TDM 003

[etrayamods]

⏵ arrival ⏴ NOTES\WARNINGS: Space horror, existential horror, clown horror, potential graphic violence & psychological trauma. Please add additional warnings as needed within threads. Your arrival does not go as anticipated. While most Etrayans wake up in the hospital, you find yourself somewhere else entirely. Not within the city bubble, not on the planet, but in a desolate room aboard a space station. There’s an endless mechanical whirring that can be heard from anywhere from just behind the walls, although the cause of the noise itself is difficult to discern. Instead of Aurora’s voice telling you of your situation, you are greeted by a man running past the sliding door of your room, opening it, and potentially a couple of others along the hallway. He stops just at the edge of the hallway, a hesitant smile on his lips as he raises a hand to the back of his hair. "Hey! Sorry about the uh–unexpected vacation? Trip? You can call me Alex, I’m one of the hands here aboard the Titan Eight. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but you don’t really belong here. Aaaaand neither do we! Haha, so at least we’ve got that in common. Right? We’re uh, stuck in the gravitational pull of a black hole of some sort and haven’t found a way out yet, and we keep getting random people pulled aboard." His hand smacks the wall next to him, and it opens up - revealing small handheld communication devices lined up behind it. "As you can probably tell, we’re getting used to it. Anyway. Feel free to take one of these, and read up a bit on the ship if you want. There’s a map, you were given a translator—" With a hand dropping to his collar, where a small button rests, "soon as we found you down below. Didn’t want you waking up and freaking out, did we? Just don’t break anything, please? Or don’t break it worse than it is. If this thing gets a big enough hole in it, or we run out of oxygen, or it, gods forbid, explodes, we’re all dead. I’ve got a thing I’m on the way to, but our AI, Aria, can lend you a hand with whatever. Just click her little icon on the comm. She's a bit basic, but she gets the job done." With a little salute, Alex turns himself around to run further down the hallway, leaving new arrivals to themselves and their little communicators. Looks like we’re not on Etraya anymore, Toto. For new arrivals, they will find themselves waking up in the sleeping quarters of Titan Eight, a space station that has found itself trapped just outside of what looks like it must be a black hole. The station is running low on supplies, but it has been for a very, very long time. Or at least, the crew seems to think it has. They’ll say they have two weeks' worth of supplies left for those currently on board, except every time they go back to their supplies, it’s still two weeks left regardless of the amount of time it’s been since they’ve last checked it. Even the crew seems to think it’s odd, looking at one another in confusion every time they’re counting their stock only to realize that it’s still drastically low but never too low. How long have they been here? Years, some seem to think. There are numerous children on board, some as young as nine, but no one on board is aging either. They have tried to track how much time has passed before, but it seems they’ve never been able to track it successfully. Journal entries all carry the same date even as crew members try to mark them differently — marks made on the ship and on bodies fade after midnight as if they had never been there to begin with. This is where the mission, and Etrayans comes in: remove the space station from the black hole’s gravitational pull. There are no further instructions, no limitations on how to accomplish this, and they are not given a time frame. Newcomers will not have this mission information on hand until someone who has stepped foot on Etraya proper can inform them. All of those who drop onto the ship were originally meant to be brought to Etraya and similar city bubbles, but the same pull that keeps the ship by the black hole seems to be preventing whatever method Echo and Aurora are using to get people to Etraya and is instead pulling them here. Titan Eight is not just an average space station. It was built by residents of Caerys 2, and used to serve as a vacation home for those who can afford the luxury rooms in the fourth quadrant. The first quadrant houses a carnival of sorts, the second hosts numerous vendors, and the third is where the crew, and unexpected guests, can be found during their off time. The fourth quadrant houses some of this galaxy's richest families. A mother and her two sons walk through the hallways, carrying umbrellas despite there being no natural light on board, but a closer look at them might explain it: they're so pale, their skin looks clear, dark black veins visible through skin. Their sclera are black, and their 'hair' isn't hair but long black feathers. Numerous guests aboard the ship don't appear to be human; rather, species' of all kinds. An engineer is more dragon than anything else: his long body extends throughout the engine facility, taking up a significant amount of space, but given the dragon himself seems to be leading all efforts to keep the ship running, everyone else tries to work around him. ⏵ whirlwind whimsy ⏴ During the daytime, Titan Eight is fun. Numerous rides are strewn about the wide open area: a massive carousel, ferris wheel, bumper cars, and various others. A seer will offer to tell your future, and performers gather in the big top, showing off their ability to bend themselves into unnatural shapes, or their lack of fear as they balance on thin wire high above the ground without a net to catch them, should they fall. One popular ride is the Tunnel of Love: a small boat that only fits two and steers itself through a tunnel that goes under the carousel. Soft, serene tunes play as various images play over the tunnel walls. While those who have been aboard Titan Eight for a significant period will likely see hearts, short videos of people holding hands, watching the sunset while swinging together - it's not the same for those displaced onto the space station. Instead, they'll see doorways into other worlds: an underwater city full of humanoid beings, a city bubble