【 Thank you for choosing the Golden Peacock, 5-star resort and casino. You are currently registered as a WILDCARD in our system.
Due to a high volume of check-ins, temporary accommodations have been made in our parking garage for all new arrivals. We aim to have all guests moved into their reserved rooms as soon as possible. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience!
All are invited to There Is No Tomorrow, a Phoenix Casino soiree to celebrate our beloved guests. The festivities will begin at 1800 hours on January 20th and end at 1800 hours on January 27th. Please look forward to 168 hours of delight.
In an effort to raise happiness and encourage better guest relationships, attendance is required. The house will assist guests that are too shy to appear of their own accord. Please note that black tie attire is mandatory. As always, we hope you enjoy your stay! 】
PARKING GARAGE
ANY CAR IN A STORM
PHOENIX CASINO HALL
WELCOME TO THE NEXT 168 HOURS
Phoenix Casino is a-flutter with activity and packed to the beak with guests. As a famously ever-changing space, the staff would be remiss if they didn't deck the crown jewel of the Golden Peacock out. The casino glitters from top to bottom, shining brighter than diamonds, rubies, sapphires, opals! Party-goers are shiny and glamorous with picture perfect makeup, fluttering gowns, and sharp suits. Card tables are packed and the slot machines are a-ringing as guests play, play, play! Prizes, luxury, booze, attractive people, it's the place that everyone wants to be at.
Those people being dragged inside by some invisible force...? Silly, they were so excited to come that their bodies moved before they realized what was happening. Those are struggles of joy and definitely not the casino's infamous ghost hands dragging unwilling guests to the party at the behest of the house. Look, they're literally hurling their bodies at the card tables with unrestrained glee!
All clocks indicating day hours and night hours have been removed from the casino. Once a guest has entered, their Watch will jam, making it impossible to keep track of the time. You don't need to worry about that tonight.
▶ All characters on the TDM are WILDCARDS, which means they have not yet been assigned a card value. Suits will not manifest until characters are accepted into the game.
▶ All TDMs are game canon. This TDM acts as the game's January event.
▶ Current characters may top level on the TDM. Any current characters posting to the TDM should note they are current in their subject header.
▶ The top level directory is for new characters only. We want to make sure new characters are prioritized and receive attention! If you would be interested in a game invitation, you can note that in your comment header. This month we also have an ongoing ATP / EMP where players can connect. Please feel free to utilize this for all of your peafowl needs!
▶ If you aren't satisfied with these prompts, please feel free to check out our LOCATIONS to explore more of the resort!
▶ Smut threads that take place on this TDM can be used for rewards. If both parties in the smut thread join the game, you may retroactively apply the character's initial card values to your 52 bank. If one character does not join the game the thread will not be applicable toward rewards (as that character would not have a card value). The character that does join would still receive a small payout for the encounter. Hopefully it was a fun thread regardless!
▶ We ask you to kindly add content warnings to your threads as appropriate.
▶ If you do not currently have permissions and kinks listed in your character’s journal we suggest leaving a note in your top level of any limits or boundaries for other players to reference.
My eyes were open. It's your fault for putting the pillow—
[Oh. She sees his face. The face that she knew for less time than she has spent at this cursed resort, but a face carved into her memories nonetheless. The last time she remembers seeing that face was in a river of Grail mud — fighting against the shadow. Immediately she grabs at the covers and throws her body about to wrap herself tightly in the covers.
Why! Why is it him!? After all this time. After everything she has been through — for him to meet her again like this!?]
[ This would be an inopportune moment to point out that she’d asked who the hell he was even before he put the pillow on her head, wouldn’t it? Probably.
Instead, Archer does his very best to appear patient in the face of this…indignation? Her tone sounds accusatory for some reason. It’s not like he chose this, either! And he has his own headache, too! Though it is slowly fading.
He suppresses a sigh. ]
Me. I found water and medicine. Do you want it or not?
[At least wrapped up in the covers she makes for the least enticing figure. Nothing more than a rolled up blanket worm of a woman. Yet Tohsaka does loosen the tight hold she has on the blanket to reach for the proffered items. After accepting them, she cracks open the water bottle and throws back a couple pills before washing them down.
How simple. How easy. No taste nor texture that makes it vile. No thoughts of "am I poisoning myself to survive?" that usually comes with ingesting the medicine she makes to suppress the pain and rejection of her crest. Instead it is nothing more then a gentle swallow. Human ingenuity maybe destroying mystics, but she can at least say that there are just some things each side cannot accomplish on their own.
