TDM 013: BARING IT ALL

[erkumods]

TDM 013: BARING IT ALL

00. Arrival 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. If you don’t manage to get away from them quickly enough, they may even usher you toward the Laid Bare Spa, where new arrivals will be offered free massages, a sauna, hairstyling, and their clothing may come up permanently missing. But you will be given a complimentary towel to leave with if needed! Feel free to explore the Island, though there isn’t much to see beyond what arrivals before you have helped to rebuild. 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 place to live in the now, whether a rundown apartment in the City, a tent on the beach, a bed in the barracks, or your own space at the House of Worship. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● I. THROW IN A TOWEL? Erku's new arrivals may be encouraged to seek out the Laid Bare Massage & Spa for some specialized attention and relaxation, but they and long-time inhabitants will also be offered a chance to earn credits. Anyone interested in earning robot wages will be tasked with being the resident towel person! You’ll stand inside of the room while the patrons are receiving their massages, hot scrubs, or relaxing in one of the saunas holding towels for them should any be requested. Or you may be asked to help with the regular cleaning of the Spa, wiping down all of the tasteful nude statues to free them of the grime and filth (or… other things) that builds up over time. You might even be asked to help lovingly clean the murals of nude patrons (that is to say, fellow Islanders) all over the Spa. But this is a job that requires a very specific uniform. Robots will provide you with your very own chiton or toga. The chitons happen to be very short, not covering nearly as much as they reveal, but the togas might be entirely too long. They brush or drag along the floor and what with being barely held together with the thinnest and most fanciful of ropes, who knows how often they might be untucked? Take care, please, or else the robots might pull you into being the next model for their latest mural portrait instead. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● II. GRIN AND BARE IT Erku’s resident mental health professional, Dr. D. Love of Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Therapy Center, has taken a keen interest in ensuring that the relationships of you Islanders are progressing in a productive, healthy, and open-minded fashion. And to ensure this, he’s tasked his robot staff to pay close attention to anyone who looks like they are having trouble with relationships with other people on the Island. And after months of so few (none) clients, these robots are very motivated to seek out people in need of their therapeutic assistance! Arguing with a friend? Telling someone to stay out of your life? Being a hermit who refuses to come out of your apartment? Accidentally bump into each other on the street? Make a joke at your friend’s expense? Playfully punch someone in the shoulder? Walk by someone you don’t know and not tell them hello? Well clearly all of you need help in repairing whatever may be damaging your relationships! Before you know it, you’ve been bundled off by the robots right to Dr. D. Love’s office and sat down to talk it all out. The fact that you may not even know the other person the robots think you need to work your troubles out with doesn’t matter. Dr. D. Love is here to make sure everyone goes home happy and satisfied. You may have to play along with this confusing farcical situation, even making up wrongs and slights you claim you have done to one another before finally coming together in reconciliation. The more you deny there is anything wrong, the more the good Doctor will insist you need even more help than they first thought. They might even have to send you into one of their Privacy Rooms and work out your frustrations with each other with their wide array of therapeutic sexual devices and supplies. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● III. BARE NAKED AMUSEMENT TOUR The trolley is making its rounds as usual with announcements echoing from the loudspeakers that it’s Bare It All Week at Six Flagellants Amusement Park and to kick it off there will be a grand concert at the Loudinus Outdoor Amphitheater that lasts all week long! Not sure what that means? Well, come to the concert and enjoy hours and hours of music played by robots who seem to have taken their songs right from the pop rock crazes of old. Whose old? Who knows. The music may not be completely to your taste, but something about it may make you feel energized and overly dressed. You might even feel the need to strip down until you’re not wearing anything at all! But don’t worry, the robots performing on stage will give you new clothes to wear by throwing skimpy, sexy underwear and lingerie right at you! How did they know your size? Don’t ask questions, just give into the urge to put it on while you rock out until it’s time for the trolley to take everyone right to the gates of the amusement park! Anyone dressed in less for this week will receive free entry, rides, and food and might even receive special prizes at various booths of sex toys, candies that act as an aphrodisiac (meant for sharing of course), stuffed animals, or even a free sex doll! Those are super hard to win from the ring toss, so you should really take advantage and enjoy all the perks of baring yourself for everyone’s viewing pleasure. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

jiang yanli | the untamed

[souperjie]

Grin and Bare It
Despite her soft protests, Jiang Yanli finds herself being shuffled along until she enters a building and an office of a doctor. Though, from what she had been told, this isn't the sort of doctor that she had been used to. Instead of looking after one's health, this one looks after one's mental health. A foreign concept. Her protests seem to fall on deaf ears as she is locked in an office.

