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AUGUST TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 3
… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
The words, when they die out, leave you in emptiness — despairing, all-consuming, the kind that invites only the worst thoughts. What have you done? What have you agreed to do?
But then, from the emptiness, a golden light shines, and as you reach for it —
you wake up.
1.0 Perhaps it was less the golden light in your dream and more the insistent feeling of something metallic poking your side repeatedly, making beeping noises… wait, beeping noises?
When you look down, you’ll see a small robot staring at you and looking less than happy (maybe it has something to do with your disheveled state, maybe it's still mad about having to clean up after a certain pizza-induced mess). When you get up, it unleashes a series of beeps — and then furiously starts to scrub the floor.
Yes, the floor — instead of waking up in a bed, you find yourself lying on a hallway, white walls and white floor surrounding you. You don’t have long to stare at the minimalistic look of everything around you before the little bot starts poking you again, the word MOVE blinking across its visor.
So better get out of its way! Perhaps you’re on the hallway on your own and leave on your own… or perhaps there’s someone else, sleeping near you. Maybe do them the courtesy of waking them up before this little angry bot does! Or perhaps you’re the poor soul still sleeping and needing a rescue before the beeps make it to you.
2.0 If you need a visit to the infirmary, the situation may be more dire — perhaps there’s blood on the wall that you wake up against, your clothes may be dirty or ragged… whatever it is that has happened to you before waking here and has left you injured, it sure doesn’t create a reassuring sight. Best get to the infirmary as soon as possible.... with some assistance, perhaps.
Once upright, 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 The most pressing question that you might ask yourself is: but where will I stay? The question is answered once you walk through the winding white corridors to the common area. Behind it, there are three types of rooms: those with one bed, two beds and four beds. The rooms are clinical yet clean, and sparsely-furnished — and most importantly, most are occupied. So be prepared to get some roomies!
4.0 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.
And speaking of weapons: to put it to good use, head to the training room, where the entire purpose is to provide you with a space to spar and train to your heart’s content!
5.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself training, it’s time to grab a bite. For that, you should head to the kitchen, which… seems to be filled with a lot of leftovers: takeout boxes with an assorted collection of pizza slices, kung pao chicken, lamb curry... not to mention the entire tray of chocolate brownies. Feel free to eat your fill — or if takeout isn’t your cup of tea, open one of the large fridges to pick fresh ingredients and make your own lunch.
6.0 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. A new addition is a flower garden where there once was a meadow — now, roses, camellias, lilies and dozens of other flowers sway in the wind, all varieties in their own flower beds, with a winding path of stones leading through them. The path leads to where a bridge rises over a sparkling, babbling brook.
Here, 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.
7.0 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!
8.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.
Indeed, the platform near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles 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 If you’ve been given a particular body change that might aid you in this mission, do not use it to your advantage.
B Team up with a fellow Orber to uncover the hidden location.
C Get up on stage and put on a performance during the simulation. Your song choice will determine the outcome of success in your investigation.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open August 27.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
FOR SOME FUN:
Have a listen for some clues about the second mission.
(Hint: there are four clues in total.)
no subject
[ that's just the way life goes for him, and while there's plenty of shit that goes on in the black market, a lot of the trade offs for sleeves all happening legally. sometimes it's just a matter of who's got the money to get the better deal.
he takes a moment to look at the machine, not even sure he wants to bother trying. after all, he fought once to try wiping out stack technology in the first place. maybe it's good that it doesn't exist wherever he's ended up. ]
Rich asshole spun me up to solve his murder. Put me in this sleeve temporarily. Got stuck with this shitty nicotine habit.
no subject
[ she doesn't want to imagine the idea of a government run immortality scheme, though it's not much worse than a corporate version either. what he describes is nightmarish, though it's not like it's hard for her to believe either. ]
[ the machine finally spits out her axe, looking a little more modern than she might have hoped, but she takes it in one hand, testing the weight and feel of it. ]
You could slap on one of those nicotine patches. Or is it not your body, not your problem? What happens if you die in it and can't get a new one right away?
