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December-January 2024-2025 Test Drive Meme
December-January 2024-2025 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: hysical Entrapment, Fictional Crimes, Forced Engagement
Winter has come to Folkmore in full force, and with it, the desire for most to get to their destinations as fast as possible. The cold is bitter, after all, and nips at bare skin in most of the realm's regions. The public transport system becomes a safe haven for all; a perfect way to take a break in comfortable warmth as both spirits and Star Children alike travel along stretches of land. From the Cat Bus to the trains, to the submarines that lead to Tides, to even the hot air balloons which provide a beautiful sightseeing tour before touching down on Never Fade… There are more than enough public vehicles to board.
And this is exactly where newly arrived Star Children will find themselves: aboard one of the bigger public transportation methods. With a flash of light visible to all, their landing in this new realm is made known to all other passengers.
Something funny is going on, that much becomes clear within several seconds. Perhaps a nearby cat spirit will keel over dramatically in the middle of the train's aisle, pretending to have died. Perhaps a frog spirit will let out a loud croaking wail, proclaiming their precious wedding ring has been stolen just now. Or perhaps a timid little mouse will come up to Star Children, prattling on about how worried they are for their missing spouse. They are all acting, as is evident from their lack of skill in that department. They relish the opportunity to spin their little tales, their characterization often broken by mischievous smiles or hasty snickers into the palm of their paws. Once the stage is set and the story is out into the world, the spirits will look towards the nearest Star Children with clasped hands and hopeful gazes. 'Will you solve the mystery?' they seem to ask. Sometimes they'll even voice the question aloud.
One thing is for certain: Star Children have found themselves in their very own locked room whodunnit setup!
The puzzling scenarios have a wide range of possibilities. Perhaps someone vanished, with the questions being whether they've hidden themselves somewhere in the vehicle and why. Or maybe a mysterious spirit suffers from a sudden bout of amnesia. Who are they, and how did they lose their memories in the first place? Was that person lying on the floor poisoned? If so, how? What makes these mysteries extra difficult to crack is the very magic coursing through Folkmore. That heap of ash under a seat may be evidence, burnt to a crisp with fire magic. The 'dead' body may have been moved from the original crime scene through teleportation. Or the missing ring may have been enchanted to return to its original owner, which leads to the shocking reveal that the one reporting the crime was a thief all along. All cases range in difficulty level.
There is a catch. The transport will not stop until the conundrum is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The train will pass by stations, the Cat Bus will keep sprinting, submarines will circle Tides indefinitely… And the doors will remain locked, with even teleportation powers null and void. Star Children cannot disembark until the mystery is solved. Better work together to find those clues!
Winter has come to Folkmore in full force, and with it, the desire for most to get to their destinations as fast as possible. The cold is bitter, after all, and nips at bare skin in most of the realm's regions. The public transport system becomes a safe haven for all; a perfect way to take a break in comfortable warmth as both spirits and Star Children alike travel along stretches of land. From the Cat Bus to the trains, to the submarines that lead to Tides, to even the hot air balloons which provide a beautiful sightseeing tour before touching down on Never Fade… There are more than enough public vehicles to board.
And this is exactly where newly arrived Star Children will find themselves: aboard one of the bigger public transportation methods. With a flash of light visible to all, their landing in this new realm is made known to all other passengers.
Something funny is going on, that much becomes clear within several seconds. Perhaps a nearby cat spirit will keel over dramatically in the middle of the train's aisle, pretending to have died. Perhaps a frog spirit will let out a loud croaking wail, proclaiming their precious wedding ring has been stolen just now. Or perhaps a timid little mouse will come up to Star Children, prattling on about how worried they are for their missing spouse. They are all acting, as is evident from their lack of skill in that department. They relish the opportunity to spin their little tales, their characterization often broken by mischievous smiles or hasty snickers into the palm of their paws. Once the stage is set and the story is out into the world, the spirits will look towards the nearest Star Children with clasped hands and hopeful gazes. 'Will you solve the mystery?' they seem to ask. Sometimes they'll even voice the question aloud.
One thing is for certain: Star Children have found themselves in their very own locked room whodunnit setup!
