TDM 007: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? (Sorry, No Refunds)

[erkumods]

TDM 007: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

00. 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. Entertainment District Old and new arrivals alike have likely been enjoying(?) the Island’s one day of sunshine per week - and so have the robots! The energy they are able to harness from the sun has increased their productivity exponentially, and a colorful multi-level entertainment district has sprung up to surround a few of the city’s familiar locations. Here you will find the forge, the clothing shop, the Full Moon(ty) Theater, as well as a freshly upgraded Ticket to Ride: an all-purpose arcade where tickets won from skeeball and Whack-a-Woody can be exchanged for sexy, colorful prizes! Admission is free, and the robots especially encourage islanders to check out the following arcade additions: Lurid Laser Tag: Slip into a full-body laser tag suit and arm yourself with a robot-provided laser gun before you go into this spooky and maze-like laser tag arena, which has been designed in the fashion of an abandoned, post-apocalyptic city overrun with creeping, squirming, and sometimes grabbing plants (which may look and feel very familiar to the earliest residents of the Nameless Island). Avoid these obstacles and try to spot the enemy before they spot you! The laser guns issued by the ‘bots have three graduated settings, chosen by the shooter, to alert you when you are hit: 1. vibration, 2. sweet caress, and 3. deep massage. Any part of your laser tag suit may activate, depending on where you are hit. Islanders may choose to play 1-on-1 with a friend, or can be randomly assigned to an opponent or team. VR Rooms: Pull on a shiny new headset and enjoy an immersive virtual reality experience like none other available on the Island thus far! The technology is still somewhat limited, however, in that the rooms can only replicate settings and environments from the current users’ memories. Whether you’re looking to train your battle skills on your old stomping grounds or simply want to share the experience of your favorite hometown noodle shop with a friend, these new VR rooms will literally open up new worlds of entertainment to you. VR Rooms can be enjoyed alone or in pairs, and they are fully private. GundamPods: A scaled-down version of the newly installed mobile suit simulation cockpits which can be accessed in the hangar at the outskirts of the city, these side-by-side pods allow users to recreate the experience of piloting any mobile suit that has been brought onto the island, in PVP format. Scant and form-fitting clothing is recommended for the most seamlessly realistic piloting experience, as this allows the technology to interface with your sensory system. Wear a bikini and you’ll feel it right down to the G’s! ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● II. Sexscape Room Looking for the latest opportunity to earn credits? Look no further! The robots are researching the problem-solving capabilities of organic lifeforms, and they are seeking the Islanders’ help. The offered reward is very generous, and the ‘bots say the time commitment is no more than two hours. No manual labor required! Participants will only be given a puzzle to solve within that time limit. Those who agree will be led to a spacious, if dark, room... but not alone. When the lights turn on, two volunteers find themselves trapped together in an escape room! Written clues lead participants through a series of steps to find the trick that will unlock the doors that hold them captive. However, what kind of room they find themselves in is entirely luck of the draw. Some rooms are perfectly normal, with almost absurdly easy puzzles to solve - a tip of a bookcase or a key hidden beneath a pillow might just be the ticket out. Others may be outrageously difficult, with clues taking the form of cryptic riddles and assigned tasks requiring partnership and teamwork to complete. What kind of tasks, you may ask? Well, for some rooms it’s fairly obvious what volunteers are expected to do in order to earn their escape. That riding crop says it all, does it not? Those who fail to solve the escape room within two hours will be released without incident, the promised credits loaded to their devices. Islanders who successfully escape the room will be additionally rewarded with a goody bag of cute and colorful BDSM gear! ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● III. Speed Dating at the Limp Noodle So many renovations have occurred thanks to the efforts of those on the Island and the robots have decided a grand opening of the new Limp Noodle Shop! This robot-run shop has three small tables and a long counter for serving customers. It caters to various noodle foods and soups from any world and their menu changes regularly, but Wednesday is All You Can Eat Ramen Day. Try the Special Spicy Fishcakes to get a free drink, but they might make your noodle anything but limp and you'll need some help to calm it down. Effects can last up to three hours. But that’s not all. To promote the grand opening of the Limp Noodle the robots have added more seating and opened up the week for Swap Meet Speed Dating. That’s right, speed dating. Anyone who takes part in the 10 minute rounds of looking for your next Auspicious Act partner will receive all-you-can-eat snacks. Couples who hit it off will receive a free meal at a small two-seat table in a more secluded area. Questions are provided on note cards with a fine print reminder: “Eye contact supports sexual intrigue, please maintain at all times.” ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

[jokey]

You are bleeding. I had a feeling.

