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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.
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The flames have him and another teenager dealing with some pocketbook thieves. He's using ice to propel himself while his counterpart is using some kind of explosive propulsion.
"I'm from Musutafu. I don't really know if I wanted to experience new things."
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"Pleasure meeting you, Shoto. If there's one thing you could change about what you were experiencing back home, what would it be?"
Inanna hasn't known anyone who wants everything to stay exactly the same. There's always better or more or something.
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He's not one for avoiding questions, but he's trying to think of something.
"...I...don't have an answer for that."
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"You don't have to share anything you don't want to," Inanna says, "at least with me. I'll tell you something I would want to change, something I've figured out here but it remains to see, should I go home, if I will take that with me. If it will work.
"I want to be a god without it killing me or others. See, back home, someone tied her life, her immortality, to that of other gods, to killing those gods every ninety years to gain ninety years of life. The only way to end it, the only way to stop her, was for all of us to give up our divinity. So we did. Ending that cycle of violence and death was more important than being a god."
Inanna smiles sadly as the flames show the situation atop Valhalla, the confrontation with Minerva, Minerva who was Ananke. Fortunately, it doesn't show how Valentine ensured that situation would last. How Inanna wishes they could change that.
"Being a god can kill you, but it's also a beautiful thing. Here I've learned how to do both, to be both," Inanna closes their eyes. As on the rooftop, purple pink glows off them until everything divine in their appearance leaves. They're just Zahid. "Being true to myself is something I always wish to do."
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To him, he's conflicted, and it's complicated, so he tries anyway. "If you know someone who is important and admired for everything he does...but he's not a very good person. Does that matter?"
In the flames, a gigantic looking man who carries so much fire that his face is aflame, speeding through the streets in his hero costume, and racing to save someone.
It probably doesn't matter, does it? As long as there is a lot of good in the world thanks to them.
"I don't know anything about being a god. It seems kind of a strange concept to meet someone who claims to be." Inanna seems nice, but Shoto isn't sure what they mean when they say they're a god.
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"The good does not erase the bad," Inanna says, "If he hurts someone, if he does bad things, it matters. All those people who admire him deserve to know. Then they can decide if they still admire him and what they want to do about what he's done. Some people might not care, but many will."
They care. That person might not be here, but Inanna still wants to help this teenager with whatever happened to him. They smile. "Gods are much more common in my world than most worlds people here come from. I'm not surprised."
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"Not when it's the current Number 1. As a hero he's very impressive. I understand why people admire him."
However, he has skeletons in the closet. Is that normal? Maybe.
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"Tell me about him," Inanna suggests, "I'll listen, and I'll care. I'm independent, and I don't listen to authority simply because they're authority."
The flames show a scene. A gathering at Valhalla after Lucifer died. Inanna refuses to listen to what Ananke says is the best thing to do. After arguing, Baal punches Inanna and hard. They don't care. They storm out of the meeting to do their own thing. To do the right thing. Inanna smiles bittersweet at the memory. Baal wasn't a bad guy, not really, but he did terrible things. Ananke figured out how to control him. To get him to do that.
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"Oh. Endeavor?" Shoto asks, blinking a moment.
"Well he reached number one because All Might retired. He never could catch him on his own, I think that's what pisses him off the most. He works a lot, has one of the biggest agencies in Japan and hires a lot of sidekicks. It's been very lucrative for him."
None of that was really modifying the flame, aside from a look at Endeavor, a strong, broad, tall man in a bodysuit covered in his own flames, he even uses flames to replace facial hair. It's an intimidating look to villains and anyone who comes across him.
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However, how serious or silly the man looks is not the point. Inanna looks back at Shoto at the end of the description. It's not the description they expected.
"Okay," Inanna says, "How is he a bad person?"
The public hero persona while being a bad person gives Inanna a sinking feeling there's some parallel with Woden. That might be projection, however.
cw: domestic abuse
Even at home he's a big, menacing, imposing man with a flaming beard and the white haired woman is cowering at his feet as he swings his fist at her, two small children with white hair cowering in the background.
Shoto himself, barely old enough to not be called a toddler anymore tries to interfere with a protest and he's promptly thrown across the room for the effort.
cw: body horror
"That... this," Inanna motions around them, "is wrong. No amount of lives saved makes it right, and a world that lets him get away with it isn't a just one."
They sigh. "I can't say my world's a better one. Woden, another of the gods, became a god by sacrificing his son. Cut off Mimir's head and stored both body and head in his secret basement lab. Got him to work the miracles for him. Laura and Cass and the Norns, they rescued all of us at the same time."
Though Inanna doesn't know all the details about Mimir's imprisonment. That's not what shows in the flames. Instead, it's the rescue: someone opening the door to a dark place and lifting up Inanna's head. Inanna's head without a body, lips sewn shut and runes carved into their face. They're carried in someone's arms as a group flies away, the view limited.
cw: child abuse
"People don't know...or don't care, probably." Shoto murmurs. "There was no reason for him to hurt her. I won't forgive him that. For me, it's just training so I can be the best."
Training that seems to include Enji slamming his fist into a five year old child and demanding he get up. Punching him so hard he doubles over vomiting. Rei comes into the room to plead with him to stop and is shoved out of the way. He's only five years old? No, he's already five.
