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June-July 2024 Test Drive Meme
June-July 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: Ghosts, Potential Violence, Potential Death
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.Do not pass go. Instead they will haunt the ghost town for one week in the room where they were killed. Other Star Children may recognize them and work to snap them out of their routines. Yet nothing will free the Star Children's spirits before the week is through. At the end of the week, they'll come to, alive, in their bodies in the room they died in. Best get through and out of the ghost town before dying again!
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
- Whispers, echoes of screams, etc become common throughout Cruel Summer
- Huts become bigger, interconnected, growing together. Anyone lost, overheated, in need of something in Cruel Summer gets a friendly spirit redirecting them to these buildings
- Buildings will still be in some state of disrepair, but like a whole twisting winding town
- Insides are a cool respite
supernatural ghost spirit air conditioning - Only way out is through, no turning back, as the exits disappear behind you
- Many are friendly, but some are not. One can attempt to talk to them, but how interactive they are varies
- Occasionally other creatures from Cruel Summer may burst in and attack
- If a Star Child dies, rather than return to life immediately, they stay a ghost for about a week, part of the tour
Content Warnings: Fire, Coerced Confessions
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessionshelp Folkmore grow as well. Gardens bloom in beautiful displays. Crops grow healthy and joyful. It’s even possible to hear humming from some of the vegetables and fruits. The land grows with the Star Children. Anyone who lacks a green thumb can work their way around that with confessions! Save that dying plant and grow those tomatoes.
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessions
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
- Last two weeks of June, wildfire burns across Folkmore. After that, they are rare.
- Confessions can protect or rescue buildings, land areas, and spirits.
- Come July, embers spark across Folkmore like fireflies. They provide insight for Star Children. Talking helps.
- Confessions help the land grow.
- Confessions reveal a jeweled box containing an item from home.
mask/lil bit wildcard
It doesn't matter, not right now, when the priority needs to be helping people.
The fire can't hurt her, but she breaks out the suit regardless; smoke inhalation isn't pleasant and she has the mouthpiece to fit over her cowl, and the fireproof cape has been useful more than once to wrap up a spirit to carry them to safety.
She does her best to avoid people she knows, for the sake of her secret, until she spots fucking Grey Ghost amongst the flames. Steph drops down from a nearby treehouse with one of the aforementioned spirits held against her chest, covered by her cape. She sets it down amongst the grass.]
Go, we'll be alright.
[As soon as it runs off, she turns to Bruce.]
I have a daughter. She's not really... mine anymore, but I had a baby.
[Memories flicker across the fire.
The sight of doctors above her and a boy far too young to be a nurse peering down at her, the top of his Robin collar peeking out from the top of the scrubs.
The same boy, this time masked, sitting with her in a hospital room, the Gotham skyline in the background.
Batman, sitting at a different bedside several years later, in the backroom of Leslie's clinic, reaching out for her hand as she struggles to keep her eyes open. He made a promise to look after her daughter. She knows he kept it.]
cw impalement/really serious injury
The thing to do is probably, as usual, what has to be done. Accept what she has to say, and...make his own offering.]
In my world, [he says, hoarse even without the modulator,] Superman is dead, and it's because of me.
[The flames show Luthor's doomsday abomination, lightning forking out of it, big enough to crush buildings, Diana and Bruce flitting around it like flies, until -- Bruce fires a gas-releasing shell at the monster, and in its wake, Superman flies in, holding a spear that glows a sick green. The spear pierces the monster, and the monster pierces Superman back, impaling him through the chest on a wide, wide spine. Superman drags himself closer on the spine, and drives the spear further in -- and it's enough. The creature flags, collapses, dies.]
I made those weapons -- to kill him. I tried to.
[The image in the flames rewinds -- Superman is pulled off the spine, flies back, flies away -- and the spear is in the cracked floor of an old marble building instead. Bruce, in a Batsuit that's bulky, armored, clearly made for a specific purpose, picks the spear up and advances on Superman, lying looking ill on his back in indoor rubble from broken columns. Batman steps on his neck, saying something -- drags the spear over Superman's cheek, and it cuts the skin, leaving a livid red line.]
Nearly succeeded. If I hadn't -- if I'd figured it out sooner, then -- we'd have been prepared for Luthor's monster. He wouldn't have had to make that play. Now, he's gone, and it's my fault. The whole world's grieving, and they don't even know. It kills me, every time -- every time I have to pretend it wasn't because I -- I took him away from them.
[Memorials -- large and small. A stone S, in a park in Metropolis, heaped with flowers and candles -- and a quiet graveyard, surrounded by Smallville's cornfields, Bruce and Diana hanging back, present but apart.
The flames are visibly shrinking: the amount of energy they're expending making these images is significant.]
They also don't know what's coming because of it. With him gone, there's aliens heading our way -- an invasion. It's all I can do, to...try to contain the mess. I don't know if it'll be enough.
[The last little bit of flames shows a computer -- files on Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash. It's working -- just a bit more.]
