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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
"Glad to know there's not an arsonist secretly pulling the levels behind the curtain," she says slightly bemused at the idea. She's dealt with that enough before with Mary.
"Elektra," she gives her a bit of a smile for good measure.
oh gosh, sorry about the 'c' in the other spellings!
She inclines her head down the road in quiet invitation away from the recent fire. Let the spirit family get back to making the best of putting their lives back together as they walk and talk?
you are so fine don't worry at all!
She follows Natasha's lead down the street to walk with her without question. She's still new and exploring and allies are important to have when you can't get the lay of the land easily.
"My father was an ambassador so I was raised a little bit all over."
no subject
"That must have made for an interesting perspective," Natasha observes, weaving her way out of the residential district. She's a little afraid that, with two "Star Children" so close to the houses, one of them will burst into flames again to force another confession. She'd rather they be nearer the shops if that's going to happen; less chance of someone getting hurt. "Whereabouts was 'all over' for you? I'm guessing you're from an Earth. There are a lot of us here, but from different timelines and sometimes different times."
no subject
"Greece, England, New York a bit of time in Japan. Really a mix, how about you?" she asks. The timeline comments and different times is interesting check box in the favor that this may be some multiversal version of Natasha. Natasha whom in her own world she's always been a bit too much alike to get along with easily, though they've never really tried to either. It's easier to avoid a person then to look at a different reflection of yourselves in some ways.
no subject
She doesn't believe that Elektra thinks she's been stupid at all. Natasha's not a hundred percent sure, but she's almost certain she's being asked to look at a certain kind of face. It's the sort of face she's worn many times before, before any chance of anonymity was ripped away from her and she had to learn a new way to be effective. Sometimes people would still fall for it, but only if she took a lot of time in setting it up so they could 'catch' her.
The question is, if she's right, then why? Pure defense, simply moving to the most effective way of operating? Or is there something underneath that?
"Oh no. My upbringing was far more centralized." She glances over with a small smile, telling the truth. "I did move to DC when I was in my twenties. I've traveled a bit, but Folkmore is the longest I've been out of the States in ages. I guess I'm coming up on my fourth month here now."
It has been 71 days, precisely.
no subject
"An all American girl." It's a statement, not a question, although she's still flipping the coin in her head of if it's true or not. Certainly she's no Madame Natasha but even as an American they could be similar.
"The certainly feels like a long way from DC, has it been hard to adjust or how has that gone?"
no subject
"Well, the free housing and drinks for the price of a conversation are certainly a plus," she gives Elektra a conspiratorial grin before her expression sobers. "I already told you how I feel about the confessions and the Trials. I've been doing what I can to get the lay of the land. Trials aside, the hardest thing that's happened is having to take a ride in the Catbus."
An expression of genuine distaste crosses her face. "I'm going to have to get used to it, but... I really, really don't want to."
no subject
She gives Natasha a look, does she really like conversation that much? Another check in the box that she is indeed just a woman named Natasha and it's unrelated. She's not sure why she's so hung up on all this anyways and tries to push it out of her head.
"What exactly is a Catbus? And why is it so horrible? Allergies?"
no subject
"The Catbus is... exactly what it sounds like. It's a bus. That's also a cat. To ride the bus you have to go inside the cat. It's squishy and warm and you're inside a galloping creature so the ride isn't exactly smooth. Did I mention everything is flesh colored? Because it's flesh. Because you're inside a giant cat."
...wow, she had more of a rant about that in her than she thought. (Thank you SO MUCH for this experience, Bruce Wayne.) Natasha sighs, "But it'll show up anywhere there's a street light and take you anywhere you want to go for the price of some skritches and snacks. So it's a convenient thing to know about even if it is... distasteful."
no subject
She thinks perhaps it may not be on the top of her list for things she absolutely wants to try out first thing though, in fact she may want to avoid it all together as much as possible.
"Are you skritching it from the inside or is that before or after the ride?"
no subject
Eating a dragon's heart? That's a very interesting ambassadorial life Elektra's got there. A different Earth? Probably.
"You skritch it on the outside, under its enormous chin." A beat. "Did Disney make an Alice and Wonderland in your version of Earth? With a really disturbingly animated purple and yellow Cheshire Cat? If it did, imagine that face. But the size of a Mack truck."