no subject
[ no need for a patch because he could sometimes use the habit to his advantage. and even if he personally never liked to smoke, the body's addiction to it means a different kind of relaxation when breathing in the chemicals, even if the disadvantage is needing to constant battle the withdrawal.
seeing the axe pop out of the machine, he watches her take it up in her hands, studying how she moves with it, like maybe it might give him a better read on her and what makes her so akin to that particular weapon. ]
If I die, I die. Lived too long anyway. [ which is an entirely different conversation that he dodges by shifting the topic — ] How's it feel? [ the axe. ]
no subject
[ it's on the tip of her tongue, three hundred years is nothing, but she holds back, mostly because she's still figuring out how to handle that part of her here. but he shuffles away from that area of conversation and she'll let it slide, for now. she's curious enough to come back to it in the future. ]
[ andy shifts the axe again, adjusting her grip. she holds it like it's a limb, like it's simply a part of her, fingers folding around it without thought. ]
It'll do. At least we know the machine works now.
no subject
eyes on her gripping the axe, she seems to be fairly comfortable with it, and it makes him all the more curious to see her use it in action. ]
I'd offer you my limbs to test out the sharpness, but — [ he gives a shrug with a purse of his lips, snickering against with the cigarette at his lips, carrying the joke. ] Only body I got.
no subject
You should work on getting a back up. [ she could... test it on herself. but maybe later. ] There's a training room here, right? I'll find something to test it. I'm not in a rush. [ it's got an edge and a handle therefore it'll be fine. she's used worse. ]
no subject
with a hum, he considers the idea of the training room, along with the weapon in her hand, before his eyes go back to the machine that crafted it. straightening up, he keeps the stick tucked between his lips as he brings his fingers to the screen. ]
Well, if you promise to go gentle on me, we could both do some testing.
no subject
[ she steps to the side to give him the space to pick out his own weapon of choice, admittedly curious as to his preference. if he's got centuries under his belt too, there's a pretty wide range of options. ]
I'll see what I can do on the gentle front, since you're such an old man and all. [ man does she wish joe were here, he'd laugh at that. she's not sure she wants to test it against him yet, but she's considering. ] What's your poison?
no subject
[ seems that she's really enjoying herself on the teasing, but he hardly minds, instead just smirking a bit as he keeps his eyes on the screen, sorting through the options. ]
Mostly prefer a good gun in my hands, but I already had a pretty solid one get brought over here with me, so — [ on the screen, he instead selects a katana. ] Might as well pick something a little closer range.
no subject
[ she peers at the machine as he makes his own choice, humming a little. ] Katana, huh? Guess we'll see how well the machine can replicate something like that.
[ a beat. ] What's your name? Before I decide one way or another if I'm up for challenging a sword.
no subject
[ which means a good enough weapon test to see just how well this thing replicates.
he chuckles in being asked his name, not that he ever shies away in telling it when asked. ]
Takeshi Kovacs. [ for anyone aware of languages, it's likely to be a strange combination — japanese with a hungarian surname. ]
no subject
[ while andy knows many languages, she doesn't always remember which language it is immediately. but she does know that takeshi and kovacs is not a very common combination and that his sleeve-body looks pretty white. ]
I'm Andy. You got a preference or do I just full name you every time?
no subject
the name, of course, doesn't match the body on account that it isn't his body to begin with. but considering the way people switch around sleeves so often, no one usually questions whether any of that makes sense. ]
Most people go with "hey, asshole," but it's usually personal choice. Otherwise, Kovacs is fine.
[ not that it matters to him either way. though no one's called him "takeshi" or "tak" since his sister and quell. ]
no subject
We'll see which one fits the situation at hand. [ it'll be mostly kovacs for now. he has to earn the 'asshole (affectionate)' she gives occasionally out. ]
We can test them a little. At least to make sure they function on a basic level.