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TDM 016 & 4th WALL EVENT: NO WALLS BETWEEN US
| TDM 016 & 4th WALL EVENT: NO WALLS BETWEEN US |
00. An Arrival and a Broken Wall?! You should be coming 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 should be greeted by robots who welcome them with towels and bracelet devices. The A5 card already loaded up, and if you don’t manage to get away from them quickly enough, they should 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 should be given a complimentary towel to leave with if needed! Should. That’s how things are for newbies - and maybe today, some newbies will arrive the usual way. Others might be surprised to hear that there is another "you"... already here! If and when you finally meet this other "you," there's simply no way to agree on who the so-called real version is. Your histories may be the same or they may be wildly divergent, but those little differences don't change the fact that you are who you say you are. Some islanders might even find themselves running into a much older or younger version of themselves. Duplicates and doppelgangers, you say? People who look and sound familiar but are just a little bit off? What strange anomalies have washed up from the ocean! On the other hand, maybe you’re not new here at all, or so you think. You’ve definitely been on this Island for months already. You can't exactly remember what you were doing here before, but you have the modest home and personal effects to prove that you existed. You’ve always been someone who greets new arrivals at the shore. You know very well how things work on the island, and how many of the buildings are abandoned and in dire need of repair. You know that 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. You know all of this. You’ve already claimed 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. You’re a veteran at this by now. Aren’t you? I. A WHOLE NEW YOU The fog has thickened off the shores of the Island and in the areas that have still been obscured. So thick that it looks not unlike the heavy clouds of the recent storm. But late into the night and early into the morning, the fog seems to encroach on the Nameless City even more, blinding and catching Islanders traveling through in areas normally free of its effects. Anyone who gets caught in the especially heavy mist might find themselves suffering from more than just the usual amnesia. The fog no longer only takes memories, but can also alter your memories... and you. You may forget your time on the Island. You may forget your life before. But you’ll remember something else. You’ll remember a life entirely different as if you lived it yourself: you are a merperson who has always lived here, in the waters around the Island. Those grand underwater cities look like ancient ruins to others, but to you? You still see them as beautiful and palatial as the day they were built. You are a Native whose memories are fuzzy, but you certainly remember living your entire life here in great happiness and luxury. And once you step out of the mist, you might even find yourself physically changed to match what you recall, with fins or tentacles and gills to allow you breathe beneath the waves. You might be completely transformed, or just enough to make life underwater as easy as it's ever been. Someone else attempting to free you of these delusions will find that the more they try to force you to remember your true life, the more real and convincing your undersea life begins to feel. You must embrace this new (old?) life, embrace this new you in all ways and live it to its fullest. Completing Auspicious Acts will help bring out glimpses, hints, flashes of memory and recognition that perhaps this is not who you once were, and allow you to return to your former self. But the longer you take to embrace this, the harder it might be to let go. Some of these changes could become permanent. II. LET XXX BE YOUR GUIDE Things have been strange, not just for the people of the Island, but the robots as well. The typically welcoming robots that offer their assistance in guiding new arrivals or encouraging Islanders to visit the various locations seem to be scarce. There are fewer of them running around the entertainment district and other establishments. To ensure that new arrivals continue to have a pleasant Island experience, robots will be recruiting Islanders as mentors and guides: mentor guides, if you will! Volunteers will lead other Islanders around the Island as a means of helping them become better acquainted with the locations available here for your fun and entertainment, and they will be rewarded with credits for their hard work. Guides and sightseers alike could be someone fresh and new to the Island, someone who insists they’ve been here for years, or even someone that a robot randomly dragged off the street. Mentor guides will all receive a very form-fitting and revealing uniform - no two are the same! - and, of course, a glossy paper map of all of the available sights on the Island. The pictures are big and detailed, and cute sex toy icons point out various key sights such as the recreation center, the bath house, and the library. There are even suggestions for which Auspicious Acts are the best for each location! Strangely, none of the maps list the same suggestions, so each map encourages its own unique experience. Mentees will also find that their mentor’s voice is very appealing. So appealing that just listening to them speak is enough to get you feeling some kind of way. The more they talk, the more of a reaction you have. Your body begins to burn or itch and it’s very hard to pay attention to their words when thoughts about all the things you could be doing to them instead keep coming to your mind. The only way to relieve these thoughts might be to make your mentor stop talking