folkmeme | February-March 2024 Test Drive Meme

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*tdm

February-March 2024 Test Drive Meme

February-March 2024 TDM

Introduction

[ 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.

[ Soon You'll Get Better ★ Netfox & Chill]

Soon You'll Get Better . ★

Content Warnings: Power Nullification, Potential Kidnapping, Potential Animal Spirit Harm

The island of Never Fade can no longer be seen in the sky from elsewhere in Folkmore, enclosed within a large purple tinted cloud. Within that cloud, the island is under water—a dreamy purple underwater that all Star Children can breath in if they breath and function in if they function on electricity, so on and so forth. It causes no more difficulties than reduced visibility and greater effort to walk. It's even possible to swim underneath the island, so long as Star Children make sure to make landfall before they get too exhausted and… well… fall.

Friendnapped

The purple water has streaks of silver shot throughout it. Beware, these silver streaks neutralize powers, canon and role abilities alike, for at least an hour. A neutralized Legend won't be able to sense others in danger. A neutralized Myth won't sense danger coming. A neutralized Familiar won't be able to shapeshift to help others. That may set of a danger alarm but not any spidey-sense. These silver streaks are harbingers of spirits recently returned to Folkmore thanks to donations at the Shattered Spoon Shrine: lonely sharks.

The source of the silver streaks in the water, these silver gray sharks swim up and gently bite people. These bites make people go instantly limp but otherwise don't do any damage. They won't even break the skin. Once limp, the lonely sharks take their ~~prey~~ new best friends down to a cave or grotto off the underside of Never Fade. These caves are full of silver water, saturated by the magic of lonely sharks, and the entrances are covered by a thin silver barrier that prevents Star Children from leaving. That means should a Star Child track down where someone is being kept, should they enter its home, they too will be trapped there.

Being held by the lonely sharks isn't the worst experience. These spirits will try to please their new friends, giving them their favorite foods and perhaps even an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic of these items will be neutralized in the shark's cave. It is possible to fight a lonely shark, even to kill one, but that will only be a temporary measure. Star Children will remain trapped and have to wait for the lonely shark to revive—with even more golden cracks than before. In the end, the only way to escape are hugs, cuddles, and other measures of friendship. Once all the golden cracks have thinned and disappeared, Star Children can leave.

Spread the Love

By the time mid-March comes around, most of the lonely sharks have been fully healed and no longer kidnap Star Children. Instead they swim the None of the Above tunnels below the island's surface, where they provide guidance to Star Children who ask them how to get somewhere. If Star Children have nowhere particular in mind, the lonely sharks encourage Star Children to make their way toward the Shattered Spoon Shrine.

The lonely sharks still create silver streaks in the water that neutralize powers, but they will accompany Star Children and warn them of some of the dangers. When voices call their names, the sharks will snuggle up against Star Children to provide comfort. They're devoted to helping Star Children reach the shrine. Once there, they will encourage the Star Children to donate Lore to one of the broken spoons there, each spoon representing spirits who have left, spirits who became shells of themselves from lack of lore, or ghosts.

Star Children who donate Lore will find their companion lonely shark presenting them with an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic will be neutralized until the Star Child has spent at least an hour away from the silvery water lonely sharks create. Lonely sharks will happily spend as much time with Star Children as they're willing but will show the way back to the surface either via LIM (Lavender Institute of the Mind) or the None of the Above tunnels.

Never Fade is underwater within a cloud.
Silver streaks in the water neutralize powers, both canon and Role based.
Lonely sharks kidnap Star Children and take them to caves on the underside of Never Fade.
Star Children who find those caves are trapped too.
Escape by hugs, cuddles, and being friends.
By the second month, most lonely sharks are healed and found in the tunnels.
Lonely sharks guide Star Children to the Shattered Spoon Shrine to donate Lore to help others.
Either when captive or once donating Lore, lonely sharks will give Star Children an item from home.

Netfox & Chill . ★

Content Warnings: Forced Relocation, Potential Secret Revelation, Potential Coerced Physical Intimacy

With the wide range of Star Children from many different worlds, sharing similarities, it's no surprise when moments of deja vu happen. That sense of the familiar with the new, the sense of something that happened before without quite being able to place it… or perhaps it being impossible. Regardless, when that connective moment happens, the Star Children involved are transported to a windmill home from the Cloud Colonies. They land together on a couch before a large television with all the makings of a movie night. There could be wine and cheese. There could be soda and popcorn. There could be tea or other hot beverages. There's a cozy blanket (only one). The movie has already been selected, and it starts playing.

