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

[tsunergy]

[He makes a noise that is more or less Mikleo-speak for "you're right but I'm refusing to acknowledge it", and keeps looking. When Sorey's clambouring search starts to invade his space, though, he turns to see what the heck is going on, annoyed.]

Hey, watch where you're tossing- [And that's when he catches a glimpse of it, too.] ...is that...

[monolike]

Hold this, [Sorey says urgently, holding up the shaft of a thin polearm for Mikleo to keep out of the way as Sorey works on untangling a chained weapon from the string, fingers moving as quickly as possible without damaging the weapon, but together they manage to finally unearth it.

A brilliant, beautiful silver and blue bow.]

...yeah, [Sorey breathes, finally answering Mikleo's aborted question.] It seems like it is...right? You can feel it too?

[tsunergy]

[Mikleo drops the polearm, no longer caring now that it's out of the way. They could keep searching for suitable weapons, but with the bow in Sorey's hands, he knows at once that they need nothing else.

He feels it. It's right.]

There's... only one way to be sure.

[It's agreement. It's also permission, if Sorey needs it. He knows what to do, what to say.]

[monolike]

[The last time Sorey said Mikleo's name, it was to turn him into a weapon.

The last time Mikleo heard him say it, it was to send him to his death.

Words can't describe the feeling, of Sorey clutching the bow between them, staring at his lifelong friend (soulmate, Katie would've said), knowing that he's going to be able to paint over that painful memory with something joyous.

You cannot use the armatus for your own gain. You cannot abuse the power of the Shepherd.

This...isn't abuse. This isn't his own gain. Even if it was- even if it could be seen as that, can't he use it? Just this once?

Cannonfire rattles the deck above their heads, raining dust into their hair; shouts and cries of battle, the clang of ringing steel; the ominous creaking of the old ship as it lists through the sky, its course altered by the clash;

And two boys (a man and a spirit, a matched pair, two halves of a whole) staring at one another as if there were nothing else in the sky alongside them.

Sorey holds the bow aside, throws himself at Mikleo and wraps his free arm around him, holding him tight. Refusing to shed tears yet again. He hardly ever cried during the entire Shepherd journey, so why is he so emotional these days? What else could he be, at the opportunity to say this again?]

Luzrov Rulay.

[tsunergy]

[The shift is immediate, as it always is: the power of the armatus and the command of his true name takes hold, and he melts away like a cloud. He is drawn from the embrace into Sorey's body, becomes Sorey's body, the two merged into one shared form, not just body but mind, and spirit. Two souls moving in tandem as one- or at least, in theory. Initially there's no movement. A figure stands frozen, gripping the bow in one shared hand, knuckles white.

Similar to when he'd first hopped into Sorey's soul after 200 years apart, it is... different, but not unpleasantly so. Despite the long time apart he feels more settled, more certain of himself, the mental and emotional security of an adult versus an 18 year old still growing and figuring himself out. He had, for many, many years, been self-aware enough to know there was a hole within him, something carved out and left incomplete. He hadn't needed to remind himself what it was, hadn't needed anyone else to tell him. If it had ever been an unknown, he would know its name now: all along it's been Sorey, missing. The feeling of being another, while at the same time remaining very much himself. He can feel the breath and heartbeat of a human, flesh living and dying and growing, always growing. Sorey can feel the elements, the moisture in the air and the flow of wind in his (their) ponytail. What once might have felt only like a carved bow is now an amplifier of water itself. It probably feels a little more like Lailah than Mikleo in terms of age and power, but besides that one small variance, it's still Mikleo. Still the same as ever, just more like a river than a stream, now. There's more depth to him than there used to be, difficult to see the bottom, but still clean and clear and crisp when he drinks.

Before the armatus, Sorey had forbidden himself from crying. But as their forms merge together, tears are flowing freely, and they're Mikleo's tears. He's been squirrely about some things, vague and dismissive, brushing off any of Sorey's regrets or worries or fretting. But here, right now? He can hide nothing. He's trembling, overwhelmed. I missed this. I missed you. I missed you so much.

Their souls are intertwined, their thoughts enmeshed, utterly. He can hide nothing.

I love you I love you I love you iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou

He is. So happy.]

[monolike]

[Their hand is pressed against their chest as they stand there, Sorey in Mikleo's body, Mikleo in Sorey's, the two of them both just one of them. The armatus always felt different with Mikleo; with everyone else it was a partnership, of course, intimate and sacred, but it was more akin to wearing a cloak. With Mikleo, there's this...melding. The lines separating them are so blurry.

I missed this. I missed you. I missed you so much.

He...thinks that's Mikleo. They think it is; Mikleo's the one who's been out in the world, aware of the passage of time, so much time. Centuries of it.

I love you I love you I love you iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou

That one is harder to split. It sings through both of them, all of them, all of him. It rings like the single pure note into the highest of belled ceilings, down the deepest of canyons, bouncing around inside and crying back to them both, to him alone. They love each other. They missed one another. They missed this, the ultimate connection between seraph and human, between the two of them. A longing they'd had for their entire lives, one they were unaware of until it fell into their laps via the Shepherd's journey. A happy accident, to find the one thing the two of them wanted so desperately for each other.