altogether, or follow through with some of those helpful map suggestions. Maybe you need them to mentor you in more ways than one? III. SITCHES GET GLITCHES You’re walking down the road, or in your own home, or visiting a friend and suddenly something happens out of the corner of your eye. There’s a soft pfzzzzzzt and the feel of static on the skin. You turn and realize that the wall is suddenly gone. Or, maybe the glass in a store window disappeared. Perhaps someone’s clothes just vanished off of them in the middle of the street, or the chair you were sitting in at the cafe suddenly poofs right from under you. It’s as if the world around them is malfunctioning - little glitches that can last for seconds, hours, or even days before returning to normal on their own. Nothing that could seriously harm someone, but enough to be quite inconvenient. At least completing an Auspicious Act in the affected area or with the affected person seems to put it to rights immediately. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop these glitches from happening again. You may be concerned, and the robots understand, but if asked they will insist it’s just the world adjusting as the Augur welcomes so many new people! Nothing to be worried about, obviously. It will take time for fluctuating energy levels to adjust, that’s all. Some robots might even say it’s the perfect time to enjoy having so few barriers between you. Embrace the open nature of the Island and share yourself and your home with others. Walls are only meant for keeping out what you could be letting in! OOC Notes:Enjoy a mini Fourth Wall event, Islanders! As such, this test drive meme is open for anyone to create top levels, not just prospective players. Current player characters, characters you want to play in the setting but can't app full-time, drive-by castmates, duplicates, canon AUs, characters that normally would not be allowed such as fandom AUs and genderswaps (not including characters under 15), formerly dropped characters, etc. are all encouraged to come in and play! As all other test drive memes, this one will be game canon. Characters who fourth wall but do not app will disappear after a few days to a week, along with their home (if applicable) and all of their possessions. Please label your top levels as to whether you are test driving [TDM] or fourth walling [4W]. (Of course, you are allowed to change your mind! But our rules regarding appable characters will still apply.) Since auspicious acts are an integral part of this event, potential and current players can swap one Auspicious Act on their card for one of their choosing, if needed for any of the prompts. As usual, prospective players can use an Act and swap it onto their card if they choose to app into the game. If you have any questions, please ask them below. N A V I G A T I O N |
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Is it yeah or probably?! Just how many chances did we get at that anyway? [ look. He isn’t stupid. Duo knows he could charm the legs off a snake if he wanted to, but normally is also not dumb enough to not engage in careful practice.
… when he’s in his own head anyway. Still. That scowl is telling, and soon has Duo firing off more questions. ]
What happened with Hil? I can probably have my guesses already, but … maybe I wanna get her one last benefit of the doubt.
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[ Duo, he knows you know how sex works. It's Hilde who is apparently having a hard time working out the mechanics. This Maxwell isn't going to say that out loud, however - he's already had those knock-down, drag-out fights with her and lost them. She wins, she gets to do and say whatever she needs to in order to keep sane, and Maxwell just shuts his trap and sends the money.
It's literally the least he can do for her.
He shakes his head, an obvious 'no, not going there.' Not high enough and definitely not drunk enough to spill those guts. For that matter, he waves the smoking blunt over in Duo's direction. ]
Think whatever you want about her. Here, think you need this more than I do.
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No shit! But it either is or isn’t Hilde!
[ look, he may care about Hilde in his own way, these days. He wants to make sure she is safe and cared for, helps her with the business, to that end. But it’s feast or famine, with him, always. Duo Maxwell’s feet can’t stay ground bound for long and when they do it’s like he’s tap dancing on lava eventually.
Hell, this is the kid that uses the gravity modifier in the hangar to reach low gravity just to float. That’s how bad he’s jonesing for space, here, right about now.
At any rate he will take that joint. and take a probably inappropriately long drag at that.
When he pulls away all he can say is, in a choked voice to keep his lung full - ]
Best idea Wu ever had. [ he moves his hand to indicate the blunt. ]
Gonna have to get him somethin’ fancy after this.
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Alright, the twice, then.
[ Maxwell waves the question off. Does it matter how many when they're all in the past, now? If it wasn't Hilde then it's some name and face he probably doesn't even remember, and if that's the case then he'd rather just not know. ]
Hol' up. [ He raises a finger. ] Are you trying to tell me that Chang Wufei rolls blunts? I'm startin' to think I don't know any of you anymore.
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Chang Wufei rolls blunts. Chang Wufei has had a threesome or two. Chang Wufei also really really gives a shit. [ That much he had learned not all that long ago with a startling clarity. Of course, there’s always the connection of being comrades in war, but that only got them so far. How was he to know that, at some point, Wufei cared and was upset when he said he didn’t want to live a long life?
