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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? N A V I G A T I O N |
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[He can hear her moving, feel her fingers around his wrist. He could try to memorize where she's pushing, but really, he's just enjoying being around someone he considers a friend. New place, new threats, new day- same Jessica Jones. Besides, for all that his world's gone to shit in so many ways, there's something to be said for just being able to sit and breathe.
If she winds up finding his card, a few things might pop out at her: Bondage; Spanking, paddling; Obedience; Fighting, wrestling... Yup. Fine. Either the card guessed really well, or he was more transparent about his things than he knew.
Still, he couldn't see what she could, so he waited with that innocent look while she fiddled with his wrist unit.]
Anything?
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But if she's ever in a position to wingman him, she'll enjoy salting that game. ]
Plenty. Bondage, fighting, spanking. [ She drones with the aplomb of someone rattling off a grocery list. She glosses over "obedience" though she can hazard a guess at what side of the equation he'd be on and she has no problem with it. She also guesses that as the obedient party, he'd still be a smarmy shitheel. ]
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...
[His mouth worked, but nothing came out and he had to cough and lick his lips to try again.]
I'm sorry is that... what is that?
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Jess relinquishes his wrist. She's read every one of his squares but she won't rub it in unless he wants her to dictate them to him. ]
Because I guess not all sex energy is made equal.
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[If he hadn't taken off his glasses, he'd be adjusting them at the moment. For now, he was leaning back against the sofa and fiddling with his tie. Matt Murdock was a fidgeter. And he was trying very hard to wrap his head around... well, all of this.]
What, like... some kind of pink bunny?
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I told you, I don't know how it works. But you do something that's on your card, the smart-bracelet can tell. [ It can't be simple pulse monitoring. Any sex will ramp your heart rate up, as well as scores of other activities. These devices can differentiate one sexual act from another. ] It gets marked off.
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He sits there and tries to mull over her words. Sex bracelets, monitoring, robots, energy, and all of them stuck here to what purpose he hasn't yet figured out. A sigh, and his hand comes up to rub over his face.]
And then what?
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[ Each word is couched in its own set of sarcastic airquotes. Because, for whom? The robots? They're robots. The computer's a computer. There are no citizens of this city that appears to have been built for, if not by, humans. No remains, no corpses or bones, that she's found or that anyone else has mentioned. ]
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[Yes, because for a guy that dated someone who was a living weapon and was now undead and he hung out with another guy that was bulletproof and some punk kid that punched things with his glowing fist of glory... proof was clearly high up on his list of necessaries.
He realized how ridiculous it sounded, but it all sounded utterly nonsensical.]
And if people don't play along?
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[ She leans forward and picks her water back up. The glass is empty and set down again as he poses his second question. ]
I don't know. [ She swallows the last dregs of water left in her mouth. Admitting the truth is also admitting she's "played along" herself. It wasn't her intention but it qualified, according to her A5. ] Maybe that's why they grabbed you. [ And the other clueless newbies wandering out of the hospital. ]
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As for the judgement she was worried about; never coming. Not from him. Jessica was refreshing to him in a variety of ways. She was comfortable in her sexuality without being the type to shove it in places it wasn't welcome. If they hadn't crossed paths the way they had and he'd met her someplace else, he'dve found her intriguing. What he could see of her through his world on fire view spoke of a very generous mouth. He was glad his eyes didn't fix on anything, otherwise he might have been caught staring. Besides, Foggy would be the first to talk about all of Matt's 'conquests'. It was mildly embarrassing, but he knew it was done with affection, so he let it slide. There wasn't a malicious bone in Franklin Nelson's body.
Her suggestion, however, has his tongue coming out to wet his lips.]
They grabbed me because of what- none of you were playing smash the nookie noodles together to their liking? Seems counterproductive.
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[ Good lord, Matt. The further he gets from four letters, the more perverted it becomes.
Jess ignores the glass of water he's offering back to her and slumps back against the couch. ]
Or they think it's not the right mix of people. More partners for us to choose from, quantity over quality. I haven't taken a poll. The only part I can wrap my head around is the abduction itself, and that's barely. [ The Chitauri invaded through a giant portal in the sky. She accepts that those are possible and that the teleporter could be a smaller version of the same phenomenon. But their weapons and ships weren't powered by sex, she assumes, and nothing here resembles the aesthetic of their ships or soldiers. ]
no subject
He sipped at his water instead, resting it on his thigh as he gave a shrug.]
More things to worry about. Even just taking the pair of us into consideration.
[They both probably have quantity under their belt.]
