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TDM #4
Welcome! Everything is fine.
Uploading. . . Complete!
The Lobby.
- When you open your eyes, there is quite a lot of beige to take in. The unassuming walls of the room you've found yourself in are barren save for a single motivational poster directly in your line of sight. An illuminated sign above an open door on the far wall reads 'lobby exit.'
"Welcome," chimes a polite, synthesized voice. "I'm happy you're here." A moment later comes the clarity of the situation: you have died and so has the world you came from. "This is Amani, your new reality," continues The Peacekeeper. "Everything will be fine."
At least you aren't the only one here, you'll soon find out, as others who are just as confused and concerned as you are mingling on the main hub's first floor. Hopefully, you find a familiar face among the crowd. If not, that's all right. You'll get to know quite a few people very well soon enough.
- If you're one of the unlucky few whose death required a bit more intensive re-coding to maintain stability in the simulation, you'll instead awaken on a bed in the infirmary. Everything is strikingly white save for the occasional string of vines with lavender growing in bursts to help keep people calm. Whether or not it works seems to be on a case-by-case basis.
While there is no active medical staff, the voice of The Peacekeeper is there to explain the situation in a more delicate manner to these individuals. It's already stressful enough having to have gone through such a violent death, after all!
If characters want more questions answered, they'll need to speak to The Peacekeeper directly. But first, it will encourage socialization in the main hub and hopefully, you'll find someone you recognize to make taking things in a little easier.
WHAT
The fourth Amani TDM!
WHEN
April 21st, 2022
KINKS OF THE MONTH
★ Tickling
★ Facials
★ School Uniforms
★ Sharing
★ Hurt/Comfort
★ Facials
★ School Uniforms
★ Sharing
★ Hurt/Comfort
WELCOME
Throughout the main hub where everyone congregates, a light chiming echoes through the first floor. "Hello, everyone," comes the synthetic voice from when you first arrived. "Please, watch your step since there's quite a few puddles around. If you'd like, there is cake, some refreshments, and some eggs for you in these trying times. If they feel warmer than usual, that's because they're going to hatch soon!"
While the Peacekeeper doesn't elaborate, as usual, simulation inhabitants are free to notice the eggs that either they gathered or are still littering the simulation are now warm to the touch, give off a faint glow, and may even move subtly now and again if watched.
Dark, ominous clouds begin to gather over every piece of sky in the simulation and before long blot out the sun. Sheets of rain begin to pour down almost without warning. Hopefully, you've managed to fix those leaks in your house! Or maybe you're finding new ones...
Lightning splits the sky with a dramatic crackle and thunder booms not long after it. The wind howls and the worst of the storm won't relent for a few hours at the least. Even after, the rain will linger for days on and off to varying degrees of severity.
While the weather has taken a turn for the gloomy, that doesn't mean that simulation inhabitants have to be! In fact, it may feel somewhat refreshing as if the rain is washing away any negativity lingering after The Overseer's masquerade. Whether by her design or not, she - nor The Peacekeeper - will say but it does seem that she wants to keep relations as peaceful between the simulation inhabitants and creators as she can.
Of course, your buckets might not just be catching water. With the rising water levels, the fish that inhabit the simulation's waters are just as confused as anyone else. Even more confusing is the glitch causing them to transform once they find themselves on solid (mostly) ground.
Thankfully, they don't change into anything harmful. Well, maybe to your teeth since an abundance of sweet treats is bound to cause a cavity or two... Not to mention the other odd effects that food here is known to have.
If the party and its cake don't appeal to you, that's perfectly fine. This is the perfect time to configure your Digitized Technical Friend or your DTF status. A DTF is similar to a dæmon from His Dark Materials in that it is connected to and a reflection of a character's soul. These DTFs take shape accordingly and are projections similar to the NPCs. Think of them as your own personal Clippy except less annoying. Hopefully.
Once that's set-up, there are other locations of the main hub to investigate! You can still find an (off-key) instrument to play in the music lounge or check out the (algae-ridden) pool.
You can even visit The Peacekeeper themselves on the second floor. They're always happy to have visitors! They're also conveniently where you might place a complaint about that status of the main hub and its amenities.
While the Peacekeeper doesn't elaborate, as usual, simulation inhabitants are free to notice the eggs that either they gathered or are still littering the simulation are now warm to the touch, give off a faint glow, and may even move subtly now and again if watched.
