overbringer: (Default)
Eric ([personal profile] overbringer) wrote in [community profile] overbox2018-03-04 04:05 pm

Spark in the Gloom

The Spark in the Gloom
A panfandom Smut Adventure RP Sandbox


Somewhere in the twisting paths between universes is The Archipelago. A world made of the flotsam and jetsam of a thousand different realities. An endless chain of islands, each one made from the seed of a different world. Local culture, weather, and even laws of physics can vary wildly from island to island. Without any kind of guiding will behind its creation, the Archipelago had always been a place of live and let live for the various people who found themselves there.

Until the Gloom arrived. This unnatural force of darkness coveted apathy and depression. Passion, pleasure, and happiness are its anathema. The islands over which it holds its grip aren't necessarily PHYSICALLY dark, but they always have a darkness of the spirit about them. The people it leaves behind are little more than mindless drones, performing the bare minimum to survive but lacking the energy to do anything else.

The Spark is an order of people from this world that have taken a stand, and they have chosen their primary weapon well. It is a weapon that most sentient beings know of. It is a force of passion, of creation, and pleasure.

The Order's weapon is sex. The very act of physical intimacy of any kind repels the Gloom and merely being NEAR anyone who is having sex or who has recently had sex causes the Gloom's agents physical discomfort. As some kinds of undead are to holy ground, the Gloom is to orgasms.

You poor lost souls were somehow lost between the cracks between realities. Maybe a sciece experiment or spell gone wrong. Maybe just a freak fracture in time and space. One minute you were home going about your life, the next you were in the Archipelago, and an agent of The Spark was pulling you out of the ocean. The Spark has the ability to send you home, but the Gloom is currently too strong and would surely block any such attempt. So if you want to get out of here, your best bet is to help The Spark in their fight.

Firebrand Island
The Spark's HQ is set up on a beautiful island deep in the nigh infinit expanse of the Archipelago. On the surface, it appears to be an enormous luxury resort surrounded by a thriving tourist town. A huge sprawling hotel/casino/shopping center forms the main body of resort, but with various smaller beach cabins villas, and other sattelite structures dotting the coast for miles in either direction. If you take the cable car tram going inland, you will find yourself going up the side of a mountain to a secondary resort, which instead of swimming pools and snorkeling tours, offers skiing and hotsprings.

Regardless of where you go on the island, you'll find the locals have very little in the way of a nudity taboo. Public bathing, sometimes of mixed gender, is the norm (In some neighborhoods, the houses don't even have their own showers, with everyone sharing one centrally located bathhouse.). You might get some weird looks if you started going at it in the middle of the street, but in general the people here aren't very judgey and will let you get away with whatever.

Image references: 1 2 3 4 5

The Order of the Spark
The Order is well known on Firebrand Island. It's something of an open secret that beneath their fabulous resorts are elaborate underground facilities devoted to tracking the spread of The Gloom, training their field agents, supplying them with state of the art equipment, housing planes and ships for traveling across the Archipelago, and other such things. The Order might use non standard weapons, but they are still fighting a war. They have to be READY.

Image references: 1 2 3 4 5

The Gloom

This supernatural force of darkness and depression has been slowly spreading across the Archipelago for decades. It isn't a physical THING you can fight with conventional weapons. It is, at the most basic level, an psychic aura of depression that drains the joie de vivre from wherever it spreads. Acts of supreme happiness, pleasure, and satisfaction will cause the Gloom to retreat.

The Gloom DOES have physical agents, though. People who live with The Gloom for too long will start to change. Most people end up as like blank faced shuffling zombies, but every once in a while, someone will become an Avatar of the Gloom. They mutate in monstrous ways and become devoted spreading the Gloom. It is unknown if the Gloom itself is sapient, or if it merely uses the sapience of its avatars. Either way, the MOST effective way to free and island of the Gloom is to find and either kill or chase off the avatar upon it.

The other thing the Gloom does is drain the power of others. While in Gloom enshrouded territory, you will rapidly grow weaker and lose and supernatural abilities you might have had. The only thing that can protect you from this effect is Mojo.

