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

[braidedwonder]

↷ MISSION : ARRIVAL

[ Waterlogged, covered in sand, and vaguely feeling sick to his stomach, Duo Maxwell comes to shore. The long rope of hair cascading down his back probably weighs more than his head, by now, and Duo begins his grumpy arrival by making sure to keep his hair on his shoulder.

Otherwise it’s a headache that’s more literal than figurative as he trudges off to dry off.

Later, new arrivals or others around will find the former Deathscythe pilot posted up in one of the shanty buildings, his clothes scattered to drip dry in sun beams or where ever he could find a raised surface, reduced to his underwear for the time being since he was soaked down to his boots. His muttering would be the first indication that someone was there, though, a little chorus of - fucking water, fucking sand every so often cresting louder than his other miserable mutterings.

Should you choose to investigate, there’s Duo Maxwell, reedy and pale from his time in space, a few scattered scars, but mostly attempting to comb out that long hair from bottom to top with what he has to allow it to dry.

He hears an intruder faster than he spots them, sighing out : ]

What’d’ya want? Can’t a guy get his shit together in peace?

↷ MISSION : STIMULATING CONVERSATION

[ Perhaps as a former L2 kid Duo has been a bit behind the curve, so to speak. This whole candy hearts thing is new to him on the whole, but of course he’ll take to it readily. Or at the very least is open to trying.

So he asks a robot about them, receiving a few pieces of candy dumped in his hands for inspection.

… Of course, ‘Acceptable’ is the first one turned upward, and though Duo has a bit of a laugh about it, it’s.. well. Not really ideal to give to most people.

He moves along anyway, assessing the crowd around for a moment before he makes his move.

Depending on whether he’s in a sweet or a devious move, he will boldly traipse up to the person he’s set eyes on, reaching out to deliver your choice of :

”You’ll Do” or ”Swell Bulge.” to your character.

Pick your poison? ]

↷ MISSION : EAT OR DARE

[ Now this is Duo’s kind of challenge. He sees a few of the options and does little more than raise his brows and laugh, ever jovial in the face of a challenge. Though, to be fair…

Most of his challenges in life had been in the face of ‘lose your life’ or something to that effect, so getting a little handsy, or something to that effect? Is practically child’s play for him. And so, bold as ever, the braided pilot swaggers up to be offered a candy heart, hands out eagerly as it’s placed there for him to read –

“Eat Me.” ]

Interesting. Wonder what counts.

↷ MISSION : EAT OR DARE 2.0

[ Alternately, Duo gets a candy with a slogan he isn’t really willing to fulfill, and decides to eat the chalky candy no matter how long it takes to chew through. Immediately he’s feeling a good bit more bright and giddy, wandering amongst people with an easy, almost snarky smirk gracing that baby face of his.

He may notice what he thinks is a pining look, or a stare that goes for a little too long, and sidle up to a stranger in the crowd - ]

Hey. So, you gonna talk to ‘em?

Need me to break the ice for you?

↷ MISSION : CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

[ Is there a prompt here you’d like to do but I didn’t put it on here? Hit me with it and let’s play. :)

Any questions just hit me with a message, but I’m sure anything will be fine! ]

[sanc]

[ Relena had heard tale that a new gaggle of people were starting to show up at the beach. It only seems right to go and check to see if anyone is injured or in need of some help.

Color her surprised when she comes across a familiar face - one she had assumed was safely home. Maybe something had happened? Maybe he hadn't left at all?

She takes the risk of hurrying over, never afraid of the consequences of approaching a pilot too fast. ]

Duo? There you are! What happened? Are you alright?

[braidedwonder]

Relena? [ Duo questions it from under a sheet of hair, clearly recognizing her voice but also unsure how the hell she'd get here. He isn't sure how the hell he got here, to be fair, and now he's sitting here, dripping wet, trying to work out the mess that is his hair, slowly beginning to wave as it air dries, little by little.

Duo's spent a lot of time lamenting how much sand is probably in his hair at this point and unsure how the hell he was going to solve that. ]

Hell if I know. I just came outta the water soaking wet and covered in fuckin' sand and I don't think my hair's ever gonna recover.

[ And he sounds just as irritated as he is, at the moment, pushing wet hair back from his face, auburn hair trailing down his back. ] How the hell do we even get to this place?

[sanc]

[ Ah, he doesn't remember. Strange, though she supposes the Augur could have done something to cause it. There was plenty else they had done in her time there to alter the mind and the body. ]

We can deal with all of those things back at the apartment, Duo, promise.

[ It's clear he's more than upset. She can understand it if he doesn't recall that he'd been here, at least for now. ]

You saw those automatons, right? They are, as far as we know, the cause of all of this or they play the largest part in it as far as we know right now. I can't explain how, though. It's beyond my understanding.

[braidedwonder]

There’s an apartment? [ granted, this is relena. He shouldn’t be surprised at all and yet there he is, casting an almost suspicious glance at Relena through his bangs, still trying to figure out a way to salvage this long, thick sheet of hair he has.

