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TDM 010: PARTNER UP, PARTNER
| 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 |
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"It seems like some kind of mercy to be drawn here in that regard. Unless you were somehow looking forward to all of that nonsense, which I mean, good luck I guess if you are." He didn't strike Felix as the type to revel in paternal duty.
"Let me ask you this- do you prefer it here?" The idea of simply leaving, escaping his duties to be come a mercenary or something was immensely tempting.
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"Who wouldn't look forward to administering an Empire that's recently tripled in size with half the budget during a period full of social upheaval with a shadow war taking place? It's everything I've ever dreamed of." In short, it's a clusterfuck and Linhardt would like to have nothing to do with it, just not enough to actually walk away. He can't punish Fodlan for their mistakes.
Felix's question hits a sore spot and Linhardt looks away.
"I do. I don't need to hurt anyone here. People can do whatever they want as long as I don't need to kill anyone."
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Fortunately, Linhardt speaks fluent sarcasm, which is a Felix special as it were. Nothing quite like having someone to commiserate your approximate feelings on matters of duty and politics and all of that miserably dull rubbish.
It does feel a little but like running away, but Felix isn't exactly wild about facing his problems head on to begin with. Not the ones that can't be sliced to ribbons.
"You're not really cut out for war, are you?" Once upon a time, Felix would have called him weak, but these days? Who can really blame anyone who doesn't want to fight? It's a living hell. Unfortunately, it's also the only thing Felix is good at.
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Felix has a gift for cutting to the heart of the matter. Linhardt sighs and nods; Felix is right: He isn't cut out for war.
"No, I'm not. How am I supposed to forget that I've burned people alive? For what? Being born in the wrong part of Fodlan?" He's disgusted by it. And at himself for participating, "All of them had futures and loved ones no less so than myself."
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The response is somewhat expected. Didn't they all feel like that? Felix was good at killing, but he didn't take pleasure in it. He just put that part of his mind away in a place he didn't have to touch until he needed it.
He has no good response though. Everything seems kind of useless to that end. Yeah, me too? It's fucked up? Maybe you should have run away sooner? That's the nature of war? None of them are good. They're all excuses and things that he's heard before.
Hesitantly, he just reaches out and pats Linhardt's shoulder. It's about as comforting as he gets on a good day.
"Life is really messed up, sometimes." Still not a good answer, but he's not good at this.
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Yet they don't.
People are disgusting. Linhardt doesn't shrug off the contact, but he doesn't react to it either, instead pointing to a nearby building, "That's where Dimitri and others from Fodlans like yours are living."
Then he reaches out to take the clothing that Felix has carried for him with a nod, and turns around and walks away.
Well, that's one way to end an awkward conversation.
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Very respectable. Utilitarian. Good.
"Bye." He says, entirely to himself.