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October-November 2024 Test Drive Meme
October-November 2024 Test Drive
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. 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.
Content Warnings: Natural Disaster/Natural Disaster Relief
It seems as if the Star Children will be restricted to Amrita Academy forever, when nothing changes at the one month mark. Yet, after another week has stretched endlessly past, a morning dawns to show that the moat of Lorasses has vanished. The way is clear to discover what the chaotic storms have left behind.
Most of Folkmore's resident spirits return. Good thing Catbus is among them because the train is not operating. Debris litters the tracks throughout the land. Someone's going to have to work to clean all of that up before normal schedules can resume... within the first week or so, everyone fervently hopes.
That is far from the only wreckage from those storms. As Star Children have seen, even Amrita Academy hasn't really been spared; between the Lorasses moat and the various structures built to weather the storms, the past weeks have left a mark on the school.
The rest of Willow shows signs of extreme growth and age, as if decades, not weeks, have passed. Epiphany and Tides suffer major flood damage, and Exile is entirely soggy and saturated with a sense of sorrow. Avalanche debris covers Wintermute, and the mountains aren't in the same place. Cruel Summer is even dryer, cracked, and in part of it littered with exploded, partially melted robot parts. Never Fade may be the best off; the ground has leveled off, and only the unsecured outdoor items have crashed around or dropped off the island. In general, all regions show signs of warping.
Talaria has been outright knocked down (once again) and will need to be rebuilt (once again). The contents of Talarian homes have been thriftily saved by Thirteen (yet again). They'll be back as soon as the homes are ready to be redecorated! There's also a new elevator connecting Tides to a platform in the ocean at surface level, making it a little bit easier to get in or out of the neighborhood. Fly, swim, or use a boat from Nereid marina to reach it.
Many of the buildings throughout Folkmore, businesses and residences alike, have been damaged, some past the point of habitability. For better or worse, some residences will wait unclaimed, as their resident spirits have not returned from wherever they went while gone from Folkmore. Newly arriving Star Children (or those interested in relocating) just might find those residences awfully appealing. As with all unoccupied homes in Folkmore, they're free real estate.
Each neighborhood has a new (and structurally-sound) building near its center: a hospitality station of sorts, stocked with basic foods (to suit a variety of dietary needs, relevant to the known local residents), clean water, personal protective equipment, basic tool kits, fresh clothing, and clean linens. For those ill equipped to cook for themselves for whatever reason, there's also a canteen/soup kitchen area. The canteen tends to collect idle spirits and Star Children who might be willing to assist with any cleanup tasks too big or too complex for one person to tackle on their own.
Working with the neighbors has an additional benefit, of course: sooner or later, whether while helping clear the train tracks or fixing up someone's home or business (including a Star Child's own), shifting the debris will reveal a weathered container of some sort, locked up tight, that will only fall open at a touch if and when the right Star Child finds it. There is only one chest per Star Child. Inside, is an item from home, either that of the resident whose house/business it's found in or the one keyed to the lock. It may even be a magical item or weapon.
There's some good news as well, in the midst of all the chaos: most Star Children will find that their homes are wholly unharmed; their pets, companions, Pokémon, etc. are all hale and hearty, having spent the entire time cozily asleep in their boxfoxes — which can be reused if kept, and just as easily abandoned now that they've released their occupants.
It seems as if the Star Children will be restricted to Amrita Academy forever, when nothing changes at the one month mark. Yet, after another week has stretched endlessly past, a morning dawns to show that the moat of Lorasses has vanished. The way is clear to discover what the chaotic storms have left behind.
Most of Folkmore's resident spirits return. Good thing Catbus is among them because the train is not operating. Debris litters the tracks throughout the land. Someone's going to have to work to clean all of that up before normal schedules can resume... within the first week or so, everyone fervently hopes.
That is far from the only wreckage from those storms. As Star Children have seen, even Amrita Academy hasn't really been spared; between the Lorasses moat and the various structures built to weather the storms, the past weeks have left a mark on the school.
Other regions show clear signs of the warping they have endured similarly.
- Wintermute alternated between blinding light and pitch blackness, with mountains growing and crumbling away alike. Cabins were transformed into igloos.
- Willow experienced all the seasons in a matter of days multiple times, growing crops and new trees, losing old ones, and its buildings weathered as though through decades.
- In Epiphany, the streets ran with water so high it was difficult to walk, and the buildings shifted to reflect related settings.
