February-March 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

February-March 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 canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.

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.

[ Soon You'll Get Better ★ Netfox & Chill]

Soon You'll Get Better . ★

Content Warnings: Power Nullification, Potential Kidnapping, Potential Animal Spirit Harm

The island of Never Fade can no longer be seen in the sky from elsewhere in Folkmore, enclosed within a large purple tinted cloud. Within that cloud, the island is under water—a dreamy purple underwater that all Star Children can breath in if they breath and function in if they function on electricity, so on and so forth. It causes no more difficulties than reduced visibility and greater effort to walk. It's even possible to swim underneath the island, so long as Star Children make sure to make landfall before they get too exhausted and… well… fall.


Friendnapped

The purple water has streaks of silver shot throughout it. Beware, these silver streaks neutralize powers, canon and role abilities alike, for at least an hour. A neutralized Legend won't be able to sense others in danger. A neutralized Myth won't sense danger coming. A neutralized Familiar won't be able to shapeshift to help others. That may set of a danger alarm but not any spidey-sense. These silver streaks are harbingers of spirits recently returned to Folkmore thanks to donations at the Shattered Spoon Shrine: lonely sharks.

The source of the silver streaks in the water, these silver gray sharks swim up and gently bite people. These bites make people go instantly limp but otherwise don't do any damage. They won't even break the skin. Once limp, the lonely sharks take their prey new best friends down to a cave or grotto off the underside of Never Fade. These caves are full of silver water, saturated by the magic of lonely sharks, and the entrances are covered by a thin silver barrier that prevents Star Children from leaving. That means should a Star Child track down where someone is being kept, should they enter its home, they too will be trapped there.

Being held by the lonely sharks isn't the worst experience. These spirits will try to please their new friends, giving them their favorite foods and perhaps even an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic of these items will be neutralized in the shark's cave. It is possible to fight a lonely shark, even to kill one, but that will only be a temporary measure. Star Children will remain trapped and have to wait for the lonely shark to revive—with even more golden cracks than before. In the end, the only way to escape are hugs, cuddles, and other measures of friendship. Once all the golden cracks have thinned and disappeared, Star Children can leave.

Spread the Love

By the time mid-March comes around, most of the lonely sharks have been fully healed and no longer kidnap Star Children. Instead they swim the None of the Above tunnels below the island's surface, where they provide guidance to Star Children who ask them how to get somewhere. If Star Children have nowhere particular in mind, the lonely sharks encourage Star Children to make their way toward the Shattered Spoon Shrine.

The lonely sharks still create silver streaks in the water that neutralize powers, but they will accompany Star Children and warn them of some of the dangers. When voices call their names, the sharks will snuggle up against Star Children to provide comfort. They're devoted to helping Star Children reach the shrine. Once there, they will encourage the Star Children to donate Lore to one of the broken spoons there, each spoon representing spirits who have left, spirits who became shells of themselves from lack of lore, or ghosts.

Star Children who donate Lore will find their companion lonely shark presenting them with an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic will be neutralized until the Star Child has spent at least an hour away from the silvery water lonely sharks create. Lonely sharks will happily spend as much time with Star Children as they're willing but will show the way back to the surface either via LIM (Lavender Institute of the Mind) or the None of the Above tunnels.

• Never Fade is underwater within a cloud.
  
• Silver streaks in the water neutralize powers, both canon and Role based.
  
• Lonely sharks kidnap Star Children and take them to caves on the underside of Never Fade.
  
• Star Children who find those caves are trapped too.
  
• Escape by hugs, cuddles, and being friends.
  
• By the second month, most lonely sharks are healed and found in the tunnels.
  
• Lonely sharks guide Star Children to the Shattered Spoon Shrine to donate Lore to help others.
  
• Either when captive or once donating Lore, lonely sharks will give Star Children an item from home.

