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April-May 2024 Test Drive Meme
April-May 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: 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 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.
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 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.
hot springs
He slides in to the water, his own cold, aching muscles warming quickly from the heat, next to some- Oh wait, isn't that the detective from that TV studio? Ren almost forgot his face in the craziness of Makoto's investigation into Kaneshiro. Or maybe it's just because his fake glasses were fogging up from the spring's steam. Ren lets them slide down his nose a bit before taking them off and folding them up to place on a snowy rock behind him.
He holds up a hand in greeting to... What was his name again...? Akechi! ] Funny meeting you here. [ There's a small pause before Ren puts a slightly depreciating smile on his face and says: ] I thought the dogsled was pretty fun. [ Akechi certainly seemed to like it when Ren expressed strong opinions, after all! Might as well keep going with that on a non-Phantom Thieves-related subject. ]
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Because he's here too, the attic trash, the goddamn savior of everything, his benevolent rival, Ren Amamiya. The criminal who bested him, who befriended him, who - as revolting as the very thought it - saved him from living the life of a puppet once more, even if saving him meant letting him die all over again.
And what's worse is the annoying swoop of emotion that flickers through Akechi, something disgustingly soft at the sight of Ren that flutters through his belly just for the briefest of moments. Because this is the only genuine connection Akechi ever made during his short life, the only person he's ever known who ever wanted to see behind all of the masks he wore.]
Funny? [oh, he is such a piece of shit] Funny?! What part of this is goddamn funny to you, Amamiya?
[Propriety be damned, because Akechi is splashing his way right over to the other teen and abruptly getting in his personal space, his expression twisted and furious, a far cry from the friendly, charismatic detective prince Ren initially met with.]
Why are you here?! You weren't meant to follow me, you idiot.
[Because Akechi is dead. And if this is some fucked up version of the afterlife, then...]
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I- I didn't follow you, I- [ What was he supposed to say? He followed a fox who led him here? The only thing that sounded crazier than this was that whole Velvet Room prison thing, and the actual methodology of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
He hears a mysterious voice in his head. I am thou, thou art I... but the poem sounds distorted, wrong, and he can't make out the rest of the words, or tell which Rank he's supposedly at after Akechi's outburst. ] Please, Akechi, you have to listen to me-
[ Ren doesn't know what the hell is going on, but he can tell something is. ]
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The Ren he knows wouldn't be put off by his furious display - much to Akechi's complete exasperation - nor would he ever apologize so meekly to him either. There's something fundamentally wrong here, not just the setting they've been thrust into, but something deeper that Akechi can't quite pinpoint yet.
Oh, and that knowledge pisses him off.]
If you wish to have me listen, then speak. And don't mince your words with me. I am not looking for your bullshit mercy here either. Speak plainly. Did you and your cohorts somehow fail to defeat Maruki after I disappeared? [The teen's eyes narrow suspiciously at his rival.] I sincerely doubt this is the reality you would choose to accept, so it can not be that you accepted his deal behind my back either. So what is it?
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I- [ He has to remind himself he's not going to get arrested; Akechi has no proof, even if he clearly knows Ren and the others are the culprits. The thought that he won't be able to get proof unless Ren confesses keeps his heart from hammering too loudly in his ears.
But he catches something Akechi says in his rant: Maruki. Ren drops the act before he's aware he's doing it. ] The counselor? [ He sounds more confident, more direct. He narrows his widened eyes slightly, frowning as he puts this puzzle together. ] What did he do? [ Next target after Kaneshiro, then. ]
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Akechi's reaction is instantaneous. He flings himself backwards, as if suddenly burned by their physical proximity, stumbling and splashing through hot spring, slipping until he crashes hard into the sleek rocks behind him.]
Bullshit, [He chokes out a hiss, trembling violently with fury, but without the other's fogged up glasses to hide behind, Akechi can see Ren's unclouded eyes. This is the true Joker as he's known him these last few months, the infuriatingly cunning leader of the Phantom Thieves.
Akechi's murderous look goes cold.]
You don't remember. [It isn't a question.] Quick. What is the date?
