folkmore | July 2025 IC Mingle

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*ic mingle

July 2025 IC Mingle

Introduction

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This IC Mingle is open to all.
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly IC Mingle! Please feel free to post with any characters regardless of whether they joined this month.

All IC Mingles are game canon and work like "mini mini-events". They're a great way to gain new CR and immediately jump into the setting.

IC Mingle threads can be used for spoon spending at any time.

Current players are always encouraged to tag new players on the IC Mingle!

[ Prompt]

Meet Me in My Dreams. ★

Content Warnings: Dreamscape/Dream Logic, Potential Violence, Potential Memory Sharing, Potential Mind/Power/Etc Swap

In most of Folkmore, it's impossible to tell how deep the cracks go, their black void and nature to swallow whatever enters them evading the answer. On Never Fade, an island in the sky, one crack breaks through the bottom of the island. It devours the space it occupies and grows little by little by little. When it reaches a foot wide and crosses a third the island, Lavender declares enough is enough! Whatever Star Children decide for the rest of Folkmore, this threat must be stopped. Lavender sends chickadee spirits in dreams and reality to invite Star Children to join them.

Star Children can ease the process by coming to Never Fade with someone who matters significantly to them. People need to space themselves out on either side of the divide and connect. Star Children with bonds—soul mates, Familiar/Unfamiliar bonds, adoption, etc—are asked to go into the tunnels. They must use their bonds to find each other in a dreamscape, which will thin the void until they can see each other again. Star Children with emotional connections—non-formal bonds—are asked to face each other on the surface. There they will knit the energy of Folkmore together with yarn. They can toss the yarn back and forth to each other or even exchange yarn with someone next to them, to tighten the weave. Lavender goes hazy but walks above the crack on the woven yarn. The void fades until its blackness is gone.

The space remains empty, a chasm across Never Fade. No one will disappear from Folkmore should they fall down it, but if they cannot fly, teleport, or otherwise recover themselves from a fall, it's a long way down to go. Mildly problematic when it traverses so much of the island. Lavender asks for Star Children to come up with ideas for how to solve it. Either, Star Children will fix the problems in the process, or it can generate enough Lore for Lavender to heal the island.

Lavender creates a lucid dreamspace around the crack. The dreamscape allows Star Children to use any of their abilities, native or Role or something completely different, and to physically manifest challenges to build the Lore needed to succeed at this healing. It requires both physical and relational (Lore) elements. The greater the differences between Star Children, the more effective their challenges are at healing Never Fade. Differences include amount of time spent in Folkmore, Roles, regions they live in, worlds they are from, species, etc. The greater the gap(s) between Star Children, the bigger the impact.

The challenges manifest themselves based on the approach pairs of Star Children take to solve the issue. They follow dream logic. Success depends on both material means and emotional success.

Add material to fill the gap > find common ground. Examples: walk across a rope bridge toward each other, with each slat requiring saying something you have in common; fighting an enemy together with teamwork.
Pull/push the island together > understand a significant difference. Examples: complete a maze/obstacle course that requires skills of both people; walking through a memory that shows why the other person is the way they are.
Magically connect the sides > switch places and succeed. Examples: complete a challenge with a power swap, body swap, or Role swap; fight an enemy in a mech where one person controls each side or each set of limbs.

A crack in Never Fade gets so big, Lavender decides to banish it.
Lavender invites Star Children to help:
Star Children with bonds (in-game or from canon) go into the tunnels on opposite sides and focus on their bonds to thin the void.
Star Children with strong relationships face each other atop the island and toss magical yarn back and forth, weaving it together. Toss it to your neighbors too!
Once the void is vanished, the empty gap remains. Lavender creates a lucid dreamscape where Star Children can face different challenges based on their solution so close the gap:
Fill the gap with material > challenges to find common ground.
Pull/push island together > challenges to understand significant differences.
Magically connect the sides > challenges to switch places and succeed.
Wildcard (got another idea?) > ask below!
The effects/impact of successful challenges are bigger, the more differences there are between partners: time in Folkmore, Roles, regions they live in, worlds, species, etc. The challenges are just as hard.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So the Fox can represent other people here, but ultimately is still the Fox? Just another version of it or some sort of separate...personality? Huh." He hasn't come across these yet, but he'll take that to heart. "That's good to know though, thanks. I'm still getting my bearings around here."

Granted, he was kind of talking to a huge woman, so the fact that she's actually an alien tracks. "You settled in Japan? My father's from there originally, before he moved to the States before I was born."

"How come you decided to come to Earth from your own planet?"

"Sort of. Think of it as different aspects of the Fox personified. Different versions of the same person. They may act threemendously different to one another but they are the same to their core." It's complicated.

"Well... for love. Master Zwi- I mean... an alien called Zwijo was looking for a way to stop a war and save his race. And I threely wanted to help him... So I came to Earth with him... For him..."