Image References: 1 2 3

Mojo

Mojo is the name for a kind of power that exists in this world that is the opposite of Gloom, though it is much rarer. You can generate small amounts of Mojo from masturbation, or from acts of creation (art of all kinds, hard but rewarding work, etc), but the best way to get Mojo is through sex with another person. Trying out new kinks has also been shown to produce some bonus Mojo, so it's always worthwhile to experiment with something new. Simply put, the more sex you have, the better protected you'll be from the effects of The Gloom. You can feel it as a sort of pleasant, metaphorical warmth in your stomach. It is the Order's greatest weapon in this war.

You don't HAVE to have sex, of course. The Order of the Spark idolizes freedom and personal expression. There are, as mentioned, other ways to build it up. They just are so much less effective, and sex can be so much fun. And let's be real, if you aren't interested in smut, why are you even looking at this post?

Image References: 1? 2?

SOME PROMPTS
1: Relaxation - It's a hard life, fighting a world devouring supernatural malaise. Fortunately, when you're not doing that, your accomodations are Top Notch. Go to a fancy restaurant. Hang out on the beach. Go skiing. Relax in the hot-springs. Get a job. Paint a picture. Go to the library. Watch a movie.
2: Mojo - To fight the Gloom you need Mojo, and to get Mojo you need SEX. Firebrand island has a million places to slip away for a steamy encounter, if you're away from the privacy of your room. And they say that if you try something you've never done before, you can generate even more.
3: Mission Prep - You've got some Mojo, you've got your mission. You're safe for the moment. As your speedboat/helicopter speeds you towards the next Island determined to house The Gloom, you've got some time to chat with your allies. Any last minute things you want to get off your chest? Want to strategize how you're going to take on the next Avatar? Just want to chat? Now's your chance.
4: Hunting - An island is a big place, and the Avatar isn't always somewhere obvious. The locals are usually too depressed to do much more than stare at you, so you have more or less free reign of the island, but good God is this place a dump. There's a dirtiness of the soul here, that your Mojo is holding at bay for the now, but is still omnipresent and overbearing.
5: Battle - Avatars are strange and terrifying creatures. They could have tentacle arms (not THAT kind of tentacle arms. The Gloom hates that stuff), ripping claws, jaws that can chew through steel, acid spitting glands, or worse. But you're a badass too. Protected from the Gloom by a shield of Mojo, with your friends and lovers at your sides, you are as ready as you're going to get. So go kick some ass!
6: Emergency Recharge - Something went wrong, and one of your friends has run out of Mojo. They're getting weaker by the minute, and it won't take long for them to be reduced to one of the shuffling mindless drones that the Gloom turns most people into. Fortunately, you found them, and there's one sure fire way to restore them to normal.
7: Victory - The Avatar has been defeated, and without it to anchor the Gloom here, the thrill of victory has started to erase the malaise covering the island. As people wake up from their long depression, they start to realize what happened, and BOY are they happy to do so. A grand party is held in your honor. The agents of the Order of the Spark are off on the side, making deals with the island's govnerment, but in the meantime, everyone is celebrating YOU. Enjoy your victory. Go dance. Sign autographs. Pose for selfies. Get drunk. Hook up with an attractive stranger. Tomorrow, it's back to HQ to get ready for the next fight. For now, you have NO responsibilities.
8: Training - Swing that sword, lift those weights, get in that sparring ring. You gotta be ready for the next island. And if your clothes starts to get pulled off or ripped during a sparring match, well, that would just be AWFUL, wouldn't it?
9: Recon report - Before all the cool sword havers can run in and fight the Avatar, you have to know what it looks like and what it can do. That means infiltration and recon, which is a risky business on it's own, but also uses up a lot of Mojo. By the time your extraction came, you were basically a drone. Upon getting home, you have two tasks. 1: Get Mojo'd back up and 2: Tell everyone what you learned about the new Island and its Avatar.
10: A Dirty Job - Fighting the Avatar is all very dramatic and important, but there's a lot else that needs to get done. There's a base camp on the engloomed Island's edge to maintain. There's maintenance to be done on the boat that carried you here. There's locals who can't really take care of themselves right now. Plus, if you end up with some spare time, slipping off somewhere quiet with a friend and generating some Mojo is always helpful to the mission.
11: Wildcard - Between the Slice of Life of living on Firebrand Island, the action/adventure of fighting the Gloom, and the Endless Smut of building up enough Mojo to SURVIVE fighting the Gloom, you have a lot of options. Make something up!

I'm testing the setting concept out. If people seem interested then who knows, maybe this will grow into something bigger!
windgod: (Default)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
The nervousness he was feeling, at least for the moment, was pretty easily pushed aside by the fireball joke. At the very least, it was enough to get a laugh out of him which made him feel much more at ease.