The puzzling scenarios have a wide range of possibilities. Perhaps someone vanished, with the questions being whether they've hidden themselves somewhere in the vehicle and why. Or maybe a mysterious spirit suffers from a sudden bout of amnesia. Who are they, and how did they lose their memories in the first place? Was that person lying on the floor poisoned? If so, how? What makes these mysteries extra difficult to crack is the very magic coursing through Folkmore. That heap of ash under a seat may be evidence, burnt to a crisp with fire magic. The 'dead' body may have been moved from the original crime scene through teleportation. Or the missing ring may have been enchanted to return to its original owner, which leads to the shocking reveal that the one reporting the crime was a thief all along. All cases range in difficulty level.
There is a catch. The transport will not stop until the conundrum is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The train will pass by stations, the Cat Bus will keep sprinting, submarines will circle Tides indefinitely… And the doors will remain locked, with even teleportation powers null and void. Star Children cannot disembark until the mystery is solved. Better work together to find those clues!
- New Star Children arrive in one of Folkmore's public transport vehicles.
- Spirits will re-enact locked room mysteries for Star Children to solve.
- Cases range from murder mysteries to missing persons, to simple theft.
- The vehicle will not stop until the mystery is resolved!
Content Warnings: Potential Information Reveal, Item Alteration
A cheerful ding rings out from each Star Child's Relic. It's a modest grab for their attention, a sign that something lies in wait. Checking out the origin, the recipients will find that they've received a message from Jewelia, one of Thirteen's aspects. It reads as follows: "It is a time for giving and a time for sharing. A time for friendship and a time for caring. Seek out this Star Child, and exchange with them a modest gift. Should you succeed and make the trade, then watch it shift."
What follows is not a name, but a list with facts. For example, a certain Star Child's role, which region they currently live in, what color their hair is, who their best friend is… It's all trivial data which, when put together, should point the seeking Star Child towards one particular individual. That's only the first part of the challenge, of course! Should they take the next step, they must give whoever they hunted down a gift. This can range from a batch of homemade cookies to a knitted sweater, to even a neat rock they found! It doesn't matter how big or small the gift is, whether it was bought or made… The present needs to be exchanged for something else.
As soon as the objects pass hands, they will evolve. They become nicer, or bigger, or tastier. The neat rock now shimmers like it's covered in eternal glitter. The knitted sweater now has a knitted hood to pull up over one's head. The cookies may take on a cutesy shape, or become more filling, with even a single bite enough to sate for a whole evening. The plain knife found in Folkmore becomes an engraved sword. This is the true power of sharing, and of paying good will forward.
Once an exchange is complete, each Star Child’s Relic will ding another time. A new list of facts appears, and they can repeat the process again. They have the option to give a new gift to their next match, or they can re-gift the item they were just given. There's no limitations to how much a single gift can upgrade, though objects will never become enchanted. They simply become nicer.
There's one more twist to this assignment: after three successful gift exchanges, the Relic plays an additional, cheerful little chime. A little victory note, almost. When the Star Child returns to their home afterwards, they'll find a small package waiting for them on their pillow (or whatever's close enough to a bed if they don't have one). Inside is a small item from their home world. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Just another reward for rising to the challenge!
A cheerful ding rings out from each Star Child's Relic. It's a modest grab for their attention, a sign that something lies in wait. Checking out the origin, the recipients will find that they've received a message from Jewelia, one of Thirteen's aspects. It reads as follows: "It is a time for giving and a time for sharing. A time for friendship and a time for caring. Seek out this Star Child, and exchange with them a modest gift. Should you succeed and make the trade, then watch it shift."
What follows is not a name, but a list with facts. For example, a certain Star Child's role, which region they currently live in, what color their hair is, who their best friend is… It's all trivial data which, when put together, should point the seeking Star Child towards one particular individual. That's only the first part of the challenge, of course! Should they take the next step, they must give whoever they hunted down a gift. This can range from a batch of homemade cookies to a knitted sweater, to even a neat rock they found! It doesn't matter how big or small the gift is, whether it was bought or made… The present needs to be exchanged for something else.
As soon as the objects pass hands, they will evolve. They become nicer, or bigger, or tastier. The neat rock now shimmers like it's covered in eternal glitter. The knitted sweater now has a knitted hood to pull up over one's head. The cookies may take on a cutesy shape, or become more filling, with even a single bite enough to sate for a whole evening. The plain knife found in Folkmore becomes an engraved sword. This is the true power of sharing, and of paying good will forward.
