come_sailaway | To infinity...and beyond? (Semi-open)

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To infinity...and beyond? (Semi-open)

Who: Ari Tayrey + willing CR + anyone else who wants in
What: Mini-plot: an expedition to determine what kind of infinite this store really is
When: 25-29??? November
Where: The Infinite Tommy Bahama
Warnings: None yet
Notes: First prompt is a text message sent to Ari's friendly-ish CR - replies are welcome even from people who don't want to take part! Other prompts are open but please note that participating characters will potentially be in the store for up to 4/5 days. Party post rules are fine, start your own toplevels and tag people other than Ari if you like. ((I checked with our lovely mod about what would happen if they tried this!))

1. Texting

I have a plan. I want to see just how infinite this Tommy Bahama is. Multi-day expedition for data collection? It could be informative. Maybe fun, too. Interested in coming along?

- Tayrey

2. Preparing

Even people who don't know Ari well may notice that something is up. It's not often that people walk into Tommy Bahama wearing backpacks full of supplies. There's some last-minute preparation going on here, as well as a last-minute opportunity to join the expedition. Expect Ari to want to check and make sure everyone has all the essentials with them. She's used to preparing for trips to uninhabited and potentially hostile planets, and it shows. Don't mind the fussing. She wouldn't do it if she didn't care.

3. Exploring

Despite all the promises, the expedition is - well, boring might be an accurate description, unless you're really invested in the outcome. There's a lot of walking past the same racks of clothes, over and over and over. Infinite length doesn't mean infinite variety.

Ari's fascinated, and she'll be chattering about loop programming to anyone who will listen, and attempting to measure the distance between one rack of garishly-patterned bikinis and the next iteration of that very same rack. She'll encourage tests, too - what happens if you completely destroy one of the displays? Is the destruction repeated? (Spoiler alert: no, it's not that kind of loop, but let's try it a few times anyway and make sure?)

Maybe you give up and head back after a few hours. Maybe you have a run-in with the Bahamanal. Maybe you join in with Ari's ridiculous spacer song singalong - she is in a good mood. It's Tommy Bahama, anything could happen.

4. Relaxing

Ari pushes the pace on the first day, because it comes naturally to do so, and possibly, subconsciously, to weed out anyone who isn't serious about this and is going to cause them problems once they're a long way in. Eventually, though, it's time to stop for the night. There's not a campfire, but it's a fine social occasion just the same. Ari's brought some Serena Eterna branded playing cards, and she's up for a little gambling. Maybe you have some other entertainment ideas. Don't stay up too long, though - see if you can't make a nice nest of clothes to bed down in. There's plenty of walking to do tomorrow.

5. Emerging

Plenty of data has been collected about the repeating displays, but there's no end in sight to this store. Is it really infinite? If there's a way to answer that question, this expedition won't do it. It's over two days in when the group realises that they're over halfway through the supplies they brought. Time to turn around, whether that leaves you disappointed or delighted.

Unfortunately, there are no tricks of perception or proportion here. It'll take just as long to walk out as it did to walk in. Look on the bright side, at least you're carrying less weight? Finally, on the fifth day, the intrepid explorers who stayed the distance catch sight of the store entrance up ahead. Who saw it first?

6. Wildcard

Anything else you want to do! (Just let me know if I need to add warnings to the header :) )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Klaus can almost read Nobunaga’s thoughts and that is concerning and kind of hot at the same time.

“No. Actually not a trash movie, but yes, a movie reference.” He smiles a little. “I can make myself behave. I don’t need to be fucked around the others. You don’t need to drug me.” He hums softly, just trying to focus himself. “Except we might have to think about uncomfortable things for a moment. Like…uhhh…idk. Something gross. Cause those are my options. Think about something I don’t like or pretend it’s fine and let you have your way with me to get it out of my system. Briefly.”

Klaus can almost definitely read Nobuanga's mind, and it's very very hot -- according to Nobunaga. But he goes through like eighteen emotions with Mitsuhide over his left hand's ability to read his mind. Which is torn between finding it hot and then beating on Mitsuhide because he can't act on the other. It's an issue. Moving on.

"Something gross... I am concerned my attempts at this might be merely morbid or depress you. I am nearly the opposite on what works on me. I was talking to Valdis about the future and -- what did she call it... stuffed animals. Not preserved animals. The sewn overly fake kinds. She said they're mostly for children?" a head tilt. "So this sort of thing. My intellectual curiosity." A nod.

"Stuffed animals is the thing for you, huh?" He laughs at this. "Never had one myself, but they're kinda cute." Oh...yeah. He can see it now. That makes sense. "So are you saying like...tell you knowledge things and you will be too interested to try to molest me? Is that the thing?"

