August-September 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

August-September 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 a canon item from home, 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]

Scavengers Survive . ★

Content Warnings: Potential Wilderness Survival, Potential Death

New Star Children arrive in Amrita Academy, the largest school in Folkmore. They might arrive in the medical wing, or they could arrive in areas of the school that don't look like a school at all: forests with animals to hunt or gather, including for their medicinal properties; rocky crags with climbing routes; fields full of growing grains; meadows with sheep covered in soft wool; lakes and rivers with unusual denizens. It's like a miniature of Folkmore all in one school.

A fox with a clipped ear and a few scars greets each Star Child upon arrival. She explains that while things can be summoned with Lore, the best survivors learn to scavenge and to find what they need. New Star Children haven't earned much Lore yet, so that surely applies to them double. In fact, as befits a survival school, there are items that will help Star Children survive hidden all around and immediately outside the school. Star Children are directed to make a list on their Relic of everything they think they need to survive. Once made, the list cannot be changed. They will be more likely to find those items than others (though it will not be impossible).

Race, jog, or stroll around the expansive school in search of these items: clothes, bags, first aid kits, tents, survival supplies, etc. They might be harder to find than expected as they will be miniature and in little cubes aka survival squares (a misnomer). These cubes may be tucked away above, below, beside, or inside something. They also may float against a rock face or in the air among tree branches. The most likely locations are those densest in Lore. The longer Star Children explore, the more they will realize that these cubes are best and most easily obtained by working together. In fact, they will try to dodge and avoid the grip of a Star Child more than ten feet away from any other Star Child. Perhaps that's because two Star Children interacting are creating Lore and a Lore dense location? Once two Star Children touch the cube at the same time, the cube will disappear, and the item inside will grow to full size. Congratulations on being one step closer to survival. Remember to share.

Come mid-September, few cubes will remain inside the school. Star Children will have to check the perimeter of the school to find more survival squares. That task grows exponentially harder as the cubes are in the molasses-thick moat of concentrated Lore surrounding the school. Should anyone dip their spoon in the moat, in the Lorasses if you will, they will find that it tastes sweet, a rich spicy sweetness. Amazing! Less amazing? It is impossible to get past the moat of Lorasses. No matter how strong a swimmer or oarsman, it is impossible to make headway through or atop the Lorasses. Anyone attempting to fly across the moat will find themselves slapped by a giant sticky slappy hand rising like a goliath from the depths with perfect aim. Star Children can find themselves slapped anywhere from the shore to the center of the school. Star Children are free to get creative with ways to dig the survival squares out of the Lorasses, but beware! They'll have difficulty freeing themselves on their own from the sticky substance, should they fall in.

Since Star Children are likely to find themselves in sticky situations quite literally, they may be pleased to know that Amrita Academy has showers available for use. Unfortunately, due to one student's experiment, the shampoo is all made of beer. That's right, beer. It's good for one's hair! Or so the study should demonstrate. Be sure to fill out a feedback card outside the locker rooms.

• All new Star Children arrive in Amrita Academy.
• Star Children are greeted by a fox who prompts them to write a list of what they need to survive. These lists cannot be changed once made.
• Star Children search for tiny cubes with survival supplies, especially ones on their lists.
• Star Children must work together to catch & open the cubes.
• Come mid-September, Amrita Academy is surrounded by a Lore-rich molasses moat—Lorasses. Thou shalt not pass.
• Once the moat arrives, most cubes are in the moat. Shower to get clean afterward with beer for shampoo.

This is Our Get Along Shirt . ★

Content Warnings: Forced Close Contact, Coerced Behavior

It can be stressful to arrive in a new place among strangers and strange things. It can be even more stressful, sometimes, to be among people one knows. The fact remains that in Folkmore, no one is an island. The Shattered Spoon Shrine is a testament to that. Interact or perish. Those interactions usually don't even have to be positive. An emotionally charged argument generates Lore same as a touching reunion. However, Amrita's iteration has taken charge of Folkmore this month. She values cooperation and connection.

What does this mean for Star Children? It's time to get along.

When Star Children fight—physically, vocally, emotionally—they get stuck together in a magical t-shirt. This plain white t-shirt has 'This is our get along shirt' written on it on both sides, one in each Star Child's handwriting. (If a Star Child does not have handwriting, Thirteen will invent a handwriting she feels best represents them). The shirt works exactly as written on the tin. Until the two Star Children can get along, they will be stuck together in the shirt. Getting along can look a few different ways. It could be working through the reason they were fighting. It could be cooperating to accomplish something else. It could be helping someone else together. It could be large or small. Somehow, Star Children will have to get along to accomplish something.

