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FEBRUARY TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 5
… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, an ocean-deep blue glow hovers in front of you. Transfixed, you reach out to it... only to hear a different voice, a distant echo of cruel laughter, and with a sudden certainty you know — whatever you’ve just agreed to has changed everything forever.
It is to this laughter that you wake, and as it fades and your heart slows into something resembling a normal tempo, you notice something you should have noticed 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 very much 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 to the other person in the room watching you.
What you do is entirely up to you: yell in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you? Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone notices you...
2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries find themselves awakening 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, giving an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? Some footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention... or you've attracted the attention of those with experience in medical aid, and they rush to your bedside, surprised about this sudden new patient.
It is not just for your injuries that you may want some company, but also for leaving the infirmary — you can’t stay there forever, after all, and will have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.
Once you’re up, you may notice there’s 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? Best get to know what is now your new home.
3.0 When trying to decide where yo go, you may find your way to the armory, where you can try to work the machine there to make yourself a weapon — perhaps to replace one that didn’t come with you to the station… or maybe you want to be prepared for the future. The recently-returned team members will surely recommend having a functional weapon with you.
And speaking of weapons: to put it to good use, head to the training room, where the entire purpose is to provide you with a space to spar and train to your heart’s content!
4.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself training, it’s time to grab a bite. For that, you should head to the kitchen, which is equipped with all the basic appliances you might need, and ingredients for most regular dishes... and large amounts of chocolate. Weird.
5.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds the characters can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion surrounds 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. It seems that the illusion reflects the season — the leaves have fallen, a layer of white covers the ground, and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, it leads to where a bridge rises over a brook that has now iced over — but maybe don't try your luck walking on it, as the ice may crack underneath your feet and you'll find yourself plunging into the freezing water.
Regardless of whether you like the wintery atmosphere, it is easy to forget you are in space at all. Perhaps that gives you comfort, or just makes you miss the real nature all the more.
6.0 If you’d rather choose tinkering over 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 containing 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 make!
7.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.
Indeed, the platform near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles on it. There’s clothes, shoes, dishware, skincare, books… even a couple of CDs, and a few cute stuffed animals. So sort through what there is and grab what you want, before someone else does!
Eventually, you’ll find yourself at the doors of the the simulation room — it has been equipped with a new simulation to take you through possible mission-like scenarios so it’s best to prepare yourself and see what it has in store for you.
8.0 The doors slide shut behind you and the room goes dark. Small pinpricks of light will start to build on each other until you’re surrounded by grey skies overhead and grassy green lawns, a row of old stone columns lining your vision. It seems you’re in a courtyard of some kind, but that’s not all. Something tugs at the hem of your sleeve or nudges at your leg, a warm presence that feels comfortable and ultimately very familiar. They look up at you, or maybe they meet your eye-level, a creature that varies in size, shape, colour, and form depending on what reflects you best. This creature, known as a compalion is a physical manifestation of your spirit or soul and will stay by your side on this journey.
You can stay here and get to know your compalion, or you can take your new companion and explore the campus. Because, if you do move forward past the line of columns (a hallway it turns out), you’ll find that the small cluster of buildings forms an academic campus of some kind.
a) They cannot go any further than a few yards away from their person; the further the distance, the more painful the separation will feel.
b) Your compalion will shift into one form throughout this simulation and can be any creature that best mirrors your personality.
c) They can be as small as a flea and as large as a small elephant; get creative!
d) Whether they speak to you in your native tongue is entirely up to you (some speak, some don’t)
e) Basically daemon rules apply.
9.0 While it might seem like fun to spend hours just exploring the old buildings with your compalion and any Orbers like you that you might bump into along the way, it’s important to remember that you have a goal to achieve: follow the clues and retrieve the orb. Your compalion might offer an idea or two for where to go, or it may just be voicing the thoughts in your head, but it’s not a bad thing to follow your heart (or your gut) as it were. You might find that the rooftops of the campus buildings are easily climbable to get a good vantage point of your location. (Just be careful not to slip and fall! The height from here is quite dangerous.) A clocktower stands proud in the distance among a cluster of other campus buildings, marking the time.
Inside, you might be led down dark stone halls and into a series of classrooms: including reading quarters, study rooms with old leather couches and warm carpets covering stone floors; lecture halls with stiff wooden seating and individual desks to match, a chalkboard with indiscernible scribbles half-wiped away; and a laboratory that deals with something a little less modern than you might be used to, or perhaps with its twisty vials and bubbling potions, it suits you perfectly. There is the large library filled from floor to ceiling with books beyond imagining.
If you look out from the tall arch-shaped window from a classroom, or if you’re outside and you tilt your head up to the sky, you might notice that the sky appears to be darkening further, growing heavy with what is inevitably an oncoming rainstorm. If you’re inside, it might be best to stay indoors; if you’re outside, perhaps it’s time to find some shelter. Or if you’re determined to find that orb outside, risk you and your compalion getting wet.
● ● ●
N O T E: 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 Team up with another Orber and their compalion to find the orb's location.
