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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.”
Natasha Romanoff | MCU
Natasha is just waking up, but she knows she shouldn't be. If what they were told about the soul stone was true, and she had successfully beat Clint to the ground, she should be dead.
Maybe it's the after life, maybe they have beds? And dreams, she knows she was dreaming a moment ago...
To be safe, she doesn't make it obvious she's awake. Rather, she cracks one eye open just enough for to see everything washed in white, a blank wall to her side. She hears movement, focusing on where it's coming from and how close it is to her while keeping up her cover of sleep.
If she's not dead, she doesn't need to let a potential threat know she's awake and aware of them being in the room, too. While she's not sure she has a weapon on her- feels like a hospital gown instead of the suit she was last in- she doesn't need a gun or knife, she can handle it unarmed if she has to.
_____________________________________
HOTEL SPACEFORNIA (any location)
Recon. Regardless of who's told her what, she has to do her own recon and exploration to know for sure. It's a space ship, simple enough. People muddle around doing their own business, like it's absolutely normal and acceptable to go from falling from a cliff to waking up here. Maybe it is normal, hell her 'normal' has been so far past the standard basis of the word, who is she to question what makes sense anymore?
Natasha doesn't give off that she's one of the 'new people' roving the ship, she keeps her expression neutral and even, almost bored. Anyone who knows her could probably tell she's studying everything, taking in different people, different areas. The what's what and who's who as she explores down the halls. She doesn't linger in any one place for too long, stays just long enough to understand what the room's for then moves it along, she can backtrack to investigate more later...
_____________________________________
TRICK OR TREAT 8.0 Carnival
Natasha waits a long, long moment before she approaches one of the food booths, watching others come and go with their goodies first. She needed to make sure the consumables were not only real, actual food- but that they weren't poisoned or something either. Once she's satisfied things are safe, she goes to investigate something tasty.
Her 'Undead Essence' in hand, she casually strolls off to the side, a bit away from the main group of people so she can continue observing. The carnival feels more...normal, but she's not about to get distracted or too comfortable with any of this situation.
_____________________________________
[WILDCARD]
((She'll literally be canvassing everything she can, feel free to find her anywhere!!))
hotel spacefornia - residences wing
She heads down the corridor of the wing that leads to the rooms where the "crew" (inmates?) is meant to stay, internally wondering whether those in charge of "staffing" this station (imprisoning them all here?) would deem her worthy of having a room of her own, or whether she'll be shunted off to some storage facility to stay with the ship's cargo. It's not as though she has need of a bed or a fresher, or any of the other amenities her organic teammates (fellow hostages?) would require.
So, though she has some inner concern, she is not about to let herself be openly vulnerable, on the off chance she isn't allowed to stay in one of these rooms... She doesn't want to let herself get her hopes up. Better instead to fall back on the old standby: callous derision.
She peeks into one of the rooms, this one currently occupied by a human looking woman with red hair. There's a sound that resembles a scoff coming from her vocoder to announce her presence.
"Hm. Not exactly five star accommodations, is it?"
Re: hotel spacefornia - residences wing
It doesn't seem like the bot's been here long, if the rooms look new, probably wouldn't have too much more information than she's already gathered herself. Still, confirming information is always good, and maybe they've picked up something she didn't. She's cautious, keeps her guard up, but outwardly gives off an open and welcoming greeting.
"At least it comes with a continental breakfast." She offers with a small, well practiced smile, "Which one is your room, is it missing something?"
no subject
Ah. So much for avoiding the topic of claiming a room for herself. Elthree tries to play it off and act nonchalant.
"Dunno. Haven't chosen one yet. I'm taking my time making a decision."
no subject
Hasn't chosen one. Making a decision. Natasha wonders if that means they actually get a choice in their lodgings, rather than an assigned room with god knows who. She hasn't found much out either way so far, maybe the bot has...
"What've you seen so far? Just the same as this one?"
no subject
"Most of the rooms are near identical. Either one berth, two, or four. Some of the rooms have sparse decorations, likely indicating that they've already been claimed."
no subject
Natasha just nods though, taking in the information.
"I see." She replies after a beat, glancing around the room, "Did you just get here, that's why you haven't chosen a room?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
A crimson dream
Peter is not a medical professional, but he has patched up more than a few injuries after living with the Ravagers and the Guardians, and he's not squeamish when it comes to blood. He helps a blond teenager with no indoor voice and then comes back to check on others, freezing in place when he sees a familiar face. Kind of familiar. ]
Oh, holy shit...Romanoff? [ He walks up to her bed, not realizing that she's either still asleep or unconscious. They never really got to meet back home, but he knows of Natasha's sacrifice and that she was an Avenger. Rocket talked about her back home, and here at the station, Peter is rather fond of her sister Yelena. ] Gods, Yelena is going to lose it. Ma'am...? Can you hear me?
Re: A crimson dream
But then he says that name, her sister's name, and she falters, eyes shooting open. She regains her composure immediately, fluidly, blinks like she's just waking up.
Focus. Identify who he is, where you are, when you are, then- Yelena.]
Ma'am? That's cordial [She breathes out, almost like it's only meant for herself but clearly said loud enough for him to hear. Natasha eyes him closely as she sits up in the bed, placing his face and voice quickly. Starlord. She knows of him through Rocket, and a couple others, he's a teammate. Perfect. He might have answers, unless he's just recently woken up, too.]
What is this place? [First things first, straight to the point.] And when?
no subject
I try to be. Mama didn't raise no rude boy.[ He says that last bit in a forced mid-western accent, one that he rarely has, or uses, after 3 decades in space. Peter is still smiling but definitely looks more concerned for her when Natasha sits up. ]
Easy, easy. You're in a safe place, it's a space station. As for 'when', that's a bit more tricky. Different universes and timelines get mixed here. Back in my own galaxy, it was the year 2023. I'm Peter, by the way, Peter Quill. Star-Lord? We never got to meet back home, but you might be familiar with Rocket and Nebula. I'll answer all the questions, but first...are you feeling all right?
no subject
She eyes his empty hands and can't help a soft though faintly amused noise at his accent. Maybe there was another snap, another bout of missing years...]
