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TDM 020: FROSTED FLAKES
| TDM 020: FROSTED FLAKES |
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. Tropical Snow  The Augur hasn't forgotten your festive needs, Islanders! Though the Island weather remains sunny and tropical, a powdery snow has begun to fall from blue skies, collecting into pristine piles overnight. Fortunately, unlike some other snowstorms Islanders might have experienced, this one won't freeze you. In fact, the temperature of the powder is perfectly pleasant, even though everything else about it is exactly as one might remember from white holidays past. It even sticks together nicely, making it absolutely perfect for snowballs, forts, and sculptures, and the 'bots encourage Islanders to enjoy this little treat from the Augur for the limited time that it will last. Even robots pelted by snowballs will chirp cheery encouragements. It is, however, a little slippery… and a bit tacky. And sweet? Catching snowflakes on your tongue has never been so rewarding. III. It Came From Above  In addition to the Island's traditional cherub dragon helpers, Islanders may notice a newcomer to the skies above: these zippy little drones, which flit about playfully and broadcast festive songs from Islander memories whilst they assist the dragonets in decorating the hospital and other public buildings in wintery colors and charming strings of lights. Make sure you mind your head, because the more mischievous of the drones have minds of their own when it comes to decorating sometimes! If you're looking a little dour, you might become the next surface wrapped up in lights and tinsel. Maybe even with someone else, for pleasant company of course! Oh, and those mistletoe bots? They seem to pick targets at will, locking on and hovering overhead until their If asked for assistance with a drone, Island robots will helpfully inform you that the drones make excellent pets! Just be sure to pick one that doesn't bite. IV. Sticky Circumstances  The robots may have made a veeerryy slight miscalculation. As time passes, the mysteriously room-temperature snow that blankets the Island begins to… well, melt. Except, it doesn't melt into water. What results instead from this well-meaning experiment is a slippery, sticky, sweet substance just like icing sugar… but everywhere. On the sidewalks, on the buildings, sliding in globs off the leaves of every palm tree. While it may taste good, and pests like ants are never a problem in paradise, it's quite a nuisance! Robots will offer credits for assistance in clean-up, rewarding especially handsomely as the mess seems to gunk up their joints. With enough help from Islanders and drones, the mess could be cleaned up within the week! If an Islander would rather just enjoy their Island-wide slip and slide, however? The 'bots won't fault them. N A V I G A T I O N |
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Alright.
[ But he doesn't let him go without a small roll of his hips upwards first. ]
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All of his thoughts briefly leave him as the head of his cock - the shape familiar even with the wet fabric in the way - presses at his entrance, feeling like a tease while also asserting just how much control he really does have over Xiao Xingchen's body. He holds his breath as he lifts up one leg to turn himself around and gain footing on the floor. A painful throbbing between his legs makes itself known to him with every uneven step away from the table, his body wanting nothing more than to have Xue Yang pushing his thighs apart again. He manages to find one of the boxes and walk back with a semblance of propriety in his gait. However, his mussed hair, flushed face, and uniform torn so deeply down the front that a breast is almost fully exposed does detract from his efforts.
In a few quick motions, he slips the cake into a small box and closes it, wrapping it with a white bow with pale gold accents that matches the outfit Xiao Xingchen seems unaware is mostly ruined. He keeps it in hand, expecting to hold it along the way.]
I am now prepared to go where you wish, Master.
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Ah, daozhang, that outfit of yours looks pretty messed up. I was going to leave this for you like the rest, but since we're both here I can give it to you myself.
[ He reaches into his sleeve and takes out the body cage that he'd brought over, then holds it out towards Xiao Xingchen. ]
You can change into it right now if you want. After all it's not that cold outside.
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He looks back up with a sigh, glancing over the garment in Xue Yang's hands without high expectations.]
I thank you for your gift. However, I must ask for you to be a little more careful the next time you recall anything unpleasant.
[Yet after setting down the cake on a nearby table and picking up the body cafe, his expression softens as he looks it up and down.
The nameless friend had held him, distress in his voice as he told him about his absence. (He'll ignore his own situation at the time.) Surely part of Xue Yang's act, but how his heart had ached at the time, wishing he could be there and still unable to embrace his dear friend... Xiao Xingchen feels some worry come back to him as he starts to remember some of his words.
How has it come to this? Feeling sentimental over a garment that has an opening right over an intimate area?
He turns around with a shake of his head and - after a quick glance at the windows - starts to change right there, the air around him turning even hotter now. Perhaps an act meant to show Xue Yang that he won't fluster Xiao Xingchen so easily right now would be more effective if they faced each other, but the signs of how much effect Xue Yang has had on him already might be too obvious from the front. With his hair up today, however, he only belatedly realizes that nothing obscures the view from the back.