She gives a short bow and makes her way over to the seat when she's invited to have a seat. She gives a glance at the other person in the office before looking at the floor, trying to recall what sort of argument happened upon her arrival. What sort of conflict did she cause?

Bare Naked Amusement Tour
The music is certainly different than what she's used to but Yanli listens anyway to be a good sport about it. It's catchy and she finds herself humming along and clapping along. She reaches up to pull at the collar, before realizing what she's doing and pulling it closed again. What is she doing?

A glance around and she sees that others are slowly disrobing to the music and donning far more scandalous clothes instead. She reaches up with her hand to shield her eyes from them, shuffling out of the way of the music before it gets to her as well. There's a lot of energy in her and she looks around to see if she could quell it somehow.

Games!

Something that's far more familiar to her. She smiles and makes her way over to them, deciding on the one that offered candies instead of the more lewd looking prizes.

Wildcarding this

[unimpeachable]

When he'd decided to take a walk along the beach, it had been to take some time to think about things that had been happening, but finding a young woman in white robes standing on the shoreline, water dripping from her hair has him removing his outer robe to offer her a dry layer to cover herself with.

"Have you just arrived?" Given his own arrival the previous month, he's assuming yes, but the people here do have a tendency to be odd sometimes.

[souperjie]

She gasps and coughs out more of the seawater. Yanli shakes as the white robes are wrapped around her. She nods.

"Yes, I've...I've just arrived."

Her son. A-Xian. A-Cheng. She looks back out at the sea, over the horizon and just keeps herself from running into the water.

"How do we leave? I have--"

She turns to him and confusion crosses her features. Forehead band but it's...different than what she's used to.

[unimpeachable]

"I'm afraid leaving isn't a choice we make ourselves once we've arrived here." He offers a proper bow though, before straightening.

"I can take you somewhere to get warm and dry though."

[souperjie]

She bows back, remembering her manners. Warm and dry was probably a good thing. She can't return to her family with a cold or pneumonia. Reluctantly, Yanli nods. She still looks back over the ocean, her heart breaking at the prospect of leaving her family behind.

"My family needs me. I can't leave them alone back there."

[unimpeachable]

He's quiet for a moment before speaking again in response to her statement to hopefully allay her concerns. "I've been told that those who come here do not actually disappear from their homes. Those I'm familiar with have no memory of my disappearance at the time I arrived here. I don't know if that will help, but it seems to be the way of things."

[souperjie]

She looks back at him. He's a Lan. Which one, she isn't quite sure. But Lans cannot lie. Yanli nods stiffly and follows him, reaching up to wipe at her face. It's hard to tell if the salty wetness on her cheeks are her tears or leftovers from the ocean that spat her out here. She shivers and pulls the white robe around her more tightly.

Games and Shenanigans!

[baxiasprice]

Even though the robots are not particularly susceptible to being glared into submission, Mingjue gives it a try anyway and still ends up in just the pants he wears beneath his robes. That's about as scandalously 'sexy' as he is willing to submit to, as of yet.

Thus bared, he wanders the amusement park among the games, his hair up in his usual headpiece, Baxia slung across his back and the strap for her sheath across his pecs. He's not used to this kind ribaldry and strangely playful sexuality, so for the most part he's sporting a look of consternation. Still, it's all very...interesting.

More interesting when he thinks he recognizes someone? (Only...maybe not?) But she's wearing familiar-enough colors (and far more clothing than most present) that he's willing to approach.

