ercookies | TDM 008: A WALK IN THE THEME PARK

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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

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[Upon hearing that voice, Danny's reaction is... well, calling it subtle would be a bold-faced lie, because it involves very nearly dropping the drink that he had been holding here as he turns in the direction of where it came from. His attention is no longer on the fireworks, and instead on the other man that still looks just the same as he remembers him: he still has those religious garbs that stand out quite prominently in this kind of setting where Danny has noted at least three couples making out not four feet away. And yet somehow manages to seem just as calm and stoic as ever in tone despite all that...]

I... could say the same about you, Reverend.

[Gray is a bit difficult to miss, to put it gently.

For a moment, that's all Danny can work up the words to say, several different threads of thought weaving and intermingling in a tangled mess. The last time he saw the other man involved... well, dying, really. He waits for the anger, the resentment, the how dare he show his face to me ever again... but it doesn't come. He just feels a sort of confused, wrong-footed notion of wondering if maybe he's more drunk than he thought he was as Danny momentarily glances at his drink with an eye of suspicion, before shaking his head.

And steps closer, because rather than blame the alcohol and simply dismiss this as a hallucination, he wants to actually confirm that it's the real deal. Though, he's not actually doing something as crazy as grabbing the Reverend just yet, but simply coming closer so that it's easier to ignore the rest of their surroundings while they talk.]

I'd ask why you came here, but I assume it might be for the same reason I did.

[Read: not actually having a choice/other alternative as a distraction in this place right now, but hey at least people-watching to give you an idea of what other people here are like ~~or who has interesting eyes in this place~~ is better than nothing.]

It seemed as pleasant - or as unpleasant - a thing to do as any.

[The agreement is implicit, but it does seem to be just that - an agreement rather than a correction or simply something he's positing. The lack of direction in this place has proven a bit much; the whole business of being here, really, is a bit much, when compared to the expected circumstance, particularly when the expected circumstance is in fact "dead in a fire, probably."]

Have you been here long...?

[The...place in general, not the fireworks.]

No, not really. Or at least, it doesn't feel like it's been that long since... well, you know.

[The being dead in a fire thing, that we probably should talk about here at some point, but for now is attempting to avoid it for the sake of keeping calm in a public space.]

I've spoken to some people here, and I've been told that there are several here that have been living in this place for quite a long while in comparison.

[They talk as if they've been here for months on end in comparison to what feels like maybe a week and some change for Danny. He's still not sure how he feels about that yet.]

...I've heard such things as well.

[He isn't sure what he thinks about any of that - or any of this, just as a whole. The island, the robots, the occasional bursts of color firing off overhead.

Danny is doing an outright admirable job of keeping himself collected. Gray wonders, vaguely, how long he'll be able to manage.]

We don't have to stay, if you would prefer not to.

[Knowing Danny, it's hard to say. He's repressed a hell of a lot of feelings in his life before eventually exploding violently on someone because that is what usually ends up happening to people that do that. But it definitely got worse during the whole deal with Rachel, so Gray is right to wonder at this point about it really.

There's a yellow firework that bursts at an impressive angle that manages to catch Gray's face in the light, and his first thought is that even now, Gray is still someone that gives him that same feeling of reverence in appearance and demeanor worth following to see just where one might end up at.

... And maybe right now preferably led somewhere other than here to keep standing and talking, because with a side glance Danny notes some people nearby starting to get more naked than before against the backdrop of a green firework and... yeah, no. Definitely not interested in continuing this conversation here of all places as Danny dumps his unfinished drink off to the side of where he's standing.

Which, his aim might be a little off and it may or may not have ended up in a plant. Or some people making out behind the plant in question, but Danny isn't going to stop and look to confirm this.]

Yeah. I'm good with going literally anywhere other than being here right now.

Edited 2020-12-27 04:54 (UTC)

Of course.

[He is definitely not going to push to stay here any longer than is really necessary; this had been, after all, an excursion done through a lack of knowing what else to do. Perhaps one of curiosity on his part, wanting to know what passes for worship of the gods around here, and furthermore wanting to get a read on those that would participate in such a thing; there's a sudden streak and burst of red overhead and he finds himself quite agreeing that really, better anywhere but here, because that did things he isn't sure he wants a full explanation for.

