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MAY TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 1
So what do you say? What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
These words ring in your ears when you wake with a gasp — perhaps the last thing you remember after hearing them is the sense of free-fall, or your throat constricting as tears threaten to fill your eyes. Whatever it is, you can’t shake the feel of dread — that whatever you’ve done in your dream has changed everything forever.
As the sense of dread 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 not alone. Perhaps the other occupants of the room are still sleeping, only to wake up with their heart pounding… or perhaps they have been awake for longer, a spectator to everyone else’s dreaming.
What you do is entirely up to you: try and wake the others from their dream? Yell in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you? Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone else wakes...
After all, nothing binds the characters to the room they wake up in. If you find your bed comfortable, you may claim it as yours, or try to change rooms. However, there are only eight one-person rooms — so those who want solitude may have to fight for it.
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.
In fact, if you’re very badly off, you may want to hope for some company — you can’t stay in the infirmary forever, 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.
Suddenly, the soft hum of the station is replaced by loud static, like an old radio being turned on. Wherever you are on the station, it’s impossible to miss it — or the clear voice that follows.
With that, the speakers go silent — though if characters follow Viveca’s instructions, the earpiece will provide them with a chance to speak to her again.
True to her word, there is a lot to do and see on the station. When characters leave their rooms, they have the chance to explore all of the Southeastern and Southwestern Wings, and the Center of the station.
3.0 In the armory, characters can try to work the machine to make themselves some weapons to perhaps replace ones that didn’t come with them to the station, or to simply be prepared for future missions... but there aren’t many materials available, so the more the weapon requires, the more chance there is of the end result being less than satisfactory. A gun whose barrel is made out of recycled rings, a sword that’s just the blade and no handle, a knife made out of cheap aluminium — well, it’s better than nothing, right?
4.0 Eventually, when characters get hungry and want to eat, the kitchen and mess hall are ready for them… mostly. What food there is on the station seems to have been stocked for long-term storage: canned foods, dried meat and fruit, dried herbs and seasoning, condiments, some rather musty root vegetables and cartons of chicken stock. It’s certainly not impossible to make good dishes out of those, but it may require some skill.
5.0 The lab provides an interesting space for those who enjoy tinkering and technology — though the parts available are all in large boxes with no apparent method to their sorting. It may very well be that what you need for a hoverboard or a robot dog are in the boxes — it’s just a matter of finding it!
6.0 Meanwhile, those who want to train (or perhaps let off some steam by sparring with others) find the training room suitable for their needs. On top of the entire room existing for the express purpose of training, whether it’s martial arts, weapon skills or magic, anyone entering the room will see a message pop up on their network:
Complete these tasks for a boon:
a. Teach someone a new move or skill
b. Win a sparring match against someone
c. Learn to fight with a new weapon, style or skill
Should you take up this challenge, any time you complete any of the three, you’ll see that one turn light green — a mark of completion. Once all three are completed, you’ll see a new message:
Congratulations! You are now eligible for one (1) boon. Please check in later for submissions.
But when is later? What submissions? Even if you try to ask, no answer comes… all you can do is hope that you haven’t done all that work in vain.
7.0 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: characters will hear birds singing, feel a light breeze on their skin, as they walk through a grass field, a meadow and a small forest. In the middle of the room, a small brook runs the width of the room, and to cross it one must walk over a bridge — wooden, creaky, yet undeniably charming.
There are other things to do, of course… but the only room that requires a mandatory visit from everyone is the simulation room...
For those eager to get started, it might be best to do a little practice run first, huh? When you’ve successfully entered the simulation, you will immediately be provided with a supply satchel containing the following: a grapple hook, a long cord of rope, a flashlight, and a couple of snack bars (these will not actually feed you IRL). And your mission, if you choose to accept it (and you must, right? Otherwise what else are you doing here?) is as such:
There’s an orb buried deep in the Lodgen Mountain Mines — a series of winding underground tunnels long since abandoned now that any and all useful resources had been picked clean — and it’s causing a little bit of a problem down there, but the good news is that it’s yours to claim so long as you can get in and get out. You see, there’s been a cave-in and the culprit is the orb itself. Extracting this valuable object might take a little bit of doing, and if that’s not complicated enough, the orb’s presence appears to be the cause for the mines being in their current state of fragility.
