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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
shit.
the burning gets brighter, charred and hot panel of wood cracking down onto another of the structures. the fire grows more widespread but it wasn’t intentional, dimming only slightly when he turns more toward bobby. lets his eyes travel down his friend’s body. ]
Yeah? You okay, Iceman, or you hit your head?
[ little cynical about it. they’d just seen one another. spent hours in that dumb jet. so, of course bobby’s here too.
john squints past bobby a bit, searching for the third person he expects to be around. no sign of her yet. ]
Where’s your girlfriend?
no subject
I'm fine, John. [ A beat. ] And Rogue's not here. [ At least, not the one they both know. ]
When did you get here, though? [ Pauses, hesitates for a bit, but decides it's now or never. ] What's the last thing you remember from home?
no subject
but john’s too enraptured with the fire, bobby’s obliviousness hardly anything unexpected. maybe he’s a little touchy about the whole weird situation, being a little too critical. but it doesn’t register for john that bobby’s a bit older than him now. it can all be added up to some weird drug or mutant trip, right??
his brows lift, try to knit at hearing rogue isn’t around. weird? but, better? right?
face twisting from being perplexed into a sort of grimacing frown, he waves his hands out in the air. ]
What gives, Bobby? No Rogue? Stupid questions?
[ his head shifts slightly to the side, cocking as he peers for several seconds at bobby with an assessing, analyzing near sneer. he takes several steps over to him, so he can seemingly get a better look, chuckling hollowly. ]
You sure you’re really Bobby? Show me.
no subject
So, without thinking too much about it, Bobby also takes off his shirt. John will be met by his sinewy torso before he changes into his ice form. ]
There, happy now? [ All solid ice for his friend's viewing and satisfaction. ]
no subject
and there it is. he blows breath from his lips, reaching out to repeatedly tap a forefinger at bobby’s icy chest, just beside his nipple. his lips pout down as if he’s dissatisfied, but they curl up into a smirk and he finally does wink at bobby. ]
Solid. So. [ his nose crinkles slightly. annoyed but it all, but they’re friends and since they’re here together, he’ll answer those questions. ] Been here less than a hour. We were in kids time out while the others got the professor. At Alkali.
[ a beat, a sigh. ]
That’s not where you were before you got dragged here?
no subject
His best friend. He can say that again now, right? Especially with his answer to that question. John's before everything, before he joined the Brotherhood, and it fills Bobby with warmth even when he's technically solid ice right now. His ice form fades, though, and now he's just Bobby who's trying to figure out how to answer John's question.
He can't bear to tell him he's from a future where John tried to kill him. Not when he's still the same old John he'll play pranks with and talk for hours on end. Giving his companion a small smile, though, Bobby finally answers. ]
No, I'm from a few months ahead of you. Weird, huh? [ Please don't ask about the future. ]
no subject
john peers over at bobby for an answer, lips quirking as his ice form fades. he crosses his arms loosely over his chest with that answer, nodding faintly. ]
Weird, yeah. We get cue ball back to home base okay then?
[ asked pragmatically, his veneer of being aloof sliding into place.
john may sneer and scoff at professors and others at the institute, but it’s still home. the only one he’s ever really had.
he cares, even if he doesn’t show it as sickeningly sweet as everyone else. ]
no subject
His answer, though, almost had Bobby choking in his own spit by that nickname. He knows all about John's many different nicknames for everyone. Heck, Bobby himself isn't spared of them and probably takes the brunt of his teasing. But comparing the Professor to a cue ball because of his badlness is definitely a choice, one Bobby's glad the man isn't here to actually hear.
