![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
TDM 009: I'M IN LIKE WITH YOU
| TDM 009: I'M IN LIKE WITH YOU |
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. STARGAZER On the first night that new arrivals wash ashore, the moon rises. It's full and beautiful and surrounded by stars. The robots quickly bring old, dusty telescopes out of storage and line them up on the beach to help people get a truly spectacular view. "Look to the heavens! Behold, the chicken, the cat, the owl, the donkey!" It's... the cock, the pussy, the hooters, and the ass. For the rest of the night, characters will become fixated on the specific asset associated with the constellation they've gotten an eyeful of. Whether this leads to some body worship or just casual appreciation is up to you. You can learn about the stars and constellations later this month in some of the rare, non-pornographic books in the library. (More info will go up soon, so please be patient!) II. STIMULATING CONVERSATION An ancient courting ritual has been announced! It involves the give-and-take of candy hearts with slogans printed on them. Of course, since these hearts are being manufactured by robots, their sense of taste is a little... off? Or perhaps off-putting? "You'll do." "5/10." "Acceptable." "Sloppy Seconds." Receiving a negative heart makes one feel insecure, jealous, and submissive. "Be mine." "Nicest ass." "Swell bulge." "They're good lays, Bront." Receiving a positive heart will make one feel confident, boastful, and dominant. Your friendly neighborhood 'bots will give them out to anyone who asks - and maybe even those who don't. III. Eat Or Dare The robots have set up a stall by the beach with a banner that reads: Eat Or Dare. They have procured bigger candy hearts than ever before -- fist-sized and larger -- with actions written on them instead of derogatory slogans. "Take a dive." "Lick me." "Get handsy." The name of the game is to follow the instructions or forfeit the challenge by making the evidence disappear into your mouth. Delicious! Those who eat the candy hearts will feel themselves getting giddy and unreasonably invested in the love affairs of others. They will feel compelled to play matchmaker to spread the cheer. N A V I G A T I O N |
no subject
Sometimes he misses those days on Peacemillion, odd as they had seemed. Today, especially.]
Duo Maxwell. [Wu Fei isn't in a much better state. His hair elastic has been lost in the sea somewhere, and the rest is a wet and clinging mess. ] Why are you here?
[It's very nearly a rhetorical question, though he'll take an answer gladly enough.]
What is this?
no subject
[ to be fair, he did say from the beginning that anyone who saw him would die. By that theory, Duo being sneaky is actually a courtesy to those around him that may not want to mysteriously be shot to death or something aboard whatever ship he was on at the time.
Trying to flick his bangs out of his face unsuccessfully, Duo can’t help the sour almost-snarl of a look Wu Fei gets, at first.
If he knew what the hell was going on he certainly wouldn’t have chosen this entrance as he peels his jacket free from his shoulders, throwing it to the sand with a certain venom behind him.
Despite all the cheery smiles and blazé jokes - let it never be said Duo Maxwell didn’t possess one hell of a temper. ]
If I knew, Chang, I wouldn’t have fucking chosen that entrance. [ Duo indicates briefly to his hair, which he’s already despairing trying to sort out. ]
You haven’t sorted out like eight different possibilities yet?
no subject
[Read for: "shut up." Wu Fei's no more pleased about the situation that Duo is. But he follows suit with his own jacket, trying to shake the water off with a dissatisfied air. It was a waste for this to be ruined, and it'll be annoying to have it replaced. His shirt clings to every inch, soaked through; Wu Fei's maintained his wartime fitness.
But Maxwell has a point. Where they drugged? Not impossible, but neither was it likely. Nothing that could keep them under for long enough to be transported to a tropical shore would be without side effects. Memory-altering substances were not known to be reliable. He can think of no reason why amnesia would have struck them both, or even why he would be anywhere near another of their little club, just now. And hadn't Duo taken off for the colonies at first opportunity?]
...This is not a coincidence, that it's us.
[Someone must be targeting Gundam Pilots. But why? Wu Fei slicked back his hair with his free hand and glared as if the bright sunlight would bring answers.]
no subject
[ Duo’s sour mood is showing in full view for the moment, soaked to the bone and pissed as a wet cat about it.
With his jacket off Duo’s in little more than a weird zip-necked tank top, still as willowy as ever and as low gravity would allow. His arms have a scar here or there, though Duo’s hands show the brunt of his years working and thieving.
Hands which are currently digging through the base of that thick braid at the moment, dislodging a few items that Duo throws on top of his jacket - mainly to reduce the possibility of rust transferring to his hair as well.
A bobby pin or three, an honest to goodness lock pick, a small switchblade all come out, one at a time, and hit the leather jacket sprawled unceremoniously in the sand. Duo’s toolbox isn’t yet exhausted as Wu Fei speaks, and soon he’s grumbling in response : ]
Course not. It’s never an accident when it comes to us. The real question is just why.
If they want us here for another war effort Deathscythe’s in little pieces per this “peace forever” bullshit, so...
no subject
[Lest you forget the way he carried an actual sword in his cockpit all that time.]
