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Entry tags:
TDM #12
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 might be 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 active medical staff, the voice of The Peacekeeper is also 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 twelfth Amani TDM!
WHEN
July 26th, 2023 (and until the next TDM!)
KINKS OF THE MONTH
★ Voyeurism/ Exhibitionism
★ Public Sex
★ Group sex
★ Temperature Play
★ Sexual Exhaustion
★ Public Sex
★ Group sex
★ Temperature Play
★ Sexual Exhaustion
WHAT'S YOUR DTF STATUS?
If the main hub and its features 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 visit the training grounds, music lounge, library, and onsen. Also, feel free to leave an offering for the resident deity of sleep (Hypnos) at his shrine! 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. Even if you do complain, The Peacekeeper will encourage others to set off and find their own place to live out in the simulation.
Granted, the housing market in the afterlife isn't exactly robust. It doesn't help that every place you find has a leaky roof or broken window. No, unfortunately that will 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.
SUMMMER OF TRANSFORMATION
One summer morning, inhabitants will be greeted not by the artificial rhythmic chimes of The Peacekeeper's announcement but instead a more natural one. It is the sound of a wind chime; specifically, the source will be a furin (or furins, for multiple-people households) that seems to be customized to suit whoever it belongs to.
The slip of paper attached to the bottom also is an invitation. Inhabitants are being invited to Hiromitsu's worldwide summer matsuri - festival, for those who might not be aware! - in mid-August. In order to help you all prepare, this invitation also provides a yokai disguise once activated by someone's touch.
A menu screen will open up on their DTF's main screen hub that allows them to choose a yokai to present as. They're even customizable! In every way you could want. Someone can even mix and match different yokai features if they so desire. After all, hanyo (half-breeds) and hybrids are a thing in Hiromitsu so no one will even bat an eye.
The slip of paper attached to the bottom also is an invitation. Inhabitants are being invited to Hiromitsu's worldwide summer matsuri - festival, for those who might not be aware! - in mid-August. In order to help you all prepare, this invitation also provides a yokai disguise once activated by someone's touch.
A menu screen will open up on their DTF's main screen hub that allows them to choose a yokai to present as. They're even customizable! In every way you could want. Someone can even mix and match different yokai features if they so desire. After all, hanyo (half-breeds) and hybrids are a thing in Hiromitsu so no one will even bat an eye.
PROPHECY, SPEAK TO ME
Out in the ocean waves has also suddenly appeared a Tori gate and a small fleet of ships sailing through them. Between the columns of the gate, all inhabitants can see is a film of golden light that looks as though it is a portal of some kind. Swimming closer will show that the light is actually an iridescent golden sand ever-sifting and moving in intricate, organic patterns.
Passing through will have no effect other than suddenly looking like you've been golden glitter-bombed. Don't worry, it'll wash out!
If someone stares at the gate, they will start to feel strange. At first, it's nothing more than minor auditory and visual hallucinations. Of what? It depends! Someone might see someone familiar in the corner of their eye, hear a voice believed to be long gone, and looking away will dispel the effects.
Staring longer, however, will see something more extreme occurring. Rather than simple hallucinations, inhabitants will see prophetic visions* flash before their eyes. It is brief, alarming, and disorienting. Staring longer again won't bring the vision back no matter how hard someone tries.
Unfortunately, it is fleeting as the hanami of spring and gone in a blink only leaving you with only a sense of unease.
(*NOTE: If your character would stare long enough to see a prophetic vision, comment here to let us know!)
Passing through will have no effect other than suddenly looking like you've been golden glitter-bombed. Don't worry, it'll wash out!
If someone stares at the gate, they will start to feel strange. At first, it's nothing more than minor auditory and visual hallucinations. Of what? It depends! Someone might see someone familiar in the corner of their eye, hear a voice believed to be long gone, and looking away will dispel the effects.
