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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Did I wake up not on the ship and instead here after watching you and the rest take off in the airship?

[ Her tone is dry, laconic... and tired. She shifts, breathing in and out in a sigh, shoulders hunching inward. Her body language is easier to read not just because she's naked, so she's got nothing to disguise it, but because she hasn't been trying to keep herself at the distance she'd needed before. She's still far from ungloomy, to borrow Hitch's term for it, but there's precious little left to hide.

From what she knows, at least. ]

Yes. Less than two days ago if time's passing the same way.

[ She has no idea. The length of the day feels longer, but it could be the surreality of it all. She also has nothing to say when Mikasa's features have softened, been a glimpse of someone else, then firmly Mikasa again. At least whatever effects from the ridiculous skull flowers (had to be related, they'd only started after that mess, she hadn't eaten, couldn't be ingested) are lessened. Enough she can almost trust her senses now, but not enough to keep what she says from being blunt and to the point. ]

[miKASA does not get over there.

Her and Annie were on...Better terms than they had been. But she liked her space and didn't want to push her luck. Even if she was pretty sure this was Annie and not some random, there was still 5% unsure. What if she was hallucinating words as well. What then?]

I was on the airship, it wasn't two days ago though... I just woke up treading water.

[It had been cold. And she'd wondered how she'd been passed out in it, but walking up the beach had been her only option. At first, she'd thought that the airship might have crashed, as little sense as that might have made.]

[ keeping one whole annie length away is sensible since being who they are, they do know exactly what each other is capable of, and that points toward salient reasons to be wary. especially if they might still not be who they say they are.

annie's simply more inclined to believe, now. she pauses, then looks down, idly kicking one foot underwater. a two day delay... ]

Two days ahead and the only advice I have is everything's as screwed up as you might think. But no titans. And no sign of anyone else I know, so far. You're the first.

[ this is reassuring if they have to fight something, but aside from harpies and monsters in the woods what is there even to fight? those sound so.............................. manageable. as long as the harpy shrieks or yells or whatever it is she heard from a robot in passing doesn't strike faster... immobility is not anything she cares to deal with at this time. ]

[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?

Mm. [ She briefly closes her eyes again. Yeah, she had, as a side to scoping out the forest. ] Bartering works here, from what I can tell, but there's some things the robots or whatever they're called trade just on their money system. Made sense to try... creepy as the flowers were.

[ Skulls staring out at you surrounded by petals is a very stark image. ]

You didn't miss much, showing up alone. Most the people on the beach I ran into were clueless even once I understood what they were saying.

[ Annie sighs, long and slow, eyes opening again. She can't imagine Mikasa is pleased to be here. Annie isn't, and she wasn't even doing anything noteworthy. Just running away, back home. ]

How bad is yours?

[ She holds up her hands, making a sort of square shape to indicate the card. ]

[That gets a small snort. Yeah, no, she wasn't bartering after being given that card. After reading it she'd just wanted to walk away.]

I don't understand half of it. Even the words I do understand, don't make sense... [She's glancing away, rolling her shoulders. Internally debating if she wanted to mention an example.

...It wasn't like she was going to do any of this stuff. There was nothing embarrassing about it, because no, not happening.] There's something about worshiping feet.

[She has no idea. She knew what the words meant on their own but together, it was a mystery.]

[ Annie stares at Mikasa for an extended beat, then looked away to the side, lifting a hand. One she clearly was coughing into. (No. She's laughing. It makes no sense, worshiping feet, and so she's laughing.)

She almost, almost feels like being enough of an ass to say Mikasa's welcome to massage her feet anytime, but no. Given what her own card lists, it's more they all end up with strange, incomprehensible, and downright odd things. ]

... Oh. [ ... It's an effort in goodwill, but she offers one of the weirder ones back as well. ] There's one called electricity. I don't want to know what would be involved with that.

[ For all she's at least got electricity as a concept, that's... sounding.......................... very stupid and dangerous, regardless of being a Titan shifter. ]

What are the chances of them making things up and sitting back to see if people can figure out how to make them work?

[Mikasa didn't call out the Annie's sudden bout of choking. But it did make her eyes narrow, giving that stare down. The same unimpressed look Annie had normally back in training. Challenging, daring her to try it.

The lack of barb makes her pause though. An extended one when she tries to work that out....]

Electricity...... Like lightning? And the wires on the mainland?

[At least Annie understood the concept. Even with the advancements brought on from the people they'd taken in, she was still used to firewood.]

Maybe it's an impossible challenge. [She wasn't quite sure what filling the card would do. But if filling it was how to get back home..........That'd be diffcult when none of the options made sense.]

[ Annie nods to Mikasa's guesses, though "like lightning" makes her squint. ]

Maybe. Or else I guess you could have sex outside in a lightning storm...

[ She even sounds like she doesn't believe this, and her face shows... very much of her consternation and displeasure with this.

Possibly part of that is having this conversation with Mikasa Ackerman. Far be it from her to comment on whatever thoughts went through Mikasa's head, but Annie can make the same educated guess on who'd they'd contain if they lived in a very different world, where anyone had time to actually wonder about things like feelings or futures and not how to bring people you care back from the brink of world destruction. ]

[And Mikasa was squinting at the idea of sex outside in a storm. That sounded...Messy and damp to say the least. And she probably wasn't the most hygienic amongst them, given she was willing to just eat unwashed veggies.

