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TDM018: TRICKS AND TREATS
| TDM018: TRICKS AND TREATS |
Uploading user data to environmental systems. . . please wait.  Augmentations c̴̦͋o̷͓̺̘̓m̸̮̈̾́p̸̻̃l̵̠̱̤̅e̷̢̧̺͐̃̽t̸͈̓ḙ̴͙̓͘. Proceed . . .? Y/N > Y  Your eyes blink open to the blinding glare of overhead lights and the sight of a pair of glassy mechanical eyes boring into your own. The face above yours moves like liquid mercury, forming an approximation of a figure that you recognize and trust implicitly: a friend, a loved one, a caretaker. Perhaps even a god or a goddess. From its lips fall the patterns of a language that is strange and robotic, and yet familiar to you: Welcome to the N̵̩̈́̓ä̶͇́͂͘m̸̠͒e̴̞̻̾ͅl̷̹̄͝ḙ̷̺͗s̵̳͊̀ṣ̵̱̚ͅ ̶̧͒̄Í̴͔s̵̡̛̺̍̓ļ̵̥͖̄͛͌ḁ̸̳̟̒́n̵̻͑́͗d̴̩͕̰̂̊̔ Darkness overtakes you once again. I. Arrival  When you awake, you find you have washed up on the otherworldly pink sands of an impossibly beautiful beach, the tropical scenery spoiled only slightly by your seasickness. New arrivals, waterlogged and covered in sand, 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, all is available for your use. Stake your claim on a place to live in the now, whether an apartment in the City, a shack on the beach, or a bigger space at the House of Worship with friends. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each arrival's home. II. Spooky Scavenger Hunt  Even with the Nameless Island reborn and open to your every whim, the robots still like to provide stimulating opportunities for people to get to know one another and earn some credits. But instead of the manual labor typical of the previous situation, they have engineered a scavenger hunt in honor of the Island's new autumn scenery! Islanders will find themselves pulled off the street, from inside establishments, and even from outside their own homes and paired with a partner. Their bracelets will be scanned and they will both find identical messages in their inboxes detailed they have 24 hours to find 10 randomized items on their list provided. Do so and bring them back (or take a picture if they are too big) to the Scavenger Station and they’ll receive a hefty reward of credits! Bonus Credits if they can show proof or pictures of the items being put to use before they turn them in. The robots certainly encourage the full scavenger hunt experience. The items can be found anywhere in the City. Sometimes in likely places and other times in a place you might not even consider (on other Islanders, for example?), although each team’s list will provide clues of where to look.
… and more! (Feel free to get creative! Items can range from silly to outright explicit.) III. Two Moon Film Festival  In order to promote the various community college classes available at the Library for Islander enrichment, the resident robots have cooked up a very special opportunity for Islanders to show off the new skills they have been practicing in their Amateur Porn classes to the growing Erku community: the Two Moon Film Festival! Everyone on the island, both new and old, gets a ticket for the festival itself. In the meantime, there are openings for pairs and groups to participate in creating the entries that will be showcased at said festival. Up for a creative challenge? Found yourself involuntarily signed up and unable to back out? One way or another, many Islanders are now entered into the film-making contest. New arrivals are encouraged to buddy up with Islanders who attended the classes, but anyone is welcome and encouraged to shoot their shot! Each duo or group that participates is to meet at the Library at sundown for their assignments: a genre, a line of dialogue, a character type or name, and a prop, all of which are randomized and different per group. You now have until sundown two days from now to create a short movie that incorporates at least three of the four items. Everything they need, from equipment to props and costumes, will be provided. Engaging and interactive VR sets can be programmed by helpful robots, and catering is available to help keep the crews properly fueled up. The punch and pie provided have the added effect of inspiring great bursts of creativity (and for a lucky few, horniness) in those who consume them. Following the deadline, all finished entries will debut on the big screen at Two Moon Film Festival, hosted by the Full Moon(ty) Theater. Chat up other contestants and the viewers before and afterward, laugh at the cringeworthy moments and bad acting, and aim for winning the Audience's Choice Award! All entrants to the contest earn one small reward of their choosing, while the winners of the contest will each receive one free BINGO-level request from the Augur! [ OOC: Shout out of thanks to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} zunge for this prompt! ]Load Simulation . . .? Y/N READY: Simulation 1.1 Tenebrae Town  Your consciousness comes to you in the midst of a dense autumn forest. You haven't been asleep. You stand there, fully clothed, but perhaps not in your usual attire - perhaps you're wearing a belted tunic with trousers and leather boots to protect you from the cold ground, or a long and modest dress with an apron and a hood, hand-sewn in natural fabrics. The chill in the air and even the smell of the dirt and the trees