TDM #1

[labyrinmods]

Arrival / Enchanted Garden

Whether it be sleep or death, you feel your eyes close, and as your body begins to let go, you see a barn owl that is flying through the darkness, soon sweeping you across the clouded sky. You feel yourself mouth the words, “I wish, I wish..” and utter your deepest and darkest desire.

When you regain consciousness, you’ll find you are in an unfamiliar place with no recognition of how you arrived here. You have the clothes on your back, but nothing else. No weapons and if you had a particular superpower, you’ll notice it is missing. All you have is a satchel with a piece of bread, a vial of water and a potion. The potion could be red, blue or golden. There are no instructions about these potions other than two words: Drink Me.

Will you drink it or not?

There is a parchment, handwritten, and it simply gives you a welcoming:

“Welcome to my Labyrinth. Per our agreement, you have consented to live your life here for an undetermined amount of time. In exchange, I will grant you the wish that you desire the most.”

You’re in a garden, surrounded by flowers and plants– most of which you cannot identify. However, there are a few that you can make out: poinsettias and mistletoe. You’ll soon find out that being around the poinsettias give you an odd sense of joy no matter how confusing the situation may seem and the mistletoe, which is left over from the holiday season, gives you the desire to kiss or hold hands with the nearest person to you. It looks like there are plenty of others who are just now waking up from their dream-state as well.. why not go ahead and say hello?

Somnius / Snow Angels

With the influx of new life, the humble town a barkeep tells you is called Somnius seems to come alive as well, with new faces to join that of the resident fairies, goblins and other townfolk. There’s bustling energy to the land that the townfolk will tell you wasn’t quite there before, and some suspect that the presence of the new arrivals might be powering the world around them in some way - but that’s a question to be answered on another day. The quaint town of Somnius needs a little bit of care, that rustic feel to the mushroom houses, old shops and weathered castles too evident at first glance, but it’s not a bad place to live, as the locals will tell you. It almost seems like everything will be okay…

But of course, things are never so simple.

Whether you have been wandering around to get your bearings, talking to the locals or exploring your new humble (very humble) abode, you can expect to find mysterious ice sculptures - fashioned in the shape of snow angels, with blades in their hands - appearing in random places around the town. There are some that manifest in the middle of the street, some that sit quietly at the edge of an inn, and even some that appear right beside your bed, staring at you as you wake up. It’s unclear how these sculptures even got here, but close proximity to them will conjure up feelings of unrest, like you should not step any closer.

It’s smart to trust your gut in these situations. Step too close to a snow angel and it will come to life, moving with the grace of flowing water. They make a vague request and will spare only those able to heed it.

“Cold … so cold … Even the days of Visium are so cold. Have you any warmth to spare us?”

Some angels will accept an article of clothing as warmth. Others are greedy and keep demanding more, wanting to take everything that you have on your body. Heed their requests and they will spare you. Resist even just a little, and that’s when they draw their swords.

It’s not too easy to defeat an angel with brute force given that they reform themselves immediately. Running away or blasting them with fire could do the trick. Be careful not to get cut by their blades, however…

Characters who get cut by their blades will experience an inconsolable sense of chill and emptiness, right down to their bones. They will find themselves desiring ‘warmth’ from others in different ways - whether through physical contact, or affectionate words and gestures. There might be the few who go feverish in their desire for warmth. For those characters – the open fireplace is looking like a very tantalizing place to sit in right now (Yes, sit in, not by). They might even feel compelled to pull a friend in with them. That can’t be good for anyone…

The effects will only subside if the condition of receiving ‘warmth’ is met. This can be in the literal sense (physical warmth and intimacy) or figurative (feelings of love, acceptance and happiness).

Bonfire

When night falls, the temperatures only drop further, which does no favours for the poor souls who had to give up their clothing. The locals want to welcome the new arrivals and give everyone an opportunity to unwind from a busy and chaotic day of being hunted by snow sculptures. That’s why they’ve set up a gathering in the middle of town square. Food and alcohol is being generously supplied by The Cask & Anvil, and marketplace vendors have set up pop up stands to try and cajole the new arrivals into purchasing some fancy new clothes or a pretty gemstone they claim will ward off danger (claims not verified).

