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

fireside adventure.

[velvetshot]

( Erku has done a great deal to tear down Yazoo's expectations of his existence. Shinra claims to have Mother but he can't feel her, both Sephiroth and Cloud have rejected the call of their cells to his, and Yazoo has formed a strange half-truce with those meddlesome Turks in acknowledgement that he doesn't stand a chance on his own. How many times has he wished for Kadaj's guidance? How many nights has he spent aching for the comfort of those cells that match his own? It can only have been a handful of weeks, but each day spent without his brothers is a day spent without two thirds of himself. He'll never know what it's like to be whole, but with Loz and Kadaj by his side? He could make a good attempt at pretending.

The firelight paints the festival-goers in warm shades of amber, the light flickering as wood snaps and pops and throws out showers of embers into ripples of sand. Yazoo can't pinpoint why, but some part of him is especially drawn to the crowds this evening, as though joining the revelry isn't so much a want but an inevitability of sorts. He glides across the sand, the white of his toga catching the light and glittering where silver embroidery is picked out by the flames, unable to shake the feeling that he's looking for—

This beach belongs to me. )

Brother.

( Kadaj.

He's here. He's finally here, and it settles the unrest in his blood. Yazoo's breath sticks in his throat for a moment as he reaches out to touch his elbow, reeling with relief and hope and something that feels suspiciously like ... shame? He should have looked for him sooner, should have spent more time feeling out Mother's cells for guidance instead of trying to survive on his own, and he sways dizzyingly between relief and wariness of his brother's impressive temper. Will he be displeased with him? Time will tell. )

I waited for you when I arrived here, but ...

( His mouth dips in a rare display of emotion. )

You didn't come.

trigger happy? isn't that just so like you?

[riplica]

( Kadaj had formed certain expectations for what he would find on the beach. Sand, the tide either high or low, depending on his arrival time, a dreary overcast of dark grays and beautiful silver, and finally, isolation. The crabs, this crowd, they were all unacceptable inhibitors of his privacy.

The people gathered here came for one reason or another, but none of it would matter to Kadaj when he wishes to be alone. He can hardly hear himself think, let alone speak. An abundance of stimuli overwhelms him, fuels discomfort, and withers the tolerance that keeps him from lashing out. )

Eh..?

( His breath catches in his throat, a hard knot forms at the center of his shoulder blades, and his eyes sting to a dry breath that warms over his face.

The beach attendants forgotten, save but one. The only one that matters now. Kadaj's body moves for comfort, his mind is blank, and he pulls Yazoo into him. You didn't come. Yazoo's words barely have a breath after them before Kadaj's arms embrace his brother. He's sure of Yazoo's presence, yet the embrace solidifies his brother's existence. It wouldn't be the first time Kadaj's visions have played him for a fool, but he hasn't had any since arriving here. Yazoo's presence is not due to his overzealous mind missing the fragments of his family. )

I am now. ( He promises Yazoo before he releases his arms from around his blood. )