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August-September 2024 Test Drive Meme
August-September 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 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.
🦊 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: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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"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?"
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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.
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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?"
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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.
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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...?"
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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."
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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."
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"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.
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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?"
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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.
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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.
no subject
"...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.
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"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."
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"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.
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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?"
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"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."
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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?"
no subject
"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."
no subject
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."
no subject
"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.
no subject
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?"
no subject
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."
no subject
When that ring of light appears behind his head, MJ is barely startled by the unusual sight, so focused is she on what he's trying to say. She can ask about the light and whether it's connected to the wing thing later. Maybe. Assuming they're still talking later.
And then he finally says it, and she feels a heavy stone dropping into the pit of her stomach threatening to send her crashing to the ground. She's unnerved to find that she's not even wholly surprised; the pieces had all been there, showing the overall picture even if the puzzle hadn't been completed until just this moment. He hadn't seen her for years. He'd grown in both height and his emotional maturity. He's still hyper-focused on doing the right thing. How could she have thought that she'd be the only person to have noticed him, and how can she hold it against him for having noticed someone else in all this time?
For a moment, she thinks the light of the halo is messing with her vision, but then she realizes that there are actually tears wavering in her eyes. No. No, she's not doing this again. She'd just cried for him back home, because he'd made the choice to have her forget all about him to keep reality from falling apart. And now....
Now he's forgotten about me.
The thought rises unbidden, and she knows it's unfair, so she tries to forcibly tamp down on it before something explodes. Turning away from him, she sorts through all the external and internal stimuli and struggles to find something to say, desperately hoping he doesn't try to touch her while she figures this out.
"How-... how long have you-...?"
cw: sort of self harm?
Seeing MJ actually tear just makes his heart sink. It only make everything feel all the worse, raw and uncomfortable. Breaking up with someone you still love in a way is awful.
It was easier to say this in theory, to pretend he could make this a clean break. He had practiced occasionally in his mind what he would say in this situation, only to have all those plans crumble as soon as the real thing happened.
This would never be a clean break. There would always be hurt on both sides. Peter has to close his eyes, biting the inside of his cheek harshly enough to draw blood. The coppery taste sticks to his teeth and tongue. It is grounding in it own way, even if it doesn't stop him from tearing up a little.
"A year." He offers back quietly, trying to steady his voice to some degree. "I think, I lost track of time."
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gives MJ a chance to flee if she so wishes, lol
oh she so wishes
life is never easy for MJ