Headliner

The movie is roughly based off one of the Star Children's lives, specifically for the Star Child that experience deja vu and triggered this experience. Regardless of the moment of deja vu, the plot of the movie is based off of some real or potential relationship—romantic or queer platonic—in their life. That Star Child can recognize some similarities immediately. If they had any doubts, they get a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

It's possible to ignore the message, at least for a while. The longer the movie plays, the more apparent it becomes that it's based off that Star Child. The starring character's clothes will change to resemble theirs. The cadence of their voice will shift to imitate theirs. Their facial features will shift. These changes will become more and more heavy handed as the movie goes on until even the most clueless companion will have real trouble not picking up on it. It may get harder and harder to distract them from talking about it! There's no pause button, and the only way to mute the movie is to *ahem* distract themselves from it until it becomes an indistinct background murmur.

Remake

If any Star Children thought this experience might have been a Valentine's Day prank, they'll be poorly mistaken come mid-March when it continues with a twist. The movie less closely resembles any one Star Child's life (whew?)… because it blends the lives of all those present together into a new story. One character is based off each Star Child, and it fits the other Star Child into the role of someone who was or could have been emotionally and/or physically intimate with them. If they had any doubts, each Star child gets a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

Not only does each Star Child have to decide what approach they want to take, but the other Star Child may pick up on what they're putting down! One Star Child may want to talk it out, but the other one desperately doesn't. Oh noes, how shall it be resolved? Well, the longer it takes, the more clearly the film demonstrates one way they could resolve it—a fictionalized ending, happy or sad or bittersweet or anything else, between the characters as they more closely resemble those watching them on the sofa. No one's free until they have a heart to heart or a something to something else. Any physical intimacy can do.

Experience a moment of deja vu and get transported to a cozy living room in a Cloud Colony windmill.
For the first month, the 'host' Star Child gets a text letting them know to get intimate—emotionally or physically.
For the second month, all Star Children get that text.
For the first month, the movie is based on the 'host' Star Child's experiences, what did or could have happened. As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that's the case.
For the second month, the movie is a story blending Star Children's experiences together. That too will become more obvious over time.
Some form of intimacy is the only way out!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Kaeya not immediately pulling away at his touch comes as both a surprise and a relief to Diluc, and for a moment, he allows the closeness. For that moment, he moves his hand to Kaeya’s shoulder, then gently rubs one of his lupine ears. ]

A choice was placed before you. But which path you should take is not laid out in black and white for you.

[ He withdraws his hand. ]

The Fox made that choice literal.

[He stares at him. His eye wide as the realization of how true that is strikes the core of him. His lips move but no words come out.

His masks are nothing.

The shock holds him fast, but he catches Diluc’s hand before it can fully retreat. He holds it for a second like a drowning man grabbing for the edge of a boat. Then he realizes what he did and lets it go.

He turns his face away for a moment. His ears turn to lower then go back and forward. He’s lost. Why had he not thought of that?

It takes a minute before he says,] …that certainly explains a few things.

[His voice is his usual but there is an obvious strain. The statement has rattled him. It puts a horrible spin on everything he has been through.]

[ Even if Diluc were blind, he would be able to tell how strongly what he said has impacted Kaeya. It seemed so clear to him, he really is baffled that Kaeya didn’t figure this out before— unless… he simply actively avoided making the connection. Whereas Diluc has obsessed for years over the way the other man’s loyalties are pulled in two opposing directions, it seems Kaeya has more often than not chosen to explicitly not think of it. With Diluc being hesitant to fully trust Kaeya out of fear of betrayal and having his still-healing heart shattered to pieces again, of course he’s been ever mindful of Kaeya’s predicament. He never really thought before of how terrified Kaeya might be to look that choice in the face again after the night Crepus died.

Diluc is about to squeeze Kaeya’s hand when the other man pulls away and suddenly the reality of how painful this situation is for Kaeya crashes into him. All the masking he does is in defense of himself. Of course it’s to hide his Khaenri’ahn heritage, Diluc knows that, but has he been protecting his own heart this way too? Not wanting to think about how he might be expected to betray everyone in Mondstadt who loves him, has Kaeya deliberately refused to even entertain the notion that the past will catch up to him one day?

And just like before, it is Diluc who has forced him to face the overwhelming truth that he will never be able to escape it. ]

Kaeya…

[The words break the chains on the vault he has sealed shut. Passively somewhere deep down he had put the pieces together. The living other lives is the most heinous. Gods why didn’t he put that together? Because he hadn’t wanted to. He puts a hand over his mouth as he looks at it again. The life of a seer.