His shoulder blades shift as he lowers the body cage so he can step into it, delicate muscles moving in turn. Unfortunately, bending down enough for this requires giving Xue Yang a view of his ass with the straps pressing underneath it and accentuating the shape, almost as if in invitation. Adding to his problems is that he starts to struggle with the upper half as he sticks his arms in the wrong places, only having memory of wearing this once.
He peers over his shoulder. Last time, he had help—does he dare ask right now?]
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He quickly notices when Xiao Xingchen mixes it up, and though he does wait until Xiao Xingchen notices to offer assistance, offer assistance he does. ]
Daozhang, [ his voice is casual, and one might almost call it gentle, ] do you need me to help you put it on?
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Please lend me your assistance. After all, you helped me the only other time I have worn such a thing... when I found it in your trap.
[If Xue Yang wants him to recall all sorts of memories, that he can indeed do. Sentimentality aside, it didn't take long to connect the dots there, caught in a web while listening to an emotional plight of the one who had spun it.
He's felt foolish enough after moments like those that he almost doesn't feel angry with either of them anymore.]
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He admits to it without hesitation. ]
Yeah. It was good that it caught you. Who knows how long it would've taken us to cross paths otherwise? We only started living together afterwards, and I was only going to the cafe when you were around. When you stopped showing up I didn't have any reason to visit.
It brought you back to me, daozhang.
[ The last bit of the body cage slides into place and Xue Yang wraps his arms around Xiao Xingchen, pulling him against him and resting his head against Xiao Xingchen's. He doesn't want to think about how much he hated those days when Xiao Xingchen had vanished completely. ]
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He never thought he would care if others would remember him or not, but his other closest friends here are all immortals. To them, his presence is surely just a brief ripple in the water, quickly forgotten after the water settles again. With most of the people he'll likely no longer meet in this world, he would prefer that they forget him so he would not trouble their hearts. Being missed by someone who only wants to use him and play with him, but with the same kind of life as his, so deeply intertwined with his... is a more complicated matter.]
Fate seems to always find new ways to swiftly reunite us.
[Said in a dry tone, clearly decrying his luck. Or at least as dry as he can when Xue Yang's cock presses against him. Remembering as he was held in place by unyielding metal, while being fucked from behind by the one he thought he could trust more than anyone else—he swallows hard as the ache between his legs becomes more insistent.]
Surely that's not why you have such a mechanism. [At least Xiao Xingchen hasn't heard of anyone else being caught in there, a fact he's both grateful for and embarrassed even more by.] If someone else had also come by and found me first...
[He naturally worries more about being seen than what anyone else would possibly have done. Even the thought of someone else finding him with his intimate area completely on display makes him feel ready to die on the spot.
Should it be strange, however, that Xue Yang seeing could be less shameful?]
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I found it one day and thought it could be used to have some fun, so I leave things nearby from time to time to see what happens. If someone else had found you first, then you could have enjoyed fooling around with them before I got to you.
[ Meanwhile the display is only a distant second in Xue Yang's mind. He squeezes a bit tighter then lets up. ]
Of course it wouldn't have been as fun for you, but other people in this place can be alright too.
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The Augur certainly knows how to work along with you... but I would have left right away. Perhaps I might have needed to ask you about how to change my voice so they could never recognize me again.
[But why is he bickering with Xue Yang about matters like these? To say nothing about how whether or not any other trapped individual wants to...
Well, at least he wonders if talking about it like this can be another sign that he's come to terms with those feelings. He doesn't let himself stew in painful emotions for long, but even bringing it up isn't as difficult as he thought it could be. Whether or not that's what Xue Yang wants should be irrelevant.
Without thinking, he takes the cake box.]
We ought to leave. If someone else arrives right now, I'll need to serve them first.
[And in this new outfit that's definitely more revealing than anything used here before.]
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The way back is familiar, a route traveled by them together several times before Xiao Xingchen stopped coming back. Along the way Xue Yang occasionally pauses to tilt his head back and try to catch the sweet snowflakes on his tongue, but he always continues on quickly, sometimes laughing either at the taste or just amused at his own attempt.
It's only once they're inside that Xue Yang lets go. Inside the apartment is a bit disorderly, not quite as well-maintained as Xiao Xingchen kept it but most certainly far from abandoned. Xue Yang almost seems to forget that he's brought Xiao Xingchen along, instead going straight for the sink to wash some of the dirty dishes left there. Except it's because of Xiao Xingchen that he's even cleaning them now in the first place. ]
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As he casts a furtive glance at Xue Yang's attempts to catch the snowflakes, one of them catches on his lip at some point, still reddened from the sudden kiss earlier. He thinks about it for a moment before quickly licking it up.