[Who knew this mask could double as a (very ineffectual) weapon? Akira considers pulling the handkerchief from his breast pocket and sopping up that little bead of blood, but it's such a small amount that it likely doesn't need much pressure applied to it.

Instead, fueled by that impromptu deep dive between Ann's breasts and the compounded effects of a long day spent swapping spit with strangers, Akira sets the flat of his tongue to it and whisks the droplet away. Please, don't ask him why. The lizard brain has officially taken over.]

[pussy_whip]

A-ah.

[ Oh no oh no oh no she didn't mean for that to sound sexual but it really, really did. Maybe because, of everyone in her acquaintance, Ann has actually imagined what it might be like to get intimate with the man behind this mask.

Her face is as red as the latex of her suit, her eyes wide as she looks up at him. As much as she might have wanted this, she isn't going to just give it up on the floor of some creepy dildo room. Right? ... Right. Right.

But he's still on top of her. With his face between her breasts. ]

At least take your mask off.

[jokey]

[Oh no, what a cute little sound. Ann really is very pretty and quite charming in her own way, but... it's stressful for her, isn't it? Being in a position like this after what she's been through. After suffering Kamoshida's abuse.

It makes Akira consider withdrawing for her sake, but the sight he's treated with demands he remain close, that little noise like a siren's cry ringing in the ears of a lonely sailor. Akira wants to pull back, his breaths whittled down to heated puffs that coast across the space where that suit leaves her chest exposed.

He wants to ease back, but he can't. Ann isn't rejecting him, not as he thought she might.]

...take it off for me.

[He lifts his face to meet hers, warm breaths fanning across her reddened cheeks.]

[pussy_whip]

[ Is he messing with her now? Ann looks at his face for a moment, obscured as it is by the thief's mask he wears, and reaches up to slide it very deliberately off his face.

Ah, there he is. God, she's missed having him around, even if nothing romantic had really blossomed between them. As much as it sucks for him to be stuck here, she's glad to see him, even in a situation like this. For some reason, there's something especially erotic about doing this in a dimly-lit room, decked out in their phantom thief outfits as they are.

Ann shifts slightly, but doing so causes her leg to brush up against him, and... oh. That's his dick, isn't it? God, this is awkward. What is she even doing? ]

Sorry! I'll-- [ What? Get up? ] Uh. We should try and figure out how to get out of here, right?

[jokey]

[Yeah, that's– deeefinitely his dick. Ah, to be young and liable to go from a modest chub to a full on diamond-shattering boner at the behest of a misplaced knee... When Akira is feeble and old, he'll look back on such things fondly, but not now. Oh god, not now. Why is his body like this.

So now he's visibly hard, low light be damned, and Ann's lit up like a Christmas tree, chest a'heaving. Joker eyes the bed. Eyes Ann. Eyes the bed again. Can he even make it that far before the urge to stuff her like a Thanksgiving turkey overcomes him?

...well, yes. Probably. But there's something innately kinky about rutting on the floor like the thirsty teenagers they are, so Akira's not going anywhere. Neither is Ann, Akira's palm coming up to plant her firmly to the floor.]

That isn't really what you want. [Bold of him to presume, but is he wrong?] Like me, you won't be able to concentrate on looking for a way out in the state you're in.

[Oh, but if he is wrong, go ahead and correct him. Akira will wait.]

[pussy_whip]

The state I'm in? Are you kidding me?

[ Like, is he wrong? Not exactly. She's horny, but they're both seventeen on sex island, so that checks out. Regardless, he has a lot of nerve, and she nearly skitters out from under him save for that hand that hand that comes up to block her path. ]

You realize people could be watching us, right? And what's your deal, anyway? You've been gone for weeks, now you show up again out of the blue and suddenly you're interested?

[ Not that she's necessarily opposed at this point to sleeping with someone because it's fun or it feels good, but he isn't just anyone to her. He's... the one that got away? No, that's not right either, since their relationship had never been like that in the first place. His eyes had always been elsewhere in spite of her own hopes or desires.

