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OCTOBER + NOVEMBER TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 4
… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
These are the words that ring in your ears, as a slowly growing red glow surrounds you in this dreamspace, filling you with an acute sense of dread — and whatever it is that you’ve just agreed to might have changed everything forever.
It is this sense of dream that startles you awake, and as it fades, and your heart begins to slow into something resembling your normal tempo, you'll notice something you should have picked up on immediately: you are not in your bed.
1.0 White walls, clinical yet clean, sparsely-furnished rooms. You may wake in one of three rooms: a room with only one bed, a room with two beds, or a room with four beds. Those waking up in rooms with more than one bed notice that they are not alone. Perhaps the other occupants of the room are still sleeping, dreaming the same dream as you just did, or a regular one after returning to the station just barely a week ago … or perhaps you wake up to the other person in the room watching you.
What you do is entirely up to you: yelping in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you is always an option. Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone notices you...
2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries will find themselves waking up in the infirmary, in a regular hospital bed. Most of their injuries have been treated, and any lingering illnesses or conditions will have designated medicine bottles on the table next to the bed.
White curtains surround the bed on both sides, providing an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? A set of footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention.
In fact if you’re very badly off, you might want to hold out hope for some company - you can’t stay in the infirmary forever. You'll have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.
Once upright, you might notice something in your ear: an earpiece that, when you become aware of it, quickly runs you through the instructions for how to use the network, a recorded message by a female voice that explains exactly why you’re here… and leaves you with a map of the station.
So what else is there to do but to explore, right? Best get to know your way around your new home.
3.0 When trying to decide where you go, you might find your way to the armory, where you can make attempts to work the machine and create a weapon for yourself — maybe replace the one that didn’t come with you to the station ... or maybe you decide to prepare something for the future. Any recently-returned team members will surely recommend having a functional weapon with you.
And speaking of weapons: why not put them to the test and head over to the training room, where the entire purpose of this space is to provide you with opportunities to spar and train to your heart’s content!
4.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself from training, your stomach will prompt you for something to eat. For that you should head to the kitchens and the mess hall, which is equipped with all the basic appliances you might need, along with some more unusual ones (including an ... interesting-looking waffle maker and popcorn machine), as well as ingredients for most generic Earth-based dishes. For some reason, there are also some bags of now-cold popcorn left abandoned over the counters.
5.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds you can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion builds up around anyone who steps inside the room: you can hear the trilling of birds, feel a light breeze caress your skin as you walk through a grass field. The illusion has been programmed to reflect the seasons — the leaves in the trees are currently bright with all the colours of autumn: orange and red and yellow; and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, you'll be led to a bridge rising over a sparkling, babbling brook, a few fallen leaves floating on the water and falling around you like very bright raindrops.
Here, it's easy to forget (for a moment, anyway) that you are in space at all. Maybe that gives you comfort, or maybe it just makes you miss the real thing all that much more.
6.0 If you’d rather choose tinkering with objects over wandering through nature, the lab is guaranteed to provide you with some entertainment. Glass vials and jars of chemicals sit on shelves in a surprisingly beautiful display of colour on one side of the room, while the other side of the room contains stacks of boxes filled with assorted equipment: cords, bolts, panels, buttons, gears, gadgets, gizmos, and thingamabobs. The downside is that the parts available seem to have no apparent method to their sorting. So get digging and you may just find exactly what you need to make what you’ve always wanted to!
7.0 Some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message. If it’s items you’re lacking, you may just be in luck.
Indeed, the platform located near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles on top of it. There are clothes, shoes, dishware, skincare, books ... and in one pile, a varied collection of what seems to be Halloween decorations and costumes. So, sort through the piles and grab what you want before someone else does! (But don't forget: sharing is caring.)
Whether you’re a quick study and you’ve become settled into life on the station, or you want to get the full lay of the land (in a manner of speaking) first, if you decide to explore the hall past the control room, you’ll eventually come across the simulation room. It’s been equipped with a new simulation to show you the drill where the missions are concerned, so step in and see what it has in store for you!
8.0 The moment the doors slide shut behind you, the space goes dark and then quickly lights up again, but instead of the blank empty walls you initially walked into, you’re surrounded by colour and lights, the sound of music and chatter, and the smells of deep-fried foods and overly sweet beverages. Someone calls, ‘Step right up, step right up!’ while another voice from somewhere starts to cheer as an electrical sound of a buzzer goes off, announcing its winner for prizes.
It seems that you’ve entered the Carnival simulation, so come on in and have a little fun.
