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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.
Ken Ichijouji | Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning | Familiar | TDM
[ No stranger to new worlds, Ken has taken arriving in this one remarkably in stride (aside from some searching for Wormmon). The puzzle of this village intrigues him, however, and he'd quickly determined that the town loops around on itself just like its inhabitants. Which begs the question: Why did this happen? He has no issue moving forever forward, but he can't help but worry about those who don't. Has someone's mind or heart created this place....Whose, and for what reason....?
It's while he's deep in the throes of thought that one of the spirits catches him - a childish spirit, grinning and tugging on his hand. "Big brother, let's play!" Asking her questions proves fruitless. Correcting her does, as well. This spirit is convinced that Ken is her big brother, and she is on a MISSION.
Thus it may be that someone wandering through this village could stumble upon a newcomer down on his hands and knees, being ridden like a horsey by a giggling little ghost girl. ]
I really think this would be more fun with your true big brother. Is it because you can't find him that you're stuck here?
[ "That's not what the horsey says! What does the horsey say, big brother?!" ]
Like I said, I'm not-
[ "WHAT DOES THE HORSEY SAY??"
Ken tries to avoid any passerby's glances when he replies, a nervously trapped expression on his face. How did this happen? How can he extract himself? Why him? ]
N...eigh....?
[ July - Growing Pains ]
[ Confessions help Folkmore recover...? A link to emotions, like in the Digital World. Ken can follow the logic. And as he's newly-arrived, no one knows anything about him yet. This means he has no shortage of secrets. How oddly encouraging, that the pain in his past can be used for good.
Ken puts his hands in his pockets, a wistful look on his face. He stares out over the barren land, thoughtful. Letting his mind drift. Where should he start...? With his time as the Digimon Kaiser, and the sins he'd committed while prioritizing all the wrong things? Further back, with his confused emotions about his older brother? Those are the things he's done that hurt the most, even if it's much easier to talk about them now. Much easier to accept that he can't undo them. Which might, oddly, make for a poor "confession"...and he wants to do this right.
Something he's never said to anyone, then. Something that makes him extremely nervous to have to say. Something that -
Well. It's not a deep, dark secret, but there's one thing. One recent thing that's stuck in his mind ever since a winter day and a snowball fight. A petty, small thing, but Ken is done trying to assign "worth" to emotions. There's no point in denying or devaluing anything inside of himself.
Still, Ken's throat closes up when he considers voicing this. He decides to take that tension as a sign this is a worthy confession, and goes for it. ]
I might have romantic feelings for a friend.
[ A pause to consider if that's everything. ]
Possibly.
[ This is apparently something about which one can be uncertain. ]
[ July - Unbeleafably Familiar ]
Um....
[ Ken had noticed others developing animal traits, and it didn't take long for him to grasp the distinction between Legends, Myths, and Familiars. Which he would end up, however, had remained a mystery.
Until now.
A gorgeous flowerbed has blossomed here, full of swaying blooms, grasses, and other foliage. Amid these flora, one particularly large leaf quivers. Lifts. Falls.
Wait. It just...jumped. And is glowing? Like the embers? ]
Sorry for the bother. I don't suppose you know much about familiars...?
[ The bulb at the bottom of the plant is talking and it sounds like a HOT DUDE. What do??? ]
Growing Pains
Feelings are pretty complicated things.
[He knows this all too well.]
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But, Ken reasons, that likely makes it all the more proper a "confession." He smiles back, somewhat self-conscious. ]
That they are.
[ And this particular confession of feelings has....not done much. A cluster of sprouts has begun to poke out of the ground, which is looking a little greener in general. ]
Though a confession like that wasn't enough, it seems.
[ A single flower pops open, in defiance of his words. IT liked his confession! ]
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[But he's pretty new to this whole thing too.]
I mean, surely most confessions aren't gonna be major earth-shattering things, like that you once saved the whole world or you tried to blow it up.
sorry bout that!! we're good now
....Right.