Carefully she hands the water bottle back to him while allowing the blanket to wrap around her shoulders rather than only leaving a small hole for her to peek out of.]
Thank you... Archer.
[My Archer, is what she yearns to say. However she cannot. After all, it's not true. Their contract ended when he sacrificed himself. It feels like she met him in another life time at this point. Will she ever be able to pay back the debt she incurred while they were together?]
You should take some too. No telling if this headache is somehow unnatural.
[Meaning that even his Servant 'body' could be afflicted - since this place does have a supernatural element to it.]
[ Rin finally takes the water and the medicine, and while she collects herself...Archer watches. Studies the familiar face and notes faint, subtle changes from the last time he saw her. For him, it has been only days. For her...well, he could only guess.
The 'thank you' brings him back to the present, and it is met with a soft, half-hearted grumble. He is still adjusting, and though finding a familiar face is a good thing in some ways, it's...complicated in others. ]
I have one, but it seems to be fading. So I'll pass for now.
[ It's not meant as a slight. He saw her take it, but he just can't bring himself to do the same. He would have mistrusted any place that was able to drag him here without a proper summoning, but the last week, in addition to whatever interference or lock this so-called 'resort' has imposed on his abilities has created a great deal of irritation and suspicion.
He tries to tamp down on that, though, since...well. It is her. ]
...they seem to have left some food, as well. Do you want it?
[Tohsaka carefully repositions herself while rearranging the blankets. She uses the nice sheets to cover herself modestly like a towel while the duvet rests across her lap to keep her warm. A pillow is propped between her bare back and the headboard to keep its chill from getting to her delicate skin.]
Taking medicine on an empty stomach usually isn't the wisest idea. What's there to eat?
[Ever-so-slightly Tohsaka perks up. Even though the pain fatigue she manages interest in food.]
Eggs and bacon — but could you also slice the bananas into the yogurt? Is there tea?
[She is naked, and demanding, but at least she's no longer cranky or accusatory. Instead Rin falls back into the comfortable rhythm that she has missed. That she thought she'd no longer be able to experience again after his death by the Shadow.]
[ For him, it hasn’t been long at all. Exactly the length of one insane, debauched party since he last saw her. Since he brushed his fingers gently through her hair, bid her farewell, and had his own arm surgically grafted onto that foolish boy’s body. Did he survive? Did any of them? She’s here, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
He thinks on all of this as he reaches for a banana and starts slicing it. This routine is easier than asking what he actually wants to know. ]
There is tea. I couldn’t say whether it’s up to your standards.
Probably not, but it's probably better than trying to stumble through the hallways to get to my suite.
[It would also take him dangerously close to Sakura, who she's not sure if she'd be able to convince him not to try and take her out. At least not in the condition Rin's head is in.
After pulling her knees up to her chest, and resting her weight against her legs, Rin cradles her face against her knees. Nose flush against the duvet that provides her a bit of modesty. Yet curled up like this exposes the pale flesh stretched across her back occasionally peaking through the dark strands of her hair.]
Archer wipes his hands when he's done cutting the banana and sets about brewing the tea. It will take a few minutes to steep properly, so he makes her plate and sets it on the provided tray in the meantime. Once he's satisfied the tea is ready, he pours a cup and moves back to the side of the bed with her breakfast in tow.
It's entirely irrational, too, but seeing even a sliver of the bare skin of her back makes him want to withdraw. Not because he's repulsed - but rather because he isn't.
It's a feeling has to master and bring to heel as he offers the meal to her. He looks at her face instead, and there are...so many questions. And yet, he can't seem to settle on one. ]
[The thin sheet Rin is using to cover her front falls from her collarbone down to the tops of her breasts as she lets her legs return flat against the mattress and her back against the headboard. One hand rises to grip the sheet to keep it from falling any further, but her other takes Archer's hand before he can retreat.]
You should eat too. If you're not in a contract you'll need to supplement yourself.
[Delicately her soft thumb pad drags over the warm-toned skin at the back of his hand. Silently marveling at how solidly he is. How unlike a dream this is. That makes it real, right?]
[ He wants to retreat. Very much so. And he has no reason to think she won’t let him do it. After all…he was her Servant. They fought together, he served his purpose, and that was the end of it. No matter the connection that brought them together in the first place, that was the fate of every Master and Servant.
That’s what he thinks…which is why he doesn’t know what to say when she actually takes his hand.
