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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
Cold.
It reminds him of the tricks the SD system uses, and he doesn't like it a bit.
"I can't accept these terms," he says with another shake of his head. "And if both of us succumb to whatever this is, there will be less a chance to recover.
"So if you mean to see this through...I will guard you. Best I can."
no subject
"Yes," he says, both accepting Blue (a stranger, who can read minds, this is probably closer to nightmare fuel than he wants to think about, but also so far no one's tried killing him or seducing him so it's a pretty great day, night, whatever it was) and the drinks, his fan tucked into his waistband.
Both drinks, held up and downed with all the understated flair of a man who mostly drank tea, and drank it slowly, so yes, he almost coughs downing the two glasses one after another. He barely manages to not cough, inwardly laments there was nothing cool about that other than the fact he doesn't furrow his brow, and licks his lips absently, chasing the strange, not unpleasant flavour.
Couldn't be so bad, he felt nothing different immediately after. Until he has a sort of numb compulsion to sit down, followed by the realisation of why: where he's had two wonderfully normal legs a moment prior, now he has a horribly stereotypical tail.
A mer-tail.
A koi mer-tail, which means he's a carp, and he's also sitting on the ground with what should be his knees tucked up before him, what should be his feet a spread of fins on the floor. They're the only visible part, since with the make of his robes, his feet are all that are showing.
Are you kidding me! What's the point of something that can give you mer-parts?! What if I'd been half octopus! If this is a dance club, shouldn't these body alterations be ones for dancing, not to keep you from it?! Writers! Whoever is in charge of this, he has a complaint! At least three!
"... It would appear," he says, blandly, "That while I may be seeing this through, the perspective is a bit... lower. Than expected."
I am not freaking crawling around here!
no subject
Frozen in utter bewilderment, further baffled by the train of thought that seems more exasperated than horrified by something that seems so plainly horrifying, Blue's mouth opens and closes wordlessly for a beat before the man's deadpan report cuts in.
"How is this possible...? So abruptly, so..." So thoroughly? This can't be simulated -- he drank something and changed. It's some kind of...odd, fairytale happening!
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"There's every chance that brew allows me to believe I'm affected by what controls this illusion room we're in," he says, like that's logical and simple and everyone should believe it, "Up to the point where we solve whatever puzzle this is, find whatever the orb is, and end the room's illusion."
Temporary changes, he reminds himself, because the calm is still more outward than inward, They won't change people permanently this fast! That always takes longer! That's just how it works, there's no point to this if we're not, I don't know, heading to a marine world next!
Though what if they were about to be thrown into the equivalent of a mermaid alternate universe? On that horrifying thought, he looks up and at the crowd, oohing and aaahing at the performance on stage. One that's been going on for a while.
He tugs his fan free, because if he's going to be the Little Mermaid he's not going to suffer through it with his face exposed the whole time, and hides his frown behind its open expanse. "Just need to solve the mystery. No problem."
Unless walking was a requirement, in which case, all on you, Blue.
no subject
Were he not so exhausted, he could muster more means to panic. Instead, he just exhales, closing his eyes and trying to sense beyond the afflicted man, reinforcing that, yes, it's just the two of them that are actual people.
Which means...interacting with the simulation in earnest. It's less than ideal.
"...Very well." Blue opens his eyes and looks back down at the afflicted man. "I will follow your instruction: Tell me where you want me to investigate and I shall do so in your stead."
no subject
As a merman?!
What kind of broken logic is this!
He sighs, a soft, short sound externally, that manages to go on longer in his own mind. His fan flutters, keeping a nice, small breeze going before his face, and he thinks. (For which we apologise, Blue.)
Listen to what the En Pee Cees are saying. This is a fetch quest, we're either talking to them or listening to their conversations. He's not actively trying to tell Blue, but he's walking down that pathway himself, and so: he listens to the 'people' in the room. Which, as his ears are picking up, keep talking about a singer. A song? Something specific to the stage, either way, and he turns his face toward it.
"There, to start." An elegant motion from his fan, indicating the singer and the stage, even if inwardly he moans: were you told any extra information at the door? I was given the words to help someone else out, but I'm realising that could have changed, person to person.
no subject
"...Did the simulation not load everything?" he wonders.
no subject
"There are performers on stage. Singing. You don't see them, but they're the focus." He grimaces, back to fanning his face and thinking. "If they have this kind of pull, there's a reason. Can you investigate that stage to see if there's any object hidden under or by it?"
no subject
At the ask, he nods, holding back on asking if he could see through his eyes. With how he reacted to the notion of thought-reading...perhaps that is a step too far at onset, no matter how practical it could be.