are not like those of the Island. This place feels old, a strange energy crackling in the air. Some may recognize it as a very ancient magic. In the distance, colorful lights dance between the trees. Approach closely enough and they look like fairies, but they are always just out of your reach. Are they leading you somewhere? No - if you follow them, as they seem to bid you, they will only lead you deeper into danger: a snarling wolf, a sudden drop into a craggy ravine. They are mischievous, sometimes cruel little things. You'll never escape this forest by yourself. For as long as you are alone, the night is interminable - days long, it seems. Are you the determined sort, willing to choose a direction and continue walking no matter what, or will you give into despair of being hopelessly lost? With any luck, it won't take you long to find out that your only way out is with the help of someone else. Only by agreeing to work together will the dawn finally break, and your path into Tenebrae Town will become clear. Should you refuse, or never cross paths with another Islander? Maybe the wolves will take you in. OOC Notes:To accommodate our smaller community and split-setting environment, TDMs going forward will be open to old and new players for top levels! Please state in your subject line whether you are a TDMing a new character, or top-leveling with a character currently in the game! Voting for Audience Choice Awards for Prompt III will be held in November. Threads should be started by the time you submit your entries, but need not be finished in order to win! Entries will still be valid if they include characters who TDMed but did not apply to the game. ALL participants in the contest may handwave one small Augur reward request equivalent to an incomplete thread reward. N A V I G A T I O N |
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But..... I think you might have been pleased as well, to see Dimitri and Edelgard fighting with a single purpose.
[It had been..... horrific, to put it lightly. Fighting friends on the battlefield over different beliefs is bad enough, but to see them rotting and broken, twisted and defiled, filled with such rage and hatred, hearts so different from the people he'd once cared for.....
No matter how inspiring it had been to see Eagles and Lions join as one, the memories will surely haunt him. Compared to that, even the obscenity of the island is a welcome subject change.]
Not exactly. Carnality generates some manner of power known as Eros energy. I assume it's a unique type of magic the Augur has the capacity to collect and manipulate--primarily to restore this devastated world, but also to abduct and provide for us.
[This place was pretty awful until after the battle, after all. They can hate the Augur all they want, but that doesn't change the fact that all of them had only survived until now thanks to the Augur's generosity towards its guests. Even the fact that they're only in this mess thanks to the Augur doesn't necessarily invalidate that fact.]
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Hmm. This place is really something. So either you assist in providing for the other residents from the island, but the caveat is that you are also helping bring others here. Hm. I suppose it would likely happen regardless, but that's... ah.
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[It's quite admirable, really. Even he hasn't reached out to Edelgard more than strictly necessary. But then again..... Being forced to stand on opposite sides of the battlefield in spite of caring about each other is somewhat different from your opponent wanting to kill you for who and what you are. Their own reconciliation could never come so easily, or maybe even come at all.]
It is something of a dilemma, isn't it? But one we're not always free to choose on. One way or another, the Augur tends to get what it wants.
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Marvelous. I would prefer to have the agency to choose my partners but I suppose that will be something I will have to get used to.
Are you doing all right here, Seteth?
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[Also known as, he's avoiding her because she seems like the only Black Eagle here who actively takes issue with him and his own, rather than simply following Edelgard's lead. For the sake of preserving the truce, it's best to do everything he can to make sure nobody has any temptation to shatter this peace. If that means he has to hold himself a bit distant from Dimitri's personal life as well, then so be it.]
As for me? I suppose I'm doing as well as I can, given the circumstances. I've a roof over my head, a bit of money saved, and the means to keep myself busy. But if you're careful, you can often have some say over your partners--refusing to eat or drink in public, for example.
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[ Well. How he should feel. How he does feel is bereft. He should be happy for him, that he's come far enough for that. This is the same feeling that stuck to him like when Dimitri left for Fhirdiad for good. ]
I'm glad you're managing so far. This is all a bit much for me. I keep expecting to wake up again at the bottom of a crevasse with my ears ringing. ]
They tamper with food here?