When they arrive at the door, Xiao Xingchen's heart begins to race as it had earlier. He turns to Xue Yang, tense as he thinks of what Xue Yang could have planned ahead of time. At least he doesn't immediately see any ropes or cages as he glances inside...
What he doesn't expect is for Xue Yang to head to the kitchen on his own, doing a simple chore. However, he realizes quickly that this isn't a surprise. The sex isn't enough for Xue Yang, and even keeping him here by force doesn't square with what he told him on that river. He has to keep their entire old routine. Xiao Xingchen really shouldn't indulge him - at least without any prompting - but how can he let things look like this, anyway?
He steps into the kitchen to set the cake box in the refrigerator still without a word, before stepping back out to put some of the things back in their place—in the same place they were when he was living here a while ago. Clothes, folded and in the appropriate drawers; the double bed, made neatly with even the pillows fluffed up some more.
It's funny, he thinks as he tidies up. After everything else he wanted to do was established, he had already thought of a daily life as simple as this, without wandering from place to place. He's told himself many times that Xue Yang knows how to fool him, that he can't discount the possibility that he picked up on Xiao Xingchen's wishes enough to use that against him now, but it would be quite something, if a desire for a simple life like this is what they have in common. The two could not be more different, opposing forces that can't - should not - coexist in this world, and yet...
He sits at the foot of the bed, looking over the room that can be considered the last place he thought of as a home, after not seeing it these past months. Something here really does carry a feeling of inevitability that he wants to ignore.]
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After a moment he turns over his shoulder and calls out towards the bedroom. ]
Daozhang, are you hungry?
[ It's Xue Yang's cake, so he gets to do what he wants with it. ]
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Um... I suppose I am.
[Xiao Xingchen hadn't thought about it much, not even tasting some of the pastries he baked earlier. Now at the suggestion, he could have something... and at this point, he doesn't really have any reason to question what might be in the food. Though Xue Yang only actually made food for them once, he had ample opportunity to put whatever he preferred in it.
Whatever he could put in there couldn't change anything for long anyway, as far as he's noticed in his time on the island.
He gets up and hesitates by the doorway. What should he do here...?]
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Without another word he starts eating his own slice. ]
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Maybe it's for the best—keeping some degree of strangeness in the situation makes it feel less like back then, and he has reason why to keep that separation. Still, he can't shake the feeling of this being the normal (in some ways) he wants to return to.]
Thank you...
[The words leave him with a quiet breath, full of emotion he's unsure of. He starts to eat the cake as well, idly noting that it's come out nicely, if he thinks so himself. Perhaps more of these strange candy snow downpours would be nice.
Though after eating most of it and licking some more of the sweet snow off of his lips, he decides to break the silence. If he's gone this far, while being able to face Xue Yang calmly, he might as well ask more questions. Sitting in the shared room Xue Yang so wanted Xiao Xingchen to return to, eating with him and still wearing this—will hearing any of his words really sway him into anything more ridiculous? All that matters is that he stay skeptical of what he hears, and that he pieces everything together carefully. He figures that more questions about the story can wait for another time, so he starts with something that's turned over in his mind a few times.]
Why did you not even try to harm me, when you first had the opportunity?
[A simple question, without any accusation. Right now, Xiao Xingchen has nothing to fear, even if Xue Yang did have vengeful plans. In their world, he so easily could have snuck some terrible poison into their food and watched Xiao Xingchen suffer even more. Yet he can't even think of anything particularly strange that nameless man did during their years together...]
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At the question he pauses and looks up. ]
Why would I? It's not like you ever pissed me off or anything.
You know, you're different from other cultivators, daozhang. They're all stuck-up and self-righteous, just doing things because they want everyone else to think they're better than them. Always lecturing others. You've never done any of that shit.
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I-I've never... angered you?
[He has more to ask and more to say, but they definitely need to get through that first.]
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[ Xue Yang takes another bite of cake before continuing. ]
Like I said, you're not like them. You're different, daozhang. When you actually killed me you didn't even mean it.
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He shouldn't be as much of a surprise, given what he's known about Xue Yang so far. If Xue Yang really was vengeful towards him, he'd also have gotten revenge for the time he killed him, just like he said.
Yet this little piece of knowledge also changes everything.