At the center of it all is a large bonfire that’s warming up the square. Everyone is encouraged to warm themselves by it after a long day, eat, and make merry. In fact, there’s a certain sense of enchantment to the crackling fire that seems to draw even the shiest wallflower in, pushing them to sit with others and make conversation. As the night goes on, the newly arrived dreamers will find themselves settling easily into the warm and bustling mood, any stresses and anxieties melting away. With time, they’ll start to find themselves without a filter, more than happy to talk about themselves and the life they had led prior to coming to Visium. In fact, they will feel compelled to share a story from their past - one that might be joyous, comedic, thrilling, or tragic. Whatever sorts of feelings come attached to their story, it will be one of emotional significance.

In the back of their minds, they might get the sense someone else is listening.

OOC

Welcome to the labyrinthum TDM! Characters will arrive depowered and with only their clothing, and will be given a satchel with a crystal pendant, a communication device, some water and bread and a magic potion. If they drink the potion, they will manifest an elemental, healing or animal transformation ability.

With the exception of Castle Vaeros, characters are free to go as they please, so feel free to place them in any of the locations available on the map. Yes, this includes the Labyrinth - though characters will not be able to clear the maze. Please comment here to request an outcome for your character's labyrinth exploration and a moderator will get to you shortly. (The longest a character can stay in the Labyrinth is 3 days.)

You can find more information about the game here. Any questions regarding the TDM can go under the comment below.

Comments

[tsygan]

( he is getting in over his head, that's for fucking sure but he might have been on the edge of thinking about it back on the sleipnir, wondering if it really felt that damned good on the receiving end just because of all the pretty little noises abel would make when he's really into it. call him curious, or maybe just a masochist in this case because it really wouldn't have mattered if he'd gotten any preparation in the first place.

sometimes the pain makes it better, but he's not about to go around broadcasting that little tidbit of information. a little bit of pain never really hurt anyone, not in the long run, and he doesn't look like the type to turn his back on something that might twinge does he?

( nah, but sweet summer child, it's going to be more than just a twinge with how big he is. you'll learn.

and thank you, yuri's lotion, your sacrifice will absolutely not be forgotten, though it stands to reason that if he ever finds himself back here in the future ( he will ) he won't be able to keep himself from thinking about this, precisely, the way he fits in toji's lap like he was meant to be there and the feeling of those large hands moving him how and where he wants him — and if he ever actually meets yuri, he might not be able to look her directly in the eye without grinning at least a little bit to himself.

they don't exactly make 'sorry we used your lotion to fuck on the floor' cards but it's not like he would give one, anyway, if they did. moving right along. )

he asks him if he's ready and while he would have ground out a rough sort of yeah in response he doesn't have much of a chance; toji lifts him up, still like he weighs fucking nothing and then he's pressing inside of him, the head of his cock pushing past that tight ring of muscle and cain sucks in a breath through clenched teeth, thighs tensing and he muffles a small noise against toji's mouth, something wanting but strained, the fingers of one hand curling around the back of his neck just for a point of contact. )

[revolts]

[ it's so tight that toji gives a low hiss of effort, finding himself putting near all of his considerable weight into overcoming the resistance of cain's body. toji hears the tension in the noise cain drowns into their kiss and it makes him shiver, threading fingers through cain's messy bangs in some clumsy attempt to soothe. ]

Relax, [ he coaches as well as he knows how, this a manner of firsts for him too. he is not a kind, or thoughtful, or considerate man. he is not a reliable partner and he is not an attentive lover. the list of things fushiguro toji is not goes on and on and on.

and yet.

in this moment, here, right now, acutely aware of the way cain's hand clasps to the nape of his neck, the thing fushiguro toji is least of all is himself. ]

Breathe. Breathe for me, yeah?

