TDM 004: WASHED ASHORE

[erkumods]

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

Comments

rune / original

[ceremonious]

I. ARRIVAL

[ He's annoyed.

As if getting the spell wrong hadn't been enough, he's been dropped somewhere far away from his little spot in the countryside where he'd left his supplies and his car. Rune drags himself out of the water with the slightest huff of annoyance, glad that he's still – at the very least – dressed in one of his robes and not completely naked. (Not that he would have cared, but certain places frowned on nudity.) The only thing that actually catches him unaware are the robots and... he glances down at his wrist, frowning as he turns it over. The chaos that ensues is enough to really annoy him, little explanation given as to what he's doing there and why. That's the part that bothers him the most, not knowing, and Rune leaves the sand in an attempt to find someone else to talk to.

It's not difficult to find someone—or the crabs either.

At first, he simply tries kicking them out of the way, but since he's barefoot, it's not a successful endeavor. So, he moves around them to reach the first person he sees. Regardless of who they are, his damp hair and sour disposition aren't exactly welcoming or friendly. ]

What's going on? [ As if his current "victim" would even know what he means by that. ]

III. FIRESIDE

[ There's still something about all of this that unsettles him.

He's moved away from the larger bonfire, wanting to avoid most of the people drunk on their own stupidity, and when he's in an open enough space, Rune casts a spell. It's for fire, naturally, but the color of it is a soft blue, meant to warm and soothe. Then, he gets to work carving out a circle in the sand with a stick just a few feet from where the fire burns on nothing but air. Usually, he doesn't need a physical representation, and yet, he finds the act surprisingly calming, a reminder of his days as a child when he was first learning how to use magic. It's easy to get lost in the rhythm of it, only making the circle large enough for a few people if anyone wanders close enough to look at what he's doing.

Then, without a word, without casting, Rune simply sits in the center of it with his legs crossed and looks out at the ocean.

Any interruption is met with a soft silence at first, distracted by his own thoughts and how much he misses home. Not for the sake of home, necessarily, but because of certain people there. A certain person. His fingers flex, and the movement off to the side catches his attention, turning his head to look at whoever might be standing there. ]

Do you need something? [ The question isn't bitter, just tired. ]

WILDCARD.

[ open to just about any other prompt but mostly testing the waters. m/m or m/f, though good luck with any of that without some "help". if you want to discuss something, feel free to pm me and i can write a starter! will also match style! ]

Arrival

[vicissitudinal]

[Please stop scaring away the crabs he's catching, it does make it take longer for him to fill the bucket and Exxis is trying to catch as many crabs as possible. Still, he'll trying to be polite.]

Currently, the beach is over run with crabs and they are paying us for catching them. Generally, you've been kidnapped to an alternate dimension.

[ceremonious]

[ As polite as he might be, Rune isn't in the mood to deal with this. None of what he's saying makes sense, and it's starting to wear on him worse than the fact his clothes are beginning to dry and feel very uncomfortable with the salt from the water. ]

Why? That really answers nothing. [ Does this person even know who kidnapped them? ]

[vicissitudinal]

[Exxis' eyes widen at that.]

Oh, apologies. I've often been told I explain too much. If you would rather a more thorough explanation...

[He holds his bucket into the air to show the crabs he'd collected so far.]

It's mating season for the crabs and there are so many that the robots are paying us to collect them. Money is sparse here so I do take advantage of those chances when possible.

As for the robots themselves, they are part of a system run by an artificial intelligence called the Augur which brought us here from our own worlds, wherever they may be, to this one. Its intent is to coerce us into performing sexual acts. When sexual acts are performed, energy is consolidated and collected by the Augur from the world around us and can harness it as energy to rebuild this world, from what I have come to understand.

The Augur is currently offline, but the robots are continuing their work while it is repaired.

[ceremonious]

[ It all sounds like a lot of nonsense, and frankly, he doesn't care about the crabs. In fact, he kicks another one out from under his feet and frowns down at the sand before regarding the other in front of him. It's like he's really seeing him for the first time, but he has little interest in what might have seemed interesting. Maybe that will change later. Yet, for now, he's only concerned with so many things, and that doesn't even register to him. ]

I'm familiar with something similar. [ More in terms of sex rituals, but he doesn't employ that all the time. ] But I'd rather decide what to use it for and not have this Augur take it from me. Does it control the robots?

[ He's skeptical to the core, but he's willing, at the very least, to listen. ]

[vicissitudinal]

[Oh, well, that does at least make it less confusing to explain then, Exxis hopes.]

The robots follow the Augur's programming for them, I believe. It is enough that they can be self-directed when it is not directly available to them. People are arriving, the robots are still providing them supplies and incentives to encourage sexual activity.

fireside

[demology]

[Ciro has been enjoying the hell out of the fire, and dancing, and drinks. He isn't aware that Rune is there with him somewhere in the crowd until he stops partying long enough to step back and take a breather. He's drunk but not so drunk that he can't feel the pull of very strong magic. They don't seem to be doing anything with it, but Ciro follows all the same.

He finds Rune seated in the middle of a circle, and smiles. Ciro stays just outside the circle but sits down in the sand in front of Rune, smiling at him.]

I told you. I can find you anywhere.

[ceremonious]

[ He doesn't even need to open his eyes to recognize who's in front of him, but the look Rune does give him when he does is one of relief and annoyance and confusion all in one. The circle isn't one that can't be broken because he hasn't cast, so he's immediately on his knees in front of Ciro with his hands on his shoulders. The flicker of the fire casts a warm shadow over that familiar face, and there's something much softer about this moment than he could have ever imagined.

Rune touches his cheek. ]

How long have you been here?

[demology]

Not long. Not even a day.

[Ciro's heart is beating fast from dancing, and there's the slightest bit of sheen to his skin from that as well as the heat from the fire. His arms reach out to pull Rune in, laughing softly because he can feel all the feelings passing though Rune and battling for dominance, but the sense of relief seems to be the strongest one so far. He'd probably have found him sooner if there weren't so many other people with different emotions and variations of magic clouding the usual clarity when they were purely among humans in the tea shop. Still, Rune has a presence that's impossible to ignore, especially for Ciro.

He's not even trying to act like he's sober, either. His face turns to rest against the finger touching his cheek.]

[ceremonious]

[ Perhaps his own inability to focus had caused him to assume Ciro would never be there. Were they so connected that they'd follow one another anywhere? Rune doesn't believe in fate, doesn't accept that some unknown force is guiding his actions, but right now, it's almost impossible to ignore it. And despite the circumstances, Ciro looks beautiful. He always is, and he cups his face a bit more firmly before leaning forward to rest their foreheads together. It's immensely grounding, and he's grateful for it in ways that he could never say aloud. ]

I should have found you sooner. [ As if he would admit that he's been reeling from the circumstances of his arrival there. ] How much have you had to drink?

[ Because, this close, he can practically taste it. ]

[demology]

[Ciro is too tipsy to think about anything but how nice it is to see Rune here at this late night beach party, but he'll be more appreciative of his presence when the event starts to wind down and he needs help not falling over on his way home. Home. Sure, he'll call it that for now.]

You were going to fish me out of the crowd? And away from the bar? That's cruel, even for you.

[He pulls back when Rune asks that, holding his hands up as if his decision to drink wasn't what made him drunk. Somehow it just happened all on its own, and he's entirely uninvolved in who gets assigned the blame.] Maybe you're the drunk one.