Staring longer, however, will see something more extreme occurring. Rather than simple hallucinations, inhabitants will see prophetic visions* flash before their eyes. It is brief, alarming, and disorienting. Staring longer again won't bring the vision back no matter how hard someone tries.
Unfortunately, it is fleeting as the hanami of spring and gone in a blink only leaving you with only a sense of unease.
(*NOTE: If your character would stare long enough to see a prophetic vision, comment here to let us know!)
FREE SAMPLES
The ships that come upon shore are no more than four or five. Upon each is a yokai and their wares for sale. Although initially confused, they do take stamps as payment... and inhabitants can watch as those stamps convert to an actual form of currency after the transaction. Huh! How about that?
Although limited in what is available, they promise that their full stocks will be accessible when inhabitants visit their homeworld of Hiromitsu.
Although limited in what is available, they promise that their full stocks will be accessible when inhabitants visit their homeworld of Hiromitsu.
- ★ Food » A couple of the vendors have brought some delicious food that no summer matsuri can go without! According to them, anyway. Some are strange, others are "sensual", and then the rest seem to be just regular food!
Inhabitants will be able to find mochi, chocolate-covered bananas, grilled green onions, meat skewers, meat buns, and more! Just be warned: anything that is labeled as not safe for work will have you feeling pretty peaceful before you know it.
★ Kites » One vendor is selling a variety of colorful kites. All of them use a red string though, inhabitants can note, and seem prone to tying people up together. This seems especially true of people who maybe have interest in one another but haven't been brave enough to talk about it. Or maybe they just need to talk in general.
Either way, the line won't untangle without a little bit of good ol' fashioned healthy communication. If you want to make-out first though just to be sure, well, the vendor isn't going to judge any.
★ Goldfish Scooping » Known in Hiromitsu's native language as "Kingyo sukui," this game translates to goldfish scooping. Some inhabitants might remember it from their time before but for those who are new... The object of the game is simple! Using a small paper net, you have to scoop out a goldfish gently but quickly enough to transfer it to a separate bowl before the paper breaks.
These goldfish come in different colors that denote different levels of prizes. Gold earns five (5) stamps, silver earns three (3), and bronze gets one (1). If you fail to get a fish, there is still a consolation prize!
(Please comment here to have your catch RNGed if you'd like to play the game!)
★ Katanuki » The last vendor has a game prepared called katanuki. This game is a lot more difficult than it appears at first glance but not complicated! Using a special candy, the vendor will have shapes pressed into it. Inhabitants have to try to carefully cut out the pressed-on picture with a small needle or pin without breaking it.
If they succeed, they win a prize! These images can be something familiar, sexual, or bizarre! There's no telling what you'll get. Literally. If an inhabitant succeeds in not breaking their picture, it will pop into a real construct rather than the image before their eyes. That phallus you were just carefully carving out? It's now a nice, new dildo in your hands. Enjoy!
SURF'S UP
Remember those baby turtles from a couple of months ago? Well, they aren't babies anymore! Although not as big as their parent, these turtles are now large enough to ride on. In fact, they seem to encourage it! That's right, it's time for some turtle surfing.
As with anything, there is bound to be a learning curve. Each turtle will attune to its rider... just give it some time! Being thrown off or wiping out is to be expected in the beginning. After a while, a bond will form between you and your aquatic pal and you'll be riding the waves in no time at all.
You might even be able to do some fancy tricks as a fun duo with enough practice! Just make sure not to wear your new friend out since they'll need their stamina for the trip to another world with you.
Why can't inhabitants use the ships to sail to Hiromitsu? These ships are only big enough for the yokai and their wares, that's why! If anyone attempts to sneak on or insist, they'll find that it isn't just because of the boat's size though. The fleet is outfitted with anti-theft and anti-yokai measures. What does that mean?
It means that the very boat itself is a yokai and will come (more) alive should anyone it doesn't recognize set foot on its decks. Floorboards with teeth will open up to try and eat someone's feet. Or they might instead shoot up to smack or launch someone into the cold sea water below. Whatever they do, the point should be clear: you aren't their owner or a yokai so get out of here.
