ercookies | TDM 008: A WALK IN THE THEME PARK

TDM 008: A WALK IN THE THEME PARK

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.

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I. SIX FLAGELLANTS

Welcome, one and all, to a thrilling new location! Robots have worked tirelessly to build, from the ground up, what can only be recognizable as an amusement park. You are just in time for the grand opening of Six Flagellants: Great Advagtures!

The Ferris Wheel routinely stops when lovebirds reach the top, waiting for a kiss - or something more daring! - before it starts up again.

Robots warn of the scary Haunted House: a dark building with wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills. Flickering ghosts roam the halls, and you may find an eerily realistic Headless Horseman -- who bids you, "Come closer. Give me head," while pointing to yours. Hey, get your mind out of the... Nevermind.

The Carousel is a two-story affair. Nude figures with familiar faces lounge about, waiting to be ridden, and closer inspection proves that they have the faces of your fellow islanders. Hop on your favorite person and take them for a spin!

There are even Bumper Cars, which have the interesting effect of making one feel more aroused with every bump and impact. (It's randomized each time, so don't try to guess based on car color!)

What should be a similar ride, the Teacups, has the robots' madness written all over it instead. They have misunderstood the gentle spin-cycles for dangerous, dizzying loop-the-loops across a wide track. Some would swear that the ride has a supernatural invocation for fear. Others are simply man enough to admit they're afraid.

Lastly, the Tunnel of Love is not what you expect. Although flavored lube and guides to cunnilingus are on each fleshy-log-shaped boat, the motion of the ocean is quite soothing, and there's a pleasant floral scent in the air that causes a light intoxication.

Don't forget to try the food! Similar to the Street Kiosks, there's a ton of faire food: cotton candy, corn dogs, and the like.

Mascot outfits are available and those who wear them will be rewarded generously with credits.

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II. LIKE A FIREWORK

The next morning, you receive a message on your device: You are cordially invited to a celebration of skinship at the House of Worship. Please do not dress for the occasion.

If asked about it, the robots will confirm that is not a specific holiday, but a simple joyous event. If you pry, they may even say that the Old Ones often made merry and partook in the pleasures of the flesh - and so too should you.

For an hour, there will be food and drink - alcoholic and aphrodisiac. Then, at the designated time, once the sun has gone down, clothes will be shed and a revelry begun.

As fireworks explode overhead, the different colors send the naked senses reeling:

Red: You are amorous towards the people around you. Yours is a joyous celebration. The Auspicious Acts you offer are happy and lighthearted, full of kisses and sweet nothings.
Orange: You feel bold and adventurous, eager to try something - or someone - new. Your preferred Acts may be dangerous or exciting, perhaps with more than one person.
Yellow: You feel reverence when you watch the fireworks, reverence when you look at your fellow people. You feel blessed to be part of the celebration at the House of Worship, and you make the Acts you complete into Acts of worship. You are all about the spirit of generosity.
Green: You are not here to celebrate. Jealousy is your lot. Uncover a new side of yourself, full of bitterness and resentment, and try an Act that treads the fine line between light and dark.
Indigo: You are proud to celebrate! Those around you are lucky to bask in your presence. You have a newly-minted domineering attitude that makes itself known, and your Acts are likely to be something where you'll come out on top.
Violet: These fireworks make you feel unusual - the opposite of yourself. You are different in all that you want to do, preferring Auspicious Acts that you may not have thought twice about before.

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III. MISTLETOE

mistletoe

sensory deprivation

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N A V I G A T I O N

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Now it's an even deeper frown. "...oh. Scheisse."

Delving into his memory, putting himself back there, then thinking about everything that's occurred since--gods, he feels like he needs to take a seat.

"There has been...a lot. Since then."

"Yeah, you don't say."

It's not a question, just a dry comment to fill the moment. Beau has no idea how she feels about this exactly, but anger and loss and fear battle within her chest for dominance.

"Just, uh, tell me no one else died, yeah?"

Dutifully, Caleb tells her. "No one else has died." Except that's not technically true, is it? Quickly, he amends, "Not for longer than a minute, at least. Everyone is currently alive."

That could change easily, but Beau knows that very well already.

And because he remembers very well how concerning it had been at the time, he adds, "Yasha is doing much better these days."

Beau almost calls bullshit on him, because it seems too good to be true. But then he amends his statement and she nods, relieved. That sounds much more likely.

Her expression goes guarded for a split second, not sure if she's supposed to read something more into his words than what he's saying. If he's hinting at something.

