TDM 010: PARTNER UP, PARTNER

[erkumods]

TDM 010: PARTNER UP, PARTNER

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” barracks. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● I. Laid Bare Basics There is a new addition to the scenery at the beach, and everyone is welcome! Especially new arrivals, who will be ushered to the recently-established Laid Bare Spa, where (provided they don't slip away from the bots' helpful grasp) their uncomfortably wet, sandy clothing will be stripped away and they will be lovingly pampered by the cold metal hands of the resident robots. Long-time Islanders and newbies alike are welcome to enjoy such amenities as hot and cold baths, sauna rooms, scrub-downs, thorough whippings with birch brooms, skin treatments, massage and energy work, and more! All rooms are thoughtfully decorated with tasteful murals of naked and disrobing bodies. Maybe you'll see someone you recognize?! (Maybe you'll see... you?) Islanders who happen to find their clothing mysteriously missing are welcome to borrow a Laid Bare branded towel to cover up with on their way home. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● II. Tattoo to You, Too The Augur understands that sometimes, it's difficult to find a partner to indulge you in those favorite Auspicious Acts - especially for new arrivals, but surely even long-time residents could benefit from a little assistance now and then. That is why ever-benevolent entity has gifted Her precious Islanders with tattoos which feature their most secret, urgent, and/or shameful of desires! (Even if that desire is to simply complete a Bingo.) The tattoo may be a picture or a word, and it can appear anywhere on the body. At first it is pleasantly warm to the touch, like a soft glow of light on your skin. It soon becomes apparent - through either robot advice or a notification on your communication device - that your task is to find a match for your tattoo and complete the depicted act with that person. The longer one goes without completing the act, the more the tattoo seems to heat up, until it feels like it is burning into your skin. Take too long, and the tattoo may become permanent. Otherwise, the tattoo will fade within hours of completing the Auspicious Act. [ For TDMers: feel free to select any favorite kink for this prompt! If you complete a kink that doesn't appear on your card, you may switch one square for the completed kink. For current players: by participating on (tagging into) this TDM, you may switch one kink into your card (it must be the kink in the toplevel prompt you responded to). ] ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● III. Creepy Crawly Caterpillar Crawl Are you on the hunt for credits? Then have the robots got a task for you! The 'bots of the Nameless Island are recruiting Islanders to go bug collecting in the caves, crevices, and hollowed-out logs of the wilderness. The quarry? The (shudder - literally, the robots will shudder) doom-summoning harbinger bug. They describe these creepy creatures as fat, fuzzy, and rainbow-colored, with long, fluffy antennae that look like rabbit's ears. The robots describe these critters as so dangerous that Islanders should only hunt them in pairs. Should your team return successful, you both will be rewarded very handsomely for every caterpillar caught! The bugs are typically very docile and seem to enjoy soft pets, judging by the cooing and squeaking noises they make (especially to scritches behind their "ears"). Poke or disturb them however, and they may bite! Body parts bitten by angry caterpillars will swell up cartoonishly, and can only be treated by having someone else suck the venom out. Good thing you're traveling with a partner! The 'bots strongly recommend against keeping these little buggies as pets, but they're not your dad. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

Matt Jamison | OC, the worst sex mage you've never heard of | OTA, immediately NSFW

[semicharmed]

00. arrival (aka instant nudity)

Self-care: it's so important. So one night after class, Matt lights some candles and draws himself a ritual bath. The spell isn't anything fancy--a meditation for emotional renewal and good luck in future hookups. He inks some sigils on his stomach and arms, fashions his painstakingly curated flowers into two bracelets and a crown, and lowers himself into the warm water.

He wakes up … somewhere else.

"Ff--?"

That's salt water in his mouth, so: already bad. Matt tries to sit up, only to find that the water is suddenly a lot deeper, and around him there's no bathtub. There's nothing but horizon and shore.

Cue a 100% naked mage staggering from the sea like a lightly tattooed Venus, only a gangly and horrified one who's spitting out seawater. He smells like lavender bath salts, there are mystical symbols on his body, and he's adorned in wet and droopy flowers: sprigs of yerba santa, carnation blossoms, and pink roses. Though he's rapidly becoming un-adorned as he rips off the flower crown to cover his groin. (His dick is, you know, normal. Circumcised, average, nicely shaped, surrounded by a thatch of dark hair. Still, a bad first impression.)