"I can't really disagree with that, that was a little hotter than I could handle. I'm sure there are better ways to warm up though...the real question is are those ways more fun?"

Not to knock anything in particular, but he had to imagine being able to conjure a literal explosion at will was pretty fun. That being said...even he was surprised he was able to get that pick up line out properly. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
windgod: (Bashful)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
"You're not the only one who was surprised, this is very different from the kind of training I'm used to. I'm happy I learned it though, I feel much more grounded lately compared to when I first came here."

While his usual outlets for stress and anxiety weren't unhealthy by nature, constantly pushing himself physically and then exerting himself against the gloom had been taking a toll on him until he'd started down this path. Now he had something he could do that could actually allow him some real respite when he needed it while still allowing him to progress in some manner.

"Without your patience and guidance though, I'd still be very lost right now. So I got something to really say thank you while I was out on the mission."

He smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, simple looking wooden box. Inside the box, he revealed as he opened it, was a single Red and Yellow Flower that was seemingly being preserved by something inside the box as it hadn't even begun to wilt.

"I saw it after we'd finished the mission and it reminded me immediately of you...so I got this preservation box from a local on the island and picked one for you as a present."
tomatowizard: (We don't need to worry about that)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-03-07 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
Samata finished off her drink and checked behind them. The party was distantly audible, but here they had some pretty good privacy.

First, she quickly and discretely unbuttoned the top two buttons on her shirt, for tactical reasons. Then, she stepped around from Ippo's side to in front of him and draped her arms over his shoulders.

"Shall we find out?"
fistsofchange: Wu was getting pretty ripe... (Hot diggity!)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Lin looked curious when he pulled the little box out, then gasped out loud when he opened it. "Wow! It's so pretty!"

She looked up from the flower to smile at him. "That was really thoughtful of you. I'm touched."
windgod: (Default)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Well...I mean, after all the time you've spent teaching me how to better myself, it was the least I could do."

He was really thankful for her help in this. At first he didn't know if he could even be a help to anyone as he was, but the more he trained with Bai Lin, the more he realized that all of the potential he'd managed to scratch at the Kamogawa Gym was just the tip of the iceberg. He could be so much better and now he knew that for sure.

"You're the best Sensei I could have asked for, so thank you very much for all your hard work!"
windgod: (Bashful)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
Well...this escalated quickly, but he wasn't opposed to it. This is what they were supposed to do, right? On one hand it helped with Mojo generation, and that was good. On the other hand...Samata was really beautiful and smart and funny! So...it was a win/win!

"I mean...right out here? Like this? That's kind of bold but...why not?"

It was going to be a learning experience for sure, but he'd never backed down from one before. His arms returned the favor, wrapping themselves around her waist.

"I could stand to be a little more bold I think."
tomatowizard: It's impossible to say which (Contemplating mysteries of the cosmos)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-03-07 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
Samata was hardly a blushing virgin. She'd had her share of fun at the university. In response to "That's kind of bold" was to lean forwards and kiss him full on the lips with a small "Mmm" sound, while running her fingers through her hair (with her right hand only. She'd found that her metal hand tended to get hair stuck in the joints.)

She figured no one would be too badly scandalized if they got caught, and that they were probably not the only couple out here in the woods, doing more or less exactly what they were doing now. Hell, it was late. Some of them might be further along than this by now.
fistsofchange: (Today is going to be a good day)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Well that's very sweet of you." She spent a few more moments looking at the flower, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's for the 'best Sensei' line. I didn't think I was doing that great, honestly."
lackinginfaith: Running and calling after someone. ([i] wait up why don't you)

[personal profile] lackinginfaith 2018-03-07 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, they probably still did. I just throw them back on shore when I find them. Not like I spend all my time in here. Just enough. It's nostalgic, even if home was a lot colder.
fistsofchange: (I don't know what that means)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
...So that means you also spend time on land?

[The obvious question was on the tip of her tongue: how?]
windgod: (Actually...)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
In comparison...Ippo very much was! He'd never had much of an opportunity or time to try such things until now...which was of his own doing, but here he was. He was a little awkward in his reciprocation, but to his credit, he was fast learner.

