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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.
no subject
"Lore is the currency of the realm. The spoon bears the tally of what you've earned. It can be lost or stolen, as can your relic. Though I do not oft hear of any malfeasance, and relics will inevitably be returned to the nearest of the academies if it was simply misplaced."
Or Tranns came back from one of the weird trials without it.
"It is said lore sustains us, as it does the spirits. A simple conversation will earn it. You may also use lore in a ritual to summon objects and possessions from your original world. Though their costs will vary depending on their nature. The relic is a means to communicate over distance. It is based on technology that may be unfamiliar to you. Or perhaps your star would find it archaic. But it is easy enough to learn."
Elidibus is watching the woman's building agitation. Perhaps that is why he pauses then and briefly touches on it. Does she have wings? A halo? These are common traits of Legends and the man knows from experience what it does to amplify one's emotional state.
"Do you need a moment to gather your thoughts?"
no subject
Yeah, something that he wasn't.
"You keep saying 'star,'" she said. "What, exactly, does that mean to you? Is it the same as kingdom? World?"
In Valeria, stars were the Polarians. Magical creatures who existed slightly outside of time and space. They were people, not places. She was enough of a poet, however, to understand symbology.
no subject
"Ah, my apologies. My world. In the celestial realm, our worlds are but one of many and at a distance, may seem as the myriad stars in the sky. It was once... common to name it as such and a habit I still hold in this realm."
Elidibus does not seem to see a 'star' in the same way as Tranns then. Well, unless you counted as referring to Polarians as 'stars' themselves. Then it's just all poetics and philosophy.
The man pulls out his relic. It is a simple, white affair and unadorned. It's opened up. "More importantly, do you have need of any instruction in its use?"
no subject
Impulse seized her before she could stop herself. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pen, quickly trying to scribble what he'd said across the plane of her arm.
In the celestial realm...our worlds are but one of many...as the myriad stars in the sky...
It was too beautiful to let the words simply fade into memory.
She glanced up at his relic though. "Uh, yeah. Probably," she admitted.
It's time for a montage o/~
"I will assist you in the basics then. If you would bring out your own." They are small enough that it would a little crowded to constantly look over one or the other's shoulder. But a follow-along should be a little less claustrophobic even if they need to stand side by side.
Elidibus will prove to be a very good teacher, one who can explain the fundamentals well, is patient and more importantly, does not appear to judge. Somehow he even manages to balance... well, one would be hard pressed to take anything he offers in the instructions as presumptive of Tranns's skill level.
Other than a few early questions about the level of technology her world had to offer which probably shaped how he then taught the relic's functions. Well, inasmuch as Tranns is ready to take in all at once. He'll watch for those signs that imply her ability to absorb more is reaching its limits as well.
During one of the lessons, delivered adroitly as a direct message for her to receive and open, are the very words he spoke.
'In the celestial realm, our worlds are but one of many and at a distance, may seem as the myriad stars in the sky.'
Suggesting he was well aware, despite the message's written language, what it was Tranns wrote on her arm. It might bring to mind that earlier, he'd mentioned that messages can be saved and archived.
Hopefully, the half-elf will not take offense at the subtle efforts to alert her to this alternate method of note taking.
no subject
She did, however, crack a wry smile when he typed out the little bit of poetry she'd snatched from him.
"Couldn't help it," she said, glancing at her arm. "You just said it so prettily. Didn't want to let myself forget." She shook her head. "I could have been a poet, if my life had ever been my own. I would have liked that."
no subject
As for the words she sought to record, Elidibus offers a polite nod of his head. It's not an arrogant assumption for him to expect some interest in what he says. He has spent all of his life in one form or another using words to convince, eloquence to impart reconciliation and half-truths to weave a narrative that others will march to.
It is no surprise that someone finds these poetic or pretty. But there is a hint of gratitude and maybe something earnest in his response to the half-elf's explanation.
"You are kind to say so. Though I only sought to impart the perspective I had, I am glad you have found joy in its description."
Because he spoke those words without any intention of manipulations or plans or plotting. They were just ones that sought to convey the joy he had in his world and its wonder of existence among so many other possibilities in the night sky.
"As for poetry, provided your sojourn extends beyond a few brief moments, perhaps you may find time to spare to explore such pursuits. I am oft told the Fox seeks to explore our potential in ways we might not have had time for on our worlds. Whatever her true intentions to shape us, it does not entirely preclude the possibility of seeking your own path."
no subject
Stupid, on occasion, but good.
Right now, though? Right now, Tranns was beginning to see the appeal of life more dedicated to peace, for a change.
And one apart from her whole inane extended family, who would all have opinions about what she ought to be doing, no doubt.
no subject
Elidibus was willing to wait now, perhaps by chance for another meeting. He had his own troubles to sort through and escape had become... less a pressing, obsessive need than it once was. Eyes opened once again, the man offers Tranns a smile.
"Then I wish you luck in your efforts to discover the best path forward for your future." He closes his relic and returns it to a pocket. "You have my information. You may contact me should you have difficulties in the future." Briefly his eyes flick to the fire. It has by this time nearly burned out. The family is tending more carefully to the injured and inspecting the minor damage to the barn. The house will likely need to be rebuilt, but that is a relatively small matter to what might have actually been lost.
"I will remain to aid these spirits, should you wish to continue your travels. Though if there are further matters you wish to speak to me about, you are welcome to do so."
no subject
Something to consider. Maybe she'd write a poem about it.
Meanwhile, she turned to Elidibus. "Listen, you've been really kind. I don't want to take advantage of that kindness or anything but..."
Deep breath.
"Don't tell Airy you saw me, all right? At least...not yet."
no subject
"The solutions will not always be so easy. Or kind. To that end, I also wish you luck in the trials ahead."
Though the man appears a little curious, he offers Tranns a courteous nod of agreement.
"There is no need for concern over such a request. Ariadne is no close confidante, nor have we spoken. It will be no difficult matter to refrain from speaking of you to her."
The earlier curiosity seemed to have been a fleeting thing. If Tranns wants to take time and meet with an old ally in her own time, there is absolutely no reason for Elidibus to deny her that.
no subject
It was hard to run away if your scout was there.
This was so embarrassing.
After a few seconds of swallowing, she looked up at Elidibus. "You're a decent guy."
no subject
"Should such standards as having no connection to your ally and seeing no need to go out of my way to speak with her be your criteria for decency in a person, then yes. I am a decent guy."
How he makes 'decent guy' fall easily in his patterns of speech as easily as any others is anyone's guess. But he manages. And he's not finished.
"Yet then I would have to admit some concern over your welfare in any future encounters with a stranger."
That's... teasing. Yes. And he's calling you out for maybe sounding a little naive there Tranns, even if you can cuss like a sailor. Or perhaps Elidibus is trying to lift her spirits a bit. He did not miss that she seemed ashamed to be asking such a favor as keeping his knowledge of her presence to himself.