[ he bites down on cain's lip to give him a counterpoint to the pain, stilling for just the moment. ]

You gonna be okay?

[madcuriosity]

O-oh... [The thrill of this has not just diminished, it was gone. Her tears started to well up in her eyes and she leaned into Jasmine.]

I... I think this is my fault I'm here. [She whispered wetly as the tears began to fall and she hurried to wipe them away.] I wished for an adventure in an exciting place. So i-it's my fault I'm here.

My name is Alice... Alice Liddell.

[madcuriosity]

"I don't want to go to an orphanage, I'm not an orphan!" she insisted, suddenly scared. "I don't want to end up like Oliver!" she insisted, remembering the harrowing tale Oliver Twist went through all throughout London. "There are all sorts of people who... who make children work."

She bit her lip. "Can't I... I will live alone if it means not... not going to an orphanage or... or a work house."

CW: for suicidal thoughts and implied genocide

[borntolove]

The Doctor doesn't reply or look at Eve about 'luck'. Because he knows he should have died. He was at the center of the explosion because he was the one who pressed the button. Why was he allowed to continue on? A part of him still doesn't believe that he deserved to have; go on. There's a look of immese guilt on his face. However, her trembling keeps him grounded, and gently pats her back.

"Gallifrey."

[xploud]

Ugh...Katsuki hates it when kids get upset like this. Not because it's annoying or anything, but because he's so bad at this shit. Being an only child, he never had anyone to really care about growing up or vice versa...and the young man's only recently learned the real value of making tight bonds and real, lasting friendships. But he sees a scared kid in front of him and is taken back in time to when he knew a scared, weepy little nerd who rambled like this a lot.

A long bit of silence passes, with Katsuki just letting her speak and get her words out, before the hard edges of his expression dull considerably and he strokes that big hand down her hair to tuck some of the strands neatly behind her ear.

"Oi, oi, hime..." Katsuki takes a deep breath and sighs. He doesn't like this, but what can he do? "No one's taking you anywhere you don't want to go. There are houses that are empty - you can take one to stay in, no one'll mind." He'll even escort her there himself. Katsuki is doing his civic duty as a Hero, but also the idea of a literal child wandering around in the cold on her own makes his skin itch.

"I'll bring you food."

[callmeaprincess]

[Jasmine slowly nods, enraptured by all of the facets to this case.]

So, a man was poisoned, who happened to have a winning lottery ticket, so the real culprit put the ticket on your friend to frame her?

Well, if it wasn't for the ticket, then why did they kill him?

[tsygan]

( something like this shouldn't be so intimate — sex has always been transactional for him, too, after all, get in, get off, get out — but he's so very present in the moment that he can't help but feel every little shift of their bodies, every touch of toji's hands, the rumble in his voice when he speaks. it's heady, fucking intoxicating, and for a good handful of breaths he almost forgets that he's well on his way to being split in two.

( never mind that even though the tension will slowly melt out of him in the smallest increments, little by little, there is no denying the wetness prickling at the very corners of his eyes, warm and stinging and damning for what it is, but he's not about to stop. not now, when it's only just started, and he has something to prove. )

toji tells him to relax, to breathe and he takes in one shuddering breath as those sharp teeth come down on his lip, his next exhale edging on a moan as he presses into the bite and gives back one of his own, the hand not at the back of the other man's neck smoothing over a broad shoulder, the side of his throat, down over the front of his chest. anything just to touch, to feel him.

another breath in, and out, and he turns that bite into a kiss that is little more than the slick heat of his tongue tracing over his teeth, inviting more of the sharpness of them as he gives the smallest experimental shift of his hips.

( to his credit, he does his level best not to wince. ) ) I'm— ( he grits out, fingers still gripping his neck, voice a low rasp against his mouth. ) M'good. Just fuck me.

[trenchdoting]

Well you see, it kinda was because of the ticket... but not because he wanted it!