Still: you’re resourceful, and more than that, you’re determined, and you can enter the mines in the following ways: going in from the top and climbing down through the mine shaft; going in from beneath the rubble where a narrow but perfectly safe-ish tunnel opening leads back into the mountain; finding an entry point from the mountain’s side by way of a refreshing dive into the lake that neighbours the mines.
8.0 If you decide to climb into the mine through the mine shaft, there’s a risk of the rocks you’re using as hand and footholds to crumble, or for the rocks to give way against your weight.
9.0 If you decide to go in through the tunnel, be careful you don’t take the wrong prong in the fork of paths. One will get you closer to the orb, but the other might lead you into the darkness where the first thing you’ll notice are several beady little specks of light reflecting off the beam of your flashlight, accompanied by the sharp chittering of large monster rats who haven’t had a decent meal in who-knows-how-long, and are eager to befriend you. It’s probably a good time for that weapon you have on you, or if that’s not an option, maybe there’s something you can MacGuyver from your supply bag?
10.0 Swimming is always an option, but like all unknown waters there’s the risk that you’re not alone, and we don’t just mean your fellow teammate swimming somewhere close by. (Though you might want to continue onwards together, Buddy System Style and all.) There are beautiful, haunting creatures that live in the depths who have the ability to draw their prey towards them through song — Sirens, some might call them. They call to you now, and oh boy, don’t you want to dive deeper? See what secrets they hold? Now would be a good time for your swimming partner to pull you back to your senses or be lost to the waters.
But okay! You’ve made it. Don’t forget that the mines are still in a very fragile state, so it’s best to tread carefully and avoid making sounds that could agitate the delicate infrastructure and risk the whole mission — and your simulated life. This is on you. This is about you.
Or is it?
When you’ve neared the location of the orb, you’ll find that it’s mostly quiet and you’re on your own, except … if you stand still for long enough, you can hear muffled cries for help behind a large wall of rock right by you, sounds that are clearly distressed and panicked. But before you can make any kind of snap decision, there’s a tiny blip of static in your earpiece and a matter-of-fact voice will state that you should probably get going — there’s an orb to recover and you’re nearly there. Anything else you attempt to do is outside of your mission, and time is ticking. Will you listen to the voice or will you try and save the trapped? You might be successful, but time is running against you and the longer you stall the more unstable the mines become.
● ● ●
N O T E: During each mission, characters will be given one personal goal to complete. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re offering three goals to choose from and leaving it to players to pick one for their character and run with it:
A Choose the most difficult or challenging path into the mountain.
B Help a teammate during the mission.
C Retrieve the orb at all costs, leaving any possible trapped individuals to fend for themselves.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open to those with invites. They will be open for everyone May 26.
• Apps open for those with invites May 26. They will open for everyone May 29.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
no subject
[It's the only response that a certain drone gets when Bucky first spots it hovering in his periphery. He'd come to the sunlight room for a break. For a few hours free from prying eyes. Coming to terms with everything that's on offer, on just how he can really make amends for all he did- It's a lot to take in. And laying alone in the middle of a (simulated) forest had given him the distance he needed to try and process it all.
And then along comes Redwing. That stupid drone that he regrets asking to be rebuilt. Sure, Sam considered the previous iteration a partner in its own rights. Is clearly enjoying it's Wakandan built offspring. And maybe Bucky enjoys the fact that its existence makes Sam happy too. But that doesn't mean Bucky has to like either version of the droid.
Especially when it encroaches on his personal time.
So he doesn't bother getting up. Doesn't do anything more than give the droid (and the man undoubtedly monitoring him through it) an annoyed look and a raised middle finger, before his arm flops back to the ground again. He has no doubts that Sam will be turning up sooner rather than later. So he's going to stay exactly where he is, laid back and soaking in the virtual sunlight in silence. While he can.]
no subject
So his not-best-friend and no-partner is on the damn station, trying to undo a regret. It means Sam will have someone watching his six, and that's... yeah that's a relief. Also means he'll have someone he's gotta protect at all costs.
