ercookies | TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

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TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

Arrival

This time, you come out of the water, the Nameless Island's own inherent energy drawing people in. It's like being suspended between realities and abruptly pushed from behind through a rift in dimensions. It may make you sick, or that might be the motion of the ocean, lifting you to the surface 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. Feel free to explore the Island, though there isn’t much to see. Most of the buildings are abandoned and in dire need of repair, and beyond the city lingers a thick fog that obscures much of the wilderness from view. Wander too far into this fog, and you will find yourself mysteriously looping back to where you began, your memories of what you were doing and how you got there erased.

With that in mind, it may be wise to stake your claim on a rundown apartment, a tent on the beach, or a bed in the "comfortable" new barracks. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home.

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I. Harvest Hunt

As the daylight grows shorter and the muggy heat of the island’s summer gradually shifts to temperate days and chilly nights, Erku’s accessible wilderness explodes with a colorful collection of tempting fruits, fragrant-smelling herbs, and nuts and seeds plumped and ready for harvest. With warnings to beware of monsters, the robots of Erku encourage Islanders to take advantage of the land’s bounty by distributing basic camping supplies to those who are interested in exploring, hunting, and harvesting. They strongly encourage making the journey with a friend! Any surplus foods that Islanders bring home with them can be exchanged for credits with cafeteria robots! Just be careful out there - some of these fruits have strange effects once consumed.

For extra protection out there in the wilds, the robots have fashioned crowns of flowers or foliage to wear on their adventures. The sweet and herbal smells from the crowns will discourage most Erku-native monsters from approaching, they assure - this is ancient knowledge from the planet’s long-gone civilization, so it can’t be wrong!

What the robots don’t know is that the crowns have a deeper, more ritualistic purpose: after a few hours, the scent of flowers or herbs begins to awaken primal instincts within the wearer. Those who are wearing the foliage crowns feel overwhelmed by an urge to hunt, while those who wear the flower crowns delight in every opportunity to tease, outrun, and outwit the hunters. What happens when the chase ends? Well, that depends on the personalities and the chemistry between the hunters and their prey.

While the robots are very insistent on placing crowns atop the heads of any Islander they see, they aren’t stuck on in any way and they are easy to remove, which can prevent or break the hunting trance.

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II. seeds and sap

Of particularly high credit value, the robots explain, is an elusive flower known as the skull sunflower. It appears exactly as one might imagine: at the center of an otherwise innocuous, towering sunflower is the gruesome visage of an open-mouthed skull. Don’t worry, the flowers are harmless! Even if it’s strange how the empty-socketed eyes seem to follow your every move. And why is it that the teeth - which, on closer inspection, are actually the seeds of the flower - only seem to chatter when your back is turned?

Any Islander who can withstand their heebie-jeebies long enough to collect the petals and seeds from the flowers will fetch a handsome reward in credits upon exchange with the robots. Beware the sticky, blood-red sap that seeps from the eyes of each skull, however. Those who absorb too much through their skin will begin to hallucinate, visions of frightening or emotional events from their past dancing in the shadows. One might even mistakenly imagine that another Islander is someone they recognize from their past, someone who meant something to them - no matter whether that person is alive or dead in the present.

The hallucinogenic effects of the sap can last for hours, or they can be shortened by a dip in the public baths.

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III. Tarot

Night comes, and in the darkness, a robot sets up a table by the beach. A solitary candle sits in the center, illuminating a deck of cards. F̶i̴n̵d̸ ̸y̶o̸u̸r̵ ̵f̵o̸r̷t̵u̶n̶e̷?̴

The robot reveals tarot cards and will do a variety of spreads to tell your fortune. Each fortune can be distilled into one central theme, which characters will find pervades their life for the next 24 hours. There is magic afoot: it can be sensed, and perhaps even dispelled, if luck is on your side.