So approach he does. "Maiden Jiang?" he ventures politely. She seems older (maybe?) than the last time he would have seen Jiang Yanli, but who knew what that meant here.

[souperjie]

Maiden Jiang? It had been a while since she’s been called that. Her eyes widen when she takes in his state of undress. But that look and Baxia strapped to his back, there could only be one person that would call out to her.

“Nie-zongzhu?”

[baxiasprice]

"Ah, so it is you," he says with some satisfaction. "Yes," he adds to confirm. "Nie-zonghzu. You look well."

He tilts his head at her, trying to figure out what might be different about her. He's not so much of a boor to comment upon her age.

"And you don't seem distressed. You could be, considering your surroundings, but you're not."

He is not going to call attention to the toys on display the next game over, but he's thinking about them. That and the scantily-clad park-goers passing by on all sides.

[souperjie]

He looks…different. Not just sans shirt but entirely different. No mustache for one. And younger looking. Her face flushed when he mentions how she isn’t distressed. She reaches up and tugs at her collar a little for comfort.

“Well. This place is mostly…nice. And Lan-zongzhu assured me that my presence won’t be missed back home.”

[baxiasprice]

"Xichen—?" he asked, but it stood to reason that she would have already encountered him while Mingjue was off fighting the island or something. Fair enough. He waved that away with a hand. "Nevermind. Good that you saw him already. He's better at this kind of thing. But yes. Home probably doesn't miss us at all, so we're stuck here until whatever gods run this place decide they're done with us."

He folded his arms across his chest, visibly struggled not to ask his next question, and then asked anyway: "I know a little about the future. A-Yao and Xichen have told me some, but I have only been through the first part of Sunshot. How much do you know of it?"

grin and bare it!

[illicitly]

"I told you that I don't have a cultivation partner yet! I'm still single!"

Huaisang's not through with his own significantly less quiet protests when he's being firmly shuffled into the office, dragging his heels and doing his best to be as much dead weight as possible in hopes that the puppets will just give up and let him go his own way once more but they're persistent!

"What do you mean that I'm critically in need of help? I'm doing just fine!" he continues to squawk like a distressed parrot, shouts rising in pitch and volume as he's physically carried and dumped unceremoniously in a chair next to unfamiliar and very pretty woman.

"Oh. Hello," he says, tune changing abruptly in a sudden fluster, cheeks suddenly turning pink. "D-Did they kidnap you, too?"

[souperjie]

She resists the urge to cover her face with her hands as the poor soul is pushed into the office. Her cheeks turn pink as well as she gives a bow as best she could and nods.

"They did. Saying that I was in need of help," she whispers to him.

[illicitly]

"Ugh, I'm so sorry. The puppets can be so weird and over-zealous. I don't understand the way they think at all sometimes."

Huaisang puffs out his cheeks a moment before exhaling a heavy sigh.

"When I first got here, they just shoved us all into a party and expected us to fuck."

...Okay, maybe that had been a little too blunt. She's a lady. Using such impolite language with her might be a bit too much. Huaisang smiles sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...Sorry about that."

[souperjie]

Puppets. But these were not like the puppets that a-Cheng and a-Xian had fought against. Her eyes widen when he mentions that they were expected to fuck. Yanli gives him a kind smile and touches his hand.

"It's okay. I just wasn't expecting someone to say it so easily."

[illicitly]

"Whew. Thanks."

He relaxes at the touch, fingers flexing. Huaisang's always responded well to a kind, gentle hand.

"It's a consequence of being in this place for so long. I used to be more shy about it all. I still am sometimes, honestly."

A lopsided smile.

"This place is just so obvious with its intentions regarding sex that it's a little bit catching. Are you new here then?"

Amusement Tour

[amnopeacock]

The music is enough to make Zixuan curious and approach to see what sort of event is going on. He really should know better by now, and yet...he still falls for it, and his okami huffs at him. Right up until he spies someone so achingly familiar (in the process of looking away from those who are undressing) he freezes in place. Wolf ears perk forward, tail curling around a leg, and the okami nudges at him to move.