The life of a resurrected weapon. The lives where he lay his head down and let fate have him. The lives where he fought it. Even his full embrace of power if it could just save- Diluc is calling. He looks at him. A haunted expression has claimed his face.] …I confess I didn’t put that piece into the puzzle. I don’t think I wanted to.

[He drags a hand over his face and breathes in. Gods. It’s all there. And because Diluc pointed it out he can’t look away from it.] Every single trial. That’s rather egregious.

[He goes quiet and says in a whisper.] …Diluc, I don’t know the true purpose of why I was left. But apparently Barbatos knew what I was from the very start.

[ Well, that confirms it, doesn’t it? Diluc once told the Traveler that one can only trust half of what Kaeya says at best. But even if that’s true, he rarely found himself thinking overly hard to discern which half was the truth when it came to Kaeya. Right now, it’s clear this is the most unguarded and vulnerable Kaeya has been in a long time and Diluc wonders if anyone else here has seen this side to him. It isn’t like Kaeya to show his belly to most people, but this isn’t Teyvat and two years is a long time.

It might be too presumptuous to assume Kaeya needs him right now more than ever, but Diluc stays with him and doesn’t speak until it seems Kaeya is looking to him for answers. For comfort. ]

Barbatos…

[ Diluc takes a breath. He remembers Kaeya mentioning that the Fox is strong enough to take Venti and he puts two and two together. ]

He told you that himself, did he.

[ He exhales slowly, closing his eyes. This topic is… a difficult conversation and not one Diluc really wants to have right now, but not even to Kaeya — maybe especially not to Kaeya — can he be so callous as to shrug it off. ]

Do you remember…? That night. When we…

[ He doesn’t finish the sentence. Kaeya knows. ]

That swirl of anemo energy when your Vision manifested? Pyro and Cryo do not have that kind of reaction to each other. So where do you think it came from?

[ Since learning that Venti is Barbatos, he’s been considering for a while now just how long he’s been watching over them. Kaeya’s words more or less confirm it may have been for a while. ]

[He parts his fingers, looking at him with his one eye.] ...they don't.

[He drops his hand. His ears go forward then back. He scrubs his face. Again.] Yes, he told me himself. I was stuck under a truth spell and we had a long conversation.

And now it seems, I owe him several drinks.

[ Diluc crosses his arms and just sits there in silence. He doesn’t know what else to say to Kaeya, let alone what might offer him some solace right now. He pockets his spoon instead of trying and picks up the pastry to unwrap it. ]

Can you afford it on a professor’s salary?

[ It’s a small jest, mostly a distraction. Maybe he can get Kaeya talking about something else, even if that topic is also odd. ]

[He laughs and drops his hand to the table. His ears right themselves a little. He can't stuff it back under the rug. He hasn't been okay since something Diluc doesn't remember. That broke something inside, and he can't fix it. He leans forward with a raised eyebrow.] Oh, the only currency here is Lore, and I can make that in an afternoon. It's fine.

He actually has the ability to pay his tab here. My classes are all mostly discussion. [He waves a hand.] Familiar studies. I wanted familiars to have a comfortable place to go to figure it out. You know?

[ The sound of Kaeya’s laughter somehow sounds different. Wilder, more genuine… warmer. It sounds closer to how it used to when they were younger— like a breath of fresh air for a man who’s been holding his breath for a while now. Good. At least Diluc has managed to give him that much, his small and ultimately useless apology for spoiling everything with his turbulent emotions, like he always does. ]

No. I don’t, really. Everything that I have done just felt… like the only thing I could do.

[ Led along by his emotions in every instance of him making a major decision, Diluc suddenly feels as though he’s so unlike Kaeya, never questioning where fate has led him. He glances down at the pastry in his hand. ]

But I think that is a good cause for you to work towards—

[ He adds after a pause because this is definitely sounding more revealing than he is comfortable with. ]

—as long as you don’t pass on any of your bad habits to these students.

[Another snort. He grins and lowers his lashes.] Oh? And what habits are these?

[But he sobers a little again. That admission from Diluc. He can’t ignore it. Because they’re having this talk in a round about way and he wants to answer. For once. He picks up his almond tart and says,]

…it’s been like chess for a lifetime. [He didn’t let emotions turn his feet. He couldn’t afford it. It has always been charting paths forward. He keeps speaking,] I designed the classes around their figuring out what ways work for them. I can guide but they have to figure it out. Self experimenting is how I figured myself out. But that might not work for others.