"Yeah." A nod. "Although you are a lot hotter than anyone else, it's like... my third favorite thing after guns and swords. I mean you're above guns, but knowledge is... big. My heart controls my head, but I love knowledge too, so that works out. I used to think it might rile me up. Like oni style. When I get violent I'm still... wanting sex. But I think after Valdis, as long as I'm curious, then I just want to learn things. Arthur knows a lot too! So you can ask him for history things. Or make TV references with Crichton and tell me about them."

Klaus smiles a little as he listens to his boyfriend. “You’re cute when you’re like this.” They’re not even thinking about it. “I’ll try to think of things I can teach you.”

He hums softly. “If I had a gun I knew, I’d show you how to take it apart and back together. I got super fast at it.”

"Cute like what?" So confused. And torn again! He doesn't want to be cute? Or maybe he does now. Who knows.

"No fuck... you do that and I'll fuck you no matter who's watching. Fuck. I told you before guns and... handling my Tanegashima was when I realized I loved you. Handling guns for me is like whips for you. Instantly hot." Huh. Another reason he has issues with Mitsuhide maybe?

A handwave. "It has to be non-weapon things. The history of chocolate or whatever. Things that are intellectually stimulating." He taps his temple. "Keeps the blood flow from moving south." Is that how it works? Who knows. He seems to think so. "Like chocolate was beans. And they used to drink it like coffee. So maybe one day when they master coffee bars it will be better. Ah. It has to be talking and thinking, not action. Once it goes action, I am lost."

Edited 2022-11-27 00:32 (UTC)

Klaus giggles softly. "Oh, so I know what to do when I want to immediately turn you on." To be fair, he's forgotten that was part of the night because everything else terrible sort of drowned it out for him. "I do like it when you handle your whip..." A momentarily far away stare as they think about it for a second.

Anyway.

"I don't know the history of chocolate." Which is apparently a problem now. What does he know about that's boring enough to not be sexy? "God, now I'm gonna have to learn things? Wow. I never knew this was going to be my downfall." A beat. "Oh! Bash made me a super sweet coffee thing..." Wait. Maybe the wrong thing to say. "As friends." Yeah. That saves it. "And it made it suck less. Buuut. Also I like hot chocolate more. Still."

Nobunaga smirks... and just grips his whip. Just to watch Klaus' face.

"It was discovered by the Aztecs. They used it as a drink in all kinds of situations, but usually added spices. Europeans added sweets and milk. And hot chocolate fudge sauce is a big deal in American ice cream parlors."

Nobunaga doesn't quite make a face about Bash, just has a mental reflex of gross, like whenever his name invariably comes up.

"I brought ice cream to coffee with Ava. Double fudge for her because it seems like beans would make sense with it. I prefer my ice cream like you. Sweet and dangerous." A gentle nom to Klaus' neck. Jealousy? Probably, but Nobunaga is oblivious.

And then a realization. "So maybe sweets is out. I guess we can try gross things. How are on bugs and war?"

Klaus’s eyes do zoom right into it despite everything. Wow. How is this just gonna distract them right now? Honestly…kind of rude.

“Uh…yeah. Whatever…um…you just said, babe. Totally.” He did not hear any of it, but sure.

His eyes slip closed at the neck noms, fingers twitching to just grab his boyfriend. “You’re not making this easier.” This is a slight whine, but he’s trying not to complain too much.

“Ugh. War.” That takes him out of it almost immediately. “What kind of bugs? Are they cool bugs?”

Definitely not making this easier. A million kinds of harder, and he's already thinking of places they can go to to have a quick fuck and get back in time. Might even be a good idea while everyone's still gathering? Further into the store? Outside it? Promenade? One of the bars?

Okay bugs works. Apparently Nobunaga is a five year old at constant war with the Demon King. Maybe the Captain knew something about Kipposhi that Nobunaga didn't.

"The coolest. Cicadas are so damn loud. Individually one is like a single musician, but then the more there are, the louder they get! And stink bugs secrete this gross smell like rotting fruit, but their real danger is their hard shield shape, makes them super hard for predators to eat. And denkimushi are these horrifying bright green caterpillars that zap you and shock all your nerves if you touch them. Like if you run around here on the carpets with socks on and then you build up a charge and touch something. Zap! And we have the largest centipedes in the world! It was really funny freaking out the foreigners with them. They're this long!" Nobunaga holds his hands out over a foot and laughs diabolically. "And the villagers fry them up and eat them. Because humans are crazy." Mwahahaha.

