uhmani | TDM #14

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 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 new inhabitants 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 nearly 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 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.

THE SEXY COMPENDIUM

Upon arrival to Amani, new inhabitants will be notified almost immediately of the sexy compendium that's uploaded to their DTF! This compendium lists all of the flora, fauna, unique geography, and miscellaneous items in Amani that might be worth looking at.

This database will update with seasonal highlights or places and items that might follow a theme! For example, the current theme is love for Valentine's Day and dragons for The Year of The Dragon!

While established inhabitants already know about all these things, it can't hurt to be reminded of what this simulated afterlife has to offer!

The Dragon Onsen

outdoor pool

dragon statue

blue tint

They suddenly look a lot more draconic than they did before.

Heart Jellies

jellyfish shaped like hearts

Wyverns

Taasunni Beach, and can range far into the Aditus Grasslands

Love Blossoms

gorgeous, pink flowers

pheromones

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.

Sexy Stamp Card

Issued by: The Peacekeeper

1 2 3 4 ♡

6 7 8 9 ♡

❤

<div style="width:100%;padding:10px 10px 0;font-family:garamond, georgia, serif;font-size:20px;font-style:italic;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:left;">Sexy Stamp Card</div>
<div style="width:100%;padding:0 10px 10px;">Issued by: The Peacekeeper</div>

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<div style="max-width:300px;width:100%;margin:-10px auto 0;text-align:right;font-size:10px;"><a title="code credit!" href="http://10billionghosts.dreamwidth.org" style="text-decoration:none;color:#eee;">❤</a></div>

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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

★ Feel free to check out the sexy compendium and also use whatever is listed there as you like! What's mentioned on the TDM are just suggestions and not only what's available! We want interested players to be able to make their own fun with what Amani has to offer and not feel limited to just the prompts provided here.

★ We are currently at 24/40 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

F.A.Q. ★ RULES ★ CHARACTER CLAIM ★ LOCATIONS ★ MAIN NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I imagine not." Letting his fingers simply sink around Noct's, Ignis closes his eyes to absorb that soft warmth along his cheek. This is more than his wildest dreams could have ever foreseen. "Yet I will gladly welcome such a surprise."

Yet there's no point in just luxuriating in this moment forever. Opening his eyes, Ignis makes a faint huff of amusement. "As for what I meant... I see that you still have a little more work to do when it comes to paying attention to other people's words, Noct. Do you recall when I mentioned my concern of having drawn a line...?"

"Hey, I paid attention!" Noctis protests...even if he can't quite remember exactly what it is Ignis is referring to immediately. "You just...said a lot of stuff."

But he thinks back for a second past the pleasant semi-haze of the last two minutes or so. Right, yes.

"...yeah, I remember. Kinda funny, because I always thought there was no way you'd ever feel like that about the guy who acted like a total brat every time you tried to help him." It's mostly wry rather than sheepish or truly self-deprecating. (Mostly.)

Edited 2024-02-26 22:53 (UTC)

Mostly.

But even that isn't acceptable to Ignis, and he reaches up with his other hand to rest along Noct's, stepping even closer. "I've never once thought of you that way," he says quietly, almost an admonishment. "Even when I was frustrated by you." Another light huff. "That did not make it any easier to weather through, of course, but I would weather anything for you."

And he means that.

Noctis' eyes soften as he smiles gratefully. "Guess that makes two of us on all counts," he says, heartbeat speeding up just a little more as Ignis comes closer.

"Hey, Specs," he says quietly after a moment. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what is going through your head, Noct," is the reply, said in that very frank and polite manner that Noctis is all too familiar with. The only thing that gives the game away is the slight smile that pulls at his lips.

"So it would seem that you will simply have to show me."

Now this is familiar ground. "No idea, huh? Guess I could do pretty much anything, then. Choices, choices..."

As if they don't both already know exactly where this is going.

"Ehhh, a nap is pretty impractical right now, so I suppose we'll have to settle for this." Noctis doesn't quite have the straight face Ignis does, but he's got 'insincerely disaffected' down pat - other than the faint smirk on his face, of course.

But when he draws Ignis down to finally, finally kiss him, it's so much gentler and more indulgent than their banter might suggest it would be. He's not the most patient guy in the world, but for Ignis? For both of them together, for something they've both wanted for so long?

He can take his time. He can savor this. He can try to show Ignis just how much this means to him, something he couldn't figure out how to explain with words. Noctis does better with actions, generally speaking, anyway.

Settle for this. As though Ignis doesn't kiss him with that same patient and adoring reverence as he'd pressed to Noctis's wrist, his palm, every single fingertip. Noctis may do better with actions rather than words, so Ignis does his best to speak the same language with his kiss.

Because for him... This feels as though it is an answer to the quiet longing in his heart that had once settled only for the grace of Noct's light settling into him, and nothing else.