At best, he could follow along with the cues and hints Samata was providing...at worst, he could count on her to guide him. He wasn't ashamed to be taught and it was about time he learned! Most importantly, he reminded himself to enjoy the experience...because what else was the point, right?

He even showed a little initiative of his own in pulling her closer in response to being kissed...it just felt right to him.
windgod: (Actually...)

[personal profile] windgod 2018-03-07 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
Even though he wasn't new to being here, certain things still caught him off guard. Namely, getting a kiss on the cheek caused his face to go beet red and while he managed not to hop back in surprise, he definitely looked like he was a bit out of his element now as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"B-but you really have been doing a good job! You've been building me up from the very basics so that when I'm having trouble, I have a solid foundation to fall back on. Also, when I was fighting that avatar a few days ago, I found my head a whole lot more clear, all because of your meditation exercises! Don't sell yourself short, Sensei."
lackinginfaith: Too many revelations for one day. ([i] did you just lick a murder weapon)

[personal profile] lackinginfaith 2018-03-07 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Something like that. I look a little different when I do.

[She's already dragging herself up onto the sand, which looks a little awkward.]

Some for practicality, some for looking like a different person. Slightly. Self-preservation tactic, apparently, even if that whole "if a human discovers you, your body dissolves into foam!" thing wasn't even true.
fistsofchange: (Today is going to be a good day)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Monsters and spirits follow all kinds of weird rules. She just kind of accepted that if Caren said that a human seeing her true form would cause her to dissolve, then it must be true.

Or, not true as the case may be]

I'm about as human as they get, yeah.

[She watched with concern as Caren awkwardly flopped onto land, then offered a hand to help her up.]

You, uh, need some help there?
lackinginfaith: Searching for something underwater. ([m] hide-and-go-seek sucks)

[personal profile] lackinginfaith 2018-03-07 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
I've done worse. [She sighs and sits up, inland enough that the water won't just get her again.] It's hot out, anyway, it'll be fine. I'm Caren. What about you?
fistsofchange: I'm going to get us involved again (I promise I won't get us involved again)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
She was blushing a bit as well. This was somehow MORE embarrassing then all the...you know. The sex. If not with Ippo specifically, then just in general.

"Thank you." she said, simply.
fistsofchange: (Talkin')

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Lin sat down cross legged next to her to watch the ocean.]

Bai Lin. Ex monk. Nice to meet you.
Edited 2018-03-07 05:31 (UTC)
lackinginfaith: Too many revelations for one day. ([i] did you just lick a murder weapon)

[personal profile] lackinginfaith 2018-03-07 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
Ex-monk, huh? I'm assuming not for a religion that would have a conniption at all the... this.
fistsofchange: (I don't know what that means)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
Buddhist, I guess. We were always bigger on the marital arts than we were on the spirituality, to be honest.

Also my best friend is a dragon so, you're fine.
lackinginfaith: Idol!Caren rejecting the others. ([i] FINISH HIM)

[personal profile] lackinginfaith 2018-03-07 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. You know, I'm almost getting used to this place. Bizarre, yeah, and scandalizes everyone who pops in, but at least you're concretely doing something.
tomatowizard: (We don't need to worry about that)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-03-07 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
Samata's body seemed to melt against his as their kiss deepened. He was all hard muscles while she was much more, well, soft. The life of a wizard was not one that lent itself to rock hard abs.

Her tongue flicked across his lips as they kissed, while her hand started exploring it's way down her back, tracing out muscles with her fingertips.
Edited 2018-03-07 05:51 (UTC)
fistsofchange: (Not putting up with your shit)

[personal profile] fistsofchange 2018-03-07 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh yes. The Gloom is just the worst! Even the worst parts of my world don't look as bad as those islands do when we get there. Those poor people are basically just zombies.
trustycrowbar: (Conflicting theory)

Gordon Freeman | Half-Life series | M/F preferred

[personal profile] trustycrowbar 2018-03-07 09:45 am (UTC)(link)
[2 - Talk Nerdy to Me]

Gordon slowly twisted his fingers along the dial on the console, watching the readout and trying to ignore, at least for the moment, the moans and thumps coming from the very un-soundproofed bed-sized capsule nearby, that was serving as their Mojo source for the purpose of the experiment.

It hadn't taken him long to install himself into the order after he arrived at Firebrand Island, both as operative and as part-time R&D. (In fact the choice has kind of made for him, but more on that later.) His knowledge of entropy, heat death, entanglement and human interaction affecting the outcome of a system had so far given the scientists a new perspective from which to view the Gloom and their means to combat it.