Truly, the horrors of Folkmore.
no subject
"It is both a very boring story and somehow a complex one," she clarifies about the heart, "But basically it was some dark magic to allow me to teleport to Japan and free a Dragon that was being controlled by some very bad people, and keep them from doing very bad things." It wasn't fully effective, Bullseye had somehow still gotten away, her greatest foe, but you can't win them all.
no subject
...so Elektra had to eat the dragon heart to take part of dark magic to free a dragon... but first she had to eat the dragon heart...
...this is why Natasha is exasperated by magic. More exceptions than English grammar.
"Well, if you're already used to magic, you're in a good position to adapt here," she observes. "Did you free the dragon?"
no subject
"Used to is not exactly fond of though, so just because it's not out of left field doesn't mean I'm jumping with joy." She tilts her head a little bit getting a better look at Natasha. "Sure there is something you're very used to that you wouldn't want to be stuck around."
no subject
“But I get it. There’s not much cause to jump for joy when you’ve been taken away from your life. Except if your life is worse than this one, I guess.” She frowns, eyes shifting green for a moment. “I’ve met a few people for whom that’s the case.”
Mostly kids. Child soldiers. She has strong feelings about that, which she is not going to get into here.
cw: child abuse, abduction, murder
"Are you one of those people Natasha?" she asks curiously. Many people would say that Elektra's life has been hell, made into a fighter as a child, an assassin in college. She's been killed and controlled and abused and yet every step she's taken has made her stronger. She's not sure she'd change anything. There's always the next life.
no subject
Because there was no going back home for her.
"I... wouldn't say that, no. There have been times in my life where this would have been a nice break, don't get me wrong," still casual, still telling the truth without any context so that it obscures more than it reveals. "But at least at home you could see the trajectory. You did what you had to do and dealt with the consequences. You saw the results. Here... there's a lot of enforced sharing of our pasts, our minds, our hearts. And while I'm willing to take into account the fox's stated purpose for bringing us here, I have to admit the question 'To what end?' occurs to me more than once a day."
no subject
"You say 'you saw the results' what does that mean? Are you saying there's not consequences to your actions?" It's a question that she can't help but ask as her eyes narrow at Natasha trying to get whatever additional information about this place that she can.
no subject
Natasha shrugs. "There are always consequences. So death is impermanent here, does that spare someone the trauma of dying, or having someone you love die? But it's not the same. I suppose I mean there's very little that can be done to alter our actual state here. No one who wants to go home can simply... go home. We can try to avoid the Trials, but they catch up with us anyway. There's very little in the way of what many people would think drive a life -- you don't need a job, you just need to talk to people. Housing is free. You can get almost anything you want with enough Lore. It seems like a strange sort of stasis."
A beat. "Though I know some people who are using the time to become much better artists, so there's that."
no subject
"Natasha, just because death isn't forever doesn't make it less traumatic," she says with an air of authority on the subject. It's easy to read between the lines at her saying that she's experienced just that.
"Just because our loved ones come back doesn't mean they aren't changed." Her heart aches as she says it, at the memory of Matthew coming back and not remembering who she is.
no subject
Well. She supposes there’s no way to be traumatized when you’re completely insentient. But that doesn’t sound like this either.
"...no, I suppose it wouldn't." Had she changed? She doesn't feel like it. She's too busy moving, outrunning the weight (the weight, the weight) of grief to take stock. "It sounds like you're talking with some experience."
Just... nudging the door open a little, not really expecting a return.
no subject
Of course that doesn't even count the most recent pain of her husband dying. Of him not recognizing her when he'd shown up alive three months later. She doesn't share that though, not with just anyone as it's horribly complicated. She hadn't even mentioned to the version of Matthew she met here that the they'd been married in her world.
"I'm sure it's different here as well, but different doesn't mean less. If you just cease to exist I'd argue you don't have to dwell on it."
no subject
"...that's certainly true."
And a problem she's come across since she'd, well, shown up here. How do you grieve because you're alive to grieve? How do you compartmentalize the pain of knowing you'll never go back to your friends when - it should have been over. It should have all been over.
And it wasn't, and being alive or - whatever this was - was good, and they were all so happy to see you... while your heart was screaming in loss.
At least it had worked. At least she'd been right.
She swallows and looks away. It's a cold comfort. This loss... seems unending. It should have been over. "It doesn't sound like it's the sort of thing that gets easier with time."
She hopes she's wrong.