See, the culprit was Furio Tigre, the boss of this shady money-lending business. The funny thing is, he had a big debt to pay himself to a real bad crime boss! So he was trying to call in a debt to get the money, from this computer programmer who had a gambling problem. He got the programmer to make a special computer virus that he could use to make enough to pay his debt! But just as they were about to finalize the deal... that programmer found he won the lottery. So he'd be getting enough to pay his debt to Tigre... but not enough for Tigre to pay his own debt.

[xploud]

Katsuki just shrugs, lazily. "From what I've heard, anyway. But I've only been here 'bout a month, so who really fucking knows - people could be bullshitting for all I know. I'm an outsider - why trust me?"

Though, given the disposition of the people in Somnius proper, they're pretty darn agreeable. Civilian in every right, and actually quite helpful. Hell, there's already a ward of vacant or unoccupied properties just waiting for people to settle into them, and no one gives a rat's ass about who claims a property for their own. It's another thing that bothers Katsuki, too - he's almost certain that was intentional. Like the asshole who kidnapped them all was clearly waiting to do so.

"Mm...kind of. Most info you can get from the locals, or the tavern. There's a ton of houses on the outskirts, too, that're vacant and no one cares if you settle in or not. They'll probably sort you out n' shit. Oh, and the crap that was in the gift bag from Mullet Man...keep that. Especially the rock. S'important."

[revolts]

[ cain doesn't sound good. even caught up in this as he is, so aware of every point of contact between their two joined bodies that toji almost feels outside himself, he still registers the tangible strain in cain's body in this moment. every breath out of cain's body comes labored, the effort put into toji's steady instruction palpable all around them. it is taking everything in cain to bear this, and still he's taking it.

more than that, he's asking for more.

it feels like something very thin and fragile inside of toji he never even knew existed is spiderwebbing with hairline fractures. just one more breath and it will shatter.

he doesn't know what it is. he doesn't know what's behind it. he just knows he's on the very cusp of something, and cain's touch sears like a branding iron.

there are no more words left in toji, the part of him that is man and reason shutting down fully as he growls low in his throat.

'just fuck me.'

cain orders and toji obeys.

he grips cain by the waist with both hands, his grasp so broad that his thumbs nearly touch, pulling cain's body in to meet him as he continues to bear down. the thickest part of the head pops in and toji groans, driving himself the rest of the way home, sinking into cain's body steadily. it feels like seconds enveloped within an eternity, but he bottoms out in his beautiful boy.

pulse spiking in realization, he lets out another gutteral, animal sound and sinks his teeth into the junction of cain's throat. ]

[callmeaprincess]

[She promptly pulls her closer, rubbing her back.]

It's not your fault at all. The one who brought you here uses our own desires against us and claims it's what we wished for. You should never feel bad for pursuing your dreams just because someone took advantage of them.

"Alice Liddell"... who could forget such a lovely name as that? I'll make sure to mention you to other newcomers I meet. Also, my name is Jasmine.

[tsygan]

( maybe he'll tell you after this, after everything is said and done and he's proven that he can take you without really causing any lasting damage that he has not, in fact, ever been fucked. we've mentioned that he'd been thinking about it, sure, but abel's size can't even come close to competing with toji's, and maybe cain is going to look back on this like some measure of personal achievement for a first time, because fucking look at him —

whatever gods anyone has ever made into statues should be jealous, that's all he's saying. it isn't like he's out to give the man even more of a complex than he already has just by dint of wandering thoughts in introspection. even if every single one of them is true.

he doesn't have to look down to see how widely those hands span over the flat of his stomach, his hips, but he does anyway; he's never really felt small in anyone's hold before, even though it goes without saying that it's never quite been held like this, either, but … you know how you find out you have a thing for a thing the first time you experience the thing, even if you'd originally thought it would never be a thing in the first place?

yeah … a whole hell of a lot of that is happening here, and he's not exactly upset about it, either.

