June-July 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

June-July 2024 TDM

Introduction

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
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.

Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!


🦊 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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

Ghost Tours . ★

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.

• 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

Flames to Embers . ★

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. Confessions help 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.

• 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.

Comments

'Marc' and 'Other Marc', hahaha

[fistofvengeance]

[Morbid as it is, Marc does appreciate the clarification of where the bone armor probably came from. It tells him animal bones might not cut it, even if they could find some around here. Person bones are even harder to get their hands on, and even more distasteful to use for a crafts project. Sure, there may be a graveyard around here somewhere, but he doesn't want to waste time or energy digging around there unless he absolutely has to. And he doesn't have to. He'll go without bone armor. (What the other guy does is none of his business.)

As soon as the ghost with the baseball bat begins to move closer, his hold on the knife tightens. Deep down, he knows there's no point in taking a swipe; the weapon will just go through something without a physical form. Still, instinct compels him to hold that knife like a lifeline.

And then the alternative is thrown out there. His head turns lightly, allowing him to throw another glance the other man's way from the corner of his eye.]

Somethin' sentimental? Like a thing they used to own? Family heirloom, maybe?

[The clarification may not matter much. Marc's all for smashing anything they can get their hands on just to see what'll happen. The owners are already dead anyway, so what use have they got for their old stuff?]

[vestments]

( once upon a time, after drowning — maybe drowning — marc had thought that there was an alternative to violence. that maybe he could try living his life without that being his go-to answer, that maybe he could be moon knight without that being the way he solved his problems.

it had been disheartening, in ways he wasn't sure he could verbalise, to discover that wasn't the case. to immediately find that his attempt at a diplomatic — by a definition of the word — resolution was met with precisely nothing. to find it didn't work, and he had to do what he'd always done. )

Sentimental, ( he answers. it's a quick utterance, not quite distracted, but now that it's clear that marc's not being immediately attacked by either man or ghost, he busies himself with looking through his surroundings. he's never been an especially good detective, but he's not stupid. still—

the music box had been obvious. it'd been what— ) He died holding it, ( marc adds a moment later, looking up from a book held delicately between fingers.

he doesn't explain that it'd been linked to an incident years before, that it'd been related to a spate of violence, classist and anti-semitic, poor kids rebelling against the closest symbolism of wealth they had access to. it hadn't been right, and it'd left marc feeling a little lost, a little empty. he hadn't expected it to circle back round a handful of years later. ) You'll know it when you see it.

( marc spector: truly the greatest at helpful details. )

[fistofvengeance]

['You'll know it when you see it'... Marc's immediate reflex is to begrudgingly think this would be more of a job for Steven. His alter's sharper than he is- has more of an eye for details and how puzzle pieces fit together. Marc's not stupid, but his own brand of smarts applies more to fights. Tactics. He might not know when he sees it, unless it's glowing or some shit.]

Right. Okay.

[The lack of conviction is probably clear in his tone of voice. Still, he gives it a whirl, because he can't just stand by and let this other guy do all the hard work. He likes to carry his own weight where he can. He walks up to nearby vase, the flowers inside long since reduced to dust. It looks nice, perhaps a gift from a child to a mother to commemorate a special day, or the result of many attempts to get it just right during a crafting spree. It's made with some sort of colored glass that could withstand the elements inside a musty old ghost house for centuries to come.

With a swipe of the hand, he knocks it off the table and allows it to crash to the ground. The shards scatter across the floor.

The irony of a cat Familiar pulling a stunt like this is lost on him.]

[vestments]

( steven's involvement in marc's affairs has, in recent years, been minimal. marc's not allowed it, had reached the (questionable) conclusion that the only way to rehab the absolute disaster he'd made of his own life and his own reputation was to only be marc spector (not even—, "mr. knight"). jake and steven had both agreed, reluctantly, to allow marc that, to give him the chance, even when the last time they'd been closest to a degree of healthy harmony had been in the early days, when they had the long island mansion, when they had jean-paul and marlene, and samuels and nedda, and jake had crawley and gena and her kids.

in truth, that's not escaped marc's notice, the fact that the last time their lives were good was when marc was pretending he didn't exist.

