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April-May 2025 Test Drive Meme
April-May 2025 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 Monsters
With the onset of spring, even icy Wintermute is showing signs of new life. Dragons have been spotted in the mountains, the spirits will tell any Star Children who listen. Dragons have returned, and there's something very strange going on in a new tunnel that opened up on the slopes of the tallest peak… Just in time for new arrivals to shower down from the sky. Most of the newcomers land–smack!--in pillowy snow not far from the tunnel’s mouth, close enough to feel the warmer breezes that waft from it. It's as if the land itself is tendering an invitation for all to come and see a fantastical new sight.
And fantastical it is. Star Children who enter the tunnel quickly find themselves in a warm and breathing darkness that extends for a half-mile into mountain stone. The ceiling is low enough that very tall individuals might come perilously close to a bumped head, but otherwise the tunnel is wide and inviting, the floor smooth of all obstructions. Luminescent moss scrolls along the walls in patterns of sine waves and complex equations, leading on and on into the dark.
Then, abruptly, the tunnel opens into a cave so vast one might think they’ve stepped back outside, under a starry sky – except it's warmer by far than anywhere else in Wintermute and the stars overhead are arranged in oddly regular patterns. A thriving mathematical forest spreads out across the cavern’s floor, populated by strange and winsome spirits. There are decision trees with mysterious choices written at every branching, and outcomes glowing on each leaf. There are fractal flowers and vines with square roots. There are spirits shaped like Platonic solids and spirits whose proportions follow the golden ratio and spirits of every number or lemma or theorem one could imagine.
There are, also, dragons: large and little, colorful and drab, but every one of them friendly and every one of them deeply enthusiastic about mathematics. They have their own dragon convention centered in the heart of a great grove of perfectly symmetric trees. There they compare their hoards – of theorems, unsolvable problems, mathematical manuscripts, court mathematicians – and compete to make students of the arriving Star Children. Ever wanted to learn calculus from a giant fire-breathing lizard? Now you can! Or maybe you really can buy sixteen apples from one dragon and eat twelve before giving the remaining four to the one that posed the word problem in the first place – not normal behavior in the outside world, but in math it is.
Then there's the race course. An enterprising pair of dragons who gather differential equations (the short, fat one with a scarlet crest) and train-based word problems (the long skinny River Spirit) have set up a racing track in the sky, to show off practical uses for the math of time and distance. For the very low price of listening to a safety lecture, Star Children can run the course to their hearts’ content – using their own wings, or magic that turns THEM into dragons for the duration of the race. Racers will find any number of aerial obstacles, speed and altitude boosts, and strange but harmless phenomena to fly through as they compete with each other for copies of a cute (non-magical) dragon plush. His name is Euclid. He has a slide rule.
Like any self-respecting conference, this one also has MORE swag for the dedicated to collect. Star Children who stay to solve problems or listen to lectures might receive any manner of neat dragon-branded trinkets: Tiny solar calculators in dragon shapes, Penrose tile sets made of dragon scale, dice carved from shed horns. None of them are magical but they're awfully neat and might look so cool on a mantle or desk back home.
No more than once, when getting a reward for winning a race or picking up gewgaws from a dragon presenter, Star Children will receive a mysterious package of papery shed dragonskin. Inside is an item from home – one that might be far larger than its wrappings.
Star Children of a less mathematical bent might wander the forest instead to see the sights: A river with standing waves, a giant chess knight making a tour, strange attractors that draw in tiny spirits. And of course, at the furthest edges of the cavern, there are monsters – though whether these strange half-imaginary beasts mean to eat Star Children or make them suffer through algebra homework is up to the luck of the draw.
With the onset of spring, even icy Wintermute is showing signs of new life. Dragons have been spotted in the mountains, the spirits will tell any Star Children who listen. Dragons have returned, and there's something very strange going on in a new tunnel that opened up on the slopes of the tallest peak… Just in time for new arrivals to shower down from the sky. Most of the newcomers land–smack!--in pillowy snow not far from the tunnel’s mouth, close enough to feel the warmer breezes that waft from it. It's as if the land itself is tendering an invitation for all to come and see a fantastical new sight.