For a moment she wonders if he's even real, and not some island-induced dream or figment of her imagination. That would almost make more sense than what's happening right now. But his body is warm and heavy over hers--even the scent of him is familiar to her after so many months spent in his company. This has to be real, doesn't it? ]

Don't act like you know what I want.

[jokey]

[That again. Akira has no memory of having been here before, much less how that Akira felt towards any particular person.

Something must've happened, then, for Ann to react as harshly towards him as she is now. Akira eases back, studies her quietly, contemplatively. Not long after, he's lifted his hand from Ann's shoulder and slid back, giving her ample room to sit herself up and take a deep breath.

Something is wrong here.]

Ann. Who am I to you?

[An odd question, to be sure, but whatever Ann replies with will answer Akira's question just fine.]

[pussy_whip]

[ And sit up she does, legs curling under her as she looks at him with slightly narrowed eyes. ]

You're one of my best friends, and our leader.

[ Not to mention that she'd had a massive crush on him since around the time they started infiltrating Futaba's palace, if she had to put a more definite date to when her feelings of friendship and attraction had started to bloom into something more substantial. As if she would admit that. ]

Why?

[jokey]

Is that all?

[It's a cruel thing to say, isn't it? Something so accusatory. Something so insulting, but it's not without purpose.

Akira knows Ann. Knows her well, and if he knows her as well as he's convinced he does, she'll yell at him, perhaps toss his name out into the open air in disbelief. She remembers him being here, but Akira certainly doesn't. Who, then, is he taking the place of?]

[pussy_whip]

What do you mean, "is that all"? What else do you want?

[ If he's trying to agitate her, he's doing a great job of it. Ann's brow furrows, and she stands up only to begin pacing around like... well, like a caged panther. ]

Come om, Ren, can we just focus on figuring out how to get out of here?

[jokey]

[That's it. Ren. Another name and certainly not his own, yet Ann speaks with such conviction that Akira can't begin to imagine her tongue had merely slipped.

Akira sits back, crosses his legs beneath him. Ren, huh?]

That isn't my name.

[pussy_whip]

[ Record rip. ]

... What?

[jokey]

You heard me. [ma'am.] My name is Akira. Akira Kurusu.

[pussy_whip]

[ Is this a prank or something? This is Ren, isn't it? He looks and sounds and moves like Ren. Ann sits down on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out just what the frick is going on. ]

That's... [ Not possible? In a place like this? ] Your name is Ren. Ren Amamiya. Ryuji's called you "Renren" since day one.

[jokey]

[This would make for one hell of a nasty prank, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, it seems the joke is on Akira. For the time being, he's staying put, watching ann quietly and affecting composure despite the disconcerting reality that is Ann not remembering him for, well, him.]

I have never answered to that name. That's because it isn't mine. [But he could say as much a million times over and Ann would be no less perplexed. In that case...] What would convince you?

[What would convince her that he is himself, no matter what name Ann remembers him by?]

[pussy_whip]

I don't know! Tell me something only you would know about me. Not how we met or anything. Something... I dunno. Personal...?

[ Not the best move, probably. If he is a figment, he'd probably be able to answer that too. ]

You asked me who you are to me. Who am I to you?

[jokey]

[Right. That's why Ann's initial question goes unanswered, Akira tugging up a knee to rest his chin against it. There is no proof he could possibly provide, and therein lies the issue.

Therein lies the impossibility of proving that he is the friend, the leader, the classmate she knows. Even so...]

...someone very special.

[But what good is his word when the odds are stacked this high against him? As always, his best course of action is to believe his actions will be enough to sway her when his words alone are not. Rising to his feet, Akira approaches her, knee sinking deeply into the mattress. Bracketing her in place.]

Let me prove it to you.

[pussy_whip]

Special?

[ That can mean a lot of things. It says a lot without actually telling her anything. Your girlfriend or your crush can be special to you, but so can any platonic relationship.

Granted, the fact that he's looming over her with his pants tenting because his dick is hard as a rock pretty much crosses "platonic special" off the list of possibilities.

Instinctively, she scoots back a little, but that only pushes her closer to the center of the bed... and the pile of dildos there. Gross. ]

What's your favorite place we ever went together?

[jokey]

[You're stuck between a hard place and several hard places, Ann. It might be best to stay put.

