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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.
A
So when Minako is leaving her house in Willow and walking around to likely catch the Catbus, she's not too surprised to spot Casey trying to help cut the overgrown weeds all over the place. Her social battery has been a little bit lower in the light of Monika's recent departure, but she'd still feel bad to not at least greet someone she knows, so--
Minako gathers some of the extrovert energy that's been a little bit more lacking these days and calls out: ]
Hey, already at work here?
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[She declares with aggressive cheer while uprooting some weeds with her bare hands.]
It is good to see you, Minako! As you can see, I have found a new enemy to vanquish!
[One that is much more corporeal this time around!]
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.. no, actually, it's fine. Minako was about to ask if that really counts as an enemy, but.. you know what, if Casey is having fun, then that's okay. Clearly she just needs a way to get all of that energy out, right. ]
Yeah, that's an enemy someone really ought to get rid of! [ Now she's just encouraging it.. ] I mean, look around! It's all over the place!
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That's correct! Watch out, Minako. We're surrounded! [A proud grin.] But do not fret. It is nothing I cannot handle!
[With that, she dives right at some more weeds!]
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Minako lets out a soft breath. ]
It really seems like that everything that happened the last while sure didn't take even a single bit of your spirit away, huh? [ She's got at least ten people's worth of energy! And since it's Minako of all people thinking that, it means a lot. ]
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What kind of warrior would I be if I fell so easily?! No, I have to keep on fighting and continue to improve! As both a Legend and a mother!
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[ ...
.......
W-Wait. Hold on. Minako stops mid-sentence, looking like her mind is trying incredibly hard to process something here.
When she speaks up again, her voice is so loud that it makes birds fly off in the distance, startled by it. ] M-Mother?!
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Correct! That is one of my titles!
[A beat.]
Wait, did I never tell you about my son from the future?
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Especially when she absolutely does not seem like mom material. Even if there's that 'from the future' caveat. Moms are supposed to be way more boring and overly careful than this! ]
You've never mentioned it! Not even once! You have a son from the future?!
[ Yes, she indeed sounds like she can't even start to wrap her head around that one.. ]
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[She's quick to point that out very casually, not really minding how surprised she seems.]
But yes, that is correct! I have met my future son here in this world, and he is incredible. His name is Casey Jones, the exact same as me! I call him Junior sometimes. He really is a chip off the old block!
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Minako's jaw was already dropping to the floor at the previous statement, about the son in general, but now Casey is actually naming said son.. Well, the girl looks even more shocked. It's like something in her brain just can't process this idea to begin with. She blinks rapidly, like she's trying to come to terms with this. ]
Casey is-- But he's-- And--
[ Wasn't his world really messed up? He told her! But he never mentioned anything about family, so what's going on here?! ]
B-But we're friends! [ Maybe it's not the most logical thing to say here - it's not like Casey can't be Casey's mother just because he and Minako are friends - but it's apparently the first thing her brain arrives at while dealing with this shock, and so it just flies right out of her mouth. No filter going on during this moment of surprise. ]
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Oh yeah! He did mention you once. That's great! I'm glad my glorious future son has friends like you. But if that's the case, how did you not already know this? Can't you see the family resemblance?
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[ It's almost like the shock is mixing with a bit of embarrassment now at the implication that Minako should somehow have caught onto this earlier. Which she feels like she has valid reasons for not having done, but-- Casey sure is implying otherwise! ]
You don't look old enough to be his mother at all! Not to mention that all of us come from way different worlds! How am I supposed to assume this many people in this place can come from the same place?!
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[She says that with an authoritative nod as if this was all very obvious.]
But that's fine! You don't need to be perfect when it comes to deductive skills. At least you're a fine friend for both me and my son!
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[ Not that it really is what Casey was doing here, but.. maybe there's a certain implication here. Or maybe Minako can't help but read that into the words for personal reasons. Insecure reasons. ]
Not all people who have the same name are related! I mean-- Why do you two even share a name?! Isn't it strange to share a name with family!
[ She sure wouldn't want to! No, thanks! ]
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[She offers that with a sheepish shrug. Big difference...]
I would think such a thing should make one curious, at least! And it's not strange at all. It's fairly common to name a child after one of their parents. I'm sure that my future self saw it as a way to preserve my legacy!
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Oh gosh. Minako can't think of any worse thought. There's something about it that sends shivers straight through her spine, and she immediately tries to push it out of her thoughts, not wanting to think about it. Shaking her head as if to shake off the metal image.
It's easier to focus on the other part of this. ]
What do you mean, 'not as intelligent as you expected'?! Y-You can't be saying this kind of stuff to your son's friend! Casey would be so sad to know you were trying to bully me, you know..!!
[ Yes, this is bullying now.
Apparently Minako has decided that.. ]
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[She frowns and then bows at Minako.]
I apologize for any insult that you have suffered! It was not my intention. It might be more accurate to say that I was surprised because I know you to be a clever girl!
[She sighs.]
But if I have dishonored you, so be it. Cast judgment on me and ask my son to disown me. I am not worthy, Minako!!
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Clearly Minako didn't expect this sudden change of heart. It's almost as if Casey is Scrooge and she's a very, very quick working Ghost of Christmas Future.. It makes Minako stop freaking out, only to blink at the other in surprise. ]
W-Wait, why would I-- I didn't mean it like that!
[ Now she's freaking out, except about the opposite thing. Though.. More like almost freaking out. She's forcing herself to take some deep breaths here! ]
I just-- Sheesh, I never know what to think of you. [ Is this a positive thing? A negative thing? Who knows. ] Let's just say that no one here is going to assume there's some sort of time travel shenanigans going on, okay? I mean, who just has their parent or child suddenly fall out of the sky and exist around them?
[ Yeah.
Kind of weird if that would happen, right. Surely never happened in Minako's world. Nuh-uh. ]
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[Casey shrugs.]
Regardless, I'll accept your point. And I want to accept your friendship as well, as long as that is still on the table!
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[ Oh no, Casey.
That's a very drawn out 'well'! Not a good sign! ]
Isn't it kind of weird to be friends with the parents of your friends?
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Of- of course not! ...Is it? I would think that... I would be honored to be friends with two whole generations of incredible fighters!
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Not that she has time to comment on it. There's more important business here. Like proving her point. Minako refuses to lose an argument. Ever. ]
Well, if my mom was here, would you want to be friends with her?
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Oh noooo, Casey. You can't go there. That's a dangerous place to go! In fact, while the other is saying all of that stuff, Minako's face seems to move through an entire range of complicated emotions, before she settles on something that seems half-angry and half-hurt at the same time. ]
You don't have to talk to her about that. [ Minako isn't even looking at the other as she says it - folding her arms across her chest and looking away. ] I don't think she'd have anything to tell you in the first place.
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