TDM 005

[etrayamods]

⏵ arrival ⏴ Arrival goes as anticipated. Characters awaken in a sterile hospital bed in a clean, white room to the hum of machines under the unnatural lighting common to well-kept institutions. Every bit was designed to be comforting and calming, even with the jarring undercurrent of this situation. The first face they see is Aurora's: her smile appears to be warm, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. She might offer a quick explanation, or leave characters to figure it out for themselves depending on their approach. The door to the room swings open, revealing a hallway that stretches out ahead of them. There’s noise from outside and strong pumpkin spice scents coming from the lobby. Ah, muffins and tea. Grab one and head into the crisp, sunny fall morning ahead. ⏵ potluck ⏴ Cutthroat Iron Etrayan Bake-Off As you step out of the arrival holding area into the main thoroughfare, the entire street has been turned into tents and chef stations to accommodate the activities of thirty people at once. There’s seats, trailers, and robots bustling about to make sure everyone is ready. A couple of cheerful robots in aprons and colorful sweaters approach and redirect you as you step towards the cooking area. There’s gas ranges, ovens, grills, blast chillers, mixers, and set walk-ins and pantries with just about every ingredient you can imagine. There are cameramen (also robots) patrolling the area to capture all your best moments and to broadcast them directly to your fellow citizens’ devices. Your instruction? “Make your signature dish. You have one hour, chef.” It can’t just be straightforward, can it? The land itself is held together with pure chaotic energy. If you’re lucky, all goes as planned. If you aren’t… well… Roll a Die 1 Your leg is now tied to another chef’s 2 Your meal is continually un-cooking itself. 3 All of your ingredients are pickled now 4 The longer you touch an ingredient, the bigger it gets. 5 Every time you lift your pot lid, a component changes. 6 The aromatics are glowing and flashing like LED lights. 7 Your knife has been replaced with a cheese grater. 8 The ingredients are now magnetically stuck together. 9 Your meal is becoming deep fried. 10 Kittens are multiplying out of the cupboard. * 11 All of your ingredients have become incredibly heavy. 12 Your cook pot moves burners whenever you turn around. 13 Eggs scream when you crack them 14 The kitchen has become incredibly slippery. 15 It’s soup now. 16 All utensils have been replaced with crustaceans. ** 17 Your knife has a mind of its own. Watch out! 18 Your fridge catches fire. 19 Your pasta is trying to escape. Go get it. 20 Any ingredient not in the pot starts to float away. * All kittens disappear at the end. ** These however, stay. ⏵ share a meal ⏴ As all the cooking concludes, you will be invited to plate your meal into one of many casserole dishes, regardless of what was made. A ladle will be tucked into the corner and placed on the table with a folded bit of cardstock declaring the chef’s name and the name of the dish. A helper camerabot will come around to each participant and ask for their thinking and their process. Even if you got away without having to cook, even looking towards the table of dishes will spur a helper bot to start making you a plate with one of everything. The helperbot will insist that it is rude to not at least try what their peers have made. In fact, if you are to fill out the score card for each person, you really must taste everything! The robots can’t try the food, so it’s up to you. The cards look like so. The grading system is opaque. Is it meant to be numbers? Stars? Letter grades? Well, you’re the judge. You figure it out. Chef: ___________ Dish:_____________ Judge:___________ Overall Rating:_______ Flavor Presentation Stackability Wet Originality Rizz ⏵ tummy ache survivor ⏴ No matter how well your compatriots cooked or baked their dishes, there are… factors. You see that carrot? It’s really just condensed chaos in the shape of a carrot. No matter how powerful you are, these particular ingredients may not mesh with your being. …And even if it is truly a carrot, do all the chefs know the proper cooking temperature of chicken? Even chickens are aliens to many. (Optional) Roll a Die 1 Tummy Ache. Go lay in bed. Complaining alleviates symptoms. 2 That plate of food has energized you. You feel compelled to race or spar. 3 The food has reminded you of home. You must tell someone a detail of your childhood. 4 That food was so horrible that it simply must be washed out somehow. Spicy peppers? Booze? Gravel??? You’re going to over do it. 5 You have now discovered your new favorite dish. Make them teach it to you or you’ll lose sleep over it. This is all you want to eat for the next week. 6 The oddity of the ingredients has transferred to you. You start floating away. 7 The range of food and textures have inspired you. Acquire an annoying new hobby or habit. 8 You are now haunted by the digital souls of chickens. ⏵ NOTES ⏴ Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment! ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

Sumeragi Subaru | X/1999

[unhappymedium]

[1: Arrival]

It isn't the first time Subaru found himself waking up in a hospital after an event, but he really didn't expect it to ever happen again after the final battle in Tokyo. With destruction raining on the city, the country, the world, it was the end of everything. He in his own way helped cause it - so what incredibly inappropriate irony it was to have him arrive to a place to save the universe.

