December 2023 & January 2024 Test Drive Meme (Overflow)

[folkie]

December 2023 - January 2024 TDM (Overflow)

Introduction

Original TDM post found here

[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
This Test Drive meme is open to all.
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.

Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!


🦊 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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

Thirteen Knows What You Did Last Summer . ★

Content Warnings: School Detention, Time Not Passing, Forced Reflection/Confession, Potential Violence

Welcome to detention. Star Children, whether they're new arrivals to Folkmore or old hands, find themselves sitting at two person desks in a library. Perhaps there's only two Star Children, perhaps up to four or five. Regardless, each Star Child has a slip of paper in their hands which spells out why they are in detention, a secret detention slip no one else can read. Which, whew, because the reason any Star Child is in detention is for something they've never been punished for, something they might reasonably have thought they got away with, something they know was wrong.

The door to the library opens, and Kuma Lisa enters. She explains that Star Children will be in detention for four hours, and by the end of detention, they will need to reflect on what they did and express contrition. The headmistress gives no further guidance before leaving and closing the doors behind her.

Four hours is a notable chunk of time, but it's not so long, is it? Surely it's possible to wait it out without making good on the assignment… Or perhaps it's enough to write about it in one of the notebooks on the table in front of each student, without explaining it to another soul. Star Children are welcome to try whatever they want. However, they may notice an oddity with the clock. Namely, no matter how many times the second hand ticks around a circle to mark a whole minute, the minute and hour hands don't progress. It's the same minute over and over and over—

Detention is four hours, but how long four hours takes is entirely up to the Star Children in detention. Read every book in the library. Throw a dance party. Get high. Pull weapons out of the books. All matter of non-magical weapons. Nothing immediately happens upon pulling those weapons—no monsters to make detention less boring. Unless people make progress reflecting on their transgression, communicating about it with another Star Child, and showing penitence for it, time won't pass. Reality warps to stay in the same minute, minute after minute, hour after hour.

What's it going to be? Never ending detention or personal accountability?

However long it takes, it only takes four hours in the realm of Folkmore.

A word of warning to those who grabbed weapons, they will be attacked on their way home after detention. They will be attacked by creatures out of storybooks. Star Children will need to know the literary weaknesses of these creatures, good luck, or the help of someone else coming along who does know their weaknesses. At least there's some excitement in the day after four long long hours.

🦊 Star Children, new and old, in groups of 2-5 are in detention for something they did wrong & haven't been punished for.
🦊 Kuma Lisa explains detention lasts four hours, and people have to express regret for what they did by the end.
🦊 Time doesn't pass unless Star Children make progress toward that assignment.
🦊 It always takes four hours in Folkmore time.
🦊 Star Children who draw weapons from books during detention will be attacked on their way home.

To Prank or to be Pranked . ★

Content Warnings: Theft, Glitter Bombs, Minor Power Nerfing

There's a problem with the nonexistent mail delivery system in Folkmore. Gifts are being delivered to residents' addresses—their correct addresses, even if they live in the woods—but those recipients, written on a fat cream label, cannot pick them up, teleport them, or otherwise move them under their own power. These gifts sit in garish and contrasting colors that make certain to draw attention to themselves. Hello, here they are.

Anyone else can pick these packages up, from the person next door to a stranger walking by. There's so many gifts around it's easy to pick one up, remove the label, and go on one's way. Few people are home all the time, and even if they are, what are they going to do? Pick it up themselves? Ha! It's free real estate. Star Children with abilities to see inside the packages can see something they want badly within as extra motivation to go for it.

When Star Children open their ill gotten gains, these packages explode in a glitter bomb that coats everyone within a ten foot radius. This glitter is impossible to wash out, magic away, or otherwise remove for twenty-four hours. Walk, swim, fly, or otherwise go about with glittery evidence of the crime committed.

Almost always. If it were guaranteed, where would the fun be in that?

