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TDM 004: WASHED ASHORE
| TDM 004: WASHED ASHORE |
Arrival  This time, you come out of the water. While the Augur reboots, the Nameless Island's own inherent energy draws people in. It's like being suspended between realities and walking through a rift in dimensions. It may make you sick, or that might be the motion of the ocean, lifting you and carrying you to shore. Waterlogged and covered in sand, new arrivals will be greeted by robots who welcome them with towels and bracelet devices. The A5 card is already loaded up. Inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home. I. Feel the friendship!  Recent arrivals and visitors to the beach may notice a sudden influx of hundreds of bright red crustaceans crawling (and coupling) across the sand. It's crab mating season, as it turns out, it's a regular invasion! To keep the beach a pleasant place to gather for the island's inhabitants, the robots are offering credits to especially enterprising crab-catchers. Grab a bucket and get to work! Be sure to watch out for their pinch, mind you. Their little claws are tiny, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. Surprisingly, there is another effect that even the robots don't anticipate: islanders who are pinched by the crabs find themselves feeling instantly buddy-buddy with the next person they spot. Did you just become best friends?! Get pinched one too many times, however, and those feelings may sour into a crabby mood, indeed. If you are feeling particularly vengeful (or just hungry), the little crabs do make for delicious gumbo. Once cooked, they have no side effects whatsoever. II. Phallus Phestival  Although the Augur is offline and supplies are scarce, the robots of Erku are still eager to make their run-down little island a welcoming place for the new arrivals. To that end, they have arranged a three day festival to boost morale and promote the generation of plenty of Eros energy to assist in the restoration of the damaged and decayed parts of the city. The robots claim that this celebration was once a cornerstone of the long-lost civilization of the island. By the dawn of the first day, every island resident will find at their doorstep (or tent flap, mobile suit, etc) the traditional costume of the ancient islanders to wear to the festival. It appears to be... a giant sheet? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the sometimes garish colors and patterns of the fabric, but at least the robots have uploaded instructions on how to wear it to your bracelet device. Attendees will find food (mostly crab-flavored), confections, and household necessities in rather suggestive shapes, as well as goods you might find handy to complete your A5 squares: sex toys, pervertibles, sexy maid outfits, and the like. While islanders are welcome to set up shop on the festival grounds and sell (or charge) whatever they like, all items from the robots are offered up for free to those who wear their traditional island garb! III. Fireside Adventures  Each night of the festival is wrapped up in style with an enormous bonfire on the beach, where drinks, fruity cocktails, and lively music appropriate for dancing is all provided at no cost by the robots. Even if you’re not usually much of a dancer, the longer you stand by the fire and allow it to warm your limbs, the more you feel like moving! Not only that, but everyone is looking quite beautiful by the firelight, are they not? If you’ve grown tired - or if dancing just isn’t your thing - you might prefer to sit back and swap stories on one of the many driftwood log benches the robots have prepared for seating. Or, maybe you’d prefer to rough it for the night in one of the beachside canvas tents. Better claim one quick, though, or be prepared to share… there’s only one sleeping bag! N A V I G A T I O N |
no subject
A team?
[ There's a moody part of him that had been considering never wanting to be a part of a team ever again, not but five minutes before. But post-pinch? This sounds delightful, and he's glad for the opportunity to be around the bucket-toting man. ]
You want to? Yes, okay. Let's do it!
no subject
[Does it not sound like the best idea ever? It does to Constantin, who is this close to listing an assortment of Cool Team Names but decides no, not yet. He'll put a pin in that for later, instead tucking the bucket under one arm and tossing the other one around his new favorite crab hunter's shoulders to steer them back towards the mass of crabs.]
I will hold the nasty things in their bucket prison, and you will... toss them at me, I suppose.
[Which, now that he says it out loud, sounds a lot like he's going to stand there and do nothing, so on second thought--]
Or we can take turns. Set the bucket down and toss crabs around like wild little children.
no subject
Wait, I have an idea!
Here, let me just... [ Ever innovative, Abel drops down and digs a little spot for the bucket to sit in. ] There, now it won't fall over!
no subject
He straightens up and looks at it, hands on his hips. Actually...]