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The 29th. [ Ren answers immediately. ] Of June. [ He tacks on a half-beat later, as if realizing that might be of great importance here.
It would explain so much, so much, about Akechi's behavior if the leap in logic he was making was at all possible. But, then, Velvet Room and Metaverse and Palaces and all of that. So what was a bit of time travel between friends?
Ren stares Akechi down, to make it as clear as he can that he's not lying or joking about the date. He knows, somewhere deep down, Akechi's date is different. And he knows something Ren does not. ]
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June. Yes. [His voice goes impossibly soft, as if speaking to himself, even if his eyes remain locked upwards on Ren's.] I suppose I deserve this. It must be a part of my penance, to be trapped here in this frozen hell with a rival who can't remember me.
[But that is all of the time he allows himself before he's struggling back to his feet with a wince. At least now when he responds, there's less burning ferocity in the answer. If anything, Akechi just sounds exhausted.]
Two hundred and nineteen days. That is the time that separates you and I. My last memories are from the third of February.
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Nearly a year has passed between them, and the great detective Goro Akechi looks done and tired in a way Ren isn't sure how to name. ]
Happy almost-Valentine's Day. [ He says, blandly, the mask back up for the moment as he takes Akechi in. There's something, a spark of- Of what should be, what will be, that flickers through his mind; a dark twisted dance of fate, together.
Ren swallows. ] What happened? [ He asks, voice calculating again. ] Happens. [ He quietly corrects himself.
With a barely-audible groan, Ren changes his mind. ] Don't tell me. [ He wants to know his future. But he can't afford to change it and fuck something up.
He doesn't trust himself enough to know that he would have still stepped in to help that woman if he knew where he'd end up, after. He likes to think he would. He likes to think he'd do the right thing, no matter the consequences. ] I shouldn't know yet. [ He says, again, definitively. ]
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But this? This ridiculous reaction? This back and forth fight aloud with himself? It is so utterly the Joker that he knew that even Goro Akechi can't help himself from laughing right back at him, not the posh, perfected chuckle he practiced in the mirror, but a stuttering, choking, guttural laugh. Something real, the kind of real that only ever peeks out when Akechi's with him.]
Just as absurd as ever, I see. There's no growing out of that.
[And if Akechi finds the slightest sliver of comfort in that sentiment, so what.]
But I'm afraid we have an even bigger problem on our hands than my potential to disrupt your future. [and because he has never softened a sentence a day in his life, he continues bluntly,] I died, Ren, while you were still living. So why exactly has another version of yourself followed me to the afterlife?
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He crept up to the attic a bit hurt, sure. Some shadowy guard got the jump on them in Kaneshiro's bank. But that was just a scrape, really. It shouldn't-
"That looks awful," Morgana commented, about the so-called scrape, really more of a nasty gash across his arm, when they silently snuck back into the café.
"Why don't you lay on me and purr?" Ren joked. Morgana made a noise, and insisted Ren would live. He passed out soon after bandaging the wound up.
Woke up to a fox talking to him.
Ren gets this brief haunted look on his face as he thinks to himself that he might have the answer to this particular mystery; he got sloppy, and paid the price. Ryuji and Morgana would keep the girls safe, he knows that. Oh no, wait, this meant Sojiro was going to find him. He hoped it didn't scare him, anger him too much. Shit, what would his parents get told?
He pushes that all aside to let the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. ] So you can have someone to invite to the afterlife jazz club. [ Ren's tone says Obviously. ]
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You idiot.
[But there's none of his earlier malice, he just sounds a mix of annoyed and exasperated, maybe with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it curl of fondness at the very end. With that settled, Akechi sinks a little further into the water on his side of the hot spring again, ignoring the ache of the self-inflicted bruise on his back.]
Well, if you truly are dead in your timeline, it doesn't matter what you know of mine because it clearly doesn't align with yours. In which case, I have something to say.
[There's a pause then, as the teen reaches up to fiddle with his hair, tucking it behind an ear, though it's just long enough the very ends are all damp from the spring. Akechi then makes a show of straightening his skinny shoulders and sitting straighter, before angling one of his trademark piercing looks at his rival.]