[ A “hmph” and a sharp turn of his head as he begins to finally eat his pastry gift is as much as Kaeya gets from Diluc in answer to how he responds to Diluc’s subtle teasing. He instead decides to go the way once more of “less talk, more listening”— something he can admit to himself at least now that he has never really done with Kaeya since they were teenagers. A small wrinkle forms between his brows as they come together, the only sign of Diluc’s internal anguish that slips past his defenses at hearing Kaeya’s admission of how his life has felt. He wants to ask if he felt that way with him too, if there was ever a moment where Kaeya just felt safe and at ease when it was just the two of them.

But he doesn’t. He doesn’t ask. It seems wrong to, like he would be making this moment about him and it shouldn’t be, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.

He just listens. Until Kaeya’s choice of phrasing makes him question his sanity a little. ]

…“Self-experimenting”?

[He smiles. His footing feels sure again. At least, as sure as it can be. The proverbial mask is back on.] Yes, I went off into the woods and practiced shifting.

Walking. Running. It’s different as a wolf. But going off on your own and experimenting isn’t for everyone. Some people would panic once they got the shift right. Or some other problem will come up. Can you imagine being a snake then realizing any bird of prey might think you’re lunch?

Or being a mouse! That’s stressful.

That sounds like something no one should be doing alone, you included.

[ Diluc says gruffly, suddenly a bit panicked at the idea of Kaeya as a tiny defenseless mouse running through the grass away from a raptor that is specifically designed to be a perfect predator. ]

You need to take someone with you when you do this.

[He laughs and leans back with a spark in his eye.] And that is why I became a professor. People can safely explore all kinds of shifts in a supervised space.

And I get to be inventive in classes and test materials.

And I was perfectly safe. I have tricks up my sleeves. [He lifts his hand and blows a bit of frost off of it.] I don’t take very small forms anyway.

And I learned my lesson about being a slime.

[ Diluc furrows his brow again, giving Kaeya a flat look. Surely he isn’t going to make him outright say he’s concerned about him, right? It seems that might be the actual goal as Kaeya goes on to hint at some horrible experience as a slime. ]

Dare I even ask?

[He meets his eyes with a barely contained laugh. This is better. It’s so far away from all the terrible implications of the past. And of choices. There are no campfires. No hanging choices.] I got stuck.

I thought I could slip into a large log and well. I got in.

[He shakes his head then sobers a little.] I know you’re worried. I know how to stay safe. But, if you want to. I don’t mind company while I experiment.

[ Because Kaeya has locked gazes with him and extended this invitation at the same time, Diluc feels awkward as he overthinks his answer. There is no two ways about it, as far as he’s concerned; he will absolutely be coming with him.

It’s the fact that Kaeya has just gone and said what Diluc was hoping he wouldn’t have to admit to aloud that has him at a loss for how to answer. He could be honest for a change, but Diluc hesitates to be even that vulnerable. In his second scramble for the right words to say, he all of a sudden becomes very interested in wolfing down the rest of his pastry, to the point he gets a bit of fruit jam on the corner of his lips. ]

I am not worried. It will just be troublesome if I have to come dig you out of another log incident, so I might as well come along.

[Kaeya’s smile remains. His tail wags behind him. He takes another bite of his almond tart and savors it. This is good. Life as it is right now, is good.]

Are you saying if I get stuck somewhere later to call you? [He takes another bite. He half assed salutes him with the pastry.] Well, I can certainly truly experiment now. I haven’t actually tried smaller birds. I can do owls and hawks and that felt like enough.

[ There’s that telltale way of the tail again. Well, at least Diluc can trust that Kaeya’s mood is improving after their heavy dialogue a bit ago. He truly didn’t mean to cause Kaeya any anguish, he just hadn’t considered that the topic of familiars being able to choose their links to one extreme end of the spectrum would be such a loaded one for Kaeya.

Diluc’s eyes are a pale cold yellow, in spite of himself. That question makes him nervous for a few different reasons and ultimately he blurts out what he thinks is a cover for his concern, but once the words have left his tongue, sound more revealing than he wanted them to in the end. ]

Whether or not I give you permission, will you not simply do it anyway?

[He raises an eyebrow but, the answer is in his eye. Something here changed the way he approaches Diluc. Whatever that is he says,] I would. Make sure you do the same, alright?

You can’t be the only one woken up out of a dead sleep. [He passes it off as a joke. He silently applauds himself it didn’t come out like a plead. The scar of the Wild Hunt is still fresh.] This place can be very dangerous. Especially during a trial. And sometimes teaming up is the only way through.