(He will want a full explanation later, because this is not his area of expertise but it's fascinating on its own. He will likely not receive an explanation.)

"Literally anywhere but here" seems like a more than fair enough request for now; the beach is likely dead at this time, both due to the hour and due to the cold and due to the fact that the beach, when he'd first arrived, was really rather dismal; it seems as relatively empty a place as any, to say nothing of easily accessed. So that's the eventual destination, though honestly anywhere away from the fireworks seems decent enough should they get sidetracked.]

I imagine you have a fair amount to say.

[The farther they walk away from the festivities, Danny feels a different sort of tense awkwardness replace the notion of being surrounded by stupid people in love and lowered inhibitions. Now that he's actually going to be alone with Gray, he needs to think about what he's going to say to the other man.

They end up at the beach, and sure enough Danny grimaces a fair bit at the memory of waking up wet and paranoid about getting sand in his eyes, among other things. He almost wishes he had seen Gray's own arrival here because then it would be a chance to see the other man out of sorts, before dismissing the thought. Gray probably would manage to somehow make that look graceful, or maybe he just walked straight out of the ocean like some kind of god coming up from the sea.

When they do stop walking, Danny gives a slight smile in acknowledgement. It's one of his more derisive smiles than a friendly one, but at least it's not the crazed kind yet.]

"A fair amount" is a generous way of putting it. Considering that at least one of us should be dead right now after having been betrayed and shot like that.

[Rachel. Gray. Both of them had turned on him in some manner despite his attempts to be useful, and even with the conversation the two men had after before he died, Danny can't help but still feel pretty fucking resentful about that part.

Especially if his afterlife is now apparently spent with robots wanting people to be horny on main here? Probably could have done without that, but unfortunately, here we are.]

[The resentment is unsurprising - it is still Danny, after all, different though the circumstances may be.]

You're more than entitled to your anger; I'm not goingo to do you the insult of discouraging you from it. I will ask, however, what it is you intend to do with it, under the understanding that it would surprise me more if you had no ideas yourself.

[If the game plan is entirely to stab him in the face, he gets it, but, like. Warn a guy.]

[He's not surprised at all that this is the type of response he would get to that remark, and upon being asked what he's going to do with said anger--that's when Danny suddenly slips a hand into his pocket and pulls out his gun that is now being pointed at Gray's face, right between the eyes.

How's that for a warning?

However, Danny doesn't immediately try to shoot him despite how this is probably the easiest chance he's ever going to have to do so. It simply hovers there in the space between them, pointed at the other man's face, as if waiting for some sort of cue that will get the trigger pulled.

More than likely, Danny is waiting to see what, if any, change Gray will make in response to this. Will he actually be bothered by the implicit threat being made here, whether that be by actually attempting to stop the gun from going off? Or even showing any potential concern at the thought that he very well might die right here?

When Gray stays unresponsive for perhaps a beat longer than Danny likes, he finally speaks.]

Did you know that when you shoot someone in the head, there's a chance that they won't die right away? They usually collapse and choke on their blood, sure, but for a moment they may still be conscious, feeling the bullet digging into their brain as they convulse on the ground and their eyes dart around looking for some kind of sign of help to make it stop so that they can have a quicker more painless death... what do you think your chances would be if I happened to shoot you here? Do you think that you would die immediately, or still last for another minute or two in such a state?

Edited 2020-12-27 21:21 (UTC)

[Gray doesn't flinch at the gun; he shifts back somewhat, and the gun is most certainly the focus of his attention, but he doesn't flinch and he doesn't move to try to disarm him, even through everything Danny is saying to him.

Unpleasant business, all of that. Nothing he isn't aware of, but not particularly nice to hear laid out while someone is pointing a gun in one's face.

He closes his eyes, briefly. Breathes.]

Is that the penance you would have me serve, Danny?

[His eyes open again. Refocused on the man and not the gun.]