The shirt will disappear, leaving them standing next to each other, only to reappear duplicated in each of their hands, perfectly sized to fit each individual. Should they so choose, either can be used for a repeat performance, with both of them trapped inside again. While the same condition will apply—they must get along to get out of the shirt—the shirt will now make it easier for them to work it out. Note: only the two people who originally wore the shirt can put it back on. No one else can wear these shirts.

One time only, a Star Child's cooperative escape will have an additional prize: their souvenir t-shirt will be wrapped around an item from either their home universe or their partner's. That's right, getting along can get a Star Child something from another universe.

• When Star Children get in a fight of any kind, not just physical, they get stuck together in a magical t-shirt.
• The shirt says “This is our get along shirt” front and back in characters’ own handwriting (or imagined handwriting).
• As written on the tin, Star Children are stuck until they figure out how to get along
• When they separate, both partners will get a copy of the t-shirt that fits them. They can choose to get back into said t-shirt together to figure out how to get along easier in the future.
• One time only, Star Children receive an item from their home universe or their partner’s.

Comments

[heyunderoos]

Peter can't help but snort at both sentiments, some amusement rising to the surface for the moment. "I mean, you could definitely try, but Thirteen doesn't let people bury anything for very long. You're either dealing with it in a grand scale or you're not doing enough by her standards." A lot of the trials were something Peter hadn't particularly enjoyed, never hated, but it was always something.

He also kind of had a feeling MJ wouldn't want to talk to him... as much about her feelings after everything. The thought makes him bite the inside of his cheek, expression briefly settling on something uncertain. He didn't want to lose her as a friend at least, but, Peter wouldn't blame her if she just didn't want him around. He couldn't stop himself from worrying about it.

Unfortunately for Peter, MJ knows him and likely pick up something is wrong under the surface, even if he's not saying it yet. He forces himself to keep going regardless of the guilt settling under his skin. "Some stuff I really wish I hadn't been forced to talk about, helped sometimes I guess?" He rolls his eyes a little at the thought, "I do know an actual counselor though, I'm surprised he isn't swamped with people sometimes."

[neverdisappointed]

"You're saying the talking fox actually wants us to unload our trauma on a bunch of strangers?" she asks, hating this more and more with every passing second. "What's the point of that? Studies have actually shown that forcing people to divulge things like that just causes more trauma."

She's managed to keep quiet about some of the darker aspects of her family life, with Peter only knowing that her parents fight a lot - about money, about one another, about anything that grabs their attention on any given day - but not really knowing any of the more intimate details. She'd been planning on keeping it that way until their relationship had gotten more serious, like when they'd inevitably start discussing living together sometime after graduation and he'd need to know why it had taken so long for her to really open up and trust anyone. But even if life has a great knack for never turning out how she'd planned - even with her constantly expecting worse-case scenarios - she still can't imagine opening up in that way with anyone but Peter.

Especially since he's an open book to her, whether he means to be or not. She's had the impression that there's something wrong, some weird barrier keeping them from being as comfortable as they usually are, and she's just assuming that it's these two years of being jolted around the multiverse that's to blame. That can do a lot to a person, to a relationship, and her ever-present paranoia can't help but wonder what it's done to him and what it'll do to them.

Instead of giving voice to any of those concerns, though, she gives Peter's hand another squeeze in an effort to reassure him that she's there for him. "Hey. I'm here now. You've probably made friends in all this time, but if there's ever anything you're forced to talk about, you can lay it out on me. Weird multiversal fox magic or otherwise."

[heyunderoos]

"Yeah, Thirteen apparently thinks this is fine, regardless of, you know, making trauma worse in a lot of cases." Peter offers with a shake of his head. "Magical fox who looks like Taylor Swift sometimes doesn't really... get it." He is definitely dropping that part in casual.

Peter at least remembers the two of them circling certain topics, MJ reluctant to touch one thing whilst Peter couldn't quite touch another. He knew they had been working on things. Making plan.

Then their lives blew up again. He wanted an easy solution for a problem he inflicted on Ned and MJ for sticking by him, and it just... hadn't worked.