[ When Kaeya again doesn’t snap back at him with some sort of insistence that he’s no fun to hang around, or denounce all his concerns as annoying nagging, Diluc is abundantly aware that something has made Kaeya change how he interacts with him. He’s more honest, more straightforward… Not really less clingy, because Kaeya always was eager for any excuse to come pester him back in Mondstadt, but certainly less prone to veiling his desire to spend time around him as an act of obligation for Ordo Favonius work or an attempt to deliberately irritate him. Diluc is genuinely caught off guard when he openly admits that, yes, he would still turn to him for help if needed. Not even the light teasing afterward does much to diminish the significance of that and what it says about how Kaeya views their relationship.

Things had improved between them since Alice’s little Dodo King prank, but at a snail’s pace of course and they never really spoke of the words they exchanged that afternoon on the beach again— not of how Kaeya all but begged Diluc to be nice while they were stuck on those islands together, nor how Diluc was actually surprised to hear that their shared childhood memories of seashell-collecting was notable enough for Kaeya to remember. It feels like more progress has been made since Weinlesefest here in Folkmore without him and he’s not sure why or how. ]

I’ve dealt with danger before. I can handle it.

[ He never told Kaeya about his near-death experience facing the Harbingers but that was the most terrifying moment of his life after his father’s death. The closest he’s ever been to death. ]

I told you— take better care of yourself. I will be fine.

[Kaeya takes a bite of his tart. His mind races. How can he navigate this one and make sure he is taken seriously? Asking for trust is right out.

He takes another bite and realizes a way. He looks at him and in his mind’s eye beautiful flaming wings go out. A vision that used to be so vibrant gone dull and grey. And he says,] Diluc.

During dangerous trials treat it like a fight for survival. Because it will be. We can be brought back here if we die. But, it hurts those who saw that person fall.

[He sets the tart down. His ears are lowered. His voice is laced with a faint plead.] Our memories can be rewritten and we can have different magic. Different lives. We can face a copy of ourselves. The possibilities are endless.

It’s all supposedly about bringing out our potential. I know you can take care of yourself.

[All jokes are gone. He stares at Diluc seriously. Not as a captain. Or any of his faces. This is important. This matters.] I’m giving you the facts so you can do it armed with what you need to know.

[ There is a rawness to Kaeya’s voice as he speaks and his expression is so grim that Diluc can’t help but feel extra anxious. He frowns and that frown deepens the more the other man goes on. He’s doing the sad ears thing again too, which doesn’t make Diluc confident anymore that this all just boils down to some paranoia on Kaeya’s part. No, this feels more like… it stems from some bad experience that he’s had.

It takes Diluc a moment to read between the lines, but it comes as a shock once he realizes it: Kaeya is afraid. Whatever has happened to him here, it’s made him even more terrified of losing people. “… it hurts those who saw that person fall.” Diluc presses his lips together tightly. That’s a terrible truth even in their world that he knows all too well. Was Kaeya linked to some Legend or Myth somewhere along these two years? Did Kaeya have to see them die? ]

All right, Kaeya. That’s enough.

[ He says it quietly— not dismissively, but as a small urging for Kaeya to calm down before he works himself up more. ]

I have no intention of letting this place claim my life. I may be stubborn, but that’s what has kept me alive.

[ He takes a breath and once again reaches out to touch Kaeya’s wolf ears without warning. ]

Besides, if you are so certain I have owl wings, then I can simply fly away from any fight I deem unwinnable.

[He leans forward into the reaching hand. A thread of tension in him eases once fingers touch fur. Diluc is a smart man. A good man.

He considers becoming a wolf. Instead he sighs.] So long as you fight to live. That’s all I ask.

[He sags, leaning further into the fingers and finally gives in to the shift. He becomes a wolf. He is bigger than a normal wolf. With black feet and dark blue fur. He shoves his head into the hand and sighs again.]

Obviously I w—

[ Diluc is about to reassure Kaeya when suddenly Kaeya is… a pretty huge wolf. He notices the way the eyepatch stays and doesn’t quite cover all of the scar that lies beneath. Diluc’s eyes fade to a blue-gray and after a moment, he also sighs and removes his gloves so that when he puts his hand back on his head, this time actively petting the ears is more personal.

Kaeya’s fur is thick, a true wolf’s coat for the winter. Even if he knows that this large animal is Kaeya, it’s difficult for his mind to accept that and he reacts like he would to any dog. Diluc had always loved animals and he and Kaeya grew up around plenty. Horses, tortoises, cats, dogs, fish, birds… So it only feels natural to him to bury his fingers into the wolf’s thick pelt and stroke downwards along his neck.

It’s surprisingly easy to forget it’s Kaeya he’s petting, but he gives in. At least this way, it is easier for both of them— easier for Kaeya to ask for affection and easier for Diluc to give it. ]

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