- Cruel Summer grew hotter and more oppressive, so that survival away from the Selkie River was impossible. On the 13th, there was an explosion, and it rained robot parts.
- Exile was swallowed entirely by the Swamp of Sorrows, leaving no dry land.
- Tides filled with water, dark deep water that could not readily be seen through.
- Never Fade became even more purple, with a thick haze that erased visibilty of borders. It also became steeper, so there was no flat ground.
The rest of Willow shows signs of extreme growth and age, as if decades, not weeks, have passed. Epiphany and Tides suffer major flood damage, and Exile is entirely soggy and saturated with a sense of sorrow. Avalanche debris covers Wintermute, and the mountains aren't in the same place. Cruel Summer is even dryer, cracked, and in part of it littered with exploded, partially melted robot parts. Never Fade may be the best off; the ground has leveled off, and only the unsecured outdoor items have crashed around or dropped off the island. In general, all regions show signs of warping.
Talaria has been outright knocked down (once again) and will need to be rebuilt (once again). The contents of Talarian homes have been thriftily saved by Thirteen (yet again). They'll be back as soon as the homes are ready to be redecorated! There's also a new elevator connecting Tides to a platform in the ocean at surface level, making it a little bit easier to get in or out of the neighborhood. Fly, swim, or use a boat from Nereid marina to reach it.
Many of the buildings throughout Folkmore, businesses and residences alike, have been damaged, some past the point of habitability. For better or worse, some residences will wait unclaimed, as their resident spirits have not returned from wherever they went while gone from Folkmore. Newly arriving Star Children (or those interested in relocating) just might find those residences awfully appealing. As with all unoccupied homes in Folkmore, they're free real estate.
Each neighborhood has a new (and structurally-sound) building near its center: a hospitality station of sorts, stocked with basic foods (to suit a variety of dietary needs, relevant to the known local residents), clean water, personal protective equipment, basic tool kits, fresh clothing, and clean linens. For those ill equipped to cook for themselves for whatever reason, there's also a canteen/soup kitchen area. The canteen tends to collect idle spirits and Star Children who might be willing to assist with any cleanup tasks too big or too complex for one person to tackle on their own.
Working with the neighbors has an additional benefit, of course: sooner or later, whether while helping clear the train tracks or fixing up someone's home or business (including a Star Child's own), shifting the debris will reveal a weathered container of some sort, locked up tight, that will only fall open at a touch if and when the right Star Child finds it. There is only one chest per Star Child. Inside, is an item from home, either that of the resident whose house/business it's found in or the one keyed to the lock. It may even be a magical item or weapon.
There's some good news as well, in the midst of all the chaos: most Star Children will find that their homes are wholly unharmed; their pets, companions, Pokémon, etc. are all hale and hearty, having spent the entire time cozily asleep in their boxfoxes — which can be reused if kept, and just as easily abandoned now that they've released their occupants.
- The moat is gone! Freeeeeedom!
- The train is not operating for one week until October 27th due to debris over the tracks.
- Every region of Folkmore shows scars from the past month's extreme disturbances. Things have not reverted to before.
- Most spirits have returned; some remain absent. Claim the free real estate, if quick or bold enough.
- Hospitality stations have appeared in each neighborhood stocked with food, water, clothing, and linens.
- The canteens serve as a social hub and place to ask for/volunteer assistance.
- One time only, cleaning up or moving debris will reveal a container holding an item from home: yours or the person's you're helping.
- Most Star Children's homes will be unharmed; any damage should match the region's damage flavor. The level of destruction is up to you.
- Creatures in boxfoxes are out, fine and dandy! Boxfoxes can be kept/used again.
Offshore near Agrona Academy, there's something new. Something bewildering, maybe. Something growing. There's also something swimming up to any Star Children near the coast: a very large sea turtle, not willing to come far ashore. She's singing and chirping to get attention, in case being big enough to have a six-foot-long shell isn't quite good enough for some reason. (Or the way she has a blue-green bioluminescent glow when underwater, as becomes quite visible around dusk.)
She's happy to explain that she needs a place to lay her eggs. She doesn't have eggs to lay, just yet, but she wants to have her place all ready anyway. To that end she's busily building a brand-new island not very far from shore. It's just over there, visible once she indicates it with a flipper, barely any higher than the waves cresting around it. Here's the sad part: while she's used a great deal of cleverness in building it, from rocks and sand and bits of broken reef, she's all out of construction materials that she can reach! So she needs help: more construction material for the island.