"I..." He hesitates, mentally jumping between options. Nearly all his friends with connected to his boyfriend in a large way. What he had to talk about was tangled in his social circle in the same way. "I was in a different place before Thirteen's realm, it was more- well, probably your speed minus the controlling government agency part. We were supposed to solve these mysteries, look at cursed artifacts, try to understand what was corrupting that world."

Ironically, talking about the ADI of all places felt safer.

[neverdisappointed]

When Peter hesitates, MJ finds herself holding her breath somewhat, afraid that he's going to drop some kind of crazy bombshell. Instead, while what he says definitely sounds like a different flavor of trauma, it's not nearly as bad as anything she could have imagined so far. Her ploy of constantly imagining the worst possible outcome so she ends up pleasantly surprised when things are slightly less terrible continues to serve her well.

"So... as Strange would say, you were literally Scooby-Doo-ing shit," she brings up dryly. "At the behest of a controlling government entity or in spite of them? Either way, you look like you came out of that okay."

Of course, looks can be deceiving, and Peter might be hiding some scars that she just can't see, be they physical or otherwise. That's why she tilts her head as she peers up at him in that discerning way that she has, trying to make sure he isn't needlessly hiding something from her.

"Did you?"

[heyunderoos]

He laughs a little at the phrasing, "Yeah, pretty much that. It was at the behest of them. The agency insisted they were our only way home too if we helped them out. We could just leave, but not to our own universes. If you weren't strictly human, you were just stuck there with no other option." MJ can likely see the shift in Peter's tone. The squaring of his jaw, the tension settling over him at the injustice of the situation. Just as quickly as it comes, it is gone at MJ's question.

He looks back to her, "Well, I- am now. I have my powers back, at least." Trying to explain half of what happened feels like a lot to just drop on MJ out of nowhere. Unfair. As unfair as anything else.

Peter knows he's being... avoidant in a way. He wants to tell MJ everything, catch her up. He also keeps dancing around the biggest issue he needs to touch. He wants to talk to her somewhere actually private. Somewhere that isn't here.

"Okay, I know you're not really a fan of web swinging, but, would flying be alright?" His Legend features aren't always prominent, but, he could at least make his wings appear.

[neverdisappointed]

This is all too much for MJ to really swallow, and if not for the fact that this information is coming from Peter, she would have thought that someone was messing with her. But Peter wouldn't lie to her, at least not since figuring out that it's virtually pointless to lie to her, so she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept it.

But even if she accepts what he's saying as the truth, it doesn't mean that she can't pick up on the fact that there's something there he isn't saying, and that's what bothers her even more than all his talk of secret government agencies trapping people in other universes so they could work for them.

"Got your powers back...?" That's going to require some additional information, but Peter's definitely right insofar as knowing that she needs some time and space away from other people to really process everything the way she needs to.

She assumes that "flying" is just another way for him to refer to his web swinging, and that he's just asking for her consent before carrying her off somewhere. "Yeah, sure," she replies, a faint smile on her face. "Whisking me off to a rooftop somewhere so I can have my mental breakdown in peace?"

[heyunderoos]

"Yeah, it's- complicated in its own way." He is going to hold off on any other explanation for now. The weird entities were a whole other thing to unpack, but it wasn't that important.

They kind of had other things to discuss.

"Honestly, something like that, yeah. Better than- this." He gestures vaguely at their surroundings with his free hand. The survival school isn't bad, but it isn't the place for this kind of conversation. "We can probably figure out role stuff too. That's a whole thing here." He says this casually while manifesting his wings. They look like a loose cape initially before Peter spreads them out into a more traditional wing span. He flexes them absently.

Peter gives MJ a moment to at least adjust, aware this is a whole additional jarring thing on top of everything else going on.

[neverdisappointed]

Everything is complicated now. Even before the fox, both of their lives had been thrown into even more upheaval than being high school seniors really warranted. So she doesn't bother bringing up to Peter that complicated is just sort of how they operate now.

Before she can even process what he might mean by "roles," Peter throws another wrench into things. She blinks, stopping to look at him as she wonders over when he'd started wearing a cape, but then he spreads them out and she can only gape at him in shock. Is that-... are those-... are they attached to him?

This is weird. Super weird. Even for them. Even if this were some kind of mutation thanks to his spider-powers, she's pretty sure there aren't any species of spiders with wings. But then, she'd also thought she knew that foxes couldn't talk.

"Those are new," she finally says after a long while. "Uh-... so when you said 'flying' earlier...?"

