![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
SPRING TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 8
The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, a teal glow pulses, slowly enveloping you. It is not a feeling of comfort that surrounds you, though — as a distorted voice whispers in your ear, you feel it: cold dread, and a sudden certainty that everything is about to be irrevocably changed.
It is to this daunting realization that you wake, and as 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 a few days 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.
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.
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.
With an illusion so authentic it may leave you longing for some hot chocolate, 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 As you wander back towards the common areas, you may notice a room off to the side. The room takes up a chunk of the common area, and on its unassuming door is a little plaque that reads, 'The Ximusic room'. Should you enter, you will find a sound-proofed practice room that contains — yes, you guessed it, band equipment that even the most musically inclined should be satisfied with. So pick up an instrument, saunter up to the microphone to belt out your favourite tunes, or take a seat at the side of the room and enjoy others' playing.
8.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.
As you make your way to the platform, you'll see there is nothing amiss in the neat piles of items 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!
(CW: POTENTIAL BODY MODIFICATION)
Whether you’re a quick study and you’ve become settled into life on the station, or you want to get the full lay of the land (in a manner of speaking) first, if you decide to explore the hall past the control room, you’ll eventually come across the simulation room.
Step past the threshold and the doors will slide shut with a quiet woosh. Nothing suspicious; nothing to worry about. But before you can really get a sense of your environment (a grey, large-ish empty room, no furniture, no discernable objects to provide markers), the room goes dark, and then … there’s really no other way to describe it: the room transforms.
You find yourself in a club. The music is upbeat, loud, but not too loud. Down a short flight of steps flanking the bar and seating is the open floor with more tables and booths bathed in a warm, dim glow of light, and at the very end of the room is a stage with its bright spotlight showcasing its performers — though, at the moment, the stage is empty.
9.0 When you take a step forward, you’ll feel a presence gently push at your chest or your shoulder — a tall and jovial man resembling a well-dressed bartender from the top up (the rest of him appears to move along wheels) approaches with a tall flute glass in hand. Its contents are sparkly and blue.
Will you proceed? Please respond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”
There’s something a little strange about his voice, a cadence that doesn’t sound quite natural even when the simulation is so realistic otherwise. Once you’ve given your consent, the bartender continues.
10.0 It seems the bartender wasn’t lying. Once you’ve allowed the drink (tasty, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, effervescent, with light notes of your fondest childhood memory) to settle in your stomach you might experience a myriad of effects on your body, ranging from a change in skin colour (pink? green? blue with spots?), an additional limb or two (or three), a tail or wings, or cybernetic parts such as lie-detecting eyes or a tongue that can uncover truths and lies in others. If you happen to find another Orber within the room and both of you have consumed the offered drink, you might find yourself experiencing a full bodyswap.
None of the changes are painful; if anything, they might not even be noticeable until you look into a mirror, look down at your limb-in-question, or your companion points it out.
11.0 The moment you approach the stage, a performer will appear as if out of thin air and begin to sing, her voice strong and smoky and melodic. Her enthralling performance could put you into a trance, but you have an orb to find and a personal task to accomplish, so it’s time to put your best foot forward and do a little investigating.
Talking to some of the patrons might prove fruitful as some of them are convinced that the stage has never sounded or looked so good, like there’s something giving performers that extra oomph that no one can explain. It might be wise to wait until that last performance before you sneak up there — or maybe you want to do a little snooping around now, you know, while everyone’s distracted. Strategize with your fellow Orbers and uncover the location of this hidden orb.
● ● ●
N O T E: The effects of the drink and the level of changes your character experiences is entirely up to you. Patrons of this fine club won’t bat an eye if you look a little like them.
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 Say the opposite of what you mean during the simulation.
B Create a scene with an unsuspecting teammate.
C Get up on stage and put on a performance during the simulation.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves open February 19!
• Apps open February 24.