Shaking his head in amusement, a smile curving up his lips, Bobby rests his hands on his waist. ]
John. [ He lightly scolds. Not at all angry, though, if his expression is anything to go by. ] Yeah, we did. Good thing he's not here to hear that, you know.
no subject
but after a small lift of his chin, relief swimming through him, his mood sours just so, scoff sounding. one of john's arms lift, hand waving up toward above them. ]
And he's not here. God, you always gotta let their opinions run how you live your life? [ another eyeroll, expression turning moodier, darker, more inward for several moments. quick to be annoyed, and he knows bobby knows that...
john sighs, shifts one shoe in the sand below them. ]
So how long you been here? A couple months? Is that how it works? You live the time back home and somehow some of just...end up here, at the same time? [ guess who hadn't asked the fox many questions and instead basically ignored her? most important part of his thought is how long bobby's even been there, rather than trying to parse other logistics. how familiar is he with this place? how comfortable? doesn't really want bobby to have an edge over him, in truth. ]
no subject
He doesn't want that anymore, not when he has this real chance to be best friends with him again. John's manifested cruelty exists only in his memory now and perhaps that's all that it's going to be - a memory. A time that will never happen, hopefully, for this John. His John, he decides. They can start over now, or at least, on his part. As far as things are concerned for John, here, he never betrayed him, never walked away from their friendship.
Bobby only snorts in amusement at his comment about people's opinions shaping his own life. John's right, if he's to be frank with himself. He always admired this about him, how carefree he is, how it's so easy for him to let go. He's learning, though, now.
So instead, Bobby chooses to answer his questions. ]
Didn't listen to the Fox, huh? [ Teases him. ] Well, I've been here for almost two months now. And yeah, you're right, that's how it works. I can show you around. This place can be pretty amazing if it's not crazy sometimes. [ His lips curve up into a genuine smile. ] They have hot springs.
no subject
john crinkles his nose at that initial observation. a tease. but, yeah, of course he didn't listen to the fox. his head tilts slightly as bobby goes on, offers to show him around, what it might have that they can expect, indulge in.
the cooler air, john's inattention to the blaze near them, bobby's cooling abilities even around the two of them, it adds to keeping the fire on the hut tamer. tampering with the seconds that go by. john could halt the whole thing, knows bobby could freeze it out if he really wanted to, but... eh. a background that feels customary, in a way, with john around. something's on fire, and hey, at least it's not wildly burning?
he chuckles once, a breath from his nose, at that last addition. ]
You sure you're ready for that kind of steam and heat? [ a genuine smile too, his eyes flicking over to the hut that's still on fire. ] Gotta get out of here before you show me around though. This whole place create labyrinthine structures for us to fuck around in?
[ and he waves his fingers to get the fire going a bit hotter, still sure that they can burn their way to an exit. ]
no subject
He doesn't protest. It might be a good idea. This place is all kinds of strange so anything that can hopefully put a crack on whatever the hell they got themselves in would be great. With the shenanigans of the wildfires putting his own ice powers useless, he thinks maybe this can work instead.
Once he's ready to answer his best friend's questions, though, Bobby's smile widens a bit. ] I've tried them when I got here. They were great and therapeutic, so yeah, it's fine. I'm not gonna be in my ice form so I'm not gonna melt or anything.
But yeah, let's get out of here first. This place doesn't usually do things like this. [ He gestures for the labyrinth. ] But it does get weird from time to time. [ Then a wider smile. ] I'll show you this food cart where dogs serve food. I swear it's hilarious.
no subject
Yeah? They sell hot dogs? [ ha ha ha... his tongue clicks, attention turning back to the burning building as he lets that astutely timed joke linger.
there's a space behind the hut that opens, light shining in, but it immediately snaps closed, making john scowl. the fire picks back up again as he pushes it to go stronger, but no further opening to the outside forms. john scoffs, takes steps closer to the fire. ]
I'll burn the fuck out of this entire place if that's what it takes to get us out of here.
[ doesn't really need to say that, does he? bobby already knows. and, he's definitely already sweeping the fire over to catch on adjacent buildings. burning their way out (other than trying to navigate through walking) is clearly the only way. ]
no subject
Won't that be ironic. [ Bobby adds, still chuckling a bit. Sorry in advanced to the diligent and hardworking dogs of The Wandering Cart.
At John's comment about burning the place down, Bobby's chuckle disappears as he sighs. Again, typical John. He shakes his head but watches as John allows the fire to spread. To be fair, the other mutant has a point. There doesn't seem to be a way out and maybe burning down a couple of buildings might actually get them out.
Though, ever the cautious and reasonable one between them, Bobby makes sure to put out the fires behind them, only allowing John to breach his fire so they can find a way out. ]
We'll get out of here, don't worry. [ Bobby looks around, trying to find an escape route of some sorts. ]