B Climb into the clocktower and ring the bell.
C Explain your best theory regarding your compalion’s manifestation to a fellow team member.
F Y I
• This TDM covers the month of February.
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open February 24 and will remain open until February 28.
• 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:
Minimus Ambus | Transformers IDW
[It all feels so familiar. As much as Minimus loathes to exaggerate, walking through the hallways of a spaceship bound for adventures feels like stepping into a distant past or another life. Even shrunk to six feet, he's rather large in comparison and calls upon memories of wearing the Magnus Armor in cramped spaces to avoid bumping into the walls. He must make a good first impression upon the rest of the crew; can't have everyone remember him as the mech who walked face-first into a beam.
Which is made more difficult as he's firing off a series of questions through his earpiece while rifling through a pile of office supplies. Where is the safety manual for the ship, are there any limits on what activities can be conducted on the ship, where are the manuals saved, which parties are to be alerted if there is an emergency-]
Here we are. [His treasure: ten binders, a stack of scheduling journals, highlighters, pencils, sticky notes, a notebad, desk tidies, a small filing cabinet. Minimus beams proudly at his find.] Now, where's the study room? I have work to do.
[He's already found a spare box and is arranging the items into the most efficient and safe arrangement he can come up with.]
IIa. Mission Start
[Minimus stands in the middle of the courtyard, arms crossed and glaring at his assigned companion. Of course his daemon would be this.
A tiny orange fox looks up at him and yips.
He sighs and glances around the area - no, everyone else is splitting up with their animal companions following them. He's stuck with this animal who - oh, there it goes, nuzzling him like some sort of pet.]
Shoo. [Said in an incredibly non-threatening way.] This - what if someone is allergic?
IIb. Storm's Coming
[You may wander into the library or lecture halls at some point, but there will be no robot inside the rooms designed for organic creatures. Instead, you'll fine an anachronistic teenager huddled around a pile of thick tomes writing notes on the history of the world into a neat little notebook.
Minimus's holomatter avatar is doing all of the indoor work while his original body sits outside, looking as if he is napping while his daemon sleeps on his lap, curled into a ball. It's the one sign that he's not actually dead, but that does leave his body vulnerable.
It's when he notices the storm rolling in that he realizes that his metal frame risks damage if it's flooded with water. The avatar closes the book, puts in back onto the pile of perfectly aligned books, grabs the notebook and pen, then - with the urgency of a pupil 10 minutes late to school while trying not to get in trouble for running in the hallways - powerwalks down the hall, dancing around others in the way.]
Sorry, excuse me, pardon- [The teenager does a little hop around one person and accidentally hits them lightly in the shin.]
I.
Minimus?
no subject
And he should not be seeing a ghost of the past staring straight back at him.
Megatron looks exactly as he did when he was sent off to eternal imprisonment. There are additional scratches and signs of wear, but he looks just like the mech in his memories. The same grey frame, the same details on his torso, the same way he stands when surprised.
Minimus knows he shouldn't panic. No, he's moved on, of course he has. His days of adventure and of questioning his own morals are gone. Megatron was supposed to disappear from his thoughts, it was better for his mental health. But it's now clear that he was not successful in burying his emotions. He's transported back to the cell where he stood with Megatron after receiving his sentence, wishing he could say more but knowing that it was too late to change anything. He had made a promise to destroy the armor, and they sat together in silence for several minutes, but nothing more was done.
People have more than one regret in their lifetimes, and Minimus is looking at one of them here.]
...Megatron? [This can't be real. It hurts too much to handle right now when he's just arrived.]
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[ Megatron finds himself unsure of what to say. Like Minimus, he finds himself staring down one of his regrets, unable to quite process what that means here. Is Minimus here on his account? Would that be selfish to hope for? And if he isn't, what regret would drive him to this cursed place? Megatron's weight shifts a little and he finally seems to compose himself. Tucks his hands at the small of his back the same way he always had on the Lost Light. ]
Yes, it's me. I...
[ What does he say? He uncharacteristically stumbles over his words for a moment and finally: ]
I thought I'd never see you again.
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I as well. [So, that's how he will greet the mech who sent him into a spiral of conflicting emotions. Minimus, even after years and years of living on New Cybertron, still can't find the best way to greet a friend. Even now, he's not sure what to discuss next. They aren't managing a ship, talk of Megatron's imprisonment is too difficult to even consider, and standard small talk feels inappropriate for this situation. For now, Minimus focuses on re-sorting his supplies in the box.
He's halfway through his pile when the silence is too much to bear.]
Forgive me, I hadn't expected to see anyone I knew.
no subject
I hadn't either. Drift is here as well.
[ The information is relayed dispassionately. Megatron hesitates. Takes a few steps closer. Closing the distance feels like it might be too much to contemplate but he wants to do so. His spark aches at the thought. ]
no subject
Drift? [His head tilts a few degrees upward, which is how much his allows for his boy language to convey confusion. Unfortunately, this moves his focus from the vague shape of Megatron to his face. He quickly averts his gaze to the box.] That is concerning. I should seek him out.