Netfox & Chill . ★

Content Warnings: Forced Relocation, Potential Secret Revelation, Potential Coerced Physical Intimacy

With the wide range of Star Children from many different worlds, sharing similarities, it's no surprise when moments of deja vu happen. That sense of the familiar with the new, the sense of something that happened before without quite being able to place it… or perhaps it being impossible. Regardless, when that connective moment happens, the Star Children involved are transported to a windmill home from the Cloud Colonies. They land together on a couch before a large television with all the makings of a movie night. There could be wine and cheese. There could be soda and popcorn. There could be tea or other hot beverages. There's a cozy blanket (only one). The movie has already been selected, and it starts playing.

Headliner

The movie is roughly based off one of the Star Children's lives, specifically for the Star Child that experience deja vu and triggered this experience. Regardless of the moment of deja vu, the plot of the movie is based off of some real or potential relationship—romantic or queer platonic—in their life. That Star Child can recognize some similarities immediately. If they had any doubts, they get a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

It's possible to ignore the message, at least for a while. The longer the movie plays, the more apparent it becomes that it's based off that Star Child. The starring character's clothes will change to resemble theirs. The cadence of their voice will shift to imitate theirs. Their facial features will shift. These changes will become more and more heavy handed as the movie goes on until even the most clueless companion will have real trouble not picking up on it. It may get harder and harder to distract them from talking about it! There's no pause button, and the only way to mute the movie is to *ahem* distract themselves from it until it becomes an indistinct background murmur.

Remake

If any Star Children thought this experience might have been a Valentine's Day prank, they'll be poorly mistaken come mid-March when it continues with a twist. The movie less closely resembles any one Star Child's life (whew?)… because it blends the lives of all those present together into a new story. One character is based off each Star Child, and it fits the other Star Child into the role of someone who was or could have been emotionally and/or physically intimate with them. If they had any doubts, each Star child gets a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

Not only does each Star Child have to decide what approach they want to take, but the other Star Child may pick up on what they're putting down! One Star Child may want to talk it out, but the other one desperately doesn't. Oh noes, how shall it be resolved? Well, the longer it takes, the more clearly the film demonstrates one way they could resolve it—a fictionalized ending, happy or sad or bittersweet or anything else, between the characters as they more closely resemble those watching them on the sofa. No one's free until they have a heart to heart or a something to something else. Any physical intimacy can do.

• Experience a moment of deja vu and get transported to a cozy living room in a Cloud Colony windmill.
  
• For the first month, the 'host' Star Child gets a text letting them know to get intimate—emotionally or physically.
  
• For the second month, all Star Children get that text.
  
• For the first month, the movie is based on the 'host' Star Child's experiences, what did or could have happened. As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that's the case.
  
• For the second month, the movie is a story blending Star Children's experiences together. That too will become more obvious over time.
  
• Some form of intimacy is the only way out!

Comments

[inseine]

"Potential is inconcrete. Potential could be as scant and meaningless as a frog's potential to leap from one pond to the next," he said disconsolately. "Truth is never quite so grand as fantasy."

Javert cradled his cup, gazing into the smooth brown surface. The consequences of his choice were starting to sink in. Whenever the Shark released them from this underwater hole, there was a land out there full of people, with towns, cities, schools, workplaces. He would have to start from the bottom again, and which bottom that would be, he hadn't the slightest idea. He had not thought far enough ahead to consider a life for him. He had not figured he would be forced to find work, to continue onward, when he could no longer piece together right from wrong, up from down, underwater from up in the air.

He was rarely this impulsive, to follow an apparition on a whim. Not he, not the meticulous, exacting Javert, who always crossed every t and dotted every i. He always had an idea or a plan brewing, when he acted.

He wished again that Ariadne did not come back for him. (But then, he would not comprehend until much later down the line how dangerous lonesomeness would have been for him at this moment; he had only one idea sweeping across his mind, and it was something he could not allow himself to do in the presence of decent company.)