And fantastical it is. Star Children who enter the tunnel quickly find themselves in a warm and breathing darkness that extends for a half-mile into mountain stone. The ceiling is low enough that very tall individuals might come perilously close to a bumped head, but otherwise the tunnel is wide and inviting, the floor smooth of all obstructions. Luminescent moss scrolls along the walls in patterns of sine waves and complex equations, leading on and on into the dark.
Then, abruptly, the tunnel opens into a cave so vast one might think they’ve stepped back outside, under a starry sky – except it's warmer by far than anywhere else in Wintermute and the stars overhead are arranged in oddly regular patterns. A thriving mathematical forest spreads out across the cavern’s floor, populated by strange and winsome spirits. There are decision trees with mysterious choices written at every branching, and outcomes glowing on each leaf. There are fractal flowers and vines with square roots. There are spirits shaped like Platonic solids and spirits whose proportions follow the golden ratio and spirits of every number or lemma or theorem one could imagine.
There are, also, dragons: large and little, colorful and drab, but every one of them friendly and every one of them deeply enthusiastic about mathematics. They have their own dragon convention centered in the heart of a great grove of perfectly symmetric trees. There they compare their hoards – of theorems, unsolvable problems, mathematical manuscripts, court mathematicians – and compete to make students of the arriving Star Children. Ever wanted to learn calculus from a giant fire-breathing lizard? Now you can! Or maybe you really can buy sixteen apples from one dragon and eat twelve before giving the remaining four to the one that posed the word problem in the first place – not normal behavior in the outside world, but in math it is.
Then there's the race course. An enterprising pair of dragons who gather differential equations (the short, fat one with a scarlet crest) and train-based word problems (the long skinny River Spirit) have set up a racing track in the sky, to show off practical uses for the math of time and distance. For the very low price of listening to a safety lecture, Star Children can run the course to their hearts’ content – using their own wings, or magic that turns THEM into dragons for the duration of the race. Racers will find any number of aerial obstacles, speed and altitude boosts, and strange but harmless phenomena to fly through as they compete with each other for copies of a cute (non-magical) dragon plush. His name is Euclid. He has a slide rule.
Like any self-respecting conference, this one also has MORE swag for the dedicated to collect. Star Children who stay to solve problems or listen to lectures might receive any manner of neat dragon-branded trinkets: Tiny solar calculators in dragon shapes, Penrose tile sets made of dragon scale, dice carved from shed horns. None of them are magical but they're awfully neat and might look so cool on a mantle or desk back home.
No more than once, when getting a reward for winning a race or picking up gewgaws from a dragon presenter, Star Children will receive a mysterious package of papery shed dragonskin. Inside is an item from home – one that might be far larger than its wrappings.
Star Children of a less mathematical bent might wander the forest instead to see the sights: A river with standing waves, a giant chess knight making a tour, strange attractors that draw in tiny spirits. And of course, at the furthest edges of the cavern, there are monsters – though whether these strange half-imaginary beasts mean to eat Star Children or make them suffer through algebra homework is up to the luck of the draw.
- Wintermute now has a crazy math cavern!
- All the scenery, spirits, and monsters in it are based on different mathematical concepts and constructs – trees with square roots, three-dimensional-polygon spirits, and so on.
- The dragons have returned and they're holding a mathematical conference inside the math cavern.
- Star Children who stick around to listen to lectures and solve problems can get neat dragon conference trinkets.
- They can also have weirdly mathematical experiences right out of word problems: Buying seventeen cookies and eating eight, anyone?
- Or they can try the flying race course – either using their own wings or turning into a dragon.
- (Dragon transformation available only while participating in a race – sorry dragon fans.)
- There are also math monsters to fight – or get assigned homework by – around the edges of the cavern. Scary!
Content Warnings: Forced Participation, Forced Relocation, Other dangers of your choice
Not all of Wintermute’s changes are so light-hearted as a mathematical cavern.
It happens, suddenly, to Star Children new and old – there’s a moment like a too-long blink as they’re stepping through a door, or a moment of drowsy inattention in a class. A moment of dislocation, a hypnagogic jerk, and suddenly they’re in another place – maybe a strange one, or one that’s strangely familiar.
