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FINAL TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 10
The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, a copper 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. The illusion has been programmed to reflect the seasons — the leaves in the trees are currently bright with all the colours of autumn: orange and red and yellow; and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, you'll be led to a bridge rising over a sparkling, babbling brook, a few fallen leaves floating on the water and falling around you like very bright raindrops.
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!
Maybe you have taken the warning to be ready seriously, or maybe you’ve heard someone mention the simulation room and want to see what the fuss is all about — whatever the reason for your walking into the room, the first few moments don’t seem too exciting. It isn’t until there’s another person in the room with you that the door suddenly slides shut, and the scenery starts to change.
7.0 Simulation on the Fritz: However, what it changes to is not one of the simulated missions. Instead, the room draws on its occupants. A little flash of memory here, a familiar scene there — the room molds itself after what one (or both) of the people in it know, perhaps a place they’re familiar with: the university library you used to spend hours and hours in studying, or the castle you’ve been trying all your life to conquer.
Or perhaps the room is torn between which person’s memories to draw on, and it ends up producing a strange mix of both: a busy street surrounded by lush forest instead of buildings, or a spaceship sailing on open sea.
As there is no simulated mission, there is no completing it to get out… so look for the little things that are not quite right in the simulation: a shimmer in the air, a grey brick in a red wall — a token of sorts. Finding it will make the simulation die down around you as the room goes dark again.
8.0 Mission — An Open Door: As the simulation starts, the scene that unfolds around you is a gilded hallway. It stretches on and on behind you and in front of you; along its sides, there are countless doors. Some are lavishly decorated, some made of pure gold, some of wood; some are decayed, looking like they might fall apart by mere touch; after a heavily reinforced door comes a door made of frosted glass… and so on.
But the longer you stand in place, the more you start to feel a sense of urgency: you must keep moving… you must find it. The orb. It’s there, behind one of the doors. All you have to do is choose which one to open.
Oh, you can open as many as you want, but be careful: you never know what is lurking behind them. It may be that you open one and step into a room that is nothing but air; it may be you unleash a horde of hungry monsters. Or perhaps you luck out and get a room that is just a room, with lavish couches and plush pillows, and maybe some grapes and apples set in a bowl in the middle of a gold-decorated table.
It’s not just the orb that you need to find, though... because just like in real missions, you receive a message that tells you your task — one that you have to complete, if you want the orb to help you in your quest to undo your regret.
● ● ●
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 Tell someone what you are most ashamed of.
B Let a teammate get injured during the mission.
C Steal something from one of the rooms.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are now open!
• Apps open September 26.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
Have a clue about the upcoming mission—
no subject
I guess. [Dark eyes drift between the man's outstretched hand and the cherry-red dot of the burning cigarette.] Never seen anything like it before.
[Is all of this from Earth? The question rises in his mind, but he doesn't ask, clasping that hand in an awkward—but firm—shake, quick to release, leather gloves yielding and supple in contact.]
You got another one of those you want to share? [Cain pantomimes the cigarette between the man's lips.] I'll trade for it.
no subject
he taps one up with a practiced gesture, then holds it out for the fella to take it. the battered label on one side says chesterfield. ）
Oh yeah?
（ he ain't got much intention of makin' it a trade. but he knows the game. ）
no subject
Shit. Uh. [He pats down his pockets; he has a gun, but that's hardly an even trade. And what does it matter when it's so easy to obtain?] Look, I just got here. I don't really have much yet. I mean, that you can't just get on your own.
[Miraculously more well-provided for here than he may ever have been in his life.]
What do you want for it? [And, in a world where it must be said:] ... I'm not gonna suck your dick. [That'd be at least a few packs. He isn't so desperate yet. Far less so after all that's happened.]
no subject
Last I checked the goin' rate for a blowjob was two cigarettes, anyhow. （ this obvious sarcasm. ） Besides, I'm a dinner an' dancin' kinda man, myself.