To know, at last, what the other person is thinking. Feeling. Years spent wondering, worrying, over whether a human and a seraph really could truly understand each other only to realize, at the first time they'd joined, that it didn't matter if they saw the same thing, heard the same thing. They felt the same.

They've always felt the same.]

Oh, Mikleo, [Sorey says with their mouth, affectionate and exasperated and adoring all at once, their hand on their chest, holding there. Pressing there, against their heart, tears rolling down their face.] You're so silly.

[He didn't say anything, because they didn't have the solution. He didn't want Sorey to know how desperately he wished for this again until he knew how to fix it. Didn't want Sorey to worry. Just like him. Always protecting Sorey.]

[tsunergy]

Shut up, [is the immediate response, without anger or venom, mostly just a fond exasperation that doesn't last. He doesn't want to be called out on the courtesy. Just because he'd been hoarding lore since the first time he'd gone to dwell within Sorey, ever since he'd heard you could get things from their own worlds that way. Just because he'd been buzzing around in his own head about it and dwelling more within Sorey's to draw more from the sensation, to remember the experience more and more as the days passed. Just because it's embarrassing, how shamelessly hungry he'd felt for the nostalgia, the power, the... intimacy of being fused with his best friend, his partner, his (everything)... his Shepherd. He's flustered, and the feeling carries.

He's happy, and the feeling carries more. Maybe he is silly! What of it!? Sorey is infinitely more so. His silliness is theirs, combined, just like everything else in this moment.

After a few seconds, even the exasperation fades. Everything is warm and soft (the love, the care, the pining) and cool (the element of his very essence thrumming through their body, the calm and soothing nature of its flow) at once. He can feel a heartbeat in their chest, the flow of blood, not energy, the beautiful and tragic mortality of being human. That, too, feels nostalgic in a way he hadn't understood, before their journey. (He too bad been human, once. His mind didn't remember. Something deep in his core might.)]

Well, Shepherd Sorey, you've got the armatus back. What now?

[No demand, no judgment. Lailah's not here to tell them they shouldn't abuse it. They could be responsible, go fight some pirates. They'll probably do that, it's more their style than ditching responsibility. But after? After. If they want to hold on to this moment for longer... well, who could tell them no?]

[monolike]

[Be here with you like this, forever. Give Mikleo what he so dearly missed, for as long as they can manage it, rules be damned.

It's a dangerous thought.

Sorey lets it sit there between them, in the slips of the armatus' magic that threads through their veins like mana and blood both. The idea that they could use this for them. He lets the idea sit, go stale, and finally rot. They can't use it like that; eventually the guilt would eat at him, or them, and destroy what they have. More than they shouldn't, they simply cannot. As much as they adore being each other like this, they'd miss being apart.

That dangerous thought runs its lifespan in a matter of seconds, and like dirt in the rain it washes away to reveal once again that brilliant, glittering resolve that encases every big decision Sorey's ever made, ever had to make, now more than every with the steel wire connecting his soul to Maotelus and the still writhing mass of malevolence that is Glenwood.

They'll enjoy it, enjoy each other, while they use it to save the lives of the other Star Children and the spirit crew above, and then once Mikleo is ready they'll release it. They can always use it again. Sorey will make himself content with that reality, that even here his life still isn't his own, not while the other pacts are still active.]

Hey, Mikleo? [Sorey turns their body towards the stairs, bow tucked against his side as he ascends the steps. There are screams and shouts and grunts, but not even a shred of malevolence poisoning the air around them, no matter how it roils in the Star Children fighting.

Sorey nocks an arrow. He pours their power into it, releasing his hold so Mikleo can choose the target.] I love you.

[tsunergy]

[It's a sentiment Mikleo agrees with. They can't be like this together forever, but they can hold on to this for as long as the situation allows. They have no Prime Lord here to scold them and steer them away, yet they both are experienced enough to recognize the dangers of abusing this. They've seen the damage corruption and unreasonable Shepherds can inflict on an unsuspecting world. No joy would be enough to offset the pain and guilt of hurting everyone else through this sort of selfish greed.

But for now... for now, this power is necessary to protect. It isn't just an excuse but a requirement. They can self-regulate, surely. They're not children in need of chastising anymore.

There's a pause, as Mikleo lets their eyes rove over the battlefield, selecting a target, and shifts their aim to zero in. A particularly troublesome spirit trying to ruin the sails of their ship, weapon swinging against rope and fabric and anything else in its way. Not the biggest or noisiest foe, but in this moment, the most dangerous. Who knows what might happen to a flying ship without sails?

Once the target is selected, though, Mikleo relinquishes control, thinking on Sorey's words. It's funny. To many people it might be a revelation, a proclamation worth making a fuss over. Love is such a powerful word. To Mikleo, though, it's just... Sorey. A foregone conclusion. Sorey is Sorey, and Mikleo is Mikleo, and Sorey loves Mikleo. It's known. He's always known. So:]

I know, [is the thought he sends back, his entire soul singing that mutual affection alongside Sorey, creating a chorus within their shared body, one with unmistakable feeling and intent. I love you I love you I love you. Always, forever.] Me too.

[Sorey is Sorey, Mikleo is Mikleo. Mikleo loves Sorey. They've always known.]