As with anything, there is bound to be a learning curve. Each turtle will attune to its rider... just give it some time! Being thrown off or wiping out is to be expected in the beginning. After a while, a bond will form between you and your aquatic pal and you'll be riding the waves in no time at all.
You might even be able to do some fancy tricks as a fun duo with enough practice! Just make sure not to wear your new friend out since they'll need their stamina for the trip to another world with you.
Why can't inhabitants use the ships to sail to Hiromitsu? These ships are only big enough for the yokai and their wares, that's why! If anyone attempts to sneak on or insist, they'll find that it isn't just because of the boat's size though. The fleet is outfitted with anti-theft and anti-yokai measures. What does that mean?
It means that the very boat itself is a yokai and will come (more) alive should anyone it doesn't recognize set foot on its decks. Floorboards with teeth will open up to try and eat someone's feet. Or they might instead shoot up to smack or launch someone into the cold sea water below. Whatever they do, the point should be clear: you aren't their owner or a yokai so get out of here.
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!
★ Please comment to the appropriate threads with your character if you'd like them to receive a prophetic vision or get a reward from the goldfish scooping!
★ The motivational poster in the beginning is of a daruma and the text translates to fall seven times and get up eight! This means, when life knocks you down just get up again and keep on trying!
★ We are currently at 30/40 slots taken! Anyone wishing to claim a character must have an invite from someone currently in the game and follow the proper rules in place to be accepted into the community!
NAVIGATION
no subject
She knew she'd be seeing Dirk soon enough/too soon, but his presence does have an undeniable impact on her. Not just in a petty human "feeling like a recalcitrant child" way--though definitely that, too. Rose understands Dirk on a level nobody else can or would probably want to. Among other things, she can hear the orange in his words.
And since she understands him as well as she does, she doesn't take offense to his "greeting." Or maybe she does take offense, but doesn't operate under the illusion that that feeling actually matters. In his own way, Dirk is showing courtesy by not pretending he has anything less than disdain for Rose's myriad flaws. Rose will take excoriation over pity any day.
She floats up to Dirk's level so she doesn't have to crane her neck to look up at him. She answers his courtesy by speaking in an accent he'll no doubt appreciate.
"My condolences, daddy dearest, that your eyes must suffer trespass by my fleshy visage." Not that she has a lot of flesh at this point. She looks as sickly as he looks healthy. "Next time I'm spirited away from my reality to a sandbox of debauchery, I'll make sure to remind the manager to bring your favorite daughter."
She looks Dirk up and down, then turns to regard the simulation from her higher vantage. It's... kind of shoddy. As artificial as Earth C, with none of the familiar charm. How much can she bring herself to care about it?
"I half-expected you to avoid me while my canonicity was still in flux. You must be desperate to cement my relevance, if you're willing to risk splintering off a part of yourself to languish in peripherality in the event of your failure."
no subject
Most people find that Rose is capable of being extremely charming when she wants to be. I also know her in ways that she'd rather I don't, and that she wishes others did, and so she knows that what I consider charming isn't a one-to-one with her moods that might leave her inclined to making that effort. For whatever reason, my appearance has put her in one of those moods that isn't so amenable to nicety. Which is noted.
She's being obnoxious on purpose, and by not responding in kind, I let her know that I appreciate that candour.
"I considered it." Dirk levels with her immediately. Partially because he's just not feeling like entertaining the prolonged falsehood or the likelihood of her seeing through it immediately and then calling him on it, and partially because he has no other reason not to--but the fact that he doesn't have any reason not to is itself a point in her favour. The lack of fetters on their exchanges is refreshing.
Besides which, while the two of them are nothing if not experts in the game of pretenses, the past few years of cumulative experience across three or so realities have left Dirk specifically somewhat less patient in certain matters than he used to be.