• 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 about the upcoming mission—
no subject
（ he's seen so many people come and go. kakashi, still, somehow, is a wound.
what is the boy's regret, he wonders? shinobi lives are a footpath of them, each flagstone a shrine to some lost cause, or battle, or loved one, or dream. similarly, he knows full well that naruto cares for sasuke enough for it to be about him in some regard, and there is a spark of selfishness, a moment where he weighs the odds of two people with like goals succeeding where one may not be enough.
but for a lonely boy he met once on a swing, there are other options that hold no less weight. it could very well be the yondaime and uzumaki kushina, whose deaths had been a matter of hushed debate in the makeshift uchiha quarters after the destruction of their compound. later — too clearly — he remembers holding his mother's hand as they peered into the nursery where naruto, newly born and stripped of his paternal name, had lain. itachi has a clear, curious image of shifting his attention from the baby whose significance he had not understood then to where his mother was suppressing a sob, the way her hand was knotted in the sling where sasuke had been sleeping peacefully against her chest.
naruto has no way of knowing how desperately uchiha mikoto had wanted to take him in. she had gone all the way to the sandaime, had scraped her knees on the tatami in obeisance asking. but the uchiha, shimura danzō had said from sarutobi hiruzen's right side, could not be permitted to control the nine-tails again.
(already, then, he was —)
conversely, the memories itachi has of namikaze minato are more amorphous than pleasant summer afternoons spent tucked in against his mother's side as she and kushina talked and laughed and loved one another so fiercely that the warm memory is haloed with that gentle affection. he remembers his father playing shogi with the yondaime, who used to ruffle itachi's hair on leaving. and that is more than naruto ever knew of them both. those moments, frozen in the memories of a dead man, out of reach.
naruto knew loss before love. perhaps that is why itachi turns away, a moment to marshal himself before he continues — ）
It will only be tonkatsu.
（ simple, easy fare. he is a utilitarian cook, nothing more. ）
no subject
[someone said that earlier, but naruto hadn't really believed it. he'd listened to the rundown of why they were here and what the goal was, but after that he decided to focus on finding someone he knew- someone he trusted- to explain everything for real.
besides, the subject of regrets was not an easy one. there was plenty in life that he 'regretted', people who were lost, people he never got to meet, not properly, things that were taken. but 'regretting' something should also carry a sense of responsibility and there were simply too many things he had no control over, no matter how much he wished for outcomes to be different.
naruto's first regret is one he had made known before, in the middle of the battlefield. it involved sasuke, of course, because everything always did. the regret that he never reached out on that day, or the day after, or the day after that...
but if he had, would things have been different. maybe sasuke would have stayed. but would it have been naruto that had changed? ahh- the very thought of it all makes his head hurt! it would be better to simply go home without trying to change a damn thing.
yet... if he leaves, he can't talk to itachi. he may be a former missing-nin, former akatsuki, but more than that he's simply the big brother of his best friend and the more that naruto heard about him after everything that happened, the more respect he held for the older uchiha and everything else aside, he doesn't want to waste this opportunity he's been given to get to know him a little better. he wishes sasuke was here to join them. ]
Tonkatsu... well it ain't ramen, but tonkatsu's pretty good too y'know! You even know how to cook that? You're pretty cool, Itachi~!
no subject
it isn't until he's plating the rice and pork on a bed of shredded cabbage that he speaks again, this time a segue into the other aspects of station life to which naruto will by needs become acclimated. ）
Viveca is the voice that would have spoken to you on your arrival via the communication device. She is one of two members of the prior crew that has remained to guide us here. She has known a life not unlike ours, and she can seem distant at first. She holds many things close to her chest. But she is perhaps the most deeply compassionate person I know, and she has sacrificed a great deal to assist us as she does. I trust her implicitly.
（ can naruto understand what it means, for itachi to speak of trust? his faith in viveca has been hard-won, but it is absolute. ）
Be kind to her.
（ viveca does not make plain her vulnerabilities. but she has them, nevertheless. ）
no subject
[the name does sound familiar. she must have been the one he was talking to before, or rather she was trying to pass on information yet was inundated with questions in its stead. but if itachi says to be nice to her, then he'll give her the benefit of the doubt.]
Y'know... I'm always nice to people unless they deserve it. [or they say something to him first, or they irritate him or-] But I get what you're saying, I'll be nice to her.
no subject
（ there is a difference. you can be one without being the other. you can be both, or neither. but it is not a nuance of linguistics he necessarily expects naruto to understand — not because he is unintelligent, but because he is less precise in his use of language. ）
There are others here as well I can recommend as allies. Some are better avoided.
（ he sends naruto a list via the earpiece, a small handful of people listed by name, their network username, a quick description of what they are like and what they can do and perhaps most importantly, the information that most first and last names are reversed to their understanding. ）