APRIL SHOWERS
Granted, there are bigger things to worry about such as the storm that's rolling in.Dark, ominous clouds begin to gather over every piece of sky in the simulation and before long blot out the sun. Sheets of rain begin to pour down almost without warning. Hopefully, you've managed to fix those leaks in your house! Or maybe you're finding new ones...
Lightning splits the sky with a dramatic crackle and thunder booms not long after it. The wind howls and the worst of the storm won't relent for a few hours at the least. Even after, the rain will linger for days on and off to varying degrees of severity.
While the weather has taken a turn for the gloomy, that doesn't mean that simulation inhabitants have to be! In fact, it may feel somewhat refreshing as if the rain is washing away any negativity lingering after The Overseer's masquerade. Whether by her design or not, she - nor The Peacekeeper - will say but it does seem that she wants to keep relations as peaceful between the simulation inhabitants and creators as she can.
ONE FISH, TWO FISH...
The constant rain brings water levels of the rivers and eddies up at an alarming rate. Flooding is inevitable and, hopefully, the place you've claimed as your own isn't in the way. If it is, you might want to get the buckets ready or consider a relocation!Of course, your buckets might not just be catching water. With the rising water levels, the fish that inhabit the simulation's waters are just as confused as anyone else. Even more confusing is the glitch causing them to transform once they find themselves on solid (mostly) ground.
Thankfully, they don't change into anything harmful. Well, maybe to your teeth since an abundance of sweet treats is bound to cause a cavity or two... Not to mention the other odd effects that food here is known to have.
- ★ Taiyaki » Despite having just jumped out of the chilly waters, these tasty treats will be warm to the touch and generate steam. After biting into one, you'll radiate warmth no matter what for a brief period of time. Being a walking furnace sure is nice with this damp, cold atmosphere... Maybe you'll find a friend or two to huddle up with and keep warm.
★ Swedish Fish » Eating one of these stretchy, gummy candies will increase your flexibility. Literally and metaphorically! It might be easier to be convinced to do something you wouldn't have before and now you can bend just the right way to make it extra fun.
★ Hard Fish Candy » These tart candies will render someone unable to speak until it completely dissolves. This can take a while, too, since they seem to be persistantly stuck to the roof of your mouth! Yet, don't underestimate the power of body language to speak your mind.
★ Chocolate Sardines » Eating one of these rich bite-sized treats will make you sweeter. No, really! Candy kisses isn't just an expression after eating these fish. You taste delicious. Maybe too delicious... Be careful! Once someone gets a taste of you, they might not want to stop anytime soon.
WHAT'S YOUR DTF STATUS?
If the party and its cake don't appeal to you, that's perfectly fine. This is the perfect time to configure your Digitized Technical Friend or your DTF status. A DTF is similar to a dæmon from His Dark Materials in that it is connected to and a reflection of a character's soul. These DTFs take shape accordingly and are projections similar to the NPCs. Think of them as your own personal Clippy except less annoying. Hopefully.
Once that's set-up, there are other locations of the main hub to investigate! You can still find an (off-key) instrument to play in the music lounge or check out the (algae-ridden) pool.
You can even visit The Peacekeeper themselves on the second floor. They're always happy to have visitors! They're also conveniently where you might place a complaint about that status of the main hub and its amenities.
RAINING CATS AND DOGS
While the fishy foods are odd enough as is, another glitch appears to be occurring throughout the simulation but this time originates not from the rain but The Peacekeeper's humble musings. "Did you know," speaks the resident AI, "that there is an expression called 'raining cats and dogs'? I think that's such a curious saying! It made me wonder what it might actually look like..."
Following the strange, unexpected 'announcement,' inhabitants may begin to notice large globs of water falling periodically from the sky now amidst the regular rain. When they hit the ground with a large splash, nothing is there... at first. The water will burst apart only to reassemble into a canine or feline friend. Well, it's shaped like a dog or a cat.
Due to the sudden nature of their spawning though, some things aren't quite right. Perhaps that cat has only three legs instead of four; a dog may be missing an eye, an ear, or even its tail. And those are the more tame oddities! While the unique animals aren't overly abundant there are still a good number that spawn across the days of rain. Don't be surprised if a dog takes up shelter from the storm on your porch or you come home to a cat you don't own having climbed through a loose window.