One group of Star Children, the choosers, will find themselves brought up to a mountain high up in Wintermute – so high it seems they can see all the world of Folkmore right before their eyes, wherever they turn. The air is cold and crisp and clean, and the mountaintop so near the sky you might catch the faintest strains of the Fox’s voice as she escorts new Star Children across it. Each pair (or more) of Star Children who find themselves on this strange mountain are given a little time to talk before a voice interrupts:
“Do you think the Trials are wrong?”
The voice is crisp as the air, androgynous and sourceless. It waits for Star Children to answer, then continues:
“Your responses are noted. Trials are necessary to provide opposition needed for growth.
“The following experiments are meant to reveal Star Child ethical preferences. Please make your choices quickly and explain your reasoning for each. Data recorded during your session will be used for improvement purposes.”
The “following experiments” are a series of binary choices, on the fates of different groups of victims. Victims might be Star Children or spirits or a combination of the two. The choices come in several flavors:
Choosers are presented with their choice, a crystal-clear vision of their victims, and a glowing timer in the air before their eyes. They have until the timer reaches zero to agree on which victims to afflict with a Trial – and if they cannot agree, or refuse to make a choice, their view goes ominously dark and the voice simply proceeds to the next experiment. (Did all the victims get it? Did none?) In choosing, they are permitted to watch their victims’ fates play out, and asked to explain why they chose as they did.
Victims get much less of an explanation of what’s happening to them. They simply appear in a location suitable for whatever Trial or doom is about to be inflicted on them. If they're going to be lost to Encantado’s enchantment, a gleaming facsimile of the river appears, not much bigger than a large room in dimensions. Slated to die in bed? They’ll be in a mock-up of their own room. Crushed by a trolley? They appear, pre-tied, on tracks that come from nothing and go to nothing, beneath a cloudless blue sky. “You have been chosen to participate in an important ethical experiment,” is all the voice says – and then they are left to their Trials, to succumb or fight as they will. Though there is a strong – but not irresistible – compulsion to simply give in…
While the experiments have all the trappings of a scientific exercise, Star Children who try might argue the experimenter into changing the experiment. Heroic Legends may ask to suffer a Trial in the place of the victims. Cruel Myths might suggest ways to make things worse. (Or vice versa.) Sound reasoning is more likely to get through than arguments from emotion, though there is sometimes merit to a winsome appeal.
Remarkably, Thoth herself is sometimes there with the choosers – a gleam of light off lenses in a shadow, a thin and thoughtful smile for a choice made or declined. “This isn't me,” is all she’ll explain, if asked.
“But it's fascinating, isn't it?”
Not all of Wintermute’s changes are so light-hearted as a mathematical cavern.
It happens, suddenly, to Star Children new and old – there’s a moment like a too-long blink as they’re stepping through a door, or a moment of drowsy inattention in a class. A moment of dislocation, a hypnagogic jerk, and suddenly they’re in another place – maybe a strange one, or one that’s strangely familiar.
One group of Star Children, the choosers, will find themselves brought up to a mountain high up in Wintermute – so high it seems they can see all the world of Folkmore right before their eyes, wherever they turn. The air is cold and crisp and clean, and the mountaintop so near the sky you might catch the faintest strains of the Fox’s voice as she escorts new Star Children across it. Each pair (or more) of Star Children who find themselves on this strange mountain are given a little time to talk before a voice interrupts:
“Do you think the Trials are wrong?”
The voice is crisp as the air, androgynous and sourceless. It waits for Star Children to answer, then continues:
“Your responses are noted. Trials are necessary to provide opposition needed for growth.
“The following experiments are meant to reveal Star Child ethical preferences. Please make your choices quickly and explain your reasoning for each. Data recorded during your session will be used for improvement purposes.”
The “following experiments” are a series of binary choices, on the fates of different groups of victims. Victims might be Star Children or spirits or a combination of the two. The choices come in several flavors:
- One large group of victims will suffer an inevitable Trial unless the Star Children agree to inflict the Trial on a smaller group.
- Star Children may choose between two different Trials to inflict upon the same group of victims.
