![[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}
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.)
takeshi kovacs | altered carbon
2.0 — infirmary cw: bleeding wound
3.0 — roommates
5.0 — kitchen
0.0 — wild card
2.0 Infirmary
She also... doesn't appear to be human. Standing before him is a lanky, ape-like woman wearing coveralls and a backwards baseball cap.]
What?
[Jonesy came to the infirmary for medical help, so the request for cigarettes catches her off guard for a moment - but only for a moment before she reaches into one of her pockets for something with her one free hand.]
Oh, uh. No cigarettes, but you can take a hit off of my vape if you want.
no subject
Works for me.
[ in truth, he doesn't even like smoking, but elias ryker does, which means that while kovacs is wearing this sleeve, he's gotta settle with this nicotine addiction.
while she's reaching in her pocket, he takes a look at her shoulder, seeing the blood seeping through the cloth. ]
That sure looks like shit.
no subject
[She takes a hit for herself and then passes him the vape. ]
Got shot about a week ago trying to save my current beau from some headhunters. I guess it reopened when I got brought here.
[She nods to him, and his own wound. ]
What about you?
no subject
when she gestures to his wound, he peers down at it, still mid-stitch, recalling back to before he'd passed out. ]
Some assholes tossed me in a fight arena and got the shit kicked out of me. Real fun time. Woke up here.
no subject
A part of her wonders if that's what his 'regret' is, but she doesn't ask. She certainly isn't going to make a point of telling people what her's is.]
That mean you aren't a fighter, or is this a 'you should see the other guy' kind of situation?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
fire in the hall(way)
Facts of the — cage, crystalline: colour (absent, white of him and white of the floor and white where his tongue hits teeth, slack), gravity (operational, uncalibrated), warmth (seeping in, the line of Dio's limbs flickered).
Emotions, dissonant: awake. (no; rewind; 'wakefulness' — state of his fleshly husk). Barrelling stiffness where his fingers claw (ache of inertia, sharpened) the flattened ground spread. Confusion (no; he exists. Knows the blood-toothed crepuscular edges of biological status quo; he exists, drenched in a sea of silence that crests to spume into — )
...irritation. Ah. There. Stoked like engine flame, explosive. Flowered. Dio's? But he's barely — please excuse, please excuse, summoning the dregs of his strength to coalesce into a working form, on hands and knees and his head tilted — he's barely awake.
No. Irritation, transferred, sourced in the shine of a man's sho — look up; nod — man's shoe, and in the traitor's stab of hungry sound to Dio's left, as something collides with his rib, and —
...it's not that Dio doesn't mean to swat the robot, exactly. Or to exert the great, groaning weight of his twig body until it curls around its steely hide, and gravity (a wonder, even uncalibrated) propels them both down in a convulsive tumble of man-boy-bot-squealing symbiote. It's in the aftermath, when the battle has been done and won and bled and gone, and the bot is a merciful victor, rolling back and forth inanely to hoover a collapsed Dio's stomach — it's then that Dio erupts in hiccuped laughter, waving first at himself, then at the man, then at their robot overlord. ]
We surrender! We surrender! Your highness, how do you do? Weeeeee surreeeeeeeeeendeeeeeeeeeeeer. Tooooo. Yoooooou. [ And softened, ferried the man's way with a wink: ] Tell it we surrender!
no subject
landing on his ass reminds me of the pain he's already feeling, aches surrounding his limbs where he'd been scraped and cut the last time he was conscious, still likely not too long ago considering he can still spot the ripped, bloodied spots on his own shirt. he's really not in the mood for another fight, especially not with a damn kid and a robot, trying to kick himself away before it's evident that the robot is clearing getting its way. ]
What — ? [ he presses a hand to the side of his stomach, fairly sure his wound's likely opened up again, his eyes squinting at that hinted wink. ] I'm not surrendering shit. I'm getting the hell out of here.
no subject
But lo, the tiny robot sways on the cresting-crashing waves of Dio's ribs, and his belly swelling, then lessening with each hyperbole of breath. He wants, very badly, to give it challenge — until the stunted creature rocks again, prods, then pokes in the line of janitorial duty, and Dio — a cushion for experimental miniature wheel pushing — pats the bot's shell again. What a dreadful world to be so vertically challenged in. Poor robot, poor robot...
Light inundates them, catches charcoal-dark where the man's stains spread, diffused, on his shirt cottons. Uniform dress? Non-standard. Flight personnel would have crisped the collar. He hesitates, then —
...strokes the bot back into obedience again. ]
Noooooooo use. If we've been left alone, either... hmmmmmmmmmm... we've been neutralised! [ Oh, no, the pretty bot's pincers wage war with the ribbon strangling his hair. At the last moment, he remembers the tip of his head, molten, easy, to tame the robot's pull. Crafty, crafty... ] Orrrrr... one of us is the observer... orrrrr... we're watched!
[ Each of these turns of events somehow less unfortunate than the robot, rallying against the bound wealth of Dio's braid. Conflict conventions are futile here. Surrender awaits. He has made his peace. ]
Kitchen
There might be some beers left over in the mess hall.
[Staring at him for probably a few seconds too long, Daisy finally snaps out of it again.]
You new here?
no subject
[ he mutters, mostly to himself. he can't remember the last time he'd had even had beer, though he's pretty sure this sleeve he's borrowing is usually in the market for something a lot stronger. from the sound of it, he's not sure he's going to be getting anything better. ]
What? [ with her question, he turns to her, taking a moment to even register what she's asked, like he's too distracted. ] Probably, I guess. Wherever "here" even is.
