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August-September 2024 Test Drive Meme
August-September 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 a canon item from home, 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: Potential Wilderness Survival, Potential Death
New Star Children arrive in Amrita Academy, the largest school in Folkmore. They might arrive in the medical wing, or they could arrive in areas of the school that don't look like a school at all: forests with animals to hunt or gather, including for their medicinal properties; rocky crags with climbing routes; fields full of growing grains; meadows with sheep covered in soft wool; lakes and rivers with unusual denizens. It's like a miniature of Folkmore all in one school.
A fox with a clipped ear and a few scars greets each Star Child upon arrival. She explains that while things can be summoned with Lore, the best survivors learn to scavenge and to find what they need. New Star Children haven't earned much Lore yet, so that surely applies to them double. In fact, as befits a survival school, there are items that will help Star Children survive hidden all around and immediately outside the school. Star Children are directed to make a list on their Relic of everything they think they need to survive. Once made, the list cannot be changed. They will be more likely to find those items than others (though it will not be impossible).
Race, jog, or stroll around the expansive school in search of these items: clothes, bags, first aid kits, tents, survival supplies, etc. They might be harder to find than expected as they will be miniature and in little cubes aka survival squares (a misnomer). These cubes may be tucked away above, below, beside, or inside something. They also may float against a rock face or in the air among tree branches. The most likely locations are those densest in Lore. The longer Star Children explore, the more they will realize that these cubes are best and most easily obtained by working together. In fact, they will try to dodge and avoid the grip of a Star Child more than ten feet away from any other Star Child. Perhaps that's because two Star Children interacting are creating Lore and a Lore dense location? Once two Star Children touch the cube at the same time, the cube will disappear, and the item inside will grow to full size. Congratulations on being one step closer to survival. Remember to share.
Come mid-September, few cubes will remain inside the school. Star Children will have to check the perimeter of the school to find more survival squares. That task grows exponentially harder as the cubes are in the molasses-thick moat of concentrated Lore surrounding the school. Should anyone dip their spoon in the moat, in the Lorasses if you will, they will find that it tastes sweet, a rich spicy sweetness. Amazing! Less amazing? It is impossible to get past the moat of Lorasses. No matter how strong a swimmer or oarsman, it is impossible to make headway through or atop the Lorasses. Anyone attempting to fly across the moat will find themselves slapped by a giant sticky slappy hand rising like a goliath from the depths with perfect aim. Star Children can find themselves slapped anywhere from the shore to the center of the school. Star Children are free to get creative with ways to dig the survival squares out of the Lorasses, but beware! They'll have difficulty freeing themselves on their own from the sticky substance, should they fall in.
Since Star Children are likely to find themselves in sticky situations quite literally, they may be pleased to know that Amrita Academy has showers available for use. Unfortunately, due to one student's experiment, the shampoo is all made of beer. That's right, beer. It's good for one's hair! Or so the study should demonstrate. Be sure to fill out a feedback card outside the locker rooms.
New Star Children arrive in Amrita Academy, the largest school in Folkmore. They might arrive in the medical wing, or they could arrive in areas of the school that don't look like a school at all: forests with animals to hunt or gather, including for their medicinal properties; rocky crags with climbing routes; fields full of growing grains; meadows with sheep covered in soft wool; lakes and rivers with unusual denizens. It's like a miniature of Folkmore all in one school.
A fox with a clipped ear and a few scars greets each Star Child upon arrival. She explains that while things can be summoned with Lore, the best survivors learn to scavenge and to find what they need. New Star Children haven't earned much Lore yet, so that surely applies to them double. In fact, as befits a survival school, there are items that will help Star Children survive hidden all around and immediately outside the school. Star Children are directed to make a list on their Relic of everything they think they need to survive. Once made, the list cannot be changed. They will be more likely to find those items than others (though it will not be impossible).
Race, jog, or stroll around the expansive school in search of these items: clothes, bags, first aid kits, tents, survival supplies, etc. They might be harder to find than expected as they will be miniature and in little cubes aka survival squares (a misnomer). These cubes may be tucked away above, below, beside, or inside something. They also may float against a rock face or in the air among tree branches. The most likely locations are those densest in Lore. The longer Star Children explore, the more they will realize that these cubes are best and most easily obtained by working together. In fact, they will try to dodge and avoid the grip of a Star Child more than ten feet away from any other Star Child. Perhaps that's because two Star Children interacting are creating Lore and a Lore dense location? Once two Star Children touch the cube at the same time, the cube will disappear, and the item inside will grow to full size. Congratulations on being one step closer to survival. Remember to share.
