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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 |
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The first to move are his eyes, fierce and illuminated by something more than just the fire. Then he turns his head, the muscles of his neck strain the at the sutures of tautness. Once the man comes into sight, Kadaj's lungs pull in a gasp, and the string snaps. He moves fluidly now, drawing loose the string and walks to close in the proximity between himself and— )
Turk...
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He's about to apologize for it when his affiliation is stated. Rude hasn't ever been ashamed of being a Turk, but in that moment Kadaj speaks it like its an illness with no cure that he'll be forced to live with for the end of his days. The sound of it is insulting even if the word itself is accurate. His eyes linger over the stranger again before he speaks, unable to place his face in the dozens of dossiers he's read, and hundreds of profiles of Shinra allies and enemies he's had to memorize over the years.]
Do I know you? [He has to be a soldier with eyes like that. And...the hair seems familiar but Rude is thick, and can't place it although it's only just barely out of reach.]
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You know me.
( It was almost a second thought that the Turk didn't recognize him. However, once he registers the other's dubious state, Kadaj's head cocks. His brows lift with a soft, and amused, parting of his lips. A breath carries out a friendly: ) oh? I suppose you may need reminding. ( Sometimes the most painful of memories are buried deeply. Kadaj, and his brothers, are but memories, after all. )
Reno, Elena, and Tseng, of the Turks.
( He straightens his head. ) Have you forgotten them, as well, Rude?
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I don't believe I do.
[He shakes his head, giving the man another look over to see if it might jog any memories. It doesn't. The scenario just becomes even more unsettling when Kadaj casually brings up the other Turks names. It takes him too long to realize that this interaction was more hostile than friendly, so Rude straightens up a bit, being a bit more cautious.]
I know them. It's you I can't figure out. How do we know each other?
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Rufus Shinra, called to me. ( He explains, though he does so with focused interest in the here and now and not then and there, and what was-- or will be for Rude. The idea of coming from different timelines was not new to Kadaj, though unsettling, it was no more strange than coming to this world. )
He held more than the head of your company - but also mine, and so I came.
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He's upset at himself for not seeing it sooner. Those eyes...they were like his "brother's" and like Sephiroth's. Rude should have known. And if that connection is real, then he must be dangerous. The same was said of Yazoo, but at every step of the way he failed to try to harm Rude, so he's apprehensive about this as well.]
I've said the same thing to Yazoo...but as long as you don't give me a reason to have to fight you, I won't. There's no reason for us to fight here. Nothing to fight over. No timestream, no Shinra, no Jenov-- [Rude stops talking immediately. He's not supposed to say anything about that, is he? Shit. He clenches his jaw shut and looks off to the side.]
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Was it fear that kept the big one's mouth apprehensive? Admiration? What could it be?
In the end, the big Turk is right. It doesn't matter, and there are no reasons to fight. Yet, the need to threaten Kadaj was there. )
Yazoo...
I don't believe..
ever.
Heard you say his name.
Will you say mine?
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Your name?
[The way he speaks gives Rude goosebumps, even when every bit of his skin is covered up from his neck down to his toes. Even his face flushes, but he doesn't think it's from shame or embarrassment. Can someone blush from unease?
This one couldn't have been Loz. His description was very distinct from the other two. In fact they were all different in their own ways when Rufus described them from the future that Rude has yet to live through yet. This one is Kadaj. The leader? Possibly the most dangerous? He's not sure.]
Is this some kind of game? Do you doubt that I know who your are or what you are? [Very bold words for someone who had no idea of any of that just moments ago when Kadaj spoke his name like they'd met.]
Kadaj.
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Kadaj focuses on the big Turk, Rude, as if nothing else was going on around them. The only thing that mattered was who he was paying attention to - and who was paying attention to him. )
You know, then, what my name feels like, on your lips.
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Rude looks down at him, trying not to make direct eye contact but the glow of his irises demand attention, and it becomes difficult to look away.]
I know now.. [There's hair in his face, and Rude wants to brush it away, but he doesn't dare touch Kadaj without permission. He doesn't want to make a habit out of forgetting how dangerous someone or something is because it's wrapped in a pretty exterior.] Do you enjoy hearing your own name?
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Yes.
( He answers with delight twinkling in his eyes between the silver strands caught with the breeze. His attire remains the same as what he wore at the festival. The sheet was a gift, which he assumes is meant to placate his existence here. A shimmering dark blue fabric wraps around Kadaj with intentionally placed folds. The skirt of the toga is see-through, in which the color of his flesh meshes with the blue. )
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He finds himself staring again. This time at his choice in clothing. From a distance the fabric looked opaque and thick, shimmering with light from the fire, but upon closer inspection he sees that there are expanses of skin peeking through. Calves, knees, thighs, and Rude averts his gaze before he can let his mind stray that far. But it's too late for that, isn't it?]
You don't have to live on the beach. There are better places inside the city.
[Rude's eyes stray again, this time he's sure Kadaj can tell exactly what it is he's looking at.]