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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:
no subject
... I mean. The problem with this deal is there's a lot of unspecified details. I almost feel like I've been tricked, with them coming at me with it in what felt like a dream. If I'd had my wits about me I would have asked a lot more questions.
[He's irritated. Law likes to give every decision careful consideration and plan things out. He likes to have a handle on things. He has to consider all factors and variables. He's a huge nerd who's read so many books.]
Where do we return to after the regret is undone? The moment it happened. or is it undone retroactively? How does that change things? Would a dead person fill in the gaps of lost time or would they just re-materialize? Or wake up in their grave? Even beyond the matter of death, anything that you want to undo or reverse in the past would affect the present. What if undoing something makes something else far worse happen?
[Aren't you glad that Law is still as pessimistic and anal-retentive as he was when he was a child.]
no subject
The orbs have very real and very terrifying powers. The deals they've made with the people we've retrieved them from were anything but straightforward. They keep them, but they find ways to turn a bargain into something devastating. The last mission we were on, a man named Welford Branson had the orb. His town had been burned to the ground, and he'd lost everyone he ever knew, friends and family. He told us the orb offered to make it all right again, and it appeared to - the whole town came back to life around him. But none of it was real. The people were a mockery of who they had been, parroting words they might have said and repeating their actions over and over. Not really life at all, just an illusion of it.
[And the truth is, none of that was even the worst thing he's seen. The entire journey has left him a lot less shaken than much of the crew. But it's a fine example of the games the orbs play for their amusement, if that's even the reason.]
no subject
Then what do we even gain out of retrieving them? What's the point? If the reversal of our regrets is going to be something twisted like that, I don't see anything to be gained from pursuing it.
Besides, I suppose, the fact that we're not able to return home without completing the agreement?
no subject
I've been operating as if the agreement was in good faith, if only because it's a chance at something better. It's either try, and hope it works, or give up entirely.
[And Law knows exactly how easily Rosinante gives up on things involving Law's own safety, right? Yeah. Not a chance. But now Law is here, talking all about how far he's come and how much he's achieved, and that is something that can shake his resolve. Maybe Law is better off at home living the life he's made without him.
Might as well tell Law what his plan has been.]
I was hoping I could set multiple things right. I asked for the opportunity to go back to an earlier point, to give more of a priority to discovering what Vergo's mission was. I should have done that, but I didn't. I was too focused on my brother. Felt right at the time.
no subject
... That was my fault, though. If he hadn't been the marine I found...
[Maybe Doflamingo suspected Rosinante anyway at that point, and it wouldn't have mattered. But it's hard to say. In any case, he'd definitely fucked up, and regardless, if Vergo could be removed from the equation...]
For whatever it's worth, he's dead now.
[No need to get into the details as to how or who exactly killed him, don't worry about it.]
Obviously if I'd known you were here, I would've chosen differently. Are the terms of the deal we make set in stone?
no subject
[Vergo shouldn't have even been there, and that's that. Law couldn't have known. Removing Vergo not only saves them both a lot of pain, but would also ensure his notes would get to the right people. Probably also helps in a lot of other ways he can't account for.
Though the news of Vergo's death later is... oddly satisfying. He's not normally one to wish death on people, he knows he's not supposed to, and the suffering from a long, slow imprisonment tends to be the officially preferred method anyway, but some people really and truly deserve death. If that makes him a bad person for thinking so, then oh well.]
I've heard rumors that the deal can be changed, but I don't know the details. From what I've learned of the orbs, I'd guess it means they'll ask for something more. It would have to be worth the cost.
[He wants to ask. He really, really wants to. But he said he won't, so he holds his tongue and chews on the end of his cigarette instead. It's Law's to tell if he wishes, and he doesn't have to do so.]
no subject
Well, it's good to know it's possible to change it. But if it comes at extra cost then we certainly need to find out more about the exact terms before changing it. Still, if you're using yours for that there's no point in me using mine to undo your death.
[There it is. He sighs a little, and shifts his weight to just comfortably lean against Rosinante. It seems he's at least partly grown out of being exceedingly prickly.]
So how many orbs have you retrieved so far?
no subject
[Insecurity runs deep. Law would risk giving up everything he's earned just for him? He's sure? Rosinante stares at him for a moment, then sighs and gives him a comforting little squeeze.]
Rather thank thinking there's no point, think of it as reassurance. With mine there's still no guarantee of what happens after, if reporting Vergo means Doffy discovers me sooner. Maybe the things we've both asked for go hand in hand.
[Maybe. Who the hell knows. But a little bit of redundancy doesn't sound bad, in his opinion, if that's what Law really wants. It's certainly what he wants, but if Law instead had asked for something else, having made peace with what happened on Minion, then Rosinante would have bent over backward to make sure Law's request was satisfied.]
We've collected four orbs, though. Out of how many, I'm not sure.
no subject
We can work on figuring out the details between these missions, I suppose. If they're still pulling in new people, they're probably not close to having all of the orbs.
[Logically.]
I'm kind of interested to see what you're like when you're not playing the fool, Cora-san. I've fought plenty of ranked Marines at this point and I know they're no joke.
[DON'T BRAG ABOUT BEATING UP MARINES?]
no subject
I'm sure you'll get a chance, considering what I've been up to here on missions. Plenty of others here know how to pull a trigger, but they're not all quite as good at infiltration.
[That's one of his skills that he actually isn't going to downplay. It's also something he doesn't usually mention so directly around the others. Nobody trusts a spy.]