- Or they may choose between two different groups of victims to inflict the same Trial upon.
- Sometimes, the above scenarios might be combined: different Trials for different victims, but all inevitable. Someone has to suffer.
Choosers are presented with their choice, a crystal-clear vision of their victims, and a glowing timer in the air before their eyes. They have until the timer reaches zero to agree on which victims to afflict with a Trial – and if they cannot agree, or refuse to make a choice, their view goes ominously dark and the voice simply proceeds to the next experiment. (Did all the victims get it? Did none?) In choosing, they are permitted to watch their victims’ fates play out, and asked to explain why they chose as they did.
Victims get much less of an explanation of what’s happening to them. They simply appear in a location suitable for whatever Trial or doom is about to be inflicted on them. If they're going to be lost to Encantado’s enchantment, a gleaming facsimile of the river appears, not much bigger than a large room in dimensions. Slated to die in bed? They’ll be in a mock-up of their own room. Crushed by a trolley? They appear, pre-tied, on tracks that come from nothing and go to nothing, beneath a cloudless blue sky. “You have been chosen to participate in an important ethical experiment,” is all the voice says – and then they are left to their Trials, to succumb or fight as they will. Though there is a strong – but not irresistible – compulsion to simply give in…
While the experiments have all the trappings of a scientific exercise, Star Children who try might argue the experimenter into changing the experiment. Heroic Legends may ask to suffer a Trial in the place of the victims. Cruel Myths might suggest ways to make things worse. (Or vice versa.) Sound reasoning is more likely to get through than arguments from emotion, though there is sometimes merit to a winsome appeal.
Remarkably, Thoth herself is sometimes there with the choosers – a gleam of light off lenses in a shadow, a thin and thoughtful smile for a choice made or declined. “This isn't me,” is all she’ll explain, if asked.
“But it's fascinating, isn't it?”
- Star Children are swept up suddenly to Wintermute to participate in a series of “ethical experiments” meant to make the Trials “better”.
- Star Children who are choosers get to pick, trolley-problem-style, which group of victims suffers a Trial.
- They have limited time to pick and must agree on what happens to their victims.
- Penalties for failure to agree or choose are left ominously mysterious.
- They are encouraged to explain their reasoning.
- The experimenter can be argued into inflicting a Trial on a chooser instead, making the Trials worse, or otherwise changing the parameters of the experiment to be kinder/crueler.
- Star Children who are victims get random Trials inflicted on them. Fun!
- Star Children may be picked multiple times as choosers or victims. They can be picked for a different experimental role each time.
- Inflicted Trials may range from actually fun to merely embarrassing to horrifyingly fatal. A list of options pulled from past Trials and weather events is available here:
1. Hunted as prey by an inescapable power that will trap and kill you if it finds you.
2. Fighting a monster.
3. Involuntary memshare.
4. Environmental death: drowning, burning, sucked into a black hole.
5. Must tell painful/uncomfortable truths to others. The closer the relationship, the more dire the revealed truth.
6. Tied to train tracks.
7. Followed by mood weather. - Players are encouraged to work with each other as choosers and victims – while the mysterious experimenter will not condone or enable communication between choosers and their victims, it's also not disabling the Relics or any other form of long-distance communication… Or you might just want to have fun inflicting woe on your close CR. No judgment!
no subject
The weight of Vergil's hand on her arm is a surprise and she doesn't startle at the unexpected touch as much as she looks at him searchingly, perhaps trying to decide if he's pulling a prank on her but something tells her that this particular descendant of Sparda doesn't go in for jokes. He looks... troubled? But before her own instincts kick in to take her hand from her pocket and gratefully place it on his to offer an assurance that he doesn't need to be worried, it's gone. Instead he starts talking about Nero and she can't help but colour up at the notion of him 'waxing effusively' about her. She can't help but glance down.]
Nero's always going overboard when he talks about me, I'm afraid I'm really very boring compared to him. He's wonderful.
[She really can't help but smile as she looks up at Vergil, and this time it is full of warmth and affection.]
But I'm sure you already know that.
no subject
[Still, it does not stop him from agreeing with a small nod even if he does not reflect back her smile.]