Javert forced himself out of his reverie, drawing his cup close. He slid the sugar and cream Ariadne's way, an unspoken token of gratitude for having the patience to sit with an old, disgraced cop's vacant, scattered thoughts.

"So there is a functioning society out there. If I am to join it upon our release," If he was to, his frown lopsided, as his glance flicks back toward wherever the shark had gone, "What manner of work is most wanted?"

[demonicbeauty]

Well, she supposed, that sort of potential was very important for the frog.

Somehow, she sensed that Javert needed to be more than just a frog. Ariadne was tragically inept when it came to idioms, but she understood symbolism and metaphor. At least, most of the time. Likewise, she understood that some didn't see the little things as important as the big things. Didn't see the connections between the two.

Apparently, that was Javert's line of reasoning. Hardly the first person she'd met like that. Not even the first in Folkmore. Hopefully, experience would begin to show him.

In the meanwhile, she perked up considerably at his question. "Teaching is actually the most demanded occupation," she said. "There are a number of different schools in Folkmore. Star Children are encouraged to learn as much as they can. Part of finding our potential. Which means that Thirteen encourages us to teach what we know." She added a spoonful of sugar to her tea, stirring it as daintily as she could. "What sort of trade did you practice in your home world? I'm sure that whatever it is, it'll provide some possibilities here."

[inseine]

Teaching! He, Javert, almost entirely unschooled save for tutoring with his mentor as a youth, a teacher? That did not suit. He had no earthly right to stand before a band of youths and teach, when he had no grip on himself with which to anchor him, never-mind the lack of formal classroom experience. He plucked at his bread, his nervous hands needing to busy themselves with something. His thick side-whiskers were spared the tugging in lieu of the things in front of him.

He balked grimly, feline ears flattened, his eyes dulled. He popped a plain nibble of bread into his mouth and chewed slowly, his tongue dry.

"I was of the police," he admitted at last after swallowing. Past tense. Was. Lying did not come naturally to him, no matter how much he wished to avoid the subject. "Are you a school-girl? Do you study or work?"

[demonicbeauty]

Her eyes lit up at the mention of 'police.' While they didn't use that term in her realm, she was familiar with it now. And immediately knew exactly who to send Javert to. "You'll have to meet my friends, the Jedi Knights," she said quickly. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ezra Bridger, and Ahsoka Tano. They're committed to keeping the peace, as I understand it. And they've all found ways to amortize their experiences here. I'm sure they'll have some suggestions for you!"

There was little Ariadne loved more than introducing her new friends to her other new friends. And despite many differences of opinion she had with the Jedi, she was terribly fond of all of them.

Perhaps they could speak to Javert in a language she didn't know. Law and order were not exactly areas of expertise for her.

"And I'm both a student and teacher," she added, remembering his question. "I teach at the school called Kuma Lisa. Music lessons three days a week. And individual flying lessons for the Star Children who find themselves with wings."

[inseine]

Javert stared back at Ariadne inscrutably, his thin, bloodless lips pressed tightly together.

There it was again: Doubt. Doubt in his own suitability to guard society, doubt in his place in the world. It pained him, to see this girl's eyes light up, to hear the good faith in her tone. If only she knew how much he ailed, how little he knew about the laws of Folkmore and thus, how unsuited he was to take on the mantle of a policeman so soon after his resignation! (But then, what was he suited for? He did not know where to start.) He quickly dropped his stare down to his coffee as he sipped.

--Just as the shark returned, nudging his glass police badge into his palm. He bared his teeth in a rictus of a grin, hollow and dead, and shooed the shark back on its way.

"We shall see about your Knights," he said noncommittally, squeezing the badge tightly in his palm. His grip trembled. "But school is no place for me. That, I am certain of -- not music, not flying, and not as a professor. No offense meant to you, of course, Mademoiselle."