that looks like a small suburban area, a city built out of trees, or perhaps their own worlds: images of what they may be missing out on, or what could be. The House of Mirrors is also popular: a carnival worker will tell those passing by that it shows you other versions of yourself - who you could be, what you might become, who you once were, or the person you wish you were. Rumor has it the mirrors will whisper to you, telling you what you can do to avoid certain outcomes, or how to achieve others. There are also numerous carnival games set up: Balloon Darts, Ring Toss, Rifle Ranges - anything you could imagine at a carnival is set up somewhere. And given this is meant to be a luxury ship, everything is free of charge. ⏵ midnight entertainment ⏴ Titan Eight being stuck in the pull of the black hole doesn't seem to be the only problem. When the clocks onboard read 0000 hours, everything shifts. The fun carnival feels eerie. Children's laughter can be heard bouncing off the walls — sometimes sounding bright and cheerful; other times sounding downright sinister. Crew members and carnival workers suggest staying out of the first quadrant. After 2230 hours, they exit their workstations and find other spaces to hunker down in for the night. No one wants to be around when the excessively tall clown walks out of the House of Mirrors, dragging other clowns of various shapes and sizes right through the mirrors themselves. Carnival workers will explain they have tried breaking the mirrors but given how the ship resets at midnight, attempts to destroy everything have proved futile. The clowns themselves are odd. The tallest one has a smile filled with blood and a laugh that sounds like it belongs to a young child rather than the creature it is. It carries around a bloodied carving knife but doesn't reach for anyone who goes near it. Some clowns cry and sob, ripping fingernails from their nailbeds as they claw at the door leading into the central hub. Others laugh and scream, wandering around the open carnival area to cause damage wherever possible. Some hurt each other, or the other creatures wandering the carnival area. Most of them will attack on sight. During the nighttime hours, this is their area. And yet many remain around the House of Mirrors, guarding it, as if there is something inside of it that they must protect. Getting past them is near impossible: when one clown falls, two more rise out of the mirrors. When the mirrors are destroyed, the tall clown drags its hands against the broken pieces of glass, helping it to reform. By 0500 hours, the clowns have made their way back into the mirrors, taking along with them whatever they had been so protective of. ⏵ toucan play that game ⏴ While the fourth quadrant is generally reserved for guests who can afford to pay for the space and the staff who manage it, with the station stuck, they've opted to open the area to allow others to come and go during the day. In the center is a massive aviary, filled with birds of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some of them have no feathers yet still manage to fly, some look as if they should have gone extinct thousands of years ago, and others are - completely unidentifiable, alien. Most of them are peaceful. But not all of them. Off in the far Southwest corner is a bird with three eyes, a long black tail, and a beak full of massive teeth. While it will not attack others, it will open its beak and speak in a voice that mimics one familiar to those wandering past it: a friend, a sibling, or someone who had long since passed, and says the last thing they remember that person saying to them, repeating it over and over again as long as they stay close to it. Outside of the aviary, there are exercise facilities, sunning rooms, a massive swimming pool and hot tub, areas for pets to rest and play with one another, and a large ballroom where dances are thrown once weekly. Residents dress up in their best gowns and suits, don masks, and dance away the stress of their situation. Staff and displaced are invited to join, although staff are encouraged to come to every other dance, so there are still enough to man the ballroom. ⏵ current player notes ⏴ Aurora approaches those currently stationed on Etraya individually, informing them of the mission at hand. She tells them that she is capable of releasing them much in the same way Echo originally pulled them onto the planet, but with a 'tether' still attached to keep them from getting lost too long. Time does not function the same way on the ship as it does on the planet; she suspects their time being on the ship won't register as any time at all to those remaining on Etraya, and that when they are pulled back, it will likely be as if they never left to begin with. Current characters are not pulled to Titan Eight during missions happening in game but in the downtime between them. Small rescue ships are docked at the Southeastern island, and she will send individuals off a few at a time. The ships will pass through the barrier without issue, but won't travel far at all outside of Etraya before they blip out of existence, and reappear in Titan Eight's orbit. They will also get a friendly introduction speech from Alex, and a ship communicator for any network-related needs while aboard Titan Eight! Earpieces will not work aboard the ship. When characters are pulled back, it will not be on rescue ships. Instead, they will find themselves suddenly dissipating at midnight, as the rest of the changes aboard the ship shift back to how they had been originally. The rescue ships disappear at midnight, along with the player characters. ⏵ NOTES ⏴ This TDM covers June to September. The TDM is game canon, meaning everything happening above is occurring within the game properly, and threads can be kept as game canon even if a character does not app. Time does not function the same on Titan Eight as on Etraya! Characters can be brought onto Titan Eight at any time and stationed there long before any of the Etrayans arrive to assist. For any questions relating to the contents of this log, please reply to our mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ. This is going to be an ongoing plot, which characters are welcome to try and solve, even if they aren't yet in the game!