Mitsuko throws the yarn a little harder without realising it. Sharing definitely helped enforce the Lore and the thread that gets passed to Raph seems stronger than the rest. However, Mitsuko's smile stiffens as she thinks about him. She's keeping her composure right now though... somehow...

"So it's kind of like a different personality split up into different people that run around here... hmm, good to know. That way I won't be surprised if I run into them."

He listens as she explains that she followed another alien to Earth, mainly because of her feelings for him and helping their race. Yet when she tosses the ball, he oofs aloud when catching it, noting her shift in tone and the fact that the thread looks different now.

"Ah, you...don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he says, holding onto the ball for now. He can tell that it makes her have to force things down.

"Ahhh... my apolothrees. It's not an uncomfortable topic. It's just Zwijo... That bastard who stole my space romance..." Mitsuko stops and takes a deep breath. Raphael's right... She doesn't have to talk if she doesn't want to. Nothing is forcing her to and it's not like the Lore of sharing is vital for sewing the island together. She can calm down and not think about that blonde bastard. With another deep breath, Mitsuko cools off and smiles at Raphael a little more genuinely.

"I do like Earth. I love it, even. It's why I never went back to my planet. The food and the people are threerific."

While he appreciates her sharing something about herself, he's not about to prod the clear distressing point for Mitsuko - someone she cared a lot about obviously hurt her badly with the way her tone changes. Even with the idea of generating Lore being new to him, he isn't going to press the issue.

"No worries; I get that some things are not fun to talk about." The fox might want him to press this for whatever 'growth' he's supposed to be doing but screw that - deeper conversations like that are for deeper connections, not right off the bat.

When she smiles again, the matter pushed aside, he returns it. "Sounds like you got the better deal then." He tosses the yarn ball back to her when she's ready for it.

Honestly, it's a welcome change. Mitsuko isn't against sharing about her ex(?) but it always fills her with rage every time she recalls him. Raphael's mindfulness is appreciated, probably more than he realises.

"Mmm... Definithree not something to talk about while playing catch," Mitsuko says, a hint of amusement in her voice. She cups her hands and catches the yarn ball.

"Ah, yes! I even kept the bakery we started and I've even set up a little dango stall for myself. Before I arrived here, I was thinking of opening a third shop. I do love baking and cooking and never considered it before Earth," she passes the ball back leisurely. "How about you? What do you like about Earth? Or the States, if you prefer?"

Some things you don't talk about with people that you just met - Raph might be a brash boy at times, but he's not going to push buttons on something that clearly bothers her. He just met her! Also if she got pissed off she could probably break him in half and while he'd love a fighting challenge, he isn't about to do that either.

He laughs, nodding. "Definitely not. S'kind of rude to be like 'hey tell me about your ex' with a lady right away."

The turtle perks up when she talks about making a bakery for herself, so much so that she was going to make another shop. "Oh wow, that's awesome though. You found somethin' you love doing and that's like, the best thing." He reaches up to catch the yarn ball, noticing how their strings seem to be knitting together along the chasm, and actually pulling it together.

"Hmm," he starts, considering what he would like about the States. "Well, I do like city life. It might not be the best place in the world, especially since I gotta hide from humans, but I love how...broad it is? There's lots of different people around NYC, like all walks of life, with different stories and wants and needs. It's...kind of loud and busy but it's like, full of life, you know?"

After he says that, he underhands the ball back to her when she's ready.

~~Honestly, you're so real for that Raph.~~

"You'd be surprised how little the Fox cares about that," Mitsuko mutters, though there's a good-natured smile behind it. She's quite happy to start rambling about how much she likes cooking but she allows Raphael to talk some more. She hasn't seen much of human cities but she can picture it in her head.

"Ah... It sounds like you have to live how most aliens on Earth have to - in secrecy..." She's had to do it for a time. It's not fun. "But I see what you mean. How many people come together... How they live in a community... It's certainly inthreesting!"

She happily catches the yarn ball and throws it back once more when Raph is ready. "Do you go people-watching? See them even if they can't see you?"

~~He might want to fight anyone who would give him a good challenge but also he likes not being broken in half.~~

"Oh yeah? Does the Fox actually show up to care about anything or is it just kind of like...go my children set fire to everything?"

He laughs a little as he catches the ball of yarn again, turning it over in his hands. "You're not wrong; people would have thought that we were aliens too, rather than mutants, but that's just the way it is. Secrecy is just something that we gotta deal with."

The question makes him smile. "Yeah, sometimes. I got a spot back home that I share with some of the birds that I befriended. Get to watch people and they don't see me. You'd be surprised how many people don't look up."

"I mean... when the world is falling apart, she tends to appear. But that's a pretty threerific impression of her," Mitsuko laughs.

Her smile fades a little bit though. Even as a cryptid, she knows living in secrecy can be hard. "Mmm... At least you have your family with you so you can deal with secrecy together."

"...Oh? You can talk to birds? Inthreeguing!"