It seems she's got a very loose definition, though, so pretty much anything that can later be covered in sand or dirt is fair game. Lucky that she wants it now. There's a perfect place todump all that debris in the ocean recycle all the debris, anything not structurally sound enough for a repair-in-place job. Bigger is probably better, too. Work together with other Star Children to haul up the big stuff. It brings more and more joy to her songs as she finds the exact place for each and every item, making her island grow bigger and bigger.
Anyone who actively participates will be rewarded five (5) spoons by the turtle directly, as a thank you for helping her to keep her eggs safe. (If anyone asks, she'll explain that it's the number of limbs she has, so she thought it was perfect!) In addition, she gives each person a smooth and shiny sea rock that fits in their palm perfectly! If the island gets big enough to be more than a sandbar, anyone who helped with the construction will find it far more welcoming than those who didn't. She isn't expecting to use anything but the beach.
She's happy to explain that she needs a place to lay her eggs. She doesn't have eggs to lay, just yet, but she wants to have her place all ready anyway. To that end she's busily building a brand-new island not very far from shore. It's just over there, visible once she indicates it with a flipper, barely any higher than the waves cresting around it. Here's the sad part: while she's used a great deal of cleverness in building it, from rocks and sand and bits of broken reef, she's all out of construction materials that she can reach! So she needs help: more construction material for the island.
It seems she's got a very loose definition, though, so pretty much anything that can later be covered in sand or dirt is fair game. Lucky that she wants it now. There's a perfect place to
Anyone who actively participates will be rewarded five (5) spoons by the turtle directly, as a thank you for helping her to keep her eggs safe. (If anyone asks, she'll explain that it's the number of limbs she has, so she thought it was perfect!) In addition, she gives each person a smooth and shiny sea rock that fits in their palm perfectly! If the island gets big enough to be more than a sandbar, anyone who helped with the construction will find it far more welcoming than those who didn't. She isn't expecting to use anything but the beach.
- A large sea turtle—with a 6 foot in diameter shell and about 3 feet tall at the shoulder—starts building an island off Cruel Summer.
- She needs help getting more building supplies. Bring your debris, bigger the better, here!
- All Star Children who help will be rewarded five (5) spoons and a shiny and smooth rock from underwater that fits in their recipients' palms just so.
- Star Children who help find the island more welcoming than those who didn't.
helaena targaryen | house of the dragon/fire and blood | familiar
[the fox speaks of freedom and helaena follows her. if there is a way out of the dance she will take it; all that awaits her in westeros is death.
she finds herself walking through the ruined streets of willow in her nightdress and slippers; it seems the fox was telling the truth about another world, at least. she feels herself changed, too––there is an iridescent shine to her fingernails and hair that puts her in mind of dreamfyre's scales, although they are not blue. the few people she sees do not feel dangerous––her overwhelming sense is one of wonder, though the land itself seems sad somehow.]
Something terrible has happened here.
[she comes to the train tracks and looks down at them briefly, then casts around for someone who seems less puzzled than she is.]
What manner of road is this?
ii. because she feared the worst
[the sea turtle and her eggs remind helaena of dreamfyre, though she is much smaller, and can speak with words. helaena is not used to carrying very many things, though she attempts to gather what stones she can carry into a pile on the beach. and when the turtle sings to her, she sings back, as she so often sung to dreamfyre.]
High in the halls of the kings that were gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts––the ones she had lost and the ones she had found, and the ones who had loved her the most.
iii. and tried to warn the town
[a sudden movement startles helaena, and she finds herself midair––but not even so high as dreamfyre when she's lying down. she feels smaller, somehow, and her arms and legs bend differently––are there more of them? her back beats wildly, which can't be right, and the world is fragmented and whole at the same time.
observers will see a foot long dragonfly with iridescent blue armor.
but helaena panics at this change, and attempts to shout for help––suddenly she is much bigger, but still flying––her arms, now, seem to be moving, and her vision is righted again, though she seems to have a tail, now, and the sound out of her mouth is a deep roar.
for a brief moment, the dragonfly becomes a dragon, roughly human sized, with scales of the same blue hue.
she drops to the ground, and then she is a woman again on her hands and knees. she gasps for a few moments, and then rises to her feet, nervously clenching her hands.]
