April-May 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

April-May 2024 TDM

Introduction

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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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

Lost & Found . ★

Content Warnings: Forced Relocation, Forced Sharing, Potential Violence & Harm

New Star Children arrive in Wintermute. Not at the hot springs, the school, or anywhere else near civilization. They arrive in the middle of white, snowy nowhere. The good news is that Wintermute is no longer dark twenty-four seven. There is enough light to avoid crevasses, blocked up wells, and other dangerous features of the landscape. Further, no one is expected to figure out how to get out of there on their own.

Usually Thoth finds the lost travelers in the cold expanse of Wintermute. However, she's busy exploring the multiverse for new and interesting ideas for technology. Not to fret! She hasn't abandoned ye who've entered here. There's a new emergency lost and found network:

The Wandering Dog food carts are now open twenty-four seven! The dogs work in shifts, but the food remains as delicious as ever. When a Star Child gets lost in Wintermute, another Star Child will happen to be buying food from a Wandering Dog somewhere in Folkmore. One such lucky unlucky Star Child gets transported to the School of Thoth. Specifically, to where the mechanical sled dogs hang out. They receive a warm winter coat over whatever they were wearing and another one on hand for whoever they are rescuing. Then it's off across the snow! Don't worry, non-mushing experts, the dogs know what they're doing and lead the sled right to the designated lost Star Child.

The rescuee gets to lay in the sled for the ride back, wrapped up warm and cozy in their new winter coat (it may be spring, but it's always cold in Wintermute). The sled dogs bring Star Children back to the hot springs, so that they can warm up even more. Alternatively, Star Children can explore the Cutting Edge, the School of Thoth, or something else in Wintermute. However, the Star Children cannot part ways or leave Wintermute immediately.

The sled dogs, yes the whole team, will stay with the pair to enforce this. They may surround the pair like a pack, cuddle pile on top of them, or lay around the edges of a hot spring. No matter how long it takes to realize the dogs are doing this and that there's a reason for it, Star Children will eventually find instructions in one of the dogs' collars: Share something that other people have refused to listen to you about. Everyone ought to be listened to.

Only once both Star Children have shared something with each other will the dogs let them part ways and see, perhaps, the rest of Folkmore.

On the walk to Akhlut Station, Star Children will see plain weapons sticking out of the snow: swords, guns, knives. These are simple, non-magical practical weapons. Experienced Star Children may know to suspect such free offerings, but nothing immediately happens upon picking one up. However, once on the train, the train will be attacked by frost spirits. These icy spirits must either be hacked to pieces until they can no longer reform or melted with fire. Innocent passengers who didn't pick up a weapon may be forced to get involved, but the frost spirits will be most focused on those who picked up weapons.

• New Star Children arrive in remote areas of Wintermute.
• Star Children buying food from The Wandering Dog get teleported to the School of Thoth to rescue people with a team of sled dogs.
• Star Children get amazing new winter coats!
• Star Children cannot part ways until they share something others have refused to listen to! The dogs enforce this.
• Simple, non-magical weapons stick out of the snow on the way to the train station.
• Anyone who picks up one of those weapons will see their train get attacked by frost spirits.

No Dumb Ideas . ★

Content Warnings: Potential Forced Participation, Potential Harm

Thoth has been listening to any and all ideas people have had around science in the last few months. Whether they were shower thoughts or a discussion between scientific colleagues or anywhere in between, she's made her list and built every one as an experiment. On a human scale. A human test subject scale. Because every idea has merit. That's right: Thoth believes in you.

Posters saying Thoth Needs You! go up around Folkmore. They offer a reward for participating in an experiment. Simply tear off a piece of paper from the bottom of the poster, and at some point in the future, you're in. Now, there might be a little hiccup here or there. These posters are experimental too! So some Star Children who don't tear off a slip might get pulled into an experiment as well. (Who said Thirteen ought to recruit for her trials? Thoth listened… or she tried.) Oh well, at least it's all in the name of science!