[heyunderoos]

Peter knew he had signed up for complicated when he kept choosing Spider-Man. He knew his friends signed up for just the same when they stuck with him. Even with distance from home, he understands why he made that attempt to ask Strange for help. MJ and Ned deserve easy, simple, something better than the complications he kept dropping on them. He had so desperately just wanted that college experience with MJ and Ned, for all of them to feel normal for a while.

Their lives were probably never going to be strictly normal, but Peter liked to fool himself occasionally.

Peter is definitely glad he didn't just scoop MJ up, he can guess that wouldn't have helped any. "Yeah, this- is it!" He motions vaguely at his wings, trying to not feel self conscious about the whole thing.

"I'm a Legend, uh, the other two roles are Familiar and Myth." He explains best he can, aware this is just way more information to just drop on MJ as is. "They all have different traits going on. I have wings and a halo sometimes."

[neverdisappointed]

MJ had never been under any illusions that any part of her life was ever going to be normal, and that was even before she'd known anything about Spider-Man. Some people just aren't meant for normal. Apparently, she and Peter count among those people.

A Legend. With a halo. What kind of Judeo-Christian angelic symbolism is going on here?? She can feel a migraine beginning to build behind her eyes, and eventually she gives into the temptation to simply close them to try to get her bearings straight.

But since they're closed anyway-....

"Just... take me somewhere," she tells him, blindly holding her arms out so she can cling to Peter as he goes off on this crazy flying thing. "I have way too many questions not to try to process them all one by one."

[heyunderoos]

Peter can't stop himself from laughing just a little at the reaction. It isn't a surprise given how much all of this is to just tell someone. The fact MJ is taking it with only mild confusion to headache levels speaks of how weird their life already has been.

"Yeah, this is going to be a long conversation." He agrees, a touch of humor still in his voice as he moves to gingerly scoop MJ into his arms. Once he's sure she's well as comfortable as she can be, he pushes up off the ground. His flying isn't perfect, but it is far, far smoother than web swinging.

[neverdisappointed]

MJ is still all too used to needing to jump into Peter's arms and wrap her legs around him for him to swing her off somewhere; she hadn't yet accounted for the fact that he would actually have to come down to her level and pick her up, her arms needing to reach up a lot higher to be able to wind around his shoulders. It doesn't feel like Peter, and it makes her frown a little, but even as she considers opening her eyes to confirm that it is, in fact, him, she feels her feet leave the ground, and she instinctively clutches at him tightly as she reflexively shrinks against his shoulder.

But she doesn't notice the uncomfortable, jerky swooping motions that attack the pit of her stomach when he's web swinging, and after a few moments, she opens an eye and looks around. If not for the wind whipping through her hair (albeit much more gently than she's used to), she wouldn't have even realized that they're actually in the air. She's still a little breathless, but since she's not afraid of heights so much as she just hates that jarring sensation of haphazardly swinging from place to place, she blinks before looking around, still curled up against Peter.

"How-... I don't get it," she says, voice raised slightly over the wind. "How did you become Spider-Moth?"

[heyunderoos]

The Spider-Moth comment does make Peter laugh, some tension he's been carrying loosening up to some degree. The tension hasn't left him, but, he's glad for a momentary reprieve. Some familiarity between them.

His lack of fear of heights means Peter is pushing up higher, trying to get some distance away from the survival camp below, the people new and old mingling. Maybe later, he'll come back and try to help some other new Star Children.

MJ takes priority.

He doubts they can fly to Epiphany from here, but a quieter spot is a way better idea.

"I also don't get it sometimes, but, uh- Thirteen just kind of assigns you a role when you get here. I landed on legend. Came with the whole wings and halo thing." He still feels weird about it, even with having grown used to the idea. Thinking of himself as angelic adjacent is weird.

"Myths get horns and a whole weird demon motif. Mr. Stark ended up with that. Feels pretty judge-y coming from a talking fox, but, sure, whatever she wants." One of these days he'll maybe slow down a little to think about how to lay things out neatly, instead of floundering through so much information ta once.

[neverdisappointed]

She opts to keep her gaze focused up on Peter's face rather than risk looking down and noticing how high they're flying. Again, she's not bothered by heights, but considering that she doesn't know how new of a development these wings are and how well Peter is able to use them, she doesn't need a reminder of how easily she can fall to her death. She'd already nearly done that earlier tonight-... today-... however time works here.

Luckily, Peter's giving her enough of a distraction to focus on, even if she might eventually decide she'd rather experience a free-fall than have to hear anymore about the logic - or lack thereof - of the being who'd brought them here.

