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February-March 2024 Test Drive Meme
February-March 2024 TDM
Introduction
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.
All TDMs are game canon and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Playing and interacting with the TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain 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.
🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore.
and then... you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.
🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.
Perhaps you follow the falling stars on your own, or perhaps the Fox simply teleports you there, but it appears you too will be part of this.
Content Warnings: 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
Spread the Love
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 theirpreynew 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.
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
Remake
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!
no subject
[The way he says the word makes it clear enough, if nothing else already had, that he has not seen anything like this before. As close as he is to it he can make out individual little specks of colour on the screen, shifting and changing as the picture moves, but he does take the boy at his word and straightens up to retreat a little further back.
Away from the glare of the screen one thing becomes abundantly clear - his skin is definitely grey. When he turns his attention over to Sephiroth his eyes are shown to be two different colours too, one an inky obsidian and the other a pale blue.]
I've seen a lot of magic, but nothing quite like that.
[He's smart enough to realise it's not a portal, at least.]
no subject
No, anyone he's ever seen alive. Occasionally the dead could be that strange color of gray, especially in very cold-- No, Tav is definitely not dead, or he wouldn't be moving. But every move he makes is watched closely, expression carefully guarded. Civilized, certainly, by language and the fact that there's clothes. Was he some victim of science?
Or maybe just from somewhere without a lot of tech?]
The word often used for such devices is 'technology', rather than magic, as anyone at all can learn to use it with a bit of time, unlike magic. Have you seen stageplays before? Theater?
no subject
[Technology. Of course he knows the word, though he hasn't seen it applied to anything in the way that he sees it here. It doesn't seem to bother him overmuch however as he finally retreats fully from the television and drops himself down in a corner of the couch, huffing out a breath as he does.
An adventurer does not often get the chance to occupy a comfortable seat. Tav tends to relish the opportunities where he can.]
Yes, I've seen theatre.
[His attention strays back over to the television, eyes bright with curiosity.]
It's not a portal, so I can assume that what I'm seeing isn't happening now. Would that be right?
no subject
[He's staying right where he is. Who cares if the little text suggested he was supposed to get closer to people, that's not going to happen. The distance of a couch cushion is plenty.]
Think of this as a theater production, recorded and replayed on the box for convenience. This particular production seems to be a work of fiction.
[Actually it looks like at least one of the people in that work of fiction has the same odd gray skin as Tav. Is.. is that actually a thing, somewhere?
When the boy speaks again, it's with caution.]
Forgive me, as I know this will sound rude, but I don't mean to offend. Does ... everyone look as you do, where you're from?
no subject
So, he shakes his head.]
You mean the skin colour, don't you.
[Some half-drow are 'lucky' enough to be able to pass for human or even wood or high elf, but when it comes to Tav... his father's genes run strong. He couldn't hide his heritage even if he wanted to.]
Guess you've never seen a half-drow before? [Lifting one hand he brushes his hair back, showing one pointed ear.] Not everyone has. We're not too common outside of Dambrath.
no subject
Pointed ears cements it. He is not dealing with a human at all. This is obvious in retrospect, and the certainty now leaves him strangely uneasy. It should make things simpler, but it doesn't.]
I'm sorry, I don't know what a drow is at all. Or where Dambrath is.
[A drow is half whatever Tav is! Are they the gray ones? Was it the other half??]
no subject
[The latter thing he could understand. Some people were simply not at all well-travelled. But not knowing what a drow is..?
Hm.
Tav cocks his head, curious for a moment, then shrugs.]
That fox said something about other worlds... Guess you're not from Toril at all, are you?
no subject
[Hey guess what's nowhere to be found in Toril?
Likewise, Sephiroth's not entirely certain there's anywhere on the planet named Toril. Certainly not gray skinned people called Drow, not when it's being treated like common knowledge.]
Likely we are from very different places. There are ... no surviving nonhuman species that I know of. And anything else is usually monsters.
[Or chocobos. Or dogs. Tav is obviously neither, but he doesn't really seem like a monster either.]
no subject
Well, where I come from we have plenty of monsters. Plenty of non-humans, too. Sometimes they're the same thing, but not always.
[Like right now, for instance.]
My mother was human. My father wasn't.
no subject
And if they're close enough to human why not just call them human?]
Are you sterile?
[The question seems automatic, and it only occurs to him what he just asked a moment later, embarrassment quickly rising.]
No, no I'm sorry, forget I asked that, that's much too personal.
no subject
Fuckin' hells, you just say whatever pops into your head don't you?
[At least it seems like he finds it funny?]
But no, I'll answer. I don't have kids and haven't tried to, but half-elves aren't sterile far as I know. I wouldn't expect that I am either.
no subject
[It's a mortified squeak. If the teen could sink into the couch cushions and disappear he absolutely would be doing it right now. While most of him is currently being utterly embarrassed, there's still a part that's ticking away through logical conclusions. Tav might simply be too young to be bothering with any of that yet, he's obviously pretty young.
Young enough to not take offense, thank the Planet.
He does get an answer! Which backs up the conclusion that Tav is too young to be finding out, but if half-elves are common enough where it's not a well known thing it might not be a concern. Elves, therefore, must be very human.]
The elf half is the ... pointed ears and gray skin, then, or..?
[This time the question is much, MUCH more cautious.]
no subject
Yeah, yeah. Drow are a sub-race of elf. They pretty much uniformly have dark grey or bluish skin and light hair, and pointed ears. Usually longer than mine. [Tav tucks one side of his messy hair behind his ear so the slope and point of it can be more easily seen.] Red's the most common eye colour. I didn't inherit that.
[Shaking his hair loose again he sits back slightly and shrugs.]
I'll live longer than a human, but not as long as an elf. I can see better in the dark, my stamina's higher, and I get a few fey magic tricks into the bargain.
no subject
It's interesting. Really interesting, being faced with someone who was at least part not human (or at least a cousin species), who definitely was not a monster. Articulate, well dressed, obviously civilized.]
What is a fey trick? Magic is ... in this specific case, standard spellcasting?
[If Tav's willing to indulge, then he has a very attentive audience of one. Humans must not look quite the same as are in Tav's world, if he has eyes like a cat or viper but still knows only about humanity.]
no subject
Elves originally came from a plane called the Feywild. Long, long time ago. Part of the magic of that place is still carried in elven blood.
[It's definitely not quite like arcane magic, or anything the gods might hand down. Fey ancestry offers a magic all of its own and has always felt more natural to Tav than any cantrip or spell he might cast.]
Part of it means that I can't be put to sleep by magic and spells to charm usually won't work on me either. And, the little tricks.
[With a small motion of one hand Tav casts a spell, bathing the room around them in a pinkish-purple glow that shimmers over every surface.]
Faerie fire. Negates invisibility. Surprisingly useful.
no subject
He watches how it plays over his own hands with fascination. Different planes must be like different worlds, if he could accept one he could accept the other. A spell that negates invisibility suggested there was plenty out there that would evade normal sight.]
I think I envy you a bit. No-one can do this sort of thing, not anymore.
[Resistance to sleep spells was easier, most people with mako in their system qualified for that. Real magic though?]
no subject
[It's not as if the snuffing out of magic is unheard of in Toril either, but the finality with which the boy speaks gives Tav second thoughts before he puts it to the absence of a deity.
The pink-purple glow around them fades, leaving the room as it was.]
And why is that?
no subject
[It's almost disappointing, watching the pinkish light of true magic, not materia or science, fade from the room.
Hojo would have a fit. And then probably try to dissect the half-elf.]
There's nothing concrete to be found, just.. stories.