Rin surely remembers the acerbic wit of her Servant. How his tone could cut a person to shreds. How he was never shy to disagree or offer his opinion if he thought she was making the wrong decision. Or the way he fought like an angry war god to ensure his charges made it out of the forest intact.
But here…he is silent. He doesn’t know how to react or respond to such a simple gesture.
He should pull his hand away…he should. Instead, Archer tries to quell his own internal turmoil and mask it as best he can. ]
…there was no one suitable that I met.
[ If he’s going to have a choice in the matter (and what a novel notion that is, considering), he isn’t going to do so lightly.
The feeling of her thumb tracing along his knuckles is…distracting, and he still isn’t sure what to make of it. He also doesn’t know how to say he doesn’t trust this place or its food or anything about it. That he feels severely…out of his element here.
[No one suitable? Hah, of course not. If he's the type of man to spend a few days with her and deem her an "ideal master," for him... well, it's only natural he'd find a difficult replacement. Tohsaka is such a bundle of contradictions and oddities that it would be a surprise if he found someone similar to her.
Her hold on him ends, and she instead turns her attentions to her breakfast. By some unknown miracle he has relented, and as such she should reward that by allowing him some space. The medicine still has yet to kick in, so her assessment of the food and tea is slow.]
Good. They do put their own little additives to these things, but not usually when their "big bash" celebrations are winding down. The highest risk is at a party or a shop. A constant threat isn't a very effective one, after all.
[There needs to be certain types of "safe havens" in order to slowly frog-boil your prey, after all.]
[ It’s a relief when she lets go. He lets his hand fall away, and thankfully, he manages not to do so as if he’d just been scalded with something.
He can’t make heads or tails of the gesture, and he isn’t going to try to. He does feel a bit annoyed that he agreed to eat now — but what’s done is done, and he won’t take it back.
Suppressing a sigh, Archer walks back to the food trays and stares critically at all of it before putting a few things on a plate. He also makes a cup of tea…which is more what he actually wants than food. Eating is…strange. No matter how much staff kept shoving their choice delights at him during the party. ]
I noticed.
[ He didn’t enjoy the hedonist forever party. Not at all. He thought he managed to avoid the drugs and more questionable consumable items…but considering the present circumstances, that’s debatable.
He settles at the foot of the other side of the bed so they can continue talking — and so there’s space. He takes a bite of his food and debates what to ask before settling on one question. ]
Considering the Holiday decorations they had up last month? Roughly a year.
[There's not much initial follow up. Rin's eager to get the food down. Hoping that the digestion process will not only encourage the medicine to dissolve and work faster, but also that maybe a full stomach will ward off whatever portion may be a hunger headache. Tohsaka should probably switch to water after her little dose of caffeine from the tea...]
The information on your watch probably gives you a good picture of this place, but I have a few theories of my own. Once you settle in your own suite I'll have you come to mine and I'll share what I know.
[She knows sometimes there will be brief encounters. Wildcards who don't stay. But there's also implication in her words: suggesting that even alone like this it might not be safe to just come out and say what she has on her mind.]
[ A year... He had suspected that might be the case. Though Rin doesn't look much different from how he knew he before, there are...subtle changes. Small shifts that seemed to indicate some passage of time.
It's difficult to imagine a year in a place like this...and part of him doesn't want to. The fate of every Servant, the fate he'd consigned himself to long ago...somehow even that seems more appealing than this.
He doesn't say that, of course. Archer just accepts the answer and lets her eat while he...mulls all of this over. He also picks at his food, but clearly it's without much real interest. He's eating because he said he would, that's all.
When she breaks the silence again, he considers the offer quietly. He should try to learn more about this place with whatever means there are...but he hesitates. And he wonders if, perhaps, it would be better if their paths didn't cross.
He can't make such a determination now. So instead, he takes a sip of tea and nods one time. ]
When things settle.
[ He's not sure how long that will take...but he won't close a door in her face right now. ]
Oh, don't worry. I'm certain I can find a way for you to repay the debt.
[With a few more healthy bites, Rin finishes off her breakfast. It gets washed down with her drink, which she finishes as well. With a settled stomach and some more liquid in her, the headache is beginning to subside. Only bit by bit, though.]
Besides, it's likely we'll have to rely on each other more than once.
[She considers stopping him. Holding him out of some obligation to her. But he really doesn't, does he? There's no owing her anything when he served his role as her Servant absolutely perfectly. If anything she owes him for committing so well.
As such, she doesn't hold him back. Not even to dramatically swoon and rib him about leaving her all alone.]