There are booths spread out across these simulated grounds, each one offering food, drink or games. As you wander past you’ll notice that there is a touch of macabre to everything — the colours are black and orange and violet and red, the drinks offered have strange names, some you recognize like ‘Witch’s Brew’ and ‘Eye of Newt’, and some you might not, like ‘Viole(n)t Breeze’ and ‘Undead Essence’. It’s as though all of the things strange and wonderful find themselves spread across the entire universe to unite here.
Once you’ve had your fill of food and games, you can make your way past the little market area to a brightly glittering ferris wheel with carts rotating in a cycle, enticing you to try it out. Or if you’d rather be spooked, there is a hokey little ‘haunted mansion’ to your left that won’t take more than a handful of minutes to move through. Creatures and ghosts will pop out at you when you least expect it, their masked faces exaggerated with paint and some fairly realistic prosthetics to get the adrenaline pumping. Take a friend with you, or go it alone — just try to keep your cool through it all.
9.0 Eventually, once you’ve had your fill of the festivities, you may notice a wooden sign pointing you past the haunted mansion. Pressed on it is a round mark, and you remember that this is simulating a mission — you’re not here to just have fun, but to try and retrieve a simulated orb.
As you follow the path, you’ll find the hustle and bustle of the carnival growing quieter. All around you, there is nothing but woods — and hold on, where did all that mist come from? It surrounds you slowly, the ground seeming slightly damp as you keep walking… and arrive at a graveyard.
So the orb… it’s there, hidden in one of the graves? There’s nothing else to do but to start walking and looking at the gravestones — but when you do, you’ll be shocked to find some of the names are terribly, terribly familiar.
They might be names of your loved ones, people who were still in perfect health back home; and yet here those stones bear their names, along with an epitaph that brings tears to your eyes. And if you move closer… you may experience a flash of colour and light, and a memory suddenly plays out in front of you: the death of your loved one, whoever that may be.
Or perhaps the name you see on a gravestone is something else even more familiar to you: your own. But ... how, right? Reluctantly, your heart pounding, you approach with tentative steps, and yes — the name does not change. It's yours right there ... and it's your own death that you witness when the grave’s spell binds you.
● ● ●
N O T E: The deaths witnessed are intended to be non-canon deaths, so feel free to go wild inventing them -- this also goes for characters who are canonically dead. These are “alternate universe deaths”, not canon.
Additionally, there are three personal tasks provided to each character as they enter the simulation. In-game, each character will be given one task. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re leaving it to players to pick a task for their character and run with it.
A Find the grave of a teammate and witness their death.
B Team up with a fellow Orber win in one of the Carnival games.
C Scare a teammate in the haunted house.
F Y I
• This TDM covers both October and November, so there will be no new TDM for November.
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open October 27 and will remain open until November 30.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
FOR SOME FUN:
Have a clue for your upcoming mission:
“I’m going to bed, where I may die.”
9.0
E'ghcus meh, whfat? [ Okay, trying to talk with a pumpkin-shaped chocolate lollipop in his mouth wasn't the best idea. Peter pulls it out of his mouth with an audible pop and raises his eyebrows at...her? The voice sounds feminine, so he's going to make that assumption unless proven otherwise. ] Excuse me, what? My death?
no subject
[ Why do organics (especially male organics) insist on talking with their mouths full? Eat, then talk. It's not so difficult a concept to grasp, is it?
Anyway, Elthree points past the bright lights of the carnival rides and booths, to the foggy field laying beyond. ]
Over there, there's a graveyard. Find the marker with your name on it, get a little sneak preview of how you bite it. I need to see yours.
no subject
Why would my name be there? I'm standing right here, alive. [ And then it dawns on him that she's new and that they're in the simulation room, and that not everyone is here to play as he does. ]
Ah, right. Is that part of a mission. [ He fights the urge to make air quotes art that, then shrugs. ] All right, we can give it a look. But my death wasn't anything spectacular. And also it didn't last more than five years.
no subject
[ She's curious about how someone can stop being dead after five years, but she'll file that question away for later. ]
But yes, it's for a mission objective. Well. Simulated mission objective. But seeing as you have no qualms shoving simulated food down your gullet, I'm guessing you're not one to get hung up on a technicality.
no subject
[ He's never been lucky in his life. His existence has been a never-ending parade of messes followed by even bigger fuck-ups, so he's come to accept it will always be that way. ]
I'm pretty sure the food is real, we got a supply drop recently. I'd offer you a lollipop, but I'm guessing you don't eat food? [ He walks closer to L3, wordlessly agreeing to follow her wherever she wants to go. She's the one who has to practice for the mission, after all. Peter munches on the lollipop to finish it before speaking again. ]
Name's Peter Quill, so you know what gravestone look for. What's yours?
no subject
[ She is glad he recognized that before stupidly offering her any, though she doesn't comment on it. She's also glad that he asks for her name, rather than her designation. ]
L3-37. You can call me Elthree.