Ann moves back and Akira inches closer. At the same time, he maintains that careful distance between them, no more than a hair's breadth. No more and no less, his fingers settling around the zipper sitting pretty just beneath the swell of her breasts.]

How can I pick just one? [Ah, don't smack him. He'll toss out some examples.] The buffet in Shibuya where you ate your weight in crepes. Destinyland, at the top of the ferris wheel where we took that selfie.

[...and the clincher.]

My bedroom. "Don't complain that I'm too heavy," you told me.

[pussy_whip]

Hey! I-I'm not heavy! [ Wait, that's not the important part to focus on here! While that kind of thing absolutely sounds like something Ann might say, that... ] That never happened. I thought you were dating some genius shogi player ever since we got back from Hawaii.

[ She'd tried to stay out of it, actually. Ever since she'd fumbled her chance to confess her feelings on the school rooftop, it felt inappropriate to keep tabs on who Ren was seeing. It wasn't any of her business.

What he's saying now, though... It sounds like she wasn't just a special person. It sounds like she was his special person.

And really, if there are people here from so many weird different universes, is it outside of the realm of possibility that somewhere out there, a version of him feels the same way about her as she does about him?

Or, y'know, he's just horny and he's sweet talking her to get into her pants. But he wouldn't do that to her, would he? Not after everything they'd been through together. ]

Do you really feel that way about me?

[jokey]

[Oh, Ann. The only one concerned about your weight is you. For what it's worth, Akira doesn't mind a little bit of cushioning at all.]

Hmm? I don't recall dating her.

[But perhaps this Ren fellow had? Who can say. Certainly not Akira, whose eyes are on nothing but Ann in this moment.

Akira tugs that zipper lower. At her question, he nods.]

That's one thing you know about me. I wouldn't tell a lie that would break your heart.

[And he pulls it lower still, but once that zipper wanders down past the point of her navel, Akira's hand halts in place. Before they go any father, there's an important conversation to be had here that's long overdue.]

...does it scare you?

[Intimacy. Sex, to put it bluntly. With Ann's past struggles considered, the harassment and abuse she'd suffered at the hands of Kamoshida, the very last thing Akira wants to do is make her feel like little more than a sexual object. Like a body meant to gratify, rather than a person with thoughts and feelings of her own.]

[pussy_whip]

... Not if it's with you.

[ Because this is Joker, isn't it? Whether he's Ren or Akira or whatever, he would never hurt her. The fact that he's asking is proof of that. He's not going to hurt her.

The fact that she's done this a few times at this point makes it easier, too. She knows what to expect. Though, she's never actually been unzipped from her Panther suit, so she makes a small noise of surprise when one of her breasts just pops free of the latex fabric with a little bounce. Her hand snaps up to cover it automatically. ]

[jokey]

[–Ah. That breast making a break for it actually makes Akira jump a bit. It's so cute... Ann, ur bobbies..............

Soon enough, Akira's laughing. It's a quiet, mirthful laugh. One full of warmth. One that pulls his smile wide.]

I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often.

[Small blessings, or if you ask Ryuji, small misfortunes. Akira's fingers trail up along the hand covering her breast and prompts her to let their fingers intertwine. He won't guide it off of her breast, not yet. For now, it's enough to hold her hand. To feel the rapid-fire beating of her heart just beneath it.]

Go easy on me, alright? I'm a novice.

[pussy_whip]

[ Akira's laugh is so genuine that it's totally disarming. Ann has to laugh, too. This situation is so crazy, but they're here together so it's not so bad. ]

Why don't you lie next to me first?

[ Or not, because the bed is still covered with dildos. Ann stares down at them reproachfully, slowly releasing Akira's hand to swipe at them. They bounce and roll in every direction, and the sweeping motion of her arm is just aggressive enough to dislodge her other breast.

Ahh, screw it. ]

C'mere. Maybe you could kiss me first?

[jokey]

[Correction: the bed was covered in dildos. While they're in the process of removing unnecessary things, Akira slides Ann's mask off and sets it beside his own, settling onto the bed right beside her. Just as she'd requested.

On second thought...]

...come here. [Akira motions for her to straddle him.] You're most comfortable when you're on top of me. Take my word for it.

[And don't worry about your weight, silly. Get that curvy ass over here.]