The rare fortunate criminal or the original recipient, helped by another Star Child, will receive an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Those who receive an item will stop receiving gifts on their doorstep, whether they stole the gift or received it from a package addressed to them. They can keep stealing other people's gifts, but they will only receive a glitter bomb from then on.

Mischievous Star Children can even prank each other by changing the label and redelivering packages to someone else. Should that person get help to bring the gift inside, it still isn't their gift, not really, so it too will explode in glitter.

🦊 Gifts appear outside Star Children's residences, even those without residences.
🦊 Recipients cannot pick up the gift but any other Star Child can.
🦊 Almost all stolen gifts explode in a glitter bomb that leaves glitter for 24 hours.
🦊 Star Children can receive an item from home, even a weapon or magical item.
🦊 Star Children can prank each other by changing the labels/moving the packages.

Comments

arrival

[offtracks]

[Ingo was paying attention during his journey here. As far as he's concerned, this is all a blessing from some god he was unaware of - a chance for a journey of self-discovery, without having to abandon his responsibilities in Hisui! He's been stalled out on the tracks for a few years now, as far as his memories go...something needed to change, if he was going to make more progress. He just hadn't known what, or how, or what direction to even search in. This, though, this must be a sign!

Granted, he's not sure how growing wings plays into this spiritual journey.

While in transit, everything feels sort of hazy and dreamlike. He doesn't really think about it. After arriving in some sort of cultivated walled garden, though, the world starts to feel a little more real again. He quickly realizes a few potential issues.]

Ah - !

[He tries to turn and see his back. But he can't crane his neck far enough, and the wings feel bulky and awkward. He mostly gets a faceful of black feathers. Ingo looks around, the ethereal beauty of the garden slipping past him for a moment, and starts trying to wave down passerby.]

Excuse me! Could you - can you please tell me if these have just put new holes in my coat?

[His voice has gone rather loud in his distress, and he might be making a little bit of a scene. Ingo isn't really thinking about that right now, though. This old thing is in rough enough condition, he might have just split some seams...]

[i_am_emmet]

[Emmet knew that voice. He refused to let himself forget it, he would call a poryphone that he knew he would get a voicemail message on, never leaving a message except for those first few ones in fear of filling up the inbox and not hearing it again.]

[In Poketube videos, home videos on his own phone, battle recordings.]

[He one time heard a depot agent saying one day, when they thought Emmet was out of the room, but he was just in the hall that since they changed the automatic messages, he had forgotten how loud Ingo was. Emmet couldn't let that happen to him.]

[So he froze, like a deerling in the headlights, his breath caught in his chest, his throat sealed up tight as he turned his head to see the man who spoke.]

[After all this time, they still looked the same.]

[After all this time, he could tell that was Ingo's face, and not just a prank.]

[After all this time, the ache in his chest flaring up again. He heard that either grief shrinks, or your life grows around it. His did neither.]

[He wanted to cry, Ingo being here must mean he died (well, Emmet's own theory at least! Pay attention to talking animals, Emmet.) but...they looked the same age. He wanted to run to Ingo and hug him- he missed him. He wanted to punch Ingo- where did you go? He wanted to scream at Ingo- he missed him. He wanted to cry on him- where did you go?]

[He took a step forward, he could only mouth Ingo's name with a squeak like a dying Minccino.]

[offtracks]

[Ingo doesn't hear. He's still focused on his own personal concerns. But no one is really paying attention to the Legend flapping about with uncontrolled wings outside the station, so he turns about to seek anyone else who might take a look for him. His eyes slide past the figure in white at first, and then he does a double-take and freezes.

His first thought is that this is the spirit he's meant to be following. A manifestation of himself - the other him, the one from Before - and he's been making a bit of a fool of himself in front of it. Guiltily, he shuts his mouth and manages to draw the wings in closer to his body.