Obviously, I'm going to try anyway. But how the hell do I expect them to listen to anything I have to say about saving the world, when all I've done is put it in danger?
he fuckin' dead
But a secret is a secret, and she had hoped it would hold enough emotional weight to douse this particular set of flames, only for disappointment to sink into her own shoulders when the fire only lessens, not disappears.
And then Bruce starts speaking, and she forgets all about her own concerns.
It isn't only the words she's paying attention to; Steph watches the images displayed in the fire with a sharp gaze, noting all the details it reveals. Doomsday, Superman, Wonder Woman. Luthor, likely playing around with Kryptonian DNA, making this monster instead of Superboy. The weaponry and suit clearly designed to fight a Kryptonian and something unpleasant twists in her chest, thinking of Kara.
She can't imagine how difficult this is for Bruce, to admit to such a catastrophic failure of both judgement and action, mistakes that lead to an innocent man dying. Guilt has always been the heaviest cape around Bruce's shoulders, and this must be crushing him.
That fact is what keeps her from being unkind in this moment, as much as she wants to shake him and tell him how much of an idiot he is. She even manages to keep it out of her expression when she finally turns to him as the last of the fire sputters out, schooling her face into sympathy.]
If we remember anything from this place, you need to remember this: it's really, really hard to kill a Kryptonian, and you need to figure out how to get his body into the sun.
he real dead (for now)
Good. Worth it, then. He can own up to his own mistakes, catastrophic though they are, if it means spirits don't burn up in their own houses, if the fire doesn't spread.
Even if he hates the person who's put him in this position.
Steph -- he truly wasn't sure how she would react, if she'd change her mind about him being probably-not-evil, if she'd also decide nothing he had to say was worth hearing. Bruce wouldn't have blamed her for either. The forbearance is -- a kindness. One he doesn't deserve, but still a kindness.
He hears her suggest sunlight, and then -- shakes his head.]
He was in close proximity to pure kryptonite. It wasn't just the spear. He inhaled dust particles, same as the creature. He was hit with a nuclear warhead before, and that only knocked him out for about five minutes, but this, between this and when he was buried -- [Bruce's throat works, for a moment.] -- his condition didn't change.
[Had he been in sunlight, between the fight and the funeral? Casket was closed, for obvious reasons, but before that...? Bruce actually isn't sure.]
It's been -- months. His grave's quiet. Undisturbed. I'd know.
[Did he put sensors in the ground around Clark Kent's grave site? You bet he did! No one was getting close to a Kryptonian corpse again without Bruce knowing about it!]
no subject
The problem is that she wasn't exactly getting Bat updates about the situation at the time, and it isn't something she's pried into recently, so she's wracking her brain to recall more details.
Even if she can't remember the specifics, she shakes her head at Bruce's response.]
No, no, not sunlight. The actual sun. [She gestures at the sky, as if that makes her point clearer.] Unless you've got access to Kryptonian healing tech, which I'm pretty sure is just concentrated yellow sun radiation anyway, that's your best bet. That's how they brought Superman and Superboy back.
[She's relieved the fire is handled for the moment, since it gives her some time to offer Bruce some hope. So long as he can remember it, once he's home.
Even if he doesn't... maybe it'll still help a little, while he's here, to know that he didn't entirely doom the world.]
no subject
-- but --
-- solar radiation? It seems too simple. And yet...
Yet, he realizes, that nuke had impacted with Superman in space. The sun he would have gotten, outside of Earth's shadow, would have been -- direct. Unshielded. If that had been why Clark Kent had recovered --
-- and we buried him, for God's sake --
Bruce's mouth goes very dry.]
It's, [he says, a croak as his throat works, his heart hammers,] possible.
Impossible to say, without a test. [God, it'd be complicated, hard to explain, would require a lot of preparations and a lot of bribes -- luckily, Bruce is good at both.] You're -- you're going to have to explain Superboy. I'm not -- familiar.
no subject
She knows he won't want the comfort, but he's already opened up so much just by mentioning this that maybe he'll accept a few seconds of sympathy, too.]
Superman always comes back.
[If there's a universe where he doesn't, Steph doesn't want to know about it.]
I'll explain as we go. There's more fires and if I've gotta tell my secrets to anyone, it might as well be you.
[Especially now that she's wearing her suit. Batgirl shouldn't give away Steph's secrets.]
no subject
-- but it's accepted. She's allowed into his space; he doesn't pull away. They don't really know each other, not like he knew Robin and she knew Batman, but Steph's given him something indescribably priceless, and...the least Bruce can do is muster up some gratitude. Accept that he's been helped, and that whether he deserves it has nothing to do with it.
God, he has to get back.
But first, the problems in front of them. He has to agree: there's far worse people to have to share secrets with.]
Might as well, [he agrees, raising his eyes to follow the trail the fire's moved along through town.
Yeah, they'd better get that.]
no subject
She rode her bike to Leshy, but the next fire isn't far enough away to warrant going back to where she left it, so once Bruce agrees with the next planned steps, she starts jogging in that direction.]