"Okay, is it just me, or is it weird for a talking fox to lean heavily on Christian themes? How would she even begin to judge who-... wait, Mr. Stark? Tony Stark? He was here, too?"

It has to be "was," because if she allows for the possibility that she might come across dead heroes while stuck here, she might legitimately lose her mind.

[heyunderoos]

"It definitely is a little weird-" He starts before MJ predictably finds the oddity in his last thought. Peter had been here long enough, he was just used to Tony Stark being alive again. Tony was just... Tony to him.

"...Okay, uh, remember how I said Thirteen kind pulls people from wherever? I mean, like everyone. Even people who are dead where we're from." Peter explains, hoping that isn't as jarring as it likely is going to be. He is going to fly slightly faster to get them out of the air sooner.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, MJ might have to legitimately lose her mind a little.

[neverdisappointed]

MJ's pretty sure she can feel her brain breaking just a little. She holds onto Peter just a bit more tightly when she feels him pick up speed, that uncomfortable sensation in the pit of her stomach beginning to form as this starts to feel a little more like his usual web slinging. That definitely isn't helping matters.

"You're not serious!" she exclaims. "You can't just pull dead people into some weird pocket dimension! It's...." She doesn't know what it is, because that's not something she'd ever had to really consider, but then another thought pops into her head. Peter had been close to Stark when he'd been alive, and here, he has Stark back. Who else that he's lost might end up here?

... can this place give him a second chance with May?

Her chest tightens a little as she realizes that being kidnapped into some weird multiversal hub that seems to exist somewhere outside of time might not be such a terrible thing under the right circumstances. Or for the right people.

After a moment, she softly asks, "Does he-... does Stark know what happened? Or what will happen, I guess."

[heyunderoos]

Peter isn't particularly surprised by the reaction. It is... a lot. A lot to deal with. He feels passingly bad for bringing it up, but, he knows MJ probably would want to know a lot sooner than being surprised by a dead man walking around.

"It's definitely a lot." Peter offers back initially, wincing somewhat. An apology sits in the back of his throat, on the verge of escaping until MJ speaks again.

"Yeah, he... he does. He's kind of come to terms with it." That felt like the safest summary of how to describe Tony's life in this realm. The man seemed happy as he could be given everything else going on.

[neverdisappointed]

"... how do you come to terms with something like that?" The question is quiet, maybe too quiet to really be heard, but maybe she's asking it more of herself, considering it's quickly followed up with, "How does anyone come to terms with any of this? How did you?"

She's pretty sure that Peter can adapt to just about any situation considering that he's been working on his threshold for weirdness a lot longer than MJ has, but this whole situation feels beyond adaptability. How many other dead people are around? How many dead people might show up without any sort of warning? What if a future version of Ned comes along and tells them that they'd both died years ago?

MJ's feeling light-headed enough that she's actually vaguely worried she might pass out, and she bites down on her lower lip hard in an effort to keep herself focused and in the moment. "How has none of this driven you insane?"

[heyunderoos]

The question does draw Peter up short, quiet as he flies. They're getting closer to civilization at least. That much is a positive.

"Taking it one day at a time, generally. Knowing anything is possible is kinda... scary sometimes, but it also means, you can make your future anything too." If there is one thing Peter is, it's optimistic, hopeful. Even with his recent bout of anger at himself for May's death, at Norman Osborn, at everything, he can't seem to let go of that hope. That belief things can get better.

"I get to write my own story, even if it's not what people expected of me."

[neverdisappointed]

Normally, Peter's constant optimism is a balm for MJ. And that should be the case now. It will be, actually. She just... needs to kind of lose her shit for a little while first.

Burrowing her face against the crook of his neck and trying to will her nerves to settle as she throws all of her trust at Peter, she focuses on her breathing for a few moments, trying not to hyperventilate. Being in his arms feels simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, and it's such an eerie sensation that she's not really sure she can do as he suggests. Writing her own story is one thing, but when the setting is so radically different from the one she's had her whole life, what is that next chapter even supposed to look like?

"It sounds like you've built a whole other life here," she mutters, hating that she feels a little embittered about it. It's good that he's done that, good that he isn't just a catatonic mess in the corner. He wouldn't be Peter if he couldn't adapt to even the worst situations, so if nothing else, she can be glad that he's here to help ease her into this. The multiverse is big enough that she could've ended up somewhere without Peter and have to navigate things on her own, and that's a more terrifying thought than she'd like to admit.

