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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
John starts walking for the train station immediately, not waiting time and wanting to put as much space between him and the ghosts as possible. He doesn't like restless spirits who can become aggressive and he doesn't want to spend days putting down an entire town of them.
Time to get out of the desert and leave this bloody mess behind.
"You're new?" he asks, trying to prompt the young man to talk more about himself. John wants to avoid talking about himself as much as possible.
no subject
Kavinsky kept pace, falling into step next to him. He might not have minded the ghosts so much, but he was more than ready to get out of the desert for real.
"Yeah. Spent a few hours out here, then I ended up back there with all the ghosts. I fuckin'- I went from one heat to another, but I think I'd take the Virginia summer over this. Never thought I'd say I missed that, but." But it wasn't the summer heat he missed, or even Henrietta. It was the freedom of summer, no classes- and the day he'd been having.
no subject
"Yeah, well, should be out of it soon." They're making decent time towards the train station even walking on the uneven sand. Things look like they'll be more solid or at least paved around the train station. John's shoes aren't made for this sort of walking.
The kid's going to have a nasty sunburn though. "Mix a little oat meal, black tea, and aloe into a past for that sunburn. It'll ease the sting and keep it from drying out."
no subject
While he listened, he tried to puzzle out what those ingredients could possibly be for, and he had to be honest; he never would've guessed. "Wait, really?" He knew aloe was good for sunburns, and he'd heard stuff about oatmeal being helpful, but. "I'll do that, yeah." He was also going to file it away under 'unexpected but kind advice'.
"How do you know that kind of thing? I can't imagine it's magic adjacent." Unless it was. But that was what he really wanted to ask about; magic. His interest probably wasn't subtle, but he didn't particularly care.
no subject
"Some spells and summonings won't even work if you don't have the right herbs and materials put in. Blood can't do everything." Certain kind spirits won't even respond to blood, it's an insult to offer it up.
He shrugs. "Flash bang magic isn't all there is."
no subject
"God, I fucking wish I-" but he caught himself and didn't finish. He wished there was shit like that for dreaming, for all the magic surrounding it. He wished he could get that kind of information, that there was someone who could have taught him. But no one'd had to tell him to keep what he could do a secret, and he hadn't yet figured out if this moment was an exception.
"I don't know a whole lot about magic but that doesn't mean I'm not interested." That was true, at least, and maybe a better alternative than what he'd originally almost said. "All that sounds logical, though. Herbs and plants have always been important throughout history for a reason. Makes me think of like, wolfsbane and shit." He didn't think that was related to healing, but still.
no subject
Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. None can quite match the high of wielding magic and bending the universe to your will.
"It's a matter of study and sacrifice, you know. You want the power of it, you'll bleed for it." He's seen that, hasn't he? John gave a very good demonstration.
"You're better off leaving it alone."
no subject
But he wanted to know more about magic, and he knew he wasn't bad at dreaming, but he could only imagine how much better he could be if there was someone who could tell him how everything worked, where the dream energy came from, how to better hold his dreams before he awakened. He wanted that connection, to be able to talk about it.
Nothing compared to waking from a successful dream, the power of having created something, the rush of it. It was like the colors were washed from the physical world, every time, everything pale and distant and insubstantial. His dreams felt more real than being awake, better. The rest of his life, around those moments, the parties and drugs and racing and- everything, was spent trying to chase that feeling and fill the gaping hole inside his chest.
"Well, I regret to inform you that I've never known how to leave something alone." He didn't regret it at all, though. "Besides, I've always been a good student." When he could get his head into it. Focusing on his schoolwork had become more about spite than anything, in Henrietta, the desire to prove everyone wrong when they said he wouldn't amount to anything. But beyond that? He was voracious for knowledge, he loved learning for the sake of it, and magic...he wanted to know things.
no subject
John can generally sense magic in people. He's aware of other practitioners and knows a lot of names. This kid didn't seem very magical but apparently he's got some sort of gift. Or rotten luck. It could very well be both given John's own history with magic.
"Good for you," he says quickly. "I'm not taking students."
He has tried the apprentice business and found it messy. Betrayal is something he's used to but it never lessens the sting when it happens.
no subject
"It's a black market. They host it in hotels and shit. My father always goes, and he made me go with him, once." And if Kavinsky hadn't been certain he wanted nothing to do with his father's business before that, the whole thing had just made him more determined to get the fuck away from anything his father was involved in.
He snorted. "Yeah, that's fine." He might not have been asking, but he'd still been hopeful. "This place probably has a shit ton of magic stuff to give me a hand." He was determined and stubborn as a mule, and maybe there wouldn't be information about dreamers here, but there had to be something. It wasn't all deserts and ghosts. Right?
no subject
"That's the spirit. Plenty of wild magic around to tame." John's sticking with what he knows and trusts until he figures out how this place operates. He'll take all the power he can along the way just not right away.
He jogs up the steps of the train station and looks for any sort of map and schedule. Living in London and being familiar with the Tube he's more than capable of figuring out how to navigate around this place.
no subject
"Yeah. I mean, I hope." He hoped for a lot of things, things he wouldn't give voice to, keeping them tucked close to his heart. Magic would be a start, at least.
He followed along, a bit slower by that point. Sand wasn't easy to walk on for extended periods of time, and it was a relief to get onto solid ground at the train station. Even if he sort of wanted to just find a bench and flop over onto it after all the walking he'd done so far.
"So what now? They've got- information somewhere, right?" Or a booth or whatever to talk to someone for information? He'd never been at a train station or on a train before, so his knowledge of how things worked was rocky.
no subject
The train map isn't very complicated. Things seem to just be a basic circle. He stands in front of the map and pulls a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. As he studies the map he sticks it in his mouth.
"We can go anywhere it looks like." He lights the cigarette. "Just have to pick a spot."
Nothing looks like London or even Atlanta. John thinks maybe the House of Mystery could find its way here. It can do things like that. The question is where would it like to settle?
no subject
"Any of those places has to be better than here." Even the place that sounded like it was cold. It would probably be just as much of a bad idea right now as the desert, considering his lack of preparation, so he didn't plan on picking that one now, but- he definitely wanted to check it out eventually.
"Not sure I like how the route's a circle, but..." he shrugged. It felt a little like being trapped, which was probably true anyway, but he was willing to give things a chance for now.