Test Drive 002

[iyashikeimods]

Test Drive Meme 002

Welcome to our March/April Test Drive Meme!

✨ Frequently Asked Questions ✨ Locations ✨

✨ Test Drive Memes are game canon.

✨ Current players of Iyashikei are welcome to top level to the Test Drive Meme as well as it functions as an event for the game.

✨ Please remember that at least 5 comments are needed directly from the Test Drive Meme for your Application sample section.

✨ Invites are closed until May 1st.

✨ Reserves are closed until May 3rd.

Spring Has Sprung

SPRING IS HERE!

Snow is melting in the Main Hub and most of the Outer Rim, except for the mountain range and the forest at the base of those mountains. Get in those last few ski and snowboarding trips at the lodge because it will soon switch to springtime activities. Ah yes! Flowers are blooming, and animals are coming out of their dens. The weather is still a bit chilly but the sun feels warm and the world is waking up from its winter nap. People all over are cleaning up the remnants of winter, and as with all things in Iyashikei, a helping hand is always welcome!

In fact... you may notice that the spring cleaning in Iyashikei can get a little... intense.

Whether you like it or not, you will get pulled in to help. Think you could hold that ladder while they get some last bit of snow off the roofs? Or grab a broom and help sweep out the mudrooms of salt and grime? Spring is here, which means: spring cleaning is in full effect! Whether it be throwing out the garbage and recycling, cleaning out closets, or moving boxes full of donations, Spring Cleaning Fever is in the air!

It's not just homes clearing and cleaning things out, plenty of businesses are having giant cleanouts as well. Of course, Iyashikei doesn't just throw things out. The goal is to reduce, reuse, and recycle things as much as possible. It's time for the:

Jack of All Trades Repair Fair!

Do you know how to fix an appliance? You're on tech repair. Have an artistic flair? You're helping with repainting items. Are you good at organizing? You're sorting what can and can't be saved or finding out who needs what. Skilled with a needle and thread? Clothing holes and patches are your patients. Are you good at puzzles? Then there are plenty of broken plates and pots with gold glue coming your way.

Everyone will be made to help in some form or fashion. If there is no saving the item, then it will be scrapped for parts and pieces until it's finally thrown away. The Repair Fair is the pet project of one of the Council Members. He's not hard to miss, what with his blue skin, bright green hair that is in a mullet, and everyone calling him Captain. You might even see him flying around as you work.

It can be a bit exhausting, but it will all be worth it and you're helping the planet.

With the fervor of the Jack of all Trades Repair Fair and how intense it can feel, it will make the Hanami viewings all the more relaxing. Yes, taking place all over Iyashikei's Main Hub and Outer Rim are flower viewing picnics. The custom of Hanami is to enjoy the transient beauty of flowers.

All over, people are spreading out blankets and enjoying quiet and relaxing meals under the blossoming trees. They may even invite you to join them! In the busier areas of the Main Hub, booths have been set up, although, they are not like the Winter Market, these booths specialize in light picnic foods, baskets, blankets, and flower-based products.

Unlike the Winter Market where there was all sorts of excitement to be had, the Hanami is a calm and peaceful event. Its purpose is to help people breathe and relax after the stress of spring cleaning. Of course, there are expectations and rules when viewing the beautiful flowers: please no climbing the trees, and also, please don't try to snap the branches for any of the flowers to take home. When it's time to leave, please don't leave any trash around. Please respect the others partaking in Hanami as well.

The Hanami helps bring calm and it feels like the world takes a collective deep breath, releasing it out into the world, and who doesn't need to take a breathe every now and then before diving into the hectic nature of spring?

Bunnies A-Bound

While spring takes place all over Iyashikei, the forest and the rest of nature also start to wake up. As the icy grip of winter releases its hold on the forest, nature is not without some victims. The Park Rangers of the Iyashikei Redwood Forest are asking for help. While it's important to let felled trees decompose and let nature take its course, it turns out that one of the Sequoia giants has fallen and completely destroyed the habitat of a rare species of rabbit: the Pygmy Basin Rabbit. The whole population needs to be transferred to somewhere else!

A suitable location has already been scouted out. The rangers need help safely capturing them so that all the rabbits can be tagged and observed for any health concerns, and then they will be released into their new habitat!

Each part of the process will need different skills and talents!

The Capturing Team: The Capturing Team is for those who are skilled at tracking down and capturing animals without harming them. The Park Rangers ask that those who have the physical appearance of known predators of rabbits don't take part in this team as the animals will be stressed enough as is. It should be noted: those on this team may have to camp out in the forest for a few days... or weeks, it depends! But, don't worry, the rangers are happy to provide camping gear and rations!