Though her explanation about the automatons gets a less than friendly grunt out of Duo, who quickly mutters : ]

So they’re the ones we gotta blow up to get some answers, huh? [ which is, obviously, not even close to a joke when it comes to Duo.

He doesn’t give anyone much time before his angry little rant continues, unfortunately : ]

All a guy wants is to get away from shit like oceans and birds and spend as much time in low grav as possible and where do I show up?

In an ocean with fucking robots to welcome me.

At some level I really hope this is just an insanely realistic trip of some kind. [ it isn’t, but that’s possibly a hell of a cross section for Relena on what Duo had been up to in his time in space. ]

stimulating conversation

[heeroics]

[ They never spoke of The Saltwater Incident again, which was just as well. Heero understood very little about hair except that - for reasons which were entirely beyond him - it was very important to Relena and to Duo both. What he did did know was that they were still sweeping sand off the floor... but he would take that minor inconvenience if it meant having one of his few friends back in his life.

There were adjustments to make. Duo didn't remember everything. That was fine - he was still Duo.

And even after so many months on this island, Heero was still very much Heero. ]

I'll do what?

[ His eyes narrowed at the impractically sized candy heart in Heero's own version of obvious confusion. ]

[braidedwonder]

It ain't that literal. [ Duo laughs despite himself, knowing that he should've expected it. And well.. to a point he did. Enough that he'd held off from giving Heero something way too openly flirtatious so that he doesn't have to explain how long he's been staring at Heero's ass in those spandex shorts over the years. ]

It means I'd take ya if, you know. [ Here, Duo smirks in that way that says someone should absolutely smack him. ]

No better offers.

[heeroics]

[ Duo might have yielded more immediate results with something more obvious, because Heero is still navigating some treacherous territory between what they've done and what they... technically haven't done yet. Which means he's battened down the emotional hatches, as it were.

That grating smirk, however, is familiar enough to cut through whatever doubts Heero is shouldering to stir something so rote in him it's almost instinctual. He wonders if Duo is messing with him.

He looks down in the candy at his hands. Heero has eaten worse (ration bars), but the chalky, heart-shaped block doesn't actually register as food to him. Then he looks back to Duo, deadpan. ]

And where will you take me?

[braidedwonder]

[ Duo, with all of his lacking memory of what had happened in this place .. treads carefully. They haven’t yet broken through that odd tension of understanding where he stands, and Duo..

Is just happy to have Heero count him as a friend and ally without possibly jumping in to the shit pile with both feet in his boots by trying to push past it just yet.

In some ways, he can tell something is off. Can tell there’s this odd space he can feel but can’t quite place that hadn’t been there before, but he doesn’t know how to ask. What would be the “good” result of a question like that? A “good” way to ask?

He hasn’t quite sussed that out yet, and so will avoid it.

His brows peak for a moment as Heero asks, Duo’s cheeks blowing up for a moment before he makes a little shrugging motion. ]

I dunno. Feel like the gentlemanly thing to do would be to let you choose.

Arrival

[afoxbyanyothername]

[Kurama would mostly spend the day roaming and avoiding other new arrivals, wanting more information than they'd be likely to give, but he's not entirely avoiding them, and the array of clothes laid out for drying catches his attention momentarily.

Long enough to see some of it trying to slip wetly from where it is perched, and to take pity on the other new arrival, knowing if it falls it will certainly end up more of a mess than the beach would already have made it.

So as he's setting the article straight, and ignoring the complaining from inside the shante, he is a bit surprised to hear a far more directed complaint. Surprised enough that he just walks over to the entrance, garment still in hand, to poke his head in.]

Sorry... These were sliding off and I thought I would keep it from happening. I can put them on the ground if you like.

[And, politely, he holds up the piece of clothing he means]

[braidedwonder]

Nah, I'll handle it. [ Duo stands, drying strands of sea-monster looking hair draping down his back and nearly to his knees for the moment, reaching for the pants that had threatened to fall to the ground. ]

I don't need any more sand anywhere, or I might genuinely have a screaming fit.

[ He says as though he hadn't already, but that's beside the point. ]

[afoxbyanyothername]

[Kurama seems content to release the pants to their owner, taking in the mess of hair as he does, feeling a little bad for the kid in front of him.

Tangled, wet hair and a mood that is obviously unhappy about it all, not that Kurama himself was all too happy about things, is a dangerous combination.]

Sand sadly will go exactly where it wants. It looks like it avoided your hair, at least, overall.

[braidedwonder]

False. [ Duo throws it out with a rueful little glance, taking a moment to put his pants somewhere in the sun where they, hopefully, will not fall off. In the sun the black clothes should dry off quickly enough, though perhaps a bit more starchy than before. ]

I can feel it in my roots from the water. And if there's that much close to my scalp I don't wanna know how much there is in the other couple feet of it.

