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folkmore mod ([personal profile] folkie) wrote in [community profile] folkooc2023-08-13 08:57 am
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August & September 2023 Test Drive Meme

August & September 2023 TDM
Introduction

[ TDM QuestionsJump to CommentsFull Navigation ]

This Test Drive meme is open to all.

Welcome to Folkmore's bimonthly 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.

[ Prompt OnePrompt Two]

Oh How Quiet .
Content Warnings: Difficulty seeing, possibility of drowning, forced relocation

Fog & Footsteps
Some Star Children find themselves on land. The air is foggy and damp, blurring and distorting vision making it difficult to tell where they are, what’s real and what isn’t until–finally–Star Children find themselves on wet sand. Continue marching forward and trees begin to form a skeletal border, dark shadows growing and stretching further into their depths. Star Children who have experienced being exiled before can feel a path through the trees should they choose to venture further. Star Children who haven’t been exiled can feel resentment building around them and have greater difficulty navigating the path ahead.

Anyone who glances back may find footsteps in the sand alongside theirs. The more anyone looks back, the more prints appear. They’re inconsistent like their maker hops or flies part of the time or fades in and out of the physical universe… or something else. They may be human, or animal, or something Star Children can’t quite put a name to.
The Will or the Wisp
The longer Star Children dwell on them, the more tempting they are to follow—familiarity, comfort, curiosity, something. The footsteps eventually lead Star Children down a branching path toward a wall of thick, colorless fog. Inside the fog, there are enchanting wisps of light dancing just out of reach, urging Star Children to keep following. Just a little further, the sweet voices promise.

Continue onward and soon outlines appear in the mist, showing just who (or what) the earlier footsteps belong to–distorted human or animal shapes that exist only where fog is displaced by the will-o’-the-wisps they carry like lanterns. They lure Star Children deeper into Exile, all the while making promises they have no intention of keeping...

Salvation comes in the form of a fellow Star Child guided toward someone in distress by shifting sands. They radiate starlight that pierces through the thick fog around them, allowing people to find the sandy forest path toward The Beach. Once Star Children reach it, they will both find an old, sea-battered treasure chest which offers characters a personal item from home and either a nonfunctional compass or lantern. A will-o-the-wisp will fly directly into the item, which doesn’t seem to make it work. The compass needle points toward somewhere in Exile, not north. The lantern doesn’t light up. However, when the Star Child is truly lost, the compass will point where they need to go and the lantern will light up any darkness. Each Star Child can only receive either the compass or the lantern.
A Magical Day
Whether passing directly through the forest path or guided back to it, Star Children find a shoreline extending in either direction. Some water laps against the beach, but farther out is the long expanse of tenuous reality. Come September, it fades into the distance until it can no longer be seen. The beach itself is in Exile, heavy with the weight of magic. It feels reassuring and encouraging. Star Children can indulge in a sunless day at the beach, playing in the sand, and soaking in the magic. Those wishing for a bit more warmth can explore the shoreline north to the Boat Bonanza at the port where the Encantado reaches the ocean.
Key Points:
🦊 Star Children may pass through a thick fog to reach a wet, sandy path that passes through trees and leads to The Beach in Exile.
🦊 If they keep looking behind them on the path they will find footprints following alongside their own. Those footprints will try luring characters deep into fog using will-o’-the-wisp lanterns, leading them into the swamp so they can drown them.
🦊 A fellow Star Child can act as a light to guide lost characters back to the safety of shore.
🦊 Star Children that are rescued from the lure or who rescue another Star Child will be rewarded with a non-weapon memento from home and either a compass or a lantern (not both).
🦊 Star Children that don’t succumb will simply continue forward to The Beach without issue and will have opportunities to find a non-personal item from their home worlds being sold at the market. See below.