Come mid-September, few cubes will remain inside the school. Star Children will have to check the perimeter of the school to find more survival squares. That task grows exponentially harder as the cubes are in the molasses-thick moat of concentrated Lore surrounding the school. Should anyone dip their spoon in the moat, in the Lorasses if you will, they will find that it tastes sweet, a rich spicy sweetness. Amazing! Less amazing? It is impossible to get past the moat of Lorasses. No matter how strong a swimmer or oarsman, it is impossible to make headway through or atop the Lorasses. Anyone attempting to fly across the moat will find themselves slapped by a giant sticky slappy hand rising like a goliath from the depths with perfect aim. Star Children can find themselves slapped anywhere from the shore to the center of the school. Star Children are free to get creative with ways to dig the survival squares out of the Lorasses, but beware! They'll have difficulty freeing themselves on their own from the sticky substance, should they fall in.
Since Star Children are likely to find themselves in sticky situations quite literally, they may be pleased to know that Amrita Academy has showers available for use. Unfortunately, due to one student's experiment, the shampoo is all made of beer. That's right, beer. It's good for one's hair! Or so the study should demonstrate. Be sure to fill out a feedback card outside the locker rooms.
- All new Star Children arrive in Amrita Academy.
- Star Children are greeted by a fox who prompts them to write a list of what they need to survive. These lists cannot be changed once made.
- Star Children search for tiny cubes with survival supplies, especially ones on their lists.
- Star Children must work together to catch & open the cubes.
- Come mid-September, Amrita Academy is surrounded by a Lore-rich molasses moat—Lorasses. Thou shalt not pass.
- Once the moat arrives, most cubes are in the moat. Shower to get clean afterward with beer for shampoo.
Content Warnings: Forced Close Contact, Coerced Behavior
It can be stressful to arrive in a new place among strangers and strange things. It can be even more stressful, sometimes, to be among people one knows. The fact remains that in Folkmore, no one is an island. The Shattered Spoon Shrine is a testament to that. Interact or perish. Those interactions usually don't even have to be positive. An emotionally charged argument generates Lore same as a touching reunion. However, Amrita's iteration has taken charge of Folkmore this month. She values cooperation and connection.
What does this mean for Star Children? It's time to get along.
When Star Children fight—physically, vocally, emotionally—they get stuck together in a magical t-shirt. This plain white t-shirt has 'This is our get along shirt' written on it on both sides, one in each Star Child's handwriting. (If a Star Child does not have handwriting, Thirteen will invent a handwriting she feels best represents them). The shirt works exactly as written on the tin. Until the two Star Children can get along, they will be stuck together in the shirt. Getting along can look a few different ways. It could be working through the reason they were fighting. It could be cooperating to accomplish something else. It could be helping someone else together. It could be large or small. Somehow, Star Children will have to get along to accomplish something.
The shirt will disappear, leaving them standing next to each other, only to reappear duplicated in each of their hands, perfectly sized to fit each individual. Should they so choose, either can be used for a repeat performance, with both of them trapped inside again. While the same condition will apply—they must get along to get out of the shirt—the shirt will now make it easier for them to work it out. Note: only the two people who originally wore the shirt can put it back on. No one else can wear these shirts.
One time only, a Star Child's cooperative escape will have an additional prize: their souvenir t-shirt will be wrapped around an item from either their home universe or their partner's. That's right, getting along can get a Star Child something from another universe.
It can be stressful to arrive in a new place among strangers and strange things. It can be even more stressful, sometimes, to be among people one knows. The fact remains that in Folkmore, no one is an island. The Shattered Spoon Shrine is a testament to that. Interact or perish. Those interactions usually don't even have to be positive. An emotionally charged argument generates Lore same as a touching reunion. However, Amrita's iteration has taken charge of Folkmore this month. She values cooperation and connection.
What does this mean for Star Children? It's time to get along.
When Star Children fight—physically, vocally, emotionally—they get stuck together in a magical t-shirt. This plain white t-shirt has 'This is our get along shirt' written on it on both sides, one in each Star Child's handwriting. (If a Star Child does not have handwriting, Thirteen will invent a handwriting she feels best represents them). The shirt works exactly as written on the tin. Until the two Star Children can get along, they will be stuck together in the shirt. Getting along can look a few different ways. It could be working through the reason they were fighting. It could be cooperating to accomplish something else. It could be helping someone else together. It could be large or small. Somehow, Star Children will have to get along to accomplish something.