[demonicbeauty]

"None taken," she replied, although there was a little taken. It always irritated Ariadne when someone said they had no time or interest or talent in music. Music was such an essential component of life. It was communication in the rawest, most vital sense. The rhythm of life.

She knew better than to proselytize, though.

No one would take her seriously, anyway.

Again, she couldn't help but wonder what Thirteen had been thinking when she made Ariadne a Legend. She was no hero. She was nothing.

"What's that?" she asked quietly, looking at the bit of glass. "A gift from our host?"

[inseine]

"Gift!"

The outburst was strange, rife with ingratitude. Javert must work to swallow back his thoughts; mechanically, he turned the glass in his palm without dropping his eyes to look at it.

"It is my identification card," he followed up tersely after a grounding breath or two. He flashed it to her (she ought to be able to read a bit of it; Inspector of Police of the First Class, JAVERT, Aged Fifty-Two, along with a police emblem and motto she of a country and city she may not recognize) and then made a move to drop it into his deepest coat pocket. "I left it behind."

With good reason, if one were to ask him.

He raised his head and his cup.

"Let's talk more about your music, rather," he pivoted abruptly, wanting desperately to shift the subject away from his existence. "Do you teach it written, or by ear? With which instrument?"

[demonicbeauty]

Considering how dismissive he was of music, she knew the shift was a desperate one. And was more than willing to oblige, of course. If, as it seemed, she was to be the welcoming committee...aside from a certain, persistent shark...then she was going to do her absolute best to be, well, welcoming.

But what a frustratingly terse man.

A fact that only made her more determined, of course.

"All of the instruments," she replied. "At least, the ones the ones that I've spent a little time with, back home." She started to tick them off on her fingers. "Lute, fiddle, ocarina, flute, guitar, whistle, drums, piano, mandolin, horn, cello, harp, ukulele, lyre, biwa, marimba, organ, bells, and bandoneon."

Although the list was exceptionally long, Ariadne was matter-of-fact about it all. Not so much as a trace of bragging or pride. Simply what she knew. "So far, no one's brought in anything I haven't seen before. I also offer singing lessons. The most popular choice so far has been drumming. It's especially useful for the fighters among us. A sense of rhythm and balance. Being able to time movement to the beat. It's like throwing a punch while listening to the pulse in your chest."

[inseine]

"It is a dance," Javert nodded, his lips tight. He scooped a paltry smear of confiture onto his bread. "As all the physical arts resemble, when done well. A trick of anticipating and matching the opponent's beat. I understand!"

Javert did have musical talent in him; he simply felt himself unsuited to formal schooling about it. His flavor of music was far more rustic, far less refined. His was the music of the jailhouse, the music of a rickety guitar or a ukulele cradled across the breast of a colorfully-garmented Romani wanderer. The music of the bawdy taverns, the tums of which he could hum and murmur to this day, though he was a frequent observer and rarely a participant of the merriment.

With patience and perseverance, Ariadne would come to learn this about her dreary new acquaintance. Another time!

He met her matter-of-factness with a curl of his brow. He has calmed considerably with the shift in conversation, though the weariness and heaviness about his eyes lingers, the badge burning a hole in his pocket.

"Drumming is popular because it lulls the novices into simplicity. It is limiting, potentially, for the lot," he remarked slowly. "You beat a drum, they think, and that is all there is! A thought, if I may, Mademoiselle. You might tell them to take on two disciplines for practical application. Marry the beat with a tune, follow the rhythm with foot and fist. Do you work with dancers, or strictly fighters?"

[demonicbeauty]

What a funny sort of fellow. Ariadne understood that when she saw the glass as half full, others saw it as half empty. Javert, however, seemed determined to see it not only as half empty, but also cracked and leaking. It was truly beginning to make sense to her why Thirteen had picked him. He had a lot of potential. His attitude seemed to be his biggest hurdle.

