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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.
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( Maybe he wouldn't normally order a woman's drink for her but Daphne had looked a little shocked at the menu and he doesn't want to put her through the back half of the menu with all the alcohol if she doesn't want anything but water or something. )
The list's on the back half of the menu if you don't know off the top of your head.
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[ That’s easy enough to decide upon. She needs wine. Like. Badly. It has been A Day. ]
White, preferably. Or whatever you have available. [ Because frankly she has no clue, and she’s not about to go through that ordeal again.
The waiter does, however, get her winning smile. ]
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Needing that drink today, Daphne? I can't say I blame you. If I could actually get drunk, I would have had all the beer in this whole bar the first day I got here. You're handling it better than me.
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She can roll with the punches, though. Resilience has been showing itself to be prominent in her person. ]
I don’t know whether to be insulted or take that as a compliment, Mr...? We did not exchange last names.
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( He had chosen to come here like everyone else but he hadn't realized that going back wouldn't be as easy. )
And yours? It'd be good to have the whole name in case I have to look you up later on the relic thing.
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Bridgerton. Daphne Bridgerton.
[ She says it unwavering, but with heaviness in her heart. Simon won’t mind; he never wanted to marry her anyway. ]
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( It isn't lost on him that she looks down at the table before she says it and it feels like it must have been a lot for her to give the name out. Bucky has no idea what that could mean but he also feels like Daphne is entitled to her secrets - god knows he'll be keeping his for the time being. )
There's several different...regions, I guess I would say, so you can get settled into whatever feels good for you. Housing's free so you don't have to worry about paying for it.
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And these regions? Might any of them bear likeness to England?
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( Their drinks come and Bucky lifts his pint glass in a little cheer. )
Where I live is like...I don't know. America, more or less. I can show you how to take the train around to everywhere and you can see for yourself what seems right.
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[ Traveling by herself? She’s traveled no more than to the countryside before. Never without an escort. (Insert anxious wine sips here.) ]
As long as it is not the Arctic. [ Not her best joke. She’s trying to abate the fear of living and traveling by herself on top of everything else. ] I have never been on a train before. This is all... very enlightening.
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( It's been a long time since he's had that, since before the war, and he's envious of someone who hasn't traveled far enough to never get on a train before. Unless she did it by horse? )
The train's nice. You can get horses, too, if that's more your speed.
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She takes another sip, and recalls what he said. ]
Do you not have a home in New York? [ As soon as she says it, she realizes how callous it may sound, and winces. ] Forgive me. It’s none of my business.
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( Is being the Winter Soldier a job? It had been a prison for a long time and then it had been an unwilling sin he had to bear. Now he actually helps people instead of hurting them but the name still carries a lot of weight and most of it bad. His apartment in Brooklyn is the furthest thing from a home there can be. It's thrown together out of spare things just like him. )
My house here just got flattened in a storm so I am truly homeless for right now. I'm rebuilding it.
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Horror blooms across her face. Her jaw drops, and she has to set down the wine glass before that goes with it. He speaks of it so nonchalantly, she clocks it as some form of coping mechanism.
Unthinking, she reaches out to touch his hand in commiseration. ]
That is — wretched. I’m so sorry.
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It's all right. Manual labor is something I'm extremely good at and I didn't have a lot of things to call my own. I would rather it be me who lost everything than someone who had more to lose.
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That is very thoughtful of you. [ Is all she can think to say. She doesn’t know him well enough to tell him she doesn’t think that playing it off as nothing will help, and anyways, the food has come. ]
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( Bucky will eat basically everything but he doesn't know about Daphne, considering where and when she's from. )
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Two hundred years in the future any civilized person would recognize her plate as fish and chips. Daphne, meanwhile? Her flabbers are GASTED.
Baby steps..
She stares at the cutlery next. ]
May I borrow your oyster fork? [ Assuming he has one! Do they have oyster forks at the Prancing Pony? ]
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( Bucky isn't sure that they'd have one but he'd be willing to pay for one if it made Daphne more comfortable. As it is, he does everything he can to keep a straight face. )
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Deep breath. You can do this, Daphne. ]
No. It’s perfectly fine. This... will do.
[ With a weak smile, she picks up the only fork that is available and starts very slowly and deliberately cutting up her fish into small mouthfuls. It looks absurd, but this is how she was raised.
Her first bite, it turns out, is not disappointing. She actually looks impressed. ]
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( It's a natural enough assumption and it makes him think about the gulf between him and this woman. There was already the time difference, then the fact that he was a mass murderer against his will, and now oyster forks? They're on other sides of the universe, he thinks. Still, Daphne is one of the more interesting people he's met if not only because she was damn tenacious about moving that debris all alone. )
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She swallows, puts down her fork and knife. ]
A little, I suppose you could say. [ Or a lot. ]
My brother is a viscount, and my father before him, and his father before him... He’s the ninth viscount. [ She doesn’t count Simon’s holdings. ]
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( Bucky doesn't know why he feels the need to apologize, except he does, because she's coming from a lot more life changes than he did when he arrived. )
I talked to you to begin with because you weren't afraid to get your nice clothes dirty when you were moving around that branch that was too big for you. Rich or not, that's admirable.
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Suddenly, she huffs out a disbelieving laugh. ]
Being a soldier is admirable, Mr Barnes. Not mustering one’s strength to drag around a large branch.
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( It does, truly, and he does want her to know that. He wouldn't have paid her any further attention had it been the other way around. )
Maybe it's not signing up to be shot at but it's still something nobody would have expected you to do and you did it anyway.
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