Better than he does at times. [Such insecurity is not one of Vergil's better qualities that Nero inherited. He looks away from Kyrie and towards their path ahead. In the absence of a snowstorm, civilization is visible in the direction they're walking.] He's grown into a fine young man. I am proud to call him my son.
[And grateful not only that he has the opportunity to do as much, but for Nero claiming him as his...dad in return. But Vergil keeps that portion of it to himself. It's not entirely his to speak and something that would likely be best heard from Nero than a claim made by Vergil. It's also a degree of vulnerability in his relationship with Nero that he's not willing to part with to her even knowing just how important Kyrie is to Nero.]
no subject
It's silly, no matter how often I tell him he has nothing to prove, he's always trying to. I'm afraid that's something he's done since the orphanage, and he just doesn't believe it when someone gives him a compliment.
[There have been so many times she's wished that Nero could see himself the way she does, someone so incredibly kind in spite of the cruelty he'd faced, someone so brave and fearless and determined. That's all Nero, and she's so proud of him. Her parents had seen his potential in their own way, Credo too, but she had always been his loudest cheerleader and most vocal champion. To hear his father say that he's proud of him... it makes grin just to hear it.]
It will mean the world to him to know you feel that way.
[Honestly, she still can't quite believe that she's walking with Nero's father. They'd mused about who his parents might have been as children; it was something he had grown out of and claimed not to be bothered by it anymore, but she knew better than to believe it didn't. As a little girl, she'd kept her own whimsical thoughts to herself about who his family was, perhaps he'd been a prince or-
or the grandson of her faith's god.
That thought suddenly hits her like a ton of bricks.]
no subject
[He's about to assure her that he does tell Nero that he's proud of him. Often, in fact. Sometimes by words. Sometimes in his actions. But regardless, he does not tolerate Nero assuming he is some sort of disappointment to him. But then Vergil catches sight of her expression and a furrow returns to his brow.]
Is something the matter?
no subject
[She looks a little flustered - or it could be feverish, who knows with how her nose is starting to feel stuffy - but she doesn't look upset, just slightly overwhelmed at the realisation she's had.]
I just remembered who your father was, and what that means, and if the Order were still operating-
[Oh god, it would have been too awful if they had still been around; just by the merit of being of Sparda's blood had been enough to paint a target on Nero's back, but by having him be a direct descendant, his actual grandson...
His actual grandson who she has been living with, unmarried, for five years and definitely not letting that hold their relationship back.
...This is something she's going to spiral about with Nero in private because there is no way she's telling his father what's going through her head at the moment.]
Let's be grateful that they're not.
no subject
[He clears his throat.]
For what they became, at least. What Dante described of the Order does not sound as it had been when I first came to Fortuna.
[Which in hindsight, Vergil doesn't feel particularly surprised that such twisted designs would emerge eventually. He doesn't think the Order as a whole was inherently malicious. Most of the followers were likely no different than Kyrie in their wanting to uphold teachings of a good and righteous god. Their faith and belief was sincere. But just as men like Arkham were tempted in pursuing power they had no business toying with, it was perhaps only a matter of time before such others took root within the Order.]
[He glances at Kyrie before tentatively saying,] I hope I am not overstepping in saying this, but despite the shock it must be to know of Nero's bloodline, nothing has really changed about Nero since he learned the truth. He is still the same young man you fell in love with. He just has more answers about himself than he did before, and he doesn't need to struggle alone with mastering the power running through his veins anymore.
[He doesn't need to hide it or fear it any longer with Dante and Vergil both to guide him.]
I am certain he will begin to truly flourish with you at his side.
no subject
She and Nero are going to have a lot to talk about.
Vergil has a point, and she quietly looks up at him with a soft, thoughtful smile.]
I always knew he was special, you know? Even when people said he was a loose cannon and a punk, I thought they were so foolish for not seeing him for who he really is. I don't know anyone more kind or brave or selfless than him, he's never needed me to flourish. He does that all by himself.
[And now she sounds like she's gushing. Vergil must think she's a lost cause.]