"Good. I bet, without that asshole with a stranglehold around her brain."

Him, hinting? Beauregard, would he ever?

Caleb nods silently in agreement for a moment, a little distant. "Difficult to move on from something like that," he murmurs. "But she is learning."

That distance is gone quickly though as he focuses intently on Beau. There's a wry curve to his lips, more a grimace than a smile. "To be honest, I don't know where to begin, with this place or with all that has happened. What feels most pressing for you, Beauregard?"

Beau doesn't know how difficult it was, could be. She's only just seen the freedom, not the fall out. But in her mind, she can't imagine it being difficult. She herself would just run mentally in the other direction and not dwell on it, as much as possible. But that's her youthful insistence on her own invincibility talking.

All the same, she frowns at Caleb at first, wondering if he's now insinuating that Yasha isn't the strongest of them, then lets it drop.

"This place," she answers. "I can figure out the rest later, or go back to where-- when I'm supposed to and just live like that. How do we leave?"

He has to sigh. That's the big question, isn't it? "If I had figured that out, I would not be here."

Caleb starts to walk again as he talks. The wooded path will open soon onto a larger road, and from there they'll turn toward the house he, Fjord, and Mollymauk have been living in, recently renovated by his request.

"The Augur brought us here, and it seems like it can also return us. But the circumstances for that are unclear," he explains, clearly more than a little frustrated by not having the answers himself after a month. "It has objectives for us, but there is no evidence that completing them will get you sent back."

"You might have just been waiting for me," Beau counters, with a straight face but obviously playing. "You know, as the cornerstone to your genius plan of escape."

She follows along, keeping an ear and an eye out, not trusting their surroundings a bit even if Caleb says he's been here for a while. But she listens as she scans the forest off the path.

"Objectives? So, like, quests? Are they terrible, like bring me sacrifices or something reasonable like bring me oranges?"

Caleb smiles faintly. Honestly, maybe she is the key to an escape plan. He wouldn't discount it. "Somewhere in between oranges and sacrifices, usually," he says, a little too mild to mean anything good.

Would it be worse to try talking to her about this, or to leave her to figure it out herself? He knows which he would prefer, even if it is awkward, but Beauregard...well, probably best to meet in the middle.

"Just, ah, fiddle around with that thing a bit. It will show you." He gestures with an open hand toward the bracelet the robot had tossed to her. "To warn you, it is definitely not what you are expecting. A lot more...personal."

Beau frowns at his initial response. Woof, that can't be anything good. At least it's not blood, but... so much could be covered by that range. And Caleb would not be cagey like that unless it were something different.

Still frowning, this time with curiosity, Beau does begin to fiddle with the bracelet. There are a lot of buttons, but everything seems to make rough sense to her. Until it mentions an A5 Card.

She taps and reads. "Blindfolds, piercing, orgasm--"

Her eyes go wide at Caleb. "What the shit is this?"

Very flatly: "This is your to-do list on sex island. Courtesy of our captor."

His grimace and the stiff set of his shoulders probably conveys just how uncomfortable he still is with that, despite the matter-of-fact way he's talking.

"Supposedly this is how the energy I mentioned is generated. At the very least, the Augur directly rewards those who complete items from their personal cards."

Beau just stares at him, refusing to look away until he amends his statement and tells her what's really going on. Because this cannot be the honest to gods truth.

She's heard of making monkeys dance but never making them fuck.

There's a few moments of silence and then: "....Rewards how?"

Look, Beau, he hates it too, but he's definitely pretty serious, even as he shrugs with faux-nonchalance. "Whatever you need, it seems. Food, items from home, better living conditions, the return of magical abilities."

It's the last one, of course, that Caleb is most clearly hung up on. "I arrived here missing many of my spell components. All of the rarer ones. I cannot even be certain what spells I will be able to perform when or if I get them back." With an edge of bitterness, he adds, "Though I should be grateful, as Fjord has had everything taken from him."

"Oh, gods," she sighs, feeling tired and wrung out suddenly, feeling it for Fjord especially, for Caleb, and not for herself. She wonders just how much of her abilities survived and endeavors to test them out.

Later. Not in front of Caleb.

"So in order to feel yourself again, you have to..." She gestures vaguely, lips set in a line of displeasure.

"You don't have to feel any kind of way. Fuck should. This is awful."

She's gonna punch this Augur, first chance she gets.

TDM 008: A WALK IN THE THEME PARK

00. Arrival

I. SIX FLAGELLANTS

II. LIKE A FIREWORK

III. MISTLETOE

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