I, ah... I didn't get a good handle on how I got here. I don't think my head really cleared until I was out in the street here, so I can't really say anything about the how of getting here.
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She rests her head on the back of the couch, awaiting his next question, or silence as her previous answers sink in. ]
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Do they have specific housing here? Any no-go zones?
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[ He told her he could sense plants in what was a wasteland, so, plants. Jess would have to wander there later and see if the robots ventured beyond city limits to fight the flora or if they'd given up. Not infrequently, she thought about packing her bag with rations and seeing how far she can get. But that's suicide and she's not that low. She could scrape up some survival skills from other people here for when she is. ]
I'd say the odds of survival out there are worse, if it's overgrown. Even the plants are pervy.
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[She'd mentioned something, and he wondered if that was part of that aliveness he picked up from them. Or if she was just pulling his leg. Who knew with her?]
Define 'free for all'. If I'm going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, I don't want to step on any toes. Yet.
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The buildings are all empty. People are making shelter anywhere that's not completely caved in. Cafes, stores, offices. [ Possibly actual apartment buildings and houses. ]
Just listen for signs of life. Or smells of life. Like sheets too new to be covered in a thousand years of dust. [ She exaggerates the number but could in fact be underselling it. ]
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Not that he'd tell her where he was camping out at first. He still had to go get his duffel bag he'd stashed, find a new hidey hole in whatever new place he decided to make his. At least he wouldn't be bothered by colors.]
You think that's how long this place has been empty? Or is that a Jonesism?
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[ She's no archaeologist. The damage and dilapidation certainly isn't recent. But given the state of the weather, it could have accrued within no more than decades. Records of the destruction have yet to be uncovered. Not so much as a shred of a newspaper headline under some rubble. Jess would take that as a consolation prize, while she was out scavenging for booze or supplies. No dice. ]
Could ask the Augur, it's always up. I don't see any reason to trust it though.
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[Sure, there'd been a holograph, but they'd sort of found his achilles heel with that one. He sighed, head rolling on the back of the couch towards her a bit.]
Is there anyone else? Here? From... home?
[Anyone he'd have to play fast and loose with, or watch his tongue around, is what he really meant to ask. God, he hoped there wasn't. He could just imagine Foggy or Danny in a place like this. Jesus. If Danny was here, more things would be punched.]
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[ She's audibly relieved to tell him that. Luke, Danny, Trish, Malcolm, she hopes they never end up here. That the bots have got their fill of New Yorkers now. ]
No one we know. I saw someone who looked like the Avenging superspy. [ She has her camera. The days are slow. To fill the time, she sometimes finds a high vantage point and clocks pedestrians through the lens without ever clicking the shutter button. That's intermixed with surveilling the robots that outnumber them. ]
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[Weren't they all some flavor of spy? Super or otherwise? And he found it ironic that the spy who liked to snap people at their worst (albeit she got paid for it) was calling out other spies. It made him smile.]
I should, ah... I guess I should go find some place to bunk.
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[ Jess wouldn't disagree that they are all spies but Black Widow is the only super one. Hawkeye is a super sniper, Hulk is a super monster, Stark is a super rich guy, Cap is a super doofus, etc.
She thinks about getting up when he proposes leaving. It's not like there's a latch to shut behind him, though. Emotional exhaustion compounding her fatigue, she might take a stab at a nap, so why move? ]
Before all the choice hovels are gone. [ She smiles at him wanly. Jess holds down the irrational fear that if he leaves, she'll never see him again, and rebuffs the second chance for a real goodbye. She'll see him around or she won't; no words she can say will change that. The ones that can, she already said. ]
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[Not that he could tell the difference in hair color. Hell, Jess almost looked like a redhead to him, the way she was outlined with those flaming marks, her body almost melting into the couch. The smile she gave him was soft, and almost sad.
He leans forward to set the glass on the table, then hesitates before he reaches over to rest his hand on her knee. A light tap, a squeeze, his face tilted her way.]
I'll be close by. If- If you need to talk.
[She could use the wrist unit for that, but maybe he didn't want her to think he was leaving her. He'd made her leave him once. He wasn't sure he had it in him to do it again. Not when there wasn't a really good cause. He might have a sense of knowing that he should be alone; Stick's demands echoing at him to cut off all ties, but... he couldn't. Didn't want to. He needed something to care about. His city wasn't here. Fisk wasn't here to stand against. So he'd keep an ear out for whoever needed help here. While he could. If he could.
A last pat, and then he rose to his feet.]
Be careful, Jessica.