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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
Even now the selkie coat was draped over his shoulder. To him the heat had been nothing afterward, and the screams were simply a small symphony hanging in the air. No worse than hearing birds or the sound of wind through the trees.
"I arrived here simply by following a spirit attempting to seek refuge, though it was a shame that it vanished shortly after the exit."
After all, Demande had not been tolerant of one that lead him into what appeared to be a trap. And yet the more he explored, the more he became certain that this dark place was where he was more at home. It was a place that he could be himself, and the spirits here, they were easy enough to subjugate and bend to his will.
no subject
Not even through exact experience with this here. It's the first time she's seeing it. But she doesn't doubt it's just the newest thing the fox has thought of to put them all through some sort of trouble. And usually Minako would speak up to warn someone new about that, but.. well, it's Demande. Wouldn't it be easier if he just tumbled face-first into the trap?
So rather than saying anything she usually would, she opts to go for: "Maybe you can find it again if you look around here."
Especially since Minako doubts any spirits here are going to be all that friendly in the long run.
They never are.
no subject
Demande knew well to not trust the souls of the dead, they were wicked vengeful things, they were much like him. There had plenty of malice and darkness in Nemesis. There had been a reason the silver crystal was countered so by it. This space, this darkness, only served to enhance the threat that stood before her.
"But perhaps we could walk together for a bit."
no subject
It's fine though. It's not like his idea is all that bad, right? Minako certainly would feel better keeping an eye on him for a while, just to make sure he doesn't get up to anything nefarious here - and that he doesn't get anywhere near Usagi, though Minako is pretty sure the other girl isn't here in Cruel Summer right now.
She sure hopes the other isn't, anyway.
So--
"Sure. I mean, we can't go back anyway." Not with the exit gone. So Minako is already moving a few steps ahead, ready to further head into the weird corridor of the suddenly joined huts. She turns her head to look back at him, asking: "Would you be able to deal with trouble if we find any along the way?"
Considering her opinion of the other, she doesn't exactly imagine he would go out of his way to help or protect anyone - but she might as well test it, if she's going to be stuck with him for a bit.
no subject
"I can take care of any threat that should appear. Though if you are exploring on your own, I would imagine you are as well."
Or she had already exhausted whatever power she had.
no subject
It's a lie, but one Minako feels like she can tell convincingly enough. It's the same sort of lie she would have told anyone else here, after all, not just him. She's so practiced at keeping her secret now, even in worlds outside of her own.
In fact, she even completes it by turning her head to look at him, a much more worried expression on her face than she actually feels - or, well, then she actually feels about this situation as a whole. His appearance in this place is far more troubling.
"I mean, what sort of place even has disappearing doors like that? It's like someone lured us into this trap on purpose."
no subject
Those spirits echoed of what humanity would become in the far future, simply going through the routine of what they were expected to do, but never truly living.
"But if you're so concerned, shouldn't you take the opportunity to arm yourself and fight? They've left the tools that you would need all around."
The weapons that were abandoned around, he saw them but had no use for them given his own power. If this woman was as worried as she claimed, then wouldn't she want the means to fight?
"Or do you prefer to have another fight for you?"
no subject
Minako knows that it's not even him luring her into danger on purpose. He must be new here - she can't imagine that Demande would have been walking around this place this entire time without her noticing. So that means he doesn't know what happens when you pick up a weapon during trials like these.
That means she has to at least reveal one card here. Still nothing as important as her secret identity, but the girl was hoping to keep her cards a little closer to her chest in front of him-- but if she has to reveal any, let it be this one.
"You can't trust that," she says. Considering Demande's own powers, she figures he wouldn't have picked up a weapon himself to begin with in order to be able to fight. "Weapons have appeared out of nowhere before. Whenever you touch them, it makes danger appear."
In other words - if she picked up one of those weapons lying around? They'd only be in more trouble than they are right now.
no subject
They were a chance for one to expand their potential, and yet it was true that Demande had no need for such simple weapons. A simple blade or bludgeoning instrument would be nothing before the power of his evil eye and the dark crystal which possessed.
Still he toed one of the tools, kicking it in her direction.
"And how can I trust you? Perhaps you'd rather I didn't have a means to defend myself?"
no subject
Especially not with Demande right there. Picking up the weapon would be asking for trouble - not to mention that it might look a little suspicious when a random teenage girl can wield a sword exceptionally well.
"Why?" Minako replies, her tone dropping into something a little more exasperated, like she can't stop some of the annoyance from leaking out before it's already doing exactly that.
At least she feels like this might be a point where any normal random person might get a little annoyed at him..
"Don't you believe me? Do you want to test it out? In that case, the trouble is on your hands, you know. I warned you."
no subject
Stepping forward he offered a hand,
"But if you insist that you are also a mere prisoner, I am willing to dispose of the dangers that might arise, so long as you help me to find the way out from this place."
The dark crystal earrings that he wore seemed to shimmer in the dim light, as if drawing in what little there was.
"I have no need for a blade to do so either."
no subject
Don't worry, Demande, if she had to think up some sort of prison for you, it'd be way worse than whatever weird old-time-y-cowboy-tour the fox seems to have thought up here.
"This structure seems like a corridor, but that means there has to be some end to it on the other side, right? All we have to do is make it there without giving up halfway through."
no subject
Demande was no one to give up, he has his purpose and goals and until he saw them fulfilled he would continue moving forward no matter. Those who stood in his way or were against him, he would simply remove without regret or remorse. And if for some reason he couldn't reach that desired goal, he'd take as many others out with him as he could.
"Shall we begin then? To head towards our destined end?"