ercookies | TDM 014: A DAY AT THE FAIR

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's late in the day for new arrivals--already into the evening, past sunset--but Caleb combs the beach anyway. He's less looking for someone than he is just trying to clear his head, but as his luck would have it, he finds someone anyway.

And maybe...maybe he should have expected this. There are so many of his friends here, so many people with connections to one another--why should it only be the Nein who arrive from Wildemount? Why not others they know? (Why not others he knows?)

There is, of course, the usual cocktail of complicated emotions: surprise, wariness, fondness, regret, longing, love. But this time there is also immediate concern, which proves most prevalent. Eadwulf is sprawled on the sand on his back, still soaked from dragging himself out of the waves. And despite everything, Caleb can do nothing but go to him immediately.

His knees sink into the sand beside him, and he reaches for his nearest hand--both familiar and changed, but still that much larger than his own.

"Wulf," he murmurs, and extends his other hand to brush waterlogged strands of very short jet-black hair from Wulf's forehead as he ascertains just what state he's in. He speaks Zemnian automatically. "You look exhausted."

eadwulf lays here for a moment, resting one forearm over his eyes so he may try to gather his bearings once more. he can hear footsteps, people coming out of the water, but he's hopeful that no one will attempt to speak to him. he's hardly the only one in this state, anyways.

what he isn't expecting is zemnian, from a very familiar voice that sounds decades older than the last time he's heard it. he doesn't open his eyes right away, but he does groan his acknowledgement, a weak smile pulling at his lips. he squeezes bren's hand when it's taken, and only then does he peek out from under his arm at his former lover.

"i am," he says in their first language, "but seeing you eases that ache, just a little. where are we?"

eadwulf sits up in the sand, but takes careful measures to ensure his hand doesn't leave bren's. bleary eyed, wet, exhausted, he glances around the darkened beach, then finally to his friend.

"you look good."

Caleb's mouth twists in thin, pained smile, his hand leaving Wulf's forehead as he pushes himself up. The hand in his feels sort of ridiculous now, but to pull away when Wulf is grasping him like that, disoriented and soaking wet, seems very cruel. So Caleb lets it linger, and tries not to remember every stray thought about this man he's had since he arrived on this damned island almost eight months ago.

"The island doesn't have a name," he says, "but I have concluded that it is some sort of complex pocket plane. It's, ah...there is a lot to tell. We should get you cleaned up and settled somewhere first."

And Eadwulf's presence here is a lot to process. The variables involved--is he a threat? What will the Nein think? If he is not an immediate threat, will Caleb end up caught in the middle? He can't just abandon him--make his stomach twist with apprehension.