Great!!!

01. laid bare spa

Well, at least Matt can get his self-care after all. He's given a hot bath, has unguents rubbed into his skin, and gets a technically proficient but deeply weird robot massage.

He even has the chance to inquire about energy work! "This is the whitest thing I've ever said, but … do you think there's anything you can do for my chakras?"

At long last, when he's done, Matt is given a Laid Bare towel.

Just a towel. You know, enough to cover half his hip tattoo and that's it.

He kind of stares at the robot, hoping there'll be more fabric forthcoming, but there is not. Eventually, denial dissipates and bargaining sets in.

"Oh, please don't make me walk of shame out of here. Can I trade you something? Anything?"

03. caterpillar crawl

Bizarrely, not only does Matt get real clothes the very next day, but they include one of his favorite band tees. It features a faux movie poster that pulpily declares SCANDAL AT THE CONVENT!

When the robots come around asking for volunteers, he awkwardly raises a hand.

"I can go check it out," he offers. "I mean, contrary to how it might look, I can handle myself, so if anyone needs a partner …"

wildcard!

Wildcard me up, friends. He will totally tattoo, explore the city, whatever. Character info on Matt can be found here and his kink list is here.

01. laid bare spa

[flurry_of_beaus]

Beau's enjoying herself, against her better judgment, because frankly she's going to take advantage of what she can get around here. For free, that is. Most of the stuff from the robots and Augur she mistrusts, so, for example, it's only after others get in and out of the baths that she enters. It's only after others have left the massage tables that she decides to have one for herself.

It's as she's sauntering into one such room that she catches sight of the half-naked mage and the robot that, she presumes, will be giving her her massage in a moment. She, too, is dressed only in a towel, but she lucked out with one of those sheet-like towels that she can wrap around her chest and falls to mid-thigh.

"Hey, guy, it's a spa. It's fine."

Of course, as she says that, she's walking over to encourage him to leave when she spots the interesting tattoos. She pokes the one on his chest.

"What kind of flower is that?" she asks, perfectly okay with moderately invading his space. She's got her own tattoo, glimmering faintly but hidden on the back of her shoulders.

[semicharmed]

So this is like, objectively a good point. Even though 1) Matt's not sure he's ever been addressed as 'guy,' and 2) the good point is accompanied by a more literal point, in the form of a poking finger.

Still, this woman's not being violent or anything. He's almost grateful to be asked something he knows how to answer.

"Uhh ... it's a sacred lotus. Kind of an abstract rendering, but--people call them water lilies sometimes too."

Also, hi?

[flurry_of_beaus]

"Sacred lotus, eh?" She's not, for the record, Canadian. There's no such place in Exandria. But she does tend to communicate in grunts more often than a normal person would. She's a bit gruff, Beau is.

"I know water lilies. Aren't they usually for rich people though? In like... garden ponds and things?"

The implication here being: Are you rich, guy? Is that why you're being finicky about towels?

And yes, she's aware they occur in nature and outside of the realm of anyone rich, but sometimes playing dumb or obtuse gets you answers that playing along wouldn't.

[semicharmed]

"Oh." Matt frowns. Technically, the best of everything tends to accrue to the wealthy, but-- "Well, I guess it grows anywhere that's wet and tropical enough. But actually, it's kind of seen as having humble origins. It comes up through mud and then blossoms into this untouched, beautiful flower. It's like botany-based enlightenment."

A pause.

"I'm, uh, I'm Matt. Sorry if I'm putting off a weird energy," he says, to the person who just poked him, "I just landed on the beach a few hours ago and I'm ... working on that."

[flurry_of_beaus]

"Huh." That's all he gets from educating her on botany generally and water lilies specifically. She supposes she can get what he's saying, about something beautiful coming out of the mud. But she's still going to give him a hard time because, lucky Matt, she's getting smart guy vibes off him now. Those tend to lead to bad places (or, at least, bad for others).

"Beau," she replies with a jerk of her chin in acknowledgment. "So you're new. No wonder you're worried about showing off your stuff. But, again, spa. What do you want to hide? Besides tattoos?"

