TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

[erkumods]

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: 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. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

[devilstongue]

How kind of you, Mr. Fjord!

[ Molly sticks his tongue out, but is then smacked by a pillow. Oh, they really are going to be children, now? Okay.

Laughing, he swats Fjord right back with his tail to get some distance between them, having no pillow on this side to use against his foe. Molly tries to hide in the blanket mound instead. ]

[halforc]

Ouch! [ Tails are what cheaters use. ] Where do you think you're going!

[ Poking at him through the blankets, Fjord huffs. ]

You really can have it, though. The bed.

[devilstongue]

[ Tails are what pillow-unarmed men will have to stoop down to in order to survive, thank you very much!

Molly's glowing eyes peek out from underneath the blankets like the devil version of Pennywise and the sewer, smirking. ]

Like I said, it's big enough for the both of us. Just put a few pillows in the middle if you're worried about nighttime snuggles.

[halforc]

[ ... Creepy bitch. ]

I'm not worried.

[ Why would he be? Huh? Why? How dare Molly, this is outrageous.



But, ]

Do you? Snuggle?

[devilstongue]

[ Molly laughs at that, and then gives Fjord a once-over before he escapes a bit of his blanket cocoon to get uncomfortably close. Because he's a dick. ]

Oh yeah. All the time. I subconsciously think it's Yasha and I just have to spoon with her. We shared a vardo so it just happens, you know? You get used to snuggling with people in the circus. For comfort, for warmth, for support.

[ Probably why he's such an overly tactile person. It's hard to not be when everyone around you have nonexistent personal bubbles and all affection is shown with touch. ]

I'm guessing you're not a snuggler?

[halforc]

[ He has memories of Molly getting all up in his grill from before, touching him just briefly enough to make him freeze up and pay attention. The power was in you all along. Teasing bullshit. Fjord's also ninety-percent sure it would be weird if they did bed down together (for a bunch of different reasons on his own end), but he's unwilling to lose to Molly's goading; there's always been a deeply seeded need to rise to the challenge when it's Molly in particular.

On his side, he listens to every iota of trash that Molly spills to distract him and tries to reason with it. ]

I don't ... Not with anyone. In Caleb's bubble, we ... There wasn't much room.

[devilstongue]

[ 'Caleb's bubble'. Adorable, honestly. Still desperately ignoring all the red flags, Molly chooses to be excited instead. ]

Sounds like it was cuddle central to me. I'll love it.

[ He stretches a bit and then pokes Fjord's nose. ]

Lie down and sleep. I'll do my best to keep my snuggling to a minimum.

[halforc]

[ The apprehension he has over the notion of sharing a bed is assuaged by Molly being Molly, funnily enough, and he cracks a wry smile after shaking off that poke. Fjord lies down on his side, arm around a bunch of blankets. ]

As long as you make an honest half-orc out of me after this. I expect a ring in the morning.

[devilstongue]

[ The tiefling wiggles and pulls himself out of the blanket trap before he starts making himself comfortable on his side. Molly's quite pleased to 'win', and it shows how much Fjord has changed that he's not a blushing, awkward mess about this.

It's nice to see the growth. Even if he missed it. ]

I have several! At least one of them should fit. Maybe your pinkie.

[halforc]

I want a fat gaudy diamond, this sailor isn't cheap.

[ It's a little nostalgic of the bubblehut even if Molly wasn't there for it, sleeping so close together. The room is barricaded shut and Fjord feels a little better knowing he's sleeping near Molly, enough to know by his bodyweight that he's safely there, not about to vanish.

But his brain won't turn off.

In the dim sleepy lighting that casts Molly mostly in shadow, the faint orange limns half his features in a glow. ]

Do you really miss sleeping with Yasha nearby?

[devilstongue]

Gold digger! You get cheap costume jewelry or nothing at all.

[ Molly laughs, giving Fjord a wink as he starts rolling himself up in blankets, shoving a pillow under his neck to support the curve of his horns.

The half-orc's question calms the smile a bit, and it turns a little softer. ]

I always miss it, but I'm used to her leaving now and then. Right now I miss it because you were taken and I worried so much.

[ But Fjord said she was fine. Even if she didn't come for him when he was 'lost'. ]

[halforc]

[ Gold-digger and gold-hoarder. Spend none, keep all ... until you find a super nice ring, like an idiot.

Hearing how much Molly was worried takes him back to the days following his rescue, meeting Caduceus and almost in the same breath realising Molly hadn't made it. The silence that gripped his throat closed and loosened Jester's into miserable chatter. Visiting the grave.

A coat on a stick, flapping in the breeze, missing its owner.

Fjord opens his eyes to the sight of Molly whole and hale before him and wonders, not for the first time since they washed up on these strange lands, how it is that he is the one to stumble upon him. He did nothing to save Molly's life. He couldn't even avenge him. ]

You can sleep a little closer. I'm not Yasha, but if the company helps ... ?

[ Some things are more important than keeping your distance out of fear and insecurity. So he raises an arm, inviting Molly in, and it doesn't unsettle him to do so. ]

[devilstongue]

[ Molly's quiet while Fjord mulls things over, and he's definitely not prepared for the sudden offer. For all his protesting, Fjord is offering a cuddle because Molly's being a sap?

Turning to look at the half-orc, he doesn't see anything forced or uncomfortable. Smiling, he immediately rolls closer and settles by his friend, choking down a yawn and then chuckling a little. ]

You might need fewer blankets. I'm a furnace.

[ He might only have known Fjord for about a month before this, but Molly knows it's family. He knew it the morning they woke up without three members.

Adding some comfort to that feeling soothes a lot if confused emotions. ]

[halforc]

Jeez, fuck, you are.

[ He's not telling him it's nice, grumbling as he removes a blanket to kick away and leave him with one, which also leaves him with a puzzle to figure out. Eventually he rests his legs through Molly's and lets him have some space up top. Fjord feels almost cold by comparison where Molly's shoulder touches his sternum, and he leans forward a bit, fluffing the pillow. ]

... Better.

[devilstongue]

[ Molly snickers, but he's definitely taking advantage of all the offered space. He's smiling as he gets comfortable, lazily settling against Fjord, wrapped in his own blanket for the half-orc's sake. ]

Mmm. Perfect.

[ He closes his eyes, about to chat some more, but he finds himself drifting off fairly quickly. Some time later, his tail curls lightly around Fjord's ankle. ]

[halforc]

[ Thankfully Molly can't see the colour rising in Fjord's cheeks as they settle down. He finds himself exhausted too and soon drifts into sleep, slumping forward with his arms wrapped around himself but a cheek resting atop a horn entirely by accident as he gravitates toward that bodyheat in the night.

His snores come soft, low rumbling growls in the pit of his chest. It's a restful sleep ... and even his feet are warm for once. ]

[devilstongue]

[ It really is a nice sleep, and Molly's far too comfortable to stray even an inch during the night. Of course he sleeps in if allowed, his own soft snores near a pointed ear.

Molly dreams of nothing at all, which is wonderful and calm. ]