ercookies | TDM 004: WASHED ASHORE

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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N A V I G A T I O N

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[Ryuji nods, holding up his wrist to show her. He'd been Suspicious of it at first, but like...it was free, so. It's PROBABLY fine.]

Those guys are about as all over the place as the crabs are. Think they belong to someone?

[ Hell, she's still Suspicious of the bracelet even now, free or not, but everyone she's met seems to have one, and they aren't being harmed.

In response to his question, Ryuji gets a big ol' shrug. ]

I dunno. I haven't heard anything about the natives, if there even are any left. The only people I've seen since I got here are people like us who got pulled in from somewhere else.

I guess there's no chance of this being the Metaverse either. We wouldn't look like this if it was.

[If there's one thing he pays attention to, it's the fact he actually looks cool there.]

Have you seen any of the others?

I thought the same thing. I know palaces can get pretty wild, but the robots and the crabs and the other people... none of them seem like shadows or cognitive beings. We really are just in some weird place.

[ She shakes her head, folding her hands in her lap. ]

Mm, no. You're the only one I've seen so far. I just hope they're safe, wherever they are.

[Which is...honestly even more concerning to him than if it WERE the Metaverse. At least they have powers there, and agency over what to do that they don't in the real world. And without the actual...brain cells of their operation?

He doesn't want to say they're in trouble, BUT...]

If we're okay, then they probably are too.

[...]

Except...maybe Yusuke. But if he's here, we'll find him. Guy like that sticks out like a sore thumb.

[ ... Well, he's... not wrong. Each of them has their own strengths, for sure, but Ren is the leader of their merry band of thieves for a reason.

His comment about Yusuke actually earns a mirthless laugh from her. ]

This place doesn't seem too dangerous, and there's food. He'd probably be all right. Anyway... what are we gonna do now? If it's just the two of us, we should probably stick together, don't you think?

[LOOK, LIKE...no offense to Yusuke, but he's just speaking the truth here. They both know how he is.]

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I was gonna ask you the same thing. They already got you recruited for community service?

[That's said with the toe of his shoe nudging the bucket she was carrying. Ryuji is an innocent crab bystander here, of course he wasn't doing work.]

[ It's true that Yusuke always seems to be staring out into the fourth dimension or something.

She shakes her head and gives him a little nudge. Don't you dare knock over her bucket, Ryuji. ]

It's not community service. They're offering a rewards to people who help out. I've gotta figure out some way of earning my keep without... doing the bracelet stuff.

[ She hopes he understands her meaning without having to elaborate. It's almost too weird to talk about, even with her friends but also especially with Ryuji, somehow? It's embarrassing! ]

[C'mon Ann, you're no fun...what if he wants to see you scramble to collect all the lost crabs?

Okay, no, he isn't that mean.]

Rewards, huh? Shit, if that's the case then maybe I should get in on it too...

[BECAUSE YEAH...Ryuji is in the same boat.

...well. For the most part, if the way he raises his brows and sort of leans in a little is any indication.]

Though, you know...if you ever can't find a way to earn your keep, I wouldn't mind sacrificing myself for the cause...I'd hate to see you go hungry, after all.

[It's hard to tell if he's joking to see how she'll react or if he's actually serious. It could be both.]

[ The reaction is pretty immediate. Ann jumps to her feet, her face flushing bright red all the way to her ears. She can't tell for sure exactly what she's feeling in the sudden rush of emotion his offhanded comment prompts--more than a little indignant, for starters. God, why are you like this, Ryuji? ]

Oh, you'd sacrifice yourself, huh? All for my sake? How noble of you.

[ Like being with her would be so terrible? Like he wouldn't also be getting something out of it? She knows that's not really what he means, but how else is she supposed to take it?

Stooping, she picks up her crab bucket and holds it to her chest. ]

Whatever. I have work to do so I don't inconvenience anyone.

[Why is he indeed...it's like something just compells him to be a moron. He smirks, folding his arms over his knees as he watches her stand, at least at first...

But then he realizes she's actually taking it kindof seriously, what with the second comment. Which...Ryuji shouldn't have expected anything less.]

Hey- you know I'm just kidding. [Does she, Ryuji...] 'Sides, it's different here cause they're like...trying to force us to do shit. That's messed up.

[ She does know he's kidding, really. Maybe that's part of the reason she's as upset as she is. The damn smirk on his face only serves to anger her further, and she kicks a little clump of sand at him. He wouldn't be making light of their situation if he'd been through the things she had ]

I know they're trying to force us, and if you weren't such an idiot, maybe you wouldn't be making jokes about it after everything that happened with Kamoshida!

[ Ann turns on her heel and begins to... not quite stomp off, but she's definitely moving with purpose. Maybe she's overreacting. It's such a sore spot that it's hard for her to judge. Ryuji was one of Kamoshida's victims, too, but he'd been made to suffer in very different ways than Ann had.