"No, I haven't worked with dancers much," she admitted, adding another spoonful of sugar to her tea. "Although perhaps someone should offer dancing lessons. Thirteen enjoys throwing galas and masques. And I suppose it's only fair to warn you, sir, that on occasion, no matter how much you may wish to avoid them, you can end up there all the same. The paths here are not always straight. Sometimes, you can walk through a door in one building and end up on the other side of Folkmore. Wearing whatever attire suits the occasion."

She had a growing collection of ballgowns. Which were lovely, but not at all what she was used to wearing. She much preferred her hunting leathers. Mostly because they reminded her of Aunt Lysia, who'd given them to her.

And as if reading her mind, their shark host came swimming back, nudging Ariadne's hand with his nose. She opened her fingers and felt a brush of leather as the shark dropped a green and gold book in her hand. "Oh!" She recognized the elaborate triangular designs on the cover. "Well, thank you so much!"

[inseine]

Javert's face grew pinched and grim. Of all the matters preoccupying his stormy head, social affairs sat at the very bottom of his desires and concerns. The idea of being forced into a foray where he would have to make small talk and put on airs sounded about as appealing as wading through the Parisian sewers.

(He was unlikely to put on airs or make small talk at all, even if thrust amongst the society-people. He would plaster himself to a corner or alongside a bare wall, hands clasped at his back, and watch the proceedings, more closely resembling a guard dog than a guest.)

He took a sluggish bite of his jammed bread, and then followed it up absently with a bigger bite. His stomach was cramped, tired, aching. He hadn't eaten in at least a day. The bites hit his hollowed stomach like a rock in water, leaden and heavy. He washed it down with a burning, acrid sip of black coffee, as his glance dropped to Ariadne's book.

"Where the devil are they unearthing these things?" he mused. "A tome you recognize, I assume. In any case, I am sorry to tell you I will not be offering formal dance lessons. That is not my art. Though should I ever come across a fine dancer when we are out of this cave I shall be certain send them your way."

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne could find a fine dancer or two on her own, but to say so might sound like bragging. No one liked to hear that sort of talk. Anyway, the book was distracting. She ran the pad of her thumb along the gold, embossed designs on the cover. Stylized images always in groupings of three. "It's the holy scriptures of Mudorism," she murmured. "The religion of the Elves of Valeria. I started to follow their ways, when I was brought to court as an apprentice."

And, likewise, coming to Folkmore had changed Ariadne's religion again. Now she worshipped Thirteen, although she wasn't always sure how. Mudorism had clear, prescribed rituals and practices. Things in Folkmore were a little more chaotic, a little less predictable.

She was always afraid that she was doing it wrong, really.

The only holiday that they'd observed with any kind of fidelity was that Pride thing that happened in June. She hoped they would celebrate it again. And not just because it was a great deal of fun. It would give her more of a sense of a schedule.

Shaking her head, she looked back up at Javert. "I suspect the sharks possess some of Thirteen's abilities to reach into other worlds." She stroked the head of their host, who seemed pleased, judging from the way his tail swished. "Gifts, just like the tea and cakes."

[inseine]

Of course this fine woman was a member of her religion's clergy. It was only another fact to condone the idea that Ariadne was a much worthier individual than himself; more righteous, more gentle, more kind, more patient. A wonder that he now thoughtlessly considered kindness a positive attribute, when he had scorned the idea of kindness in favor of being just and irreproachable for so long...

Javert eyeballed the shark doubtfully, his lips pressed tightly together. He considered the pleased wagging over another sip of his cup.

"The creature is like a pup, isn't he. Playing fetch witch things which might have stayed buried." Ought to have stayed buried. His eyes narrowed, a frown blooming at one corner of his lip. "Company, they wanted. Do they beg for affection like pups, I wonder? Is that what there is to this?"

And he tentatively lifted a hand toward the shark, beckoning him closer with a sharp flick of the wrist. Come here, his glance seemed to command. If the shark approached, he would slowly place a palm between its eyes, patting the rough and unscaled skin.