[He makes no effort to actually move from his spot, and his work on packing slows down.]
no subject
[ Megatron takes a few more steps and then slowly crouches down. He's so close to Minimus now that he's sure he can feel the brush of their EM fields interacting. He looks at the other, trying to decide what he's supposed to say. ]
I have many regrets. That's why I'm here. I suspect you know that, though.
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I know. I remember you telling me. [A conversation so long ago, but it was one of their last and forever etched into his memory.] Four million years wasted, is how you phrased it.
[Well, he's not getting any work done at this rate. Minimus pushes the box aside and faces this challenging conversation head-on. His EM field is wavering between a protective shell and reaching out to Megatron's.] I suppose you wonder what has happened since we last spoke.
no subject
Exactly as I phrased it, yes.
[ Megatron lapses into silence for a long moment. ]
Yes. I haven't had much news in prison.
[ His field presses out for a moment and then he restrains it, along with the urge to simply embrace Minimus. To crush him with a hug. To declare his truth.
He can't do that. It would be too much. ]
no subject
I destroyed the Armor. [He starts with himself, it's the easiest history to summarize.] There's no need for it in my new line of work, and to be frank, I've gotten used to the Luna-1 generation knowing me as myself.
[Megatron's hands are within grabbing distance. It would be so easy.]
Your advice was well-warranted in the end.
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[ Megatron actually smiles as Minimus mentions getting rid of the armor. ]
I'm glad I could be help in the end. Even a little.
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...You did do some good, Megatron. It meant something.
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[ A weak smile. ]
I am very glad to see you again, Minimus. You have no idea how glad I am.
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He glances at the floor. He needs a reason to remain with Megatron other than outright affection. Or is it something else? He never dared to sit and think about what they might have become.] I should set up my desk. Perhaps-
[There! A printed copy of a painting. Perfect excuse.] Yes, I could hang this in my room. Could you assist me in finding a good arrangement for this on my wall?
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I should be happy to help however I can.
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[It's easier to process this meeting when he's walking down the hall with a purpose. Two people he knows are here, one who he had to treat as dead. Both were familiar with Cybertronians, which makes their introductions to the crew easier. The problem is how to go about testing his bond with Megatron. Should he pretend that they are on another adventure on the Lost Light? Would it be better to ask Megatron if he is currently well? How soon should they even talk about feelings, if ever?
Thankfully, he reaches the door before his processor freezes with conflicting emotions.]
It's lackluster at the moment, especially the walls.
( prompt: iia! ) / HELLO... I MISS YOU...
We should have antihistamines or something like that at hand, just in case, or maybe they're all hypoallergenic? Seems like something that would be taken into consideration.
[ daylight bounces on his heels, ready and rearing to go. the chubby round bird, brightly colored as he is, taking the rocking motions like a champ. able to sway back and forth with the movements so they don't fall off their perch on his pauldron.
thankfully, daylight seems to notice his companion's efforts to stay on because he stills and tries to be serious. ] Sooo- How do you want to do this?
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I would hope so. I don't assume that any organization has everything under control until I see enough evidence. [The fox stands and sniffs Daylight curiously. Each time it feels as if Daylight has been looking for too long, it leaps around him to poke his legs.] Even if this is only a simulation, I cannot help but wonder if these creatures shed.
[How do they protect waxed floors? Furniture?]
I suppose we are meant to explore the area and learn of this "orb". Is this something anyone on the street would know?
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[ his little companion makes a happy noise in reply, as if agreeing with him and his idea. they do flutter their wings, as if trying to keep him grounded because daylight is the type to just.
run off and ask someone a question out of the blue, no doubt surprising them in the process. he seems to pick up on it, at least, and takes his time to survey their surroundings. ] Huh.
[ the first thing he notices right off the bat is the weather. the skies are darkening, clouds heavy with the promise of more than rain. ]
Wouldn't hurt to avoid getting drenched until the storm passes. I don't think they'll take to use kindly making a mess of the rooms.
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[The fox bounds back to Minimus and sits at his side regally.]
The registration process for a library card should take us long enough to wait out the storm.
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[ the bird seems to agree, chirping happily before it pecks at daylight's face. ] Alright, alright! We'll get going. Sheesh, you're a bossy spirit.
Oh! I'm Daylight vis Lornlit, by the way. It's really nice to meet you, mister. Will do my best to be a good partner for this, um, simulation mission, I guess is the word for it.
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[It just feels wrong to disrupt the peace even in a simulation. The fox follows Minimus obediently while he approaches the entrance, then pauses.]
Should I go in disguise? The residents may be shocked to see a mechanical lifeform.
no subject
[ that's a pretty good question, now that daylight thinks about it.
just because they have magical animal companions as the norm for the simulation, it doesn't mean it'll be aces if they simply stroll in. ] I guess it wouldn't hurt. Better safe than sorry! That's what Dialup would say if she was more casual and stuff.
[ now the other question: ]
Errr- How are you doing to do that, by the way? Going in disguise, I mean?