Though most robots on the island show a capacity for greater-than-average artificial intelligence, this pseudo-psychic 'bot -- M.S. Cl30 -- is less advanced. It only has six interpretations prepared:

Always watch your back. - Characters will be compelled to walk, or even speak, backwards for the duration of the day. Those who mishear it as "wash your back" may spend longer in the shower than usual.
Fake it til you make it. - Characters will feel compelled to act performatively. They will more readily fall into acts for serious or flirtatious roleplay, or try on costumes that reflect a particular persona they're interested in exploring. Faked orgasms will seem quite realistic.
You will receive an affectionate letter from a friend. - Just as it is said, someone will be compelled to engage in correspondence - and whether it turns dirty or not, well, that's up to you! Characters may also quite literally receive an article of clothing with a red letter sewn on the top. What could it stand for?
Hold on tight. - Characters who are given this life advice will start to feel rather clingy. They'll attach themselves to someone's side and refuse to leave, or they may find a "security blanket" item and won't let it go.
You are a generous, giving person. - Characters will feel compelled to do something kind for someone else. Maybe they'll invite someone to the movies, come over and cook, or do that thing their partner is always asking for.
Don't think. Feel. - Even if they weren't before, characters temporarily experience impulsive and hot-headed urges. They will also become very tactile.

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N A V I G A T I O N

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Once before? [ Like just the once!?!? This isn't helping!!

Finn bends away from the tree and knife as much he can. It's not as much as he'd like. ]

It's just kinda cold, that's all. [ Mostly. ] I'm a little more concerned with this right now.

I will admit, the circumstances are familiar to what I have both studied and witnessed in different cultures across my galaxy. This does not, however, make the situation any easier or less specifically unique.

[ Or any less complicated, for that matter. It's a shame that he's so lacking in information that he can't offer up at least some words of comfort. ]

My own people also once struggled with similar conflict of punishing descendants for the crimes of their ancestors.

[ He makes to glance over at this other person, but the vision of his mother is even harder to see than her voice is difficult to hear. It seems easier to ground himself in reality when he doesn't look. ]

My name is Spock, Commander Spock of the Starfleet's USS Enterprise where I perform my duties as First Officer and Chief Science Officer. Hence why my negligence has little excuse.

[ Not going to make that same mistake again. ]

And you are?

[ That little hitching please is— not unappealing. He tries to dismiss that thought; the man is drugged. Only one of them needs to get something from this. ]

You can take care of the issue yourself. I will stay, and... ease things along.

[ He will stay and watch the man come undone. If he enjoys it, he will staunchly pretend not to, for the dignity of all involved.

Is some contact required? Quite possibly. He will see what little they can get away with. Ozpin steps forward, and reaches out to take the man gently by the arm. He recalls how desperate Summer had been that he maintain some degree of touch. ]

Perhaps best if you come away from that plant. To be safe.

[ Ozpin's makeshift home is a bit of a walk, and he's not sure the man will tolerate it well in this state. They can make do with the tight grove of trees he's emerged from. It may be the best privacy they can find out here, and he will guide Jon there, if the man lets him. ]

[ Spock wouldn't be surprised about Jim "acclimating" a little faster, though Jim may end up a little surprised by Spock's methods. At least, once he gets comfortable around here and meets a few people. ]

Indeed. This will certainly be... memorable.

Have you secured shelter yet?

[ The tent itself is a modest affair, selected from the temporary lodgings among the beach "properties" and made into a practical little locale. Vaati has straightened the bulk of its material out, attended to any frayed ends, pinned the corners down properly and layered some brush over the edges to keep the heat in and generally made it into something that could be lived in for longer than a few days. It might not be plush, or have a Real Bed, but it's livable. It suits him, with his rough edges and sharp eyes.

Claude's not wrong in his assessment of Vaati's scrutiny. Like a coiled serpent, he seems to hover on the edge of striking or slinking away. ]

I assume you don't spend much time in the wilderness, by that response.

[ Don't insult his campsite, wow!!