Upset enough to offer to do the job himself?
Duo takes another long pull from the blunt, arm moving to pass it even as the rest of him pauses to just… so it, for a moment. ]
You might not. Or you’re just going senile.
See - [ Duo pauses to adjust how he’s sitting, tossing off his shoes and slouching down a bit more. ] - My plan was always young and pretty.
Y’know. See the sights, get your blood pumping a few times, and then it’s all good and everyone will be fine if you just.. disappear one day.
But now you’re tellin’ me there’s a kid involved, and Wu is willing to choke me out at a party to prove a point, and my head’s all fucked.
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What is the point? He doesn't fuckin' know. Obviously, he doesn't need Duo to tell him what the plan was. He's the one who came up with that plan. Does Duo need him to tell him that he's full of shit? At what point in his comedy of errors and fuck-ups of a lifetime did he figure that out? Surely by now.
Finally, he sighs. Loudly. ]
Is there a question in there somewhere?
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Yeah. What changed? [ he wonders if things were going well and then changed or … what, really. After all, if he had cut his hair -
Duo isn’t the other man in the strictest sense. They haven’t experienced the same things as of yet, and so he doesn’t understand really what’s happened. ]
And I wanna know what happened to the braid. I figure it had to be pretty major.
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The older Maxwell blows out a long plume of smoke, leaning hard into the overstuffed bean bag sitting o his back and staring at the stub of a blunt between his fingers. The sight of that long, ugly surgery scar down his forearm reminds him of his age, but he's too numb to feel the twinge of an ache in his bones as anything but distant.
He huffs a dry, cynical laugh. ]
Nothing changed. Fought out two fucking wars, and for what? Nothing ever changed.
[ He could keep it at that, drown his words and this swell of anger in the bitter swig of whiskey he takes next, but no. Now he's gotten started. ]
Not me, not 'Ro, not Chang. We still got Doctors and Instructors and Masters, we still got Gundams, and guess who's taking them out to light up the town this time? Our kids, stuffed into those cockpits by the brilliant peacekeepers at Preventer. And Yuy, of course, after they thawed him out and gave him his orders.
[ He waves a hand dismissively towards the back of his neck, his scowl out in full force and a growl his voice, gruffer than Duo's. ]
I cut it off, all right? Something had to fuckin' change.
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[ That's... a lot to take in.
Duo begins with a little conciliatory hum of agreement with his older self at having fought two wars and nothing changing... but rapidly sinks into something more serious, brows furrowing and eyes far away as he continues. They'd done all of this, sacrificed themselves and their bodies to stop war, and though Duo had never particularly believed that they would stop war entirely, he'd thought at least within their lifetimes -
But then the bomb drops about Heero and thawing and Duo's eyes snap up, narrowed in both question and disgust all in one shot. ][ Duo grates it out, disappointed but mostly angry about that turn in events. ]
Well, you know... for all I got poo-poo'ed for saying that peace never lasts... I was fucking right. Who the hell froze 'Ro in the first place?
[ First thing to do when he gets back to their world : Prevent that if he can. ]
Still, though.. if you cut it off you were prolly in a ... not great spot.
[ Duo may not have all of the older Duo's experiences under his belt, but he notices things. He has a lot more scars, now, for one. And for two - he knows how nervous he gets been thinking about trimming his braid, much less cutting it all off in one shot. ]
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Not that anyone needed to twist Heero's arm to convince him again that he had nothing else worth living for. Maybe that was the part that still stung the most. What a damn waste.
He scoffs. 'Not a great spot.' He's had a few spots that weren't so great, huh? Even by his younger self's age. ]
Yeah, well. It's just hair. Didn't change nothin'.
An' Hil' wouldn't get off my ass about it.
[ That last part is definitely grousing. Hilde's constant nagging about cleaning up and getting his shit together wasn't the main reason the braid saw the chop, but it was the most annoying. ]
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Duo had decided to skip it on the preface of getting in his 'free time' since he had been absorbed in this war effort for his childhood. AKA doing nothing of the sort and most of the time wondering how the fuck to cope with being a normal human being with incredible paranoia and PTSD.
But then he hears 'Hilde' associated with cutting off his hair... and Duo may just snap a little. Unfiltered thanks to the booze and weed, he may just grab a nearby pillow and launch it with all of his might at his older self, just in time to let his voice raise. ]
What the hell!? Since when do you do that because of fuckin' Hilde!?