I'm fine. [She replies immediately, confidently. She's taken worse hits than...a different universe and timeline? Sure, she's fine, she's golden, but she should be dead] What happened, did we stop Thanos?
[Because, while she doesn't know him enough to trust him, but she trusts Rocket and his judge of crew. And if he's from 2023, surely he must know what the hell happened. If they succeeded or failed. If she messed up somewhere and didn't actually attribute to making things right-!]
no subject
All right, if you are sure. [ He doesn't fully believe that because there's no way she's not at least a bit traumatized after everything that had happened with the Infinity Stones and Thanos, but he's tactful enough not to insist on the matter. She doesn't look injured or like she's bleeding out, so that's enough of a good sign for his standards. ]
You did, the Avengers managed to bring everyone who was snapped back. Things got a bit more complicated than expected, though. [ Peter tries to break the news as gently as possible, but he himself doesn't fully have all the details, and he's really annoyed by the mere concept of different timelines duo of all the issues they cause. ] Past Thanos, the one from 2014, somehow time-traveled to our present with his army. There was that massive battle...anyway, the thing is, he's gone. This time for good. Got turned to dust, him and his army.
[ He's silent after that, letting her assimilate all the new information, fully aware that it sounds pretty crazy. And now for some good-ish news. ]
Your sister Yelena is here, and so are Tony Stark, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes...does he always frown like that?
(no subject)
(no subject)
8.0
Octavia watches another woman who looks to be suspiciously surveying everything before grabbing a drink. She makes her way closer to her, hoping she doesn't drink it. ]
You sure you want to do that?
Re: 8.0
She glanced at the other woman, a faint touch of a coy smile on her lips as she holds the cup up for another look]
Everyone else lived through it, it's probably safe.
Re: 8.0
What do you make of this place? Seems pretty strange for a ship.
Re: 8.0
Holo, maybe, something that's tangible but otherwise not real. [Natasha answers, and finally takes a sip of her own drink, shrugging] Flickered in like a simulation, but it's real enough to be a passable Halloween festival.
Re: 8.0
Hear anything about this A.I. in the ear piece besides her very suspicious helpfulness?
Station
Hey.
[Daisy jogs over to her, almost reaching out to grab her arm gently before stopping herself.]
You uh--
Did you just got here?
Re: Station
Do we know each other? [She asks, unable to help herself and, frankly, tired of this place already. Space station and varying timelines and bullshit- she's more abrupt and to the point than normal, but her world is a mess, cut her some slack.]
no subject
Uh, no. I mean, I know of you.
There's a few of us here already.
no subject
Like who? [She asks nicely enough, but she needs to know. There's a lot of people from her home she would rather not meet again so soon...]
no subject
To name a few.
[Natasha has no reason to remember her, but does that mean that she has memory loss or just can't remember this place? Hopefully those names ring a bell.]
Station
Don't complain. This is for your own good.
[ Sam's sat at one of the tables, a few tools from the lab spread out around him. Redwing's on the table, chassis pried open. Sam's doing some routine maintenance - in the mess hall, lest Newton make good on the threat with the googly eyes. He's absorbed in his work for a moment until Redwing gives a soft electronic beep, alerting Sam to the fact that someone else has entered the room, and he starts looking up, only to immediately freeze when his eyes land on Natasha.
Alive. And right there, in the mess hall. As if she'd not been dead for 6 months. As if she'd not been right here, on Ximilia Station, for another 5 months, only to vanish, presumably back home, presumably dead once more.
It threatens to knock the ground out from under his feet and Sam, predictably, ends up looking like he's seeing a ghost. For a moment he just hovers there, then mutters a soft apology to his drone - sleek in silver, blue and red, Natasha might notice, no longer the red, black and grey paint job Redwing used to don. Sam puts his tools aside slow, deliberate. Hesitant. He's not sure what this means, that she's back, and not knowing sits like a vice in his throat. Is she just... is she back?
Does she remember anything? And if not - is she from a different point in time entirely? ]
Hey, Tasha...
no subject
Sam. [She greets simply enough, though in the same breath she says his name she's moving in for a hug. Because it's Sam, regardless of what "time" this Sam could possibly be, he's Sam. And he's just what she fucking needs right now, in this place, with all of this shit.
She's gone from dead to alive, somehow, someway- sometime. She's spiraling. But Sam is solid, Sam is a constant. Redwing's colors might be different, Sam's eyes might hold a different kind of past than she knows- but it's Sam. Goddamn Sam. And she needs him like an anchor, like some sort of beacon, something to solidify this whole mess and assure her she's okay. She's not as dead as she thought, and things are okay. At least, as okay as they can be, anyways.]
no subject
And it doesn't matter - Sam's relieved that no sense of disappointment rises in him, just relief that second chances can come repeatedly, apparently. It's Natasha, and he'll grieve her as often as he has to for a chance to get her back, always.
His arms are solid and firm around her, holding her tight. He can't fathom what this is like for her - when for him, it's been four years by her side nearly non-stop, then the battle in Wakanda, and then coming back to life to find out she'd died. Half a year of mourning her, fiercly. He can't fathom what five years of that and more must have been like for her. She lost so much more than just him, just one friend, and yet she's the one who was also robbed of seeing her mission succeed, denied a reunion with her loved ones as she deserved. ]
Been a while, huh...
[ And yeah, his eyes are wet, his voice thick with emotion. So sue him. ]