Tagging and Observation Team: This will need a large number of people to help! Those of this team will be assigned an individual rabbit to take care of at the Iyashikei Redwood Forest Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. This team will be asked to feed the rabbits, clean their cages and beds, observe and take notes of their health, and (probably the best part) provide them enrichment.

Release Team: This team will be going back and forth between the Center and the new habitat and releasing the rabbits back into the wild after they've been given a clean bill of health. Those who are a part of this team will need to be skilled hikers as the Rangers needed to find a new basin that met all the needs of this population. This may be the hardest team to be a part of, since this team is tasked with letting these little cuties go.

You are more than welcome to be a part of every team if you meet the needs of each one, or you can volunteer to be part of just one team! What's most important is that everyone works together to help these little rabbits. After all, this whole process will take several weeks. Although, the Rangers are going to be keeping a close eye on everyone because there is NO taking these little cuties home.

But, if you're so enamored with the little rabbit that you would like one of your own, there's always asking the Council for one that is separate from the forest population as a reward.

Cover Me in Color

It's springtime! Flowers aren't the only thing blooming, love is as well! It's time for the Festival of Color! It is very similar to the Earth holiday: Holi, but it is not quite the same in Iyashikei.

The Festival of Color takes place after the Repair Fair. Along clearly marked canals are signs explaining that these are the Festival routes. Travel down them at your discretion. But... it is very tempting, there are cheers and cries of excitement, the smell of amazing foods and dishes, and you may just get pulled in to celebrate whether you intended to or not.

As soon as you enter a Festival Route, there are all sorts of buckets of colors that you can pick up and color for yourself. As you walk, people will be throwing their own powders at you. It comes from all over: from the windows of homes and businesses, the boats, along the walking paths, and from the bridges as colored powders fill the air! The air is thick and like a rainbow all on its own. Don't get upset, you can throw them right back! Have a color fight! Throw them in the air and let them land wherever it may! People want you to throw them! It's part of the Festival! Unlike the Hanami, the Festival of Color is loud and boisterous, filled with joyous music, cheers, and exclamations.

You will get color on you, there's no escaping that. How much you get covered is up to how long you travel along the Festival routes. As Stardust shimmers through the powder, it makes it all seem very magical. The more covered you get, the more you feel inclined to do... well, a couple of options.

You may be inclined to forgive. This may be forgiving yourself, forgiving others, forgiving your past, or forgiving your actions. This is by no means a blanket forgiveness, more, this is a step among many. This may be the next step, the first step towards healing, or the hurdle you've struggled with for some time. Whatever part of the journey of forgiveness you are on, the festival helps with the next step.

You may feel inclined to love! It doesn't have to be anything romantic. Perhaps you love your outfit, an appreciation for your situation, for your friends, your family, and yes, even romantic partners! The colors may help you finally confess those feelings, to show yourself the self-love you have always deserved, show care and tenderness towards nature, or acts of kindness with love for other beings and the nobility inherently in others. Love is great and grand and means so many things in so many ways.

You may feel inclined to to start something new. It may be as big as accepting your new life in Iyashikei, perhaps you gain a new interest in a new hobby, or maybe you begin learning a new instrument or subject. Perhaps you start a garden, or something much more internal? Perhaps you start saying daily affirmations, perhaps you start something to bring you joy.

Perhaps only one aspect or all of the inclinations strike you. There's no telling what does and doesn't affect you. How long it all lasts after washing away all of the colored powders is different from being to being. For some, they may only feel it temporarily - for a few hours at best. For some, this allows them a new outlook and it can last for days or months! For everyone, these are all just steps, they do not make anyone act any differently than they would normally, only showing them that forgiveness, love, and change are a part of life.

A Kindly Curious Question

There are several little beeps, or depending on whether you've begun customizing it, maybe a little song instead starts to play on your Glimmer. A little envelope notification appears and does a little wiggle. Should you open this, a cute little message appears:


Hello hello Iyashikei!

This is the monthly Kindness Curious Question (K.C.Q.)! What do you do to gain some extra luck when you need it? Answer honestly to get your sticker!

Answer honestly on the Glimmer and you'll get your K.C.Q. Digital Sticker! It will immediately go into your K.C.Q. digital sticker album folder on your Glimmer.

What's the point, you might ask? Well, when you open that sticker and press on it, the little sticker will give you a burst of energy and concentration to help get tasks done for one hour.

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