"You have the wrong person." There's no questioning it. Someone, anyone, other than him should be here instead.

The shock of survival makes him gaze at the floor for long while, wondering if this is actually a form of afterlife he hadn't studied. But eventually Subaru blinks, stands, and gets dressed. The clothing is still torn but wearable, and he throws on his black coat before leaving the room.

-
[2: Potluck]

Subaru participates in the cooking competition in a surreal daze, blindly shuffling through the open kitchen to mix ingredients without fully registering what he was doing, so well wishes to those who want to try whatever abominable flavor profile rises from a mess of noodles, rice, fruit, cabbage, onions, screaming egg, and chocolate sauce.

In theory it was an okonomiyaki. Only in theory. He gently sticks the bowl of half-stirred slop into the flame-engulfed fridge and questions if this isn't all a hallucination in the final moments of life as his sleeves start to smoulder and burn.

-
[3: Tummy Ache Survivor]

Not even a little friendly exorcism is getting rid of these ghost chickens. They squawk and flap and nest around Subaru as he stands there with a tray of someone's flan. Strangely, having ghosts - actual or not - makes him feel better. He tries to touch one but fingers poke through the back of the chicken. There's an offended cluck, and another chicken flies up to roost on his head.

-
[4: Wildcard]
[Timeskip forward or assumed CR or other prompts, anything works for me]

Potluck

[redheadedstepdad]

[ Shanks is one of the few judges who seems to be here willingly. Free food is free food, even if it looks extremely suspicious. He's keeping his pen and grading cards in his pocket to keep his only hand free. ]

What's that?

[ The smell is... something. He wouldn't call it good, but it probably won't be the worst dish he's ever tried. ]

[unhappymedium]

[He opens his mouth to answer then looks at the now plated pile of something. Chunks of it are clearly egg, and spotted with salmon, then the banana...]



It's cooked.

[The fridge did its job. It probably isn't the most terrible, truly - banana and chocolate do go well together. Subaru sets the plate down for the man to choose his destiny.]

[redheadedstepdad]

That answers everything then.

[ He takes a shockingly unhesitating bite, he even takes a moment to actually taste it before swallowing it. ]

That might be the worst thing I've ever eaten.

[ Somehow he's cheerful about it. But he's also grabbing the nearest bottle and taking a swig of whatever it is. ]

[unhappymedium]

Ah—

[ He didn't really expect him to eat it while there were other, more enticing options around them. ]

[ Subaru gives a stiffly polite nod. ] ...You should leave the rest. Maybe the next dish will go better.

[redheadedstepdad]

[ He did just take a swig of soy sauce, so clearly his day is going great.

He digs into his coat and takes out a flask and after some fumbling, takes a swig of that. ]

I miss my ship.

[unhappymedium]

[ From one misfortune into another. Subaru makes a half-hearted attempt to slide over what looks like a glass of water, but pauses when he realizes he doesn't know if it really was water. ]

You have a ship?

3

[leastdramatic]

That cooking competition was certainly… something. And while Jason’s glad it’s over now, coming out of it unscathed is apparently too tall of an order to hope for. He gives another poke at the remains of what was supposed to be a pot roast before looking at Subaru.

“Needs some help there?” He asks in mild concern.

[unhappymedium]

He thinks over his answer, a touch bewildered.

"I... don't know?" He tries to touch another chicken, and the half-supported tray of flan starts to slide off to one side. "They're not spirits, are they. Only projections?"

[leastdramatic]

“Not sure but it wouldn’t be the first time this place put up some kind of weird illusions,” Jason says. “Do they feel real?”

[unhappymedium]

"Not at all." The holograms are the type of technology he only knows from fiction. He turns his head and can see the transparent feathers of the bird on his head follow the movement. It's distracting.

He puts his tray down on a counter and digital ghost chickens make motions to peck at it.

"Is any of this real?"

[leastdramatic]

“As real as you and me,” Jason calmly replies. “You new here then?”

Jason’s not sure if the man is being rhetorical or if that was a real question he’s asking.