When they finally break apart, it feels far too soon. Still, for even that much, Ignis's sigh is content. "I kept you waiting. My apologies."

It may have taken Noctis a little while to get the message through words, but Ignis' attempt at translation works like a charm. There's no way Noctis could doubt it once their lips meet.

It feels too soon for Noctis, too, but getting to look into Ignis' beautiful eyes again is also good. Better than good. He chuckles lightly. "We kept each other waiting, I gotta own up to my part in that, too. But we're not waiting anymore, so..."

So what's next? With Gladio, it was easy. They both knew exactly what they wanted, something that had been building already for a long time. This is a little different, Noctis thinks. For one thing, Ignis is so big on propriety that Noct isn't sure how keen he is on jumping straight to...well, peaceful interactions. For another, this Ignis is younger, and Noctis has no idea whether those feelings include that kind of attraction for an Ignis this far back, who had teenage Noct to deal with. Not that Noctis as a teenager wasn't pretty - he knows he was, people certainly told him often enough - but whether Ignis actually wanted him like that is another question.

"...uh, so what now?"

Hm. That is a good question. One that Ignis has to admit that he was still pondering over, ever since him and Gladio had their discussion in Noct's kitchen with one another. Back then, it had simply been a nagging feeling on how he would adjust to personal and duty intercrossing in a way that they'd never had before. How, as he had asked Gladio, he could share his boyfriend with his prince.

Gladio had said that it probably wouldn't change all that much and, considering Ignis has just finished kissing his prince, he's starting to suspect he was very right.

That still, granted, doesn't answer the question of what now.

Hm.

"We should get additional groceries, I think," Ignis finally answers, after his gaze has flicked back to focus on Noctis. "I just had an idea on a few other dishes I would like to add to tonight's dinner."

Wait. What?

Groceries?

Noctis blinks at him for a moment. If it were anyone else, Noctis would probably assume they were joking. But Ignis...there's every possibility that he's 100% serious. And if he is--well, that's fine. It's not like Noctis will love him any less if he doesn't want anything more physical with him. And even if he does, it's not like they have to do anything right this minute.

He just kinda thought maybe a moment that profound might warrant...something? Some acknowledgment of some kind that something has changed? Some confirmation of what exactly this means for them? It's not that Noctis necessarily needs any particular definition to their relationship or anything, but he didn't expect Ignis to just...move on to unrelated practical matters immediately.

But if that's what Ignis wants, Noctis can roll with it. He tries to sound totally casual and entirely normal when he says, "Oh, uh...yeah, sure. Groceries. Whatever you need, Iggy."

Really, now. Ignis is pleased to see that no matter how many years have passed, Noctis still retains some rather cute characteristics. A soft and rather entertained sound, before Ignis pulls away, using the hand still entangled with Noct's to pull him along.

"And yet it seems as though perhaps there is something else you might have preferred."

So maybe Noctis deserves to be the object of entertainment here, but he's trying to do right by Ignis! Give him a break!

He groans quietly and drops his face into his free hand even as he follows and lets himself be pulled. "Okay, in my defense, you are way too good at that. ...Iiiii'm never gonna live this down, am I."

Still, it's hard to mind too much when he's walking hand in hand with Ignis back into the loft, fairly buzzing with anticipation and swiftly settling back into the comfort of knowing that Ignis is actually here with him for real, not just in a dream he has to wake up from, and feeling happier than he has in a long time.

Bold of Noctis to think they're going to the loft. Because, nope -

"The secret to a good expression is to have a trace of sincerity," he says over his shoulder. "And since you have so generously accepted my suggestion, we shall get a few more things indeed."

...Although Ignis will still keep holding Noctis's hand as they go.

"I need to make a few more dishes for Gladio, after all, and I would like to see if I can make something inbetween all the downtime for Carbuncle." Hey, Ignis, what fucking downtime with everything you're making already-

"Wait, so I was right? These are some real mixed messages I'm getting here, Specs."

But he doesn't let go or resist the direction they're walking. Just moves to walk beside Ignis rather than behind him.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure you've never had 'downtime' in your life. What've you got on the menu so far?"

"This may surprise you, but I do indeed do things when not with you."

And that's called Gladio -

Ahem.

Still, having Noct walk alongside him instead of having to be pulled seems to put Ignis in a quietly content mood. Just this much is enough for him, really. "As for the menu, I was going to primarily focus on a variety of wraps that could be made on their own, to allow for easier customization to everyone's tastes, and a large salad on the side, alongside a few side dishes." With those side dishes having veggies snuck in, because he knows in his heart that Noctis hasn't been eating a balanced diet without Ignis around...

"However, now that I've had time to reflect and consider things, I would have liked to pick up a steak as well. Whether on its own or added into the wraps."