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne pulled back, to allow the shark to explore his other guest. Javert was right, the shark was a bit like a puppy. Although the teeth were a little more intimidating. And there was less slobber. A giggled threatened its way out, but Ariadne pressed her lips together, just smiling instead. The amusement made it ways out through her eyes, those gleaming silver coins at the bottom of a fountain.

"The last time he brought me down here, I just pet him until he fell asleep. Or, until I thought he was asleep, anyway." She shrugged. "I guess he only wanted a little nap. And was sad to wake up and find me gone."

She gave the shark a stern look from over the top of the tea set, as she added yet another spoonful of sugar to her own cup. "You know we can't stay here forever, naughty boy," she said, with the closest thing Ariadne possessed to a stern tone of voice. "We have to go back to Folkmore. There are people who are waiting for me there." She glanced at Javert, giving him a smile. "People I need to introduce to my new friend."

CW: mild suicidal ideation at the end

[inseine]

Javert's face twisted strangely, his eyes fixed upon the shark. The shark looked back with a mixture of pleading want and roguishness -- almost as if the shark were seeing Javert's discomfort and grinning back at it. His cheeks colored queerly, more of a sallow tone than a blush.

He firmly pat the shark just above the gill slits, rubbing like he were waxing the side of a carriage. He murmured carefully without meeting her glance,

"It strikes me that I have none of the local coin. If," he punctuated his sluggish speech and lengthy, thoughtful pause with another pet, this time between the shark's glassy black eyes, "any of your people are willing to take work in exchange for a modest bed until I gather my bearings, then I should like to speak with them first."

Strange, to request something so shockingly normal in a place that was anything but. Stranger still that he felt aggrieved to be in a penniless position, especially when just hours ago he had no plans to continue on to any place at all.

He frowned, the shark gleefully shimmying in return, relaxed.

"How could you tell when Monsieur Shark was at rest? Does his kind not keep swimming regardless?"

[demonicbeauty]

"The sharks simply slow down," she said, although she herself didn't slow down at all as she barreled on, "and I'm quite sure we can find you a place to sleep until you start on your own household. I doubt anyone will ask you to work in exchange." Certainly not Ariadne, although she recognized he might be uncomfortable staying in her little tree house. But the company she kept tended to be fairly indifferent to money as well. If not the Jedi, then the Steves, perhaps.

She added a fourth spoonful of sugar to her tea without even looking at it.

"Although, it shouldn't take you long to find something for yourself. Newly arrived Star Children don't have to pay for lodging. All you have to do is fine an empty house in a neighborhood that you like."

And there was a certain air of bemusement about that. Ariadne herself had had a hard time accepting it at first. She'd never had a place of her own, but even she knew that wasn't how it normally worked. Households in Valeria were usually passed on through generations of the same family.

[inseine]

"And live in squalor as a squatter?" Javert burst out, appalled. The shark jerked back in surprise at the force of his cry, then settled when the melancholy Javert resumed his blunted strokes. Sleep, Shark, so that they may leave.

He exhaled through his broad nostrils, brow lowered.

"I cannot accept such charity. No, I insist I must contribute my fair share in a household. If not with coin, then with work. I have two hands. Surely there is something I might do."

[demonicbeauty]

"Well...you don't have to squat," she said, a little line forming between her eyes as she tried to parse out what he was saying. "You're more than welcome to sit or stand or lie down."

Tragically, she wasn't joking.

Ariadne stirred her tea, which was really more sugar than tea at this point, but when she took a sip, she was quite pleased, closing her eyes to savor the sweetness. Sugar was increasingly rare in Valeria. She still couldn't get used to how readily available it was here. And she never passed up the opportunity for more.

When she opened her eyes again, she shook her head a little. "But I'm sure you can come up with an arrangement with almost anyone here, if you insist on paying or working. Since we're all strangers to this world, everyone's pretty reasonable."