[unhappymedium]

"I am." Standing still while surrounded by lively chaos, he looks like a man who would rather sink into a quiet corner and disappear from view. "What do they want us to do?"

i; arrival

[banworthy]

"Ah, more people to the meat grinder."

Vincent mumbles to himself as he watches people leave from the backrooms. He stares suspiciously at the muffins that have been set out. Of course, he doesn't recall anything terrible happening to him for eating these treats. It's the other treats that have been put in front of him that ended up being troublesome.

"Offer something safe first so the rest is taken willingly, perhaps?" He muses aloud and lifts his head as the man comes down the hallway. His hand lifts in greeting. "Hello. Care for a muffin? I'm not with the welcoming committee, but eating alone is--"

His hands open in surrender as he tosses a muffin at the aforementioned stranger.

[unhappymedium]

The scent of tea and baked goods reminds him of a cafe, and he follows it from the hospital room and down the corridor. He hasn't wandered far when he finds the man who offers an amicable hello and a muffin - Subaru catches it.

"I don't think I'm really hungry," he says as he studies it in his hand. It feels real. It smells as appetizing as a normal muffin would. And when was the last time he ate?

[banworthy]

"Heard the bad news, huh?" Like there is anyone who wouldn't.

He sinks in his chair. While Vincent calls it a "meat grinder," he doesn't quite feel that way. If it was one, they'd be allowed to die, but that's been taken off the table.

"Well, come take a sit." Gesturing to the seat next to him, he continues. "We're all in the same boat together, so why not commiserate together?"

[unhappymedium]

There's a short pause as he considers simply leaving and walking away from wherever this is to get lost in the outside, despite knowing nothing else about this place... but he then decides to sit down after all. He sets the muffin on the table.

"Saving the universe - universes? - sounds like a heavy task. Is that actually why we're here?"

[banworthy]

"Indeed, it seems to be." He pauses as he lifts his index finger. "But a correction - not universes - universe. Only what's 'ours.' I don't think I get a say in what happens to yours." Turning his hand over, he gestures to his companion.

"Vincent, by the way." Another flourishing gesture with his hand towards his person.

[unhappymedium]

"Only our own... But—" Subaru doesn't finish. But what if there's nothing left to save? A small shake of his head as if dismissing a thought.

"Sumeragi Subaru," he answers politely, instead.

3

[maximumlegend]

Fabian has seen a lot of things in his life.

.. this is new though. Somehow. Ghost chickens are definitely new, and for a moment the teenager just stands there, staring with a baffled expression at everything in front of him as if he isn't sure how to place it. At least the chickens don't seem dangerous, but Fabian isn't exactly willing to declare them safe just yet.

Maybe that's why he's got a worried frown on his face when he approaches Subaru.

"Are these.. yours?"

Look, one is sitting on Subaru's head, it's nbot like it's a strange assumption.

[unhappymedium]

He glances up and shakes his head. The chicken remains in place.

"I didn't bring them with me...they just appeared." He attempts to set down his tray on a table with a chicken in the way - the tray just passes through it. The chicken ruffles its feathers and tilts its head at him. "Maybe the food caused them?"

[maximumlegend]

"How would food cause--" He pauses, mid-sentence, kind of sounding like he needed a double take in the middle of what he was saying. In fact, Fabian's mouth opens and closes for a moment without voicing anything else before he finally continues to ask: "Are those ghost chickens?"

How else would something just pass through them? That's a ghost thing. They're chickens. Ghost chickens.

Fabian looks absolutely baffled at the idea.

"I haven't seen a single chicken here before, let alone ghost chickens!"

potluck

[godkaru]

Hikaru watched him carefully, seeing something kind of resembling a familiar food. But the man is more silent than anything and that really catches her interest.

He seems... Almost sad.

But with the sleeves start to catch fire, she blinks once and moves her hands quicker than her mouth.

"I've got it!" Don't mind the way the flames seem to move more toward her and away from his sleeves.

[unhappymedium]

In what might be surprise, he draws his arm back from the fridge when he hears a new voice speak. The fire threatened to catch and spread until the interruption, and the flames pull away somehow, as if caught up by their own breeze.

"Ah—did you...?" He looks up to see what she does.

[godkaru]

Hikaru just has one hand out towards him, taking the fire away from his sleeve and hand. She looks relieved that he didn't get hurt.

But he seems a little more surprised that she did something, rather than that anything happened at all. Should she not have done that? Did he have it handled?

"Sorry- I thought it might hurt."