I'm looking forward to seeing you in action, too. I never really thought about working side by side with you before, as equals.
no subject
You couldn't look less like an infiltration expert if you tried, but I suppose that's the whole point.
[No one expects a big clumsy guy to be a spy because he sticks out like a sore thumb. Hiding in plain sight. He spends a lot of time wondering how much of the clumsiness is an act that became actual clumsiness out of habit.]
I'm sure I could use Shambles to back you up. I used it just a while ago to sneak a bunch of samurai through the back entrance of Onigashima.
no subject
[Seriously, he's so curious. The place is virtually a black box to outsiders. Yamato tried to describe it some, but the perspective of someone born there is bound to be different from someone visiting, who's seen lots of what the rest of the world has to offer.]
no subject
It's a country of disparities under Kaido's rule. Extravagance alongside extreme poverty. Beauty alongside pollution and filth. Cowardice and bravery. It'll be interesting to see how things change in the near future, after Strawhat-ya takes out Kaido and the Kozuki family regains control, since I believe they intend to open the borders.
[Law just casually assuming Luffy is going to beat Kaido. He doesn't even do it consciously.]
We actually got a bit of peace lying low doing reconnaissance work before Strawhat-ya showed up. Of course, as soon as he arrives, things become loud.
[Luffy is strong enough to beat Kaido but also he ruined my vacation and I'll never forgive him for that.]
no subject
I take it the Kozuki family ruled before Kaido, then? Opening the country would be awfully admirable. I'd like to see it myself some day, if things work out right.
[Which still feels a bit like a remote possibility, but he can daydream. Especially now with Law here, actually, he feels more free to do so. It somehow makes the chance of returning home more real. Already he's pretty sure he's smiled more in the last hour or so than the entire time he's been here.]
no subject
[FIRMLY.]
There's lots of things you'll have to do. I only told Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin about you but the rest of the crew will be happy to meet you as well, regardless.
[Just going to start talking like Rosinante returning with him is a guarantee. He wants them to be like equals now, right? Talking about fighting alongside eachother. Then he needs to take a leaf out of the other man's book and try to talk positive outcomes into reality.]
no subject
Maybe those are thoughts for another day.]
Well, I'm looking forward to it. It sounds like you're fortunate to know so many good people.
[He gestures then to Law's nearest hand.] Tell me about your tattoos. Don't see too many guys walking around with DEATH written across their hands.
[He is trying not to judge without hearing the story but like, kid, that's just kinda goofy.]
no subject
Mm, well most of my tattoo designs are based off the name of my crew and our Jolly Roger... But I got these after people started calling me the Surgeon of Death. A surgeon's tools are his hands, so it seemed the best place to get it written.
[What sort of edgelord logic is this.]
no subject
[But like, he knows that's also very much a pirate thing. Has Law earned it? Sure, probably, but apparently not from actually killing people. More intimidation, like the oversized sword.]
What's your Jolly Roger?
[Probably a heart, right? That would make sense. More memorializing that he doesn't know how to deal with, since he's right here, still alive, and because no matter what Law says he just can't think of himself as worth all of that.]
no subject
Anyway hopefully it's not too awkward as he just casually strips off his shirt?? Revealing yet another tattoo.]
It's the one on my back.
[It's probably pretty familiar; given.]
Since Doflamingo used a smiling one like this crossed out, I figured I'd do the opposite.
no subject
Huh. Yeah, I see that. That's cool. Must've hurt, it's huge.
[He has the sneaking suspicion it's more than just that, given he made sure Law saw him smiling broadly when the kid last saw him at all. But. Not going to just bring that memory up, he's done enough crying already and doesn't want to put Law through more pain either.
So, a huge grin, with spokes or something. And then hearts on his shoulders, and other patterns on his arms that had been hidden. Never mind how much they hurt, they must have also cost a fair chunk of change with how much ink was involved.
And a mark around one arm. He exhales a plume of smoke.]
What's the story behind the scar?
no subject
... There's not really that interesting a story behind it.
[He doesn't want Rosinante to stress out over the fact that Doflamingo almost killed him and he almost lost his arm for good in the process.]
no subject
[It's the only scar he has, or at least the only obvious one. A reaction like that just makes him worry more. If it was an uninteresting story, wouldn't he just tell it?]
I'm not an idiot.
[He'll just throw that in there for good measure. Reading and misleading people is kind of his day job.]
no subject
... Doflamingo cut it off when I was fighting him. Obviously, it was able to be reattached in time.
[Well that is technically not an interesting story since it's pretty straightforward.]
no subject
I should've pulled the goddamn trigger.
[He grumbles quietly, as the hand not holding his cigarette at the moment balls into a fist.
Doffy is in Impel Down. People don't break out of there. Any hope he may have had in his brother's redemption vanished eight months ago, so let him stay there and rot.
At a bit of a loss and without one particular sunglasses-wearing face to punch, he winds up tugging Law against his side again.]
I can't believe him. I'm glad you didn't lose it.
no subject
Haah, well, I think he was especially mad at me, not just that I was standing up to him, that I'd taken the Ope-ope Fruit, but that I was doing it for your sake. The name of my crew annoyed him, too.
[Said with a bit of a smirk. Beating Doflamingo had been one thing, a bit phyrric since Luffy had needed to be the one to actually finish him off. But the amount his devotion to Corazon and his memory had gotten under the man's skin... it had been satisfying.]
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