[semicharmed]

Matt barely has the chance to appreciate the name (Beau, as in beauty?) when that rather pointed-feeling question hits. Back to suspecting that this is not interdimensional travel but in fact a hyper-realistic nightmare!

"Hide?" Matt adjusts his towel in a nervous flutter of his fingers. "I, mean, I don't have anything to hide," LYING, "I just ..."

He's not even sure how to end that. 'Have a knee-jerk desire not to be caught staring'? 'Was raised by WASPs who act like everyone emerges from the womb in a three-piece suit'?

[flurry_of_beaus]

Beau as in bo staff, which she's not carrying currently but might hit you with nonetheless because you're lying to her Matt, and Beau doesn't like it when people lie to her.

"Uh huh, you just what?"

He could just be shy. This is totally a possibility. And all he needs to do is say he's shy, believably, and Beau will back off. But she's getting whiffs of something here and she's not sure what.

"Look, Matt, I'm not asking for me. I'm just trying to say, there's a lot that goes down on this island and if you're going to go shy, someone should know."

[semicharmed]

Matt spends a baffled moment trying to figure out if a lot going down has to do with danger or sex (or both?), and another wondering if he really is dreaming. An island would be apropos: a self-contained world full of idiosyncrasies and secrets.

"Do you mean, like, shy metaphorically?" he asks, peering at her. Gosh, she has a piercing gaze. "How deep are we getting here?"

[flurry_of_beaus]

Her frown of curiosity falters for a moment into a frown of confusion. How does one do metaphorically shy? She's not sure, but she glosses over that, preferring instead to take the opening she's been given.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with," she says, in a tone of voice that says he better be comfortable with her, at least. She doesn't intend to let him walk out of here, with only one towel, if he doesn't share at least something good.

[semicharmed]

Matt does ... not feel particularly comfortable, to be candid.

"Okay. I ..."

He frowns.

"I mean, I guess normally, I try not to advertise the magic. And I don't always make the greatest choices? I saw Mr. and Mrs. Miller last Christmas and the post-threesome energy was very weird. But I still don't know if that counts as hiding instead of, like ... selective disclosing."

hope you're ready for embarassing caterpillar-induced situations

[crestsidestory]

The figure who steps up at the mention of volunteers is a young woman, pale and white-haired. She wears neat trousers and long-sleeved red blouse with keyhole at the upper back, long hair swept into a ponytail. The effortless lift to her chin and the proud line of her shoulders may bring to mind royalty or military, but there is little skepticism in the quick appraisal she gives Matt. The vassal who has been by her side for years -- until her arrival here, that is -- was a tall gangly boy, her long shadow. He may lack her physical strength but he can do things with magic that she never has.

"If you are certain that you can handle yourself, I will be your partner."

How bad can caterpillars be, truly? Even ones with 'doom' in their names? Even ones that make the metal golems seeking volunteers shudder like that? Why would the robots even be programmed to shudder?

Regardless, she takes the offered sack -- they will need it for whatever caterpillars they find -- and then she turns to Matt again.

"Do you mind a quick stop on the way? My axe should be unnecessary against caterpillars but hostile creatures are not unheard of and I have been told that some plants are quite dangerous."

Possibly only in an aphrodisiac sense.

omg yes this is my dreams coming true

[semicharmed]

Oh, wow, she's--impressive. Matt, feeling the kind of urge to impress in turn that he associates with pretty girls, is about to say something about how he has a particular set of skills. Something that alludes to m-a-g-i-c without having to get all the way into it.

But then she says the thing about an axe?

"I don't mind at all." An owlish blink. "But ah, when you say dangerous, do you mean terrain-wise? Poison?"

He's grateful that his new teammate seems to know what's up around here, at least.

[crestsidestory]

Well, with that settled she gives him a nod to point in the right direction and leads him away, toward the inn she and her allies from home have adopted as their headquarters.

"That is the question, isn't it. When I was first warned of dangerous plants I was given the odd impression that they were..." How to sum it up accurately. "Somehow persistent, and capable of having an aphrodisiac affect." Again, she pauses slightly. "Not unlike many other things here. I am uncertain as to how much danger the plantlife itself poses otherwise. If there are wild fruits that are poisonous rather than stimulating I have yet to hear of it."