Without protest, Blue begins to walk between the scattered club tables and the false lives loitering about on his way to the stage. He's not really speedy, given how tired he is, but he takes care not to brush against anything here, lest it somehow stagger him or alter his perception.
Tell me if anything changes...the closer I get, he thinks softly back toward the merman.
no subject
I don't think they perceive you fully. So far, the singer continues her song. It's difficult to ignore, like a compulsion.
His instinct is to continue toward that stage, and with Blue taking care not to disturb those along the way, he mostly picks out his progress by... hearing nothing noting his progress. He grimaces, then looks around, spying a stool nearby that he relents to crawling toward while firmly thinking about nothing but the song, so that Blue hears it by proxy, until he's scaled the frigging stool and can better see what's going on.
Oh! To your left, see that side of the stage? The singer's favouring it, I suspect something may be behind her or around her feet. What do you see, when you look there?
no subject
The wrongness of this whole circumstance can't be shaken, either, and it colors his perceptions. Still, he has to try.
Left... Blue draws himself to the base of the stage, turning his attention in the direction suggested.
Nothing. His mouth tugs into a troubled frown.
Perhaps without that concoction, he may not be able to fully perceive things? Which doesn't make sense...what is in those drinks? Microchips? A chemical agent that works with the signals emitted in this room?
He's not willing to press his luck, given his fraught history with the sort.
My eyes see nothing but the stage itself. No singer.
...What does she sing about?
no subject
Still, being asked a question, he focusses on the words being sung.
We've known each other for so long,
Your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it,
Inside, we both know what's been going on,
We know the game, and we're gonna play it—
A pause before he adds, Do you want me to continue sending the song along? It's nothing too inspiring, but we're about to hit the chorus again.
Less visible to him from this angle is the circular inset on the stage floor, one that exists in reality, not just the fiction his eyes perceive. Blue may see it, the break in the smooth pattern of the empty stage, and the vaguest of impressions of shadows that move across it.
no subject
No. I will continue to investigate. Tell me if something changes that I do not notice.
He walks along the length of the floor before the stage until he reaches the stairs leading up. Before he fully reaches the top, he hesitates, turning his head and searching out the sight of his partner.
I have something of an idea. But I would need your consent...to let me send what I can see to your mind directly.
Perhaps what you've drank can perceive it second-hand.
no subject
(Maybe it was the double dose. Hm.)
Visually. You're asking to send me what your eyes see, directly?
By extension, he supposes the same can be done in reverse, and that both fascinates him and unnerves him for zero actually useful reason. Which is why he shelves that, instead (aware his whole mental process might at least be felt) giving his permission, as he closes his own eyes. Time to see if it was influencing his brain directly, or his optic nerve instead.
We can try it. Should that not prove useful, would you attempt the reverse?
Seeing through Shen Qingqiu's eyes instead.
no subject
It seems vital to repeat, given that initial reaction. Blue feels some trace guilt for having announced himself so plainly at the onset - guilt he knows he shouldn't have to feel. It'd be like apologizing for being able to see or hear, and yet, circumstances such as they are...
Well, that's philosophy for later. For now, with the man's permission, Blue climbs onto the stage and focuses, projecting what he can see out and toward Shen Qingqiu's mind. It's like an intrusive thought - abrupt, distracting from whatever else was being entertained.
no subject
His answer is swift, in that sense: his brain interprets shadows of things being there, not sure shapes, but a feedback he can give to some extent.
To your front and right, five steps. Will you look at the stage for me?
He had no idea if he could send images back when the images he was 'seeing' were not as smooth flowing as watching a crystal screen, or his mind recalls, phones and televisions, so trying to guide by distance it is.
I think I see something under where the lead singer might be singing. For her microphone.
no subject
I'm so sorry im draggin my feet, i can't figure out what if ur even SUPPOSED to find anything/what happens lmao ;;Front and right. Five steps. One, two, three, four, five.
Blue keeps his eyes down and focused, trying to glean reason from what his eyes are telling him isn't there. It's like layering an extra sense on his...extra sense. A little strange-feeling, but not impossible if he tries hard enough. Certainly easier for him than the other, so he won't balk or complain.
The is something there to be seen, at least: Cuts in the floor where plugs may go in, perhaps. Blue kneels down slowly, braced to halt himself should he hear a demand to, and moves to opening up the little slats to investigate.
no subject
it's fine i'm going .......... making this up and assuming we're solving it Magically Somehow??? let's end this hologramBlue has the luck of a ghost, with the singer continuing her song, moving down and to the right of the stage, reaching out to her crowd. Or so he's presuming based on what he hears, tagging to that direction, and he could be wrong. His hearing hasn't been affected as far as he knows.