While this might be exactly the addition to your home that you wanted, it doesn't change the leaky roof or broken window in your new place. Or, unfortunately, the fact that there's no extra space for a pet yet. No, unfortunately that will still need to be fixed the peaceful way. If you'd like more lighting or even cozier clothes, simulation inhabitants are reminded that 'peaceful interactions' are very important!
It might be a good idea to stick close to someone you know, for now, since even the smallest amounts of intimacy might see subtle changes occurring where they're staying. Perhaps that broken window is now fixed, the grime and dust seem a little less, or the floor doesn't creak quite as loud.
Larger changes, however, will only come after demonstrating the more powerful peaceful interactions. If you want new hardwood floors or a fresh coat of paint on the walls, you're going to have to demonstrate how well you 'get along' with others against them first.
Following the strange, unexpected 'announcement,' inhabitants may begin to notice large globs of water falling periodically from the sky now amidst the regular rain. When they hit the ground with a large splash, nothing is there... at first. The water will burst apart only to reassemble into a canine or feline friend. Well, it's shaped like a dog or a cat.
Due to the sudden nature of their spawning though, some things aren't quite right. Perhaps that cat has only three legs instead of four; a dog may be missing an eye, an ear, or even its tail. And those are the more tame oddities! While the unique animals aren't overly abundant there are still a good number that spawn across the days of rain. Don't be surprised if a dog takes up shelter from the storm on your porch or you come home to a cat you don't own having climbed through a loose window.
While this might be exactly the addition to your home that you wanted, it doesn't change the leaky roof or broken window in your new place. Or, unfortunately, the fact that there's no extra space for a pet yet. No, unfortunately that will still need to be fixed the peaceful way. If you'd like more lighting or even cozier clothes, simulation inhabitants are reminded that 'peaceful interactions' are very important!
It might be a good idea to stick close to someone you know, for now, since even the smallest amounts of intimacy might see subtle changes occurring where they're staying. Perhaps that broken window is now fixed, the grime and dust seem a little less, or the floor doesn't creak quite as loud.
Larger changes, however, will only come after demonstrating the more powerful peaceful interactions. If you want new hardwood floors or a fresh coat of paint on the walls, you're going to have to demonstrate how well you 'get along' with others against them first.
SEEING PINK
ear the end of the week, the rain finally relents and temperatures continue to gradually increase. Those May flowers can't quite seem to wait though since several of the trees lining the edge of the forest bloom brilliant pink blossoms that a DTF will be able to identify as love blossoms. While the blooms won't last very long, they certainly are using all the time they have to take over.
The pollen is one thing. It may start out as just a tickle in your nose or stuffy head but eventually turns into something much more lovely. You're tickled pink about almost everything, it seems, and want to share that happiness with others. And who needs rose-colored glasses when almost everywhere one looks there's a string of love blossoms blooming?
These invasive flowers are in your garden, along the vines in the city, and even sprawling through the main hub! It actually seems almost impossible to avoid them. The Peacekeeper assures inhabitants that it isn't purposeful and just the natural cycle of the love blossoms.
Enjoy the mood-lifting and groin-tingling effects while they last! The love blossoms will only linger for a few days, at most, before receding back to the forest line and eventually falling dormant again until next spring.
The pollen is one thing. It may start out as just a tickle in your nose or stuffy head but eventually turns into something much more lovely. You're tickled pink about almost everything, it seems, and want to share that happiness with others. And who needs rose-colored glasses when almost everywhere one looks there's a string of love blossoms blooming?
These invasive flowers are in your garden, along the vines in the city, and even sprawling through the main hub! It actually seems almost impossible to avoid them. The Peacekeeper assures inhabitants that it isn't purposeful and just the natural cycle of the love blossoms.
Enjoy the mood-lifting and groin-tingling effects while they last! The love blossoms will only linger for a few days, at most, before receding back to the forest line and eventually falling dormant again until next spring.
SEXY STAMP CARD
If you're wondering about these 'peaceful interactions' that keep being mentioned or what the kinks of the month are for... Here's your answer! Upon arrival, all characters will receive a digital copy of their very own sexy stamp card.
