TDM 003 - SUMMER

[heckinmods]

[ SEE GAME NAVIGATION TO READ UP ON HECK GAME BEFORE PLAYING IF YOU SO DESIRE ]


A: Garden Level - OOPS YOU DIED
[CONGRATS YOU DIED. Sucks for you!! But Abe and Lucy are DETERMINED to get paperwork done and to do that, they need to get to know YOU.

So as soon as you appear, no matter if you're going to heaven or hell, you get slapped with a "HELLO MY NAME IS ____" sticker by one of the sheep. Said sticker has two possible effects:
-The sticker may say your "True" name or a nickname you don't like, or an alias, etc. How did it get there?? Paperwork. There is a chance it's blank and you can write your own name too.
-Whenever they see a person, they will be compelled to shout "HELLO MY NAME IS [their name] AND I LIKE [something they like.]"

We speed therapying this shit. ]


B: SUMMER HELL
[Whether you're a demon or an angel, eventually you may want to visit the HellRaiser hotel below! Hell is where all the HIP HAPPENING THINGS are after all. Want a lava bath? Go to a club? Gamble?? Just get fucking drunk? Hell's your place.

However, despite being the afterlife, even hell is not immune from the heat of summer. And it's taking the whole flames of hell thing literally. So!

-You might be minding your own business, and suddenly part of your body or clothing just, fucking ignites on fire. Good luck with that!
-You may get badgered by demonic vendors, trying to push various summer t-shirts on you.
-You might get roped into some demons fucking EMBRACING THE HEAT. Ever been tied to a giant fire spit oven an open flame?? YOU HAVE NOW. Maybe someone will help you, or you can handle yourself just fine.

Or you might get lucky and none of that happens and you're just vibing. Good on you!!]


C: Heaven is Central Air Conditioning
[Heaven-side, the heavenly hotel is its normal, luxurious self except for one key different. . .A/C. That's right, only the hotels in Heaven have working air conditioning. Fucked up!! So chilling up here might be the right call. You can always go visit the beach too, or any of the delightful coffee shops. Heaven also is the only place to get caffeine. Wack.

Of course, even heaven is prone to wackiness. Newbies may be prone to:
-Like hell, there are plenty of vendors up here, but instead of cash, today they ask for payment in...jokes? Better give your best one.
-Cherubs may be especially pushy and try to get you dressed in extremely stuffy/heavenly clothing. Enjoy your corsets and such.
-At the beach, if you sun bathe too long without protection, oops! You may find your skin (fur, scales, whatever) turning not red, but another ridiculous color.

OR AGAIN, JUST DO WHATEVER. WHOMST CAN STOP YOU?? You have a phone just text strangers do what you want.]



OOC NOTES:
-"Ash this TDM seems kinda half assed" IT'S SUMMER AND I'M TIRED also with July having no themed event I wanted this TDM to be pretty generic so people can hop in without worrying about timelines!
-This TDM is open to all! For now, you do NOT need to join the comm to play in it!
-Post questions for the mods here
-Remember, playing in the TDM does NOT guarantee your entry or app being accepted into the game proper later down the line!
-Apps open!! Be sure to read the rules linked there and check the current taken list!
-For current players: TDMs count as game canon AND threads may be used for AC if you wish!
-Remember regardless of your alignment, you are free to travel to whatever level you wish!

Comments

cw: disaster relief story

[astrogator]

It can be nobody's fault and still hurt. [Softly.] You've been through a lot, and it made you how you are, I can see that. War, and people who want to hurt you - directly! Not political plotting behind your back but actual attacks. [Worse than anything that went on at Cardalek, in other words.]

Mai was a civilian, you can't expect her to know how to handle these situations, and she still helped you. You didn't know how to accept that, did you? I don't mean for fair contract, I mean you couldn't believe she was actually doing something good. Couldn't give the benefit of the doubt.

[She sighs.] Tradeliners will help failing colonies, before it's too late. We fly in and we bring supplies and evacuate people and that's charitable, no contract needed, but we also have to maintain our rules. It's understandable someone desperate would try to steal the supplies but if we don't deal with it then everything gets stolen and there's nothing left to give the honest people who waited their turn. So we're harsh about it and then people know to follow the rules. Even then we can't do everything. [She looks away for a moment.] Limited room on the ship, not enough for everyone. It was only once I did it, out at the frontier... [She shakes her head.] This woman put a baby in Savitskaya's arms...

[Why was she even telling this story? Tayrey shakes off the uncomfortable feeling. It doesn't matter now.] If your homeworld was like that, always, then I see why things happened how they did, and it's easy for me to tell you that you have a duty to uphold freedom regardless but if you didn't have a choice yourself, maybe you don't always see when it's wrong to take away other people's. You don't underestimate anyone's ability to harm you. I think you do underestimate capacity for rationality, because you haven't seen enough of it to know what humanity is capable of.

[When he says her name with all that feeling behind it, Tayrey can only stare at him, not understanding, but longing to.]

You're fine. You're fine. [She hopes he's fine.] I did a good job, contract fulfilled, I shouldn't be sad about that. [Therefore she is repressing all sadness and focusing on how it could be worse and all of this is not a problem.]

