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

Right.

[He'd heard something about that, but for some reason, aphrodisiac food was something he was having a hard time wrapping his head around. Then again, he hadn't been put in a situation where someone had made him feel something he didn't want to- didn't intend to. That was a Jessica scenario, and for some reason, it made his hand clench around the glass she'd held out for him.

She'd done her research into him in a way he hadn't expected. Finding out about his dad. Using it to personalize things. He'd read her record. He'd also read the notes that others had put in about the hogwash they thought it was and other more questionable comments about her. It pissed him off. He'd had too many broken clients before that had gone through similar, if not the same scenarios. Jessica wasn't broken. A little jagged, maybe, but she used those pieces to prop herself up and defend herself, not to excuse falling to pieces. Maybe that's why he liked her.

And maybe that's why he wishes he could have met Kilgrave to punch him repeatedly in the face until he had broken shards of teeth and a ripped up tongue, unable to suggest anything other than bloody, gasping gurgles.

Maybe.

But that comment had him smiling. He didn't reach out to her. Just nodded.]

I'm glad you're okay too, Jess.

[Because that's what she'd meant, right? Right.]

[ Jess breathed out at length. Sure, that's what she meant. Sure, she's okay. She's hunky goddamn dory. Short of shucking off their clothes and screwing their brains out, there's nothing they can to do make her any okayer, so okay is as good as accurate. She steps past him, behind him, to take a seat on the couch. Sips her water before her mouth goes dry. ]

We were the first to get here, a couple dozen of us, about a month ago. A few days in, the bots put together a party. There was a whole spread, it was all laced. Since then, it's been rations.

The incentive is better provisions for "cooperation." They track it with the bracelets.

[There was something in her voice that was making him want to make a fist and punch someone. This was a sensitive area, and he couldn't understand it. Not like she could. Sympathizing would just earn him a backhand through a wall.

That didn't stop him from moving to sit at the end of the couch, facing her, fingers tapping against the edge of the glass.]

Jessica...

[He let out a breath, not sure how else to handle this.]

What do you want me to do? I'll do it. Is there someone-

[He stopped himself again. If there'd been someone that had done something, then that someone would be breathing through tubes. He knew that.]

Is there something I can do to help? Anyone with a liquor stash I can ransack?

[ She glares. She wants him to not be here, on this island, stranded in unknown space. It seemed like rock bottom before. The only thing worse is being joined by someone who knows her. Who knows that anything that could be done, she'd have done already, and still feels the need to ask that question. A blind man who's seen through the lies, the slanderous and the defensive. ]

If there was, I'd be three sheets to the goddamn wind.

[ The base of the glass thuds quietly as she sets it on the table. Jess looks balefully out the window, works her jaw, tamps down her rage. She's concentrating on the facts to anchor her agency. He's struggling for control in his own way. There's got to be someone else who needs his help more than she does. ]

I'm just telling you what you're up against. I can take care of myself, I don't want to lose you. [ Again.

The last six words are stressed, the truth taxing her. She's afraid of falling into the trap of treating him like a second chance, too. It's a fine line to walk and sobriety actually worsens her balance. ]

Jessica... I know you can take care of yourself.

['You're not a victim' was unsaid, lingering on his tongue as he lifted his hand to draw his glasses off. His eyes were unfocused, but he was trying to aim them in her direction. To show her the vulnerabilities he had since he unfairly knew hers. Hell, too many people knew hers and it was unfair. But he couldn't fix that.]

I don't think I have any choice about going anywhere. If you're stuck here still, I guess we both will be for a while. You won't-

[He set his glass down, his hand resting on the space of the couch between them, but not breaching her space.]

I'm not going anywhere, Jones. Not without you.

[As if he'd leave the city without taking her with him. Not fucking happening.]

[ That's not the kind of loss she was talking about. He's smart enough to know that. She sizes him up while weighing if she's going to call him on it or not, and lands on not. Instead she huffs softly. Self-deprecating, morbidly amused, in that order. ]

I should be telling you that. [ Jess knocks her knee into his, piercing any bubble he might think she needs around her. He's not mistaken about that but he isn't one of the people to draw it out. Bodily. Emotionally, as this conversation as illustrated, whole walls remain. And that's hardly personal. Her sister couldn't pry any more out of her, if she were the one here. Thank fuck she's not and she hopefully never will be.