Perhaps Star Children need to sing Baby It's Cold Outside to convince the other to stay (it really will be cold outside). Perhaps they have a choice of spinners, buttons, levers, or other devices to interact with. Perhaps they make their way through a maze. Perhaps they try a new contraption. Perhaps they even recognize their own idea come to life! There's a multitude of new tech to try, and it has not been safety tested.

Nothing will explode. Probably. Maybe. Okay, some experiments are definitely going to have explosions. How about pressing that button anyway and finding out if it's this one?

Once Star Children survive the experiment—and they will, Thoth may be a loose cannon of a scientist, but she's ensured that much—they will emerge from one of the School of Thoth's laboratories. Togo, the grey wolf mascot, waits on the other side with an item for each test subject: an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item.

No one is left to the cold to fend for themselves. One of the nearby classrooms has been set up as a first aid center. Dog spirits of all sizes, from the smallest Maltipoo spirit to the largest Great Dane spirit, staff a healing clinic and will treat any injuries Star Children received in the experiments (or already sported). They offer hot lemonade—lemon juice, molasses, and hot water—to everyone to warm their soul. Injured Star Children can find a corner to rest by themselves or company with which to discuss their experiments.

• Thoth has built experiments to bring Star Children’s ideas to life.
• Pick a paper tab off a Thoth Needs You! poster to participate. Or don’t. A mishap may bring Star Children there regardless.
• Do science! Be a human experiment! Maybe experience explosions!
• Togo, the Thoth mascot, will have an item from home for every Star Child who participates.
• Dog spirits man (dog?) a first aid center in a nearby classroom.

Comments

[getscooperation]

...well, Natasha's a little bit of a sucker for people with sense enough to ask. She's got a feeling he knows exactly what that smile does, and she appreciates that along with the view.

She glances around again and the train doors open. Well. Might as well.

"Sure. How does that work? Do I take your hand and put it on my arm?"

[sine_metu]

Matt does know what his smile can do.

"Uh, the crook of your elbow is best," he says as he holds out a hand in her direction. When she tucks it into her elbow he notices that there are callouses on her hand, the kind that speak to holding weapons.

Interesting.

"And then just walk like normal. Warn me if there's a step or stairs but it's a train, right? Shouldn't be any to get on." Matt has his cane in his other hand as they start forward together.

"I'm Matt, by the way."

[getscooperation]

Her contact with his hand is brief and again, strictly practical. She angles her arm slightly away from her body and allows him to latch on. She notes the nature of his grip; not clingy or tentative. There's a lot that can be inferred from the spaces between actions.

"I'm Natasha." She starts moving forward, walking like normal. The wind blows again, whipping her hair around. She wonders, again, if she'll go on the train and go back to where it's warm and safer, or see if she can spring this trap on herself, and hopefully break its teeth when it snaps on her. "So by 'just got here', you mean..."

She trails off, questioning.

[sine_metu]

It's the name that does it. Matt doesn't misstep but his expression turns thoughtful and he frowns a little. "Natasha... Romanoff? Sorry, you're voice sounds familiar and I've been trying to place it."

The thing is Natasha Romanoff is supposed to be dead. Matt's pretty sure he's not dead either. This is supposed to be another world, not Heaven. There's a weird fox spirit running things.

"Oh, I fell out of the sky a few hours ago because a fox spoke to me in a dream," he says when he recovers from his surprise.

[getscooperation]

...ah. Well, that's twice her expectation of anonymity has been thwarted. This place is so strange. If he just arrived here, he doesn't know about her because of Tony... and if he recognizes her voice, he's from... well, one of the timelines where she talks a lot, apparently, and there are already three possibilities she knows of where that might be. At least he doesn't look like he's come from a zombie apocalypse.

"You've got a good ear," warmly, wryly approving. Her tone turns informative. "There are a few people from our world here. Not everyone's from the same time. Not everyone's from the same timeline. But the good news is we get to buy drinks with a little conversation. Step up here."

They're outside the door.

[sine_metu]

Matt steps onto the train, mindful of the small step up she warned him about. "I heard you on the news a few times. I'm really good at remembering voices. They're... faces for me."