"Yeah, like shop for ingredients and take meticulous notes." He's just saying, you work a lot, dude.

"Huh, make your own wraps, nice." He'll be steadfastly ignoring the salad, obviously. "And you know I like a good steak."

They reach the market again in short enough order, and Noctis isn't planning to let go of Ignis' hand until Iggy wants him to. He glances around, wondering if Ignis has noticed the, uh...creative designs of a lot of the food here. Like those extremely dick-shaped loaves of bread. Or the way the peaches are packaged in little wrappings shaped like panties. Noctis is used to it by now, but Iggy just got here.

"Hey, check it out, some kind of berries." He pauses to draw Ignis' attention to the display of what are indeed berries, which apparently naturally grow into the perfect boob shape and consistency, complete with 'nipple.' And he watches to see what reaction he'll get. He figures it's about as likely that Iggy will deliberately barely react at all as it is that he'll have some dry, snarky thing to say about it, so he's just rolling the dice.

It's fine. Ignis had surrendered to the knowledge that Noctis still hates vegetables, because that's an ever constant. He'll just have to do what he always does, which is make sauces filled with veggies so that Noctis doesn't realize what he's drizzling over his meat wraps.

Even at this young age, he's played this game before. He knows the cheat codes.

"Just remember that a good portion of it is going to be made with Gladio in mind," Ignis says, gaze already glancing over the marketplace. Where did he see that meat vendor... "So practice some moderation." As though he isn't going to just make a ridiculous amount of food that he's going right into the second they return home.

Preoccupied with his own goals, Ignis is mentally skipping over all the visual innuendo - right up until Noctis speaks up, drawing his attention immediately in that special privilege only Noct has.

Which he uses for things like this.

As Noct expected, Ignis's response is a barely recognizable raise of one eyebrow before he looks back to the rest of the marketplace. He's not giving any satisfaction in this area just yet. "Indeed. Now, this way. I believe that is where I saw a butcher of some sort."

"Pff, like you won't make enough for three Gladios." They've never had a problem with anyone not getting enough of what they wanted before and Noctis doesn't expect that to change.

He snickers at Ignis' non-response to the berries. That Indeed. is so familiar that it puts a slight smile on Noctis' face that's wholly unrelated to the innuendo nonsense. Familiar, that's what this is, it's so incredibly familiar in a way Noct hasn't had in so long that even the littlest things - a word here, a gesture there, the way Ignis pushes his glasses up when they start to slide - make Noctis feel comfortable and content. Like coming home after a long journey.

"Oh - yeah, I actually help out at the butcher's place, bring him fresh fish whenever I get the chance. Uh...Nyx used to run it, it was his shop first, so we went fishing together a lot and I helped him there. Then Barnabas took it over, so I just kept doing it. Barnabas is a buddy of mine, anyway- I'll introduce you. Come on."

It's - 'funny' may be the right word, even if the definition doesn't really match. Funny that he hadn't thought he'd really said anything of note in the face of a clear tease towards him, but...

But maybe that doesn't matter as much, compared to the ease which falls over Noctis's face, a sort of subtle relief that Ignis isn't sure he's seen in... a very long time. A kind of feeling that only shimmers under the surface when one has been put through a good deal.

If Ignis can give it to him, he'll do so without hesitation.

He just wants to know how he can do it more reliably, instead of just stumbling into it somehow.

It's a puzzle for later. Right now, following Noct's lead, Ignis considers this new bit of information. "I had glanced into the butcher's earlier, but I hadn't realized that Nyx had run it prior..." The name on the front isn't Galahdian, after all, or matches anything about Nyx at all. He'd noticed there'd been some minor indications it had been changed at some point, but...

Hm. He'll have to look particularly closely to make sure it rises to his standards, then. All the moreso if Noct is familiar with the man.

"What is he like, then?" Even as he asks, Ignis glances upwards just enough to where he knows a daggerquill is following after them in the skies. If this is truly a part of his soul.... Then he should already know what he needs to do.

Ignis has nothing to worry about when it comes to bringing this feeling to Noctis reliably, because all he has to do is keep being himself.

"Yeah, I think he figured it was good for him to do something with his knives that wasn't war, for once." A hint of melancholy falls over him for a moment...sometimes it feels like only yesterday that Nyx was calling him 'princess' and being shamelessly provocative while teaching him to improve his skills with magic. And sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. What a cruel joke the Overseer has played, finally bringing Ignis back to him but only after having taken Nyx away. He honestly can't wait until the next time she shows up to a Hall of Rhetoric meeting, because he has plenty of rhetoric for her now.

The moment passes, though, and he settles back into the present with Ignis' hand in his helping to ground him there.