Deflection deployed, target strike imminent. She spares them both by not asking what the last thing he remembers is, or remarking on how his week from hell managed to outdo itself. They can talk about that later. Maybe never. Depends on if her liquor hunt ever turns up results. ]

Cute choker, by the way. Very nineties.

[He did and he didn't. He didn't want to be the first one to call out the fact that she'd sounded worried when he'd last seen her. When he'd set himself up to be the suicidal sentry. He knew what she meant, but he was opting to give them both an out. Feelings...

Feelings were fucking difficult.

His lips twitched into a grin at the knee bump, and he could almost see a smile through that red haze he saw the world in. Her comment, however, had him lifting a hand up to it.]

You'd think they'd put braille on the back of it. Or maybe me not knowing what it says is supposed to be the point. I don't suppose you could, ah... get this off?

[ It's easy to own up to concern while the bullets and ninja stars are flying, seconds ticking down on a bomb. Sitting beside each other in shelter and relative silence, all the foreseeable future stretching rottenly out ahead of them, fucking difficult's right on the money. ]

Sure. [ She read that some people on network were having trouble removing them, or she'd question why he can't do it himself. Regardless, she reaches for the buckle first. ] Just don't lick me.

What? Why would I-

[His hand comes up to the tag.]

Does it say something about licking? Jesus. That would explain some of the sniggers.

[He sighed and turned his shoulders, trying to give her better access to the buckle. Her pulse was steady, strong, and that scent that was uniquely her was a surprising balm to his senses as he sat still for her to do her feat of incredible strength. Surely a buckle and necklace were no match for a woman that threw a car at his ex?]

[ She suppresses a snicker of her own. ]

Nobody told you? Assholes.

[ She's not telling him either, really, but she's an established asshole. Grandfathered in there.

The strap slips through the loop but the prong sticks to the frame as if welded. She takes the frame in both hands and tries to snap it. Shouldn't be a problem, yet it won't even bend. ]

-- the hell? Did they make this out of Avenger steel or something? [ Vibranium, but who remembers that (and who else has access to it). Jess grinds her teeth and tries the same thing again, then digs her fingers under the strap. Attempting to tear it in two is just as unsuccessful. Because of course! Because why wouldn't it be! ]

[She is, and that's something he genuinely cherishes about her. She's blunt, crude, stubborn, but she'll say what she means. Maybe that's why he likes her so much. He doesn't have to listen to her heartbeat for the truth because he's guaranteed to get it, whether he likes it or not. Probably especially if he doesn't want it.

He's smiling as she starts working the choker off, then lifts his brows at her struggles. He can feel her fingers sliding in against his skin under the leather, and there's genuine surprise that it's not tearing at her efforts. The woman could break his hand if she held it when she sneezed, but leather is just scoffing at her.]

Ah... having some trouble there, Jess?

[Was he needling her? Yes. Was that a bad idea? Probably. Was he going to stop?

Fuck no.]

[ He's such a glutton for punishment she has to wonder if this is his first time in a leather collar. Her hands go inert, fingers hooked around the strap. ]

It's your problem, not mine. [ Jess disentangles herself from the collar but can't take her eyes it. It's sturdier than the robots who saddled him with it, leading her to believe it's of direct value to their efforts. Restoring the city.

The Augur can sure drive a point home. Convolutedly but it gets there in the end. ]

Skeevy bullshit got it on, maybe skeevy bullshit gets it off. [ Somewhere between those lines is an apology. She wishes she could help him or at least put forward a seemlier theory. She'd like to be wrong about the one she landed on. ]

[Wow, rude, Jess. Wondering about his sex life in a sex city. Thoughts like that might have consequences. Like finding out that no, he hadn't. A blind guy who wasn't entirely blind generally had to play things close to the chest. And liking a little pain with his pleasure, (which he'd found out thanks to Elektra) was one of those hidden cards.