The shirt will disappear, leaving them standing next to each other, only to reappear duplicated in each of their hands, perfectly sized to fit each individual. Should they so choose, either can be used for a repeat performance, with both of them trapped inside again. While the same condition will apply—they must get along to get out of the shirt—the shirt will now make it easier for them to work it out. Note: only the two people who originally wore the shirt can put it back on. No one else can wear these shirts.
One time only, a Star Child's cooperative escape will have an additional prize: their souvenir t-shirt will be wrapped around an item from either their home universe or their partner's. That's right, getting along can get a Star Child something from another universe.
- When Star Children get in a fight of any kind, not just physical, they get stuck together in a magical t-shirt.
- The shirt says “This is our get along shirt” front and back in characters’ own handwriting (or imagined handwriting).
- As written on the tin, Star Children are stuck until they figure out how to get along
- When they separate, both partners will get a copy of the t-shirt that fits them. They can choose to get back into said t-shirt together to figure out how to get along easier in the future.
- One time only, Star Children receive an item from their home universe or their partner’s.
no subject
her purple-grey dress has dragonflies on it, not direwolves. it's difficult to mistake lady padding after her in a matching collar, but starks had not been known to keep direwolves as companions before her and her siblings.
it occurs to her that the tullys declared for the blacks before lord cregan marched south. she does have a needle case shaped like a small silver fish on the chatelaine clipped to her wide leather belt, along with the needle-end of her necklace. there's nothing to be done about it now.
she holds a sack that already seems very full. she has spent a lot of time thinking about survival and provisioned many dangerous excursions since leaving the vale.
she lifts her hand. a lady's courtesy is her armor.]
I'm sure I can find another.
[she smiles coldly. she'd like very much to make a graceful exit, but she doubts it'll be that easy. besides––]
I have found two star children need to touch the boxes to release the enchantment, and I should be glad to help you retrieve your cloak.
[she tells herself he might not be who she thinks he is, and if he is, she's better off proving herself useful before leaving as quickly as possible, and besides, he can't possibly hate the starks as much as joffrey.]
no subject
( Aemond may only have one eye but he notices the fish on her chatelaine and it intrigues him. Is she a Tully or a Tully bastard? The only Tullys he knows of are old Lord Grover and his young grandson Oscar. )
Is your bastard name Rivers, by chance? You dress like a highborn girl but you are no Tully in spite of that fish. It doesn't affect anything about the boxes, we can still look together if you think that's what the damned fox wants, but it is curious given House Tully only has an old man for a lord and a child as an heir.
no subject
that makes some things easier. she still has no idea what the greens knew about cregan stark at the time.]
My lady mother was born a Tully of Riverrun. I think you'll find things here might be different to what you knew in the realm. Even princes are expected to share their provisions.
[she can't be sure, but he certainly sounds like a prince, and no one else in the dance had been recorded losing an eye. she rests her hand on the box.]
We're meant to be searching together for what's on both our lists. It's much harder to find the boxes on your own. This place runs on a magic called Lore, and we generate it when we speak to one another. I don't know if the Lady Fox told you very much about it.
You'll need a good deal if you intend to summon your dragon.
no subject
( The girl explains that her mother was a Tully of House Tully and the only thing he can imagine is that Lord Elmo's wife must have dallied because otherwise, how would she be? Of course, someone could always have lied to her. Lying to bastards about their noble origins is nothing new. )
So if I want to summon Vhagar, I have to talk to people? That seems like a tiresome task even if it is an easy one. Why would I want to talk to people when there's work to be done?
no subject
You left Westeros and its houses when you chose to follow that fox, my prince. Lady Thirteen rules this land, and she doesn't need a sword or a dragon to kill you. You might choose to believe she wishes to help us improve ourselves, or you might believe she's using us to generate Lore––but we are here by her magic, and at her mercy.
[she's known kings to attempt to overthrow the ruling powers before, and she suspects he might consider it. she strongly suspects that killing the fox would kill the entire world, and she has no wish to see that much power in the hands of a mortal––particularly a man from her own realm. she'll have to make him see sense, if he doesn't already.]
I had thought the work of a prince involved a good deal of talking to people. Perhaps she thinks you could make a great diplomat. Perhaps she'd like to see what you might do with your life, unburdened by war.
[she pauses carefully––but she expects she'll have to introduce herself at some point. and anyone could tell him who the red-haired girl with the big wolf is.]