So — Luthor got hold of some of Superman's DNA and tried to clone him with it. From what I've been told, the clones were failures until Luthor used his own DNA, mixed with Superman's, to stabilize the process, and that's how we ended up with Superboy. He's a good kid, there was a whole thing with Luthor trying to control him but that got sorted out. He died, came back, and now he lives with Superman's mom.
[So that's Superboy, or at least the very basic version because Steph doesn't think explaining Cadmus and and Kon's stint in Hawaii is really necessary.]
no subject
...
...
It's hard to do flat and deadpan when you're moving at a jog, but Bruce pulls it off as he says:]
He really needs to stop doing that.
[What the fuck, Lex. Bruce makes a mental note to, if he successfully revives Clark, warn him about Lex's DNA stealing tendencies. At least Superboy worked out, and was able to be -- Martha Kent's grandson?]
The monster in our world was made from what was left of General Zod, but Luthor's genes were in there, too.
Guess they only turn out all right if the Kryptonian half isn't an asshole.
no subject
We called it Doomsday, but it was from Krypton, not made by Luthor.
[If Bruce wants to ask for further details, he's going to be out of luck, because that's as much as Steph knows about the situation
She considers making a comment about Luthor being president, or bringing up Kara, but there's something else bothering her about this whole situation that she wants to get his opinion on.]
Hey, do you think the fires die down easier when the confession is a big one?
no subject
Still a death grip. But less.
He gives her an answer, based on what he's seen:]
Yeah. The more personally painful it is, the faster the fire burns itself up.
Heard one very simple statement early on that nearly doused the whole area. Didn't work completely -- it takes at least two separate confessions to stop a fire that has something physical to burn. But it was close.
cw brief mention of torture, brief mention of sexual assault
Cool cool cool cool cool.
[You know what, she's just gonna flip the bird to the sky as she jogs, knowing that Thirteen probably can't see it but wanting to get the sentiment across anyway.
Talking about having had a kid is hard, but it's not even close to the top of the list when it comes to painful, personal confessions.
It's also hard to take a steadying breath while jogging, but she does her best.]
Would you prefer to hear about the torture session or the attempted assault?
[Bruce is smart enough to pick up that she likely isn't talking about the regular kind of assault. She's just not quite ready to say it out loud.
She might not be in a few minutes, either, she'll just have to cross that bridge when they get to it.]
Continued SA/torture discussion
His jaw sets.]
Save them both for an emergency. If we see a hospital, a school -- someplace where every second counts, where we can't get the victims out before they're killed. Otherwise, you don't have to do that.
[A beat. He's working out where his priorities are, and admittedly, part of it is resentment that this is an intelligent being coercing them -- a being who could have stopped this, if she'd wanted to, but who is choosing to put them through this instead. Steph being a little uncooperative, a little inefficient, if it means not putting the worst pain she has on display for a shithead puppet-master god is completely acceptable to him.]
As long as the spirits get out alive, the rest can wait. There'll be time to rebuild, when this is over. Houses can be magicked back into place, but you'll never be able to undo being forced to talk today.
no subject
It makes her realize she's stubborn in a very different way than Bruce is, since he tends to shut down, get his hackles up, ignore the problem or try to find another solution. Maybe that's not as much the case with this Bruce, but she can think of more than a few cases with the Bruce she knows. She tends to throw herself headfirst into the thing she doesn't want to do.
It feels like wresting control back, at least a little, if she can pretend she's doing this on her own terms.]
You can just say you don't wanna be my therapist, it's cool.
[She flashes him a grin that's only partially forced.
Make it a joke. Make it not matter.]
I'll keep 'em in the back pocket, but seriously, don't worry about it too much. I'll be okay however it shakes out.
no subject
Sure you will.
[It's the way that sure and will are pronounced, emphasized, that makes it sincere, not sarcastic. He is sure that this isn't outside what she can handle.
She just shouldn't have to.]
It's your decision which story to tell anyway. My opinion has nothing to do with it.
[If she chooses to use either secret, he won't look at the fire. He can do that much for her.
They're coming up on the next fire -- a restaurant with an apartment above it. There's a small huddle of spirits outside. Bruce switches the voice modulator back on and addresses them first--]
Is everybody out?
[They look around at each other and murmur, like they're not sure.
Bruce pulls the grapple gun out of his pocket and fires the line into the siding above the second-story window.]
You take the first floor. I'll meet you there.
[And up he goes, through the window, to check the apartment above. The fire doesn't burn Star Children; he doesn't blink as he goes right into it.]
no subject
On it, be careful.
[The flames might not be able to hurt them, but a burning building is still a burning building, and she's pretty sure they aren't going to be magically immune to the floor collapsing on them.
That just makes speed important, so she doesn't waste time running into the restaurant to look for any customers or staff who might not have made it out, and she swears under her breath when the inside is filled with booths.
Tables are easy, she could just peek under the tables, but booths need to be individually checked.
At the fifth booth, she finds a little squirrel spirit unconscious under some debris, and carefully scoops it up into her arms before turning to the entrance. She has no idea how hurt the spirit is, she needs to get it out of here first, then she'll come back to continue her sweep.
She's halfway to the exit when part of the ceiling gives away ahead of her, blocking her path out.]
Shit!