（ gene just waggles the pack about invitingly. ）
Tell you what, first one's free. After that you owe me a limerick.
no subject
Way too cheap. [Sarcasm or not, he's rolling with the joke.] At least three cigarettes and a bottle of whisky.
[Haha, he's so funny.]
... What the hell is a 'limerick'? [School dropout at your service. He does reach for the pack, pinching one of the offered cigarettes in a gloved hand before trading it to his lips.] Uh, you got a light, too?
no subject
（ obligingly, he pulls a battered old zippo outta his pocket an' flicks it live, leanin' in. outta habit, he cups his hand around the flame even though the wind ain't quite what he's used to in this room. ）
Never heard one? They got a rhymin' cadence, somethin' like, ah... （ excuse him while he thinks a moment, an' then with a snap of his lighter shut: ） Hell, most'a the ones I know are dirty. Hold on — the one best fit for new company's probably:
'There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all of his cash in a bucket,
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.'
（ look,,,, ）
no subject
What the hell was that? [He snickers around the cigarette, softening the question.] Think it'd probably be better if I knew what Nantucket is. [An Earth place? So is his first assumption based on the context.] But I get the point... stupid rhyming, huh?
Okay, but now you have to tell me a dirty one.
[There's a gleam in his eyes. It feels like the first real humor he's felt since waking up on this station, alone and far away from everything he's known.]
no subject
Ah... （ a bit of a sheepish shift of his body language, an' the faintest embarrassed tinge to his cheeks. he ain't shy, exactly — right about the first time a fella comes to you an' drops trou so you can diagnose him with the clap you lose all sense of shame — but there's somethin' miles different about ribald jokes among one's comrades an' a relative stranger. he ducks his head some, an' then clears his throat to recite: ）
'There once was a man from Nantucket,
Whose dick was so long he could suck it.
He said with a grin,
As he wiped off his chin,
If my ear were a cunt I would fuck it'
（ lord, but the shade'a that blush has deepened by degrees the further along he gets, but he rounds it out gamely, endin' with a bit of a flourishin' bow an' a faint grin. ）
Now, don't you go repeatin' that one in decent company. You'll give me a reputation.
no subject
Oh my god.
[Cigarette pinched between gloved fingers, Cain bursts out with laughter, a sharp ha! at the shock of unexpected obscenity.]
That's... fucking hilarious. Wait, did you come up with that yourself?
no subject
Nah. Just one'a them things gets passed around. Reckon there weren't a fella that didn't know it back in my day. An' if they claimed they didn't they were probably lyin' to you. Godless bunch'a heathens.
（ but it ain't a condemnation, it's said with clear affection as he leans in against the rail. ）
So you got a name, or am I just gonna have to call you Threefer?
（ you know, three cigarettes... ）
no subject
An unhappy thought that Cain shrugs off, rolling his shoulder and sucking on the end of the cigarette. Mellowed, like rain over a fire, mirth fades.]
Huh. I'd take that over the stuff I get to hear. A lot more creative. [He turns his eyes back onto their surroundings—still dazzling enough to distract him. It feels unreal. Maybe this is a waking dream.] You can call me Cain, don't make up some shitty nickname or I'll knock you out.
[He's gotten used to using the pseudonym, so it's easy now, an identity pulled on like a layer of wool against the cold.]
What's yours, Nantucket? [haha.]
no subject
（ maybe the alabama's strongest there, curling into the thick accent like ivy climbs a trellis. his name feels like the thing that roots him to agathine. his ma's strength, his pa's warmth. there is a part of him that lives forever back in '29, the year that hurricane touched down an' the sky was green overhead.
with a wink — ）
An' it's Alabama, thank you kindly. Don't you call me no Massachusetts boy.
no subject
[He knows so little about Earth, and it's coming through too strong now. Their environment is almost oppressive a reminder with how different he is, and how much the grainy little vids that got off-ported to the colonies lacked.]