Christening Ceremony .
Content Warnings: Possibility of drowning, fetch quests

Boat Bonanza
Whether venturing up the coastline from Exile, floating down the Encantado River, or simply being plopped into the water, Star Children new and old find themselves in water. A strong wave rolls up the beach to drag suspecting and unsuspecting alike. Playful pinkish-red dolphins spray people off boats into the river. Or Star Children find themselves treading water deeper than they are tall with no land in sight. No worries, those who need help getting out of the water will get it. Along the shore, spirits in boats will pick up anyone in need of a ride and bring them back through the fog to the sounds of shouts and cheers and music to a large clear spot in the fog.

Boats come into view. Boats of all shapes and sizes, from single person kayaks to large houseboats, fishing craft and sailboats. They rise and fall with the waves but aren't otherwise moving. Ropes, planks, and bridges tie the boats together. Whether approaching by river or by sea, new boats explore the outskirts of the great conglomeration of boats and attach themselves—increasing the size of the gathered ships. So many boats are gathered that the shore isn't visible from new boats tying up.

Everyone's welcome aboard and to wander from boat to boat. Starfish spirits offer games of chance at low tables on broad open decks under awnings. There are even holes in the bottom of the deck, so players can dip their feet in cool water. A cephalopod band plays upbeat music other spirits and Star Children can dance to in competition with a scavenging of seagull spirits singing sea shanties as loudly as they can two boats over. Far from them, jellyfish spirits offer places to rest in quiet, with curtains drawn and sound dampened. Many spirits offer food and drink—seafood or seafood shaped candy or in the case of mystery flavored taffy, sometimes seafood flavored candy. Those who don't want freshly rolled sushi or take a chance with the candies can always see the Wandering Dog cart on the shore, where the dogs try very hard to be included.
Flotilla Afterparty
Come September, nymphs pop up in the waters and start shooing the boats away until only the houseboats and some submarines remain. Some go off on their lonesome, but more of them form flotillas that float along the coastline continuing their activities and coming to shore to pick up any who wish to join them. A restaurant flotilla, a meditative flotilla, music performance flotillas, and even gambling flotillas. Should people want off and the boats aren't ready to go to shore, sometimes Catbus shows up, able to leap whatever the distance.
Fetchquest
At any time, during the boat festival or smaller flotillas, Star Children may find non-personal items from their home world for sale. It may be a weapon or magical item. These spirits can sense who is from the same world as an item and will only offer them to those Star Children. These aren’t free! After all, these spirits pulled up these items from chests in the water. Star Children will need to do a few favors or barter something else to obtain the item from home. Star Children who help in Vasilisa’s, now mostly staffed by spirits, will find they have an easier time bartering… unless it’s in the Cuttlefish Curiosities shop. If the cuttlefish spirit smells a whiff of the grumpy old octopus spirit who has taken over as chef, that Star Child will have to do twice the work.
Key Points:
🦊 Explore your way to Nereid where the Encantado reaches the shore or get dropped into the water.
🦊 Enjoy an enormous boat festival! All kinds of boats! All kinds of activities!
🦊 In September, the boat festival will split into multiple flotillas floating around the shoreline.
🦊 Do favors or barter goods to receive a non-personal item from home. It may be a weapon or magical item. A magical gun from your world? Yes. Your personal magical gun with your dog’s name engraved in it? No.


establishingfulcrum: (◈ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛᴛᴀ ᴄᴏɴᴏ̨ᴜᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏɴsᴛᴇʀ)

[personal profile] establishingfulcrum 2023-08-17 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"No one was there to tell you that they're grateful, so I'll do it on their behalf." She pats him on the shoulder. Once the Jedi know, they'll feel the same.

Ahsoka considers his words, hardly thinking anything appropriate about the clothing.

"Calm down, Glitch. I understood what you meant. I'm not sure that we'll find anything around here, but we can look when we get out of this swamp." A soft, thoughtful hum. "As for becoming a Jedi... seeing as how I'm not one but had all of the teachings, how about I work with you? I can teach you how to use that lightsaber when you get it back, try to help you connect to the Force."