If this is an illusion (Kujaku says it doesn't have that feel) then at least he'd get a moment with his beloved wife. A stolen moment. So he pushes forward, steps stubbornly moderate as he tries to settle his racing heart, gaze fixed intently on Yanli's beloved face. He can't help the naked hope on his face.

Another nudge from Kujaku. She might not remember all that he does. She might be from another time.

But it's still Jiang Yanli. It's enough. "A-Li?" It slips out when he's closer, close enough to hopefully be heard. He knows he looks different - ears, tail, and the wolf mask at his hip. But he can't just walk away when she might be right here.

[souperjie]

She freezes and her breath stills in her chest when she hears the familiar voice. Moreover that it calls to her so familiarly. Yanli turns and her eyes widen when she sees him. The ears, the tail, the mask. She doesn't dare move just yet.

"Jin-gongzi," she breathes.

She snaps out of it and remembers to fold her hands over her lower stomach and dip into a small bow.

[amnopeacock]

His steps pause at the formality, he feels his heart lurch unhappily. Well, there's his answer. His gaze dips briefly, but he takes a breath and steadies himself. Zixuan looks back at her, gaze intent as he stops a barely polite distance.

He knows what his brother told him. But she is here. Alive. Beautiful as ever and forever kind and strong. However...this makes him relieved he'd found his robes returned, clean, and intact before making his way out.

"You don't...have to be so formal. Not with me." He feels his face flush, but he doesn't let himself budge from her desperately-missed presence.

[souperjie]

She looks up at him and straightens again when he steps closer to her. Confusion crosses her features when she realizes that he invites her to not be so formal with him. Perhaps, it is as the others had told her when she had first arrived.

"I don't?" she asks softly. "Jin-gongzi."

There are so many questions that she wants to ask. The ears, the tail, how...why he doesn't wish for her to be so formal.

[amnopeacock]

Each time she uses a title rather than his name, he feels his heart shrink. But he stands firm, and determination settles over his face and shoulders.

"You don't." Zixuan starts to say more, but then glances around them and shakes his head a little, lips pressing together in a hint of a grimace. "We...Will you walk with me?" The crease between his brows hints at just how much he hopes she says yes.

"I am sure you have questions."

Grin and Bare It

[theflyingone]

The office already bore evidence of being searched. Nothing was on the floor, but several drawers were ajar. The man who must have done this was not seated, but in the middle of rummaging through the desk. Altaïr was dressed in his usual plain white robes and leathers dust-stained from travel. He gave Yanli a curt nod as she entered with the robots, not realizing she was the other "patient". He frowned without shame at the robots scolding him for trying to go through the doctor's things.

"I have been given no answers to my questions," he scolded them back. He was newly arrived and more on edge than he would be otherwise. He said to Yanli, in a more polite tone, "Perhaps you can tell me why I have been brought here, and why they believe I have offended someone I do not know." Bold of him to assume Yanli had more information than he did.

[souperjie]

She nodded back and listened as he began to speak.

"I apologize, my lord, but I wouldn't be able to. They've assumed the same of myself. I've just arrived and haven't really spoken with anyone yet to offend them," she said quietly.

Yanli leaned and covered the lower half of her face so they wouldn't see what she was saying.

"Have you just arrived too?"

[theflyingone]

He opened his mouth to correct her calling him lord, then thought better of it. It was hard to build a cover in unfamiliar places, people, and cultures, so why not let one start organically? He could be whatever people assumed. He had rough hands (and a missing ring finger). He was dressed for travel and blending in with monks or scholars. But he had all the education to pass as a lord. He clearly carried a sword, though at the moment its scabbard was empty. He'd turned up on the island with nothing but his clothes.

Whether it was just a figure of speech or actually addressing him as a certain class, it was time to remember his manners. He turned away from the robots just enough to hide his own mouth and spoke quietly, having mastered the art of speaking without being overheard.

"Yes. My apologies for the trouble. I am Altaïr. I will try to get us out of this, Lady...?"