ARRIVAL

[zechs_isonfire]

[ Zechs had heard that Duo Maxwell had been interred within the hospital, perhaps indefinitely. It was ... his thoughts on that were complicated. Garma said that some might return after a few weeks, or even a month. Others, might be there indefinitely. It was a stark contrast to the fact that it seemed death had no consequence here. ]

[ So, when Zechs felt relief when he saw the pilot again - no matter his hostile tone - perhaps it didn't require much explanation. Duo had friends here; they'd care about if he was missing. That is all. ]

[ He held up his hands, and calmly said; ]

It's only me. I hadn't realized you'd only recently recovered from hospital.

[braidedwonder]

[ In all of their adventures in Earth and Space, Duo hadn't quite thought about when he might see Zechs again in person, if he's honest. But then again, a sworn Spacer who's got his fingers in just about every pie he can to stock pile a few accounts (other than the money he'd stolen through the war of course) - he's been a little too busy to keep in contact with many people.

Hilde's given him so much hell about it already he can barely fathom how much other people might glower at the thought of him, but that's hardly the point.

His head shoots up as he registers that voice, already turning to confirm the face matches -

Only to hear the word 'hospital' and become very, very confused. ]

Uh... what? I wasn't in a hospital that I know of.

Floated up out of the ocean like a .. weird sea creature.

[zechs_isonfire]

[ As if he was entirely new to this place. The method of his arrival itself was ... ]

So you ... remember nothing.

[ Zechs was a difficult man to read even without his mask, abandoned years ago, but he seemed ... concerned? ]

Have you learned anything about our kidnappers at all?

Arrival

[newtyping]

If that's what you really want, yes.

I've been here a bit longer. I thought I'd offer a hand to new arrivals. I could leave, if you prefer.

[braidedwonder]

You got shampoo? [ Seems like a bit of a shot in the dark so far as things have gone so far in this place... but it's worth that shot, he thinks.

Duo flips his hair out of his face, finally getting a good glance at the other man without his hair in the way. ]

How long've you been here?

[newtyping]

I think I know where you can find some.

[There's no way Garma Zabi has hair like that without product, straight up.]

I came here the same way you probably did, a month ago.

EAT OR DARE

[shangrilady]

[ Oh hey, Duo's back? That's not great for him, but cool beans for Elle, or so she thinks.

So she leans into his space pretty casually to peer over his shoulder. ]

I could think of a few things.

[braidedwonder]

[ Duo.. has to stop himself from reacting a good bit more violently than the quick turn of his head as he registers someone violating his space so laissez-faire. His hands, after all, are weapons all their own even if he doesn't necessarily think it'll be a slick move to try and gather anything off of himself at the moment.

Instead the moment of total tension melts in to one of those lopsided smiles as he turns to look at her, brows raising suggestively - ]

And those would be?

[shangrilady]

[ Elle would probably deserve it, and maybe even agree that she deserved it after her broken ribs or kidneys or whatever healed. ]

Well it doesn't mean that I'm gonna throw you in the oven now does it?

[ She winks back at him. ]

I wonder what people could do with their mouths in a place like this?

[sivispacemparabellum]

[By this point, Dorothy knows that it's practically scheduled - new arrivals show up at this time of the month, and always washed up on the beach. Though there's no pleasant way to get kidnapped to an island, she's entertained trying to approach the Augur with suggestions for alternatives.

She's strolling around both for exercise and to investigate the new arrivals when she hears the expletive filled grumbling about sand from one of the shanty buildings. Though she's never met Duo Maxwell in person before, she's heard his voice on broadcasts and seen his face. And certainly she knows of all of the Gundam pilots, even though she's only met three out of five of them.

When she peeks in, she's simultaneously amused and sympathetic. Sand in one's hair is indeed unpleasant - especially when one's hair is very long.]

Duo Maxwell. Of all the possible circumstances we could have met under, I can't say I was expecting this at all.

[She knows he'd been here before, but the message she'd sent went unread.]

Get dressed and I'll take you somewhere where you can have a shower, comb your hair and dry off.

[braidedwonder]

[ Well he can't not look when there's an unfamiliar voice saying his full name, now, can he? Of course, he's heard legend of Dorothy Catalonia, the woman who stabbed Quatre Winner at some point in the war, and that's probably how he, vaguely, knows of her as well.

Quatre and Duo were close enough that it was inevitable.

Still... he isn't just going to trust her not to lead him somewhere unfortunate, even in this weird place where he's risen out of the ocean like Loch Ness. ]

And where is this place, exactly? I don't just follow people with long hair around on good faith, you know.

[sivispacemparabellum]

The mansion I'm currently living in.

[Is it any surprise that Dorothy Catalonia has managed to land herself luxurious living arrangements even on this bizarre island? Honestly, that had been more a matter of she and Treize simply befriending people who already had one, but she doesn't bother offering any explanation behind it.

Instead, she lets that small tidbit of information sink in. Perhaps it's a risk for him to follow her, but it's also a risk for her to allow herself to be followed home, given the skills the Gundam pilots have.]

Consider it extending the proverbial olive branch. There's no point in being at odds when we're both abductees.