Every being is part of the Force, even the clones. Maybe it was pure instinct and all that time being raised for war, but she is all for helping him learn to rely on that so he stays alive here.
bosscuits: (one)

rebecca welton | ted lasso

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-18 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
🍵 will or the wisp

[Rebecca is very confused, and very lost. She had thought it was a dream at first, the strange little fox trotting alongside her, talking about myths and legends and stories, how she'd felt — different as she walked. Then there had been the deep fog and the wet sand (her high heels are incredibly unsuited to the terrain) and the forest and strange footsteps beside her.

For the first time since the fox appeared in her dreams, fear starts to creep in, and Rebecca clutches her coat tighter around herself.]


Hello? Is anyone there?

[girl help.]

🍵 boat bonanza

[None of this day has gotten any more normal, but Rebecca isn't as scared anymore now that she's found other people, and she's approaching the point of just... going with it, since there's little else to do. Having a little breakdown about it won't help anyone, least of all her.

That said, as soon as she steps onto a boat with something resembling a bar, she makes a very quick beeline to the apparent fish-shaped spirit behind the bar.]


Please tell me you serve alcohol.

[Something immediately occurs to her and she pats at her pockets, realizing she does not have a wallet.

Which might not have helped anyway, since this probably isn't London.

She turns to the closest person.]


Terribly sorry, do you happen to know what currency they use here?

🍵 wildcard

[[other options on the boats or the beach!! idk i'm new here but hit me up if you have ideas]]
believeinbelieve: (302)

what's a gal like you doin in a place like this 😏

[personal profile] believeinbelieve 2023-08-18 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
[The person she turns to, as luck or fate or sheer coincidence, who can say? – would have it, turns out to be none other than Coach Ted Lasso himself. In the flesh. In a Hawaiian shirt. In-ebriated, but only slightly.

He answers without thinking, without realizing.]


Spoons.

[Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Ted, who looks perfectly like himself, can almost feel the color in his eyes shift when reality hits; they drain from their usual brown to a pale, borderline otherworldly gray-blue.]


Rebecca?
bosscuits: (four)

being gay. doing crime

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-18 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
[The thing is: she really wasn't expecting to find Ted Lasso of all fucking people, so there's a double take involved, but the mustache really couldn't belong to anyone else.]

Ted! Jesus Christ!

[Fortunately for Ted, she misses the color shift of his eyes, because she's too busy throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

None of this makes sense, it's all very overwhelming, but Ted is always a comforting presence these days, and she's not letting him go for at least thirty seconds.]
believeinbelieve: (220)

wink wonk~

[personal profile] believeinbelieve 2023-08-18 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
[It's a good thing for everybody that Ted's not holding a drink, because it'd be on the floor by now. He makes a quiet, startled sound as Rebecca wraps her arms around him, but it only takes a split second before he's doing the same.

They've hugged before. They've even shared a similar hug before, with Ted being caught off-guard by Rebecca being so openly emotional, but something about this is different; something about the way Ted hugs her back and squeezes and doesn't let go feels a little... desperate.]


Please tell me you're real.

[Thirteen wouldn't be that cruel, would she?]
bosscuits: (three)

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-18 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
[They've hugged before, enough times that Rebecca immediately knows something is off, and without thought her hand lifts to the back of Ted's head for a gentle hold. Both a general reassurance, and a reassurance that he's welcome in this hug for as long as he needs.

Even if she kind of feels a bit like shaking him. She's rapidly approaching something akin to hysteria and needs to get a reign on it.]


Of course I'm real, you ridiculous man.

[(affectionate)]

Are you real?

[Since apparently that's something that needs confirming.]
believeinbelieve: (111)

[personal profile] believeinbelieve 2023-08-18 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh. That's nice.

Ted would like to stay like this for a very long time, actually, but he pulls back – only slightly, only enough to look at her without going cross-eyed – after a moment.]


Y'know, sometimes I wonder.