it makes him shiver again, the thought of being so small against him, of being moved where he wants him so easily — but then there's the whole duality of it, isn't there? the way cain bids him to just fuck him and the way he answers in a growl, a sound so deep cain swears he can feel it in his bones and he feels his own grip tighten. infinitesimally, but it does all the same.

the very same way some of that tension melts out of him the deeper the other's cock sinks into him, fractions at a time until he's fully seated, bottomed out in a way that brings another fractured sound up from the back of his throat but it isn't quite in pain. it's something else entirely, something he doesn't have a name for, but undoubtedly something that belongs to the man holding him, and will every moment going forward.

teeth dig into his throat and that sound turns into something sharper, wanting and almost fucking desperate for how he presses into the ache at the very same moment he's rocking his hips down, more of that tension slipping away, more of the sting from having taken him without any preparation, and he loves it.

there's no more room for words, but the implication is there with how he drops his head to nip sharply along the line of a collarbone: come on, old man.

i said fuck me. )

[madcuriosity]

"How... how do I use it?" she held it up to Audrey. "I've never seen something like this before."

[callmeaprincess]

Two debts! And the winning money was for a... "com-poo-ter" person... who was helping this Tigre make a... [Uh oh, Genie never did explain the cyberworld.] "germ", to give him money...?

Now I see why it's a long story.

[reinforcing]

I'd be careful of redheads.

[ if his own or kamui's experiences...


say anything to that. ]

And I didn't ask!

[trenchdoting]

Yeah.... a computer's like an advanced kind of technology... kinda like the phone, but it's a big box, and you can store all kinds of information on it! So if you give it a virus, it can mess up a lot of things and cause valuable info to get stolen... [Something like that.]

It really was a long one, pal! After Tigre carried out the murder, he then faked a recreation of it with a witness to make it look like Maggey did it! All the while, he had stolen the virus and was going to use it to get the money he needed... But he couldn't elude justice forever, pal!

[tsygan]

( cain's really gonna have something of a fit when he realizes that this whole superhero thing is real where this idiot guy comes from, because where he's from it's all a matter of things like old comic books that no one reads anymore, or maybe they just don't bother with them because there are more pressing things at hand. like staving off an alien invasion, but that's neither here nor there.

rex doesn't have his powers, and this one never had any to begin with, which means he's not about to think twice about throwing down if it really does come to that, and the longer he looks at this guy, the closer he's getting to thinking that this is going to end in either one or both of them throwing hands. and if you think for a second the other's likeness to a brick wall is about to make him stop and think about throwing the first punch … well.

we never said he was smart, did we? and we never will.

he waits until the guy looks like he's a little bit less likely to blow a gasket before he speaks up again. )

We got a word for those where I come from, too. ( he gives offhand, like he isn't about to be offensive to anyone that's ever tried to help anyone else in his presence. ) Stupid. The ones that try to help others before they help themselves. ( when are you going to learn to not be such an asshole, jesus.

he shrugs, snorts. ) That sound about right? ( you are literally offending every superhero that has ever existed, sir. except omni-man. but we're not breaking the fourth wall or anything here. )

[himbomb]

[Oh.

How bizarre it is for someone to say what he’s known so damn well for so damn long. In some ways, it’s almost nice to hear, having had the opposite forcefully shoved up his metaphorical butthole for the past few weeks.

Rex thinks upon it briefly, growing surprisingly quiet. In a short window of time, he had seen the bodies of much stronger superheroes torn apart. He recalls Mark, beaten to a bloody pulp, first by a giant space cat and then by his own father. Monster Girl and Black Samson had barely made it out alive, too.]

Yeah.

[But most of all, the thing that’s actually made his stomach churn, occupying
His deepest, darkest thoughts late at night… Is that goddamn bloodstain.

The original Guardians had been some of the world’s greatest heroes, the GOATs. Action figures, medals, monuments… Those guys had it all, in addition to power and impeccable teamwork. And yet, they had all been murdered… Slain by an evil greater than the greater good.