Matt sweeps around with his cane until he bumps into a seat. The train is pretty much empty which is strange. He's used to the crowded press and smell of the subway system. This is kind of a refreshing change.

He slips his hand out of her elbow as he takes a seat. He rests his cane against his shoulder, fiddling with it between his hands. "I met someone I know from our world. Personally, I mean. A friend of mine. She gave me a good rundown of life here."

[getscooperation]

She keeps him in her peripheral vision as she glances out at the station again.

"Yeah?" He draws her attention with that statement. That's interesting. She'd already met someone who'd implied that people seem to be... drawn here in groups of friends or family. Interesting that his friend just left him at the station. Then again, Matt doesn't seem overly phased by these circumstances so... "What else did she tell you?"

[sine_metu]

"Do you know Jen Walters?" Matt could guess she might have met her since they're both here. "We worked together and worked against each other too."

Jen's personable enough to make friends as well. Matt sort of expects she knows everyone by now or close to it.

"Just how things work around here. The Trials. Lore. The Relic." Matt shrugs. "Sort of the basic rundown of what it's like to live here. No legal system to speak of I'm out of a job."

He smiles a little. "Not sure what I'll do."

[getscooperation]

There may or may not be a part of Natasha's brain that goes 'Ugh' and switches off when Matt says he's a lawyer.

But the name - Jen Walters... SHIELD has very thorough files. And she hadn't been sent in after Bruce blind. And... friends and family. Oh boy. This could be unpleasant.

(She did what she had to do. She just wishes that hadn't involved hurting him.)

"We haven't met yet." She returns the majority of her attention to Matt, still standing in the aisle. The train dings a warning: two minutes and it's departing the station. "But if you're used to making a living by talking, gathering lore shouldn't be a problem. It seems like a lot of people are pursuing their passion projects."

[sine_metu]

Matt's idea of a passion project was beating up criminals and fighting crime. There's no crime to fight here according to what he's heard just these Trials. If he can't do that... Matt's not sure what else he'll do.

"Oh good, I can catch up with all my TV shows," he says with a playful smile in her direction.

Two minutes until departure. That's not bad. He doesn't hear anyone else around them though.

"You should meet her. She's great." He means that sincerely. He really likes Jen. She's a good person with a good heart.

[getscooperation]

The note of sincerity in his voice actually garners enough of her attention that she turns to look at him... and misses what she'd been watching for - someone outside picking up one of the smaller weapons and boarding the train car in front of them.

"Maybe I will," the slight note of wryness in her tone is, this time, completely self-directed. Her tone shifts again to something more neutrally contemplative. "It's interesting how many people are here from our world. It'd be nice to get a chance to meet them all."

[sine_metu]

"You could host a, uh, reunion?" Matt suggests with sincerely. "Just figure out who's from our world and invite them all together."

He'd actually like to know who else is from their world too. He doubts he'll find any of his close friends here. He hasn't heard a single familiar heartbeat in his time here outside of Jen's.

Matt shivers suddenly as the temperature drops. Not by much. Maybe not enough for someone else to pick up on but he's particularly sensitive. Maybe the doors of the train have been open too long.

"Do you feel that?" he asks innocently, trying not to give away how he's noticed anything off.

[getscooperation]

"I'm not really a host a party sort of person."

Tony might do it, if she asked. He might not. He does like parties.

Her attention immediately returns to the outside at his question. She might not have felt the temperature drop, but she had counted the number of weapons that were out there and it doesn't take more than a second for her to notice that one is missing.

"Feel what?"

Glancing around, she notes that the car in front of them now has a passenger. The person who picked it up? Possibly. She supposes she's riding back on the train now after all.

The train announces a warning for the closing doors. Natasha slides into the seat across the aisle from Matt, watchful.

[sine_metu]

"You could pick a bar and let them handle it. This place has bars right?"

Matt can tell the mood has changed slightly. Natasha seems wary after his question. Not of him but of what he might have noticed. He can hear the heartbeat of another person in a different car of the train but besides the subtle change in temperature he's not sure anything's really changed at all.