Comments

[keepitgoing]

[It's probably for the best that his mask is back on. As it is, Dr. Octavius can only see the slightest shift of his mask's eyes as they widen — and the stiffening of his shoulders, the words like a hot knife in his stomach.

It's the first time anyone had offered those words to him, once the dust had settled back at the Statue of Liberty — and why would they? Nobody knew who he was. Nobody knew the young man sitting at the back of the funeral processions, trying not to cry his eyes out. He was just some homeless kid in Queens: someone FEAST — May — had helped before she'd passed.

His voice is quiet and fragile.]

Thank you.

[It's not something he's particularly faced yet. That big, terrible loss, like a sucking chest wound. He had been so focused on fabricating a story to get his identification settled, on getting work lined up, and finding a place to live, and figuring out how to get his education back — He just. Hasn't dealt. With anything.

He clears his throat, trying to find the words.]

... To me and — and... and to May, it wasn't for nothing. If she hadn't done what she did, the five of you would've died... and I know she doesn't — didn't regret doing any of it, if it meant saving you guys.

[Peter has a lot of regrets, himself.

Things he'll always be guilty for.

But saving them, that's not part of it.]

[doctopoda]

[Otto doesn't have the benefit of a mask. His lips quirk ruefully for a second before he schools his expression back to neutrality. It's hard to agree. He would never say so; it'd be as good as arguing that May did die for nothing. It's just...from his position, that trade-off doesn't seem worth it at all.

(She'd reminded him of Rosie.)]

I didn't know her well, of course, but not many people would have done what she did. She was a very kind woman.

[Kinder than he'd deserved, acting the way he was, but - this isn't about his own feelings on himself. Otto just reaches out to clap Peter on the shoulder for a moment.]

[keepitgoing]

[… Dr. Octavius is a good man. That’s something Peter could tell, when he came back to himself at the condo — that he was good. People don’t have to be genuinely good to deserve rescue, but it sure does make someone more determined to help. Norman had some good in him, too; it leaves room for shame, when he thinks of how badly he’d wanted to hurt him. Worse than hurt him…

Peter relaxes at the hand on his shoulder, looking to Otto with a hidden measure of gratitude. The other may or may not realize just how much he’s needed a hand on his shoulder, or someone to make him feel seen — but when you’re a face nobody recognizes, it means the world.]

… Not everyone takes in their orphaned nephew, either. [There’s a soft, humored scoff.] She always looked out for everyone around her. Showed me how to be a better person; I never got to pay her back for everything she’s done for me...

[He isn’t… sure he can say a whole lot more without breaking down like an embarrassing child. But he does refocus on Otto — tries to push away the lump that threatens to clog up his heart and throat. Someone is here who knows him, who might need his help; that’s what’s important.]

Well, um — guess this area’s cleared for a while. I should get back to my bag, swap into a normal put fit. I can meet you somewhere to talk about Etraya and what’s going on here?

[There’s a lot going on. Now there’s this place added to the mess.]

[doctopoda]

[Yeah - yeah, he's not gonna push any more on that. Otto pats him on the shoulder once and then withdraws with a nod.]

I'd appreciate that. Sounds like you know more about this than I do. [He could tell Peter the cabin he's been staying in, but it's sort of depressing in there. It's a room meant for staff, after all, not the luxury cruise guests.] Have you been to the deck with the birds?

[keepitgoing]

[He shakes his head, and thankfully, the mention of something uniquely interesting in contrast to killer clowns makes him cheer up a little.]

Are they cool birds?

I'm gonna guess they're not the kind that also try to strangle you.

[He points a thumb over his shoulder at those weird mirrors.]