It's with great and painful reluctance that he releases his hold on Claude's waist, hand sliding from his body so that he can lean into his tent and withdraw the beautiful, unstrung bow he's managed to squirrel away with him. It flexes with grace when he bends it down, single-handedly, to fit its string into place and springs back into proper form once he's done. It's an awfully fey thing with well-crafted curves and sharp points, ill-suited in appearance for a man like him. He offers it to Claude all the same. ]

Well? Show me how you wield my tools, archer. I'll have your opinion on it after you have your fun.

[Being touched at all seals his fate. There is no backing out of this, no escape, and no relief without the man who is now guiding him away from the darts and toward a copse of trees. It takes every shred of control he has left not to just lean into the man who is... almost a foot taller than him, he realizes.

Any thought of how badly this could go is forgotten. Jon doesn't care. He can't focus beyond the warmth of the hand on his arm and the promise of relief that keeps him moving. Heat burns in his face; he's dizzy with it.

Later, he will be grateful for the relative privacy of the grove.

Unthinking, he leans close and nuzzles against the other man's shoulder. It wouldn't be to difficult to push him down, would it? Jon's pulse is pounding through him and he bites back a quiet, miserable sound.]

[ As a man who easily hits 6'6" and favors a dark suit in all situations, Oz is aware of his tendency to loom. His new companion tucks himself neatly against Oz's shoulder, nuzzling up close, and the raw vulnerability of it kicks him low in the chest. There is an undeniable thrill in this, cruel as it would be to take advantage. He does not know the man's name, but the power he has over him is clear.

There is a certain satisfaction in letting the world narrow this way: thinking on nothing more complex than this one moment, this one task, the control entrusted to him. The forest smells rich and green, and Jon is warm and slight against him, all narrow shoulders and skinny arms. Oz steers them into the grove and up against a forked pair of trees, the bark forming a narrow wall of wood at their side. Even as he draws away to put a shred more distance between them, his touch lingers on the man's arm.

At least he's better-behaved than Summer had been. Ozpin hadn't much appreciated being tackled. ]

Good. [ His voice has gone low and warm and steady, soothing. ] How are you feeling?

[ He knows the sort of answer he will get. But he needs to hear him say it. ]

Edited 2020-09-30 20:57 (UTC)

[If it came down to it, would one Annie length be enough? But the mention of that one word 'titans' that made Mikasa sigh, the tension seeping out as her shoulders slumped into the water. This relaxing bath was still far from being relaxing.

Even if the word she was taking as proof shouldn't have calmed her down.]

Screwed up..? [It's quiet. A mumble as she thinks back to what the metal people had said...The card she'd been given and not wanted to think too hard about. She still didn't want to think to hard on it.] I see. There was no one else on the beach when I was there.

[Would it be reassuring to know she only had the clothes...in the locker area, they weren't currently on her back. But the point was, she had nothing.] I take it you were collecting seeds for money too?

[ He will take a flirty Klaus over one having a breakdown any time. Flirty, Peter can do, can deal with. He doesn't want to lead on Klaus too much, however, it wouldn't be fair for the guy. He's just trying to help, the man is in no state of mind to make informed decisions and Peter isn't that kind of a bastard. Klaus is also very close now and caressing his lip, prompting Peter to let out a small, soft laugh. ]

You'd be surprised how many people wouldn't like that. But... [ Peter wraps an arm around his waist to steady him, then places the Zune in one of Klaus's pockets. That way he can keep listening to the music as they walk. ] ...now come on, pretty eyes, time to get you wet. Oh that sounded better in my head...

[ So bold, Klaus. That gets a louder laugh out of Peter. ]

Promises, promises. [ He doesn't walk too fast, keeping an eye on Klaus to catch him if he falls. He's not all sure that walking is among the brunette's actual capacities ].

Wow. Cool. [ Yes he's that nerd. ] Does that mean you can take me for a spin, sometime? Oh, can I pilot it too? That'd be so much fun.