She makes her way back to the crabbier stretch of beach, and Ryuji is welcome to follow, but she won't make eye contact with him for a minute. She's obviously struggling to handle this right now. ]

Wh- hey!

[Ryuji pulls back to try to avoid the sand, holding both hands up in a gesture both defensive and like "hey, what the hell", only for his expression to truly drop when Kamoshida is brought up.

He's left at a loss for words, for once, his mouth working but with no sound coming out. He wants to go after her, but...should he? He's never been great at thinking before he does or says anything, so of course he's gone and done it now. He decides to let her make her way a ways from him first before he pushes himself to his feet with a sigh, hanging his head a little as he rubs the back of his neck.

Eventually he'll saunter his way over, at least looking properly cowed this time.]

...hey. I'm sorry, for real. I wasn't thinkin' about all that.

[ Fortunately for Ryuji, Ann doesn't stay mad at him for long. She's still upset, of course, but it's more at their general predicament than at him in particular. She slows down a bit so they can walk together side-by-side. ]

I just... don't want to do this. Why is this happening?

Beats me.

[Karma, maybe? Though, Ryuji's been of the impression they were like...the good guys, here. Sure, they're technically thieves, but they're doing good. Why would the world punish them this way?]

But, then again...I feel like we ask ourselves that every time something big almost blows up in our faces. Maybe this is just another one of those times, yaknow?

I guess so, but... this is really the weirdest thing that's ever happened to us, even with all the Metaverse stuff.

[ Ann sighs as she shuffles along, moving the bucket of crabs to balance it on her hip. After a moment, she looks over at Ryuji, then leans in so her shoulder bumps his briefly. ]

Sorry for blowing up at you. This place just... kind of has me on edge.

[ Not that Ryuji would be particularly interested in hearing about her romantic hopes and dreams, or that she would even feel comfortable discussing that kind of thing with him. The fact that she might have to start thinking so pragmatically about it is kind of depressing to her. ]

Did... did you mean what you said earlier, or were you just messing with me?

[Ah...he's glad that seemed to have smoothed over quickly. He sure is king of putting both feet into his mouth at once.]

Nah, don't worry about it. I had that one coming.

[Play stupid games win stupid prizes, Ryuji!!

He is surprised when she asks that, though. He'd have figured she might have wanted to just drop it and forget he said anything...]

W-well! I mean, like...I know I say stupid shit all the time, but you're still my friend. I wouldn't do anything that would make you uncomfortable or nothin' but...

[He shrugs one shoulder, looking off to the side.]

If you needed me, ever, I'd be there.

I just don't want to fight with you if you're the only friend I have here. We should be looking out for each other, not at each other's throats.

[ Though once she finds the others, all bets are off. Mostly. She has to have someone she can bicker with, right? ]

This isn't normally the kind of thing I would talk about, or even think about, but what if there's really no way around it? What if we end up stuck here?

[Don't worry Ann, if they find the others you guys can go back to your regularly scheduled fighting and Ryuji won't bat an eye.]

I know. I mean, to be honest I've been trying not to think about it too...but it sounds ike it's something we might have to deal with eventually. It'd be real bad not to be ready if that happens.

[ It's so weird to be walking along, actively contemplating Having Sex with Ryuji of all people, but god, this is life now? ]

I have "cuddling" on my card, which isn't too bad, but I think I'd only get rewarded for it one time.

Well hey, that's something ain't it? It's better than nothing, anyway.

[YEAH RYUJI IS LIKE...still wrapping his head around the fact this is happening at all. He's way more used to making stupid passes at Ann only to have his commupance for it immediately. Not.........all of this.

Yet, it's harder to feel good about it- or anything about it- when it's forced. That changes the game considerably.]

So like, do you know if the things on the cards have to match who you're doin' it with to count, or can you just...do it? I can't remember if mine has that or not.

I don’t think they have to match, just... if they do, then both people can get rewarded for it. Which is good, because I wouldn’t even cuddle with someone if I didn’t like them.

[ It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it ain’t nothing, either. Ann trusts Ryuji enough to be at least that vulnerable with him. It’s a stepping stone—something they can both build upon. ]

Anyway, I wouldn’t let you starve or anything if you struck out with everyone you hit on.

[ Here she elbows him playfully. A little dig at his expense feels like fitting payback for his comment earlier. ]

[Even he will admit he does deserve that one. But it won't stop him from hanging his head a little even after he's been elbowed.]

Aw maan...there's no way it'd be that bad, right? It's not like I strike out...all the time.

[No....no, you strike out all the time.]

Oh? Who's the last person you went out with?

[ It's a trick question. She already knows the answer. RIP, Ryuji. ]

[Ryuji doesn't even get fooled into pausing to think, he just frowns.]

Do you have to remind me...

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pussy_whip - 2020-09-24 00:24 (UTC) - Expand

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