But then again...it doesn't look any younger than him. A manifestation of his past self would be, right? Maybe he's just being terribly pretentious and it's only an ordinary Zoroark. It doesn't even occur to Ingo that there might not be Pokemon in this place, and a ghost-type seems even more natural. If that's the case, at least it's a tame one. Maybe it works with whoever owns this building. Zoroark are too widely feared in Hisui for anyone to have them as a mascot, but he supposes they could make excellent guards. Or goodness, maybe it's friends with the god who brought him here, like Palkia is friends with Akari's Gyarados, and both are true!

Either way - he tips his hat, abashed.]

...I beg your pardon. I did not mean to cause a scene.

[Since this is a spiritual journey of some kind, his coat is actually still fine anyway, isn't it? He remembers looking over his shoulder and seeing himself as he left - he's still wearing it in the real world, and nothing's happened there. So that whole thing was a little silly! Ingo sort of wants to just go, but...maybe this is a spirit meant to guide him? He hesitates, glancing around for the exit.]

[i_am_emmet]

[Ingo, why were you talking like this? Why were you talking like you didn't know him? Why do you look like you've been running through the wilds?]

[Finally, his voice broke through.]

Ingo?

[His voice was cracking a little right between the syllables of Ing's name as he approached a little closer.]

Is it really you?

[He was refusing to blink, he knew if he did his vision would clear up and the tears forming in his eyes would fully show themselves.]

[He was trying to figure out how to breathe again.]

[offtracks]

[He's not too surprised that this person (ghost/Zoroark/memory/thing) knows his name. The god-Vulpix who brought him here did as well! But that being hadn't been quite so...emotional about it.]

Yes? Well, I suppose.

[The question of whether he's the Ingo he used to be is an open one. But that's sort of philosophical, and maybe it's not even the question being asked. Ingo doesn't know. He doesn't move, standing rigid and nervous, unsure of what he's meant to be doing. If this were just a person he met on the road - well, that'd be different for a number of reasons - but here, he's not sure what's appropriate, or even really what's happening in the first place.

Whatever manner of being this is, though, he rather sounds like he's about to cry. Ingo frowns a little in sympathy.]

Are you quite alright?

[i_am_emmet]

No-! Yes! Where have you been? It's been eight years!

[He makes the mistake of blinking, or perhaps the tears just built up too much and had begun to overflow. His voice raising like someone about to have a breakdown right there. Like he was using all his self-control not to be hysterical right there.]

[His tail, with their brilliant white scales, was still and stiff.]

Why did you leave? You left Chandelure.

[And him, but the past eight years had proven to him (in his own mind) that on his own he had little to no value. But Chandelure-]

[offtracks]

[Ingo's train of thought abruptly derails.]

...excuse me?

[What? Where is Chandelure? Is that where he came from? Or is that even real at all - why would these spirits choose to tell him like this, what is this supposed to be? He wasn't upset before, but he's starting to get there now. The Vulpix might have just answered his questions directly, instead of presenting him with this extremely confusing and (he feels) somewhat accusatory specter!

But the tears stop him from getting really irritated. Ingo can't stand to see people in tears, he always just gets upset himself...]

Ah, please don't cry!

cw: murder ment, body dismemberment/improper disposal of body ment

[i_am_emmet]

[Much easier said than done. Emmet had almost thought he had cried out all his tears a long time ago, but no- it was saving up for this, wasn't it?]

[Being told not to cry only makes him cry harder.]

Eight years-

[Eight years of being alone. Eight years of rumors. Eight years of paperwork. Eight years waiting, investigating every John Doe found buried in the woods or in a coma in a hospital. Eight years of working extra hours to pay for a Detective once the case went cold.]

[Eight years of waking up, going to work, coming home, researching then laying in bed with a Pokémon beside him as he wondered where was Ingo. How those first critical 72 hours passed, how that first week passed, how it slowly went from 'Missing Person' to 'Body', Emmet wondering if Ingo just ran away to Kalos, or if Ingo was in garbage bags littered across Unova.]

[How everyone left Emmet alone with these thoughts.]

Everyone misses you.

[offtracks]

...I'm sorry.