Completing peaceful interactions (i.e. kinks) will reward characters with stamps that they can turn in for re-gains and many other things! While the example one here is the standard issued card by The Peacekeeper, players are more than welcome to customize it how they see fit. Have fun with it!NOTES
Completing peaceful interactions (i.e. kinks) will reward characters with stamps that they can turn in for re-gains and many other things! While the example one here is the standard issued card by The Peacekeeper, players are more than welcome to customize it how they see fit. Have fun with it!
★ The kinks of the month have changed! Be sure to check this post for what the new ones are. Also, give a congratulations to Corrin (
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fatefulprince) as the as the new leader of the sexy leaderboard! 🎉★ The effects of the strange fish candies can, as always, be as heavy or light as you'd like! It can be chalked up to differences in resistance, non-humanity or not, etc. etc. Also, they can mixed-and-matched! Have fun with that.
★ The flora and fauna page will be updated. It's also still open for player suggestions! All you need to do now is link your check-in (or player claim) comment to make a submission!
★ Make sure to dunk your questions/feedback in the thread below!
NAVIGATION
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Making his decision, he inclined his head and said, “This way.”
Quiet soldiers of few words certainly something he was used to. He didn’t make small talk, but he still asked, “What is your name?”
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"I'm Cloud. Cloud Strife." A bit of silence passes before he adds, "You said 'it happens.' What did you mean?"
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The flooding made him rather concerned for any new arrivals simply - dumped here, expected to huddle up amongst one another. Forced to perform for the Peacekeeper merely to stay warm and dry. It was a dirty tactic, he thought.
Zechs glanced back at him once he spoke again. "You are - or perhaps, were - a soldier, or a warrior."
It wasn't even in question. "The scars that war and battle can leave on our minds - even the most resilient, willful of minds - can be deep. In the rain, you were seeing someone, some place, that wasn't here."
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Cloud nods. "Infantry."
He listens to what Zechs has to say, and it's something he's never really considered. He figured all of...this, the flashbacks and the headaches and everything else, was the result of the mako poisoning. Zack certainly never seemed to lose his way like this. Cloud's never even served in an actual war.
"...yeah. You sort of look like...someone." Doesn't explain why he was back there on the cliff again in the first place, but good enough.
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It didn’t stop him from looking for openings.
Unfamiliar with mako or it’s effects, of course Zechs assumed Cloud had been effected by battle and conflict alone. Trauma was one thing Zechs had seen plenty of, in others let alone himself.
“I look like whoever Sephiroth is,” Zechs noted dryly. “Your enemy, or your superior?”
The fact he believed those were equally as likely …
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That’s what Zack says, anyway, and Cloud chooses to believe him.
“Huh?—oh.” Shit, he did say the name aloud, didn’t he? He keeps his eyes on where he’s stepping in the dark water flooding the street, rather than on Zechs. “Both. One and then the other.”
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Zechs offered, though he wouldn’t take it in Cloud’s place, “If you should wish to speak about it … I can at least listen.”
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He grunts at the offer. "No thanks."
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They approached the spa, and Zechs opened the door for him. “In here.”
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Cloud ducks inside and sighs. It's quieter, there's no cold water falling on him anymore, it has an actual roof - more than good enough. "Thanks." He pulls off his gloves and starts wringing out his hair.
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“Here,” Zechs said. Day by day, Lorenz kept improving the place - he reached for some towels to hand to Cloud. “Upstairs, we have an apartment. I can make tea, that might help warm you.”
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"Sure." Cloud nods his thanks for the towels and takes a step toward him to follow him, but pauses to glance down at his drenched clothes. "You probably don't want me dripping water all over your apartment."
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“We own a mop,” Zechs told him wryly. “I’d offer you a change of clothes, but I don’t have a lot to spare at the moment. I’m working on earning everything we’d like, but it’s a work in progress.”
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"You figured a mop was more important than clothes? Is there seriously no way to just make gil and buy things around here?"
Cloud shakes his head and follows Zechs up the stairs. Once there, he starts stripping off his wet clothes - scarf, pauldrons, and greaves first, then his jacket and undershirt, then boots and socks. His pants stay on, but he does unbuckle the bottoms to let them air out to dry as best he can. With all that done, he busies himself with toweling himself off.
