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SUMMER TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 9
The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, a chromatic 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: the sun hangs high overhead, bright and unyielding. Those who aren't so keen on the heat may be tempted to find shade under one of the many towering trees scattered about the lush green fields, or even take a dip in the room's crystalline pond.
With an illusion so authentic it may leave you longing for a nice glass of ice-cold lemonade, 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!
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.
• Your compalion will shift into one form throughout this simulation and can be any creature that best mirrors your personality.
• They can be as small as a flea and as large as a small elephant; get creative!
• Whether they speak to you in your native tongue is entirely up to you (some speak, some don’t)
• 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
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are now open!
• Apps open June 25.
• 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
Is he the only one that can tell the difference in age, here? Maybe it's easier from this end. It's sort of killing him that Miles hasn't asked, because that kind of leaves it up to him to figure out what to do with it. Hadn't Ryunosuke said something about how it's probably better to just get it out there because you never know how else it might come out? Something like that.
He looks at the ingredients on the counter, realises he's missing the milk, and goes back into storage to fetch some.
no subject
Well. He knew why. He knew that, given the note he'd left, Phoenix was most likely upset at his choice despite the action being his suggestion. He had a lot to learn. A lot to consider. His entire future. And now, with this bargain--
Maybe he had an entirely different future ahead of him. If he'd even remember it.
Still, he wasn't one to force conversation when things became awkward. He did, however, note it down in his organiser. His presence certainly made Phoenix uncomfortable. As he write, he sipped his tea, letting his--... His coworker do as he would.
no subject
"So maybe I should take this as a sign that the wrinkles I see in the mirror really aren't that bad."
Easier to make light of it, urge Miles to think about it, than try to come out and tell him that it's been about nine years or so for him.
no subject
How would that even be possible? But then, before now, he would've entirely refused the possibility of translocation. Yet, here he was.
So was Phoenix... older?
"I'd noticed something different," he said before turning back to his organiser to add, "but it's never polite to mention age."
no subject
It seems Miles isn't about to deny the possibility, which wouldn't have surprised him. But he's definitely glad he doesn't have to somehow try to convince him.
Of course, he remembers very well how strange that first day was. It tends to open your mind to a lot of possibilities.
no subject
Phoenix, out of everyone, should know that Miles was never one to soften a statement for the sake of someone's ego - which meant that he was telling the truth. Or at least the truth as he perceived it. But after another sip of tea, he did add, "You do, however, seem a bit more mature."
no subject
Even stranger is the perspective it gives you. Or maybe that's simply what he's been through.
"If I were to guess, it's been about nine years for me."
Plenty of time to mature. Becoming a parent tends to help a lot, he's learned. Or at least he thinks it helped for him.
no subject
It was hard to imagine. So much had transpired in the span of eleven years for him, and that was only two years away from nine. Everything could change.
There was a part of him that wanted to ask, but he knew that, if he was successful--...
He paused. Perhaps even visibly, if anyone was looking. His cup was in his hand, in no danger of falling, but he wasn't taking a simple drink before setting it down. Now, he was wondering. Having to really think about what he'd done.
His regret. If it was undone, it would change Phoenix's life, too. And now, he was already promised to change it. Proof, perhaps, that he wasn't good at impulse.
Miles placed his cup back onto the table, his voice carefully neutral as he said, "That's... quite a span of time."
no subject
A joke because he definitely wouldn't think of it as such. And every mistake Miles has done, any hurt he's caused, he's made up for and then some. It's all fine.
He turns back to the counter, then, to grate some cheese.
no subject
"Your biggest flaw," he said, though, carefully tucking away those silent decisions, "is that you rush into situations without enough planning. Your forgiveness--... I'd estimate that to be secondary."
He should've gotten the hibiscus tea. Miles could tell now that he was going to need it.
no subject
Then, he allows himself a proper laugh, though it's lacking some real humour. Miles wouldn't know, of course, the lesson he had to learn about that, and the seven painstaking years he spent planning to bring down the man responsible for all his and Trucy's pain and strife. The one he could have prevented with some more care and planning. Right? Or could he have? He thinks he'll be asking himself that for the rest of his life.
"Yeah, maybe."
Speaking of rushing in without thinking, he probably ought not to say much else, no matter how much he wants to. But oh how he wants to talk about their travels, about Trucy and how Miles comes to see many of her shows, about how much he cares for her too. How badly he wants to tell him about all the ways he is kind and loving and one of the greatest friends you could ask for.
But that's not really needed, is it? Miles went away and decided all by himself to come back. He doesn't need the reassurances and, right now, they might just do more harm than good. They'd be overwhelming, if nothing else.
no subject
Why. What was it in this that was striking just wrong enough that he found himself wanting to leave? It was familiar, and that was the worst of it. It was as if he was...
Miles took in a breath, deep and fast, but, through years of practice, silent. He felt ill. For all Phoenix's words were in agreement, the laugh before them was anything but. It was the laugh of someone who knew better. And in his mind, that sort of laugh was accompanied with a knowing, teeth-baring smile, one that spoke of seeing him as prey. It was smugness and supremacy and that crawling of his skin suddenly reeked of von Karma, and Miles found himself standing, almost leaving his cup before remembering that here, that was likely frowned upon. This wasn't his house, where he could leave a cup of tea and come back to clean it later.
Maintaining the silence, he took his cup to the sink so he could at least rinse it and wipe it out, even if washing it was a bit difficult thanks to his cast. He couldn't do this just now. Not when everything was feeling... raw.
no subject
He'll just focus on this omelet.
"It's good to see you," he says, at least, because he's missed him so much it aches.
no subject
But with his cup washed, he set it aside, upside down, to dry, and dried his hands. "That... is a kind sentiment." he said at last. "Thank you."
He had to wonder, then, at himself. Did he even mean it? He truly wasn't sure.
no subject
"You're welcome."
no subject