She stops trying to tug it free and he reaches up a hand to feel along it, to see if she'd made any progress at all. No. Same shape, same placement. Even to his senses, it was if she'd just blown on it. That... worried him.]

I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me that this won't come off unless I...

[He wasn't a prude. He wasn't. He was a grown-ass man that had an unhealthily active libido (which might account for how hard he hit sometimes when he wasn't getting any). That said, he still blushed a bit, as he tugged at the tag.]

... with someone? Or is this a, uh, solo... um.

[Nope. He wasn't going to mention going and jerking off to Jessica Jones.]

I know how it sounds.

[ A hundred and nine percent bonkers. She won't blame him if he doesn't believe her -- she'll envy his capacity for incredulity. It's sure to dwindle as the days go on, very like hers did. But coming from her, there's a small chance. If nothing else, he won't dismiss it as a bad line, which she for sure would.

Jess reaches for her glass, an expression of muscle memory. The water won't take any edge off. The ritual will take off so little it's pointless to perform, when she's thinking about that. At present, she's not. ]

And I don't know how it works. But if these Ultrons aren't getting what they want through brute force, they fall back on the X-rated the merit system. So, it's possible.

[Maybe if it had been from anyone else, he'd be more skeptical. But this kind of thing wasn't the sort of humor she'd play with. Oh, she'd make sex jokes. Probably ask about what kind of message breasts told him via braille. She could be crude in a way that he'd find hilarious. But the mood of forced sex, or coerced sex... that wasn't her style.

She reached for the water and he could almost taste her need for something else. Something stronger. Hell, he wouldn't mind a drink himself right around then.]

The food, right? So what, we starve ourselves or wind up... humping random legs and holes in walls? Jesus.

[Okay, so that worked out differently for her and a hole in the wall wouldn't help her, but the point stood.]

What exactly do they gain out of people- out of making people do that? There was a voice when I got here, talked about something, but I'll be honest, I was a little... preoccupied.

[He was trying to relearn to breathe and remember he wasn't dead under a building.]

[ Random legs and glory holes is sufficiently illustrational. And dead on the money, as far as she knows. When people's cards were being randomly mass texted over the network, she noted plenty of fetishes that didn't appear on her A5. If it exists, someone out there gets off to it. ]

Energy? They need sex energy, is the claim. To rebuild. [ Refer back to her comment about not knowing how it works. Jess has a drink of water that ends up leaving her thirstier. ] So far, I'm not seeing any progress. Things actually got worse for a while. There was a storm, a bunch of fucked up plants grew in, the robots turned on people.

[ Maybe that's why they abducted more people. Underwhelming participation. She'll store that notion under a tight, heavy lid and three feet of concrete. ]

[Guess who hadn't gotten to look at their card because the stupid wrist bracelet didn't have a braille option? He also hadn't really fiddled with the unit to find out if it had any options other than broadcasting. Just his luck, he'd figure it out and it would not only find the card, but read it out loud to him, at top volume, along with detailed explanations of each square.

But he's listening to her, hearing the frustration along with the annoyance. He sighs, reaching out to pat her shoulder now that the physical barrier he'd kept up between them was breached by her. Then he picked up his own glass to take a sip of water for a suddenly dry mouth.]

I smelled the plants. There's something off about the pollen. Something more... alive in what I'm picking up. I just missed out on getting to see Jumanji, but I read the book. Kinda- kinda sounds like that. Like a... a mobile vegetation. Getting a bit of a Little Shop of Horrors vibe out there beyond the city limits.

[He sipped his water, searching with his senses for anything off. Anything that might tell him that either of them were being affected. It just tasted like water. Better water than New York pipe water, actually.]

Water's fine. I don't think I even pick up any floride. Guess they aren't that concerned about dental hygiene.

[Look at him being funny. He was so funny. Ha. Ha. Mf.]

[ She will eventually get to wondering how he's going to read his A5. And, let's be honest, what's on it. Sensory deprivation, as a joke? The appearance of "drunk sex" on hers has to be one.

