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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:
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Well, I! Madam, I am married.
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Well then maybe you shouldn't be going around offering to show your sword to strangers.
[She suggests as she goes through some of the options. Teasing aside, she's willing to try and help him get what he wanted.]
Let me see?
[She can't quite keep the teasing smile off of her face, but she is being serious this time.]
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No, this is all wrong.
[ from his back pocket he whips out a small leather bound journal and flicks through the pages until he finds what he is looking for and passes the book to daisy. one page is covered in messy, loopy arabic that only half translates (it is a grocery list) because joe's handwriting is horrific and the other page is a highly detailed sketch of a man's bare back, muscles in stark relief as he lunges with a beautiful sword, profile flawlessly rendered. ass you could bounce a quarter off apparent even in charcoal sweatpants. it's beautiful, he is an incredible artist. ]
That is the sword I was trying to make.
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You drew this?
[The sword isn't something she's seen before and is very different to the one he just tried to create.]
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[ though joe isn't smug, he is not modest either. it took a lot of centuries to get that good, thank you. he worked his ass off. his early works were... not great. ]
It's an Italian broadsword, sort of, single-handed, double-bladed.
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[Daisy shakes her head in awe.]
Really impressive.
[Smiling over at him she then takes a closer look at the sword he's talking about and starts adjusting some of the settings.]
How big is it supposed to be?
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get your head in the game, yusuf! wildcats!]
Ah, 120 centimeters, give or take?
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How's that?
[Daisy asks, taking a step back so he can pick it up.]
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it doesn't make him feel old that this young woman absolutely wrecked him with her sheer competency, but he doesn't feel young either.
yikes. ]
It's good, [ he tells her, enthusiasm dampened only by his concentration on the weapon before his eyes flicker back to daisy.
he grins at her, all semi-crooked white teeth and radiating joy. ]
Do you know how to sword fight, habibti?
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[May, of course, taught her the basics. But it's not something she's had to rely on out in the field.]
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No one is like Andy. I've seen her fight for... ages and sometimes I still stop and watch. [ and then gets stabbed but, you know, sometimes that happens. ]
Here, you take this one. [ he passes over the sword she just made him. ] And I'll get mine. There's a gym around here, isn't there?
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[Daisy smile drops a little when he hands her the sword, surprised that he's even offering it to her.]
Oh, uh--
Yeah, there's a training room in the center.
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[ joe really out here thinking this woman is going to drop everything and come sword fight with him because he is constantly surrounded by people that would do exactly that but give him a second. ]
Oh, but you came in here to use the machine, not humour me. [ his apologetic smile is one of a person who just let their hyperactive brain wander off ahead of them and now knows it. the smile equivalent of
my bad. ]
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The machine will still be here later. I'll come with you so you can get your sword and walk you over to the room?
[It'll be a good distraction for her too.]
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I'd like that. Not in part because I have no clue where anything is yet.
[ he found the kitchen, at least, and then wandered here, so he would have found it eventually, but a guide is much better in his opinion. he gestures for her to lead the way. ]
Have you been here long, Daisy?
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Uh--
[It takes her a minute to figure out,]
Eight months now. Which is insane to think about. That probably feels like no time at all you though.
[She says it before realizing maybe she shouldn't acknowledge that she knows he's more or less immortal. Wincing she turns to face him a little.]
Andy kinda told me...
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Eh, I wouldn't say it feels like no time. Sometimes time passes in a blink, I missed the entire impressionist movement in France because we lost track of time, but sometimes... The 80s lasted a century, I'm certain of it.
[ it lasted exactly ten years because that is how decades work. ]
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Relieved that he doesn't seem to be upset that she knows, she smiles at his remark about the 80s.]
In a good way or a bad way?
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[ none of those happened in the same century, joe hates the 80s in every century. ]
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[Andy's mentioned all of the names of the people in her family, but she doesn't connect the dots just yet that Nicolò was Nicky.
Her eyes lighten up at the mention of Andy having a perm.]
Are you shitting me? Please tell me there's photographic proof of that.
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[ he notably doesn't turn into a pissy cat at the mention of booker and he thinks he deserves a medal, quite frankly. ]
Nicolò is... [ what is he, joe??? what is he! TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO KNOW. ] Nicky is my everything.
[ it is only by virtue of joe being so fucking earnest and sincere that he manages to say something so gag-worthy and trite and make it sound so factual. nicky is his everything, that is all. ]
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[Daisy's smile brightens when she puts two and two together.]
Nicky. I definitely know that name. You two are together?
[It's a pretty easy assumption to come to, given the look on his face.]
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[ joe wears his heart on his sleeve and his love on his expression, so it really is an easy assumption. imagine how annoyed andy was at the start when joe couldn't conceal his expression and ruined the honey traps by staring, utterly besotted, at nicky across the room. ]
We are. [ he is disgustingly in love and honestly it is gross. ]
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[Is that something she learned in the history classes she didn't go to? Probably. Still, she laughs along with him.
Her smile does fade a little when she realizes he's probably not here. That's the hardest part about being here, not having those she cares about most on the station.
'I'm sorry' probably wouldn't mean much.]
Which is your room?
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joe hadn't looked at the number when he left because he can be very smart and very clever and very, very dumb so for a while he looks between the doors with a long, drawn out ] Uhhhh... [ before he finds the right door. ]
This one! Yes, this is the one.
[ the door opens and he peers around, spotting his mussed bunk and moving over to it to draw the curved sword from beneath the bed and draw it from the sheathe. ] Here it is.
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🎀