June-July 2025 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

June-July 2025 TDM

Introduction

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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 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.

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]

Pirates of the Loreibbean . ★

Content Warnings:

Old wood creaks and groans, barely audible over a howl of wind. Wet droplets of rain hit faces and soak into clothing. Clouds overhead are a murky gray, blocking out the sun. Though summer weather is often somewhat temperamental, a true storm has now hit. Both newly arrived Star Children and veterans may find themselves in the midst of this situation quite abruptly, standing on the unsteady deck of an old, grand ship. Those who run to the nearest rail and peer overboard may be shocked to discover a stark absence of water below. Instead, the view just goes down… and down… The land of Folkmore lies far below, as this ship is flying through the storm, its sails struggling to hold under the force of whipping winds. There is no captain, there is no helmsman- there is no crew at all to be found, only fellow Star Children. And yet… the ship is still moving full speed ahead through the storm, as if it has a destination in mind.

A resounding boom echoes, and those with a keen gaze may just spot something whizzing past, missing the ship by a hair. Was that… a cannonball?

Just like that, a second vessel weaves its way out of a deck of gray clouds, pulling up side by side to the ship the Star Children are on. Lightning flashes, illuminating a whole bunch of sneers across the way, along with some eye patches, bandanas and goggles. Sky pirates are attacking! It's clear from their animalistic features that they're local spirits, but they're hardly as benevolent as those typically seen in Folkmore.

Ready yourselves, Star Children!

Those who wish to return fire will find several cannons lined along the ship's deck, ready to be used. These don't work just like any old artillery, though. In place of those unwieldy metal balls, one must load magic into these cannons. Lore, to be precise! It even says so on a small metal plaque, attached near the firing mechanism: "Connection is one's true ammunition." Find a fellow Star Child and start chatting! The more meaningful the conversation, the grander the magic ball one may blast at the pirates with the cannons.

Unfortunately, the cannons alone are not enough to fight off the pirates, as several of them swing their way aboard with ropes. (Or just fly, if they're bird spirits.) Star Children can head down into the armory below deck to grab a weapon. Yes, even weapons from home (or items that can be improvised weapons) are available, and may be kept after the fight is over. Star Children capable of flight may even be daring enough to make their way to the enemy's ship and deal some real damage over there.

The ship continues to shake and creak and bob in the storm, which may complicate the fight, but not all is lost. There, in the distance, up ahead… A beacon of light flickers, struggling to be seen through the thick clouds. What is that?

• Star Children (new and old) find themselves aboard a grand wooden ship, flying through a storm. Yes, literally flying!
• Sky pirates attack! They're just the local spirits, but a rowdy bunch nonetheless.
• Use conversation to load up a cannon with Lore energy, then blast it at the pirate ship.
• Alternatively, grab a weapon (possibly from home) from your ship's armory and start swashbuckling.
• Star Children can keep one (1) weapon/item from home and other basic weapons.

So Said the Lighthouse Keeper. ★

Content Warnings:

Other Star Children, both new and old, may find themselves drawn to the floating island of Never Fade. Up here, in the clouds, the storm rages just as fierce, and the native spirits all share the same worry: the lighthouse is broken. Indeed, up on the highest hill of Never Fade stands a towering white spire, its beacon dimmed. 'A ship is coming in at any moment', the spirits all whisper. 'And there's reports of pirates in the area, too. What will we do?'

The goats which are quite common in Never Fade join forces to guide Star Children up the hill towards the lighthouse. And if not guiding, then dragging, chompers clenched around the fabric of sleeves or pant legs as they pull. The rain does not slow, but the wind thankfully blows uphill. Best to just go along with it, so you can go take shelter from the storm inside the enormous spire building, because the goats won't leave you alone otherwise.

Just outside the lighthouse stands a very curious cat. It's so large, it's almost the size of a pony, and its fur is black. No, white. … No, it's black, isn't it? (It really depends on what mood it's in.) Karma the cat peers up at any approaching Star Children with knowing eyes. It dashes inside the lighthouse for a second, then reappears with an envelope in its mouth, holding it out for the newcomer to take. Careful- the paper might get wet in the rain! Come stand under the awning or inside the house as you read:

"The lighthouse keeper is on vacation. Please help! The beacon needs to be charged. We need positive energy to power the light, and negative energy to rotate the lens. Be nice or be mean, both are good! :)"

Are you up for the task, Star Children? Then stay in the lighthouse's near vicinity, or go right on up to the beacon, and do as Karma asked: Either compliment your fellows, or insult them. Share fond memories with one another, or commiserate on how terrible this situation is. Both pleasant conversation and nasty confrontation will do the job. Before long, the light springs to life and the great glass lens begins to rotate around it, a majestic beam of light revolving outward from the spire, piercing the dark clouds.