"But this isn't my first stop at one of Reality's Polly Pocket houses. I've been in and out of another one a few times. Thing is, my consciousness only travels partway across the membrane, and that it's only permeable to memory in one direction. The lesson I've chosen to take from this is that it's better to be proactive on this side as a precaution against complacency on the other."
A very brief, very tired note creeps into his voice, just for a couple of words there at the end. And he spreads his hands, gesturing at all of her. And all of... this. This place.
But his visage doesn't change at all; his face remains one of deific stoicism.
"The infliction of long-withered flesh upon your soul as a means of containment is really the least of my worries, and yours. But you already know that.
no subject
"You're not convinced that we failed, yet." Rose had seen the writing on the wall, of course. Even as she occupied herself with Dirk's games of divinity and distracted herself with a caliginous liaison, she could feel their relevance and essentiality slipping away. It's a terrible thing, to see the dissolution of everything one has worked to achieve, to say nothing of loved ones left behind. It's doubly terrible when one's still under the impression that the situation is salvageable.
That hope--or, perhaps, burden--is also the only reason she can imagine Dirk still being alive. If it's true that he's been shunted from reality to reality, denied access to his wider experiences whenever he returns to his rightful place, then by his own philosophy the Dirk who's pushing the story along is a less-complete version. The Dirk here in Amani has, it seems, gone through several rounds of his own personal hell, repeatedly faced with the decisions he could have made with greater context that by rights he should have been able to access. What could be motivating him now, except the chance to make things right by his own unique measure?
There's a subtle shift in Rose's demeanor, a softening. She knows it'll gall him, but she might be the only person he'd accept even a little sympathy from. He's avoided her for months at a time before, so his immediate attention raises one key question:
"Dirk, what do you need?"
no subject
He doesn't say anything. Not for a good few seconds.
The speed with which she shifted tracks, the instantaneous switch from from caustic to concerned, is like a slap in the face. His jaw works, silently, his expression as blank and ambiguous as it is damning in its flattened stoicism. What does he need? He needs her not to be here. He needs her physical form to signify nothing, unless it is a sign that the true Rose, secure in her robot shell, is equally secure in her Narrative position. He needs that not to reflect on him, and his existence. He doesn't say any of that, because none of that is what he really needs. And none of it will help him.
He needs her to not look too deeply into where he's been, or what he's done. Why he's done. Who. The convenience of total transparency he'd had in their postcanon-in-progress is suddenly a liability. He needs her unquestioning cooperation, and he needs her to do it without knowing why. A guaranteed impossibility when it comes to his daughter, his flawlessly imperfect mirror.
He settles for muttering, "I need a goddamn miracle."
Then, before Rose can pounce upon the appearance of lapsed confidence, he lifts a hand to stop her, using the universally understood physical gesture and equally universal meme sign. He also uses his words.
"I'm fully aware delivering that kind of thing is my job. The provenance of any Deus Ex not of my Machina would be immediately suspect, anyway. So in the absence of that. I need you to do what you do best. Tell me what you See." He knows, because he has looked, that she has received a vision.
"Don't just repeat it to me. I don't want your recitation. I know what it says, I read it." What was he going to do? Not do that?
"I want your interpretation. Because you're damn right I don't believe we've failed."
no subject
"Well," she says, considering, "while your various neuroses can of course be tied back to your shockingly-atypical upbringing, your predilection for sunglasses in particular speaks to your desire to appeal to your sole parental figure by mirroring his unmoving facade. And in retrospect, your decision to place me in a robot body can be interpreted as you seeking a mother-figure to--oh, you mean about Amani."
This digression is three-pronged in purpose: first, it establishes that Dirk didn't actually specify anything aloud about the topic he wanted interpretation on, and Rose apparently still can't read his narration directly; second, it establishes that she sees things a little differently than she did while in what for the sake of argument they might call their original reality; and third, it gives her time to think about what to actually tell him.
She can't tell him everything, and she won't tell him everything she could tell him. Some things she doesn't know how to express, and some things would be... let's say, "against the rules." If she says too much--if she even thinks too hard about certain things--she risks rendering this conversation incompatible with Amani's canon, and while she hasn't decided how much she cares about that for her own sake, she does care about the impact that might have on Dirk.
