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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
But... if they can do stuff like this - [he squeezes her hand a little to indicate what he means... and also because it makes him feel good, shhh] - why would they put something in the food, too?
[He's not saying she's wrong; in fact, he's becoming thoroughly suspicious of the food now. But that's more because "it could be true at some point" than because he's expecting it to be true here and now. He really is only feeling a bit warm and fuzzy? But then, he hasn't eaten all that much, yet...
And now he's not sure he should eat more. He looks at the would-be chazuke with a face full of sad betrayal.]
no subject
Holding hands is on that card thing too, can't it be?
[ Since it is for her, she supposes that's a thing. ]
The things here want to encourage... more. So one thing, [ she says, holding up their hands and finally giving it a squeeze ] leads to another thing, [ she drops her gaze very slowly to his lips, blinking with exaggerated slowness but no actual coyness to her features ] and then anything helping that process is a benefit. In a certain point of view.
So yes. Why not put something in the food, too?
no subject
[Holding hands is a bit... personal, sure, but he hadn't considered it as something lewd - until now. Under other circumstances, he'd let go and jump back at least three feet to avoid even the slightest suggestion of assuming that it might be okay for him to do lewd things to her; as it is, though, he really can't bring himself to let go, still.
And then he blushes fiercely as she looks at his lips. Is it really the food? Would he have felt like this anyway?? He can't be sure - but he feels guilty regardless.]
That is really too much...
[Ugh... He's used to hating himself, but getting caught up in this type of thing makes him feel especially bad. And yet his grip on her hand only tightens. It's like the more he wants to let go, the more something inside of him over-compensates in the other direction.]
no subject
Her shoulders relax a fraction, and she spares him the pointed eyeing of his face in favour of eyeing their hands. ]
I'm the sort of person who goes along with the flow of things, and some of it, I don't mind. Others, I do. It's the difference between asking and compelling, I guess.
[ A pause, a consideration, then a look. ]
For example, can I kiss your hand?
no subject
He loses his train of thought somewhere in the middle there, his brain crashing hard into this unexpected obstacle. What if he does let her kiss him? He's going to have a heart attack, maybe, but if so, he's never wanted one so much. (For the first time in his life, he wonders if Dazai actually had a point with his... weirder tendencies.)]
Y-Yes... Yes, of course.
[Where did that "of course" even come from?! Oh well, it's out now.]
no subject
Simple, short, and chaste, just a brush of chilled lips against warmer skin. ]
It might be easier letting something else tell you what to do, even your own messed up hormones, [ she says, eyes flicking up to his face; ] but wouldn't it be nicer if you could agree to it on your own terms?
no subject
He really, really isn't sure whether this is the food or whether he would have always felt this way; it's honestly up in the air. But if he has these feelings now, and genuinely so, doesn't that make them his, regardless? He really doesn't think any chemical encouragement could create feelings where they weren't any, even if it can enhance what's already there. (That's probably too optimistic, looking at this place on the whole. But it's true enough for now.)]
Then... I would like to kiss you. If -... If you can agree to that, too.
[He started out strong, and even though the strength of his words sort of tapered off, somehow his usual timidity doesn't quite make a comeback. Maybe he's only distracted from such old habits by a variety of circumstances... but maybe he's also growing up just a little.]
no subject
Lacking on both counts, she figures it is what it is. At least he's not lecherous, and that takes care of most her "feeling an urge to beat someone up" from the start. ]
Sure.
no subject
He takes a deep breath, very obviously, as he gathers his courage and tries to settle the pounding of his heart into something more manageable. Already close enough, at least there's not much distance to cross, and he leans in, simply pressing his lips against hers, and enjoying the feeling.
Listen, he may know about including tongue, but that doesn't mean he's ready to actually do it! He's not even considering going that far.]
no subject
But while she may be more passive in going with the flow in some ways, she's not here to simply be an example: kissing is... new. Yet it's a soft touch, and he's trying, and why not try too?
So she kisses back, firmer, because what is really going for the softest touch to someone trained to hurt as efficiently as possible since she could recall?
Not her first instinct in human form, that's what, and about what she can do (good he knows about tongue, she does but doesn't think about it), leaning toward him in a kiss while subconsciously squeezing his hand. That her eyes shut is so she doesn't end up staring. Some things are just too intimate like that. ]
no subject
But he's enjoying the kiss in his own way, his heart giving a loud thump as Annie squeezes his hand. He doesn't want to break the kiss, especially now that she's kissing back, but he's also holding his breath in a panicked overreaction, his lips moving a bit - though largely involuntarily, due to friction more than intention - as he stands his ground. His free hand blindly reaches out to hold on to her too, because he wants more touching without really knowing what to do. It could land on her arm or her waist or just about anywhere else, really. He's not aiming anywhere in particular except her.]
no subject
The one thing she does not hear, despite the fact she can hear her own breathing, is any match from him. It's enough to prompt her into blinking, leaning back in an effort to break off the kiss, mouth opening as she does.
Don't tell her he's seriously not breathing right now? What does he think he's doing, freediving? ]
no subject
Look, he's never - not once in his life - had to consider how to breathe during a kiss. Between that and the pressure of the moment, he just didn't think to try! But he's fine. He can hold his breath for a bit. It's all good.
Until she breaks the kiss and he finds himself gasping for air, being a bit too fast about it, and catching her eyes as he's doing it, the embarrassment of which shocks him into choking on literally nothing, bending over to cough at the ground. While still holding on to her hand, because he's definitely not letting go completely.
Is the first impression he's making improving yet?]
no subject
(Probably easier than she thought, this degree of embarrassment is just so not-military normal she's absolutely baffled. Issues with intimacy? Newness with it? Sure, she's got that too, but facing it head on and already having thrown her heart to the wayside makes it easier, admittedly.) ]
Nakajima, keep breathing. Even when you're kissing, for future reference. Passing out might be some kind of kink, but I don't think people want that by default.
[ This is her genuine attempt at being helpful slash reassuring. While continuing to awkwardly pat his back, and still holding hands. This has to be a new kind of ridiculous for her, and that's... actually kind of nice.
At least it means her back pats aren't too much, and are better meant to actually be reassuring instead of subbed in pounding for the Heimlich maneuver. ]