Those who wait around will see it: that great big wooden ship which comes flying towards Never Fade's docks to make port there. … Is that a hole in its side? And a cutlass sticking out of the mast? Confusion may make way for relief, as all the Star Children aboard disembark, surely bursting with a great tale to tell. Elated spirits bring out the hot soup, bread and all other hearty comfort foods to celebrate the successful arrival. Time to celebrate! Or raid the armory for a free weapon from home, if you haven't gotten one yet- with an emphasis on one, because Karma the cat will attack anyone who got greedy, be it now or during the earlier voyage.

• Star Children who weren't taken to the ship may instead have been drawn to Never Fade, where the storm rages just as fiercely.
• Goats guide Star Children towards the lighthouse, which is broken. Karma the cat awaits them there.
• In order to get the lighthouse beacon working again, it must be charged with both positive and negative energy. Engage in either pleasant or hostile conversation with a fellow Star Child to help out!
• Once the lighthouse is up and running, the ship from the first prompt will dock at Never Fade, uniting all the Star Children for a great celebration.
• The ship's armory is still available for a free weapon (possibly from home), but anyone who got greedy and tried to take more than one will be confronted by Karma. Literally. (And lose the additional items).

Comments

[saisdoesmatter]

When the pirates start turning tail to run, it's tempting to follow and chase them down, but he doesn't know if anyone else on the ship might need help, so he refrains from doing so.

He isn't expecting Casey to grab one of the cannon balls and lob it like a pro baseball player at the opposite ship. When it shatters through a railing and startles some pirates, he whistles once before laughing when the pirates seem to run even faster away. "Nice one, Case! Make them rethink their priorities." He holds out his fist for a fist bump, grinning. "That'll show 'em."

[apuckalypse]

Casey returns the grin, showing zero hesitation as he baps his fist against Raph's. He may be different in size, but the vibe is very similar. Raph is always friend-shaped, perhaps. "We nailed it. We should probably figure out how to land this thing, though."

Before they decide to come back...

[saisdoesmatter]

The grin remains as Casey doesn't leave him hanging, but he nods, already looking around to see if it was a traditional ship set up with a wheel in the front or back, or if it's somewhere else entirely.

"Good idea. Someone's gotta be driving it though, given how we aren't going down," the short bruiser says, though he makes a face. "At least I hope there is one."

[apuckalypse]

"Uh..." Casey looks around as well. Besides them and maybe some other equally confused Star Children, the place seems entirely abandoned. Not even a stereotypical big-hatted captain. No one at the wheel, or in the rigging... "...We might be on our own, here."

Well, shit.

[saisdoesmatter]

He winces, grinding his teeth as he comes to the same conclusion - there's people about but they look about as bewildered as the rest of them. "...well crap. You know anything about ships?"

[apuckalypse]

"I... know they have wheels?" That's so very helpful. "We can go up there and give it a try."

He'll head up the stairs to peer warily at the helm. It's... just a steering wheel. A really big one. How hard could it be?

[saisdoesmatter]

"Guess it isn't much different than driving..."

He follows Casey to where the helm was, since there's a ship wheel there and it's kind of huge. Nothing new there really before he's looking around to see if there was actually a captain. Maybe someone who might have been hurt?

He doesn't see anyone and frowns, then looks back at the helm. "You wanna give it a shot or should I?"

[apuckalypse]

"Um... well, I learned how to drive recently. Maybe it'll carry over."

He reaches out for the steering wheel, but before he can even make contact, it abruptly turns itself, causing the whole ship to swerve to one side. Casey braces himself on the rail, eyes wide. "Whoa! I didn't even touch it!"

[saisdoesmatter]

"Here's hoping, Case; haven't driven a ship like this before but...can't be that much different, yea?"

The way the wheel jerks before Casey can even touch it though pulls the ship to swerve, making him flail for a second before Raph's squaring his weight to keep from falling over completely. "The hell??? We got spooks on top of everything???"

[apuckalypse]

"No, uh... I'm guessing it's magic. This world's full of it." Even he's got some, these days, though it's a long story. "That'd explain the whole... flying thing, too."

Though that still leaves them with a question of where it's taking them. He tugs on the wheel, but it doesn't budge, having already chosen its destination.

[saisdoesmatter]

"Magic, huh? M'guessing it's not going to pop doves out of its pockets now, eh?" Though it'd explain the whole idea of a boating ship flying through the air, he supposes, but that's kind of lingering as a 'what the hell' moment.