How strange...
iii
it's a sense she has in spades, only amplified since arriving here - wrong place, wrong time; right place, right time - doesn't matter, as long as someone needs help. she recognizes the creature but not the person behind it. doesn't matter, though. the problem is she doesn't know how to help. if this is the first time this has happened or just a glitch in the whole process. she backs up at the roar, hands up steadily, palms out and fingers splayed.
her mouth opens as the dragonfly becomes dragon, and then just like that...there's a person again.]
You can say that again.
Are ...you okay?
[she keeps a bit of distance, checking the young woman for any injury or lingering feature of change - a thing she's just becoming second nature.]
no subject
I don't know what that is. I have only just arrived.
[she curtsies carefully.]
My name is Helaena Targaryen.
no subject
Oh. It's just---I was just. Yeah. Figure of speech. It's strange, seeing that happen. I was just agreeing with you, there. Gonna guess that was the first time, then?
[she seems okay. that's ...well, people are funny like that. sometimes they seem just fine but they're not. she knows a little about that, she's one of the worst offenders.]
Lady Violet of House Hammerfist, but really I'm just Vi.
[she gives helaena the same little bow she gave aemond, because most of her curtsies seem mocking, and that's not the vibe she's going for yet. she assumes they're related, but she doesn't know how closely - or if they're even from the same time - sansa's history lessons have taught her that much.]
Welcome to Willow, Helaena Targaryen. Glad to make your acquaintance.
[she is on her best behavior, representing the starks, sure, sure, but also? this stuff can be a little (or a lot) overwhelming, and she's not sure what triggered the transformation, but she doesn't want to be a catalyst. so polite and calm it is. so, so chill.]
no subject
It's good to meet you, Lady Vi.
[she looks up and around at their surroundings.]
This is Willow?
no subject
[just in case that's helpful information, which ...she can't see how it wouldn't be. it's good to know where the safezones are. it's the kind of thing she would have done as a waker in trench. it's a good fallback. helaena still seems okay.]
You were a dragon for a moment, there. [a sheepish smile, because no shit, but...] Dragonfly, too.
[she knows dragonflies because of sansa, associates them with her - thinks about the hairband she'd once picked up in the markets of trench - she'd even paid for it, and the next thing she knows it's in her hand. well, not exactly but a very similar pin for a shawl or a cloak that she's suddenly turning over hin her hands. she extends it with the small gift. it's not a welcome bag, but it's something. vi hasn't noticed welcoming gifts being a thing here, but hey ...first time for everything, yeah?]
I have water if that whole thing made you thirsty.
[it looked like a lot.]
no subject
Dragons and dragonflies.
[but then there is a pin in vi's hand and she is presenting to helaena. helaena examines it, eyes wide.]
This is for me?
[usually jewelry is placed onto helaena once she is dressed, sometimes with a brief explanation of the gems featured and their provenance. she's not used to being offered gifts.]
i (cw rabbits as food)
she's found the wherewithal to bother with the whole ensemble today, a basket slung over one arm with two small rabbit carcasses half covered in a piece of cloth, several stones and an array of leaves and other plants. probability of a pale, stowaway spider is high.
what she does notice is the sense of wonder that seems to emanate from her - and she takes a moment to turn on her Sight only to find it doesn't reveal anything truly hidden. it's just willow in the aftermath, or maybe there are things the land just doesn't feel like showing her just now. it's already given up a fair bounty to her basket.
but the words interest her (both sets), and so she stops to look around again, yes, there's age, weather, distress, a hazard of whatever it was that had seized this place, but she does not feel anything lingering. could be that this one's more perceptive, lots of people are, no shame in it. she's latecoming to that particular skillset and always keen to listen to those who might know better.]
Something did happen. Is it trying to tell you what, exactly?
[or is it a feeling, something without words to even describe?]
A train runs through here, but it's not like to pass through for a good long while. Not until all this mess is taken care of. That road's the rails it runs on.
cw child death
[after jaehaerys' death, when there was nothing left to hide from, she'd been able to step back and see the song in its entirety. but this place was different. the fox was very clear on that. she could choose the part she would play in this story, and she chose to trade dragons for dragonflies (though she would still like to bring dreamfyre here, to spare her).
there does not seem to be anything here she must face, but she still gets feelings, sometimes.]
What is it that happened? And what is a train?
no subject
What happened was a fair bit of chaos. Storms of all kinds. Change. I don't know what else, it seems different in each place, and I've only been through three. I wasn't here very long before... [just a gesture to all of it.] I feel like I've stepped into twenty years from now.
[a tree she would have sworn was so much smaller now shades the ground.]