For so long, Xiao Xingchen believed Xue Yang attacked Baixue Temple for the sake of giving him a sign to stay out of matters that don't concern him. Everything during that time made him realize how much his ideals clashed with those of the world, and only then had he understood his master's warnings. Even when Song Lan had been here and insisted that it wasn't his fault, it had been too late—how could he not see it in such a way, when he made it feel as much? Yet now, hearing it directly from Xue Yang that that wasn't the case...
He knew he told himself to not believe him too easily, but even if this lifts so much weight off of Xiao Xingchen's shoulders, it feels too different, too sudden that this happened—
It doesn't change how twisted the cultivation world had been, nor does it undo all the devastation caused by the one sitting by him. For that, Xiao Xingchen feels like he shouldn't be reacting like this, as if so much is different. But perhaps he thinks of himself more than he believed at first...
Limbs trembling and weak, he leans forward to prop his head up with his hand, elbow feeling unstable as it does. Xue Yang's other words sound as if underwater as his breathing picks up.]
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[ It's only once he puts his head on his hand that Xue Yang stiffens. It doesn't occur to him that this might be some shocking revelation; after all, it's been obvious to Xue Yang the whole time.
He stands up fast enough to knock his chair back, unsure what to do but knowing that he doesn't want to stay seated. What's wrong with Xiao Xingchen all of a sudden? He feels his own heartbeat pick up, and his eyes fall to the remaining cake on Xiao Xingchen's plate. There's no way it could be that; neither of them would have poisoned it. But he reaches over and puts a small piece in his mouth anyway, being certain to let it linger on his tongue. Poisoning food isn't his specialty but as far as he can tell nothing about it tastes amiss.
Xue Yang swallows it. If it's going to kill both of them, all the better; that's seven days he doesn't have to spend waiting for Xiao Xingchen to come back to life. ]
Daozhang, what is it?
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Only adding to the strangeness is having Xue Yang's bloody past at the forefront of his mind, yet seeing a side of him that earnestly seems so concerned. Even checking the cake for anything off... a good actor, he tries to remind himself, or at least one who can fool Xiao Xingchen when he's not careful.
He just can't be careful right now.]
I'm fine... I just need to lie down for a moment.
[He puts his other hand on the table to help push himself up, but the room spins even faster around him when he's only partially standing.]
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He carries him back into the bedroom and places him on the freshly-made bed. Before Xue Yang can think not to, he leans in and places a deep, passionate kiss to Xiao Xingchen's lips. It's too much like what feels like should happen next, too much what the aphrodisiac in his body wants him to do for him to not do it without effort.
Xiao Xingchen is his. Everything is better when it's with him. ]
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Laid out on the bed, he returns the kiss almost absently at first, before wrapping his arms around the back of Xue Yang's neck and pulling him in closer. With something to focus on in the chaos of his suddenly upended world, he grasps it and holds tighter. Even if this is the man at the center of it all, the one all his pain can be traced back to, it doesn't matter right now. Thinking too hard about what this all means plays on the very core of the person he has become since those days—it makes him want those days of playing pretend all the more, something easier and closer to what he imagined for himself long ago. He can care later, when he's recovered from Xue Yang knocking him senseless with a few words...
The both of them taste like fresh cake and fruit, covered in sugar-snow. With every part of the cake so strange and foreign from their worlds, it heightens this feeling of being inside a dream together, even as this island has become so familiar to him now.
He presses his thigh against Xue Yang's cock and rubs up against it, the heat another point to focus on.
Murmuring against Xue Yang's lips:]
I'll stay with you, here... if you promise to come inside me all night.
[He definitely isn't thinking right, which is what he wants right now. Perhaps he'll regret it later; that can be dealt with as it comes. Besides, it's not like he'll ever be able to escape Xue Yang entirely.]
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[ There's arousal in Xue Yang's voice, delight, and elation. ]
You said it, daozhang. You'll do it if I do. Mark your words, daozhang.
[ When he resumes the kiss it's heavy and marked by aggression that wasn't present before. Not that he's rough: on the contrary he's almost gentle as he climbs on top of Xiao Xingchen. The thought that Xiao Xingchen had nearly fainted just a moment ago is already gone from his mind; now there's only the need and desire to do exactly as Xiao Xingchen has requested.
There's no need to get Xiao Xingchen naked since the body cage exposes everywhere it needs to. Instead Xue Yang focuses on disrobing himself, loosening his belt and then untying his robes even as he keeps his lips connected with Xiao Xingchen's. Once everything is loose enough that it could be easily brushed from his body he reaches back to Xiao Xingchen, this time tracing edges of the clothes with his fingers and appreciating the feeling of the skin underneath. ]
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