Naturally, I discovered you were the leader of the Phantom Thieves. To me, it was always obvious, though the chase was quite exhilarating.
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Glad I could exhilarate you. [ Like right then, for example.
But the truth is, he'd had fun, too, for the brief time he lasted during this particular run of the Phantom Thieves Video Game Experience. Ren scoffs at the thought. Yeah, right. What a way to get a Game Over, from a stupid mob. That's how he can tell his life isn't worth making into a game.
He wants to know what's supposed to happen next, though, in this parallel universe, or something. Knows he shouldn't ask, but- ] What's supposed to happen next? We stop Kaneshiro, [ Ren assumes, at least. ] and then...?
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Give yourself more credit, Amamiya. I never gave my mindless fans a fraction of the attention I gave you. You challenged me in ways that excited me, and in turn, I dreamed of crushing you.
[Considering his own involvement in this particular case, Akechi doesn't have to pause to consider the timeline for a second. He is all too aware of what happened to Okumura. He was the one, after all, who shot him.]
Okumura. Kunikazu Okumura. The CEO of Okumura Foods. I wonder, were you even acquainted with his daughter before she joined the Phantom Thieves?
[Judging by how the rest of his companions seem to align so effortlessly with those on the Thieves' Hit List, Akechi assumes not.] After that, the next Palace you infiltrated belonged to my former work associate, Sae Niijima.
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But he blinks at the timeline. A CEO of a food company? Well if they recruited his daughter, he must be pretty despicable. Okumura, that name does sound slightly familiar... Ren tries to wrack his brain for the face that goes with it. He thinks about plants, for some reason he can't quite place.
He nods slightly at the mention of Sae. Makoto did mention her sister was looking into them. It would make sense if they went after her Palace to keep from being caught. Though, naturally, there's something so much more interesting buried in Akechi's story. ] You know about the Palaces? [ Ren should probably deny the story, it would be easy to discredit. He should change subjects before this is edges dangerously close to a confession.
But he's curious how Akechi figured them out. ]
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Ah, are you that desperate for my attention that you'll happily take a starring role in my dreams, Amamiya? How pathetic of you.
[He says as if obsessing over destroying said rival is any less obsessive.
Bait taken. As if Akechi is not particular about his every spoken word - well, besides the one exception - even in this less than favorable circumstance, the teen looks smug, like the cat that got the cream. Or rather, the detective that bagged the criminal.]
So you haven't figured that out yet either, hm? I guess I really was one step ahead of you. Then let me put it plainly - During the time period that you were working to steal Sae Niijima's heart, I temporarily joined your ranks, as a fellow Phantom Thief.
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[ His eyes momentarily flick to his glasses, and part of him regrets that he doesn't have them to hide behind right now. But he supposes Akechi knows him in a way most people don't. A way that most people might be fearful of. If anything, knowing the truth only seems to spur Akechi on into this one-sided fight.
He frowns, like he's thinking, before the realization strikes him a half-second later. ] You were the one with the black mask. [ Madarame's Shadow had mentioned him. The other Palace-infiltrator. ] You were there, in Madarame's museum. [ And then, in the future, Akechi joins them, to keep Sae from finding them out - The Phantom Thieves and Akechi's own work, he'd assume. Ren makes a face he can only describe as appreciative. ] Clever. [ And it was! He likely would have been fooled for a while, as much as the thought stings. ]
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How simple it would be to feign innocence at that accusation, to talk up his role while he was with the Thieves as the detective prince in action, bringing justice to all the world's corruption. If nothing else, it would help keep Akechi one step up over Ren for the remainder of their stay in this place, to maybe even use him when necessary, if the need ever arose.
But he's so goddamn tired of playing pretend. It's been years of smiling so sweetly it makes him sick, years of riding his bike through town as an excuse to pick up conversational topics to be more interesting to the adults around him, years of pretending to care when he has never cared about a single other person a single day in his life.
What's the point of the deception now? What could he possibly have left to lose?]
