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TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER
| 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. 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. 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. 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:
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no subject
[ satyr turns away from the flowers, ears pricking up to catch any sign of the screaming eustace mentioned. nothing seems out of the ordinary at first, but her ears twitch a moment later— ]
I hear yelling... [ but the tone is familiar, though. high and girlish. ] Medussy?
[ but medusa shouldn't be here. satyr would have sensed her by now. she bites her lip, a rare frown on her face as she glances up at eustace and starts off towards the sound. ]
I don't know what's going on, but let's go take a look!
no subject
But.
He's not so cold-hearted as to ignore the worry that threads through Satyr's voice, or to ignore the possibility of another crewmate in danger, so he follows behind her as they weave through the skullflower field. ]
Do you see anyone?
[ He doesn't, and yet he swears he can hear the voices growing even louder. ]
no subject
[ there's a break in the field that she pushes through, yet there's nothing there besides the skullflowers grinning silently all around them. but satyr stops in her tracks, knees locking up as if by some invisible force preventing her from moving forward. eustace won't be able to see the ice suddenly splintering up her foot and steadily climbing up her ankle, nor her other leg slowly turning into stone. all semblance of her earlier cheer is replaced with panic as she reaches out to eustace, pushing him back the way they came. ]
Eussy, you have to go!
no subject
[ An echo of her words, because he can't decipher who Satyr might be referring to. But as the acrid tang of smoke grows stronger around him, the screams growing louder in pitch, he wonders if maybe she knows something about the Foe he doesn't, because more and more the familiarity of this whole thing is dawning on him
A quiet village nestled in snowy fields. A sudden attack, meant to sow seeds of destruction and discontent.
He hadn't been able to do anything about it then, but now...
His expression hardens. ]
I'm not going to leave you.
[ One hand closes around her wrist (in the closest thing i'll ever get to handholding with him, sad) while the other reaches up for his gun. Their basket of flowery spoils goes forgotten, dropped in the wake of this new thread, seeds and petals spilling across the ground.
If she were Beatrix or Zeta, he might consider it, fully aware of the strength lent to them by their seal weapons and the limits of their powers after years working alongside them. But Satyr is a mystery, an age-old being wrapped up in the shell of a sweet young woman, and even though she's no doubt stronger than him by at least a hundredfold - he knows better than to underestimate primals - he doesn't know the full extent of what she can do.
And as much as he'd like to fight, to take his revenge on those who had taken everything away from him, he'd made a promise to himself to protect his Captain and the crew. Better to retreat to safer ground and analyze their opponent rather than charge in guns blazing. ]
We should get out of here.
[ Let's go, Satyr!! ]
no subject
O-Okay!
[ she stomps her right foot down hard against the ground, a burst of flame flaring up over her leg. it gets rid of the invisible ice that was encasing it, though there isn't anything she can really do about her other one that's still steadily turning into stone. it hurts, but she follows after him, thankful for his steady grip around her wrist for something to help keep her balance. all she has to do is get him further away and then she'll be able to go back. ]
i do what i want
As they move, his eyes slant backwards every so often, checking the periphery for any signs of their mysterious enemies. The sky is darkening and he swears he can see layers of black smoke drifting towards them, but instead of any opponent all he sees is Satyr favoring one leg over the other. Strange. She'd been fine that morning. Had something poisoned her? Or some invisible weapon injured her? It wouldn't be unheard of, especially if all of this was the Foe's doing.
He doesn't have the luxury of time to ask what's wrong, so instead he just acts. Unsurprising, given how much he's always been a man of few words. His fingers release her wrist as he slows, pivoting his body so he's briefly facing her. And then his arms are wrapping around her as he lifts her up in his arms. She's not very heavy, especially not when half of her is that ridiculous hair. ]
It'll be faster this way.
[ Hm. Let him look ~~cool~~ a little bit longer, at least until they make it to that line of huts at the edge of the fields. ]
hours later and im still not over this
Eussy! [ give a girl some warning next time! gosh. hate that this is what it takes to make her embarrassed, a bright flush coloring her cheeks. ] D-Don't drop me, okay?
[ not that she really thinks he would—his arms and shoulders are unfairly sturdy and his grip is firm; she's always so used to being the one initiating close contact that having it turned around on her has her completely shook. it's almost too easy to momentarily forget about geo and medusa, or the fact that her entire leg has turned to stone, steadily creeping further up her body. she just hopes she isn't too heavy. ]
:J
[ —is all she gets by way of reply. Like he would ever overestimate his limits so easily, please. Give a guy a little credit.
Carrying her over an entire frozen tundra would be one thing, but it's not more than a hundred feet they're traveling, just far enough to get away from the worst of whatever's happening in the skullflower field. He takes a moment, while she's cradled in his arms, to do a quick onceover. She looks fine as far as he can tell, which makes things all the more puzzling. ]
You were having trouble walking. Why?
[ Sorry, he can't see that she's slowly turning to stone....enlighten him, please. ]