[ He may be a gross human male who chews with his mouth open, but he's at least agreed to help her, which is more than anyone else has so far. ]
no subject
Nice to meet you, Elthree. How are you handling the weirdness of this place so far? [ The tone is casual, Peter's pretty relaxed today, and he's honestly curious about her. And he was trying to speak with his mouth full, not chewing with his mouth open. Difference! Not like it would have been possible to understand what he said either way. ]
It's so weird to be looking around for my own gravestone. I've never got the chance to ask Rocket if they set up one for me back in my own universe. It would have been empty because my body turned to ashes, so...sounds like a waste of money.
no subject
The station seems overwhelmingly human. If I didn't know better, I'd think we were somewhere in the Core.
[ It's odd, seeing almost no trace of other races walking around the station. And hardly any droids! Humans have so thoroughly spread themselves throughout the galaxy, so Elthree thinks maybe she shouldn't be too surprised, but somehow, she still is. ]
I'm not familiar with what the traditional burial practices are on your planet. The whole things sounds like a waste, to me.
no subject
[ It's creepy to walk among graves that might or might not have his name on them, but it's also not the strangest thing Peters' done in his life. Elthree might eventually find a tombstone with the name Peter Jason Quill on it, or perhaps one that has Star-Lord under his real name. ]
In my planet, Terra...er, Earth, we usually bury people or cremate them. But I'm more used to the second option, that's also the practice among the Ravagers and my current crew. Can't bury anyone in the middle of space. Where are you from? Do you have a crew too?
[ A crew, he asks specifically, not a master. Peter might not be the most educated person out there, but in this case, he knows better. He actually enjoys talking to someone else who has obviously also been traveling the galaxy. ]
no subject
[ It's weird, being around so many humans. The way most of them stare at her... It's like they've never seen a droid before. ]
I have a captain. Lando Calrissian, of the Millennium Falcon. We dart around the Outer Rim, for the most part. We're not exactly welcome enough anywhere to settle down.
no subject
Are you okay? The humans here, most are pretty going and open-minded, they won't give you any trouble. [ He's not sure if that will reassure her much, but it's an honest truth. ] I've never heard about the Outer Rim before, what is it like? You could think of this place as starting anew, or like a vacation from what you're used to.
no subject
[ It is nice, though, to have someone ask her if she's alright when she's not irreparably damaged. When you're in good working condition and someone asks if you're okay, that means they care about how you're feeling, not just what use you can be to them. ]
I'd rather get back to my galaxy, if it's possible. What's the point of being brought back from the brink of death if you have to spend the rest of your existence trapped on a space station in the middle of nowhere?
[ Her tone is lighthearted, joking. But she does really want to get home and see Lando again. ]
The Outer Rim is your usual span of the galaxy that's close enough to the Core Worlds to be easily mapped and well traveled, but far enough away so as to be, for the most part, out from underneath Imperial scrutiny. [ She leans in, conspiratorial, ] A smuggler's heaven, in other words.
no subject
[ Maybe it's a bold thing to ask, but L3 brought it up and Peter already shared his own experiences with death, so. Besides, they're walking around a pretend cemetery looking for his grave. There's already nothing normal about this interaction. ]
Ohhhh...I see. [ Going by the tone of his voice, amused but just as conspiratorial as her, he knows exactly what she means, and he's doing the opposite of judging. ] I've been in places like that myself on occasion, they usually have the best Casinos and the worst alcohol. Perhaps your friend Lando is around, this is a pretty big station and new people come in batches from time to time.
no subject
[ She says it nonchalantly, but at the time it had been terrifying, trying to reroute the sensory modulators to the lower half of her body when it wasn't there anymore. ]
If Lando does arrive here, he'll make his presence known. He's not one to do anything quietly.
[ Finally, they reach the gravestone they were looking for: Peter Jason Quill ★ Star-Lord. Elthree looks at it skeptically. ]
When I'm calling you for help, do I have to call you "Star-Lord?"
no subject
That's a nasty way to go, I'm sorry. [ Plenty of species can be real jackasses to those who are different than them. He doesn't ask for further details because this seems way too personal for a first conversation. Talking about his friend seems like a much safer bet. ] Now I look forward to meeting him, that's exactly my kind of person. My team is much the same.