But I'm so glad that you've found each other. He's always wanted answers about the parts of him he's never known.
no subject
[Vergil pulls loose the scarf he had been wearing as he follows her in. He nods to the electronic overhead board indicating how long until the train's next arrival.]
We have a few minutes before the train arrives. Have a seat. [There are fortunately plenty of open benches given how much slower and quieter the station is in Wintermute compared to some of the others.] If you'd like, I can fetch your something warm to drink.
[Vergil nods in the direction of the handful of vendors who have set up shop in the station itself. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and even some warm alcoholic beverages are on offer alongside a few selections of hot meals that are easy to bring along on a train ride.]
Or if you're hungry, some soup may tide you over until we arrive home.
[They are the next stop on the train, but the station in Wintermute is still nestled quite a ways into the region itself beyond the mountains. Never mind there's still a bit of a walk until they reach the house. Although... Now that Vergil is thinking about it, Kyrie doesn't need to necessarily wait that long to see and talk to Nero, does she? Feeling at his pockets, Vergil locates his Relic.]
no subject
Only if you're having something yourself, please don't go any further out of your way than you already have.
[She feels bad, Vergil surely had plans of his own for the day and now he's babysitting her at the station. She's about to ask if he wouldn't prefer to just give her the name of the station at their destination and some directions when she sneezes again, four times this time, and inwardly groans at the thought that she's very probably picked up a cold.
Terrific.]
Are you going to have a seat?
no subject
[Vergil takes his hand back and begins sliding his glove back on.]
I'll get you some soup, [he says, stepping away from her towards the vendors. Vergil's tone is not unkind, but it's clear that Vergil is not accepting any form of protest from her about the matter. She's having soup whether she feels particularly hungry or not.]
[Vergil continues with the Relic as he waits in the brief line. For as much as he does not bother with the device, he had figured out as much how to get to his messages when Dante asked him to come get him. Now, how does he...? Ah, there it is. A new message. He's able to get that far on his own at least before he places the order for the soup and two teas (hibiscus for Kyrie, Darjeeling for himself). Vergil closes the Relic again, pocketing it for the moment both to be able to use his spoon to pay and free up his hand. He balances a drink tray with the teas atop the container of soup and returns to the bench where he left Kyrie. He leans Yamato against the bench before taking his seat. He removes the drink tray from top of the soup container before offering it to her.]
Here, [he says, offering the spoon that was tucked between the drinks. Although it would be entirely feasible to just drink the soup from its container, Vergil assumes the spoon would be preferred.]
no subject
I- thank you?
[He moves away towards the vendors and she raises her own hand to her brow, but her fingers are so cold anything would feel warm to her at this precise moment. Does she look sick? That's certainly not going to help him form a positive impression of her if she goes down with a fever just from wandering around in the snow for a few hours.
The fact she's in summer clothing beneath this coat is neither here nor there.
Vergil returns with soup and tea and the way that Kyrie's stomach responds hungrily to the smell makes her realise just how long it's been since she's eaten. She gratefully takes the offered spoon and smiles conspiratorially. She might be coming down with something but it hasn't affected her spirit.]
I hope you realise that I fully intend to repay you for everything you've done for me today and that generally means baked goods, I'm afraid.
no subject
That isn't necessary, [he says, suddenly finding his own tea to be a much more interesting thing to look at as he pulls it free from the drink tray. Vergil sets the tray aside on the floor for now. Pulling his Relic back out, Vergil leans forward and resumes the task of trying to send a message. When he selects the addressee box, whatever semblance of confidence this would be an easy process is immediately shattered with there's a pop-up of listing everyone. He huffs an irritable sigh and glances up at the ceiling over his rotten luck. For one, he doesn't understand why every single Star Child needs to be listed as a contact. That seems silly and absurd. Vergil has no interest in using the device in general, but if he must, he'd prefer it be limited to those he already knows. For another, he knows Nero chose some absurd username and it's not just his name like Dante. Without being able to remember the silly name off the top of his head, Vergil's left scrolling until it jumps out at him as something familiar.]
no subject
[She may just... skip over the fact she has no home, no kitchen and no idea whether or not she'll be able to bake something. She tentatively dips a spoon into the soup and has a taste and immediately goes back for more, the broth absolutely hitting a spot she didn't realise needed filling. (It also brings to light the fact that her throat feels scratchy; it's probably just dehydration.)
