TDM 014: A DAY AT THE FAIR

[erkumods]

TDM 014: A DAY AT THE FAIR

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. HAY FEVER A new mode of transportation has made an appearance! From one end of the fairgrounds to the other, and even sometimes off the beaten path and into the wilds, robot-horse-drawn hay wagons shake, rattle, and roll. And, of course, what are hay wagons great for? Anyone fancy a roll in the hay? Anyone who is taking a hay ride will see their A5 card flash - and they will be given the option to trade one square for the vehicles square. (New players engaging in this prompt can call it a freebie.) But beware! The wagons roll at all hours of the day and night. At night, the spooks come out to play! Rides will be "haunted" by frightful spooks played by machines and your local Islanders. The 'bots will hire anyone interested to don their favorite slasher costume or ghostly garb. After all, everyone knows that fear and adrenaline are related to attraction, right? Just another thoughtful service provided by your generous benefactors. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● II. Acute Beef Poisoning How about an eating contest? Multiple competitions are held throughout the fair: hot dogs, hot dogs, pies -- just use your imagination! Of course, there's always the chance that you've been recruited to be "eaten"... So sit back and enjoy the ride. For those of you with an exhibitionist streak, all contests are held in front of an audience. Be careful, ye who eat here, because the pies in particular have been known to have the following effects (with a two-hour duration): Meat - A simple aphro pie; a character finds themselves craving a very different kind of meat. Apple - Temporary amnesia befalls those who've tried the apple pie. The effects can be as great as forgetting your entire identity or as minor as forgetting what you've had for breakfast. Cherry - Look upon the very face of innocence! All guile falls away from this character, making it impossible for them to lie. Strawberry - The compulsion to follow orders may be strong sometimes, but the strawberry pie comes with the compulsion to give orders instead. Blueberry - Oh no! You're looking a bit... off-color? The blueberry pie turns a character's skin blue for the next two hours. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● III. BRODEO Last but not least, try the mechanical contraptions of various sizes - equipped with equipment of various sizes as well! The objective of this game is to last as long as you can. Thirteen Hand Sam is the smallest of the mechanical horses. It has no attachments, but instead vibrates until the rider orgasms. Mechanic Mike is the second mechanical horse. With a modest six-inch dildo, it bucks its rider around until orgasm. For those who like a real challenge, the mechanical bull -- the Bonine -- is a two-person contraption that straps each rider in with their own dildo. They sit face-to-face on the thrashing machine, within touching range, able to encourage each other to come (and to lose) more quickly. Ride like you've never ridden before, or comfort someone in the aftermath of a job well done. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

[krempuff]

"It's...a long story. Let's get you in and clean you up a little bit, you'll be more comfortable if we can dry you off a bit." And now, Dorian would have clothes when he left, which was a better situation than if Krem hadn't come along.

He led Dorian along to one of the private rooms, grabbing a few towels. As he went, he used the bracelet on his wrist to awkward type out a quick message to Bull, letting him know that Dorian was here.

Behind closed doors, Krem's shoulders dropped slightly.

"So...where first, and then other questions?" He posted up slightly. "It's an island, not on Thedas. There's a thing called the Augur that pulls people here through time and space. That gets outside of my wheelhouse."

[todobetter]

It was a bit easier to follow Krem though the decor of the spa made him what in Andraste's name was going on here. Even the seediest places he had been in hadn't been this blatant about sex.

Dorian let out a breath when the door closed and they had some privacy. The robots were a little unsettling.

"I figured out it wasn't Thedas. The Veil isn't here." Dorian could sense that. His magic felt unstable, like he was just discovering it for the first time again. Attacking the robots might have gone very poorly for him. "I would be skeptical but I've walked in the Fade itself so, sure. That's probably possible."

He rubbed at his face with a towel and then his hair. "And I assume that there's no escaping this place?"

[krempuff]

Krem nodded. Though there were mages here, and he dreamed, it wasn't the same sort of things as being back home, the familiar presence that Krem had been taught to fought beside and against in the Tevinter army before he had fled and had, for so many years, been very familiar with with Dalish at his back.

"You can walk for a little ways out of the city, but there's a fog on most of the island and it gets disorientating. After a while, you just end up back, without remembering much of what was out there. I haven't gone very far out, just a bit of foraging."

He hesitated slightly. "There are supposedly ways out. You'll get a task card and if you fill it out entirely, that's apparently a way home. But I don't know if anyone has managed it. And the tasks are all..."

For a moment, he almost pulled up his card, but that felt incriminating. So he just shrugged. "It's all fucking, in some variety."

[todobetter]

All fucking?

"It's a lust demon's dream come true," Dorian said without thinking. He'd noticed the distinct theme of sex everyone around them in this spa. Being assigned sexual tasks wasn't inherently surprising... except it was absolutely insane.

He motioned for Krem to turn around so that he could take off his soaked clothes. While he liked Bull's friend, he didn't want the man looking at him naked. There were still boundaries between them.

"So, this island wants everyone to have sex. I take it you don't know why?" He started to deal with the buckles and clasps of his clothes and kept right on talking. "I doubt those robots explain anything. They are very pushy and not forthright with information."

[krempuff]

Krem made an agreeing noise, because he still wasn't entirely sure that Mollymauk Tealeaf, and whatever other tieflings were around, weren't desire demons, but he wasn't about to get into all of that right now.