Once an exchange is complete, each Star Child’s Relic will ding another time. A new list of facts appears, and they can repeat the process again. They have the option to give a new gift to their next match, or they can re-gift the item they were just given. There's no limitations to how much a single gift can upgrade, though objects will never become enchanted. They simply become nicer.
There's one more twist to this assignment: after three successful gift exchanges, the Relic plays an additional, cheerful little chime. A little victory note, almost. When the Star Child returns to their home afterwards, they'll find a small package waiting for them on their pillow (or whatever's close enough to a bed if they don't have one). Inside is a small item from their home world. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Just another reward for rising to the challenge!
- Star Children receive a message on their Relic: a list of facts leading them to another Star Child.
- When they find this Star Child and exchange a small gift with them, the gift will evolve into something nicer.
- If a Star Child succeeds in three successful exchanges, they will find a small item from home waiting for them in their home, atop their pillow.
no subject
“My favorite deeply suspicious person! Fancy… meeting you here? Weird meeting you here? Both?”
no subject
She sat up straighter, then, looking him over and realizing that he looked older than he had when she'd previously met him in Folkmore. She was still too new to this place to even begin to figure out how that had happened, leading her to ask, "How long have you been here?"
no subject
"I've been here... however long it took me to solve that mystery? And I don't mean to brag, but I will, I feel like I wrapped it up pretty quickly."
no subject
So she didn't make a big deal out of it as she casually brought up, "Oh. There must've been another Peter Parker, then. Who looked just like you." Right, because multiple Peter Parkers were just a standard part of her life now.
"I wasn't really paying attention. Just don't seem too interested in their little games. They might never leave you alone. And yeah, they look cute now, but trust me, it gets old really fast. Welcome to Folkmore, where there are no portals or cranky wizards to make getting home any easier."
no subject
"And yeah, I kinda got that this is a trip without a way to head back home unless the Fox decides? I don't know, maybe a change of scenery will do me good. What about you, how long have you been stuck here? How are you holding up?"
no subject
She shrugged a little at his comment. "This is a trip without a way to head back home unless we figure out how to outsmart and maybe outmaneuver a fox. Which, as anyone who's read Aesop knows, can be tricky, but not impossible." Not that she'd figured out how to do that herself yet, but her tenure here hadn't been very long. "It's been about three months for me. The free rent is nice, since there was no way I'd ever know the joys of living alone if I had to pay New York prices, but beyond that I'm mostly in the information gathering phase of my subversive takedown plot." And slowly weeding out potential allies to her cause, but it wouldn't be much of a surprise attack if she just went around laying all her cards on the table.
no subject
“And yeah, there are several Spider-Women too. I bet an MJ Spider-Woman would be awesome.”
The fact that MJ was working on a takedown plot really didn’t surprise him, although it did worry him a bit. There was no telling just how the Fox might react to someone trying something like that. Peter knew MJ well enough from their short time together than to try and dissuade her though.
“Cheap rent sounds pretty nice though.”
no subject
She wrinkled her nose a little at the thought of another universe's MJ having superpowers. "I've yet to see a superhero actually act as an impetus for real social change, so I'm not particularly interested in that career path. But I hope you spider-people have fun with that."
It was no secret that MJ wasn't the only person who had issues with Folkmore. But no one knew just how much information she's managed to gather or how many people she's really spoken to, given that there was little trace of her on the network. She was careful about her tracks and about who she trusted... especially since she trusted next to no one here.
"Cheap rent is nice, free rent is enough to almost make me tolerate having been kidnapped by a mystical fox for as-yet-unknown purposes."
no subject
“Well if you do a soup kitchen or a house-the-homeless project here, let me know and I’ll chip in,” he promised her. Or you know, if she did a “send people home who want to be sent home” project he could help with that too.
“In the meantime I think… I think I could stand to use some downtime? I’m getting the vibe that there isn’t a lot of crime here… outside of everyone being kidnapped. Not a lot of reason to put on the webs and all that?”
no subject
"Mm, unless 'soup kitchen' is code for something else, there's not much of a need for that here." It wouldn't be a terrible code phrase, honestly, rather than get openly talking about knocking Thirteen down a few pegs and finding a way home. But Peter's mentioned desire for downtime means that he might not be the best person to discuss that with, at least not right now. She can always wait until the newness wears off and the true horror of this place sets in. "The currency is measured in social interaction rather than money or anything, so poverty and homelessness isn't really a thing here. Which, weirdly enough, means there's no crime, at least not in the way we know it. So. Your mileage may vary insofar as how necessary it is to don the suit."
no subject
“At the risk of getting glared at… how are you doing with social interaction being currency? I got the vibe that… peopling isn’t your favorite thing?” He asked. It wasn’t like he had gotten to know MJ all that much but he got the feeling that social interaction wasn’t high on her list of favorite things to do. Of course, if it was how you earned money then… it wasn’t much different from any other job she might not love?