When she first arrived speaking this candidly about the possibility of aphrodisiacs would have forced pink into her cheeks. It doesn't now but she is still glad to remember her manners and introduce herself. With a sideways look up toward his face, she gives him a very small smile.

"My name is Edelgard. Have you recently arrived?"

[semicharmed]

Matt ambles along beside her, keeping his eyes and ears peeled. The city's dilapidation fills him with a restless sort of melancholy. Clearly something happened here, possibly a lot of somethings; Matt, incurably curious, itches to know what they were.

"Oh, uh--pleased to meet you, Edelgard. I'm Matt." His lips twitch in answer to her smile. "And I'm very recently arrived. 'Yesterday' recent, so sorry in advance for all the questions."

A genteel pause.

"Aphrodisiac, huh. I guess that is danger in a sense."

[crestsidestory]

"If I can answer your questions, I will." And while she is reluctant to go into the fine details of her personal experiences, his musing about aphrodisiacs does deserve a bit of an explanation. "I don't believe the word 'frenzied' is too strong to describe what can result from an aphrodisiac here."

If you are fortunate you have a friend to rely on but sometimes you accidentally drink aphrodisiac tea with your enemy and she doesn't recommend it, Matt.

If there was ever a sign in front of the inn, it is long gone. Despite that, the building's exterior is more or less intact. "Just up ahead," she adds as they approach.

"It is not just aphrodisiacs, though, and not something you will only find in food and drink or unfortunate plant encounters. I have been influenced by music here as well. A visit to a hot spring once made me certain that I was in love. One day I inexplicably woke with a pair of cat ears and a tail."

And the near crippling urge to mate, but let's not dredge that up more than necessary.

[semicharmed]

Matt's eyes widen.

All of that is some shade of alarming. But it's not wholly unprecedented in Matt's experience. Back home, what Edelgard's described could be caused by a spell, some kind of psychic ability, or maybe, more mundanely, a psychotic break.

But there is one item on the list that sticks out.

"Cat ears," Matt repeats. "And a tail?"

Transmutation that's not associated with lycanthropy is really tough to do! It's not completely impossible? But it kind of boggles his mind.

"Is that what happened here?" he adds, gesturing around at the inn and the run-down block it occupies. "I mean, not cat ears specifically, just--these phenomena. Did they like, cause some kind of societal collapse?"

[crestsidestory]

It does seem a bit odd that only the ears and tail appear to strike him as strange. "The tail was very inconvenient."

Not as inconvenient as the urges, of course, but one of these is much more acceptable to talk about with strangers... or, well, anyone.

His question is a fascinating one, though, and as she opens the door to the inn, letting him into a modest common area complete with couch and coffee table, she raises her eyebrows.

"That is a possibility I had not considered. I have witnessed the rebuilding and restoration that our intimacy can cause, but we have been told much less about what actually happened to the island's former inhabitants." Could they have gone overboard with intimacy and somehow destroyed themselves? She truly cannot say. "Months ago driftwood skeletons rose from the ocean and attacked the building where the Augur is housed. That may well be a clue but if so I have not pieced together the puzzle surrounding it."

[semicharmed]

Matt mouths the phrase driftwood skeletons as he follows her inside.

Yeah, no, he's got nothing.

"Still not a hundred percent clear on who or what the Augur is," he admits for transparency's sake, "but an attack speaks to some kind of external force, right? Or a seditious one."

A thoughtful pause.

"Though usually, when cities or even nations collapse, it's a lot of things. Outside attacks, decades of bad policy, some natural disasters thrown in." Some of what Edelgard's describing sounds like a natural disaster to him, even if the hurricane is internal. "But--wait, okay, second big question. Intimacy leading to restoration: can you say more about that? It's been described to me a little, but I don't totally trust my recollection."

Or, to be perfectly candid, that the robots communicated using the best possible phrasing.

[crestsidestory]

"You have met the metal golems? I have heard others call them robots. While I have not seen the Augur myself, I believe it is an intelligent machine. A warden that controls its golem guards."