It's a bit like a cart, but they run on steam. [she's not inspected this one, nor ridden on it, but she's ridden the black rat (and other trains) enough that she speaks freely about it. and she'd bet the train here is far more comfortable and suited to transport people, not coal.] At least where I come from. Faster way to go than walking. Maybe safer, maybe not. [a gentle shrug.]
Fox just bring you here? [it's the nightdress that finally pushes the ask.] Are you cold?
i
They're called tracks. The only thing that travels along them is a specific thing called a train. It's... [He grimaced, trying to think of how to explain it.] Like a caravan that travels all around, stopping in each town and city along the way so long as the tracks go there. People can get on at any of the stops and the train will take them along. I can't say I understand the method that powers it, but it goes much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.
no subject
Where does it go?
no subject
Normally it goes on a continuous circuit around Folkmore, stopping in all the major cities that can be reached by train. At the moment... we've just come off the tail end of some nasty weather that's made a right mess of the tracks, so the trains can't run until they've been cleared.
no subject
Are there many cities here?
[she glances briefly around at the decrepit buildings.]
Are they all like this?
no subject
There's a couple cities, as well as quite a few little town or village-sized areas. The cities are... well, if you're from a place similar to mine, where they don't have the sort of technology like trains, they'll be rather overwhelming.
[Better to warn her so she can try and ready herself to handle new and Strange things.]
As for this... Willow isn't normally like this, no. Some strange effect of the storms before, near as I can tell, have made things seem to age in an impossibly swift manner. Other regions seemed to have their own strange happenings, so I'd be cautious while exploring just yet.
no subject
Did the storm make everything older?
[she finds king's landing overwhelming enough on its own, but this place seems peaceful, and everyone has been so kind.
she looks back down at the ground and notices an ant between the tracks. she bends down and stretches out a finger in front of it so that it crawls onto her hand. she rises, examining the ant on her finger.]
Thousands must have lived and died before it passed.
no subject
[At least she'd arrived in the aftermath. Still not ideal, but a newcomer thrust into the insanity of this place in the midst of what they'd been enduring before? The idea of her appearing away from the safety of the Academy? It would have been a much worse introduction for certain.]
They described the seasons shifting faster and faster, the decay of buildings around them. Soft spaces in reality where you could... fall through. The other regions had their own dangers and risks, aside from one of the Academies where everyone we could get to it took shelter. It definitely means the death toll was much smaller than it could have been otherwise.
no subject
I am glad they were spared.
[she watches the ant crawl around her hand, turning it occasionally.]
It seems a strange way to die, though not a painful one. I wonder if these little ones ever knew that they lived.
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ii.
I think she's fond of you singing back to her.
[ It definitely doesn't hurt, at the least. ]
Her song sounded especially happy.
no subject
Do you think so? How sweet. She has a gentle heart, I think.
[she turns to face the turtle again and sings.]
The ones who'd been gone for so very long, she couldn't remember their names––they spun her around on the damp old stones, spun away all her sorrow and pain.
no subject
[ And he gets a little bit closer just to listen to her singing. The music he's mostly used to is a couple of bards local to Mondstadt, but they didn't really make a journey up Dragonspine, and he wouldn't have wanted them to, either. He liked it the way it was, but this place? He's inspired to paint. He'll have to look into that later. ]
Do you mind if I ask - is the change you have experienced due to this place or were you like that prior to here?
[ Just because he's never met a human with dragon scales doesn't mean they don't exist. After all, he'd never even want to assume someone is human. ]
no subject
It looks brighter in the sunlight, I think. It puts me in mind of my Dreamfyre. Her scales would shimmer like this, when the light hit them.
[she sets her hands in her lap.]
My hair has always been silver. It is not common, in my realm, but it has never held a glow before.
[she turns her face back towards the turtle and sings again.]
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave––never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave.
no subject
What manner of creature is Dreamfyre?
[ He considers her words. ]
This place is capable of quite a lot, it seems.
[ Interesting. ]
no subject
Dreamfyre is a dragon, and I am her rider. I should like her to be here, and live.
[she turns back to the turtle again.]
They danced through the day and into the night, through the snow that swept through the hall––from winter to summer then winter again, til the walls did crumble and fall.
no subject
[ He considers, moving a few smaller pieces and offering to the turtle. ]
Maybe she is, and she's not made an appearance to you, yet.
[ He doesn't feel comfortable fully writing someone off as not being here. And he doesn't know how big this place is. He has no idea what to anticipate as far as people arriving here. ]