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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
And hey, at least Minako isn't dragging him by his tie, this is an improvement.]
Well, I assume dying of dehydration is a lot worse than whatever can happen in here, Miss.
[And considering he's fresh from the middle of being stabbed? He's actually pretty calm.]
The fox must be slow on bringing out the danger, considering the only things in here are weapons and ghosts.
no subject
Are you not afraid of ghosts in the slightest?
[ He doesn't seem to be, if he could say that last thing so easily.. ]
no subject
I mean, should I? It's not like any of them are trying to kill us right now after all.
[That... Is probably not the right thing to say, but hey he said it.]
no subject
Kyon, what sort of answer is that! Minako looks truly confused in the face of it. Not even necessarily because it's weird, since it's the sort of answer Minako would give. But the problem with that is the fact that Minako is actually a magical superhero, and Kyon.. isn't..? She thinks, anyway. No way Kyon is going to transform and wear a skirt, surely.
Her question sounds kind of semi-sceptical, but she's actually sort of curious about what's going on with him for him to answer like that, so-- ]
Have ghosts ever tried to kill you before?
[ Is that why that 'right now' in his sentence is so specific? Or is he just anticipating something? ]
no subject
At her question he just gives a half-hearted shrug before he speaks.]
Not actual ghost-ghosts, but data entities that could be mistaken for ghosts tried something like that once.
[Look, he just came from being stabbed. Which Minako might notice the drying blood on his left side of his clothes, and staining the jacket he's carrying. He is totally anticipating something.]
no subject
[ She points at the spot of dried up blood. She was kind of assuming that he just got a stain on his jacket, maybe from all the sand and wastes out there, but the dots are connecting very quickly in Minako's mind right now. The blonde is smarter than she seems, after all.
God, it sounds like he really went through something bad. Likely right before ending up here, if that stain is any indication. No one is going to walk around with blood on their jacket for any longer than they have to, after all. ]
Seriously?! [ Minako looks stunned for a moment. Not because she doesn't believe his story, but exactly because she believes it. ] Why didn't you tell me?! You don't have to act all tough, like you're totally unaffected by what happened, or like you aren't worried about the ghosts here doing something similar, you know!
no subject
[He looks at where she's pointing and oh right. He was bleeding out from being stabbed before he arrived here, he almost forgot about that. He wasn't expecting Minako to notice, or draw attention, to it. So he's just going to be nonchalant about the whole thing, but then she goes off about him not being tough or unaffected by everything and whelp.]
Because freaking out about it isn't going to help anyone right now? And the ghosts seem harmless, for now.
no subject
Who cares whether it helps me or not? It might help you! Do you know how unhealthy it is to keep all your emotions inside?
[ .. pot, kettle. Minako may be the least qualified person in the entire world to say that, considering everything she crops up..
But those rules don't count for her! ]
If you went through something horrible, it's okay to be upset about it! It's the better thing to do, in fact!
no subject
[He explains simply, he doesn't see it as bottling up anything on his end. More like it's not important at the moment, considering what is going on around them. Speaking of, some ghosts walk right through them or attempt to while going about their ghostly day.]
Oh, I think we're in the way.
no subject
And it makes her yelp. Not a fully scared yelp, since the problem isn't that she's terrified of the ghosts - it's just that the sensation of being walked through is very freaky. Bad touch, ghosts!! Bad touch!
Hence why she quickly drags both herself and Kyon out of the way of these things. Or what she hopes is more out of the way, anyway. ]
Hey! [ She turns around, starting to yell at the ghost. Pointing at it wildly with her free hand.
It's clearly a great idea. What could possibly go wrong. ]
What do you think you're doing, walking through a cute girl like that?! It's absolutely unacceptable..!
no subject
I don't think that's a good idea? [As the ghost stops in it's tracks and turns on the two teens, and hoo boy it does not look all to happy to be yelled at either.]
... yeah, bad idea.
no subject
Her grip on Kyon tightens a little bit, like he's her shield here from what's about to happen. ]
W-Well, what else was I supposed to do?! [ She argues.
Like she knows it was a bad idea, yet can't resist defending herself all the same. ]
You can't just let these things walk all over you! Or through you..!
[ In the meantime the ghost is getting closer and closer.. ]
no subject
[Now it's time for Kyon to do some dragging, as he grabs Minako by the arm as the ghost gets even close and? He is going to book it with her in tow, he's actually a little stronger than one would expect from looking at him.]
Sometimes it's better to just let things happen, miss. [He says as he's doing his best to get them out of the ghost's range or eyesight or whatever so the ghost will lose interest in the two of them.]
no subject
At least it's just a verbal protest and nothing beyond that - Minako is allowing herself to get dragged along by him, rather than forcing the two of them to stay near the ghost. Minako knows better than to unnecessarily stick around trouble when she doesn't have the opportunity to transform and deal with it that way. ]
That's no good! That's exactly how you get stabbed, you know..!
[ .. is that how you got stabbed, Kyon? ]
no subject
[Since it seems like if you leave the ghosts alone they'll leave you alone. Also wow Minako. Wow.]
No, I got stabbed because I was trying to reset the world.
[He's not even going to check if the ghost is following them, god it is probably following them.]
no subject
[ Okay, maybe Kyon definitely wasn't as normal of a guy as Minako was thinking.
And she'd love to ask about this, but.. yeah, time and place. Not really the best time to do it while a ghost is trying to hunt them down, huh? ]
W-Wait, I think it's gaining on us!
[ How can a ghost even be this fast?! It's a ghost! It's literally dead! This feels unfair. ]
We have to go faster..!
no subject
[And he glances back, and yes that is a ghost catching up. Sheesh, Kyon is going to try to lead them around a corner. Like shouldn't ghosts have a limit range or something?
This is ridiculous in his mind, but he's not going to slow down.]