[doctopoda]

No, no. But some of them are alien birds.

[That's interesting to him! He didn't hear the part where some of the Spider-Men fought aliens!]

It's in the fourth quadrant, right in the middle. Can't miss it.

[keepitgoing]

[Spider-Man, despite the mask, appears to be radiating a newfound eager energy. He moves to start walking in the direction of where he'd last thrown his backpack (and prays it is still there) and points both fingers at Otto urgently.]

I'll be there. The only thing that'd stop me now is more scary clowns, but I think we're all good there!

So — yes. Yes! I will be there in just a minute!

[... Ah, yes. The obvious: even with all of the bad that's happened, him being a nerdy doofus has been retained. Spider-Man zips himself out of the room like that's the most normal thing in the world to do, leaving Octavius to start his journey toward these awesome-sounding birds.

Peter'll be there in a jiff.

... After having to look a little harder for his backpack than he intended.

But only a few minutes extra!]

[doctopoda]

[Otto just goes straight to the aviary; he doesn't really have anywhere else to be. The fight didn't even really leave him all that mussed. That's probably in part because the downed clowns collapsed into ash...which is concerning, but they can deal with all that later.

He finds a bench near the entrance to sit on. It doesn't have a back, fortunately; he doesn't fit into those too well nowadays. When he sees Peter enter in his civilian clothes, he waves.]

[keepitgoing]

[He doesn't really mind spending so many hours in a masked outfit. You'd think it'd be pretty claustrophobic, but for him? It kind of helps with the sound and sights of everything. He's always had his senses bumped up too much, and while he's used to it now, it's still... easy to get overwhelmed. Or maybe that's just life? It's hard to tell what is power-born anxiety and what is just his own.

He feels good right now, though. And as he approaches, sporting an old backpack and looking more like Just Some Guy, he offers a wave.]

Sorry for the wait!

I guess I might've hidden my stuff, uh... A little too well. [It happens. He's misplaced loads of backpacks. Luckily none of them ever have his spidey uniform in them because he always loses them while in costume, so... that's a small mercy.] Nothing too crazy happen since I saw you last, right? No ominous circus music? Maybe a guy on a unicycle? Just wanna be sure.

[doctopoda]

No, no. About as normal as it gets here. Though, I only arrived a few days ago.

[It's hard to say that he's really come to see any of this as "normal" yet. But nothing about his life has been for several months now; at least this has all been the most peaceful things have been for him lately, clown interlude omitted.

He shifts the actuators so that Peter has room to sit as well, if he likes.]

You said you've been here longer?

[keepitgoing]

That's a relief. You never know with this place, I swear...

['This place' being Etraya, but he kinda forgot that this isn't quite the usual place. Sitting down, he scrubs his hair back with a hand and blows out a breath.]

I've been here, but not much longer than you.

More like... a few weeks? Almost a month.

But I'm not usually on this station. If I'm honest, you weren't even supposed to show up out here, on this station. The actual place all of the new arrivals wake up in is a hospital, down on the actual planet — they call it Etraya. [There's... no real easy segway into it, so he just accepts that and adds:] Some mysterious figure named Echo brought us all here, though nobody's seen or spoken to her. The only way we even know she exists is because the AI that tells us everything at the hospital said so.

[doctopoda]

[Otto nods slowly as he listens. That's...definitely a lot, but it would probably hit differently if he hadn't been brought into another universe like a week ago already. It's starting to get a little unfortunately par for the course.]

So this has been happening? What is she bringing people here for?

[keepitgoing]

Been happening for at least a few months now. But there are possibly other places outside of Etraya where the same thing is happening, too. It's — it's not proven that Echo's being totally honest. And it wouldn't be the first time someone lied to me about something to do with a multiverse, but...

[He looks over to Otto, frowning apologetically.]

Apparently, the multiverse is breaking apart, and we're here to prove our universes are the ones worth saving.

[But. But.

Peter shakes his head.]

I don't know, Dr. Octavius. It could just be a bunch of crap.

[doctopoda]

Worth saving?

[The entire premise makes him bristle. What on earth would make an entire universe full of people not worth saving? But then, maybe it's all bunk anyway.]

Well, yes, it certainly could be. What have they been making people do?

[keepitgoing]

Yeah. 'Worth saving'.

It wouldn't be the first time I've dealt with a bad guy who has the power to let trillions of people die, but... it's definitely different than before.

[That's a story for another time, maybe.]