[Though it comes out still a little baffled. Ingo's contemplated whether or not someone was missing him somewhere, of course. On his more lonely, selfish days, he's hoped someone was. But on the whole...it would be better if they weren't, right? Maybe he'd been alone in his former life. Or, after a while, he thought that maybe anyone he did know might have just given him up for dead and moved on. The idea stung, but at least it would mean no one else was hurting for his failure to remember.

But he's really not sure if he can take this as truth or not. Not when it's coming from a ghost with his own face. What does that mean? Is it a manifestation of his own worst impulses? Is it about to whisk him off to view his own memories or something? This is going on too long and getting too upsetting - he needs an explanation.]

I...I don't understand. Are you an associate of the Vulpix?

[He still hasn't moved, hands tucked into his sleeves to stop himself from reaching out. There's some temptation to try to comfort a crying stranger, but offering a hand is an iffy thing to do with a mysterious ghost/maybe-Zoroark for a few reasons - besides, his Pearl Clan customs run too deep now. It's rude to enter a stranger's space without permission!]

[i_am_emmet]

[Ingo questioning who he was. Why would Ingo do this? Was Ingo pretending to not know him? Was he so awful that Ingo did leave willingly?]

[A script came to mind, like what he would say on the Super Doubles train. What he said, what he does. Always the same.

Hi, do you remember me? I am Emmet. I am a Subway Boss. I like Double Battles. I like combinations of two Pokémon. And I like winning more than anything else.

In between choked sobs all he could say was-]

No. I am Emmet.

[A crack in his voice.]

I like Double Battles.

[A held back sob. In front of everyone there.]

I like winning more than anything else.

[offtracks]

Oh! The man who likes winning!

[Ingo would be brightening, if that was the sort of thing his face did. That is something he knows!]

I remember I used to train with someone who said that! He -

[He looked like me.

Ingo's actual memory of the man is vague at best. Their resemblance is an impression he has, more than a judgement he's made; he doesn't remember the other man's face enough to make those sorts of judgements. If pushed, he might have ventured that they had similar hair...or maybe just similar sideburns. That likely he was a family member. People might have a father, or brother, or even a cousin who looks very like them!

In Ingo's experience, they don't have doppelgangers.

But the confluence is alarming, and he peers at the crying man with a new urgency.]

I apologize, are you real? A - a person, I mean?

[As opposed to a spirit or a Pokemon. The question is probably clumsily phrased, but "just a regular human person who is physically identical to me" has absolutely not been on Ingo's radar as a potential thing that could happen! Especially not when there are clearly a lot of other magical things happening around him right now!]

[i_am_emmet]

[Emmet didn't even have the capability to even process the question, just answering it. Not even a moment to let the question dangle in the air for a second.]

Yes, I am Emmet. Ingo and I are twins.

[offtracks]

[Twins!

Of course Ingo is aware, in a general sense, that twins are possible. But he's also aware that they aren't common; he's never actually met any in Hisui. Identical twins...he's pretty sure that happens too, but he's never even heard stories from anyone who did know of any. It must be vanishingly rare!

Not impossible, though.

Which means that he's rather botched this, hasn't he? He's just letting his actual human brother weep like a child in the middle of a public space while he asks inane questions! Ingo starts stammering, horrified and flustered. The fact that he's met his brother will probably hit him in full force in a minute - for now, he looks quickly around.]

Ah...my goodness, well...come, let's go over here!

[There's no immediately obvious private spaces around here. Ingo turns instead to lead the way so that they might stand behind some larger flowering trees in a corner of the garden. He's far too unsettled to keep himself from talking, though, so he doesn't wait to get there before going on:]

I ought to explain, I - well, you see, I suffer from rather severe memory loss...I mistook you for a sort of spirit or something like that, I apologize!

[i_am_emmet]

[Emmet is still crying a little as Ingo leads him to the more isolated area, Emmet didn't even notice anyone else in the gardens- it was just Ingo to him. Anyone else in the garden might have well just been furniture to him!]

