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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.”
no subject
At least the other man has calmed somewhat, that eases an immediate concern. )
Voices?
( It's automatic, because he remembers it suddenly: the ear-splitting roar of that explosive blast, the heat and percussive force that must've knocked him senseless, and in the silence of the white that had followed, blotting out all else, What are you willing to do...
Steve cautiously drops his hands to his sides, bewildered. )
Yeah. You heard them too?
no subject
But this is fine. It's fine. It's weird but it's fine. ]
We all did. Those voices brought us here...
My name's Finn.
no subject
( First names, alright, he can work with that. Better, honestly, as this has stopped feeling like an interrogation, more like a regular conversation, even if Finn's still looking at him a bit like he's grown a second head.
Steve takes a second, because he's also still digesting 'the voices brought us here', feeling expected to understand precisely what that means and frustrated that he doesn't. He presses his palms together before him, feeling the leather of his gloves strain, and tries to be calm when he asks: )
What do you mean, 'brought us here', where is 'here'? Where are we, Finn?
no subject
But, right, yeah, back to the point. ]
This is the Ximilia. It's a station in uncharted space. As far as we can tell, we're not even in any galaxy.
The transporter- [ He nods to another room, not taking his eyes off of him. ] -takes us to and from missions on different planets. It's the only way off, we think. The airlocks don't seem to work.
no subject
We're in- ( Don't get shrill, don't- so his voice drops to an urgent hiss of a whisper, completely gobsmacked: ) We're really in space? That-
( A kind of floppy wave at the windows and the darkness beyond them, ) That out there is outer space?
no subject
He glances toward the windows when they're motioned to and back to the guy that looks like his head will explode at any second. ]
Yeah, uh- You've never been off planet, huh? [ Dumb question. ] We're in space, yes.
... You okay?
no subject
Even Themyscira, mystical and otherworldly, was still on Earth. Diana was still on Earth.
He probably looks like he's about to cry, turning away as his face screws up, breathing through the sudden inrush of panic. The burn in his chest feels reminiscent of the lasso, hot and all-encompassing, creeping up the back of his neck. Finn's question earns a short, inappropriate laugh, the situation so terrifyingly absurd it defies reason, but it keeps any tears in check, his voice stable: )
Yeah, I just- need a minute.
no subject
It's something about his home. Something about-... He's not going to look deeper, not going to assume, but there's an immense amount of loss there that he could feel even if he wasn't trying to.
Finn steps forward, a hand reaching out. His voice is quiet, soft, worried. ]
It's-... You're not stranded here. We can go home.
no subject
( Steve drags his gaze up to Finn again, the color high in his cheeks, the smile he wears not reaching his eyes. )
No, I can't, I'm– ( Dead.
He scrubs at his face, swallows, and shrugs, for lack of anything better to do, feeling drained and lost. )
I can't. ( Leaving it at that, he forges on ahead, his jaw tight, ) Besides, we're all here for a reason, aren't we? Erasing regrets?
no subject
This is a lot.
It takes him a beat to even hear the questions before Finn shakes himself. ]
Yeah- Yes. Yes, that's what we're here to do.
There are orbs everywhere that we've been collecting. They're sentient, powerful. Apparently, they can fix our regrets, but we still don't know if it's really true or not.
no subject
That sounds... less weird than what I've seen lately, okay. How many have you found so far? Who's in charge here; how many people are on this station?
( And here we are, his questions seeded with his usual confidence. Here, at last, something to focus on, to set neat parameters around and quantify into something known versus the unknown. )
no subject
We've found three so far, and there are about 60 people on this station at any given time.
The one in charge calls himself the Commander. He stays locked in the North Wing. We're rarely allowed to go inside, but he contains the captured orbs' power and is supposedly the one who orchestrated all of us coming here.
There's an AI on the station, too. Viveca. She pretty much runs all essential systems. If you need anything that you can't find, it's best to ask her. She can usually bring it in for you.
no subject
Except... his brows knit. Clearly this Viveca is the Commander's right hand, er, woman, but what did Finn mean by- )
An "ey-aye"? I'm not familiar.
no subject
To us, this is like trying to explain what trees are. ]
AI. Stands for artificial intelligence. Like a droid or a robot?
no subject
"Droid"? ( Ah, but wait– ) Like, "android"?
no subject
[ ... ]
Not like that. I mean, in a lab setting or- No, not-
[ Oh, kill him. Finn slaps a hand to his face. Breathes. Tries again. ]
They're beings in machine bodies that can think and learn for themselves. Whatever you call that where you're from.
no subject
Androids, ( He supplies again, helpfully, then thinks about it further, ) Or automatons, but you're saying this... Viveca, can actually think for herself here? Where I come from, they're all...cogs and clockwork, maybe engine-driven, but they don't have–
( The wiggle of his gloved fingers beside his head says it all: a brain, real or artificial. He drops it to his side, and admits: )
That's amazing.
no subject
He offers his own smile while Steve puzzles it all out, eventually nodding. ]
It is. I grew up with them, so... I've never really thought too much about it before. But you should be able to talk to Viveca through the earpiece whenever you want.
[ Finn gestures to his own ear, assuming Steve's found and figured his out already. ]
no subject
Yeah, I got that. Can she hear us all the time?
no subject
It's implied that she can. She knows things about us that she shouldn't. It's... unsettling the first time you talk to her, but I don't think she means anyone harm.
[ See, Viveca? He's getting better with this trust thing! ]
no subject
Well, thank god I'm an open book.
no subject
Are you hungry or anything? I can show you to the mess, give you a tour or something.
[ Mostly because he doesn't want to leave the poor guy alone to freak out again. Thankfully, Finn's getting (sort of) over this whole twin situation. It's a good exercise with using the Force, too, so there's that. ]
no subject
Yeah, I could use a tour. I'm not... really hungry, sorry.
( Don't think he still isn't turning over Finn's earlier surprise, but he'll keep that close to the chest, too. )
no subject
That's all right. There's, um-... [ He begins to point in general directions. ] -the living quarters, infirmary, armory, training room- There's the sunlight room, too. It's a simulation, meant to make us feel less claustrophobic up here. It can be a lot, the first time. There's a lab, too, if you're interested in that kind of thing, though.
[ He's more than welcome to let Finn pick. Any other day, he'd take them straight to the sunlight room, get the whole experience of that out of the way. Steve looks like he's already had too much excitement, though. ]
no subject
I'm not a scientist. I'm a pilot.
( Steve waves a hand back where he came from. )
I've seen the living quarters already... what's this sunlight room?
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