Look. I'm not from wherever you are. [A hand waves, as if encompassing the space between them. The other expertly ashes the cigarette.] Guess it's not that weird here. We're all from different places. Eugene, though... Feel like I've met a guy with a name just like that. Fits you.
no subject
（ he dips his head in a bit of a nod. but it's empathy more than any spirit of pity, an' after a moment he crushes the cherry of his own cigarette out between his fingers. he's used to savin' them, even in the prosperity that followed the war. ）
Ain't tryin' to make you feel poorly for it, fella.
no subject
Your first? [A sharp turn of the head, cigarette back between his lips, eyes narrowed and cat-like.] ... Forget it. It's fine. [You didn't know might be off his lips next, but Cain twists it away with another inhale, exhale.] I'm not bothered.
You're saying that you're from the past? How's that even possible?
no subject
Ah... I ain't hardly an expert, but to my understandin' this here station is outside space an' time. Folks get pulled from all over. Different worlds, different times even within the same world... met a fella here who was some six, seven hundred years in the future from where I am.
（ he ducks his head, an' then: ）
1947, for the record. May not even be a unit of time you use in your day, but there you have it. We, ah... invented the airplane not too long ago, ain't walked on the moon yet?
no subject
Uh, yeah. Ahead of you by a couple of centuries. [But we won't specify because the comic never does.] Really, the moon? Damn. You're old.
[The levity helps, a smirk stretching across his mouth. If a little tamed.]
We got to the moon and went even further. Colonized Mars. Built spaceships, you probably know what those are now, huh? Feels like you're handling this a lot better than someone else from back then should.
no subject
I was here before. Few months. Trust me, ah... there was a different flavour of handlin' back then.
（ easier to say that's the cause, an' not the fact that he sees the dead an' they've given him a mighty calm outlook on the concept of time an' all its sundry futures an' far-flung histories. ）
But I guess, my youngest brother was a big dime novel fan. Flash Gordon an' all. So I guess space travel ain't so queer a thing as all that, you know? It's a big universe.
no subject
You left and came back. That just sounds worse. [Like being teased with freedom, a taste of escape... if that's how it happened for Eugene. He doesn't know. Maybe, like he's imagining all of this is a dream, he won't even remember it.] I'd be fucking pissed.
[Shake of a head, banishing whatever thought rises to mind.]
Whatever. We're here for a reason, I guess, if it's worth enough to you.
no subject
（ but he gets it. that ain't in the fine print, an' any place you ain't used to can feel like a prison in time. ）
I'd say it is. （ one corner'a his mouth tugs down at one corner, an' he draws in a faint breath, scrubs his hand against the tip of his nose. ） Got a fella what needs my help.
（ it's hard to imagine a time when he wouldn't'a done anythin' for reggie. this? this ain't half so hard as all the rest. givin' him a second chance to get outta that basement in france alive is somethin' he'd die for, let alone live a time away from agathine. ）
no subject
So he may as well be trapped. If not by the station itself, then by his own decisions.]
Good luck. [Even sharply, it isn't said to be mean-spirited. It just is what it is.] Maybe you'll get it this time.
[The cigarette is done. He stubs it out, then thinks about tossing it to the ground—but surrounded even by the illusion of nature, he can't. So awkwardly into his pocket it goes. Better not to leave a trace, anyway.] Thanks for the smoke. [And then he turns to head off.]
no subject
We'll see about that, I s'ppose. An' — here.
（ the pack gets tossed in cain's direction. gene figures, you know? he probably ain't the sort of guy who'll fumble it into the drink. an' even if he was, is the water even real enough to dampen 'em? ）
Take 'em for the road, fella. I got more. You're on your own about the lighter, though.
no subject
A decent guy. Even when it's hard to trust, he has instincts. Still. Cain gives a short jerk of his chin in a nod of acknowledgement, then leaves the room. He'll be back, later and often. There's no other place like it on the station.]