I wasn't here for the first part of it, but... killing supposedly evil doppelgängers, for starters. And then forcing them into some kinda maze to survive a bunch of dangerous situations. [He shakes his head, disappointed that he wasn't there to help for those, honestly.] Then, they gave people these dolls that... I don't know. Took away their bad emotions? Made it so people could sleep and feel better. But if you didn't take them away and destroy 'em in time, they'd turn into monsters that only the doll owner could stop.

[Basically, it's not been good.]

[doctopoda]

...that's all very elaborate.

[Feels like a Stephen King short story collection. Otto had been expecting something that had a more obvious benefit for their captor - working for them, gathering resources, something like that. The current situation is the only one that really sounds relevant to him.]

And now you're here to save a space station.

[keepitgoing]

Crazy elaborate. And not remotely confirmed by anything, so... grain of salt. Someone might just be messing with us. But not treating it as serious could be a pretty bad idea, too — if worlds really are at stake.

[And then, with a sigh, he nods.]

They told us our mission's to remove the space station from the gravitational pull of a black hole location at some unspecified location. They didn't give us any information on how to actually do that — but yeah. That's the idea of it.

Anyone Echo and Aurora pull in, they just end up intercepted by this station.

[doctopoda]

[Otto sighs. Bad enough to be dragged onto this station with no explanation, but now he's not sure the actual explanation is any better.]

Well, at least I can agree with that much. Though I can't say I have any more ideas than you.

[Not like he's with NASA.]

We should track down the head engineer, talk to him. We spoke briefly when I was doing repairs - [He lifts one claw, which has obviously been reattached to the arm.] - but I didn't get any details.

[keepitgoing]

[Crazy how seeing a claw move around doesn't remotely make him anxious. Not when the same set of claws had helped them at ol' Lady Liberty. 'Villains' can really be helped, huh? At the very least, helped as much as they can. Even if it hurts... and even if you almost make a horrible mistake, trying to find a moment of vengeance that oozes out of a broken heart.

Peter just... hopes that it works out for them, on the other side of the coin.

With a trusting and confident smile, he nods.]

Lets see if we can get this figured out while we're here.

[Etraya might pull them before they can, but hey — they could at least do what they can.]

[doctopoda]

[It's a little uncomfortable, to be trusted so easily. Otto can't think that he's done all that much to deserve it. But there's nothing to be done there; the very act of trying would probably be unnecessarily mean.]

Yes, let's do that. From the sound of things, we should at least get several tries. They say they've been on the brink of falling it for quite a while, only it all resets before they actually do. We're circling the singularity.

[Will they eventually reach it, or have the laws of physics broken down to the degree that they can't? It's really impossible to theorize confidently without more data.]

[keepitgoing]

[Hey, sometimes you gotta be an untrustworthy villain and earn being a trustworthy... not-villain. It occurs to Peter that he's not entirely sure what Otto's work usually is, and he highly doubts most people totally want to be a superhero.]

Is this kind of thing something you're familiar with? Like, your work back home.

[He's gotta be a top scientist who specializes in very particular fields; no other way about it. Peter's pretty knowledgeable in a lot of areas, but in limited doses. Snack-sized collections of geeky knowledge.]

[doctopoda]

No, not especially.

[Otto's briefly a little surprised, but - well, of course he hasn't spoken to this Peter about his work before. And he already knew he didn't have an alternate self in the kid's world; he'd tried to find out.]

I was building a nuclear fusion reactor. These were meant to help operate it - temporarily. [He gestures with a claw.] You see how it all went, of course.

if it sounds good to you, we can wrap this thread (so i can bug him more on the mingle✨)

[keepitgoing]

Whoa.

[Right. Nuclear fusion reactor. The big leagues, as far as science goes.

And also some of the most dangerous.]

... It's possible the station uses space nuclear propulsion, or something like it; if it works off nuclear, it's something you'd at least be familiar with. That is, if it is. But it's a start, right? You never know where you'll be able to apply your experience.

[Even if things went sideways last time.

Basically, Otto, Peter always believes in second chances to make things work out. Work better. Learning from mistakes and growing, it's all a part of life — uh. Even if the mistake is a pretty catastrophic one. If he didn't believe it were possible, he wouldn't have tried so hard to fix all of the other stupid mistakes he'd personally made, anyway.]

We'll see where we can start.

sounds good to me!

[doctopoda]

[Otto nods. If it is a nuclear station...well, that's dangerous, but it's not like it gets so much worse than spaghettification.]

I've made the acquaintance of the head engineer already. I can find out.

[But then he ended up getting teleported off the station instead lmao]