He comes over to help give Casey a hand with tugging on the wheel, since they're both plenty strong, but nothing happens. "Okaaaaay, that's spooky. At least it won't go down but like...where are we going then???"

[apuckalypse]

"I've never seen doves do magic..." Yeah, he has no idea what traditional performance magic is like. Maybe Master Leonardo described it to him once years ago, but the details have slipped away. "It's definitely the weird and amazing things happen kind of magic."

The wheel continues to be stubborn, so he gives up on it and instead grabs at some of the ropes along the rail, climbing up into the rigging. "Hard to see a destination through this big storm. We might have to wait it out."

[saisdoesmatter]

The laugh slips from him as he shakes his head at the mention of the doves. "That'd be a trick - nah, I mean human magicians. They tend to pull birds out of their hats as a trick." But the mention of magic in this world makes him nod. "Looks like it... I'd almost believe it was a ghost ship but this place is real different..."

He has to accept that - not that he wasn't used to seeing weird stuff back home, but the ship clearly has a destination that they have no control over, so might as well roll with it.

Even though Casey is capable enough to handle stuff, he scoots closer to the rigging, since everything is wet and damp. Just in case. "Is this normal for this place, Case? Like okay, the flyin' ship thing is new, but--getting taken somewhere???"

[apuckalypse]

"Ohhh." Magic tricks. Okay, that makes way more sense in context.

Casey hangs halfway off the rigging, squinting into the storm first with and then without the mask. Is that some kind of light...? "We get taken places randomly all the time, yeah. Sometimes to one of the schools, or the train, or the middle of the snow up in Wintermute... one time almost everyone got pulled into Amrita Academy because the rest of the world was falling apart."

Emphasis on "almost". That month sucked.

[saisdoesmatter]

At least he doesn't have to explain the joke since Casey picks up on it. But Raph looks to the wheel again, almost half expecting something strange to pop from it now that he's said something, as this realm seems full of strange surprises.

When nothing happens, he looks back to Case, keeping an eye on the rigging in case the young man needs a hand. "So this is common enough to be whisked around by the world to somewhere else? Jeez, can't a guy get a break around here?"

The mention of the WORLD FALLING APART makes him jerk to attention. "Wait, WHAT? This place is falling apart on top of it all????"

[apuckalypse]

"Ah- no, no!" Hastily, Casey waves down to Raph in a placating gesture (only at the last second remembering not to do it with both hands). "It isn't falling apart now. At least, she hasn't told us it is. It's been mostly stable since then."

He's not sure if that's at all reassuring, but he's not gonna lie to Raph.

[saisdoesmatter]

As soon as Casey's waggling his hands with BOTH of them, he's grabbing a leg to make sure the teenager doesn't end up falling over the side of the rigging. "Well that's good--it's bad enough being in a whole different world but one that's actively like exploding? Jeez..."

[apuckalypse]

Oops, sorry Raph. Casey mumbles an apology as he grasps the rigging properly again. "It wasn't really exploding, but there was bad stuff happening everywhere. One area was flooded, another was so cold it wasn't survivable, another where things kept falling in and out of reality... it was super messed up."

[saisdoesmatter]

Raph nods his acknowledgment to Casey as soon as the boy's holding onto the rigging again, just making sure that he's stable before easing his hand off of his leg. "Is that...common here? For everything to go belly up like that?"

[apuckalypse]

"Kinda yes, kinda no? A few times a year things get really wild, in my experience. Otherwise, every month there's something weird or dangerous or just, uh, emotionally... fraught? But not usually deadly."

He should probably be taking this whole pirate invasion more seriously, truth be told. But they weren't that tough to fight, so this is probably the less dangerous type of trial or whatever.

[saisdoesmatter]

"Sounds kind of like day to day life," he mutters, knowing that it was always something going on that wanted to kill them.

"Wait, how long have you been here???"

[apuckalypse]

Oh boy. People love it when he answers this question. "Um... almost two years...?"

[saisdoesmatter]

"TWO YEARS?!"

He can't even imagine being away from his fam for more than like a few weeks - maybe a month. Years??? Even if there's some fake version of him back home.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

[apuckalypse]

"Yeah, uh. Sorry?"

Here goes Casey once again being the bearer of bad news. (At least it isn't an alien invasion this time.)

[saisdoesmatter]

He takes a deep breath and just kind of lets it out slowly. "It's...fine. S'not like you can help it if you've been here that long."

"I just can't--imagine being away for that long." What the hell is he going to do?