"Oh, but even crazier are the spiders! The Huntsman spider gets as big as the centipedes! But bigger because they're not just long they're stars, so wide too! But they're harmless. The Jorou spider is super poisonous and eats birds though. I told Valdis I want that mini-purse. And then I would put spiders in it. Everyone would be like, 'What's the point of this tiny bag, what could it possibly contain?' Bam! Spiders." Horrifying. "Lucky for you there are no spiders here, or I would add them to my army. And feed them every day so they got big and strong. Maybe teach them about fugu poisoning so they could be an evil legion mufufufu."

At first, this was extremely cute and then it just got worse and Klaus is definitely a lot less turned on by the end of it. "Wow. I hated all of that." A beat. "Okay, not all of that, but most of that. Please never have a bag full of spiders in the room with me. I will probably die." And so will the spiders.

Nobunaga just laughs hysterically like this is the funniest thing ever. "In folk tales the Jorou spider transforms into a beautiful woman to trap gullible young men," a nod, "You would definitely be eaten." What a thing to say your partner.

"Just remember, centipedes can only be killed with fire. And cockroaches can't be killed at all. Want to hear about mountain leeches or should I save it for the road?"

"Wow. You are so rude right now." He's also not wrong. Klaus would have been lured in by a hot woman that was actually a spider trying to kill him. Damn. That is the worst.

"WHyyyyyyy?" This is terrible. "I'm sorry. I think we're gonna have to break up now. I don't think I can see you again after this."

Evil evil chuckles!

"If anything, you will have to use this horror to stay very close to me at all times, because I will be the best suited to keep you safe! When cicadas molt or if there's a cold snap, they fall out trees on everyone! You're just walking through the forest, admiring the beauty, and PLOP! Cicada in your hair!"

Edited 2022-11-27 08:18 (UTC)

Klaus makes so many faces. "Wow. This is the torture that would have worked on me if they'd been smart enough to use it. I would have revealed all of Five's secrets that I knew."

They lightly swat him. "Nevermind. I think I'd rather you turned on by me and having trouble keeping your hands off me. Can we go back?"

Nobunaga laughs at first. "That's terrible. But I guess I know how to actually torture you if I get bored of sexy torture." He won't, don't worry.

Just deadpan, Nobunaga takes his gun out of its holster and hands it to Klaus and undoes the loops on the whip, stretching it out between both hands. "Actually it still might take a little bit for my brain to switch gears." Nobunaga puts the whip back, throws Klaus onto his shoulder and heads out to the Promenade to go to... Scoops. Weirdly enough. "Tell me a sexy story about you being badass."

"Please don't."

Klaus takes the gun, watches Nobunaga for a moment. Rip bags. He knew you well. Don't go anywhere. They hope none of the bottles broke during the fall, but it wasn't the highest drop. Still holding Nobunaga's gun, Klaus tries not to be overly surprised by this moment. "I can still remember how to handle your gun. Is that badass?" Cause otherwise? Yeah. Klaus is pretty sure being a badass is not actually a thing. "I'm not sure I have a sexy badass story. Like all I've got is being able to make ghosts solid enough to fight. Like when Luther straight up killed that samurai thing and saved Sloane."

He frowns briefly. "Or that time I got thrown through the air and thought I was gonna die, but actually ghosts manifested in time to catch me. They were soldiers. I don't know if I ever properly thanked them."

"Yeah, that's kind of sexy!" Okay, changing from Scoops to bar! "You fought samurai? Oblivion hotel right? When you first mentioned it, I thought you meant it was some trip here. Do you always use ghost powers to fight? Since you hate using them.... or do you not hate it as much now? You're levitating okay, right? Fuck, if I get you one of those guns from the crane game how fast do you think you can handle it??? Because that is really hot. I wish we had more ammo. But it's probably worth using up for practice. We should get a better range though, Teyrey would like that too."

Klaus laughs a little. "Oh good." They nod. "Yeah. I did. Well, no. I didn't fight them really. Cause Dad left me to die. I just showed up at the last minute with Luther." A shrug. "Annnd like I use them cause I gotta do something, right? Even if I hate ghosts. I'll take ghosts over dying." Even if the dying's like...whatever. It doesn't stick. Or it didn't.

"Yeah. Levitating's going a lot better now." They laugh again at the question. "Depends on the gun. Maybe fast? But I'm best with the guns from Vietnam." He grins a little. "I can handle plenty of other things pretty well, though." Yes, this is about his dick. "But I'm sure that a few people would like a range."

Nobunaga sets Klaus down at a wall, not paying too much attention to WHICH wall, just that it was secluded, and one of the places least crowded, and would take someone purposely searching them out and instantly starts attacking Klaus' mouth with kisses.

"I thought your masochism was the hottest thing about you, but now I think... it is just part of your strength which I love in whole. Your competency I love too. Even more for how many people miss it completely." Just practically ravaging Klaus with kisses, gently biting and sucking on his bottom lip and growling lightly as he massages both of Klaus' hands in his before letting go to manhandle clothes. "Knowing that others see a helpless kitten, while I see the strong tiger's fangs and claws makes me excited." A nod!