If they are attempting to start another war, it is enough to kill them. [He's not doing this again; too much blood, too many innocents, too much pain and uncertainty. Wu Fei is many things, but a slow learner isn't one of them.] Do you have any explanation for this? Or do you only have complaints.
no subject
None of us do. But it helps. [ Also for those of them who.. you know. Didn't bother to carry swords and instead basically street fought anyone who wanted anything hand to hand. Let it never be said Duo Maxwell wasn't a scrapper with anyone who wanted to get some, basically. ]
Right now? I only got complaints. [ Well.. he's honest? Duo puffs as he finally brings out one last tool, a wrapped razor of some kind to throw down on the jacket waiting on the sand. ]
Give me a minute to stop being pissed off about the amount of time it's gonna take to shed all this sand and I'll be able to string some theories.
no subject
Wu Fei turns away, giving Duo an illusion of privacy and the trust of his back while he waits. It's nothing worth mentioning; just a beach, and the water, and the salt wind. They could be totally alone in all the world.]
This doesn't make any sense.
no subject
No, it doesn't. [ Duo concedes, swinging that long rope of hair over his shoulder to attempt to wring some of the water and, therefore, weight out of it as he thinks. Now that he's not so blindly pissed off it's a little easier to sit and actually think of what the hell could be happening here, though he's hardly happy about it.
Creating a puddle of wet sand beneath his braid, Duo muses : ]
That's why I was thinkin' gundams. I can hardly see anywhere that's a vacation wanting our 'must always be busy' asses around to make it miserable for everyone else.
no subject
[He feels that someone in the Preventers would have noticed such a large amount of gundanium being moved to one place, even if it were only in small amounts, over time. There weren't all that many reasonable or legitimate uses for it, after all. Building even one gundam more ought to have been impossible.]
...We destroyed them, don't you remember?
[He understood the necessity, acknowledged his mistakes, but still. Even when he had been all alone, by his own choice, no less, Nataku had been with him. It was a necessary wound, but that didn't make it less painful.]
Foolish also, to kidnap someone [Or maybe just Wu Fei, who's not the sort to respond to hostage threats, or any other kind of threat, in a cooperative manner.] and then expect them to willingly fight on their behalf.
no subject
I know we did. Sue me for being optimistic. [ It isn't exactly a secret that Duo thinks this 'world peace forever' talk is all bullshit, really. He hadn't been all that thrilled about giving up Deathscythe in the first place, had almost hoped that the Mariemaia episode might make people realize totally destroying Gundams would be foolish -
And yet he'd ended up self-destructing the Gundam anyway. ]
That's fair enough, though. [ Duo himself wouldn't be too inclined to fight for people who'd brought him somewhere without his knowledge, but well. Here he is. ]
I can't think of any reason someone would want us other than.. you know. Our skills that can't really be put on the job market.
no subject
We should split up, for reconnaissance. [policy and wisdom dictated that they absolutely not do that. But as a fellow gundam pilot, Wu Fei assumes Duo too knows how to operate alone, and without a safety net.] Meet here again, in a couple of hours.
no subject
[ Duo didn't claim to know what the hell was going on here, honestly. In fact, he's still a little too focused on his hair being an absolute disaster and how disgusting wet shoes feel.
Which is exactly why he looks so disgusted as Wufei immediately launches in to reconnaissance, nose scrunching and shoulders slouching in the way of a pouty teen rather quickly. There's a reason he fucked off in to space instead of going in to Preventers and, it would seem, that reason is doing what he wants. ]
Can't we like... dry off first?
no subject
Suit yourself. [Whether or not it's true, you can't deny you come across as distinctly unreliable, Duo.] I'm not waiting.
[And, truly, he isn't. Chop-chop, zero-two, if you want to have anything to show for your time!]
no subject
[ Wufei you under estimate Duo's ability to hate things that are inconvenient to him. He makes a bit of a mocking expression as Wufei tells him to suit himself, tongue sticking out a little before his eyes roll.
Look, no one said he wasn't childish as hell sometimes, okay? ]
Then go, man. I'm a big kid. I can take care of it.
Go take your wet t-shirt around and ask for help.
no subject
[This last being called over one shoulder, though with an accompanying blind wave, to indicate the lack of actual sentiment, vague as it was. Duo wouldn't sit there, forever, after all; as ridiculous as his priorities often seemed, he was ostensibly as much a Gundam Pilot as any of them. But whether or not he sits there forever, he'll hopefully still be sitting there half an hour later when Wufei appears again, far down the beach, but moving with speed towards him.]
...There is a hangar, a mile, that way. [He points in the indicated direction. Wufei's a little out of breath. Not from the run, really, but from the magnitude of what he'd seen.] They have our Gundams.
[He needn't mention that that is absolutely impossible. They already had that conversation, after all.]
no subject
[ Duo gives some dismissive little wave as Wufei tells him that he will, grimacing slightly at moving around in his wet jeans and the rest of it. When Wufei returns Duo's lounged on a rock, soaking up the heat and sunshine, his shirt tossed aside to dry along with his jacket, shoes perched upside down for the exact same reason.