I would tell you that that isn't going to change or erase what was done to you, but you're already well aware of that. Any action you take now would be solely in the interest of seeking recompense that isn't going to be delivered, simply because it can't be. Not properly, not here. Anything you dispense here - forgiveness and suffering alike - is entirely a futile outcome, given what you've already been through.

The fault is mine for putting you in such a wretched position.

[He wishes he could say that the other man's words don't faze him, but it's pretty obvious that they do, judging by the ever-so-slight grit of Danny's teeth and the smallest of shakes the gun gives from it's previous steady position.]

Yeah. It is your fault.

[It would be so much easier to just shoot him anyway if only for that feeling of satisfaction, however brief it will ultimately be. He can already imagine what kind of sight it might be to see the man finally fall off his mighty pedestal and bleed out in front of him. Maybe then he would finally see something resembling an emotion in those blank eyes of his like so many others that have died because of Danny.]

... Damnit.

[However, instead of going through with it, he swears and lowers his gun because goddamnit, Gray is right, even now. It isn't going to change anything that happened back home even if he does kill Gray here. If anything it'll probably just cause more trouble in the long run if someone comes running from hearing the gun going off somehow despite the fireworks going off in the distance. And then where would that leave him?

He brings his arm up to grip his other one as if needing some kind of support to keep himself standing, or from potentially changing his mind to raise the gun and shooting the other man anyway as he speaks.]

Then... just what am I supposed to do here?

[For what it's worth, the agreement that it's his fault entirely isn't something that he's going to argue; he wouldn't have put it out there if it wasn't something he meant on some level.

Just the same, the gun lowering is..."promising" is too strong a word, but it's still something that triggers a release of some of the tension he wasn't altogether aware of holding until now. He folds his hands behind his back; he continues to hold eye contact, though it's less strict this time through.]

If you would prefer to find that out for yourself, I won't stop you. But if you dislike that idea, I won't leave you to be alone here.

That isn't a decision I'm going to force upon you either way. But know that the offer is extended to you.

[That's... not quite what he was expecting as a response, and it shows in how he stares for a moment, before breaking eye contact and looking away.

Should he want that? Is he allowed to want that, given how disastrous of an idea that sounds to want to spend any amount of time with someone who was involved in your death? Would it be the same as just pretending it didn't happen? Because he definitely isn't going to do that.

But then there's the alternative of them just avoiding each other during their stay here, which is probably the healthiest thing to do depending on who you ask... but...

Danny suddenly laughs, though it's not quite as cheery as a laugh should be so much as self-deprecating.]

Being left alone tends to do more harm than good, in my case.

[Maybe a lot of things could have been avoided if Danny had ever communicated that properly to someone before now, but it's too little too late to fix that part of the past now. As much as he hates to admit it, as he had been forced to face the truth of within the last few minutes of his life back home.

As such, the idea of still being alone after all that... it really is worse than the alternative for him here, and so...]

I... can't forgive you, but I don't want you to leave either. In fact... ha, I'm actually kind of happy that if there was anyone I could see again, that it would be you.

[Not because of the whole... everything this island is ~~though that doesn't help to think too hard about in that department~~, but because he really doesn't think he would feel as relieved by the offer if it had been given by anyone else he had known back home. Not Cathy, definitely not Zack...

Though, he does wince momentarily, as if a little apprehensive of what the other man's reaction might be for that coming from Danny of all people here.]

Do you think that's strange of me to think that? Given... well.

[He waves the hand holding the gun momentarily to indicate the fucked up circumstances of how mere minutes ago, Gray could have ended up getting shot in the face.]

[It's something that Gray had suspected, really; it's why the offer was given. Danny's desire to be loved, to be God in the eyes of someone that he wanted to love him... Being alone would be anathema to one like that, and the notion of doing that strikes him as little more than another form of betrayal. Admittedly, the circumstances are far from ideal, given everything that had happened in the building; at the same time, he doesn't expect Danny's forgiveness, at least not so bluntly-stated. He imagines that if that happens, it will happen without being stated or announced; even if it doesn't, however, he doesn't have much desire to condemn Danny to any sort of suffering, despite his disobedience and self-centered actions that at the very least contributed to everything that happened.