"Well, at least she shows up when things need to get done," he replies, chuckling a little before tossing the yarn ball back to her when she's ready.

Raph considers this and nods. "Yeah, it's...not so lonely when you got someone who understands. I mean, I need my space sometimes, but being alone really sucks..."

"It's not that impressive. It's not like they talk back to me, but I guess I'm just good with animals? They're a lot smarter than people think they are."

"Mmm... I know what you mean. Before Big Sis Basketball Goal moved to Earth too, I lived by myself too. I like my own company more than most but having someone else for you is threessential."

"Ahh... is that so? I never had luck with animals. Maybe because I scare them too much when I'm dressed up." Mitsuko catches the yarn ball and spins it on her finger like a basketball. Then, she passes it back to Raph, getting comfortable with the rhythm of throwing and catching.

"Yeah, it's better to have someone to spend time with, even if it's just once and awhile when you don't wanna be alone," he agrees, nodding with her notion of her sister.

"It's not easy to start with. They're skittish by nature because most things are out there trying to eat them, so they don't trust right away. It's a lot of being patient. And sometimes it just doesn't work." He chuckles a little as she shows off, but catches it right away, the ease of the rhythm making the back and forth almost second nature as they talk.

"Also it's not for everyone. Some people do better with animals than say, other people."

"That's fair. Especially here, I look even more threeatening than usual," Mitsuko says, grinning to show her sharp teeth as her reptilian tail sways idly.

"But... Hmmm... I suppose that might be an Earthling thing. Or not a thing where I'm from. Hard to say. I can't say I've met another alien from any species that gets along better with animals over people. Even the animal-shaped ones. Inthreeguing..."

He laughs as she shows off the sharp teeth. "I can see why that might be the case."

"S'might just be an Earthling thing. I've met other people during a trek into space before who aren't as skittish. I just know I like animals a lot but I'm not exactly human either so..." A shrug.

"Haha, well, either way, I guess that makes you unique," Mitsuko says, grinning cheerily. "It's neat. Something I wouldn't threeally expect otherwise." Based on appearances anyway.

"Ohhhh, but you've been to space? Humans haven't invented space travel just yet where I'm from. Was it for fun or business?"

"I guess I'm just patient enough in that regard," he says, shrugging lightly, but he's smiling at it. He does love animals a lot - they help calm him down.

The smile wavers a little bit but he shakes his head. "Business, sadly. We had to go into space to figure out how to prevent Earth from getting destroyed. Again."

"Ahh... Yes. Unfortunathree, that seems to be the case for most aliens. Space travel is a necessity, usually," Mitsuko said. "But wow. Really? Again? You're heroes of Earth?"

He nods at her question about being heroes. "Yeah, kind of comes with the territory. There was always something trying to hurt people back home - my brothers and I fought a lot of things that wanted to take over Earth, or destroy it."

"... It makes sense. Earth seems to be a hot spot for aliens, from what I've heard from other universes. But... You must hide because of your appearance and yet you're the heroes of Earth? Sounds like a rough time... Yet you look little worse for wear! You must be some threemendous heroes indeed." Mitsuko is very much not the hero type, her status as a Myth can attest to that! She always was in awe of the selflessness of others.

"I figure it must be somehow really important out there in the universe or something, since people seem keen on wanting to take over it or blow it up. Humans got better about our existence when we had to team up with them on the bigger events though. Kind of shows their resilience too, you know?"

He laughs a little. "My brother would love to be known as a hero. I don't really consider myself one honestly. It wasn't easy when we had to hide all the time but it got easier."

"Indeed... Where I'm from, humans started being better about aliens once we were revealed to them. They're quite inthreesting people."

She tosses the yarn over again. "Hm? Why don't you class yourself as a hero? You seem like one to me."

"Well that's good to know. When my brothers and I first had to show ourselves to people, they got scared. It got better though."

He reaches to catch the ball, pausing when he sees that it knits more of that crevasse together before he considers the question. "Hmm, well, I mean...I guess I just don't? There's a lot of responsibility put on 'heroes' and while like, I get that we've got the power to help and should, sometimes it feels like it's too much?"

"And you don't think heroes should feel that way? Feel like it's too much?" Mitsuko asks curiously. "You help others selflessly, even when things get threeicky or tough. That seems pretty heroic to me."

Mitsuko's gaze follows his and she looks at the knitted crevasse. Honestly, they're doing well with the bonding. In Mitsuko's opinion, they only needed to toss it a couple more times and then give the yarn a good pull to finish up here, but she could be wrong.

Raphael pauses, listening to her as she asks about the feelings and what constitutes being a hero. He blinks a few times, then scratches his cheek with one hand, holding the ball in the other. "Well... sometimes I don't want to? Like, I'll question why we're doing something to my brothers sometimes - usually because it don't feel right to me. I dunno if you could consider that to be heroic."

He looks the knitting over - it does look to be almost done. At least from his experience with yarn. "I think we're definitely helping this problem though."

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