"You have not commented on the tattoo yet." Nobunaga points to the purple 4 on his upper arm. "Should I be concerned? Are you ignoring it?"

The kisses and being up against a wall are working together to create a heady experience and he moans, wanting to pull Nobunaga closer. They're very careful to almost never put their arms around his neck...and he's the taller one anyway, so like...rules or something. So he just lets Nobunaga hold them.

"Competency?" Cause yeah. Even they are missing that completely. When did anyone ever accuse them of being competent. It almost makes him laugh, which would have pulled him out of the vibe entirely if not for the follow up kisses.

Shit.

But then he is, for a moment, actually jerked out of the fog settling over his brain by the mention of a tattoo. Had they noticed a tattoo? Wait. When did he get it? How long ago? So when they look at see a four...and a purple one at that, they arch an eyebrow. "You practically got my name tattooed on your arm, buddy. That's pretty serious." A beat. "I didn't actually notice it? Have you had it for a while? I need to know how embarrassed to feel right now."

Nobuanga appreciates the neck thing, because spazzing out about being tickled is embarrassing and unsexy, thanks.

He will insist Klaus is very competent to the day (and every day after...) he dies. This too!

But when he sees Klaus get confused... he just laughs. Oh. Well, he feels better about it. It's not that Klaus doesn't like it, or is upset, he just didn't notice. Nobunaga would totally do something like that too! Especially since usually when he and Klaus were together, they wanted to fuck so badly everything else sort of faded into the background. "Not that long. Eddie helped. Sharky said it's bad luck to get names but..." A shrug! "That's sort of the point, isn't it?" Nobunaga gently nips Klaus' nose, unsure if Klaus really REALLY understood the gravitas of it, and equally unsure if he should try to tell him. A slight headtilt. "I am now an exorcised demon king. This means I am officially untouchable in Japan. Or I have to destroy the castes, so much that no one is untouchable. If it ever went back with me. Is that okay? With you."

Klaus' nose scrunches up in response to the nip. "Hey!" Eddie helped? "Eddie does tattoos?" Did they know this before? It doesn't feel like they knew this before. "I mean...usually you get a name and your relationship is doomed, but like...it's probably fine."

They reach out, fingers touching around the tattoo. He's careful not to acutally touch it because germs and if it's still healing and stuff...that seems like...a bad idea. He's had enough tattoos to know how that goes. The palm tattoos were the worst of the lot of them. Mostly because you couldn't even really feel find jerking off.

"Yeah. You mentioned something about that. That you'd be untouchable." They move, slowly wrapping their arms around his waist and pausing just briefly for a butt squeeze. "Seem pretty touchable to me still." He knows it's a serious subject, but he's trying to lighten the mood a little. "If you...ever go back, I guess...uh...I dunno. Maybe you won't go back with it." But Klaus very much doubts they're going back to anything.

"Yeah. He has a bunch of his own. And the needles and ink were leftover from Blackbeard when we shared a room." A small snort. "I'm testing fate with this anyway."

Nobunaga grins at the butt squeeze. Okay Klaus wasn't too fazed by it either way. Good enough. "I'm not going back, but--" Kisses! With tongue, and licking the front of Klaus' lips! "But even I would have a tough time justifying it to the others. I have branded myself a criminal. Even though I was noble born, and though I refused to be shogun..." Nobunaga's brow furrows, and he can't help frowning lightly. "Hideyoshi wouldn't care. Ieyasu would just call me an idiot. But Mitsuhide might be very furious. And even Ranmaru would be... Worried. I think." More kisses, because he needs them now, Nobuanga's hands going to Klaus' hips and working under clothes. "Even if I never see them again, even if you break up with me now, it is my decision, I don't regret it. But it is important you know. I cannot choose you over Japan, but I choose my happiness with you over my misery there. Okay?"

"Testing fate makes it sound very precarious." But it seems like he really has considered what it might mean for him back home and it can be kind of terrifying to go against something that was a very serious custom in your time. At least...it seems like that would be. Which is why he understands Dave.

Klaus does pull him a little closer at the kiss, a small, happy noise as it deepened a little. "You didn't have to do that," he says quietly after a moment. "I know you like the idea of always shirking the castes and fighting back against outdated things, but...I don't want you to...feel like you have to do certain things." Even if he didn't regret them. But those words alone make something in him melt. "I choose my happiness with you, too." A beat. "You still want to do this or...we can go back? We're taking a bit. I don't really mind, but...we probably don't want to make it too long. We can probably find time later."

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