[Then he heard it, severe memory loss. His mind instantly pinned a phrase to it. In one of his deep dives on missing persons, he stumbled upon dissociative fugue. Where someone just suddenly forgets everything and leaves. Exceedingly rare, .2 percent of the population.]

[It had lazily crossed his mind once or three dozen times that was one thing that could have happened to Ingo, but he still would have been found quickly considering he was a well known public persona.]

I'm just happy-

[Emmet wipes his face on his sweater sleeve.]

-to see you again.

[Emmet stopped sobbing long enough to say that. It was obvious he was trying to regain his composure.]

[offtracks]

I am glad to see you as well! I have always wondered - well, I have tried to remember, but it has never been particularly successful. Battling helped, for a little while, but I think we have run out of tracks there, it has been quite a long time since one sparked anything new. I had thought that was what the Vulpix meant to help me with! Though I had not expected it to be quite so quick and straight-forward! Perhaps some kind of quest or challenge...

[Rambling. Probably loudly. Stop that!

Ingo shuts himself up - part of it is still nerves, especially now that he sees he has caused pain. Not even just today. He's caused a great deal of pain. But he is tentatively excited, too! All of his questions can finally be answered, all at once! And he does have blood relations, after all! When he's imagined finding someone he knew before, he always thought it would be something difficult and painstaking - traveling the world or some such years-long venture. He never imagined anything like this!

He's still just standing here. Ingo isn't sure of the correct social protocol for this situation, but it's probably not that. In the Pearl Clan, the customs around sharing space with family members is more relaxed. Emmet's not from there, though, and Ingo doesn't know how he feels about such things...]

May we - share space for a moment?

[i_am_emmet]

[Oh Dragons, it felt wonderful to hear Ingo just ramble again. The look on Emmet's face could be read as complete relief at that. Ingo is rambling at him again, the apartment had been silent for far too long. At the same time, he thought he would never hear this again, that he would hear it again.]

[Just hearing Ingo was glad to see him, some question about sharing space? None of it fully registered as he felt a surge of energy bubble forth in him as he practically threw himself at Ingo. Just so he can touch his brother again. Prove to himself this was all real. Hugging Ingo.]

[offtracks]

Ah - !

[Ingo's startled by the sudden lunge! But - that's fine. That's what he'd meant to do anyway.

Hugs are rare for Ingo. Hugs from another human, even more so. That makes things sound worse than they are; he has his Pokemon, and even Lady Sneasler tends to be affectionate! But there is something different about touch with another person, and there are times he misses it keenly. Now, Emmet seems to fit with him better than anyone else ever has.

Ingo brings his arms up to return the hug. It's a little awkward, but he's always tended to be when it comes to physical expression. What seems to come naturally to others never has to him. He's learned more since befriending Akari, though, so he brings a hand up to run it over Emmet's hair as best as he can.]

There, there. Everything will be alright! I am sorry for what I must have put you through, but we are both here now!

[Ingo is both thinner and harder with muscle than when he left. But it's been rather a long time. Probably there are differences in Emmet as well, but he can't tell.]

[i_am_emmet]

[Even though Ingo wouldn't know it, Emmet is just thinner. As if he would just forget to eat. But just hearing Ingo again, just being able to hug him again-]

[This was the best thing he could have ever experienced. Emmet burys his face in Ingo's shoulder. A fresh wave of crying again. He wanted to say so much, but he couldn't find the words- so instead he just clung to Ingo. Clung like a child to a comfort item, clung like a parent keeping a child out of the street, clung like a person grabbing onto a log so not to be swept away into a river. His claws dug into the fabric on Ingo's back.]

[It was obvious from how he would open his mouth he was trying to talk, but instead just the sounds of crying escaped him again.]

[How could he tell Ingo just how much he missed him? How he always made sure to keep something Ingo liked in the fridge, how he kept Ingo's room dusted but would carefully not touch anything so when Ingo came back, it would be just as he left it, how he would lay on Ingo's bed just so he could smell Ingo again. How when Ingo's brand of body wash expired, he made sure to buy the same brand same smell just so he wouldn't forget.]