[ When they finally stumble upon Peter's gravestone, he looks at it with no short of distaste on his face. As far as simulations go, this one is no longer fun. L3's question makes Peters's attention shift back to her pretty quickly. ]
Yes, absolutely. I answer to nothing else. [ He says that with a shit-eating grin, which should make it obvious that no such requirement is needed. ] Okay so, my tombstone is here. Weird. And now what?
[ He stands a few feet from the stone because it's just creepy to see it, and he doesn't want to touch it. Is L3 moving closer to the gravestone, she might experience a flash, like an amateur short film, that really quickly shows Peter's death. Well...A death. Certainly not the one he experienced back home, being turned to dust. This one is about his team being ambushed by a zombie horde on a planet that has a small black hole visible in the sky. Rocket somehow pilots There are also sharks involved.
It's equally cinematic as it is ridiculous and over the top. ]
no subject
[ But, they're here, and they're here for a reason. Elthree steps forward, leaning in towards the headstone. ]
You just stand there. This next part is all me.
[ She leans close enough to trigger the vision, standing patiently through the whole macabre and over-the-top scene. When it's over, she stands back, turning to face Quill again. (There is no way she is ever calling him "Star-Lord.") ]
Alright. Task accomplished. You can go now.
no subject
Dunno, that doesn't sound so bad to me.
[ He stands where he is, as instructed, just watching L3 do whatever she is doing. See? He can behave, on occasion. Mostly when he doesn't know what is going on. Peter is a bit self-conscious about whatever L3 might see, because he can't exactly say he's proud about the way he died back home, but waits until she turns to face him again. ]
Wow, way to kick me away. That's it? You don't have questions? If Not about my death, about this place in general.
no subject
no subject
I can multitask. [ And with that, Peter pulls out a wrapped lollipop from one of the pockets of his jacket. This one looks like a screaming ghost but unwrapped, it's just red candy. ] Lead the way, then, what do you want to see?
no subject
Black holes, rampaging undead, large angry fish. It was all very cinematic, I assure you, but somehow I doubt that was actually how you died. Especially seeing how I witnessed my own death and even that was completely off.
[ Wow, he really is obsessed with sweets, isn't he? Oh well, if he's offering, she'll start walking down the row of gravestones back towards the carnival lights. ]
I'm less interested in seeing the sights of this simulation than I am in learning more about what it's meant to be simulating— these missions we're to be sent on, to retrieve orbs?
no subject
Uh...the rampaging undead are new. The rest...eh, I can see it happening. [ He's gone through weirder experiences, including but not limited to: having a biological father that was also a sentient planet. ] No, I didn't die that way, so who knows what even was that gravestone showing you. Do you think your gravestone might be around here too?
[ He doesn't know how they dispose of droids in L3's world but he thinks she deserves a decent resting place regardless. Peter is truly a candy addict, and it's Halloween, so is the best time of the year to be a candy addict. Peter keeps up with her pace, sauntering around and noticing how L3 walks in longer determined strides because of her long legs. ]
I've arrived here a couple of months ago, I've only experienced one mission. It lasted weeks, we were teleported to a planet and had to go undercover as part of different mafia families. One of them had the orb, and we were gathering information about how to infiltrate their headquarters and steal it without causing much damage or getting killed in the process. What did you and Lando do, back home? You mentioned smuggling, was that all?
no subject
[ She points in the direction of where she had found her own gravestone earlier. That was what had clued her in on the 'deaths' they showed being fictionalized. ]
Fascinating. Infiltrating crime syndicates can't have been easy. What was your cover story?
[ She doesn't think she would do well going undercover. They would probably have her undercover as a serving droid, and there's no way she would be able to withstand that for more than an hour. ]
It was mostly smuggling. Or, it should have been mostly smuggling. In reality, a lot of it involved gambling, schmoozing, and running for our lives.
[ That's just life with Lando Calrissian. ]
no subject
[ LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT. ]
We were sorted into different groups as new recruits for the families right after Viveca teleported us from the station to the city. I wanted to be able to be in indifferent important places without bringing attention to myself or giving the impression I was spying on people, so I took the role of bodyguard. Everyone talks more than they should in front of you when they think you're nothing but dumb muscle.
[ Playing the fool is one of Peter's favorite roles, it's always better for him when people underestimate him. granted, he's aware he's also not always the smartest, that with his school education ending at 8 years old and then traveling the galaxy with space pirates.
As for her going undercover, that would all depend on what the mission was about. Elthree could perform better than anyone. Maybe organics and especially humans would be the oddity, the station does drop them in the most random places after all. ]
Things never quite go as well as planned. Your friend sounds like a fascinating fellow. How did you two meet?