Dragged to his feet with jerk to his arm and Enji shoves him back. Shoto can't help but totter on his feet but he does as he's told, trying to punch him with his small fist and immediately getting slammed back down on the ground. He's weak.
cw: child abuse
"That is not training," Inanna says firmly, "That is child abuse. That is the stuff of nightmares. You deserved to be protected from that. That doesn't make you the best. It only hurts you. If you're the best, it's in spite of that, not because of it."
Inanna feels sick watching it. It's far worse than what they experienced, in their opinion. They were an adult. They accepted godhood and expected death. This is a child. A small child. Inanna cannot alter what happens in the memories, and they force themselves to focus on the person in front of them, the living breathing person.
"Do you know when I became the best at what I can do? When I accepted myself fully, when I questioned the behaviors of mine that hurt others, and when I worked to improve myself. That's what made me as incredible as I am today. Even before then, though, I was an incredible person. It's taken years to see and to appreciate that, to understand I didn't simply become me, become this, overnight. It was in late nights sewing cosplay, even when I hid behind a mask. It was hours and hours researching everything I cared about. It was learning to be bolder online than I knew how to be in person."
The flames show Zahid before they became a god. A high schooler. A college student. A shy, quiet forgettable nerd. "I was the ultimate wall flower, and even back then, I was amazing. I just couldn't see it then."
cw: child abuse
"I am glad that you stopped hurting people." Shoto says honestly, softly, although he knows that can mean many things.
"I hurt my mom and my sister, even though I don't mean to."
The fire does not reveal some violent outburst, just Fuyumi talking to Shoto with a worried expression and Shoto looking rather blank.
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"Sometimes, you and the person you love aren't compatible, can't be together without hurting each other," Inanna says, "If we'd talked more, we could have realized that before we hurt each other so much. I'm lucky in Folkmore. I've been honest about what I need from people, and I've found people who will love me as I am, who I can love as myself without hurting. Not more than being human and caring for people ever does."
Inanna watches Shoto in the flames and the person who clearly looks related. The hair color is distributed differently, but it's the same. Perhaps it isn't dyed? Or if it is, they're really committed to a similar look. Nearby, Inanna appears in the flames a couple times. One is with Viktor, a soft moment where they convince him to take a break for his own good. In another, Inanna eats food with Nines near a river as giant carved out pumpkins with people in them float down the river. They aren't huge moments. They're good ones nonetheless.
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"It's...my fault. I don't do what she asks." He admits. "I probably should."
This thought has crossed his mind before, but the moment he sees his father, he can't control his temper. He probably should be better than that, but it's hard.
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This boy is not particularly contrarian. He wouldn't refuse to do something simply because someone asked. Shoto has a reason, Inanna's sure of it. They aren't sure what she's asking, but even something that sounds simple or "easy" doesn't mean it is, not in the specific circumstances and relationship.
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What she wants appears in the flame, the four of them sitting down to dinner, but it always ends the same. Natsuo, an older man who is probably under twenty himself getting up and yelling at their father before storming off, even though Enji tries to get him to stay. Shoto saying something and slurping his noodles rather aggressively and Fuyumi turning to scold him.
Whatever Enji says in response has Shoto's shoulders rising a bit as he curls in on himself. He's not brave enough to just walk out, so he just has to put up with being scolded for his sharp tongue.
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Inanna traces a hand with starlight around the image of Shoto, leaving a profile of body language, of pain, shining about it. "This is hurt," Inanna says, "Emotional hurt. Hurt in your heart. That meal clearly hurt both of you. The other guy expressed it, and you did too in your own way."
Please, they want to say, recognize that you're in pain. "What she wants hurts you. That's why you haven't been able to give it to her."
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"Natsuo and I just get angry and he always storms out and she just wants us to be nice and get along." Shoto explains.
"Which...I guess I could try harder to do, since dad said he's better now."
It's just a conversation, this time Enji is trying to speak to Shoto with something closer to a smile, but the man always looks imposing and angry naturally, and without asking he just walks up and makes a grab for Shoto, who is quick to slap his hand away and step back, looking cross. The words and his body language had been 'don't touch me'.
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"Explain to me why you get angry. Then tell me, is it wrong that you get angry?"
Inanna's still trying, but they don't expect much for this first meeting. Some goddess they are, it feels like. Yet they know it's a long slow effort that matters. Not the flashy god stuff.
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Shoto doesn't say it, but he's also testing him. He's pushing the limits and testing boundaries. His father says things have changed? Then he should be able to run his mouth.
"Yeah. I'm doing it on purpose." Shoto murmurs. "And it upsets Fuyumi, and it makes dad mad, and it's not really in the things I'm permitted to do but it keeps happening anyway."
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Inanna doesn't realize the sensitive point they may have just pressed. It's simply a logical easy metaphor.
"Fuyumi should support you trying to get your dad to rebuild trust. That's the key to getting what she wants. Helping you and your brother."
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"No, I don't trust him." Shoto says without hesitation. "I have no reason to trust him."
That's probably the wrong thing to say, isn't it?
"I think she talks to him too, but I don't know."
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