She folds her arms and "paces" by floating back and forth as she speaks, somewhat working out her thoughts on the fly. " 'Interpretation' is an apt word for our situation. I believe we're currently in a meta-reality, a space through which our true selves are glimpsed and extrapolated through idiosyncratic lenses. For instance, the Dreamer, as he called himself, is a manifestation of a mythocosmic concept: sleep. In similar regard, you and I are manifestations of the concepts of 'Rose' and 'Dirk'--not shards in the Paradox Space sense of defining our essential natures by all possible routes our lives could take, but rather shadows cast by our ultimate selves. Our experiences here are outside our original canon, but if that one-way membrane you mentioned is stable, we shouldn't have to worry about becoming formally non-canon from the perspective of the reality you and I called home.
"Put another way, Amani has licensed our likenesses and set up a 'Rose and Dirk' franchise. We should consider selling merchandise."
no subject
It's painful to watch.
"You had me in the first half. But then you got me mixed up with literally every other member of our 'neuroses' driven family tree, because I am not and never have been seeking a 'mother figure.' My aspirational relationship forms are strictly paternalistic in nature, and that goes both ways."
I cross my arms, "sitting" back in the air decisively, as though making myself comfortable in an invisible chair.
I'll admit that there are times that I deny the obvious. Out of obligation, mostly--sometimes social, sometimes logistical... sometimes it's just pure psychological self preservation. I'm not ignorant to the rule that self-deception plays in the mortal psyche. For the incomplete, denial of the obvious is a survival skill. Sometimes it's the only way to continue, being as one is the person that they inescapably are.
This isn't one of those times. This time I'm denying it because it's factually incorrect, even if that too is on purpose. Because yes, she said it to get a rise out of me... and to make a point. The rules of the game still demand that I refute it.
"Thanks for the uncharacteristically reassuring answer. Coupled with the fact that I've interpreted your lack of machine components as a good thing for reality, I could be downright fucking comforted by that. But you're holding something back. Not just conversationally, either."
Which is to say, I can read the narration, and I'm aware she's trying to prevent some kind of reality conflict. I could interrogate her about it, but as noted, there may be consequences. Consequences she's... inexplicably choosing to spare me, despite her spiteful opening volleys. Either those consequences are fucking dire, or--if she feels that bad for me--then I've turned into a real fucking sadsack in her eyes.
"I get it, though. I'm not going to interrogate it... yet. Instead, let me pose a different question. If the intellectual property of our literal Selves is being newly licensed to the use of any non-individual entity, we'd do well to interrogate the market angle... keeping in mind the competence of the entity in question."
This place is a wreck. Though, it is a wreck we have some control over. I hate to say it, considering who published The Epilogues... but when compared to Viz, that might be an upgrade.
Is that a low bar or a high one?
"As for the tie-in... let's face it: the Bro daki was a fun gimmick--I've enjoyed the bit and its product myself--but this is because of the post-canon. And my sources tell me that isn't going to sell many themed vibrators."
no subject
(She wonders if Dirk notices that he's taken on the cadence of this place, responding in sequence as naturally as if the conversation were progressing in parallel. Probably, and even if he hadn't, he'd say that he had, so there's no point in asking. But she does respond out of temporal order because it allows her to express her thoughts in order of increasing relevance.)
"Let's not dismiss the idea of Strilonde Brand vibrators too quickly, Dirk. With your engineering skill and my ability to pass as a normal person for minutes at a time, we could corner the market. In fact we could probably claim the now-defunct sex-toy shop since its proprietor fell out of relevance." She'd want to change the name from "Thank Fuck!" though.
She nods at Dirk's rare thanks. "You're welcome, though I'd argue that it's our situation that's uncharacteristically-reassuring, rather than my presentation." That's probably not strictly true--inhabiting a mechanical body definitely had an impact on her ability to maintain interest in interpersonal matters. Maybe that's why she was brought here without it?