but here and now, marc doesn't think of steven. this isn't his scene, has never been his scene. his thing is boardrooms and rooftops, galas and events, high society and charming conversation. it's not a shitty, rundown, too-hot town in the middle of fuck-knows-where.

he pages through the book with mild disinterest before going to place it back where he'd found it, before there's a crash and the sound of glass shattering and scattering. he turns on the spot, slowly, incredulously, to look at marc.

it doesn't occur to him that he could've explained that he threw the music box in the east river, he didn't just dash it to the ground. it does occur to him, a fraction of a second later, that the noise didn't just grab his attention. a flicker of movement behind a door, a shadow of something shapeless and noiseless, something that edges a little closer to marc's usual, to his normal.

he doesn't say anything to marc. instead, he holds a finger up as if to say 'shh' and makes his way towards the door, footsteps muffled thanks to the carpet of dust on the floor.

marc's way (which one? yes) of making friends leaves a thing or two to be desired. )

[fistofvengeance]

[Marc was low-key hoping the vase was the key to getting rid of the ghosts. He can tell, within so much as two seconds, that it wasn't. The bastards are still there, still a vaguely threatening presence. They look as if they might leap forward to attack at any second, but they don't. Marc wishes they would, just to put an end to this weird tension they've got going on. He hates being caught in the gazes of those hollow, distant eyes. They may not have bird skulls for heads, but that doesn't make their leers any less familiar.

But now there's something else drawing near. Something on the other side of a door. Was that his doing? Ah fuck- Another screw up to go on the extensive record.

He catches the shushing gesture from the other man and starts stepping silently backwards, away from the door. Divide and conquer; if the only other living person in this room can be trusted (jury's still out), he'll take care of the threat near the door, and Marc can keep an eye on those two other freaks. If he ends up having to leap to the rescue across the room, he can still do it. He's got a couple trump cards up his sleeve that he saves for when he's got no other choice, especially when strangers are within eye sight.]

[vestments]

( marc doesn't actually, despite the vase, blame the appearance of the SOMETHING ELSE on marc. it's the sort of thing that marc thinks is simply par the course — certainly, not aided by the sound of the vase smashing, but given how quickly it appeared, it's not solely marc's fault.

it doesn't escape his notice that between the old, ruined belongings of times past (presumably, marc's not really an expert on these things—), he'd noticed weapons laying here and there, mostly guns, none of them the sort he'd have used years ago, still the sort of thing he avoids, until now—

a knife, left out on display on a cabinet. it's not one of his, it's not a crescent dart, but it's better than the alternative. he crouches down, slowly and quietly, fingers reaching towards the handle of the knife. it's nothing special, a little on the heavy side, a little blunter than he'd like, and to himself, marc can't help but think that it probably won't do anything.

that is, that's what he thinks right up until he realises that all of their new found friends have turned their attentions to him.

his eyes widen, round and startled and entirely reflective of his thoughts, the ones that amount to "oh, shit".
a thought process that says 'throw the knife', and that's what he does, straight at the closest ghost, not quite expecting it to do anything other than maybe get it to duck out of residual human (or whatever) thoughts—.

instinct, right? that's what greer would call it. )

[fistofvengeance]

[By the time Marc's reached the other two ghosts to stand beside them, knife in his hand ready to strike, the other man has picked up a blade of his own. 'Good', Marc thinks, but only for a split second. That's when the attention of the two ghosts by his side instantly shoots towards the man across the room. There's an eerie silence. Was that knife that was just picked up the key to solving this?

Pandemonium erupts in an instant. The other man flings the ancient knife towards the ghost that just came in, and Marc doesn't wait to see what it does. The other two are on the move too, and all he can think is that he has to stop them. He slashes at the nearest one with his combat knife, but it goes right through. Of course it goes right through- why would it be easy? Cursing under his breath, a quick set of thoughts runs through his mind.

The combat knife was brought into this place by him. It doesn't belong here. Maybe he needs something that does belong.

Even as the momentum of his slash comes to an end, his other hand reaches for a nearby poker that was resting by the side of the fireplace. It's made of iron. The same momentum starts back up, he twirls on the heel of his right foot and the poker swipes along the nearest ghost's back. It disappears with an unnatural shriek.

That still leaves the second ghost free to charge towards the other guy, but hey, one down!]