Sharp as ever, Joker. Yes, that was me, though not initially what I presented you with upon joining you and your cohorts. [a beat, because Akechi will be as dramatic as possible, thank you.] I betrayed you shortly after, brought in the police to take you in for questioning before you could even leave Sae-san's Palace.
[For once in his life, Akechi does not even think about how his body tips forward towards Ren then from where he's still seated on the opposite end of the hot springs, almost eagerly.]
And after you were beaten and drugged and thoroughly interrogated, I ended our bitter rivalry by shooting you in the head. So, imagine my great vexation when I found you alive still some weeks later.
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You really hate me, don't you? [ His voice seems so small, but those gray eyes are as sharp as ever. He'll bite if he has to, if Akechi tries any of that again. ] I bet you couldn't even leave me alone after doing all that.
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For reasons Akechi can't even begin to understand, the sight of Ren going panicked like that, looking like a cornered animal scrambling for safety, it twists something awful within him. How utterly unfun. His Ren would have countered without missing a beat.
That manic look twists into thoughtful disappointment instead.]
I did. Maybe I still do. But things between you and I are quite different now. In the end, we came to an arrangement, of sorts. Had a common enemy, a common goal. And then I was killed.
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Is it rude to ask how you were killed? [ Something in Ren's voice says he doesn't particularly care if it's rude or not - so he's curious; arrest him again - but he's trying to at least keep Akechi from getting in his face. The revelation that the detective shot him certainly makes Ren very invested in keeping him as calm as possible. Which is an almost shockingly difficult task. It's not that Ren couldn't tell there was probably a little something... Off about Akechi from that first meeting - suspicion, maybe, now that he's analyzing it. But it is incredible seeing Akechi like this practically from the get go.
If he could get home, or even just get a message there, he'd absolutely warn the others to stay out of Akechi's way. ]
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Not the warm, saccharine smile Ren saw at the station during his interview, but one that's crooked and a little sharp.]
You're keeping up.
[Not that Maruki is a threat to him just yet. Or rather, ever, now that they are both dead, but still.
Ren rudely - because it is rude - asks about Akechi's death and he shrugs as he slides back against the wall of other end of the hot spring. The topic of his death is hardly disturbing to him. If anything, it's more about the humiliation he endured. Sharing it with anyone is a blow to his fragile ego. But then again, Ren in any form has always been his one exception.
What Akechi does not say is, "I was working for my father and you simply got in the way".
Nor does he say, "A choice had to be made, so I sacrificed myself to be certain you could take Shido down".
Instead he settles on,] I was killed by my father's cognition of myself. Quite shameful, I'm well aware.
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Some part of him might even prefer it, getting to see Akechi's own rebellious streak. ]
I can't talk about shameful. [ Ren says after a long moment. ] I was killed by a Cerberus. [ He adds with a self-depreciating smile. He knows it was tougher than a regular enemy, sure, but it's still sort of a blow to his ego that he actually managed to die from it. He pictured himself waking up on the 30th, maybe playing it safe and smart and taking the night off instead of trying to finish their infiltration of Kaneshiro's bank.
...Who was he kidding? He'd never play it safe or smart, and he has learned a grand total of nothing at all, even from his own death.
That batch of thoughts sounded suspiciously like his mother's voice. ]
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A Cerberus? [What are you? Level twenty? Fucking NOOB] I've said it before, stop being so goddamn reckless, Amamiya. Especially if I'm not there to keep you from getting killed.
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That's right, he's a Phantom Thief, and the little detective knows it. So he doesn't have to hide or shy away from that rebellious streak of his, not around Akechi. He doesn't have to pretend. Show him who you are.
So Ren laughs. Like it's the funniest joke he's ever heard. ] What happened to wanting to blow my brains out, Akechi? [ He's used to danger, now, gets high on the adrenaline of nearly losing. Loves the rush of changing someone's heart. There's a taunting flirtation, like Arsene Lupin himself, hiding behind the smirk on his face. ] You only want me to die if you can be the one to kill me? That it?
cw: flirting??????
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cw: thoughts of murder, possessiveness
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