He rolled his eyes at Dorian slightly and obligingly turned around, deciding not to argue the point. He wouldn't have looked, was the point, but arriving was always a strange thing and full of stress, and there was no point getting into an argument over anything.

"Not particularly, no," he said. "Something about...animus or eros or something like that. It helps the robots rebuild the city. The more sexually active people are, the more the island can be built up. Sounds like crock, to me."

[todobetter]

It wasn't completely strange to Dorian. It absolutely felt like Desire demons feeding on the energy of their name in the Fade. This wasn't a dream though. Dorian had no power here. He couldn't see through this world and change it to his liking.

"If it's energy they are after, sex is a way to get it," he mused aloud as he undid his robes and struggled out of them. The tight fit had only gotten tighter when wet. It clung to his chest and arms uncomfortably. "There are old magic rituals in Tevinter that had sex as the power source."

He paused a moment as he wiggled out of his boots one at a time. "And then they discovered blood magic and well... the rest is history."

[krempuff]

"Well, no sign of blood magic so far. But I've only been here about a month, so there's time yet, I suppose."

There was plenty of weird stuff, but they didn't need to go into that. At least, there was no reason to enumerate his specific familiarity with some of the things that he had encountered. While the noise of the wet clothes continued behind him, Krem looked through a nearby cabinet for more towels and a dressing robe. He could launder things while Dorian took a moment to himself, which might help as well.

"Any other pressing questions I can offer insight on?"

[todobetter]

Dorian chuckled under his breath. A month and that was all Krem had been able to discover. Either the other man hadn't looked or the secrets were very well hidden. He was rather used to the Chargers finding out whatever they wanted to know.

"Ah. Anyone else we know stumble into this place?" he asked as he neatly folded his robes and left them on a bench near by.

Who were their allies here? Did they have friends or did Krem have people he trusted? Clearly, this wasn't a place to be on your own.

[krempuff]

Krem thrust his arm back with the dressing robe and towel, rolling his eye, at the hint of a chuckle. He didn't think that Dorian was deliberately trying to be condescending, but he was managing it a bit anyway. The month had gone quickly, and Krem had other things to concern himself with than investigating the intricacies and mysteries of the island just yet. He'd get to it.

But the question did pose a bit of a situation. He was quiet a moment longer than was strictly necessary, and then, with quiet consideration, he said, "The Iron Bull. You'd make our third, from home."

There were good people here. Strange people. Some more or less familiar in certain ways or customs, all of them struggling. But the Iron Bull was the only one that mattered, when it came to that question.

[todobetter]

Dorian almost dropped the offered robe at the mention of The Iron Bull. He fumbled then quickly put it on so he could look at Krem and make sure the other man wasn't teasing him.

"Bull's here?" There's a note of hopefulness that he can't fully hide. His lover is here? On a sex island?

Oh. That idea made him nervous and hurt a little. Bull probably wasn't staying loyal to him and why would he? Dorian wasn't here until now. Oh this was going to be a mess in his head. Dorian had better clean himself up nicely before he went looking for Bull.

[krempuff]

If Krem had had a question about it, the fumbling uncertainty of that moment certainly cleared things up. He and Bull hadn't talked about Dorian since his arrival, but they had a bit before, in a way that he and Bull didn't talk about most of the people Krem was aware of coming and going.

Krem went over to the pile of damp, sandy clothes that Dorian had removed and began to carefully unfurl and shake them out, judging them for wear and damage and how he'd need to care for them before returning them.

"He was here without me a few months," he said quietly. "He's from...after I am. But we haven't talked much about it. I caught him up on everything I knew, and that's been that. You know how he is."

Which didn't address the dragon in the room: this was an island powered by sexual energies, and the Iron Bull was an object of a lot of sexual attention. But that was for him and Dorian to figure out, not Krem.

[todobetter]

Dorian bit his tongue against the tumble of questions he wanted to ask. Was Bull from a time where he and Dorian were together? Had they told each other they loved each other yet? Was Bull also from when Dorian was back in Tevinter without him but they were still together?

Those weren't questions for Krem. They were for Bull when they finally saw each other. All those questions about other lovers would happen then as well.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Time to focus. "Well, I should clean myself up and maybe go have a chat with him. See how he's doing."

Just to see him. Dorian so badly wanted to see him. It had been awhile in his time.

[krempuff]

Krem watched Dorian carefully, quietly, as the older man's face worked through the myriad thoughts that he didn't voice. Even if he had, Krem would have had little to offer. He almost regretted that.

"There's hot and cold communal baths," he said, "and saunas. I'll take care of your things and make sure they're dry and back here as quickly as I can. And keep the robots away."

That was the real task, if he was honest. Other workers would be mostly respectful, but the robots had a tendency to be a little too nosy about things.

He reached out and grasped Dorian's arm, gentle but familiar. He gave him a little squeeze. Nothing was good here, but there were small things: familiar faces and moments that weren't so bad. And this. "It's good to see you, Dorian. I mean that. And he will mean it too."

[todobetter]

"A hot bath, please." He very much wanted to soak and try to forget his troubles. It wouldn't work. His mind would overthink for awhile, working through the implications and means of this island and the powers here. He'd think about Bull and seeing him. And what the future might hold here.

But, Maker, he's rather glad Krem found him. He'd still be snapping at anyone else and he doubted strangers would look after him like this.

"It's good to see you too, Krem." He squeezed his arm in return. "Thank you for helping me. I do appreciate it."