How lucky do you suppose we'd have to be to simply stand by while the crabs crawl this way and fall in to meet their maker? Or in this particular case, their pitiable tin fate.
[Can crabs... climb out of buckets... he has no idea.]
no subject
[ Or the crab could steal the stick straight out of his hand and weaponise itself. So, maybe not his best idea.
Admittedly, Abel isn't entirely sure of what crabs are capable of, having seen very few in his life and interacted with even fewer. It seems plausible, in any case, for them to fight back or crawl out. ]
Hmm. But I think we'll be alright if we're just really careful in picking them up.
no subject
Okay! He claps his hands together and turns to face the crab zone (tm).]
Then I will do my damnedest not to lose any fingers! Should I faint, I trust that my dearest teammate will drag me off the beach.
[It could happen. He takes a step toward a crab... and it immediately scuttles forward to snap at his boot, so the crab catching is going great.]
no subject
[ He's not so sure of how true that is. He's seen people get shot before, and was still able to keep moving, but that was during a battle. A finger gone on an otherwise normal crab-filled day? Who knows what could happen.
Abel has found one to chase, reaching down but flinching back when it turns to defend itself, having already known the pain of being pinched once. It's a shame he hasn't been around long enough to acquire some of his own personal affects — he's got some gloves that would make this so much easier. ]
This is kind of hard...
no subject
[Woe is them, etc. He has since attempted to kick sand at this crab to little effect, so method number two is also going nowhere. He tries again, anyway, this time because crabs suck and he hates them. Take that, shelled menace...]
What do crabs enjoy? [is this a carrot and stick kind of animal--] Other than trying to snap at us— Perhaps one of us should stick a hand in the bucket and wait!
[.............well, actually, would that work....]
no subject
[ Said as one sneaks up behind him for a sneak attack through his pants, somehow reaching up over the boots he believed tall enough to protect himself. ]
I think they only like being jerks! [ He doesn't even eat meat, but Abel feels no shame in ushering the mean one that got him over in the direction of the bucket, nudging at it with his shoes until it moves closer to the bucket as Constantin considers the option of turning himself to bait. ] Don't put your hand in there, the ones inside will go for you then.
no subject
[That side of the bucket is clearly the unsafe side, unlike over here, where Constantin has been kicking sand around. There's no logic in it at all but he still gestures for Abel to come over to his side where they can glare at this bucket together, as a team.]
Let us think of something more... [he wiggles his fingers, for emphasis,] teamwork-adjacent.
no subject
What do you suggest? I don't... think they're going to be that bothered if we try to double-team one, but it's worth a shot, maybe?
no subject
Fortunately, you may have noticed we two are much larger than crabs. [He leans in closer to best mutter conspiratorially away from these crabs, that most definitely can understand what he's saying.] If we heckle one from two directions at once, it will have no choice but to seek refuge in the bucket itself!
[There's a pause then, in which he really resists saying it and pretends to have, like, one iota of self control, but nope—] I believe the appropriate term is pincer attack.
no subject
Oh no, it is called that.
[ He covers his mouth with both his hands, trying to stifle the giggles that suddenly overcame him, the burst of it a relief as something that hasn't happened in quite some time. After a moment they subside enough for him to speak, moving so his hands are cupped to allow for secretive whispers. ]
Do you want to take the right or left side?
no subject
The left, I think. Let us get into position, and then you can give us a countdown to attack!
[Yes? Yes, that will work, there has never been a pincer plan better than this. He stands up straighter and starts sidling over to the left, you know, casually. No crab will suspect a thing.]
Lovely day we're having, isn't it?
[This ruse is for the crabs..... yeah.]
no subject
It's a little hot, but I think that makes it nice weather for the beach.
[ He's not entirely certain that crabs will care for the ruse, but Abel also has nothing proving they won't, and he'll work with Constantin on that for now. As he speaks, he holds up a hand to count down on his fingers from five, four...
As he makes a fist to signal zero, he lunges forward in an attempt to spook the crab from his direction. ]