So instead, he focuses on what Blue's seeing, and a glimpse of brighter light that pulls his eyes.
There. The slat you opened, look to the right. Is there something physically there, or is it just illusion?
Maybe apple sized, the object to Shen Qingqiu's eyes has a dark, pearlescent look to it, and the impression of energy. In reality, it was little more than an inert, round ball, if he could see it as such.
no subject
Finally, something the both of them can perceive. Without realizing it, Blue drops his focus and the link to his vision is cut as he himself can see precisely what it is.
I can see it, he reports, reaching in to pick that simple-looking sphere out and settle it in both hands. Around him, the simulation seems to shiver, but the hologram onlookers still seem to be in rapt attention to the invisible singer before him.
I have it.
no subject
Great, now get out of there. Can you make your way back to me?
The orb's been found, but what's the key to signaling the end of the session? He'd helped as far as he could, but a glance down assured him he still had a freaking tail.
Idly, he moves his fins, and has the disconnected feeling he just kicked both feet at once. Interesting.
Let's see if both of us making contact ends this simulation. The singer hasn't stopped, but I don't think she really registers you...
Until it seems she does: less Blue, more the orb. Her eyes flash up on stage, and she reaches out.
Come down fast, she's reaching for the orb! The crowd's not reacting!
He wants to move with a sudden ferocity that has him almost falling off his stool, tail thwapping against the base in pure, unadulterated irritation. If that won't work, then maybe...?
He tugs his fan out of his... why does he have a waistband still? Oh, good, he has it, and flicks it out, a pointed gust of wind that soars over heads and tugs at hair and feathers and hats to reach the singer, sending her costume fluttering and hair flying in a tiny, localised windstorm. She flinches back from it, caught off guard, giving Blue that much more time to move.
no subject
"-?!"
Preceded by a surge of certainty, Blue gasps as a gust of air comes rushing through. He can't just idle in confusion, though. A pale blue light begins to encompass him as he crawls to the edge of the stage.
As he jumps down, his fall is softened to a float. With a breath, he steadies his footing, only to see what holograms he can see starting to regard him. Focus him.
Their hands bounce off the glowing barrier around him as Blue staggers through them, hugging the orb to his chest. He doesn't need to struggle to find the only other truly-alive person here: Even if his mind weren't a beacon in this mechanical space, the tail certainly stands out.
Give him a moment to push through this surge of hollow people - he's almost there!
no subject
Primarily the cautious application of wind through the movements of his fan, the grace of an easy flick that extends out, ruffling clothes and hair and causing them to slow just a touch in the cross-wind confusions. No, they're not real, but visiting violence on a simulation held no more worth to him than visiting violence on true, uncoded innocents. All he needed to do was buy time.
So his hand is extended as far as he can offer it to Blue, like they can slam dunk this false-orb and end the whole thing. Which he does think is how it'll work, so, still used to mentally talking at him rather than bothering with the words (to his background thought process of why do they have to acknowledge him now, isn't that too much of a pull out of the rear? So stupid! This game is rigged from the start!) becomes, If we touch it together, we should trigger the end sequence!
Or the cut scene. Or the cut out of all holographic stimuli, like he knows! This is his first time in this stupid thing!
no subject
Blue nearly drops into Shen Qingqiu's lap as he makes it, but it's the orb that drops there instead. And when both sets of hands are finally upon it--
Well...
Well, until Blue opens his eyes again and can see that the space has become blank walls and empty of holograms. He couldn't perceive them with his mind before, so all of that reactionary information comes from Shen Qingqiu himself - whose no-longer-fishy legs Blue has to have hands on to keep himself upright.
no subject
At least it's round. Near perfectly so.
Shen Qingqiu picks it up and quirks an eyebrow just barely, examing it in his hand. While outwardly collected, Blue had the sad benefit of his internal:
Oh good, the nanites that are probably stuck in my system now stopped convincing me I had a fish tail. Take that, simulation! We win!
He pauses, then speaks out loud.
"After all this, do you feel there's been a point to this exercise?" It felt more like an exercise in futility, what with the lack of information on what was going on. Bartender earns worst quest giving NPC in the whole scenario!
No one else handed out quests in scenario, so it's a rather moot point. He also seems to finally really register Blue right there, and the shift, mental and in the slight crease at the corner of his eyes, follows soon after.
"Do you need to sit down?" You look wrecked, are you sick?
no subject
Only tired.
Blue does look a shade paler somehow, and he sinks to his knees, catching a breath before he takes his hands off of Shen Qingqiu's legs. He turns his head to peer over his shoulder at the empty space around them.
"There's still...no others here. Was it...really just some kind of...training...?"
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