He harbors no ill will toward people. Not really. Danny isn't an exception to that.]

Even if I considered it strange, I can't say I don't appreciate the sentiment.

[...EVEN IF IT COULD HAVE BEEN EXPRESSED A LITTLE BETTER, LIKE BY WAY OF NOT THREATENING TO SHOOT HIM IN THE GODDAMN HEAD.]

It's good to see you again, Danny. Even if the situation is...far from ideal. I doubt this is the afterlife you would have preferred; it isn't one I would have envisioned for you.

[Speaking of which, he probably should put that gun away now before someone potentially comes across them on the beach, and wonders what kind of weird kinks these two are working out their issues through. As such, he pockets it, though he notably doesn't apologize for having threatened to shoot the man either.

... Maybe he will someday, but that day is not today.

At the mention of the current situation though, Danny does roll his eyes upward at that. Somehow, he almost forgot that somewhere back in the direction they came from, there's probably an orgy happening of drunk people influenced by fireworks.

God, what a weird afterlife this is.]

I can't say that I would have imagined this either. Then again, I honestly thought that I was going to end up in Hell, if anywhere. [A pause, as he considers.] Unless this is supposed to be Hell, in which case it's a very odd way of doing things.

[Unless the goal was to make Danny feel alone and unloved being surrounded by other people with no hang ups in this place, in which case, congrats?? Not like he wasn't going to feel that way even without the robots trying to encourage people to get laid here.]

...The thought had occurred to me, I'll admit.

[like it's. it's a very creative version of hell? but he would not be at all surprised if that is exactly what all of this is supposed to be.]

Apparently whatever deities they worshipped here in the past were very...fond of activities such as the one we just left. I shouldn't be surprised that this entire place seems themed around it.

[Do we tell Gray about "SIX FLAGELLANTS"... nah, don't think we will, thanks. Instead, Danny glances at the bracelet on his wrist here that he had gotten on his first day. Useful for communication and knowing the time, but also kind of distasteful as a reminder of the weird bingo card system they have in here for Auspicious Acts, as the robots call them.]

There's theming, and then there's... being tacky and unsubtle about it, which it feels like this place often is.

It shouldn't be completely unbearable, with any luck; merely distasteful.

[Hopefully we can get through this conversation without questioning Gray's sex life, because there are some things he is not prepared to have a Discussion about today.]

[Well, now that Gray says that--]

... Have you...

["--actually done anything like this before", because given that Gray is a priest, Danny suddenly couldn't help but wonder if the man even had a sex life. Probably not after becoming a priest, but maybe he had one before that happened? Or... but, Danny then backpedals once he realizes that he's even thinking about this now, turning away momentarily in embarrassment.]

... err, actually, never mind.

[Danny's not actually prepared for this Discussion either today, so congrats, Gray's sex life can remain unquestioned for now??]

[It's a fair question, really, just...not...something we are going to discuss with Danny right now...]

...Very well.

[...Anyway...]

We should remain quiet about our normal activities for now. At least until we have an idea of how such things will be received.

[Not that there's a whole lot of society going on right now, but still.]

[Danny hasn't killed anyone here yet, thank God, but he isn't going to pretend that the thought of doing so hasn't occurred at least once or twice since his arrival.

That said...]

I have been thinking about setting up an office for myself here, sort of. Mostly for the people that prefer getting a human doctor's opinion instead of going to the robots at the hospital.

[Which, hasn't been easy when his best means of doing so at the moment is a previously abandoned apartment. And is probably giving off a back-alley vibe in comparison to an official hospital.

But he hasn't actually done anything awful to anyone here yet, so! It's fine, nothing to worry about.]

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TDM 008: A WALK IN THE THEME PARK

00. Arrival

I. SIX FLAGELLANTS

II. LIKE A FIREWORK

III. MISTLETOE

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cw: healthy ways of dealing with anger involving guns/description of gunshot trauma I'm sorry

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