Hell, even ignoring the mess of it...No. Nope, na-da. Though it did make her think of another problem. Mikasa was lucky enough not to have 'electricity', but that didn't change that all the things on this card were supposed to be involved in sex. Something she hadn't really thought about.

...Honestly, she never thought she'd live long enough to really think about it.]

I'm not doing any... [She'd manage. Somehow.]

[ That makes two of them. Even if Annie had figured she'd live to the end of her thirteen years, sex usually came with a potential dangerous side effect: pregnancy.

In no world did she ever want to bring in a life to be lived like hers. So many reasons to not look twice at what is now... the flow of things.

Her head drops back against the rock, eyes closing. ]

It's not as bad surviving off the fringes here than elsewhere.

[ Point being, what passes for fringe living is easier here. For one, they have so many geese. She's already noticed this, and asked if anyone owns them, being definitively told no. Second, the forest is dangerous but fecund: and as one not concerned with going or coming, Annie can subsist on what windfalls come her way and not do too poorly. Mikasa clearly can do the same. Or as much as either can when their heads are getting messed with at the same time. ]

Anyway, that's if avoiding all the bullshit this place apparently tosses out.

[Mikasa had plenty of reasons to not do the sex. Namely how deliberating pregnancy would be, given she was needed elsewhere. She wouldn't have forgiven herself if someone died because she'd been out of action.

Then there were the other things, famines, the war. Too many risks.

She doesn't respond at first. Moving closer to the wall, not to Annie, but the sides of the bath so she wasn't awkwardly stood in the middle. With the size of them, she doubted she'd have been in the way. Then she's sinking down, drawing her legs up to huddle in the water. When was the last time she'd had a bath and enough hot water to do this?

Her own eyes closed.] Have you seen anything dangerous yet? The few people I've spoken to seemed friendly...

['seemed friendly' didn't mean they were. But it was a far cry to the suspicion from back home.]

[ ~~also great thanks "female titan can display aspects of other titans if she consumes part of them" LKMFALSJD GREAT~~ ]

[ ... What kind of question was that? A tired one, she assumes, opening her eyes a slit to regard the ceiling. Stone, not so surprisingly. ]

Normal predators in the woods. Some kind of flying creature in the mountains. The people... they're not the worst, when they're in their better minds. I don't know if the way this place messes with heads will make that always true.

[ She's thinking of electricity again, and how nothing in this says that no one has to die for the stupid squares on their cards. ]

Not quite the break from fighting I was hoping for. And the food sucks.

[ That's a joke. They've both subsisted on much less, on far worse. ]

{{OOC, cause character limit - I literally went 'yay, nay, aww' as it went from Papa Leonhart, to Reiner's mom, to Mr finger... I still don't believe Pieck's last name is finger. Also I'm really happy the female titan has an actual unique ability. It was fine pretimeskip but compared to the posttimeskip titan abilities it was kinda reliant on the shifter being really good.}}

[By this point, Mikasa had stopped looking at Annie. Even if it wasn't Annie, or if it was Annie and she decided to start something, Mikasa would hear her through the water. ]

So nothing too strange then...[Compared to the things they were used to anyway. Nothing seems all that dangerous after titans, being targeted for doing a coup, the whole world wanting them dead... Normal animals, mostly normal people. It wasn't ideal for relaxing but it was normal. She could deal with that level of danger.

Though the mention of a creature gets her to turn her head again. Giving Annie a flat look.]

What kind of creature? [She'd not heard of this and it was oddly vauge. The joke was ignored.]

[[ ooc: yeah, once we had a definitely "oh wait all these other things the warriors can do that are unique" it made it a question of what was Annie's--and it makes more sense now going ah, right, some yell, some hardening, none of it strong enough to do the same as what those titans do, but having some ability for it... though now I'm like. What next?! Also yes and "..." for Mr. Finger too, some names are just... more unfortunate than others... ]]

Robots weren't so helpful, called them harpies? Listening around, it sounds like they're not fond of cats... or cat ears on humans. Human-shaped people, I guess.

[ She's seen cat ears, tails, horns, skin tones which are not from their world as far as she knows, and others which are. She's relaxed as she can be, talking about things which might as well rate as nonsense. It's true, but still nonsensical. Along with an observation that bubbles up to the top of her mind: ]

Did you know I've run into at least three people from different universe wide wars?

[ War: literally never ends. ]

{{Occ: Yup, I remember people saying she had better healing but uh...She didn't really seem to have that. Once we learnt that shifters could control if they healed to hide.}}

[Tragically, Mikasa had only had time to walk around. There had been an attempt at earning some coin. The few tails and animal ears she'd seen had been in passing, not close enough to realise that they were real.]

If they fly like birds then- ['cats ate birds' it sort of made sense is what she was going to say. But then Annie keeps going earning a blink, two blinks.]

Universe... [Said slowly, like she's testing the word.] As in...a group of worlds. And there's three of them?

[That was a lot of world for someone who'd only learnt there was a world beyond the walls a few short years ago.]

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TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

miKASA get over here

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wrangles my inbox into submission

what a perpetual mood tbh

I asked the aef aot for a weird kink for this...

oh no i snorted out loud

In hindsight 'feet' is something she can guess at

worship, on the other hand... stares at the wall cult

...Kicking someone in the mouth counts right? RIGht!?

there is nothing more erotic, as long as party #2 is a masochist

sorry 133 ended me

SOBS i am glad it confirms my suspicion about dadhart but... also are they gonna fly ffs im dead

AOT spoilers

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