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[He may not have the same bond with Dimitri that Byleth has, but there's no denying that the feeling such a relationship inspires are complicated, to say the least. Should they feel joy on his behalf, that he's found someone he truly loves? Relief, that the tangled roots of Fodlan's war are being smoothed out? Fear and concern, knowing how easily Edelgard had deceived and betrayed them all, how violently she had torn Fodlan asunder in pursuit of her goals? He wants to believe the best of her, that this love will keep Dimitri safe, that he won't be stolen away from them.....
But then again, he had believed the best of the Agarthans once, too. Look where that trust had gotten him. Seteth holds the door to the clothing shop open, stepping back to let Byleth through.]
That is quite understandable. You should have plenty of time to adjust, if nothing else--I suppose it isn't entirely different from waking up after your long slumber.
[Waking up in a strange place, with strange circumstances, and needing to catch up on the state of the world..... Yes, this predicament should be quite familiar to him. Seteth holds up a hand to show his bracelet.]
Food, drink, even cologne--you can and should expect anything you don't have to pay for to be drugged. It's often possible to wait it out, if you have the patience to isolate yourself for a few hours. But even if not, these allow you to reach out to someone you know and trust to help you, almost as easily as if you were in the same room.
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[ There's that same worry there. He doesn't trust Edelgard. He had been ready to put her down himself if Dimitri couldn't. As much as he hated that side of himself. The side that can just kill without showing any kind of emotion. It always did affect him, but never visibly enough for most people to understand. Doing what he had to do.
Ashen Demon.
He almost misses not feeling as brightly as he does now. Even if it's just a fraction more, it's exhausting. ]
Troubling. To say the least. I suppose I will just have to be careful as I can. What a strange place, the technology here is so advanced, and yet-
It is beholden to such base desire.
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[The act of creating a new life, multiplied a thousandfold, magnified and guided by someone's deliberate control..... the theory seems sound enough, even if he's not learned enough in sorcery to understand the underlying mechanics. By the Augur's wisdom, this island has been reborn, no matter how much of a burden the process has been on all of them.
Whatever petty personal dramas play out between them, they are part of something greater than themselves. It's a humbling thought, realizing all over again just how small you really are.]
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[ They do reach the clothing store. It's not like anything Byleth has ever seen before. Everything is so immaculately made, and in styles he's never encountered. A lot of it is rather revealing...
He does eventually decide on a shirt- though there's little windows cut out near the chest and belly
not unlike his female counterpartand a pair of narrow pants that leave very little to the imagination. At the very least the boots he finds are fairly normal, and he does manage to get a longer jacket which he habitually just drapes off his shoulders. ]Are you sure you're all right with this? I don't... have any way to repay you at the moment.
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[After all, who in the monastery hadn't had cause to note Byleth's generosity? Whether it was their time, their effort, their care, or simply their money..... If it was true of the woman he knew, it was likely true of this Byleth, as well.]
If you really feel the need to, it can wait until you get your feet under you.
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[ It's odd to be in this position, outside of their normal duties, and Seteth not being so tightly wound as he remembers. No... he's softer now. Like the angles have been worn away. He wonders if it's simply being away from the monastery for so long... or perhaps something about this place. ]
I don't suppose you would know any good fishing spots, would you?
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[Who knows? Perhaps simply no longer needing to stress over fulfilling the needs of an entire monastery has been good for him. Perhaps instead of being stretched so thin, being allowed to simply focus on himself and his own relationships allows for a gentler touch. Or is it something about this place? Is it something about being forced to reach out to people and seek pleasure that is eroding his facade?
It hardly matters, either way. Seteth offers his hand to the shopkeep to allow his bracelet to be scanned; isn't it nice to not need to carry around gold?]
I've found a few, yes. I believe you'll find that fishing and hunting is a fine way to ensure your food is untampered with here.
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[ He feels far better with some real clothes on, and Seteth's very stable presence does help. It's nice to have someone to lean on a little. ]
You'll have to show me, when I get settled in. If you wouldn't mind, that is...
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[Nearly everyone here seems to have been aligned with the Blue Lions, after all. He wonders absently if gender has any impact on which class Byleth chose to teach; it's rare that he discusses the Professor in any real detail with the others, after all. Who knows if the others remember Byleth as a man or a woman? But that's for later--Byleth needs to finish settling in, now.]
You'll likely want to find yourself a place to stay next.
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For the last year or so I've been tending to my duties as Archbishop. You and I have spent a lot of time together recently.
[ There's a lot left unsaid, about Rhea and her declining health, about what was done to him, the changes he planned for the church, and the future, but right now the attainable things are best. Small steps. A place to stay. The stress is actually evident in his voice though. ]
Do I just... pick a place?