"How long did it take? Before things started feeling almost normal?"

[heyunderoos]

Peter squeezes MJ best he can, trying to offer her some semblance of assurance. His own worry for her outweighing much else as he flies.

"It took... time. A lot longer than I would've liked." Even with his optimism now, he can't lie and say it was somehow easy. It was never easy. He had to come to terms with what he thought was actual permanent death at the hands of Mysterio. Then come to terms with that not being real, and the reality he built for himself on that idea was shaky at best.

Time healed, as much as it hurt him. Leaving new and old scars, scabbed over, healed in strange ways. Peter had learned these hub worlds liked to pull you apart and put you back together strangely.

All you could ever do was keep moving forward. Keep trying to live.

"Having people helps, people who get you. Who help ground you." He adds with a soft sigh. "Being alone is a lot in these kinds of places."

[neverdisappointed]

MJ's grateful to hear that it had taken Peter time to cope with all of this. At least that means she won't have to feel as though there's something wrong with her if she doesn't immediately spring back to her usually, glass-half-full self.

And then he echoes the half-formed conclusion she'd come to on her own, telling her that having people helps. Having Peter helps. If she'd stumbled across Stark or saw someone sprout wings without having someone like Peter to both metaphorically and literally hold her hand through it all, she would have just laid down on the forest floor and refused to move until a fox or racoon or whatever came along and showed her the way back home.

"I'm glad you weren't alone," she tells him as she picks her head up to look at him, still stressed but offering him a small, genuine smile all the same. "Between Stark and whoever else you met here...."

Somehow, the phrasing of that feels off, making it sound like Peter's met someone rather than simply stating that he's simply much more sociable than she'll ever be. But she opts to ignore it, trying to make this more about him than about herself. "Thank you. For helping me through this."

[heyunderoos]

"Honestly, Mr. Stark wasn't initially that helpful, I-" He sighs, torn on how to even explain half of the things. MJ's phrasing just makes him feel guilty. That much is obvious on his face. Peter Parker is not great a lying. There is no surprise there. "I want to definitely introduce you to people, if you want to meet them."

"Hey, you don't have to thank me. You're one of the people I care about, I missed the most, and... I'm going to keep helping you no matter what." He's not about to bend on that.

As a rooftop draws nearer, Peter carefully descends. His landing is smoother than it usually is with web swinging. He doesn't need the same momentum levels to carry him around.

[neverdisappointed]

Stark's helpfulness has always been debatable, she almost says, but opts against it. She's never been a fan of capitalism's poster child and the way he'd opened the door to making superheroes marketable, but given how much Peter respects him for all the contributions to science or whatever, it's not a topic MJ's ever gotten into with him.

As Peter keeps talking, though, that smile of hers falters. That nagging feeling that something's wrong just won't go away. Why would he have to say he'd keep helping her no matter what? Why does that sound like-...?

She can't quite put her finger on what it sounds like, but it makes her chest tighten, and MJ feels the edges of panic creeping in just as she'd made the mistake of beginning to feel even remotely comfortable. When he finally touches down on solid ground, she doesn't even bother observing her surroundings before slipping her arms from around him and taking a step back, her gait only a little shaky from the flying.

Searching his eyes and trying not to fall into the trap of assuming the absolute worst, she asks Peter, "What aren't you telling me?"

[heyunderoos]

The fact MJ just cuts cleanly through what Peter has been trying to build toward and dodge in equal measure isn't a surprise really. MJ is observant, far smarter than anyone else Peter knows. She also knows Peter well enough to not hesitate to just get to the heart of things.

She deserves better than this. Peter snuffs out any brief frustration with himself to stay focused in the moment, awkwardly crossing his arms over his chest.

Peter cycles through what he wants to say. Guilt obvious on his face, an underlying discomfort at needing to address things like this. He can't just string her along pretending things are the same, Peter refuses to even indulge that thought. The situation sucks enough already, he's not going to hurt her worse. The emotions boiling over means his halo manifests behind his head. A glowing circle that ripples with a web pattern.

"I had thought, I was never going to see you again. That there was not a way to go back. I made peace with that." He starts carefully, unaware of the halo, trying to just get his thoughts in order. He isn't going to drop all the reasoning as to why on her. MJ doesn't need that right now.

"So, I started dating someone else." Saying it is almost a relief, one that is short-lived as he fidgets with the sleeve of his shirt. "I'm sorry."