"He's pretty weird, but we go fishing together and it's a good time. He's not much of a talker and neither am I, so it's just us and the fish and some peace and quiet. He's got this huge sailing ship, you gotta see it! And an extremely cool sword. Oh yeah - he's a king back in his world, too, that's sort of how we started talking." There are a lot of missing details there, but that's fine. "For somebody that quiet, though, he can be pretty intense."

A little like Ignis in that way actually, Noctis thinks, but otherwise they're not very similar at all.

Something not to do with the war... Ignis thinks back to his combat teacher, the many hours spent polishing up his skills against the more experienced fighter. There were some techniques he knew that he'd never learn, of course, access that would probably be always denied to him, but that didn't mean Nyx was no less good a fighter all on his own. More than that, he always thought the other man had, well. A charisma to him. A similar charisma to Gladio, he thinks, which certainly explained a lot about the two of them in hindsight.

Sometimes, hearing what he could of his homeland as well... Ignis had wondered on occasion what it would have been like if he could have met Nyx there, gone with him, without the war to worry about.

The war that always hung over all of their heads.

...He wonders just what it means, to be 'gone' from this place.

There's so much work for him to do. Yet he suspects that finding out more about that particular line of inquiry will take considerable long-term work. For now, on his first day here, he should manage more immediate matters, and nods at the description that Noctis gives. Weird, fishes - a king too? Ignis glances at Noctis from the corner of his eye, trying to see if there's anything behind those words, but no. He just keeps walking, engrossed in his explanation of his friend.

...Ignis knows what that means. For Noctis to be king. Of course, it means a great deal of things, things that Ignis had been raised his entire life to help him with no matter what, and things he may still not know of yet with what's been alluded to him from the others. And yet there's one thing in particular his mind flicks back to.

How could it not, considering the last argument that he and Noctis had? The subject which always seemed to be looming over everyone's head, seeing grey grow from flecks to strands, the click of a cane against hard floor?

...Noctis isn't thinking about this, in this one little offhand comment. He's had time to think on this, adjust to it. So Ignis won't allow himself to bring up old thoughts, especially without knowing all the details first. So, even as his other hand stays relaxed and warm in Noct's grip, his other slips into his pocket to - briefly, just briefly - curl into an unsure fist.

But otherwise he tucks this knowledge back in his head alongside so many other things to turn over in his mind later. "Intense?" he asks instead, raising an eyebrow. "In what way? Has he said things which make you think that?"

Noctis isn't thinking about any of it right now - there's only room for the fact that Ignis is here, after Noct has waited so long to see him again. But at the back of his mind that whole time has been an ever-growing list of problems in Lucis - and beyond - he wanted to solve, injustices he wanted to see righted, outreach and alliances he wanted to make, war reparations...and Galahd was among the top few things on that list. And Noctis has badly needed his advisor to talk all these things over with. So it won't be too long before he brings those to Ignis - but not today.

Today, Ignis has kissed him and they're...on a food shopping date, he guesses? Yeah, that sounds like an Iggy kind of date. Noctis doesn't love shopping, but he does love Ignis, so it's hard to mind much.

"Mostly it's the eyes, I think? He's pretty stoic, but when he's got his full attention on you, it's like lasers." He points two fingers forward from his eyes as if that helps explain anything. "And he's super serious all the time, or at least he acts like it. I've heard him say a few funny things, but I'm never sure if it was on purpose or not." He tilts his head, thinking. "But yeah, he's said a few things, too. He has strong feelings about certain things, or at least strong opinions. Rulership, for one. I don't agree with a lot of his talk about that, but it's clear he's given it a ton of thought."

Intense, serious, strong opinions about rulership... Well, what ruler doesn't? "You will have to tell me about these views some time, then," Ignis says, knowing that it'd be rude to go straight into such talk on a first meeting. Besides, that sort of conversation could take a long time... and fresh ingredients are key to a good dinner.

"For now, lets hurry. I want to get started on dinner as soon as possible." There's a lot he has planned, after all.

"Sure," says Noctis, and for a few minutes he just accompanies Ignis wherever he wants to go to buy his ingredients and feels more or less at peace.

After a bit, though, he says, "Hey Specs, I know you've got a whole feast to make and everything, but uh...you think there might be a little time for more kissing at some point, too?" He gives Ignis a hopeful smile. Surely that one moment wasn't meant to be the only one...?

At least, as always, Ignis is an efficient shopper - all the moreso when he knows exactly what he wants and needs. It doesn't take long for them to sweep through, with Ignis contentedly carrying a new bag of groceries in one arm.

The other hand still holds contentedly onto Noct's.

At the question, there's a slight raise of his eyebrows before he smiles ever so slightly. "Impatient, are we?" he murmurs. "I was going to wait until we got back to your loft."

TDM #14

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noct takes the option to let a bro choose, Iggy gets some bonus XP

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