“But if you’re helping people get home, I’ll help however I can. Even if I don’t feel the need to leave right away that doesn’t mean other people should be held against their will. You’ve got a pretty awesome life back home to get back to. MIT, right? That’s really impressive.”
no subject
She did quiet down a little at his next statement, though, glancing away. "Yeah, well..." she started quietly. "I have no idea what's waiting for me when I get back. Apparently, Peter made a deal with the wizard and the only way to save the world is to make it so people forget he's Spider-Man. Which somehow translates to people forgetting he even exists. So. I've got that to look forward to."
no subject
It was an understatement for sure but he also didn’t know what else to say. Everyone forgetting Peter would mean no one would know he was Spider-Man but Ned and MJ wouldn’t know him. That had to have been an impossibly hard choice for Peter to make but also heartbreaking for MJ to learn about.
“I’m glad you have time with him now at least? Is there anyone else from your world here?”
no subject
"Look, I might as well tell you before you get the wrong idea: he's with someone else. And he's happy. And it's been as awkward as you might think. So while we're still friends, I'm not really spending much time with him at all here." It was actually a big part of the reason why she was hoping to find a way back home sooner rather than later, so everything could go back to what she considered normal.
"I've met a couple of people who either come from my world or a very similar one, but no one I've known personally. If you know who the Black Widow is, she's here. So is Ultron, apparently, though I've managed to steer clear of him. Oh, and the lawyer that defended my Peter during his whole legal debacle is here, too, but I haven't reached out to him so I don't know if he remembers that. So yeah, a few people."
no subject
“Well if I make friends here you can come hang out with them. You’re an old soul so even if they’re all my age you’ll fit in fine.”
no subject
"I'm not an ageist, Peter," she brought up wryly. "This society isn't really split up by age the way things are in the real world; no one's forced to go to school or work, so I'm just as likely to end up talking to somebody my age as I am somebody way older, like-... how old are you again?" Yes, she was implying that he was old, but at least she was (mostly) just teasing him.
no subject
“But I’m 28, so essentially an old man already. Not Peter 3 old, that’s middle aged old which is REALLY old.”
no subject
"Oh, you're not even 30 yet," MJ returned with a scoff. "If it makes you feel better, you'd only be about five years older than me if I hadn't been legally dead for a few years." She didn't know whether this Peter knew about Thanos or the Blip, but she figured he'd probably ask if he had no idea what she was talking about. "But yeah, Youth Counselor Peter is probably older than my dad."
no subject
"If it helps I could think of you as an old lady. Your whole 'never disappointed' philosophy definitely gives off old lady vibes so it wouldn't be too far from the truth."
no subject
She did look a little uncertain when he called her an old lady, clearly skeptical. (But then, she was always skeptical.) "I don't think I've ever been compared to an old lady before; if anything, I'm pretty typical of the jaded 'youth' that old people are always complaining about. Unless you're confusing my realism for the older generation's constant complaining."
no subject
"Maybe, I'm not all caught up on what the youths and the boomers are thinking about the world these days. You can be a jaded youth still. Peter and Ned didn't seem very jaded. Can you be that into Lego and be jaded?"
no subject
"Peter and Ned are... different," MJ admitted, her expression softening a bit without her really realizing it. "Especially Peter. He seems to think that things can always be better than what they are, even when the odds are against him. He's... probably going to get himself really hurt because of it someday, but he'll be fine so long as he always has someone around to ground him." Even if that person wasn't going to be her, but she didn't say as much.
no subject
"He seems like he has pretty great taste in friends though, so he's probably going to be alright. I mean... Peter 3 and I both had our best friends try to kill us so... definitely better off than we were."
no subject
"Were either of those friends named Ned or Michelle?" she asked dryly. "Because it sounds like the main difference between my world and both of yours is that neither of you two had us for some reason. Well. Osborn recognized my initials, but he thought they stood for Mary Jane, so...." And then she shrugged, because she was far from an expert on how any of this duplicate selves thing was supposed to work.