But of course I'm only guessing. Foxes aren't the purview of my house, either––only wolves.
[sansa is practiced enough now to warg foxes as well as wolves, but that's besides the point. and foxes are more often than not thirteen in disguise here anyway.]
no subject
Especially when she talks of this realm not being Westeros and it belonging to Lady Thirteen, the fox he'd seen in the wood. He had thought it was the work of some witch but it seems there's something else here if she's saying that the fox rules the realm. )
My father did a lot of talking. It did no good in the end because the entire realm's at war because of his talking about this heir and that. The best course is to take action, swiftly, and be confident in what you do. Your opponent will not wait for you to finish talking.
You, however, I cannot make sense of. First a fish, then a wolf? Did some Tully cousin get a bastard on a Stark? Or was it the other way around? Is it Rivers or is it Snow?
no subject
stone, she thinks. but she isn't alayne anymore. she curtsies (but she does not bend the knee).]
It is Lady Sansa of house Stark, daughter of Lord Eddard and his lady Catelyn Tully. Some hundred and seventy years have passed from your time to my own. My maester never told me you were rude.
I might have told you my name was Alysanne Blackwood, and this fish a token from my intended––who wasn't very much younger than you.
I literally apologize for how mean he is Sansa is my favorite character in all of Game of Thrones
( Sansa seems convinced of it just like she'd been convinced that this was the fox's realm so he's willing to go along with it for argument's sake. It's an exercise in thought at least and makes as much sense as a wood witch or a magical fox. If it is true, he's at least been remembered over a century later. He means something. )
What did your maester say? That we all sat around drinking wine and sewing tapestries? He didn't know his histories very well. That's his failing, not yours. I think the Starks and Tullys declared for Rhaenyra, not my brother. Of course, everyone changes their minds when there's a dragon outside their castle walls, so you're no enemy of mine. Now, if you were a Blackwood, we would be at arms.
dw this is nothing to her
Maester Luwin told me of your crimes; he said nothing of your manners. The last kinslayer I knew was kinder to me than most in King's Landing.
[apart from going along with the marriage forced upon them.......and whatever happened with the eye, she can't imagine prince lucerys deserved it as much as tywin lannister, but it seems unwise to say so at the moment.
she has met other people since who've had cause to kill family members, but none with the weight that carried in westeros.]
He was polite enough to strangers, at least. Do you always ask girls if they're baseborn because of they way they dress, or is it only if you think they might have an ear at a castle you hope to win? My maester also told me Lord Grover never declared for anyone so long as he lived.
[she doesn't mention that it has since come to light that he had wished to declare for the greens, and his heirs had covered it up at the time.
she wonders how she could possible prove the years that had passed. she could use an illusion spell to show him something of the red keep––but she has no idea how it might have looked to him, and she really does not want to tell him about robert's rebellion.
but there is one thing in king's landing that couldn't have existed in aemond's time––a building whose imagine is seared into sansa's mind nearly as well as winterfell. she sings a few notes and an image of the sept of baelor, about one square foot in all, appears between them.]
Baelor the Blessed, first of his name, had this sept built atop Visenya's Hill. Even he didn't live to see it finished. I learned this spell from a great mage here. You could learn magic too, if you wanted. And if I wanted to tell you a lie, I wouldn't have made it sound so stupid.
[the image persists awkwardly for a full minute.]
no subject
( His tone isn't conciliatory but it isn't mocking either. It's more neutral than anything - she is not his enemy and she is not a Dragonrider. She's just a girl who has a wolf. It's truce enough that she's told him he's remembered in the histories enough to be talked about to highborn girls during their lessons. When she sings and draws up an image of a sept, a giant one, he arches his brow. )
That just tells me that you know how to do magic and have an imagination. There's no reason for me to believe that sept actually exists. I won't question you on the parentage of this Baelor the Blessed. You could spin me a tale as convincing as this sept. All I do know about you is that you know this war I'm in and that you are from Westeros. I even believe you are a Stark, even if you don't look one, because you have that wolf and you have the North in your speech.
no subject
You are forgiven. A king can always legitimize a bastard––or a queen.
[she has had cause to uphold the pact of ice and fire since leaving the realm, but that is all she will say on the subject!! she does not huff or roll her eyes at his disbelief, though it's tempting.
it's also tempting to tell him who baelor the blessed's father was, though as he specifically didn't ask, she won't.]