Whose blood was it? Red Rush’s? War Woman’s? The Immortal’s?

It doesn’t fucking matter, apparently. ]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

But somebody’s gotta do it.

[tsygan]

( this is going well on both sides, one might say, if only because megumi has no idea that this isn't a real wolf; he's probably going to be very, very surprised later when it turns out he isn't, but that's far enough ahead that it's going to be a problem for future cain to deal with, and he has more of a penchant for living in the moment. from one to the next, that sort of thing.

( he might feel a little guilty later if he sees the kid eating nothing but vegetables? but he doesn't know that now, and he's not going to know until later, so. again. a future-cain problem. which means — )

his nostrils flare when he sets down those sausage links, because he's always enjoyed a good sausage, and he's not about to turn his nose up at one this time, even if there's no telling if the links have already been seasoned. in his experience, you do all of that sort of thing yourself, but this place is just different enough that it crosses his mind, even as he finds himself chowing down.

and he won't move if megumi goes in for a pet. he might even lean into it, if he lingers long enough. care to take a chance and find out? )

[fallendragon]

[Arrakis met Azula's smirk with one of his own.]

Trust me, I have no intention of dying here.

[Been there, done that, and never want to ever again, thank you very much. He wasn't sure why he was given a second chance, or how it was even possible but he was grateful and he wouldn't be wasting this precious gift anytime soon and his smirk turned mischievous.]

Care to make a wager with me?

the snail returns! sorry I'm late

[fallendragon]

[While Arrakis did want to turn back at some point, the inability to speak would drive him crazy, he was in no hurry to do so and his feathers ruffled with his anticipation. Lets find out shall we? Arrakis bent his legs and spread his wings before leaping into the sky. Maybe he should have tried this without Seimei at first but after his initial clumsiness he rose further into the air with a few more powerful flaps. He soared higher with a happy shriek.

He had missed flying and thanks to the new sensation of the wind against his feathers, it felt like he was experiencing it for the first time again. He risked a quick glance back at his passenger. Hopefully he was enjoying this was much as he was.]

[takumina]

( he still doesn't know about the whole sealing thing, and the way you and yuji are going about it he never will, but maybe it's for the best in the long run, because he wouldn't like the thought of leaving his students to fend for themselves, much less megumi because he's looked after him for so long, been the one to keep him safe, and for what —

but. ah. that's just a bit of introspection for the sake of it, and there's no need to go thinking too hard about it, because he doesn't know.

if he's perfectly honest with himself, he's going to enjoy this time with him, because it doesn't seem there are any curses or anything else that needs worrying about outright, and he's not about to look that effective gift horse in the mouth.

megumi tugs at his sleeve, and his heart remembers those earlier times that he would do so without really thinking about it, seeking his attention just because he knew it would always be there, and gojo hates thinking about a time in which it might not.

he goes along with the pull, letting the younger drag him along as though he's put out by it, but really? it reminds him of when he was much, much younger … and policing the sort of things he tried to buy while grocery shopping. )

Okay, okay … if you insist. ( pause, just for the emphasis on something he's said so many times before: ) Bossy.

[madcuriosity]

She pulled out a handkerchief and nodded, wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall. She sniffled and tried to take deep breaths to calm down. How terrible of her to get so upset when he kept saying no one would send her into a workhouse or orphanage.

She let out long breaths but the tears didn't get the message that she should calm down. She bowed her head, letting them drip down her cheeks and onto her hands, clenching the fabric of her pinafore.

"T-Thank you... I'm sorry I'm crying," she whispered. "I don't mean to make such a fuss... but they won't s-stop."

[madcuriosity]

Y-You have a lovely name, too. [She replied, trying to keep the tears at bay but unable to so they just fell, silently.]

You can't miss my sister Lizzie. She's... she's so terribly pretty. A real proper lady that gentleman all come to court. She has bright eyes and a bright mind. She's the only one to always listen to all my stories and doesn't think they're nonsense. She thinks I should write a book full of my stories.