ercookies | TDM 002

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TDM 002

TDM 002: IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO

( 1 ) Around mid-morning, a message from the Augur appears on bracelets all across the city. "New organisms discovered. Domestication in progress."

The wark of a chocobo rises up from the outskirts of the city. Several more join in, forming a charming chorus. And, strangely, this is when new arrivals begin to show up.

Beamed in one at a time, scanned en masse, they are processed just as the first wave was. There's one major difference: whereas the old guard was given their bracelets and ushered into the City, the new folks are also given... collars.

Buckled, snapped, or otherwise fastened around their necks, a variety of colorful collars with some rather unusual novelty pet tags. (These are just a few suggestions. The typical “If found, please return to ____” is also very much acceptable.)

"You are new organisms. Domestication in progress. Compatible Eros energy will complete domestication."

No matter how hard they try, characters cannot take the collars off by themselves. They need a partner's help - but not just anyone will do. It very well might be the first person they find, or it might take several tries.

The robots grow bolder as the day grows on, targeting characters who aren't new, as well.

"Y̶o̶u̴ ̸a̷r̸e̷ ̵o̵r̵g̶a̴n̷i̷s̶m̸s̶.̶ ̶D̷o̶m̴e̴s̶t̶i̶c̵a̸t̶i̸o̴n̸ ̷i̵n̸ ̴p̸r̶o̵g̷r̵e̷s̵s̷."

Their antics die down by nightfall, but for the next day or two, the occasional malfunctioning 'bot may accost someone in the street, so stay on your toes!

( 2 ) An abandoned racetrack lights up the night. That's right: place your bets, folks, because these birds are about to run around a track while robots sell synthetic, overpriced aphro-popcorn.

...Did you say priced?

That’s right! If you participated in the orgy earlier this month, you'll find you have a stash of credits accessible in your app.

You've fucked money back into the world, so why not waste it?

(Opportunities to earn credits will come up periodically and won't always be sexual in nature, so don't worry if your character wouldn't have any yet.)

And if you don't have credits to bet with, why not get creative?

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N A V I G A T I O N

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He's the dead one. Why are they talking about her?

After a beat of silence, ]

Take however okay you think I'd be and I'm a little worse than that. [ Well, she was. Now it's closer to "a lot worse". Who's gonna show up next, Hope? Her damn family?

Even her glibness sounds strained. ] Three weeks sober. [ Hufuckingzzah. ]

That can't be good for the general population.

[Hey, she had bad jokes for days that he thought were hilarious. This was his off-kilter attempt. He rubbed a hand over his face, lifting his glasses to rub at eyes that felt tired.]

I'm sorry. For-

[Fuck. For everything.]

I'm sorry, Jessica.

[ She can barely acknowledge that apology. Accepting it is so far off the table it's in another restaurant. Confusion transmutes instantaneously into anger. At herself, rather than the predicament they're all equally in, and that's the anger she's been weaponizing against their captors. While convincing herself she's dipping into both wells. Now she's confronting that her inward loathing hasn't gone anywhere and it sure as hell isn't stagnant either. The level's rising. ]

Don't. Just -- don't. I'm the one who left you there.

[ For his part in it all, he paid his price. Jess escaped both praise and prosecution, her involvement unknown by most. So if anyone's sins are being punished, it's hers. (That's not really the way life works but she's had plenty of time to think about it lately. The ambivalence of the universe is distant comfort when her worst enemy's her own head.) ]

[His voice softens, and he wishes she was there instead of a tinny voice through a wrist unit. She was a steady sense for him; solid, leather, alcohol, and a little anger that always spiced her actions. He wants her to see him so she can stop bullshitting herself.]

Because I told you to. Someone had to stay. I had to try, Jessica. You didn't abandon me. None of you did. Survival isn't abandonment.

[Catholic guilt was the only guilt allowed, Jess. No atheist apathy.]

[ That's true. Sometimes it's failure. She could spend all day and night arguing this with him but she has to remind herself that in that time, he could be slaughtered by robots. They should do what they're best at and priotize the mitigation of inevitable disaster over the deep-seated personal issues that may or may not be the root of that disaster. Shame on them for putting it off this long.