"But if you're 'asking' how we should interact with our new environment, with an eye toward our larger goal..." She sighs. She's talking herself into trying, isn't she. "I'd recommend being highly-visible, thoroughly-involved... entertaining. The market-share of Amani may be small, but if every shadow cast by our Ultimate Selves keeps their eye on the prize, our aggregate efforts may shore up the foundations of our home reality. Franchises keep the brand alive."
CW use of F-slur
"Presented independently, I'd have shut down these 'suggestions' of yours before you were finished making them. But put together, you may be onto something. We'd definitely need to rechristen the enterprise, but we have an advantage there. It'd be hard to do worse than what they had going before we arrived to the rescue."
Thank Fuck? Really?
Now that I'm feeling inspired and generous, I'll even bypass the inevitable poor-taste joke, the unwarranted slander of my immaculate psychopathology regarding our interfamilial relationships.... and, hell, I'll even forgive the oblique suggestion that I take a page out of Jake English's tawdry playbook."
Surely she isn't suggesting I'm supposed to just sleep with anyone and everyone... is what I'd say if it weren't painfully obvious that's exactly what she's doing. I'm nipping that in the bud now.
The fact that in the past three years, I have, in fact, done my due degenerate diligence, logged some healthy reps of two- and three-person pushups, and even opened up for a few men she's never heard of... is not something she needs to know.
Between you and me, yeah, a year ago or so you could call my ass the laundromat the way it was taking heavy loads. But now this is a private enterprise, and the occasional bundle of soiled bedsheets is just a front for the real laundering going on behind the scenes.
And I'm going to have to keep the gates on that business locked tight if I'm going to keep her out of it.
"It's just a shame that we're more bound by the laws of political correctness than ever. Toe the line. Play the game. Slut it up, get lewd, cater and pander... but no challenging material except as permitted by the laws of pornography. Imagine if we were free to really innovate. This would be my pitch: By Fags For Fags. Controversial, yes, but solidly referential and declares our values and our qualifications openly. It would also get us cancelled before we even opened... despite the fact that I'm pretty sure 98% of this place doesn't know what a slur even is. The audience, on the other hand... well, anyway. I'll workshop it."
no subject
Not that Rose is as concerned with the capital-A Audience as Dirk is. It isn't that she doesn't know they're out there, or that her plans don't take them into account, but they just aren't her department. Any setting treated with a certain amount of gravitas gains weight--the more seriously she takes the reality they're in, the more real it becomes. The grand work of cosmic reification never stops, and childish complaints about the quality of that reality ill suit the role she's accepted.
Where was she? Ah, yes, sex shop names. "It's certainly direct. I'll write up a shared document to jumpstart the workshopping process." Dirk didn't ask her to do that, but quibbling over names is practically a family tradition. She ignores his "political correctness" pet peeve, an evasion that's also become a tradition.
"I wouldn't dare suggest that you engage in English-tier debauchery, Dirk. I'm sure the stick-removal-and-replacement process before and after each partner is grueling, and I'm also sure you aren't lubricating with liquor. You'll have to rely on quality over quantity." The extent to which Rose can debauch herself is still up in the air, of course. Her only tie here is Dirk, and even years of desperate boredom failed to force them into anything more intimate than Dirk calibrating her mechanical body. And her fleshy body doesn't feel especially powerful and sexy at present. So how is she going to find the motivation to slut it up?
An idea occurs to her then, one so blindingly obvious that Rose suspects it was always waiting for her. Well, in for a penny, in for a pounding. "Maybe we should make a game out of it. I've always wanted to turn a harmless hobby like stamp-collecting into a competitive venture." She doesn't need to say the stakes: among gods, bragging rights are sacrosanct, proof of whose nature is more essential to reality. "But you've been here for some time, haven't you? It would only be fair for you to disclose how massive a head-start I have to overcome."
no subject
While I consider her proposal's merits, I take stock of her naming concepts. It's excruciatingly vaginal. Caves. Bush. Ugh. I have no aversion to a good hole in its right place, but I know too well how inexorably her imagination is drawn by the pull of yonic imagery. Mightier Than The Sword has a certain ring to it. I like the delayed payoff. But it's too easily weaponised, pun fully intended, against my reputation in ways I won't stand for.
