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July 2025 IC Mingle
July 2025 IC Mingle
Introduction
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.
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.
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.
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You did so much! Too much! Instructions can't stop equipment from failing, or supplies getting used up, or the Krang being strong enough to break our defences...
[His hands clench tightly at his sides.]
You want to take the blame, so what? So you can avoid accepting that nothing was gonna save us!?
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[He snaps, anger fully coming out in his voice now.]
I knew that was the ultimate outcome, with or without me! But there should have been more time, more options! It shouldn't have ended with my brothers dying!
[As soon as he says it, he knows he shouldn't. It could be taken in such a way that it sounds like he's blaming Casey for it? But it's out there, no take backs.]
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Casey's expression crumples, and quickly he looks down, because he doesn't want to take it that way, the whole problem here is Uncle Tello placing too much blame on himself, not others. It's not about him.
He still feels as if he should have done more. Should have followed the directions better, used what he knew from Uncle Tello to fix things and make improvements when the tech started to falter, reassembled the connections to work around missing or broken parts, anything- anything- what was the point of him learning all of that for years if he was going to fail when tested under pressure? The one person who might've been able to save them left them with a legacy they wasted.
It's not about him.
He still should've done more.
It's not an accusation, it's a statement.
What can he even say to that?]
It... shouldn't have. [He doesn't say it directly, but there's an apology in his tone.] They should've lived.
[They died to save him. They should've...]
no subject
... We need to get out of here.
[Ignore it, ignore the feelings and emotions. Press it all down into a brick and throw it away.]
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Before he can zero in on a way out, though, there's a sudden crashing sound, the ceiling above them - or rather, above where the Krang was - coming loose. Dropping down into the room with their mortal enemy is... himself? wearing his old gear, followed quickly by Draxum, from the past timeline. What the hell are they-
-oh. Oh, hell.]
We need to get out of here, [he echoes, more urgently. He knows exactly what this is.]
no subject
That is not something from his memory, the Krang doesn't look right and that is most certainly Draxum. But not how Donnie remembers him, so he's just dumbfounded by what he's seeing. Until Casey just says what he just said a moment a ago.]
... Ah, yeah?
no subject
Meanwhile, Draxum and the Casey-duplicate begin fighting the Krang in earnest. They're putting up a good front, but Donatello knows how strong the leader of their alien invaders is. He's clearly toying with them for a while, and even his most tame of attacks sends them flying across the throne room more than once. Over and over they persist, getting up and charging once more out of sheer stubbornness. But this isn't a fight they can win.
They grow desperate. The Casey duplicate acts as a distraction while Draxum ingests Empyrean, a reckless move combined with his mystic know-how that infects the Technodrome as an homage to Donatello's own bio-weapon. Outraged, Krang Prime's attacks quicken, fierce and intentional now, no longer playing Games. His claws catch around Casey's throat, and he squeezes, with the intent to crush one more insect.]
no subject
Like he actually stops looking for an exit to watch what is going down, and seeing what is going down with Casey...]
Dammit.
[If the real Casey doesn't make a move, he is going to start moving by instinct to go save his nephew.]
no subject
It's not real! it's like before, with you- you can't stop it, let's just leave!
[Thankfully the scene continues past him, where the Empyrean-fueled yokai is about to create a giant construct of himself fierce enough to interrupt the chokehold and force Krang to drop the other Casey, pinning the monster to the ground. It's truly the stuff of dreams: their worst enemy at last the helpless one, whom the duplicate Casey is able to loom over and bring his blaring chainstick down on, once, then again, and again, and again... it looks cathartic as hell.]
no subject
Still...
[Well, anything he was going to say is cut off by the whole Draxum and Casey taking the Krang out like they did. It is very cathartic to see!]
no subject
Krang snarls angry threats at them both, but it's pinned, unable to lash out with its usual might. The Technodrome, on the other hand, responds in kind; when the other Casey's chainstick comes down a final time, the ship blares an alarm, and a dozen razor-sharp tentacles cut through the floor beneath he and Draxum, both, impaling them multiple times. Even at a glance, there's no denying these are mortal blows. The Krang will die, but so will they.
What's weird is that the duplicate-Casey laughs, spitting blood on the mutilated Krang's face.
Beside Donatello, Casey has to look away. That... was a darker moment, and it's hard to watch, though not for reasons one might expect.]
no subject
Not good, even as he watches it all go down. He does turn his attention to real Casey and notices the teen looking away and he just feels like he needs to say something?]
Let's get out of here.
[Probably not what needs to be said, but a lot better than dwelling on what just went down.]
no subject
At this point, Casey doesn't even care if they get further lost. He grabs Uncle Tello's arm, and pulls him in a random direction, down some Technodrome corridor, away from all of that. He wants no more memories of either of them dying, thanks.]
no subject
... He does want to ask about what he just saw, but he also doesn't know how to go about that tactfully, so he remains silent as they walk.]
no subject
Casey hunches over at once, a hand pressed tightly over his mouth.]
Ugh... I feel sick...
[He's trying not to heave and gross his uncle out, but oof.]
no subject
[Also bless him, Donnie is very much not one to enjoy that kind of sight. But he does place a hand on Casey's back in an attempt to soothe the teenager.]
no subject
Um... sorry, that was... kind of awkward. [Probably an understatement there.] That was a trial, though, kind of a dream? So it didn't really happen...
no subject
I see... But if it was a dream, it had to pull from something, correct?
[Because his was actually something that happened to him, so he doesn't believe that Casey's didn't happen to the teen at all.]
no subject
The question has him hesitating, which is probably an answer all its own, but he does respond:]
...Correct.
[He can argue that it wasn't real, or that he woke up right after and was fine. Does that matter, ultimately? He remembers.]
no subject
I see, well...
[Urgh what to do? What to say?]
If you want to, um, talk about it?
no subject
[He already talked about it with Rue (a little bit) and his therapist, what's your excuse.]
no subject
That's good, good for you.
no subject
You know that sounds fake, right?
no subject
[Because he will deny that him being fine sounds fake, and be upset if Casey finds him finding the teen finding someone to talk to as a good thing as fake.]
no subject
You being fine. Nobody would be, after that. Even you.
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