[Often, actually, but it feels a little late in the game for that flavor of existential crisis.]
bosscuits: (eight)

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-18 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
[A little disappointing, but maybe reassuring if it means that Ted is feeling alright.

That notion is immediately rejected when Ted speaks, and Rebecca frowns at him.]


What a — [wait] Ted, what's wrong with your eyes?

[ARE YOU HAUNTED? ARE YOU FUCKING POSSESSED?]
believeinbelieve: (061)

[personal profile] believeinbelieve 2023-08-18 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[HE USED TO BE YOUR FOOTBALL COACH!!!]

Oh, uh – they just, uh, do this now. It's a thing. Makes me feel like a human mood ring, but...

[He blinks, brow furrowing.]

They're blue, aren't they?
bosscuits: (fifteen)

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-18 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rebecca takes a gentle hold of Ted's chin so she can inspect his eyes, turning his head slightly with zero respect for personal boundaries because manhandling Ted is just like, a hobby.]

They are. Are you telling me that your eyes change color depending on your mood?

[What the fuck is up with that?

She does let him go, though, or at least lets go of his face so she can take his hands instead (if he'll allow it). She's not quite ready to lose contact.]
ployboy: theflyingwonder.tumblr (Kaleidoscopes)

Tim Drake • DC comics • legend

[personal profile] ployboy 2023-08-18 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
i. Will or the Wisp cw injury, mind altering substances, more tba

[Tim still isn't convinced White Ghost didn't mix something interesting into his tea. Trudging through a forest floor, leaves underfoot both crunchy and wet, he thinks that shoes would be welcome. But what's one simple discomfort in the face of brash promises? The boy stumbles here and there-- the injuries make that inevitable but they're all expertly packed and bandaged under fresh and fine clothes made for Iraq's nighttime heat.

Caution is for people who have something to lose.

Tim is steady, all things considered. The shadows and lights talk to him and he's in the fog unable to see far ahead. Every now and then, unassuming sparrow wings will give a heavy and agitated flap when they appear at his back, as (non)permanent as the conviction that he's doing the right thing--

but it's not about doing the right thing, it's about getting what he needs. Favors. Bodies.

Strength.]


ii. Fetchquest

"I don't know how to..."

Well, okay then. Tim is left to tend to the candy shack, his one attempt at a protest falling on deaf ears. Tim doesn't even know if Starfish have ears.

He just knows that his hair is still damp and the rest of him is still salty (heh) from an impromptu dip in the ocean. (Very uncalled for, very ill advised to the other unfortunate souls with gaping wounds- no? Just him? Well. Okay then.) He looks like a sorry, soggy little cat.

But there's a single leather piece for sale his eyes still wander to, shifting to a brighter blue than his stormy normal.

And so... he has to try. Tim can be found tidying up the stall, organizing and rearranging taffy and lollipops and other sweets. He shifts cutesy, chalky signs that announce the prices. He just... is maybe shy about shouting out the specials, or reluctant to bring attention to himself. Which is contradictory to the whole... tend the candy shack thing. Have pity on him.

[wildcard; fish him out of the water, follow him onto the boat show! hit me if you want anything in particular on plurk [profile] fourboars. Tim himself comes from his BruceQuest soooo, r.i.p.]
ruevealing: (thought i was good for nothin')

i. will or the wisp

[personal profile] ruevealing 2023-08-18 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[There is no explaining why Rue felt the pull that they did to step into the dense fog, but without a moment's hesitation, they allow themself to be fully engulfed in the thick, odorless haze, because they know without a shadow of a doubt that someone familiar is so very nearby.