[ God, he misses flying. Not a big starship, just piloting something a little smaller, like a shuttle or something of the kind. If Peter can do barrel-rolls with her, he can only imagine she's on a smaller scale than the Enterprise. Which, at the moment, is pretty perfect.

He practically leaps at the offer, moving closer to Peter. ]

We can go now?

[ Like???? YES??? ]

[ He didn't think he would be too surprised. As with everything, he expected Spock to be practical and direct about it all. A more pragmatic approach, lacking the embarrassment one might expect from most everyone else.

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised at all if he just happened to see Spock on the network looking for partners to fill out his squares with. ]

I have, yes. One of the apartments in the residential building. It's a little rundown but I'll make it work. Besides, I can fix it up with time. [ And lots of banging. ] You should move there, too. I mean, not my flat, but one near mine.

[ For both practical and emotional reasons, he'd rather have Spock nearby. ]

[ Jim figures that any mind link is safest when all parties involved are in a good mental place; it goes both ways, really. In a way, he's sure that's the reason why his mindmeld with Ambassador Spock was as rough and chaotic as it was, with the Vulcan's emotions all over the place. Inevitable for that kind of thing to bleed over.

So no, he's not planning on encouraging this when either (or both) of them might be emotionally compromised. Debilitated. But otherwise, he sees no harm in trying again sometime. ]

What are you thanking me for?

[ It's not like he was doing Finn a favor; he enjoyed that too. With a smile, he leans in to kiss Finn near the corner of his lips, curling up closer to him. ]

Should we lie down? See if we can get some sleep?

I know the basics.

[Rufus manages to cut some of the bark but it's slow going. Evan's knife isn't exactly the most practical for this purpose and he wrinkles his nose at the amount of sap getting on it.]

Now that I have you half-naked I suppose I should introduce myself.

[He glances up at Finn with a smirk before looking back at his work.]

I'm Rufus and despite the situation, it's a pleasure to meet you. Now, see if you can move your arm away.

[ It's hard to say why he's thanking him because there are so many reasons. For being there, for being him, for still accepting Finn, for enjoying his company, for trusting him, etc etc.

But he doesn't answer the question. Finn just smiles when he's kissed and pulls them down until they're flat on the mattress and he can hold him properly. ]

That sounds like a good idea. First night's sleep in a place like this is usually hard but... I think it'll be all right this time.

[ He punctuates that with a kiss to his forehead. ]

[ It would be a lie to say that Peter isn't pleased by Jim's reaction. Finding people who love flying and space as much as he does and that doesn't consider him a weirdo for it doesn't happen as often as one might think. It brightens his mood instantly, not like he isn't already happy to see Jim. ]

The cockpit has multiple seats and it's designed in a way that changing who is in charge of piloting it's a matter of pulling the right lever. A safety measure in case one of the pilots is incapacitated. I can teach you how to fly her with no problem and take over if something goes wrong. But don't scratch my baby, I just got her back. She was destroyed twice already.

[ Peter stops and looks thoughtful for a second too long. He's already decided that yes, they're going to the Milano, but seeing Jim so impatient is a lot of fun. He gives the man a smile that barely contains the mischief behind it. ]

Dunno...maybe I need some convincing.

In more ways than just one, I hope.

_{[ Peter, you have to be careful with what you say around this guy. The sad part is he would probably say it to Peter even if he wasn't thinking he was his deceased lover, but with that confusion, it just makes it even worse.

Klaus trails alongside Peter and allows his waist to be held, sliding his own arm around Peter as he listens to the music, his expression seeming calm and almost daydreamy at this rate. As they walk, he speaks softly: ]}

Even now, you're taking so good care of me, Dave. I..

_{[ He knows in the back of his mind this may not be who he wants it to be, but he doesn't want to say something strange or offensive. Klaus says something that insinuates he might be clued in on what this mirage is and isn't. ]}

I don't want you to leave me again, but I understand you might.. just stay with me as long as you can.
I missed you so much.

[ He does go down onto her knee, which means this time the grind is against that as he rolls his hips. He gives a nip of his own, this one to her earlobe. ]

Not into it enough yet?

