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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.
Ghost Tours
Anna has no idea what's going on, or where she is. She just woke up here all of a sudden, a mere day after her coronation. Memories of the encounter with the Fox are vague, just tattered shreds of a dream already fading into the back of her mind. She assumes a kidnapping, because why else would she be in a place that's clearly not Arendelle? Trouble is, there's no kidnappers around, only an empty town that looks like it's seen better days. She enters one of the buildings, only to become lost in a winding maze of connected rooms, and spends a long moment just staring wide-eyed at the ghosts. They seem harmless, but why are they... not solid?
Maybe the people(?) need her help? Maybe this is some sort of destiny she needs to fulfill?
Just as she continues her exploration, she hears a loud crash from the next room and hurries over there. Someone's fallen to the ground there, and a spirit is retreating. Still, as she takes a few steps closer, recognition begins to set in. She hasn't seen that head of ginger hair in three years, but she knows it. And when he speaks, his voice erases any lingering doubt. She freezes in her steps, just a few feet behind him, hands curling into fists.
"Hans! I should've known something fishy was going on! This is your doing, isn't it?" she snaps, directing a finger at him in an accusatory, sharp fashion.
Re: Ghost Tours
Hans is still trying to disentangle from the chair, and now he freezes in disbelieving horror. “Oh no….”
He stumbles up, still with part of the chair around his leg. “Anna! No, I promise it wasn’t me! I was brought here by …” But he trails off. “Oh, what’s the use?” He throws his hands in the air. No one believed him about the mind-control. Why would he be believed about following a talking fox? He barely believes it himself.
“Do you know where we are?” he asks instead as he tries to casually reach down and pull the rest of the chair away. As if there’s a way to casually do that.
no subject
Once she takes in the somewhat familiar antics, Anna goes from fuming anger and suspicion to confusion, then right back to fuming anger some more. She's been tricked by Hans before, with his dreamy eyes and adorable clumsy behavior, and all his... charming Hans-ness. But she's older and wiser now, and not so easily misled. Probably. Hopefully.
Though she faltered for a split second, her finger is still directed at his face, and she'll keep it there for now. "Of course I know where we are! It's... It's a town. A magic town," she insists, hoping that a little shred of would-be fact will have her seem more in control of the situation than she actually is. "How could you not know where we are?"
no subject
Well, it being a magic town is pretty obvious, so Hans isn’t fooled by that very Anna attempt to seem in control. But he can’t help smiling slightly in amusement before it fades into seriousness again.
“I was told to come here by … a friendly person,” he says, not quite willing to say ‘ghost.’ “I started out in a desert. So far, what I’ve seen here is that most of the residents of this town are unfriendly at best and we have to keep moving or we’re more likely to be attacked.”
He stays alert, looking around for any possible ghosts that might appear while they’re distracted.
no subject
"Unfriendly? Maybe to you. They've been very nice to me," is her somewhat defiant reply. Granted, she hasn't tried to interfere with the ghosts' routines too much, instead playing along whenever the situation called for it. "And why would you care if I'm attacked? Wouldn't you just try to save your own hide?"
no subject
He sighs heavily. He doesn't feel like arguing about himself right now, since that never gets him anywhere anyway and this is kind of a bad enough situation as it is.
"It looks like there's only one way out of here," he says instead. "Every time I enter a building, the door I used disappears. So we may end up stuck together for a while, like it or not."
He finally manages to pull off the last part of chair. There. Now at least he can move with some dignity.
no subject
"Not, actually. The liking of it is not," she says airily. "But I suppose I can save you from this place by finding the way out for you. It's just a matter of moving forward, right?"
no subject
"Half the time when I open doors, a ghost comes out." He sighs, takes a deep breath, and opens the next one.
A ghost is there, swinging an axe.
He jumps back. "Like that."
no subject
Anna quickly slams the door shut again with one hand from the side, out of reach of the ghost axe's swing. Her heart races from the sudden shock; there was no way she could've expected... well, that. Still, once the door is closed and she's drawn in a few deep breaths, she straightens herself back up into a rigid stance.
"Alright. So that door is no good. Ahhh..." She glances around the room, towards another door in the back. "Let's try that one instead. And I'll open it this time. Just in case."
no subject
Hans sighs, concerned for her to open it, but they do have to try it.
"We'll open it together," he says, reaching for the knob.
no subject
"Ah- Wait. What if your bad luck messes with my good luck and we get a ghost who tries to... I don't know, kill us with hugs or something?" she asks. A ludicrous prospect, but she couldn't come up with a better example on the spot, so this is what came out of her mouth.
no subject
"Do you really believe in luck?"
After all the disasters he's been having, he feels protective of Anna when they're in here. But if Anna really hasn't encountered bad ghosts, maybe logically speaking, they like her and not him. Maybe the ghosts somehow know what happened and don't believe him about the mind-control either.
He sighs. "If you really think you can do better, go ahead." He steps back, but stays alert to help if this goes wrong.
no subject
Still somewhat huffy, she draws in a few deep breaths, then reaches for the door knob a second time. Her fingers touch down, she hesitates... And then she pulls the door open with one fierce movement, bracing herself for another axe swing.
... Nothing happens.
There's only one ghost in the next room, sitting quietly at a dinner table. It doesn't even seem to notice that a door just opened, and two strangers are standing on the other side. Content, she turns her head to shoot a smug smile Hans's way. "See? Good luck. Best luck, even."
no subject
He takes a few steps into the room, hoping the ghost will stay occupied long enough for them to make it through the room and into the next one.
Of course, then the situation will start all over. Even if they get through this room safely, what about the next one?
no subject
"Do you think they're trapped here? Unable to... you know. Move on?" she asks.
no subject
"... It does seem that way, doesn't it," he says, his voice hushed and somber. "Or maybe not trapped, exactly.... Maybe they'd be free to move on if they really wanted to, or if they really understood they're ... dead...."
He's certainly heard of ghosts with unfinished business. Is that the explanation here? If he never learns what really happened to him in Arendelle, will he end up like them, unable to move on?
He turns away abruptly. "We should keep moving."