It begins in pin-pricks of light piercing through the wall of fog, tiny rays that struggle to light the way as the darkness overtakes them. But then it is like a burst of starlight through the gloom, bright enough to dissipate the fogginess of the path directly in front of them, a shape so wildly inhuman moving closer to the boy.]
ployboy: <user name=nebulosities> (And hover over greater things)

[personal profile] ployboy 2023-08-18 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[He thinks he's getting closer. Closer to the pot of gold, to the con, to the promise of a peaceful rest because all is right in the world again. Or maybe Tim believes this is it, for real this time: maybe he died. Maybe that's what the dream of the Fox was all about, maybe even the doctors of the Demon's Head couldn't patch him up together all the way.

He hopes Tam's okay.

And with a final burst of damned energy that Tim didn't know he had, he chases after the retreating darkness.

And if that's not a screwed up metaphor for what his life's become, he'll eat his shorts.

It's too bright, and there is no fog, and Tim thinks he hears... waves. He's not very intimidating as he stands his ground against the creature coming from the shore but the resolve in his every fiber of being makes up for it.]
What do you want?

[--isn't this the thing he'd been following all along, the one he's going to bargain with or beg to?] What are you going to show me? Who are you?
forceflows: (pic#16615123)

[personal profile] forceflows 2023-08-18 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"You would? I'd... I'd like that I think! Don't tell anyone but I used to eavesdrop on General Utrila when she was giving lessons. I couldn't um, you know, ask many questions though," he looks vaguely embarrassed. He thinks he was lucky enough to be in a position to listen in simply because Padawan Omani did frequently request him as a personal guard. And he was pretty sure she'd sometimes ask questions she already knew the answer to simply for his benefit.

"But the swamp first! It's weird here isn't it?" he gestures to the footprints that have shifted again since they'd been talking, "I was looking around before you came up behind me and used the, you know."

The Commander Voice.

His heart had nearly exploded. But everything's good now!
ruevealing: (always living in the future)

[personal profile] ruevealing 2023-08-18 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rue hears Tim before they see him.

It is like being splashed with cold water, the way their stomach drops out from under them, smacked in the face with a startling realization they were hardly expecting. But the starlight radiating so peacefully from their own body lights the familiar face of a scruffy, messy-haired teenage boy and it feels like something right finally slots perfectly into place again.

Tim.

It doesn't matter that the boy is trying to scramble back into the darkness, Rue closes more of the distance between them, their heart-shaped face a mix of relief and joy at the very sight of him.]


Tim. It's me, it's Rue. I - Oh, I did not mean to startle you, little one. I did not even know it was you until just now. It has been so long, I can scarcely believe it...
ruevealing: (i'm down to earth  ♪)

boat bonanza

[personal profile] ruevealing 2023-08-18 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[My apologies that the nearest person is actually a seven-foot tall owlbear, but hey, it's kind of a good primer on what to expect from this place.]

It's no trouble at all. [Even without lips to emote with, it is clear from the warmth of their eyes that they are smiling kindly at the woman.]

The currency used here is called Lore, though it is collected via spoon which appear after interactions with others. It's most odd, isn't it? I admit, I am still adjusting to the very idea of such a currency myself.

[there is just no making that sound more normal.]
ployboy: <user name=eyecons> (I don't recognize)

[personal profile] ployboy 2023-08-18 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[The creature doesn't retreat. It's not one with the dark nothingness of the fog.

It's another dead end.

The hollow relief of his eyes adjusting to light again is tainted by the cloudy gray of them; he's entirely unaware of the fucking mood ring his eyes are now. They're trained on the creature not out of suspicion, but something more like spite.

Nothing. He gets nothing out of following the Fox or the Fog, then. The ugly frustration is directed inward. It just happens to be directed outward, too.]


What do you want from me? And how do you know me?

[Because, irritating as this detour has been, maybe if he strikes a deal--

but god, there's the sick fluttering of his stomach at the idea of being without the privacy of being unknown. Stripped from him again, huh. Figures.]
Edited (A Letter lol) 2023-08-18 23:53 (UTC)
bosscuits: (seven)

🤩🤩🤩

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-19 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[It's for the best, really, that Rebecca has already seen an octopus playing the drums and a starfish waiter; she'd mistaken Rue for another spirit, but realizes once they speak that they're far more solid.