[inseine]

Javert eyed Ariadne and her tea as she sipped, watching the clumps of sugar turn with the spoon. Good god! Sweets were a rare and expensive treat where he came from, and to be so free and lackadaisical with it was something he had rarely witnessed with the crowds he walked amongst. He forced the lines between his eyes to smooth a hair and disguised his grimace behind a sip of strong black brew.

He nodded after he swallowed.

"Most decent people can be reasonable, and I in turn am a sensible and practical man. I will work what is owed." Note his emphasis on decent. His head turned to what he could possibly do that was crude and simple. All that sprung to mind was the hard labor such as the work of chain gangs and jail birds, and his face grew bleaker, paler, wan.

Well. It would suit him, he supposed.

"Are there grounds which need keeping? Stables to tend, roads to mend, rock to quarry? This is work I could do, though I confess I am no gardener."

[demonicbeauty]

"Thirteen maintains most of the grounds and roads, I think," she said, glancing down into her cup. "And there are some stables, but I can't tell you much about them. Horses don't like me, so I usually just avoid them." She always assumed that something about the creatures just sensed the wildness in her. Her looks couldn't fool them, they knew what she was. Although why that spooked them, she could only wonder. Maybe they sensed in her competition. Or a predator.

There was almost no Alastrian history involving horses. Or domesticated animals of any kind.

How could you support a herd when you could barely support your own people?

"I don't know much about quarries either," she added. "But if it's manual labor you're interested in...there's a man in my neighborhood in Leshy who likes to build things. Perhaps he could use some help? His name is Tony Stark."

[inseine]

Monsieur Stark. Javert committed the name to memory, as well as the name of the neighborhood (spelt in his head as Le Chie), eyes dancing across an imaginary sheet of paper in front of his nose.

His nostrils flared, and he set his cup down, mostly-drunk.

"I am a quick study," he said. "But in the event he has no vacancies, I will inquire at the stables. You might know little about them, I know. But if you might show me the way once we are out, it would be of great use to me. After we pay a visit to your neighborhood."

[demonicbeauty]

"I'd be happy to," she replied.

As long as she didn't have to get too close to the horses, anyway. They were magnificent creatures. From far...far away. Also, it was entirely possible that Ariadne hadn't exactly gotten over being chased by the horse made of fire. A lot of good had come out of that encounter, chiefly the fact that she was able to meet Drizzt. It also haunted her nightmares, though. Two of her least favorite things, compacted into one: Fire and horses.

All the nightmare was missing was the scent of apples. Fortunately, Ariadne didn't pick up scents in her dreams.

She tossed back the rest of her tea. Not very lady-like, but it was getting kind of cold. And she didn't want to offend their shark friend. "I think he's getting sleepy," she murmured, glancing over at him. He had his eyes narrowed like a cat in a puddle of sunlight.

We can just about wrap this thread up and move on to the main game, I think!

[inseine]

Not only were the shark's eyes narrowed (as if fish had eyelids! ha! yet here he was), but there was something queer happening that Javert did not notice. The cracks trailing subtly along the shark's massive back, lined with gold, were mending themselves. Soon, they were altogether gone, not a mark left on him.

The silver curtain blocking the exit flickered and died as the shark drifted off to a blissful rest. Javert and Ariadne were free to go, with their new shark friend cherishing their memory in his soul.

"Ah," he murmured quietly, tentatively lifting his hand from the shark's back. The shark stayed, mollified, utterly content. He rolled onto his side and tread water with his paddle tail. Javert raised his head to Ariadne. "Then let this be our signal to go."

He rose to his feet, taking one quiet step, then another, toward the opened grotto exit. He jerked his head toward the dark waters ahead.

"After you, Mademoiselle Ariadne. I trust you will lead the way out, this time, without interference from me. And then we might talk recompense for your assistance, after."