"Must have been a draft from the doors," he says with a shrug.

But he's a little wary too. An Avenger on edge should probably make him sit up and pay attention. The doors close with a soft hiss and then the train lurches into motion. Matt sways with it and his sense of the world immediately narrows down to just inside the train.

It's a little claustrophobic honestly. Or maybe that's just how he feels after having a building fall on him.

[getscooperation]

“It is cold here.” Is it colder? Yes. Does that mean something? Who knows!

“Did your friend tell you that not all the places in Folkmore are like this?” The varied climate over such a relatively small distance does lend credence to this being under some super-powerful entity’s control. If, you know, her breathing wasn’t enough of a sign of that…

Natasha notices a shift in Matt’s posture as the train begins to move. It could easily be dismissed as simple adjustment to their new speed.

[sine_metu]

"Yeah, Jen talked about other neighborhoods. She lives in some place called Talaria." They would be riding back together but Jen went out to rescue more people while Matt tried to find a place to settle down.

It seems like he's going to be here awhile.

Outside the train is a blur even to Matt's heightened senses. He gets the impression they're not underground like the subway but above ground but beyond the windows and body of the train it's kind of a mystery.

And he can't see the spirits starting to rise out of the snow along side of the train. He's not aware of them at all until one of them leaps onto the side of the train and the whole thing shudders.

Matt's on his feet. "What was that?"

[getscooperation]

Five heartbeats before the train shudders, Natasha feels the hair on the back of her neck prick again which is — really weird.

Then something blue and white hits the side of the train. She glances in the direction it came from — and there are more of them.

“We’re still on track,” she assures Matt, standing. “Seems like something blue and white and cold is trying to make a late entry.”

Another one impacts the side of the train and begins to pry off the door of the car in front of them. Another one lands on the roof — of the car in front of them. (There are two people in this car and one person in the other; if it was food they were wanting whatever these things are were making an interesting choice.)

“Or a few somethings. Stay here,” her voice grim as Natasha starts toward the adjoining doors. “I’m going to go see what they want.”

Or. You know. Hit them a whole lot.

[sine_metu]

Matt senses the spots of cold on the outside of the train. They're more intense than the general weather. The screech of metal tearing is murder on his ears. He slaps his hands over them and almost drops to his knees.

"Ah!" He groans and staggers back, shaking his head. Nothing like high pitched sounds to throw his radar sense into chaos. The flames of his world on fire dim down and lose their shapes. The rest of his senses register cold, biting and bitter, making its way into the car.

Wait here is not an order Matt's good at following.

Dazed as he is Matt still stays upright, tensed and ready for a fight... even though he really shouldn't give away to an Avenger that he's more than a simple blind lawyer. There are a lot of questions that come with that he doesn't want to answer.

"I'm going to... to get to the front of the train," he says just because he can't stop and wait. "Get the conductor to stop the train."

Which means going through the other cars and putting himself in danger.

[getscooperation]

Intent as she is on moving forward, Natasha can’t ignore Matt buckling over at — the noise? The way he claps his hands over his ears seems so.

She moves toward him to touch his shoulder, hesitating in moving forward to provide him with something grounded and solid. She has the precious seconds for this and she chooses to spend them.

She drops her hand when he shakes his head and declares his intentions.

Okay but, the thing is — He knows who she is.

“That is a terrible idea.”

He knows who she is, which means he knows that, if he is a regular civilian, a disabled man, the best thing he can do to stay alive is to do as she says. She should be hearing a Yes from him right now, she should be hearing a tremor of fear and respect — possibly resentment, because she is a woman, but she is an Avenger and has promised to protect people like him, and done so more often than not, so he should be willing to listen.

Sure, she hears concern, but she also hears a hell of a lot of stubbornness - and tension, sure, but not really fear.

She had the precious seconds to comfort him. She doesn’t have them to argue with him. The person inside that car is in the process of being cornered.

So she doesn’t waste time, or breath, repeating herself, or telling him to stay out of her way, she just turns and moves.