[ what was that pause for, ken
what was that pause for ]
Okay!
Hey, it was a joke. Don't worry.
I'm Radley, by the way.
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[ Ken's....not done wondering whether "i saved the world" or "i tried to destroy it" would be a more effective confession, but he can put a pin in it. The better to turn to face the older man properly, for his greeting. ]
It's nice to meet you, Radley-san.
[ A few more flowers make their presences known. Seems his confession was
wait for it
a late bloomer. ]
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[He smiles to see more flowers pop up.]
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[ Multiple people, at the same time? Is that significant? Ken had assumed Radley-san had been here a while, as he's already got wings, and seems so at ease...
But this is a new world. Now more than ever, he can't take anything for granted. ]
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Yeah, not that long ago. I went through that crazy desert and town, had to put out a fire, and now I'm just taking it all in.
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Unbeleafably Familiar
...and then something jumps out, and even before that voice registers-- ]
E-eep!
[ You are Sayori, whose startled response is to topple sideways, landing on her elbow. ]
O-ouch! W-who, what--
[ S-sorry, give her a moment!! ]
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[ Leafmon moves by bouncing, Ken knows. Can he figure out how to bounce, in this body...? Let's see. Concentrate. Crouch. Spring!
Okay, that's a little clumsy, but he's moving forward. Checking up on her. ]
Are you hurt?
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Except--oh. There's a guy little with a very not little voice, and that has her wide-eyed. ]
Oh... n-no, I'm okay! I'm a lil' clumsy, ehehe...
[ And she feels embarrassed, sat here on the ground in front of this...person? And she places a hand on her cheek. ]
I didn't see you at all! I didn't mean to look like I was staring...!
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Being in this form is a surprise to me, too. I should have moved forward before I spoke.
[ Hop, hop. Sayori can get a good look at him now. There's not. much. to see, and yet, so much. ]
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But Sayori gasps, leaning forward slightly as she rests her hands on her knees. ]
Y-you mean... did someone turn you into a baby seed?!
[ Because of course, that's what he is: a sentient fruit seed blob thing (with a leaf sticking out of his head). ]
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[ The Fox is a person, right? A "someone"? ]
This is just a guess, but I think I've been classified as a "familiar."
[ Her assessment of him as a "baby seed" is accurate enough he isn't correcting it. She has the idea. ]
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[ Head tilt one side.
Head tilt to the other. ]
...I don't know what you are?
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Ken thinks some more before responding. The presence of a pacifier in his mouth and what little he can see above his head does lead him to conclude he's turned into Leafmon, but he still hasn't seen himself, has he.....Best confirm anything before explaining what he thinks has happened to someone else. ]
Do you have a mirror?
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Unbeleafably Familiar
Oh, wait.]
Yeah, I know about familiars. I am one. Are uh... Are you?
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I assume so. I didn't develop Legend or Myth traits, and now -
[ He hops in place, to indicate his current predicament. ]
If I'm what I think I am, it's a creature from a world near mine.
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Well, that's definitely a change of pace from people bein' dogs or cats. [He sinks down into a crouch.] So what do you need? Are you stuck like that?
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[ That's a yes. ]
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Nah, don't worry about it. I had the same problem, the first few weeks. People kept givin' me useless advice like "you've just got to relax", but it's kinda hard to relax when you're stuck in a tiny body like that.
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I'm like this until it wears off, then....?
[ If so, he hardly feels he can complain, not when Wormmon lives this life! It will bring him closer to Wormmon. But this person is right - when you're used to different proportions and limb allotments, having it changed on you is disorienting.
...Also, he misses Wormmon. ]
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[He feels bad for this... kid? Not a kid? It's so hard to tell, the pacifier is really throwing him for a loop. But even if it's not a kid, the point is, this form looks very helpless. At least a cat can get around easily.]
The relaxing does help. You've gotta ease out of that form, not force it, that's what the trick is. But that's a feel you've gotta figure out for yourself, you know?