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peacockstop2025-01-15 09:00 pm
no subject
He draws a deep, steady breath he doesn’t technically need…and exhales. Slowly.
He picks the pillow up off her face. ]
Open your eyes, Rin.
[ If he’s going to be stuck here out of a lingering sense of obligation, she’s going to need to at least help him a little to assist her. ]
no subject
[Oh. She sees his face. The face that she knew for less time than she has spent at this cursed resort, but a face carved into her memories nonetheless. The last time she remembers seeing that face was in a river of Grail mud — fighting against the shadow. Immediately she grabs at the covers and throws her body about to wrap herself tightly in the covers.
Why! Why is it him!? After all this time. After everything she has been through — for him to meet her again like this!?]
YOU!
no subject
Instead, Archer does his very best to appear patient in the face of this…indignation? Her tone sounds accusatory for some reason. It’s not like he chose this, either! And he has his own headache, too! Though it is slowly fading.
He suppresses a sigh. ]
Me. I found water and medicine. Do you want it or not?
[ He is…politely keeping his eyes on her face. ]
no subject
How simple. How easy. No taste nor texture that makes it vile. No thoughts of "am I poisoning myself to survive?" that usually comes with ingesting the medicine she makes to suppress the pain and rejection of her crest. Instead it is nothing more then a gentle swallow. Human ingenuity maybe destroying mystics, but she can at least say that there are just some things each side cannot accomplish on their own.
Carefully she hands the water bottle back to him while allowing the blanket to wrap around her shoulders rather than only leaving a small hole for her to peek out of.]
Thank you... Archer.
[My Archer, is what she yearns to say. However she cannot. After all, it's not true. Their contract ended when he sacrificed himself. It feels like she met him in another life time at this point. Will she ever be able to pay back the debt she incurred while they were together?]
You should take some too. No telling if this headache is somehow unnatural.
[Meaning that even his Servant 'body' could be afflicted - since this place does have a supernatural element to it.]
no subject
The 'thank you' brings him back to the present, and it is met with a soft, half-hearted grumble. He is still adjusting, and though finding a familiar face is a good thing in some ways, it's...complicated in others. ]
I have one, but it seems to be fading. So I'll pass for now.
[ It's not meant as a slight. He saw her take it, but he just can't bring himself to do the same. He would have mistrusted any place that was able to drag him here without a proper summoning, but the last week, in addition to whatever interference or lock this so-called 'resort' has imposed on his abilities has created a great deal of irritation and suspicion.
He tries to tamp down on that, though, since...well. It is her. ]
...they seem to have left some food, as well. Do you want it?
no subject
[Tohsaka carefully repositions herself while rearranging the blankets. She uses the nice sheets to cover herself modestly like a towel while the duvet rests across her lap to keep her warm. A pillow is propped between her bare back and the headboard to keep its chill from getting to her delicate skin.]
Taking medicine on an empty stomach usually isn't the wisest idea. What's there to eat?
no subject
Standard hangover fare. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, yogurt, bananas, coffee…
[ He doesn’t want any of it, but she should at least have something. ]
What do you want?
no subject
Eggs and bacon — but could you also slice the bananas into the yogurt? Is there tea?
[She is naked, and demanding, but at least she's no longer cranky or accusatory. Instead Rin falls back into the comfortable rhythm that she has missed. That she thought she'd no longer be able to experience again after his death by the Shadow.]
no subject
He thinks on all of this as he reaches for a banana and starts slicing it. This routine is easier than asking what he actually wants to know. ]
There is tea. I couldn’t say whether it’s up to your standards.
no subject
[It would also take him dangerously close to Sakura, who she's not sure if she'd be able to convince him not to try and take her out. At least not in the condition Rin's head is in.
After pulling her knees up to her chest, and resting her weight against her legs, Rin cradles her face against her knees. Nose flush against the duvet that provides her a bit of modesty. Yet curled up like this exposes the pale flesh stretched across her back occasionally peaking through the dark strands of her hair.]
no subject
Archer wipes his hands when he's done cutting the banana and sets about brewing the tea. It will take a few minutes to steep properly, so he makes her plate and sets it on the provided tray in the meantime. Once he's satisfied the tea is ready, he pours a cup and moves back to the side of the bed with her breakfast in tow.
It's entirely irrational, too, but seeing even a sliver of the bare skin of her back makes him want to withdraw. Not because he's repulsed - but rather because he isn't.
It's a feeling has to master and bring to heel as he offers the meal to her. He looks at her face instead, and there are...so many questions. And yet, he can't seem to settle on one. ]
no subject
You should eat too. If you're not in a contract you'll need to supplement yourself.