...That wasn't what made hire him, however. One look at his picture and certain, err... physical statistics was enough to convince the administrator that he was ideal fresh meat for the team. It had been an interesting couple of weeks since then.

"So that's fifteen hundred joules per hundred quivers of Mojo, thereabouts. That's a helluvan in--" He comments, faltering slightly through a pleasures squeal from the tube. "...Increase in efficiency from last time." He continues. "But we're going to need another couple of trials to iron out any bias, and I get the feeling Dexter and Gertrude in there are done for the night." He jerks a thumb at the steamed-up tube.

The other scientists look at him.

He looks at them.

They look at him.

"...Oh I get it. I take it you guys got a hold of my file... Fine, I'll go." He mumbles, shouldering off his lab coat.

Maybe you're one of his lab mates. Should you volunteer? Or maybe you're just there for the tour, and the guide suddenly decides that you're the lucky member of the group that gets to be in on the experiment...

[5 - Psychological Warfare]

What do you get when you cross a human being and huge, gross, black squid?

...That's not a joke. That's exactly what's going through this man's mind, as he dodges another man-sized tendril as it erupts out of the watery jungle floor. He lays down a blast of shotgun fire at the appendage, and it splinters and quavers horribly. Around them, several other tendrils shudder and thrash, ready to grasp anyone nearby and smash them against an old-growth mangrove until they are effectively unidentifiable as their native species.

"WE NEED TO GET TO THE CORE! THE... GUY! THERE!" He shouts through the screeching birds and churning water, pointing. Far in the steaming distance, the tendrils form a four-way knot of sorts, strung out over the trees. The living, twisting coursing shapes look a little too much like a human being would... if they were drawn and quartered between the mangroves by their own skin.

"That's the target!" He presses. He pays for his lapse in attention, as a tendril twice his mass wraps around him and mashes him into one of the trees. It seems like that weird orange armor of his is doing its job, because he seems more angry than anything. "GODDAMMIT, LET ME GO! DO I LOOK LIKE A JAPANESE SCHOOLGIRL? NO! I DON'T LOOK LIKE A JAPANESE SCHOOLGIRL!" He yells, leveling the base with a spray of buckshot. It's probably a combination of that, and the mental image he just imparted, that causes it to recoil. Mostly the shotgun fire, of course, but we know how the Gloom hates that sort of thing...

So how are you faring against the Death Squid? Want to help him out? Do you need some help yourself? Do you deal the final blow, or hold the tendrils at bay while he stops his tirade and takes aim?
trustycrowbar: (Tunneling)

8

[personal profile] trustycrowbar 2018-03-07 11:01 am (UTC)(link)
So say you're a man who's spent more than ten years studying theoretical physics. You know the laws of the universe like the back of your crowbar. You go through some dimensional shenanigans but nothing you can't explain with enough reasoning and cold, hard conjecture. You go out to practice some sprints on the track one day, you look over in the sparring rings, and you see a woman in purple casting a magic spell against a target.

I think anyone in Gordon's situation would have tripped and faceplanted. Furthermore he kind of doesn't care, any athletics have been cast aside under the force of sheer fascination. The man gets up and dusts himself off, puts his glasses back on, and lopes over to watch her for a long moment...

"Hey, uh... excuse me." The bespectacled man in awkward orange shorts says, trying two colloquialisms at once to make sure he gets her attention. "What. What is that you're using on that target?" It can't be magic, right? It's some kind of hard light bullet, or hidden laser focus apparatus...
im_gonna_heal_u: (because sex appeal!)

[personal profile] im_gonna_heal_u 2018-03-07 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Konoka looked around briefly. They'd been talking on a wide sidewalk, so anyone running into them was pretty low, but it was still better to find an actual spot where they could chat more casually... or intimately, as it were.

"Yeah, let's find some place more cozy!" Konoka motioned Patchouli to follow. New as she was, she had a generally good idea on where to look for.

At this time of night, the best spot was a luxury lounge not too far from where they were, just adjacent to the beach. Neither was equipped for a swim, so Konoka decided that a lounge suited them better. They found an unoccupied couch in a room where there weren't many people around, if any at all. "Gosh, some of this kinda reminds me of the places I visited on vacation. You'd almost forget that we're fighting something called Gloom."

Page 5 of 9