[ He tries to hold her chin and redirect her back into a kiss for a moment. ]

This wasn't exciting enough for you? We can fight some more first if that's what gets you going.

The day is long, we will see. If I tell you now what we will be up to, that will ruin the surprise.

[ Peter is worried about saying the wrong thing and triggers some bad memory by accident again so he can only be vague in his replies. So far so good, Klaus looks less stressed even if there's still an aura of sadness clinging to him, one that Peter can relate all too well. Dave, uh? At least now he got the name clearly. ]

Trust me when I tell you that leaving is the last thing I would want to do.

[ The emotion in his voice is genuine. Peter too has lost someone very close to his heart recently and he is in no way over it. He's still processing the loss of Gamora and what happened with Thanos so he's probably not the most suited to try and cheer up someone who's also missing their better half. The bathhouse is visible in the distance, only a few minutes more and they will get there. Now, how to keep Klaus from spiraling into a traumatic episode again? ]

Why don't you tell me what you liked the most about us being together? Your favorite moments.

[ Jim's even more delighted as Peter explains how his ship works. He knows he'll have no issues learning how to pilot the Milano, as he's always been an excellent pilot. This should be no different, he doesn't think. ]

Not a scratch, you have my word. I'm a great pilot, you can trust me.

[ And he does mean that. He wouldn't be this eager to ask Peter to let him pilot the Milano if he didn't think he could do it.

His eyebrows do go up at Peter's last words, though, lips turning upwards. ]

Oh? And how exactly might I be able to convince you? [ He walks closer to Peter, glancing him up and down. ] Not expecting me to beg, are you?

[ Jim follows Finn's lead and lies down on the mattress. More of a flop, if they're being honest here, and Jim lets out a soft, airy chuckle, even as he scoots closer to Finn.

He nudges the covers up their bodies, tugging them up the rest of the way with his hands, so they'll be tucked in and a little more comfortable. Then he drapes an arm over Finn's waist, nuzzling into the nook of his shoulder with a sigh. ]

Mm, yeah... think I'll sleep just fine, tonight.

[ Which is an odd thing to think, when Jim can hardly remember the last time he's even shared a bed with someone, much less so like this. ]

_{[ Klaus laughs again at that. Peter is doing a magnificent job masquerading as Dave even though he's never met the guy. He settles his head on Peter's shoulder again, any lingering noises of war and death becoming more and more distant as the music plays and Peter's voice hits his ears.

The next question just makes him close his eyes and let out a deep exhale. ]}

All of the moments, really. You give me.. so much more purpose than I ever thought I could ever be to anyone. I can't just pinpoint specific instances, Dave-id. God.

_{[ He dips over so kiss Peter along the slope of his neck. It's brief and chaste. ]}

But.. when we first kissed at the disco.. I think that was a great moment. You felt so warm and kind.. something I never felt from anyone else. And you're just so.. beautiful.

I knew my life would change in that instant, but I was ready for it to change.. so I think that was the best moment. Probably the best moment of my life.

One brow rose at the unusual tone. He'd only spoken to Zechs in person a handful of times, but Heero didn't remember the other pilot's voice being so... velvety.

He was only more puzzled when Zechs suddenly looked stricken.

"Are you okay?"

“No, something is very wrong with me,” Zechs said, frustrated. He rubbed one hand over his face, and then shook his head. “That’s twice now I’ve said something to you, as if I were someone else entirely.”

Heero paused a moment, thoughtful. His memory returned to that first night he and Duo had spent in their apartment, when something strange had overtaken them both. It hadn't been the last time.

Perhaps the same had happened to Zechs.

Finally, after a great deal of consideration, he spoke. Heero only hesitated because he know how discomfiting it could be to know that your mind was being toyed with against your will, but Zechs deserved to have all the information. "This place is capable of altering your mental state. Have you eaten or had anything to drink in the past 24 hours?"

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TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

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