[offtracks]

[If this were a storybook, Ingo would be recovering all of his memories right now. Or he would have when he first laid eyes on Emmet again. But this is real life, and trying to remember anything more just sends a spike of pain through his skull, and Ingo doesn't want to ruin this moment with that. So he gives up, and just tries not to feel bad that this doesn't feel like a long-awaited reunion to him. He's happy, yes, but it's not the same. It's clearly not the same as what Emmet's going through.

It doesn't mean he's not starting to cry a bit himself. He's always been soft-hearted like that.]

It's alright. Take your time.

[i_am_emmet]

[Emmet nods, still mouth 'I missed you' over and over. He didn't care if Ingo had his memories, he didn't care if Ingo was shaped differently now. All that mattered was that Ingo was here. Soon sound started to come back to his words, voice hoarse from crying, still saying how much he missed Ingo.]

[offtracks]

[Ingo goes on alternately patting Emmet's back and stroking his hair - five of one, then five of the other, because that's what makes sense to him - and murmuring comforting nothing. Well. Really just saying them at a normal volume. He'd try, but he's not thinking of it just now.]

I -

[Did he miss Emmet? Of course, he didn't really miss him, specifically. How could he? But he's felt vague...homesickness? Rootless nostalgia? He's felt that off and on for as long as he can remember. And he has wanted to speak to the man who liked winning again.

It's probably more important to be kind than technical anyhow.]

I missed you, too.

[i_am_emmet]

No you didn't, but that's okay, yup.

[The normal monotone would have made anyone else think Emmet was being mean, but there was just a little something that showed he wasn't. Just, accepting it. Like saying the sky is blue and Pikachus are too popular.]

We can make new memories, right?

[That lingering self-doubt that came from a seed planted and tended to over the course of the past few years. That he really was just an accessory, and now Ingo know he doesn't need Emmet around.]

[Emmet tried to push that thought down, that Ingo would at least be curious about a man who looked like him at the very least!]

[offtracks]

Ah! Well! [CAUGHT! Ingo pulls back enough to look Emmet in the eye, patting him on the shoulder.] That is not a reflection on you! I am sure I would have, had I known!

[Not that he really knows Emmet now. But just judging from this interaction, it seems like they must have been close! There's not many people Ingo dislikes anyway; he thinks he'd miss pretty much everyone in Hisui, if he ever left permanently.]

But yes, of course we can do that! And perhaps the memories will return easier, with someone familiar around? [though maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up] They have never been...well, very much more than what I told you. But that all began a few years ago, when I started battling at a higher level. I think because I found it familiar!

[i_am_emmet]

Battling is verrry good.

[A conversation about battling. Like he an Ingo used to have for hours at a time. Discussing strategies. Thinking who to level next. When Boldore and Gurdurr got the moves they wanted to trade evolve them with each other...]

I am glad you found some strong trainers.

[offtracks]

There are not a great many in Hisui! Training Pokemon in general was not common there for many years. But that is changing. I've been doing a lot of teaching recently!

[Now that he can look Emmet in the face again, Ingo is studying him more closely. It's fascinating how similar they look, now that he knows it isn't an illusion! Like looking in a mirror! Except...

He touches his own cheek briefly, trying to subtly check his expression. His mouth feels like a straight line. That's a big smile, for him, but on anyone else he knows it would indicate a lack of interest at best. Ingo flushes; of course Emmet feels like Ingo doesn't care!]

Ah, um...the thing that happened to me. I do not know what it was, exactly. Probably not actually a head injury. But Warden Calaba thinks that it may still have damaged my ability to express myself properly. I do not mean to - I feel - [Well, he usually feels like he is smiling, but he's learned well enough now to know he never really is, and that's frustrating! It's also a lot to dump on someone right away.] - I really am happy to see you!