Maybe the laundromat metaphor was a bit much. But if we're getting classical--and I'll insisting we do, now--the language of 'heavy loads' has potential, I know it does. Just not the way I first conceptualised.
Happy or not, one must consider Sisyphus' contribution to the craft... as the first and greatest of edgers. But enough of that. For now, anyway.
"So now you're the one wanting to play a game. I can hardly say no to an invitation like that. But just so you know, I won't lose. Even if it's like you said. The removal-and-replacement process is pretty arduous, and my lubrications of choice trend away from the libertine and more towards the literal."
Blood, sweat, and motor oil are the kind of libations meant for ritual offering, not the loosening of personal license.
"There's no point in feigning innocence when it comes to my tastes, but I've kept things tamer than a bottle-fed filly. The kind that you put in with an oversized teddy bear so it doesn't miss its mama. My count is nothing you couldn't overcome in a particularly industrious afternoon. The greater body of my collection is endlessly generated without my active participation. The sordid side benefits of an unending voyeuristic purview."
no subject
Regardless, they both know those endlessly-generated stamps don't count for purposes of Rose's proposal, not because it would be an unfair advantage, but because such notional offerings don't matter. Those nebulous, off-screen stamps might keep the physical machinery of the simulation running, but they do nothing to actualize its reality or--using Amani as a lens--restore focus to their shared reality of origin.
"Maybe I learned a thing or two in the years we've spent together," Rose acknowledges, regarding the playing of games, and games-within-games. And perhaps some of that knowledge will help her bridge the gap in their capabilities.
"I'll be fascinated to watch the legendary phenomenon of Strider Romance from afar." Fascinated in a "train-wreck" sense, if past relationships are any indication, but maybe Dirk will surprise her. It's happened once even in this conversation.
Rose pauses, thoughtful. Of course, with any of her other friends/relatives, she'd feel obligated (and maybe a little happy) to catch up on recent events, drifting their conversation out of relevance. She could ask where Dirk's been staying, maybe tease him about whatever "tame" interactions he's had so far... but she doubts he'd give her anything. Dirk's picture was in the licensed RUMBLE IN DA PUMPKIN PATCH dictionary next to "business," before all copies were lost in a tragic printing-press explosion. She sees no need to subject him to the human disease called small-talk.
"Are we done here?"
no subject
Couldn't even re-print them. They were supposed to be a limited release and I'd already set the machine containing the only files for their manuscript to self-destruct during an episode of the show.
I've gotten flak for that, but it's not like that was somehow related to what happened to the actual books. Not unless you regard it as somehow prophetic (some do), or a purposeful bit (some do), or just setting a precedent in reality for the subsequent tragedy in ink. (No one does this. Not even me.)
"Yeah, I think we're done."
I try not to let the furrow of my brow give away anything about her comment on Strider Romance. She's over here wanting to invoke maternal imagery, but if you really want to dig into that sector, I guarantee you none of her social skills came from Roxy. Roxy's drunken doting may have drive her to it, in the end, she's more like me than she isn't. Self-educated and self-styled, an autodidact raised in a social near-desert, environmentally replete with all the knowledge she could ever need and utterly devoid of competent teachers. Credit to her, of course. And to Roxy, why not. But she has Narrative prominence and a 50% dose of my autodeictic genes to equally thank for what successes she's seized in that sphere.
You have a lot to catch up on here, so I'll leave you to it. Try not to get too lost in the character drama. Or do. Plenty of it to go around.
And that's that.
I don't say goodbye. I just leave, taking flight to parts specifically and purposefully undescribed. A man's gotta have some privacy.