I don't know what I'm going to do now. Treat it like being downstation, forever? [No, that level of hedonism is depressing if you haven't earned it.] I'll figure something out. I don't have any responsibilities so I can do what I want, I guess.

cw: infanticide & child soldier mention

[konpeito_aji]

[He nods.] I tried. I mean... I made her a princess. That's not just a prisoner, it comes with responsibilities and isn't something I do casually. But no. I didn't understand it. She never understood me either. I was an anathema to her. No wonder, the future has even worse of an idea of me than I try to perpetuate. There's a story that I drank wine from a human skull. No reason. Just because I'm that evil. [He's amused, not sad about it.] There's a story they teach school children to remember the order of the revolution's successors. A Buddhist asked the three unifiers, me, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu what to do with a songbird that won't sing. I said kill it, Hideyoshi said force it, and Ieyasu waited patiently. In reality, I love hawking, I would never waste a bird, if it doesn't want to sing, it can still do a million other things. Lovebirds need to be in pairs, or they die. The males sing and show off, but the females are usually quiet and listen to the songs and blend in to protect the eggs. A million things they could do.

I believe in freedom, Tayrey, I do. Not for myself, because until I could travel, I never had it, and even then, I can't... leave where I am until I resolve things for others there. Unless it's some place that truly doesn't need me - though I risk just going back to my original Hell. But I also believe in consequences. If you're given multiple chances and refuse them, you'll hit the wall you're looking for. If she had another idea in mind, or could speed up the wormhole I wanted, needed to know. I needed to know how much it was in her control or not. If it could be used as a weapon to infiltrate the castles and create even more chaos. Or if it was more like a solar eclipse, able to timed with mathematics and charts. If she still refused to even talk to me, then I intended to watch her and figure out how she escaped with the wormhole, and that the 3 months deadline was a lie.

I'll always try to be more direct with you. I promise. But my way of things is just standard from my Hell. Is that standard for other demons here, in other Hells, other worlds? I couldn't tell you. Many I've known were much worse, because I made the active effort to do better. But everything is weird here. In any case, this is why I say be very careful of us demons. Even when we're being honest, we lay traps like breathing. I personally, didn't know there was another way. I knew someday someone could make a better way, but I had to push things in that direction, because that wasn't possible in my time.

[Another nod. Quietly:] It's been going for centuries. Longer than all of your human history. Generations and generations. My grandfather's grandfather. I've never known peace, and neither have my father or grandfather. And it was getting worse every year. When I was born, usually the children were considered off limits at least. Barely a few years later, that wasn't the case anymore. My father was traveling with a very small contingent with me between armies, and we were ambushed. He thought that wouldn't be the case with a child on his horse, but times were getting worse, people were more desperate. A few years after that and children were being traded to enemy territories to seal pacts.

I'm not underestimating people's capacity for good or evil. I just know what it's like not to be thinking straight, and you can't when you're starving or barely holding onto consciousness. When you're drunk, it's your fault for getting drunk, but when you're starving it should be the Lord's fault for not making sure there was enough food and stability and giving you productive tasks to earn food and not feel so desperate and worthless that even becoming a bandit might be better.

I believe immensely in human potential. It's completely untapped in my time, and even by the 21st century, there's enough violence and wars still that people can't understand what I say when I tell them how drastically more peaceful it is. That's the way of it. Most people can't look at history from such a long drawn out view, especially when they're in the midst of it. That's the only thing that separates me. I'm not special, I'm not talented, I'm not the strongest, or the smartest, and I can't be, and that's fine. But I have a weird way of looking at everything so I can see what I can do that gets others started so they can be their best selves, in the best position to surpass me. [He's blushing again, because he never told HIS other Tayrey that either. But he's been thinking about it a lot. That he should have told her. Rather than always trying to allay her fears, telling her not to be afraid, leave it to him. Just be raw, tell her everything. Maybe he couldn't save her, but he'd give it his all and --]

[At least he should stop thinking he failed. He got further. They both exist. There's still a chance to fix things, and way less pressure, since she doesn't think she either needs to get back, nor is deadset on it.]

[He doodles a finger on the table.] I've been in L-Space actually. I'm told that most adults can't handle it without training. But it was actually really peaceful for me. Almost boring, because I wasn't allowed to touch anything or do anything, just watch. [Wry grin!] I wanted to see Earth's future in... in my friend's time? Maybe friend is too much... Or maybe it isn't? Ahhhh sorry, I never know if someone's my friend unless they blatantly tell me to my face. Demon King things. But she was from a time Earth had contact with lots of other planets and peoples, and that's what I wanted most, more than anything else. But I was willing to go to your Sector to initiate trade and experiment with L-Space physics... [HUFF.]

I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not a scientist. Every chance I've ever had to explore anything, I've taken with both hands and headfirst like a cannonball. So why try to go somewhere where exploration isn't as valued and I'd have to curb all my basic instincts all over again? [BLUSH... because he loves Tayrey. THAT SIMPLE. And if he can't do all the exploring he wants, at least he can try to make life better and then the future will find it.]

You did a good job, Tayrey. You're free now. Take your time thinking about it. I know you didn't expect there to be an afterlife, much less need to fill it with anything. You're not alone in that. [VAGUE GESTURE OUT TO THE WORLD!] Pretty much everyone here is like that. A few are just mad at having to work at all in heaven, I got a laugh out of how I imagined any Tradeliner would react to that.