His joke going by the wayside, Jess's brows knit incisively at his appraisal of the water. It doesn't necessarily surprise her that he taste it down to the chemical level, she just hasn't taken into account the long list of practical uses his powers have. She'll be wondering about that later as well. ]

So you'd be able to tell if the food's drugged? [ She stops herself short of getting to her feet and fetching the rations, then and there. Can doesn't equate to will and it's a shitty favour to ask of him: Be my poison taster? Regardless of the carte blanche kindness he offered her several minutes ago. ]

Yes and no. It's... everything here's a bit different. I should be able to get a baseline on what is and isn't, but it's going to be a trial and error. I can tell you if I pick up anything strange, anything that shouldn't be there.

[He tipped his head to the side, listening to her muscles tense, then relax.]

Stick, he- he taught me how to expand what I could pick up on. Appreciation for ice cream takes on a new level when you can tell how many dairy farms contributed to a batch. I can tell you what I pick up. If it's there in one and not in another, and there's... well. A reaction, then it gives me a better leg to stand on.

Unless they have some form of hiding it that I'm not aware of. Any additives leave flavors. Scents. Changes in texture. I don't know how they could hide that entirely. You're not sure about what they've been giving you? Jesus, Jess. You're not starving yourself, are you?

[She couldn't exactly afford to lose the weight.]

[ Right. Yeah. Jess nods along and logs what he's saying, distilling the long explanation into concise bullet points. The process takes refining. It's based in experience, not empirical and exact like the readout of a centrifuge. It's a skill of no use to either of them yet. Which all makes sense. If she's disappointed in anyone, it's herself. She's the one acting foolish, exposing how eager she is to score some peace of mind. ]

No. [ She responds tersely, misdirecting her frustration. ] I eat. Sometimes it's fine. Sometimes it's spiked. I just wait it out.

[ And/or go it solo. Her low, infrequent appetite is none of his business. It's a symptom of a sickness for which she's unable to self-medicate these days. ]

Uh huh.

[Hear that? That was judgement, Jessica Jones. Judgement and sympathy. And maybe a little curiosity and uncertainty. It wasn't like she had to go around with an erection all day. How uncomfortable could being turned on for a woman really be? Other than being amenable to suggestions- which she could just negate by throwing someone out a window.

Ah, the folly of being a guy. He just didn't get it.]

You want me to be your food tester, Jess?

[ Ironically, the other boon to her appetite is sex. She misses when that was a one-way street. ]

Not everything. [ She still sounds defensive, partly because of his tone and partly because that indeed was her first idea. When he says it out loud, she realizes it's ridiculous. What is he gonna do, nibble a corner off everything in her ration package, every time she gets one? With how the odds have been shaking out, she will end up starving, if she knows exactly what to avoid before she starts eating. The safe portion won't amount to enough. ]

But if I ever get my hands on some sugar and bread, I'd like to run them past you. [ When the going gets tough, the tough make prison wine. ]

[His lips twitched as he blinked hazel eyes at her, his attempt at not grinning at her.]

You planning to show me to a working bathroom if some of those things happen to be, ah... contaminated?

[Sure, he could nibble her food. He had no problem being a tester when it would give her peace of mind. These were little things. But he was also not aware of how potent any of these additives could be. That part was still a bit of a joke to him.]

Hand me a sock?

[Yep. He'd gone there. Sorry not sorry, Jess.]

[ Oh no. Her amusement is restricted to a tiny snort and he'll take that as a mountainous accomplishment. He caught her off guard, is all. He's not funny! ]

I'd tie you up like a werewolf if I didn't think that'd make you hornier. [ Alluding to the thought she hadn't voiced, that his masochism may extend from the streets to the sheets. She sips her water and reads him intently. Scooping up people's dirty little secrets was her profession. She wouldn't mind sniffing out one or two of his, swap the spotlight on their sexual pasts. ]

[His hand lifted up to his tie, giving it a light tug before he smoothed it down over his chest. Yes, okay, fine. She'd pegged him right there. He'd played the tie-me-up game with Elektra and had found he really liked it.

Really liked it. Same with a few other things that pushed the line in terms of normal, vanilla, Catholic-approved sex. His cheeks were pink and he knew it. Nothing he could do about it. Just sip his water and lick his lips after as he turned his head towards her.]

I wouldn't expect you to think a little slap and tickle was beyond the pale, Jones.

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