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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.
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hikaru hitachiin / ohshc
➥ 𝚔𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚗
➥ 𝚜𝚠𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐
➥ 𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔
➥ 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝!
waking up!
[ As soon as he sees the kid running around making a scene, Draken knows that he needs to step in. Though he can't blame him for panicking. Draken himself has wondered if this is some kind of kidnapping, too... of course, he remembers the dream he'd had before waking up here, and he wants to believe that it was real more than anything, but he knows that's not particularly likely. Either way, though, they have to stay calm. Panicking isn't going to get them anywhere. ]
You need to get a hold of yourself. Who's Kaoru?
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(it feels too real to be having a hangover in a dream inside a dream, but a kidnapping to a place like this? ah, and he doesn't recognize any other face, which means, they're probably not from the same social and economic standing. he does attend school for the one percent within the one percent, after all, he'd expect to see at least known people if it were a kidnapping of sorts.
when he's told to calm down, that's the last thing hikaru does. look around, how could he?)
Kaoru is my twin brother. Have you seen him?!
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[ Well, it's not like he expected the kid to calm down straight away just because he was told to... it was worth a shot, though, right? In that case, Draken needs to be the one who keeps them grounded. ]
But listen to me. I'll help you search for him, alright? So calm down. Freaking out is just going to make things worse.
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kaoru is the smart twin, for sure.)
... What's your name?
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[ He introduces himself with his last name first. For a guy who looks as intimidating as he does, Draken can be a surprisingly grounding figure when he needs to be... Either way, he's going to try his best to keep Hikaru calm, if he can. ]
What's the last thing you remember? Before waking up here, I mean.
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(and finally, he breathes, his eyes closing while he recollects the events of last night.)
Kaoru and I were at a party... I drank a bunch... We went home, I crashed, and now I'm here.
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( kitchen )
at least, in his case, there's at least a certain kind of awe tamaki feels when poking through the cabinets and refrigerator. and there's basically no one around to even try to reign him in...this is his time to shine, a chance to study the food of the laymen!
so he's got something that looks like it resembles a sandwich as the finished product. it has bread, lettuce, some kind of sauce spread that he thinks smells very suspicious. a boiled egg. tuna...from a can. someone really should have stepped in before it got this far.
until hikaru shows up to call him out, tamaki hadn't actually considered the end of the experiment would require eating what he'd just birthed from his inexperienced hands. and while he's very happy to see hikaru, he has to defend his capabilities. except wow hikaru dyed his hair — his thinking this is a dream seems to be panning out. ❱
Unlike you, Hikaru, I'm courageous enough to try things that are unfamiliar to me. They aren't of the highest quality, but I take my passion for commoner anthropology very seriously. And that includes investigating their foods and how they make them.
❰ he gives his sandwich another look, fear obvious in his eyes as the sauce leaks out and a half of a boiled egg finally gives up and falls out the side. maybe he shouldn't have gone so hard. ❱ And therefore I will eat this with pride!
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(and hikaru's got a chance to look at that abomination that tamaki created with his own two hands and wince, feeling the goosebumps override his circuits for a second there as his eyes bear the image and possible taste it may have. the smell of that sauce indicates to his refined palate that this is not edible, not in a million years, and if it were hikaru, he'd take this sandwich apart and take only the egg.
maybe.
hikaru's taking a few steps away from his beloved host president, just because...)
Milord's gonna throw it up!
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In that case, please consider my courage twofold! If this is truly a life or death type scenario, food can't be wasted when it's rationed, so I will do what is moral — and scientific! When in Rome, as they say...
❰ a la, he's in a sci-fi setting so he must embrace the science; he'll figure out what to do with the fiction part later. with shaking hands and a dry throat, tamaki lifts up the sandwich, going slightly green as his fingers sink into the now-overly moistened bread. oh god, it's basically disintegrating. there's now a whole egg on the floor.
mother mary, please save him. ❱
Or! Perhaps I should find someone else to conduct this experiment with. Just eating it myself isn't conducive to a viable sample size. ❰ so his arms shoot out, less offering it to hikaru and more so getting it as far away from his body as possible while in his possession. ❱ Hikaru, I elect you to be the first official guinea pig in this trial.
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it's only when the resemblance of a sandwich is way too close to him that he stops, wipes off the tear that pooled on the corners of his eyes and then makes an 'x' with his arms.)
Pass! You got yourself in this mess, you get yourself out!
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Have you no compassion, Hikaru? Consider what we can deduce from consuming this! The understanding we will receive about being a lonesome soul on a spaceship, but only if you take the first bite!
❰ he shakes the sandwich with gusto, waggling it so that the juices and sauce fling out in about every direction. you may not want the sandwich, but the sandwich now wants you. ❱
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(zero compassion, king. zero, ziltch. the possessed (?) sandwich can want him as much as it possibly does, but hikaru wants nothing with it. in fact, he even forces himself to take a piece of the soggy bread... and pop it directly into tamaki's mouth, laughing tears of amusement.)
See, Milord?! This is what you want to feed me? The one who has no compassion is you!
network
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kitchen
He wilts. Although from all appearances she wilts, since he's a reverse of the cross-dressing trope Hikaru is used to (for entirely different reasons). Even his voice doesn't exactly give way to that lie, since it's the sort of soft, higher tone that could belong to a girl or boy. ]
I...I just haven't eaten in a while...and I thought soup would be okay...
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more importantly than gender or even questioning it, is the soup that the other is making. hikaru winces, making a face at the possible taste that wouldn't be suited for such refined tastebuds such as his. he's too goddamn spoiled.)
I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm wondering if this place has a VIP lounge with better food.
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[ Honestly, Chihiro's used to a little bit better fare himself, although nothing like Hikaru would be used to. But the ingredients here are less good than the ones he had in the last place he was locked in... ]
...if...if you do get hungry and can't find anything, though, you're welcome to have some of this...
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being absurdly rich is not coming in handy here, he's too goddamn spoiled for his own good.)
I guess that'll do. I'm Hikaru, by the way.
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[ At least that seems to calm him down a little...he's actually used to difficult personalities, and at least no one here has tried Murder as a solution to problems yet. ]
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(and now he awaits for the name to ring any bells. awaiting...)