It’s the first time she’s really exerted herself since she’s come here and - she’s actually surprised by how much momentum she’s able to build up from a quick stand-still. She’s through the adjoining cars and in front of the teenager with the wakizashi in a short span of heartbeats. (She knew she’d get there in time, but this is faster, what…)

[sine_metu]

He laughs a little. Yeah, it's a terrible idea. He knows that. It's especially terrible when you think the person who suggested the idea is blind. Matt is not going to explain how this is not a terrible idea.

Unless one of the things attacking the train starts tearing into metal again.

Natasha is off a few seconds later. He's reminded of Elektra springing into action. Fast. Precise. Deadly. Clearly, not someone to mess with.

Matt abandons in cane and hopes he can get another one somewhere. He starts quickly running down the aisle of the train. The cold whatever takes a swipe at him. Matt ducks, hoping Natasha's distracted breaking the whatever it is in half.

He's faster and more agile than any blind man should be. He's quick to get around the things but he's a little bit blocked now by the fight happening in front of him. He makes a split decision that he's sure he's going to regret.

"Come here!" He grabs the kid by the arm and yanks him away from the fight. He also takes the weapon from him - wakizashi Stick's voice helpfully provides in the back of his head - and then tosses it towards Natasha. "Natasha! Catch!"

He shoves the kid between the seats and crouches down in front of him. "Stay put, don't move." He takes off his heavy winter jacket and throws it over the kid. "Don't. Move."

Matt cracks his neck before he springs up and puts his back to Natasha to cover her, fists up and ready.

[getscooperation]

She's between the kid and the frost spirit that's broken into the train from the front. Her hands are deceptively open at her sides. "I don't suppose we can talk about this?"

The frost spirit responds by screaming at her. A blast of cold air hits her and behind her, there's the sound of running, coming closer. The other two frost spirits are rattling the windows at the sides. There are more coming.

"I guess not," she says wryly as the spirit rushes toward her, attempting to go around her for the kid. She's not about to let that happen, but when she punches it, even though it goes back under the weight of her blow her, hand -- it feels like the worst case of frostbite she's had in years.

Matt calls her name and she turns to catch the wakizashi with what might be considered her "off" hand. Good throw. Impossible, really, for a man who's truly blind. But he isn't pretending anything at all anymore, he's at her back, wanting to help, and he doesn't stand like someone who doesn't know how to use his hands.

(She evaluates him as a threat, but arming her before acting against her would be such a spectacularly stupid thing to do that she instantly dismisses it. No one needs to share their secrets right off the bat. If he wanted to hide that he has this level of training as well and a better way of negotiating what was going on than it would appear, that's his business. She'd have only thought less of him if he'd decided not to help.)

"Wrap your hands," she advises him. "I'll cover you."

Natasha's fighting style is aggressive and efficient. She doesn't leave any openings for the frost spirits to get through, even if at first she's not aiming any lethal blows in their direction.

[sine_metu]

Wrap his hands is great advice but with what? He doesn't exactly have boxing tape on him. The best he's got is his tie but that'll cover one hand. Maybe he'll have to start carrying it around if this sort of situation is a common occurrence in this place.

"Great advice." And Matt goes after the nearest spirit with bare hands instead. It is punching ice. His skin screams out in pain from the cold and the impact. He ignores it, focusing his senses away from it.

Matt's own style of fighting is hard, fast, and brutal. He's aggressive and always puts himself between these spirits and the innocent bystander who is cowering between the seats. It speaks to training and discipline and a long time fighting.

Once his hands go numb it's actually easier to fight. There's going to be a lot of damage that he'll need to patch up after this.

But the screams of the spirits always send him reeling. Matt's radar sense goes haywire at the loud, sharp sound. It hurts his ears so much and the ringing after essentially leaves him truly blind. But he keeps punching ice spirits into snow because they don't get up once they're mostly powder.

[getscooperation]

...well, Natasha thought he'd use the time she provided to take off the jacket, rip off a sleeve, and use that, because she wasn't warning him just so he could keep from getting bloody knuckles. Or maybe he's got a handkerchief or something, she doesn't know.