It is not a host, in her mind. She was brought here against her will and has been given no information about the possibility of being sent back.

"One moment, please."

While he seems agreeable enough, she does not invite him to follow her to her room. It's a quick trip, though, and when she returns she still carries the sack over one arm but in the opposite hand she easily holds a large distinct axe, its blade like the fierce jawbone of a large creature. In her hands a kind of magic pulses from it, subtle but certain.

"What I can tell you is that there are now a handful of shops and other buildings where there were none when we arrived. There were no animals that I can recall at first. This building itself was nearly a ruin when we claimed it, and when I filled a square on my card I was rewarded with improved quarters." She pauses slightly. "Sometimes effects like the ears and tail I mentioned only disappear once an act from your card has been fulfilled."

Please tell her that you have seen your card already, Matt.

[semicharmed]

Matt waits agreeably in the hall for Edelgard to get her axe. Which ... okay, so he was thinking of something closer to a fire axe? This thing is huge. Matt isn't the greatest at detecting magical energy unless he's specifically looking, but either there's a spell on the weapon that makes it easier to lift, or Edelgard could break him in half.

(Either's good by him.)

Luckily for Edelgard, incidentally, there's exactly one thing around here Matt does know:

"Ahhh, right," he says, "the auspicious acts. That's fascinating." For a moment, his expression is both bright and thoughtful, as if he's contemplating something wonderful a long way off. "I ... believe that it's an act of creation, fundamentally. Connection, love. But it's usually not on that kind of scale."

00

[thelyss]

Newcomers tend to come at any time during the expected cycle, and so Essek isn't terribly surprised when another comes tumbling forth from the sea during his nightly stroll along the beach.

But this one is...somewhat different than most of the rest. Completely naked, which is perhaps not entirely to be unexpected given the island's...premise. But it still seems a rare thing that people show up with no clothes on at all. Perhaps the Augur is changing tactics.

Essek doesn't hurry forward, but he reaches the nearly half-drowned person (male, possibly, at a glance) soon enough. A robot is already approaching at a distance, towel and bracelet at the ready. He'll make it there before the automaton. Yet as he comes closer, his attention is immediately drawn to the markings on his skin - some clearly permanent, but even in the others now half washed away, they bear many hallmarks of an arcane runes.

His interest is immediately piqued.

"Are you all right?" he asks mildly. White hair contrasts against dark skin, violet eyes faintly amused and curious. There's nothing on his person he can offer to help dry off or cover up, but the robot is currently toddling their way amiably. "Don't worry, help will be here soon."

[semicharmed]

Oh SUPER, there's another person here. Another person with great skin and swooshy hair and ... really striking eyes. The color of amethysts, maybe, or the yerba santa flowers currently failing to adequately cover his crotch.

"I'm ... I'm okay. Yeah." Matt's throat aches a bit from coughing up salt water, and he has a bit of a headache, but he doesn't feel hurt other than that. "Sorry about the, uh."

A vague gesture with his free hand.

"I wasn't expecting to be in public."

[thelyss]

Luckily for him, it's nighttime - so there are few people out on the beach, and fewer still who could make out much of his nakedness at a distance. Essek shrugs, clearly unbothered.

"Thankfully there are not many here this time of night."

The robot arrives, waddling up to Matt and offering both towel and bracelet, chittering at him in a friendly, if insistent, fashion.

"It won't leave until you take the device, which I suggest you do," Essek offers helpfully, arms crossed lightly over his chest. "It means no harm."

[semicharmed]

So, of everything that just happened, the one aspect that nudges him towards probably not dreaming is the robot. It's just a little ... out of character for the dreams he normally has. Being naked in front of a stranger? Sure. The heat and light of the universe's swirling heart? All the time. Fangs piercing his neck? Not unheard of. But a science fiction type robot ...?

Not so much.

Matt peers to his non-robot companion. He seems to have a bracelet like the one being offered, and doesn't look bothered by it or anything. Slowly, Matt holds out his hand, letting the machine click the device around his wrist.

No disaster seems imminent. Matt grabs the towel and wraps it hastily around his waist.

"Thank you," he says, to the robot--and sort of halfway to Essek, who he turns to look at more fully. "What, uh ... what does it do?"