We don't have great septs in the North. I could never have imagined what one looked like before we went to King's Landing. I still couldn't tell you what the Starry Sept looks like, because I haven't seen it. I could summon you a golden dragon with the new king on it, and you still might only say I made it up. I have no reason to tell you it was the year three hundred when I left, except to explain my name and coloring. If I had told you my name was Catelyn Rivers and my lord father was Elmo Tully, we could have found you any number of cloaks by now.
[she pauses. she doesn't know when exactly direwolves had gone extinct below the wall, and she's keen to learn all she can about traditions of the first men lost to time.]
Did Lord Cregan have a wolf, or his father? Did somebody tell you that?
no subject
( It isn't often that he's impressed by anything, truly, but it had reminded him of his father to see the miniature building captured in such detail. His father had loved his figurines, after all, and to see that sept would have pleased him. )
No, Lord Cregan doesn't have a wolf so far as I know. I have not met him myself and if I have, it must have been when I was a child. Starks do not leave their Wall and their Winterfell for much. It just seems that a Stark would have a wolf more than anyone else. Stern people, Northmen. Always worried for winter when war is on the brink in summer.
no subject
Winter always follows summer. There's little point in winning a war only to starve afterwards, and be finished off by plague.
[and a well-stocked army will always beat a hungry one, especially in poor weather. but she remembers who he marches against.]
We may not leave the North much, but we don't spend all our time up by the Wall.
[though they do have a habit of taking targaryens there....]
My lord father visited every keep in the North––though not often enough for Lord Manderly's liking, I'm told.
[she unhooks the branching weirwood spoon from her chatelaine.]
As I said, anyone can learn magic here. You might have earned enough Lore to summon something small yourself. Bread and salt, perhaps, or a little wine. Nothing you remember from the realm, if you hope to summon your dragon sooner rather than later. You only have to ask your spoon to make it for you, as you would a servant.
[she holds out her other hand and aims the spoon at it.]
A thin cloak of black wool, please.
[and one appears bundled in her hand! she doesn't actually need to speak her request aloud, but she thinks it might be easier for someone unused to magic if they did, at first.]
no subject
He's genuinely surprised when she summons the cloak and squints at her. )
You did that solely through talking to me, then? Summoned that cloak out of thin air? Or was it something else you had stored in that spoon?
no subject
hopefully....]
All our Lore is stored in our spoons. I don't know how much of it came from talking with you. All of it comes from talking with someone, though, or sending messages.
[she hooks her spoon back onto her chatelaine.]
You should know that anybody here could do this. Everyone here knows their letters, and much more besides. Most people here have a trade, and no one wants to work in service. They'll expect you to clean your own quarters and launder your clothes with machines, and you'll have to find your food yourself––your dragon's, too, if you summon her.
You can take lessons for these things here at Amrita Academy, if you like. This place has half a dozen schools like the Citadel, but all for different things. Anyone can study at any of them, and you could even teach classes if you're good enough.
[she smiles faintly.]
Perhaps you could teach people about dragons.
[because somehow this had fallen to her the last time a dragon came through from her world, and she would really rather leave it to the experts next time.]
no subject
When she mentions he could teach people about dragons after he summoned Vhagar, he shrugs. )
I'm no maester. What I know of dragons is what every Targaryen knows of dragons - how to tame one and how to ride one. It isn't much use to anyone without Targaryen or Velaryon blood.
no subject
though it might help with what she has to say next.]
That's true of our world, but there are other magics here, and other dragons.
[it is probably not the time to tell him about the new dragonriders she helped in trench...]
I saw a dragon here that talked like anyone. He seemed to think all humans very lowborn. Perhaps he needs a combat teacher who might show him otherwise.
[she has not seen that dragon since, but the point remains. her brows pull together slightly, her eyes bright blue with curiosity.]
Our maesters could only tell us things people had said about the Targaryen dragons. Did your maesters know any more than that?
[she vaguely recalls hearing that baelor the blessed had tried to destroy septon barth's unnatural histories, a book she had discovered and referenced through magical means. it is a little tempting to tell aemond this.]
no subject
( It's strange, the things she knows and doesn't know. How have they forgotten about dragons entirely? His whole life has been about claiming a dragon, riding one, learning to go to war atop one - now it's maesters just telling stories about them? She's seen one, at least, and knows something of them. )
They only speak High Valyrian. It's the only language that can control a dragon. They know what they eat and how much of it, know how to calm one. They're not Targaryens so I doubt one of them has ever tried to steal a dragon but if they did, they would know what they were getting into. Dragons respect authority and strength. Not weakness. You cannot tremble in front of a dragon and expect to live.