviously, the last date I remember is February third, but for Sakamoto, it is March fourth. And for Amamiya, it is June. [a pause, as his lip curls in distaste.] Of 2016.
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Still when he says she can fill him in, she nods. She wasn't around for all of the end of things, being gone at training camp, but she would gladly let him know the information she knows he would want to hear at least.
Then... That bombshell drops and her face crumples.]
What? 2016? But that would mean... [He still knows her as Kasumi... he doesn't know her, only a shadow of her sister. Everything they've been through, everything that's happened between her and Amamiya-senpai... the boy she loves, Sumire and all their promises aren't a reality for him.]
He... he doesn't know me.
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cw: i guess i should say like violence and blood and shit LMAAAAO
CW: Yeah like violence... blood and animal/monster gore? Start of a flashback
cw: killing an animal, continued gore
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a / dropkicks into bracket bless u
Regardless, the path will be found more easily with another person around, so hastily she moves towards where Sumire is getting herself sorted.]
Hello! Are you alright?
Always!
Because while the Fox told her about this place, this Folkmore, she was still highly cautious of it being a palace or some cognitive reality... She won't be fooled again.]
Y-yes, I am, I... Where did the Fox go? She was just here and then I.. This might sound strange, but I think I fell from the sky.
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She doesn't stick around once you get here. And you did fall from the sky... the same thing happened to me.
[She'd been dumped into the freezing snow, now people are dropped into the desert... from one extreme to the other, huh.]
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This would be dangerous to stay out here like this for long.]
We should find some shelter or water, if we're not careful we'll dehydrate quickly in this kind of heat.
[She wipes at her own brow.]
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[She points where she'd come from.]
I lost my way, though, so we'll need to find it again.
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[She smiles at the other girl before moving in that direction with a sure nod. Whether she felt as sure as she acted was a different thing entirely, she felt lost and deeply confused.]
Oh! I'm Sumire Yoshizawa. It's a pleasure to meet you. [She stops to give the girl a slight bow, hands folded in front of her as she does it. Her voice is very formal.]
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Amity Blight. It's nice to meet you as well.
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Have you been here long? Thirteen-sama said told me a lot when bringing me here... but I admit I don't trust much of what she said.
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i forgot to press send
lmao
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b
I think they're a bit mad you ruined their card game. [ No time to worry about her figuring anything out right now, he slides over to the knife to pick it up again and leaps into the air to tackle the next ghost, perching on its back and slicing through its throat. ] To your right!
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Ducking out of the way of the ghost coming in on her right, she finds a iron poker and wields it like a rapier, she didn't want to risk them touching her just in case. So she spins and flips and brings the pointed end piercing up through the ghost's chest. It shrieks in her face before dissipating, but then two more are upon them, leaping over the table to claw at them.
Sumire yelps as one claw gets her arm, but she doesn't back off, holding her ground.]
Two more left, let's end this, shall we, senpai?
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There's a wide smirk on his face. God he's missed this! ]
Show's over. [ He quips, glancing over at Yoshizawa to make sure she's gotten rid of hers. ]
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Too late to be sorry! [She quips at the ghost before it vanishes with a wail.
Breathing a little heavy now, she looks around herself to see if any other ghosts are coming at them but finds the rest completely occupied with continuing their daily routines as if this never happened...So strange...]
Looks like the rest aren't coming after us. [She winces as she looks at her bleeding arm. The claw marks weren't very deep but it still hurt.]
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Here, let me see your arm... [ Ren mumbles, using Dia to heal the wound. He sighs, the immediate danger gone and his friend patched back up. ]
I- [ He has to ask, up front. The same way he did for Ryuji, and Akechi. ] I heard I'm missing some information. [ A beat. ] I realize this sounds crazy, but- It's not even July yet, back home. What- [ He sighs. ] What did I miss, Kasumi? [ He first names her to try and show he's being serious about this and it's not some weird prank. If only he knew. ]
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And then--
It's like the world drops out from under her to have the boy she loves call her Kasumi again after all this time. After affirming that she's not Kasumi, after figuring out she's Sumire and deciding to live as herself, to be herself. It makes her feel like she's going to be sick, but she--
She knew she would have to explain it to him, but-- ]
I-... I-I... [The words are hard to get out, she can't help but wonder if she had been Kasumi--... No. She needed to stop these thoughts.] A lot. Akechi-san warned me that you are from an earlier point than us.. I'm almost from April of the next year. [SHe needs to say it.] But before anything... K-Kasumi is my sister. I'm Sumire Yoshizawa. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you, I just...
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[ A beat. ] Sorry I'm so- Behind.
CW: Major spoilers
Do... do you know about Dr. Maruki's actualization ability? He used it on me when I was grieving my sister and... well, I wanted Kasumi to be alive instead of me, so he used it to make me believe I was Kasumi... [She pauses and sighs]
I know that's all really confusing but I know who I am and what I want to do with my life now thanks to you, Senpai. I know you don't know it yet, but thank you.
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