Next time her mistakes show up to haunt her, she's not gonna get tripped up like this. ]

Look, it's not important right now. Do you have any idea where you are?

That's a hell of a loaded question, Jess, considering the whole world-napping thing.

[Could she hear the smirk? It was there. Subtly.]

I'm outside some building with a broken fountain out front. The building has running facilities.

[He doesn't have to tell her how he knows that.]

[ She appreciates the smarminess, though has no audible reaction to it. ]

I'll meet you there.

[ She remembers walking past a broken fountain a couple times, if not its precise location. Running facilities aren't super common, which could make the building desirable shelter. Surely the robots are also aware of that, which in turn could make it unsafe. ]

[Matt, genius that he is, hasn't quite seen the robots in the same light as others may have. Right now, they're annoying little metal bees that are buzzing around telling him to go put his dick in things. He can block them out- like he blocks out a lot of things. But he hasn't heard any sounds of violence to indicate they were anything else other than a nuisance.

Yet.]

You sound worried.

I sound wary.

[ Of the robots, obviously. However there's another part of her that doesn't fully believe he'll be there, in the flesh. They can make teleporters and phone bracelets, they must have mastered voice imitation technology. They can probably fake a video too, making it pointless to ask for that as confirmation. And if it's a trap, it's admittedly effective. The lure itself induces recklessness.

She trudges hastily through the streets until she's nearly there, then she's overcome with the urge to turn back. Jess defeats the instinct and approaches steadily. Once he's in sight, she shuts her emotions down completely. Guilt, relief, despair, absurd futility. What she feels is irrelevant. They're exposed. ]

Come on. There are fewer bots farther away from the hospital.

Hello to you too.

[He'd heard her coming, tracking her heartbeat as she'd marched her way closer. Had there been a flutter? A response to him? Good or bad? Jesus, they were both screwed up and could probably use therapy.

Neither was going to admit it.]

Where are you planning on going? Hell, do you have somewhere you stay here?

[She he could mark it in his mental map and check in on her? Like the opposite of a stalker perv... or not.]

It's a hole in the wall but yeah.

[ Not literally but it might as well be. All that differentiates it from any other abandoned building is the handful of furniture inside. She keeps her eyes on the road ahead, her senses peeled for malfunctioning hosts lurking in the periphery. ]

I hope you're not hungry. It's a roll of the dice, what's drugged and what's not.

[He's fallen in step behind her, cane lifted up to keep from catching on anything as he marches along to keep up.]

Seems like that applies to most places here- do we even know where 'here' is?

"An island on another planet."

[ She quotes without investment. ]

I still think that's bullshit, but there are people here that definitely don't come from anywhere we'd recognize. There's a spaceship in the hangar at the edge of the city, some huge robots that need piloting. At least one guy from a couple hundred years ago, so time's screwy too.

That's... entirely unhelpful.

[What planet? What island? What goddamn solar system? How did some place just randomly nab people from... through time? Clearly this was going to take more than a minute or two to adjust to.]

Spaceship, huh? Nothing like the Chitauri on it, are there?

[Not that this was anything like the Incident, but... once bitten twice shy.]

No, nothing like that.

[ Mentioning that it's the property of a human alien might invite comparisons to a thunder god that she'd then have to dispel. And who knows? Maybe Poe does have superpowers and is just playing it close to the chest like Matt does. Contemplating it won't do either of them any good. She made the point she meant to make. ]

But the robots can be dangerous.

Darn. And I was really looking forward to having a seeing eye robot.

[He'll get a laugh out of you yet, Jessica Jones. The shock of hearing her voice was wearing off, of not having a building falling on his head. As weird as all of this was- and it was in the incredibly fucked-up zone, he not only knew someone here, but it was someone he actually liked. If anyone in their little group had needed to lighten up, it was this one. Not that she didn't have her reasons, but still.

Matt was here, Jess. It was okay to laugh.]

[ Easy for a deadman to ~~say~~ think. Jess looks over at him with a humouring smirk he can't benefit from. The tag on his collar is funnier than his joke and that can't get a chuckle out of her, either.