His braid, too, is pushed outward to dry into some crusty form of its usual braided shape, which is why Duo kind of groggily cracks an eye open as Wufei approaches, then, only somewhat half listening at first. Honestly, he's expecting some sort of long talk about how the hell he's still here laying and drying out, but instead -
- Instead, he hears the word 'gundam' and is sitting up, quickly, brows furrowed in confusion. ]
Our Gundams? [ Say no more, Wufei, Duo is moving to gather up his shirt and pull it back over his head, near feverishly gathering his things before he asks, almost desperately - ]
How the fuck do they have them!?
no subject
They are most likely copies of some kind.
[Because the originals and the aforementioned smithereens they were blown to. Even reconstructing them from pieces should not have been possible, and would have left signs.]
I cannot be certain how accurate.
no subject
But then how good would they be? [ Is he already considering fighting his way out of here? Possibly. Duo's barely slung his jacket back over his shoulder before he's near jogging toward the hangar, clearly eager to see any form of Deathscythe Hell, even if it was a weird copy of the black-cloaked Gundam he hadn't seen in so long.
Still, he's too curious not to check it out, casting a side long glance at the 05 pilot. ]
I would ask why you didn't investigate before, but. This way we both can at the same time, to be fair.
Anyone else's suits here that you recognize?
no subject
[As a Preventer, even one mobile suit would be a problem. In any capacity, a Gundam, multiple Gundams, these scenarios would constitute a serious threat to any idea of peace. The idea of new Gundams, of mobile suits in configurations and forms that no one had seen before? New models. New construction, new resources, new... threats. Threats to the very peace they had all fought for, that so many had died for.
Someone, possibly many, were going to be very sorry they had involved Duo Maxwell and Chang Wu Fei in their little warmongering scheme.]
You know what this means.
no subject
Eye for an eye or whatever.
Still, Duo's main focus right now is to see Deathscythe again. ]
What? That we're maybe gonna have to fight out way out of here or something? Count me in. I wanted to keep Deathscythe anyway.
no subject
Not before we— [pay them back. That's what he would have said.]
...
[It was hideous, then, to remember... to startle back to the present where there would be no payback. They should gather evidence enough to expose this plot, blow the hangar sky-high, and steal a shuttlecraft or its equivalent to make their escape. They should be dedicated to peace, more than their own adrenaline-fueled self-satisfaction. His smile faded, mutated into a simple nod, which wasn't an agreement]
You know why we shouldn't. [Nataku. It hurts. But he knows what is right and what is wrong, here. That is true even if, like Duo, he hates it.] And we cannot leave the others, in any case.
no subject
Somehow he's surprised as Wufei's face morphs into something else, a small frown crossing his face before it melts back into determined lines. ]
I don't buy that total peace forever bullshit, Wufei. Fuck that. If they give us the tools to destroy them, I say we take the opportunity for the fact that they took us, too.
[ And Duo can't stomach having to blow up Deathscythe again, not by the way he's nearly flying in to the hangar as they reach it, his momentum making it hard to stop. Two, three steps happen before Duo comes to rest, shifting to a wider stance as his turns his head to look up.
Above him stands the folded black wings of Deathscythe Hell, its serious face staring straight out, vaguely demonic as it is. Next to it stands Wing Zero with those white chrome wings, and to the other side, Altron. For a moment Duo is inscrutable, though the way he swallows hard explains for him what he's holding back on without all the actual, outward fuss, and Duo releases a long breath out he didn't know he'd been holding. ]
No. That's it, Wufei. That's Deathscythe.
no subject
Yes, from the outside. [It warrants a closer look, at least.] It is definitely Deathscythe.
[Because even if it's not the same exact gundam, it's still the same model, same material, same experience of looking up into the almost human face of a monster made for war, named for a god, and representative of the spirit of your home. Wufei can't actually make direct eye-contact with his own, a fact that he can barely acknowledge, let alone express.]
I'm... going to keep moving. [It's justifiable. Particularly if Duo is going to reduce this place to rubble, he'll need to gather more information. There is, after all, significant illegality here, one way or another, and Maxwell has always been a highly skilled mechanic, in Wu Fei's experience. He is capable of making the evaluation on his own.]
no subject
Well I'm definitely gonna check the works, too. [ Duo knows his own work, and the Sweeper's work, enough to know where something may have been tinkered with. It takes Duo a moment to acknowledge what Wufei says, turning for a moment to make an almost absent-minded little 'uh-huh' of acknowledgment. ]
I'm gonna get climbing. [ Because of course Duo couldn't leave it be for a moment longer. He's too used to climbing the massive legs of his gundam to get to the next part that he begins with a kind of assurance only a Gundam pilot could have, ditching his jacket on Deathscythe's foot.
When Wufei is done casing the place, or perhaps curious, Duo has the cockpit of his gundam open, a few panels popped and is, intently, looking through all the little details, a small furrow in his brow as he does so. ]