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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.”
THE LAB
I am not. Whoever was in charge of this lab last was unfortunately derelict in their organizational duties; which is why I'm attempting to discern which parts might be compatible with my own systems in case I need to treat any injuries.
I assume from your question that you don't know either.
no subject
the third and most glaring difference, of course, is that luke can sense this-- this person, and that's something he can't do with droids. not like this, anyway.
he blinks once, then gathers up the shreds of his composure, offering a small shake of his head. ] I'm afraid not, [ he admits with a small, wry laugh, and steps closer with easy confidence, joining the stranger where he's trying to sort through the containers. ] I'll be glad to help you find the items you're looking for, though, and maybe I'll come across what I need to repair my hand while we're at it. [ a beat, head tipping back so he can meet the bright red eyes. ] --If that's alright with you?
no subject
Megatron shifts a little as the human approaches him. Though he wouldn't call it nervousness, there is something of uncertainty in interacting with organics. Especially humans. On top of that, he is displaced out of space and possibly time and seems to have shrunk. It's a mess. ]
If you wish to assist, you're welcome to do so.
[ He picks up a few spare parts, turns them over--then his interest seems to be piqued by Luke's comment, the thought reaching him a moment late. ]
Your hand? Is it not organic, like the rest of you?
no subject
he glances back up as parts drift lazily around them, the question making him blink. ]
Oh. [ right. he hesitates, then reaches for his right hand, stripping the glove off it and pushing it down into his belt. he turns his wrist, then, to show the blaster burn melting through synthskin and durasteel, right down into delicate circuitry. ] It's been through a lot in the last couple of weeks. [ then a beat, and he huffs an amused noise. ] Sorry, I'm Luke, by the way.
no subject
May I? I'm a trained medic.
[ If permission is given, he gently manipulates the hand and wrist to get a better look at the damage with one surprisingly deft and delicate hand, his face serious. It's strange. He hasn't been this close to a human since, well. Earth. Since he had massacred them in such massive numbers that he had earned the undying enmity of that whole species, or so he suspected. ]
No apologies are necessary. I am Megatron of Tarn. If we can find appropriate tools I may be able to do some work to help it function better.
no subject
I'd be grateful. [ warmth fills his tone and his expression, fingers curling where they rest against metal. he can't really feel anything with this hand now, with the damage done to the nerve connections, but the instinct is there anyway. ] I have to admit, I wasn't convinced I could manage them on my own. [ he lifts his other hand to roughly his eye-level, flattening it in the air and watching it tremble faintly. ] I'm told the spasms will probably fade, but that could take weeks or longer. [ running into megatron had been a stroke of good fortune, it seems.
he lets his hand drop again to his side, glance flicking to the other still in megatron's hold, then back up to his face again. ] Is that what you did at home? Worked as a medic?
no subject
[ Organics are such strange, fragile things. He watches the hand tremble, then turns towards the shelving, fussing about as he starts seeking out tools. He already has a few laid out on a table. Tweezers, clamps, drills of varying sizes, soldering equipment... you know, medical stuff. ]
At home I was a prisoner. Before that, for a short while, I was a medic. Before that I was many, many things. Miner, poet, revolutionary. And between the revolutionary and the medic... I was a tyrant. A butcher. A murderer.
A monster.
[ There's no uncertainty in his voice, though it is laced through with regret as he mentions his later 'occupations.' It's better for him to be honest about who and what he was--lying would do him no good and the only want to confront that past was to face it head on. ]
no subject
[ he watches with interest as megatron turns away to collect other supplies, eyeing some of them with slightly wary curiosity. some of the drill-bits look.. large, but he supposes it does make sense given megatron's size. he wonders if he's part of an entire species, and if so.. are they all his size? larger? smaller?
the.. being (man? what terms does he prefer? does he have particular pronouns?) speaks up again, answering luke's question, and he inhales once sharply. not, probably, for the reason megatron is thinking, though. the admission of guilt makes his chest tighten painfully, emotion threatening briefly to close his throat. the wound of his father's death is still so close to the surface, the pain of it barely processed.
he reaches out in spite of himself, hand curling briefly over the broad forearm, then sliding away again. ]
Whatever you were, that's not who you are now. [ he taps his chest, then his temple. ] I can feel that much.
no subject
You can feel it, can you?
[ A wry chuckle. ]
No. I'm not the same person I used to be, but what I did was still my responsibility. My choice. Whether I have bettered myself or not does little to comfort those I've hurt and killed.
[ He leans closer, peers at the damage section of the prosthetic. ]
Do you have a way to disengage it from your nervous system? It would be more pleasant for you for what I am about to do.
[ He holds up what for a human might be a decently sized knife, but in his hands looks more like a scalpel. ]
They have no laser cutters,, energy blades, scalpels, or anything finer than this that I can find, but I'll do my best not to butcher it.
no subject
[ he's quiet for a few moments, then, letting the rest of the debris sink down and settle on the floor for now so he's not dividing his attention.
at last, he makes a musing noise. ] My abilities mean I can sense things about people, [ he says by way of explanation. ] You feel.. dark. And light. And you're right, of course, about the choices you made and the people you hurt, but.. it's who you are now that matters here, isn't it? [ he glances back up, searching his face questioningly, then away, brows knitting. ] I know it's none of my business. I guess.. what you said just reminded me of someone else.
no subject
[ Megatron leans forward and delicately begins cutting away a piece of synthskin around the damaged area. It's slow and deliberate, mostly because he's unfamiliar with operating on anything like organic material and because Luke is small. After a moment, he pulls away the piece of synthskin with a pair of tweezers. ]
Better.
[ He leans forward again--the wrist is not unlike that of Cybertronians in its function and that is a relief. ]
Dark and light? That's rather a simple way of looking at it, don't you think?
[ It's said philosophically, not meant to be insulting. ]
Did I? Another complicated being of dark and light?
no subject
the smile falters a moment later, though, leaving his expression smoothing into somber quiet. ] My father. [ his prosthetic fingers twitch once, then still again. ] He's the reason I lost my hand, actually. I think most people in the galaxy I hail from would feel they were being very conservative to call him a monster, but he saved my life before he died.
[ and in dying, he'd redeemed himself and rejoined the light.. but he has to wonder how things would have turned out if he'd survived. ]
no subject
[ There was a pause from Megatron as he scoured his memory banks. Some sort of organic relationship? A progenitor? That certainly would make for complicated feelings, he could well imagine. As delicately as he can, Megatron begins making minute adjustments. Thankfully, his hands are steady as a stone and having optical sensors that can provide some magnification is just a bonus. Ah, there... one of the actuators was loose and out of position. Tweezers in hand, Megatron nudges it firmly into place with 'click,' then reaches for a soldering iron to make sure it stays in place. ]
And this father of yours--forgive me, this isn't a term I'm used to using--he was responsible for harming many others?
[ Blunt and curious. ]