That's — fine, though. She's being cool, calm, and collected and can talk to a very large owl... person. She looks a little awestruck, but is doing her best not to openly stare.]


Oh, yes, the spoon!

[Rebecca pats herself down a second time, this time finding the delicately carved spoon in the breast pocket of her coat.

She's so proud of herself for remembering, even if this is all strange nonsense.]


It is very odd. A bit like they've managed to turn social media into currency. The more popular you are, the more money you have.

[Babygirl is the giant owl person going to know what social media is? Think these things through.]
ruevealing: (cause i'm my own biggest fan)

[personal profile] ruevealing 2023-08-19 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
[It would be completely indecorous to speak of the true depth of what Rue feels when the woman does not so much as flinch at the sight of their appearance. It is such a freeing feeling, more than Rue has ever felt before, for a human to see them and simply accept them as they are without fear, without Rue having to justify their right to simply exist in the same space.

So gently awestruck or not - which, let us be real, is attention Rue will happily take over any other - just within these few seconds, Rebecca has deeply endeared herself to the owlbear.]


Social media is like, ah, let me see - Tweeter, yes?

[Look, Rue barely had a handle on Netflix during their last off-world stay. There was just no teaching them the mastery of TikTok or Instagram, no matter what their more modern friends tried to get them into. Rue is enough of a boomer to need someone young to download all of their apps and log in for them please.]

Truth be told, I had not even thought of it that way. I suppose those who are not very gregarious would have more of a struggle to acquire currency. That does not seem very equitable, now does it?
ruevealing: (i am gentle  ♪)

[personal profile] ruevealing 2023-08-19 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Just as quickly as the relief lit up in Rue's face, something uncertain wrinkles at their brow.

No, this isn't right. There is no matching relief on the boy's face, no matching recognition in his expression, nothing but fear and frustration and something even wilder that Rue can't even begin to put a talon to. Here they are, a once feral animal caught from the woods, and even they are taken back by how wild this boy looks.

It looks as if he has been fighting his entire life. And it's true that there was so much of Tim's past that Rue never knew about back in Gloucester, but just how deep did it truly go?

Immediately at the frustration in his voice, the accusation that gets sucked up by the fog surrounding them, Rue retreats, stepping back some paces, giving the teen space. They will not crowd him and risk hurting him, not when he is like this.]


I - [And their throat tightens, the right words suddenly so far beyond their reach.] I do not want anything from you. I only - Tim, do you not know me? It's Rue. We - we met nearly a year ago. For a brief time, we lived together. Do you - [Rue has already met familiar faces in this world who do not remember them or their time at ADI. Is Tim another one of those? A different Tim entirely?]

Do you truly not remember me?
dreamsofwings: (13)

a magical day, blanket tw for talk of genocide/murder/violence/kidnapping/death

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-08-19 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Unlike the first time Eren stood on the beach, this one feels…different. Is this what peace feels like? He's not sure. He's so bad at peace.

But this place feels reassuring, not threatening, not a cage, not the start of a war. He doesn't have the words for what "magic" feels like, though obviously he's been surrounded by it for the past year. He can use the power he gained here sometimes, which is magic, but he's not ever going to be some magician.

Like Bertolt — and like the past, always there in Eren's mind anyway — he stands in the water with his pants rolled up. Alone, he doesn't care too much about the issue of where/when he is. Those other lifetimes he lived, one of them out there on the ocean, work their way into his stream of memory nonsense.

He has such a tenuous grasp on what is real and true after the thing with the black hole, the converging of all the lives he could have had, lives where he is not a monster or a genocidal murderer, lives where there are no titans and no war (or no war he has to be part of). Maybe it would have been better to give in to that idea that nothing matters.

But in the end he couldn't accept that. Everything matters to him just as it always has. Everything matters too damn much.