But he acknowledges her, again, truly excellent advice and then proceeds to ignore it. Which is twice, twice now that he's done that. So, you know, he'd better be really good at getting himself out of all the trouble he's about to bring on himself or she's going to wind up having to rescue him too and then never let him forget for as long as they're both here.

Natasha neatly divides her attention between Matt, the spirits, and the teenager behind them, still focusing on keeping her blows nonlethal. Within the first ten seconds, it is amply evident that Matt can take care of himself.

She notices a sharp difference in the frost sprits' focus now that she has the wakizashi. They're no longer trying to get beyond her to the teenager. They're trying to get to her. So, at least that's a plus.

It's also evident that her nonlethal blows are not working. The spirits just keep reforming. A quick glance ascertains that Matt is not having the same problem once they've been reduced to powder. Ah well.

She stops holding back. Her fighting style becomes markedly more fluid and dynamic. She makes use of the walls, beginning to take out more than one at a time, taking vicious, ruthlessly effective strikes.

(He's very good, she notes each time she glances in his direction to make sure he's okay. The screams seem to rattle him, but he just keeps going, and he has great form. There's nothing amateurish about him. This has been pounded into him, forged. She hopes, for his sake, that he was a more willing participant than others she's known. She too knows what it's like for others to want to turn you into a weapon.)

She finishes with the last of the spirits who'd come for her and watches them simply... evaporate. She checks his side -- also clear. Her heart rate is up, but she isn't breathing particularly hard.

"...I'm not sure if that means they're gone or if that means they're going to come back."

She glances at the wakizashi in her hand and decides to take the risk, walking quickly toward the open door and throwing it back out onto the snow.

[sine_metu]

Matt pulls his first few punches. He tries to drive these things back out of the train car through the openings they made. Ice cracks under his fists but if these creatures feel pain it doesn't slow them down. The first one he gets down is back up a few seconds later while he's dealing with a second.

He learns quickly that he has to put them down and make them stay down. Thou shall not kill really only applies to humans, Matt thinks, but he's still not exactly comfortable beating these creatures into powder. Letting a little bit of the Devil out helps and his need to protect this kid who probably only wanted a cool souvenir for home.

Natasha does not need his help. Again he's reminded of Elektra with how quick and agile she is. How ruthless and effective. It's easy to see why they made her an Avenger.

As the fight winds down Matt stands in the middle of the aisle and catches his breath. His knuckles ache uncomfortably and there's snow on his suit. He flexes his fingers wincing slightly.

"The temperature is returning to normal," he says. It's cold in the car but compared to when the creatures were around it's warming up. Maybe a subtle difference to anyone else but Matt can tell.

It's still hard to tell anything beyond the rushing wind outside the train car but Matt's fairly confident the danger has passed. "We should move to another car."

He heads to the teenager first to help them to their feet and then guide them towards the next car which hadn't been invaded by ice monsters. There are going to be questions. Matt knows that. There's no way questions don't happen after this. Competing ideas on how he's going to answer are still bouncing around in his mind.

Can he get away with lying to an Avenger? He might find out.

[getscooperation]

…the temperature’s returning to normal.

Okay.

Natasha still watches just a few heartbeats more as Matt ushers the poor (dumb? innocent? some days she’s not sure there’s a difference) kid back to a more secure car.

All with his sunglasses on, mind. Ha!

Meanwhile, the train rushes on. She dips her head out to inspect the structure of the car, but it doesn’t seem to be damaged enough to endanger them.

Step one when she returns to the car is to check on the kid, who’s going into a mild case of shock. He’ll need to keep Matt’s coat for a bit. She digs around in her jacket pocket and retrieves a prepackaged mixture of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. “Eat it slowly,” she tells the kid. “It will help. You’re okay now.”

When he complies, Natasha moves to sit down across the aisle, letting the weight of her attention rest on Matt. She doesn’t say anything for a moment, letting the silence speak for her.

Then, simply, “Let me see your hands.”