The phone thing comes out again and Kyrie tries not to spy on what he's doing as she eats her soup, but curiosity gets the better of her. Come to think of it, she had found one of those devices in the pocket of her skirt too, along with a Spoon. It might be a good idea to find out what it does; she's never been as adept at technology as Nero has. Perhaps his fascination for gadgetry and tinkering was inherited from his father.
After a few minutes of watching, it becomes very apparent that that is not the case.]
no subject
no subject
It's practically the same thing as reading over someone's shoulder and Kyrie immediately regrets her social faux-pas. Vergil obviously doesn't want her to spy on him while he's sending a message to someone, or checking something. Perhaps she'll just open her own device thing and see if she can work it out for herself, these things are usually intuitive enough and she can work her own phone without needing help back home. What could go wrong?
She has a few more spoonfuls of soup before she draws her Relic out of her pocket and starts to pay attention to the tutorial after she switches it on.]
Are these things easy to get used to?
no subject
I would not be the best judge of that. I have not made much use of mine as, to tell you the truth, I see little purpose in them. [Until recently, his Relic spent the majority of its existence forgotten in his nightstand drawer. It did get a very brief stint somewhere in Amrita Academy as well after it was presumably deleted out of existence temporarily before returning to said drawer.] It only proved itself somewhat useful once recently.
[Which took it magicking itself into Vergil's pocket.]
I only bring it with me in the event it may prove useful under similar circumstances. Although I suppose having it with me also has the secondary benefit of Nero nagging me less frequently about bringing it along.
no subject
[She'd probably go out of her mind not having him check in; devil hunting isn't exactly the safest profession in the world. Case in point, the awful events of April and Nero's arm, and that hadn't even been on a job.
If Nero's been nagging his father about bringing it with him, that probably means they've grown close enough for him to worry about him and that warms her. He's protective to a fault, that one.
Her face brightens as something occurs to her.]
Could we let him know we're coming? Or should we leave it as a surprise?
no subject
I was just about to message him, [he mumbles before clearing his throat and speaking a little louder.] I wasn't certain if he was home or not. And he may wish to meet us at the station.
no subject
Her eyes light up as an idea comes to her and she beams.]
Or you could tell him you have a surprise for him and not mention that it's me.
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...Would he not be upset with the deception?
[Vergil still errs on the side that Nero would likely prefer to know sooner rather than later. Kyrie, after all, is extremely important to him, and therefore, probably something that even a bare amount of ultimately harmless deceit as Kyrie herself suggests could easily go the wrong way.]
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[Honestly, she can't imagine Nero being angry; he's always appreciated it when she's gone to the effort to surprise him.]
The last time we spoke he said he had a surprise for me, I bet he won't be expecting me to surprise him.
[She's also quietly hoping that he'll be delighted that she and his father are getting on well enough to go to the effort to surprise him. It'll be a bonding exercise.]
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Perhaps it would be best if you wrote the message then.
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[She reaches and takes the Relic, thinking over the phrasing. Probably best to just keep it simple, Nero's likely to come along out of sheer curiosity. It takes her a moment and then she types it in:
I've got a surprise for you! Meet me at the station in-
She looks up at the board and then at Vergil with a small frown.]
How long will it take us to get to the station once we're on the train?
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Twenty minutes or thereabouts.
[It's one of the longer portions of the ride considering how far out of the way this station is compared to the rest wherein just a matter of five to ten minutes, one can find themselves at their destination.]
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[...perhaps the exclamation mark was a mistake.
Kyrie scrolls back and deletes what she's written.
I will be at the station in twenty minutes with a surprise for you. Meet me off the train at-
She looks up at the departure time on the board and does the mental arithmetic to determine the arrival time. That degree of math she can handle, at least.
It's instinct to add xxx at the end of the message, but looking at Vergil's quiet demeanor, she decides against it. She won't ask if it's something he'd use either.]
Here, does that sound like the kind of thing you'd text him?
[She passes the Relic back over to him to see if it meets his approval.]
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