[Delicately her soft thumb pad drags over the warm-toned skin at the back of his hand. Silently marveling at how solidly he is. How unlike a dream this is. That makes it real, right?]
no subject
That’s what he thinks…which is why he doesn’t know what to say when she actually takes his hand.
Rin surely remembers the acerbic wit of her Servant. How his tone could cut a person to shreds. How he was never shy to disagree or offer his opinion if he thought she was making the wrong decision. Or the way he fought like an angry war god to ensure his charges made it out of the forest intact.
But here…he is silent. He doesn’t know how to react or respond to such a simple gesture.
He should pull his hand away…he should. Instead, Archer tries to quell his own internal turmoil and mask it as best he can. ]
…there was no one suitable that I met.
[ If he’s going to have a choice in the matter (and what a novel notion that is, considering), he isn’t going to do so lightly.
The feeling of her thumb tracing along his knuckles is…distracting, and he still isn’t sure what to make of it. He also doesn’t know how to say he doesn’t trust this place or its food or anything about it. That he feels severely…out of his element here.
He doesn’t want to say any of that. So… ]
…I’ll eat something.
no subject
Her hold on him ends, and she instead turns her attentions to her breakfast. By some unknown miracle he has relented, and as such she should reward that by allowing him some space. The medicine still has yet to kick in, so her assessment of the food and tea is slow.]
Good. They do put their own little additives to these things, but not usually when their "big bash" celebrations are winding down. The highest risk is at a party or a shop. A constant threat isn't a very effective one, after all.
[There needs to be certain types of "safe havens" in order to slowly frog-boil your prey, after all.]
no subject
He can’t make heads or tails of the gesture, and he isn’t going to try to. He does feel a bit annoyed that he agreed to eat now — but what’s done is done, and he won’t take it back.
Suppressing a sigh, Archer walks back to the food trays and stares critically at all of it before putting a few things on a plate. He also makes a cup of tea…which is more what he actually wants than food. Eating is…strange. No matter how much staff kept shoving their choice delights at him during the party. ]
I noticed.
[ He didn’t enjoy the hedonist forever party. Not at all. He thought he managed to avoid the drugs and more questionable consumable items…but considering the present circumstances, that’s debatable.
He settles at the foot of the other side of the bed so they can continue talking — and so there’s space. He takes a bite of his food and debates what to ask before settling on one question. ]
How long have you been here?
no subject
[There's not much initial follow up. Rin's eager to get the food down. Hoping that the digestion process will not only encourage the medicine to dissolve and work faster, but also that maybe a full stomach will ward off whatever portion may be a hunger headache. Tohsaka should probably switch to water after her little dose of caffeine from the tea...]
The information on your watch probably gives you a good picture of this place, but I have a few theories of my own. Once you settle in your own suite I'll have you come to mine and I'll share what I know.
[She knows sometimes there will be brief encounters. Wildcards who don't stay. But there's also implication in her words: suggesting that even alone like this it might not be safe to just come out and say what she has on her mind.]
no subject
It's difficult to imagine a year in a place like this...and part of him doesn't want to. The fate of every Servant, the fate he'd consigned himself to long ago...somehow even that seems more appealing than this.
He doesn't say that, of course. Archer just accepts the answer and lets her eat while he...mulls all of this over. He also picks at his food, but clearly it's without much real interest. He's eating because he said he would, that's all.
When she breaks the silence again, he considers the offer quietly. He should try to learn more about this place with whatever means there are...but he hesitates. And he wonders if, perhaps, it would be better if their paths didn't cross.
He can't make such a determination now. So instead, he takes a sip of tea and nods one time. ]
When things settle.
[ He's not sure how long that will take...but he won't close a door in her face right now. ]
I don't have much to offer myself, at the moment.
[ He just got here...alas for his poor fortune. ]
no subject
[With a few more healthy bites, Rin finishes off her breakfast. It gets washed down with her drink, which she finishes as well. With a settled stomach and some more liquid in her, the headache is beginning to subside. Only bit by bit, though.]
Besides, it's likely we'll have to rely on each other more than once.
no subject
Some things never change.
[ He makes a statement and doesn't bother to explain it. Instead, he sets aside his half-eaten plate of food. ]
I have a suite to find so I should probably go do that.
no subject
As such, she doesn't hold him back. Not even to dramatically swoon and rib him about leaving her all alone.]
Right. I'll see you around then, Archer.