Taking in the rest of him practically confirms he's repressing as much as she is. He was in his Daredevil duds when she last saw him. If his impossible appearance here weren't already max disconcerting, that'd ratchet it up a tick. It's like Midland never happened, from how he's dressed to how he's acting. And that works for her right now. ]

You're as funny as ever. [ Not very, as implied by her dearth of laughter. And she's still a jerk! See? Like nothing happened. ]

[Daredevil was tucked in a duffel bag in a hidden location that he wasn't going to share in that moment. His Russian Gymnast days weren't over, Jess.

He hears the sarcasm, his lips twitching up in a grin as he continues on behind her. He's oblivious to his tag, but he's sure it's ridiculous. He's listening to her, though. Her heartbeat, a sort of scan to check and see that she was in one piece. It was probably slightly invasive, but he was his own version of the team mom, and she was one of his charges.]

Guess you're saying I should give up my day job and switch to stand up comedy? You're breaking my heart, Jessica. And probably agreeing with Foggy.

[ It's super invasive, and just like she did when she first found out about that aspect of his ability, she's emphatically Not Thinking About It. ]

Your friend who works for Hogarth?

[ That's distasteful. She leads them into a turn off the main thoroughfare, a sneer on her face. ]

Don't make me puke.

[He keeps up, not too close, not too far behind her, listening to where they were going, tracking the surrounding area. He can hear the sneer, and he grins back.]

Foggy landed a good position, and I don't need to remind you who sent me your way first. You implying you'd prefer if Hogarth had defended you herself? Ah, wait, let me correct myself. Tried to defend you before you stormed out in righteous indignation.

She wouldn't have smashed my camera.

[ Or tried to interrogate her under the guise of legal representation.... probably. Seeing as he just shooed Misty Knight out of the room so he could take over questioning. Huh, grief had her forgetting how completely annoying he was at the start. It's a temporary balm on her conscience, to bicker like this. If they fall into the rabbit hole of what-ifs for real, there'd be trouble. And dragons. ]

[They'd both had their fill of dragons, in his opinion. His cane taps along the edge of the ground, tapping again as his hearing picked up another heartbeat. Had to play the blind act up... just in case.]

I fully intend to compensate you for that. I also don't recall giving you permission to take my photo. We'll call that a little rough justice, Jones.

[ Her eyes drop to his cane, then sweep the street and alleys. Anyone (or-thing) he's hearing, they're not close enough to see. She's as unsettled by an unknown presence in her chosen neighborhood as she is by his uncanny detection of it. Turns out a week isn't long enough to fully acclimatize to the scope of his senses. It's still weird. ]

I prefer the term "dick move." [ To keep up appearances, she gives his elbow a nudge as they come upon her building. ] Over here.

[At least he's not hearing neon, Jessica. Baby steps. Baby ninja steps.

His hand moves to catch her elbow, almost a second-nature gesture. She had, after all, been the one he'd been puppy following along when he'd been playing blind for their law enforcement audiences. She's also at just the right height for it, and he tap-taps his way with her.]

Well, I do have a dick, so that's a somewhat valid argument.

[A cheesy grin was angled her way.]

I was trying to help you. You know that. Why are we re-having this discussion?

Because it beats a lot of the new ones we could be having.

[ She's satisfied that no one's skulking around her hovel, or he'd have told her by now. Once inside, Jess steps to the back of the derelict shop to push aside a busted book shelf. A lot of buildings along the street are laid out similarly, with apartment spaces above ground floor storefronts. She chose this one for its resemblance to another nearby, where she'd first taken shelter. After a messy encounter with another abductee, she opted to leave it behind instead of clean the place.

In moving, she also replaced the furniture they broke. The robots manufactured items of substantially better quality. She hasn't hooked up with anyone since, as badly as she'd like to get out of her head for a while.

Through the door is a cramped flight of cement stairs ascending to an apartment. It smells musty and mildewy to her so it ought to be a real treat for him. There's a sofa, a coffee table, and a bed in the room down the tiny hallway. It uh speaks for itself; she lets him get acquainted with it as he likes. ]

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