And his mind flickers, immediately, to the question of what Bucky wants to change, because the possibilities are endless and Sam... worries. He breathes out, long and deliberate, before he makes his way to the sun room.
Damnit all.
Sam's arrival is hailed by Redwing whirring back into the air and disappearing from his hovering spot right above Bucky - out of arm's reach. He settles back into Sam's wingsuit instead, before Sam detaches the thruster pack and drops it into the grass.
And then he lowers himself down, stretches out next to Bucky with a little space between them, and stares up at the sky beyond the canopy of the simulated trees.
He'd joked about them being a package deal during the cookout, but he'd never thought that would end up being quite so literal, honestly, with both of them accepting some strange deal to end up on a space station run by iKarli. Shut up, it's a good reference.
Sam doesn't know where to start. So for a moment, he doesn't. ]
no subject
Not when they each have their reasons to be here.
Not when he knows that Sam won't agree with his own.
So instead, he just lets his eyes slip shut, taking advantage of the fact that Sam is right there with him. He may pride himself these days on having Sam's back, on being there to support him both on and off the field. But he also knows that he can trust Sam to do the same. That he can drop his guard around the man because they're friends, no matter what they've tried to label their relationship as. He can lay there with his eyes close, out in the middle of an unfamiliar location, because Sam is there to watch his six. It really is that simple.]
When'd you get here?
[It's a quietly muttered question. A break in the silence because he knows one of them needs to break first. And he doesn't really care if it has to be him.]
no subject
Finding someone here he can trust is a small blessing, no matter the knot that's formingly persistently in Sam's guts - he knows he won't like it, Bucky's reason for being here. He's debating whether he should even ask - he has a suspicion Bucky will either lie, or tell Sam something that Sam doesn't want to hear and yet will probably not be able to judge Bucky for anyway. With the sort of life that's been forced on Bucky, who could begrudge the guy anything about that he wants to alter? Bucky's list of regrets must look different than Sam's in vast ways. ]
Just an hour or two ago. Been getting a lay of the land. You?
no subject
[Not that it had kept him from trying. But if Viveca really does know as much about him as she seems to, then it was likely expected. There's no way that Bucky can just sit back and not try to seek out the answers he wants, regardless of what's been offered to him. (To all of them.)]
Would've told you I was coming if I could.
[But there hadn't been a chance. Hadn't been any time between receiving the offer and having to accept it. Sure, he still might not be entirely convinced that this is all real. That his nightmares haven't taken on an completely new method of punishing him. But as long as there's even the slightest chance that they can hold up their end of the bargain, Bucky's willing to give it a try.
Besides, it's not like magic and time travel is an entirely new concept to him these days.]
You spoken to Viveca yet?
[Because that's a whole other issue. That familiar voice being the one to greet them. To answer their questions. It's a whole other complicated mess, but one that he knows will likely mean more to Sam than it does himself. Only one of them held out hope for Karli the entire time. So with how things ended up, he knows he needs to at least check in. Needs to make sure that Sam is okay.]
no subject
[ The other option is that the other side is harmless, but Viveca might be pissed and space the lot of them. Who knows what she's really all about? She can claim one thing, but they won't know unless... well.
How do you decide when and how to trust an AI when Stark made Jarvis, Stark made Ultron, both made Vision?
Speaking of. ]
Yeah.
[ Sam frowns slightly. Can still feel the weight of Karli in his arms - she was small, in the end. Small and frail for all her strength, and he saw the life fade from her eyes on a broken 'I'm sorry', saw how scared she was in the end, and could give her no peace after he failed to save her yet again. He could feel her warm body start to go so cold.
Softly, quietly... ]
Says she didn't know. That she's always had that face, that voice.
[ Sam thought, at first, that it was a special kind of punishment just for him. Narcissistic perhaps, but well... it hurt hard, when Karli is the one thing he thinks he can fix without messing up everything else. ]