[ he faintly remembers now since he's woken up about the deal he's made, about the regret, but he's been wondering if maybe that was a mistake. ]
You know if this thing does trips to Earth?
no subject
[Daisy watches him, frowning sympathetically when she realizes he must be new. She remembers how disorientating it was for her, so she can imagine he must be feeling the same way as well.]
We've only gone on one mission so far and it wasn't Earth. At least not a version of Earth I'm familiar with.
no subject
[ sort of. it's the answer he wants to believe, that maybe he could just be free on his own now, back on the run. but he knows he's got stuff to take care of — between ortega and elliot and laurens, plus finding rei. running off with this sleeve is a bad idea too.
he sets that aside for now, though, instead just looking at her curiously. ]
What planet? [ maybe that'd give him an idea of what system they've been around, anyway. ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
3.0 - roommates
He turns slowly, black eyes flick down, then up before he raises an eyebrow.]
I had this room for myself.
[The room is bare of all personal effects, the baubles and glitter that some of the other orbers had requested and used to decorate their living spaces, were not in here. It looks unused and coldly impersonal.]
You're welcome to try your luck further down the hall.
no subject
Down the hall's where I just came from.
[ and nothing. with a grunt, he looks around again, noticing how the room doesn't actually look all too lived in. ]
Sure as hell looks empty to me.
no subject
This isn't a home.
[His voice dry, but not unkind.] I don't plan on being staying here for any longer than I have to.
no subject
[ it's not like kovacs has ever been much for settling down, either. he knows every place he ends up is always going to be temporary, typically not having anything packed with him, especially nothing sentimental.
that last comment makes him curious though. ]
You know how long that's supposed to be?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
3.0
[Clara quickly responds with a lie, despite the fact she's indeed in a room with other beds inside. The other beds have a few piles of things on them. Whether they're actively in use by others or she's using them for storage is up for debate. But she clearly looks shocked by the fact he's standing there.
Or maybe it's just that pink unicorn backpack has caught her eye. She finds herself staring at it before she looks back up to him.]
There have to be empty rooms left. You must not be looking hard enough.
[But for all her criticizing, she at least is willing to help. So she gets up from where she's sitting on her perfectly made bed and goes over toward him. Yes, she's going to usher him right on out of her personal space and back into the hallways. She'll help him find an empty space that he can call his own.]
no subject
How am I not looking hard enough? I look in a room and see a bunch of crap in there — not empty. So I move on to the next room. Not a real science to it.
[ despite his insistence, he considers maybe he should give another look around outside anyway, though he pauses when she stands up, peering to her with confusion. ]
What's this? You coming with me?
5.0 kitchen ;
[ Yes — there has, indeed, been another person occupying some of the counter space in the kitchens, mostly keeping to himself but muttering something about '1 space egg' and '3 tablespoons of celestial butter, melted' in between mixing something in a large-ish sized bowl.
And now the man, dressed in a long coat and a bow-tie with a polite dusting of flour over his front, turns to give his kitchen-mate a nod of acknowledgment. (It might have otherwise been a wave but he's got both of his hands occupied, you see.) ]
What about tea? It can be quite soothing, I assure you. You look like you could do with some soothing.
no subject
Already looked. Might want to tell people to start throwing away their empty takeout.
[ he did his digging and only came away with noting the messiness in this place, wondering if anyone even bothers cleaning up after themselves or if it's up to the walking bow-tie over here. ]
What about me says I need any soothing?
[ maybe the snarl or the aggravation for the drink or the blood-stained shirt he's still wearing. ]
no subject
[ The Doctor continues to give the batter a good mix before he sets the bowl down, eyes shifting between the pile of empty boxes and bottles, and then back to the man. He'd only had a few slices so really this isn't his fault. Besides which, contrary to Kovacs' initial assumption, he is not in charge of the clean-up. ]
You've got a sort of — frowny thing happening all over your face. Generally, when people look terribly cross, it's because they need a cup of tea. And a plate of Jammy Dodgers.
[ Maybe fish fingers and custard. But that's absolutely a Doctor thing. ]
no subject
[ not his frown lines or knit brows, even if he's definitely the one accenting them a bit more right now. but he's always inclined to blame that on sleeve memory, where the original stack's habits just happen to stick around, even though ... well, maybe kovacs himself isn't necessarily in the best of moods.
he'll blame that on ryker too, on addictions stirring up some withdrawal.
sighing, he peers between the box mess and this guy's baking itch, and realizes he's got little options on hand. ]
Shit, fine. Point out the tea. I'm not doing none of that ... [ he does a vague gesture with his hand. ] Jimmy Dodger stuff, though.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
1.0 — hallway
[ Her eyes open, and it's that sea of blinding white. The sudden awareness of solid, extremely uncomfortable floor. It has her pushing up too fast on that arm she's still not entirely used to (sends the new fingers of a few millimeters into the white floor), even as she's looking toward whatever it was that struck her. Her vision narrows on a familiar towering form swimming with brilliant white all around it, and she squints, against the light, the white, the confusion, the emptiness somehow thick and cloying, heavy across all her thoughts and her bones. ] Fucking --
Kovacs?
[ Her voice is a crack, less like something ragged and more like an unexpected whip snap. A known she can at least moor her confusion, and growing alarm, along with the rapidly clarifying location, on. ]
!!! ♡
still, it doesn't explain where they are now, his eyes peering up and down the hallway briefly to try and single out any clues while the little robot beeps and blinks the words MOVE over and over, making it clear what it wants them to do.
but experience has trained him to tune out annoyances, especially in favor of more important priorities, as he crouches down closer to the ground, looking over ortega's body for any sign of injuries, hints of the fight they'd just escaped from. ]
Yeah — [ at least she knows it's him and isn't calling for ryker. ] You okay?