TDM 009: I'M IN LIKE WITH YOU

[erkumods]

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

Comments

[sally_ho]

It's like drinking from a water hydrant when all she'd wanted was a trickle. Sally scrapes a knuckle against her chin. "And are those bars anywhere a girl can walk to with soaking boots?"

But she should be grilling him for more. For instance: Monsters? What?!

[zechs_isonfire]

Considering how badly this place could treat a person, Zechs was only attempting to give Sally as much ammunition as possible. He nodded his head. "If you don't mind the walk. That's what I've done, so far - any request made of the Augur in return for its ... requests ... has a chance to be perverted. So I haven't made a gamble to ask for a civilian vehicle yet."

After a moment, he added, "And at such a place, you could ask anyone to corroborate what I'm telling you."

[sally_ho]

Sally quirks her mouth at that. Sir, you've lived your life zipping around in a mobile suit or blasting off into space. She grew up trekking around her home town's mountains without losing breath, even when she wasn't in the military. She doesn't say that, of course.

"You already know I'm going to. So, what are you going by, living here?" Are you Treize's right-hand man, or are you the crazed Milliardo Peacecraft, would-be god of the stars and tyrant of the colonies? Sally is doing her best to remain even-keeled in tone, but despite all of Noin's fond words, he's one of the few she will not even give the illusion of dropping her guard around.

[zechs_isonfire]

“Zechs Merquise,” Zechs told her simply, and just as simply, “Milliardo Peacecraft is dead, and may he remain that way.”

For all of his sins, he felt less ashamed of one name over the other. Zechs Merquise was the name of a soldier and murder from the beginning. There was no family he betrayed there.

He nodded to her. “If you should ever need assistance ... there’s many who would help you here, and I would be one of them.”

Not that he thought she’d ever ask him.

[sally_ho]

She turns and hikes her boots by the strings off one shoulder, clunking them against her thigh. Giving him such a look, she says, "Zechs Merquise, are you propositioning me?"

Let him squirm a little, feel as uncomfortable as she does in taking advice from a two-faced killer. "This place really is hell."

[zechs_isonfire]

Zechs nearly stumbled. "No. That wasn't my intent at all."

He took a moment to compose himself after that, and realized, "Given how this place works, I understand how what I said could be taken in such a way. I apologize. But I am not - I don't -" Zechs felt awkward. "- I only offer that sort of assistance if the other person asks for it explicitly. And I'm willing to help you without any expectations set by the Augur or otherwise, in the same way I would in our own reality. I hope I'm now clear."

[sally_ho]

Watching him twist in the wind satisfies the agent... for now, at least. "Hmm," she says, not quite a laugh, not quite a look of disappointment. She masters the impulse both towards revulsion and amusement, and flaps her free hand. "Walk me to where I can get some place out of the way of those damned robots, then. Don't worry," she adds, "you're not my type."

A moment later, she adds, "You understand I'm going to keep my eyes on you. If I hear of any plots..." here, of all places? Sally halts herself for a moment, for once uncertain. "I'll know." Will she be on his side, or against him? Against something like the Augur, even? She doesn't actually know, and that fills her with something cold and unyielding, something that won't give her the bite to make good on the beginning of her threat.

[zechs_isonfire]

With a nod, Zechs would certainly lead her as she'd asked. He'd meant what he said, that he'd assist her if she requested it. And trusting him enough to be lead to a slightly safer location was ... something, at least. Even if the term 'trust' was a stretch.

That warning, however ... Zechs nodded. "You've little grounds to trust me. But I respect the pilots more than any other. I don't believe they're helpless - I'm certain they would kill me swiftly if it was ever needed."

As if that was reassuring to him, almost, she might get a sense. "But all the same. You have my word my regard for them will not be shaken."

[sally_ho]

"Oh, don't go trying to get on my good side," Sally huffs, casting a look up at him from the side. "They're good kids, sure." And in a black-or-white, life-or-death situation, she knows she can trust them.

Something, though, about everything of this situation, the mealiness of an island meant to contort one's very self into slavery of a kind... it is sticking in her craw.

Sally, feeling a protective urge rising, settles her hand on her empty holster at her hip, thumbing the raw leather where a pistol ought to be. "If you go feeding them bullshit, I'll know. You brainwashed a lot of people. They deserve a chance to think for themselves." They'd done a good job of it, going through the war. Sally's of two minds about how they'll come around to this terrible idea for a prisoner spa retreat... but Zechs' even-tempered words worry her.

[zechs_isonfire]

This finally, at last, ruffled Zechs' feathers. His brows furrowed, and his voice finally gained a little sharpness. "You mistake me for someone else."

His glance at her was unapologetic. "I've never asked anyone to do something I was not willing to do myself. And there is plenty I would do in the stead of others, to spare them from - I would never convince someone to do something against their will. You can lay many sins upon my feet, Agent, and all of them I would be guilty of. That is not one of them. And - the pilots had convinced me of the error of my ways, in the end. They're the persuasive ones. I am very aware of just how firm their convictions are."

[sally_ho]

Sally was far from affronted, either by the content of his words or the vociferousness of them. "Is that so? From what I see, you wind up with people singing your praises for no very particularly good reason other than proficiency." A bitter beat, maybe, but it's hard listening to apologists who are also good friends. "I'm damned tired of it. There's more to life after war than strength, or skill... And most of them haven't lived long enough to realize that, yet." Neither has Zechs, for that matter, if all accounts are correct.

Sally stops to face him one last time. "You know what, I think I'll find my own way." And, tone raising back to something peaceable, because she doesn't want to leave this man gritting her teeth, "you take care, Zechs Merquise." Even so, it's hard not to make the statement come off like a threat.

[zechs_isonfire]

"I've never asked them to," Zechs told her, and suspected - "I never asked her to. And I told her to remain on Earth. You cannot lay that at my feet."

The fact that Noin - a woman he greatly respected - still showed such blind loyalty to him, to her detriment - it pained him. And it's an easy wound for Sally to strike home, true to his heart, where he unfortunately cared for his friends.

But he didn't strike back. He nodded his head just once, and his words were more sincere. "Take care, Agent Po."