He's a little way down the beach but not too far, loose hair blowing in the faint magical breeze. He hears Bertolt's words even if he's not meant to, and he's sure his heart stops.

Suddenly Bertolt specifically featuring in those other timelines makes sense. How had he missed it? How had he not realised?

First Annie, who wants to kill him. Now Bertolt, who…probably wants to kill him too.

He can feel his fist clench, nails dug into his palm as a defensive measure, as he turns towards a boy he hasn't actually seen in almost five years.

"Didn't go how you planned, huh?" he asks.
believeinbelieve: (326)

[personal profile] believeinbelieve 2023-08-19 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I — uh, yeah. Pretty much.

[Kinda awkies, innit?

Rebecca can take his hands. She can keep them, too, if she wants. Ted hasn't felt this grounded in... well, months, and if Rebecca watches she'll see his eyes slowly begin to darken — to a deeper blue, to a dark blue, eventually shifting back to his usual, warm brown. It's a physical manifestation of the calming effect she has on him when she tries, and quite frankly, it's a little embarrassing.

Ted studies her face.]


Lordy, you must be so confused.
bosscuits: (seventeen)

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-19 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[She's caught terribly between wanting to use this trick to keep track of Ted's moods and wanting to respect his privacy, but the former wins out for the moment.

With how strange everything is, at least she can get a rough idea of how Ted is feeling.]


I haven't been this confused since I accidentally ate far too many brownies at one of Elton's parties.

[Ted will get it.]
bosscuits: (thirteen)

[personal profile] bosscuits 2023-08-19 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Twitter, yes.

[The gentle correction comes almost automatically; she's so used to needing to correct Ted on all things a) football and b) Britain that she just does it without thinking.

Kind of wild that the giant owl person knows what Twitter is, now that she's taken two seconds to think about it, but what can you do.]


Oh, I immediately thought of several people I know who'd have a terrible time of it. [Roy. It's mostly Roy. There's so much affection in her voice that it's gross.] Not that money-making is ever really equitable. My ex-husband certainly doesn't deserve a penny of his fortune.

[get fucked and die Rupert.]
thiscruel: (babe why you crazy)

[personal profile] thiscruel 2023-08-19 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
For his part, Bertolt has tried not to think too carefully about those other lives he might have lived. It's too painful. Some are painful in and of themselves. (Reiner's thin, pale hand, his once robust body hooked up to hospital wires. Annie's missing poster plastered on walls, the bone-deep knowledge that she was likely lost forever.) Others are painful in their possibilities, peaceful worlds that Bertolt has never truly seen.

It's a confusing mess that Bertolt has deliberately laid aside. He's only human. He has enough sorrow in his heart—enough that he barely avoided the black hole. Besides, Bertolt has only ever sought to ease the weight of his guilt; he has never sought to entirely escape it.

Then Bertolt's words are carried on a magical breeze, catching the attention of someone he didn't notice before. Someone who featured prominently in several of those other lives. Someone who has featured prominently in this life, too.

Bertolt turns his head, green eyes meeting green. Eren looks nothing like Bertolt remembers. The fury-filled fifteen-year-old is gone, replaced by a long-haired young man only a little shorter than Reiner. Someone who, according to Annie, turned his hatred toward a few into hatred for the whole world. Someone who Bertolt remembers from other lives.

(Holding hands beside their bunks. Guiding Eren's mind back to the present. Kissing after a show.)

He blinks, belatedly processing the question. "How you planned"…? Does Eren think Bertolt had a hand in planning things? Maybe. Probably not. Eren likely means it as a plural, just as most of the 104th used to do. But there's no Reiner at Bertolt's side right now; it's just Bertolt and Eren standing in the surf.

(Two Rangers piloting Shingeki through the waves.)

"Not really," he finally replies, soft-spoken as ever. His eyes are watchful, no trace of guilt or conflict on his face. Not right now. "Did yours?"

He means the attack on Liberio. He doesn't specify, though, half-curious to see what Eren will assume.