If Zechs is paying any attention, it won't be hard to spot a thin but deep scar just under Cloud's ribcage, and a matching one in the same place on his back, as though something slim but incredibly sharp had pierced right through him.
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Zechs glanced at Cloud with curiosity and a hint of interest, though - he would politely turn away when Cloud continued to dry himself off. He did note the scar. Curious.
He went to go and set a fire to get a kettle of water boiling. “Unfortunately, as of yet, the only method to obtain most items is from the Peacekeeper. Were I a tailor, I could open my own shop and change the situation with clothing - but my skills lie elsewhere.”
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Other than that, Cloud doesn't own anything. Not anymore. Not for a long time, now. Even the clothes he came here in aren't his - they're not even his own uniform. So what would he even request for himself?
Doesn't matter. He's never done any of the things necessary to make those requests anyway. He'll think about it later.
He rubs a towel vigorously over his hair, which has already started to spike up again as it dries. Once he's about as dry as he's going to get, he spreads the towels and his wet clothes out on the floor or whatever convenient surface Zechs might volunteer, and then leans against the nearest wall and folds his arms, looking sort of halfway between cool and awkward.
"In battle. Right?"
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No, he just helped Cloud drape the clothes along chairs and the like to dry them, making certain it wasn’t dripping onto anything carpeted or upholstered. He could easily clean anything else.
And he planned it so there were two chairs remaining to sit once there is tea. There were multiple uses for a tactical mind, no matter how mundane this was.
“Battle. Tactics,” Zechs nodded as they waited for the kettle to boil. “I’ve picked up a few other skills in peacetime, and since I was first kidnapped - none of which I excel in. Fishing. Caring for horses and chocobos. Cooking. Given the luxury of not having to fight, I have attempted to improve myself in other areas.”
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A brief coalescence of green motes of light heralds the arrival of some kind of chocobo-wolf hybrid with bright, vivid eyes, small patches of blue bleeding through the intense green of them. Wark! it says, half-avian call and half-bark, looking huffy. So what am I, chopped liver?
Cloud glances down at it with a slightly irritated grunt. "Yeah. Chopped liver."
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The sudden appearance of Cloud's DTF caused Zechs' eyebrows to raise, slightly - hm. Interesting. But he otherwise ignored it. (Zechs' own digital friend, though - a tiny robot - peeked out from around a counter and waved at the chocobo-wolf hybrid.)
"I don't know if there are chocobos here. I haven't seen them," Zechs informed Cloud with a note of regret. "However, I will say they are magnificent creatures."
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Fenrir's tail - despite being a bird's tail, and not a wolf's - begins to wag when the robot waves, and he waves a wing back. Cloud ignores them just as much as Zechs is.
"They're okay, I guess." Cloud doesn't mind chocobos, but animals in general have never seemed to like him very much, so he's never really gotten close to any. Fenrir pecks at his leg, which he also ignores.
"What kind of soldier were you?"
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He didn’t know the level of tech that Cloud’s reality had, after all.
“I am a mobile suit pilot,” Zechs informed him. “Was that a technology that your world possessed?”
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At the question, Cloud shakes his head. At the very least, they don't have anything they call that, so Cloud's not entirely sure what a mobile suit is, although he can hazard a guess. "Mobile robots, sure. But piloted by AI, not people."
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Zechs nodded. “We also had mobile suits piloted by AI, but they weren’t … they were often inferior to the best pilots, and a cheap means to expand war’s reach while not considering those caught in the crossfire. Our mobile suits were large enough to fit their pilots and a variety of armaments - my last suit was almost seventeen and a half meters tall. I hypothesize your robots, never having human pilots, may have been smaller?”
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He shakes his head. "Some, but there were a few on that kind of scale. Mostly experimental. Superior human fighters are SOLDIERS, instead. Uh, capital SOLDIER. The best of the best. Enhanced with mako to give them superhuman abilities." The look on Cloud's face as he describes this is conflicted; pensive. He just tries to keep Zack at the forefront of his mind and forget about everything else.
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"If you aren't comfortable speaking of it - I won't pry," Zechs told him quietly. "In my reality, there were rumors that some young soldiers might have been enhanced as well, but the men responsible who would have been able to testify and confirm that were killed before the war's end. I can imagine being given additional abilities to increase your utility as a soldier brings ... expectations, from the ones who had given such abilities to you."
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