∎ ETRAYA MODS ∎ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
etrayamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etrayamemes2024-11-11 03:04 pm
etrayamods) wrote in etrayamemes2024-11-11 03:04 pm
Entry tags:
TDM 005
 ⏵ 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…
* 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:_______
 ⏵ 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
Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment! |
Family time!
Finally, they come across the host, wary, senses on edge.]
You. Who are you?
no subject
it's frustrating to say the least, but now he's getting a bit of respite from the nonsense by... seemingly more nonsense. he turns around, scans the air, then lowers his gaze until it lands on the... )
Talking cat. ( a squint, a double-take. ) You're a talking cat.
( eddie's flippant, but venom's gone strangely quiet, assessing. )
You lost, lil' guy? Hey, it's all right, c'mere... Pspspsp.
( when eddie tries extending an arm towards to creature, venom yanks it back, which prompts eddie to frown. he whispers not-so-subtly: )
What? What's your problem?
no subject
Your other has sense, at least. If either of you pose a threat, I will happily eat you both. Now. Explain who you are and why I should spare your lives at the risk of those already here.
[They want answers, and if those don't come soon, the kitty might not be so friendly.]
no subject
( maybe, possibly, he's hallucinating. eddie doesn't think he's the type, but a world with holograms, and robots, and now being confronted by a talking cat who knows his secret? this could easily be a nightmare.
the hair on his arms stands on end, venom is buzzing around in his skull, but let him try to [poorly] talk his way out of this one more time. )
Listen, bud. I don't know what 'other' you're talking about, but how about a nice, juicy can of tuna? Huh? Think that'll make you feel better? Yummy tuna?
no subject
[Their tail whips in agitation, sensing the other symbiote but not recognizing them, which means these two probably aren't friends. The smile they then give has way too many sharp teeth to really fit in their mouth, but as warnings go, it'll do.]
Identify yourself and the Klyntar bonded to you. Before I stop being the friendly neighborhood symbiote I was raised to be.
no subject
Scary kitty.
Got it.
( eddie, clearly not adept at speaking to venom's brother/cousins/besties, decides it's probably fine to let v handle this one. he looks over his shoulder, looks around at the helpful robots, and does his best to usher the cat out of the public eye. at least a little bit.
with all creatures he's seen here — talking alien cat included — it's probably fine to have a symbiote. but, you know, caution.
eddie barely manages to scootch his ass out of the middle of the street before venom is breaking out from a goo patch on his shoulder. )
EDDIE IS MY HUMAN.
MY IDIOT HUMAN.
HIS HEART IS FULL.
HIS BRAIN IS EMPTY.
Thanks, bud.
WE CARE NOT FOR YOUR ORIGINS.
THREATEN HIM AGAIN,
AND YOU WILL BE OUR NEXT MEAL.
WE HAVE EATEN OUR OWN BEFORE.
WE DO NOT FEAR IT.
UNLIKE HUMANS.
Or... we can move away from this cannibalism conversation and just, you know, talk. Talk it out.
no subject
[They pause for a moment, sitting up and wrapping their tail around their feet as they consider the human and the symbiote.]
Eddie. As in Eddie Brock? And Venom?
[If anything, the cat now seems startled. Because, well, this isn't the one they remember. Which is strange but not truly impossible. There have been too many Eddies running around of late. But on a whim, they reach out, using their chemokinesis to control pheromones and send out a single message into their minds, a name that isn't quite a sound or an emotion or a sensation, but has elements of all three.]
no subject
( it's possible that their reputation has preceded them, but not likely, not like this. they're not so famous that some random symbiote a universe away should have any idea who they are.
while tinged with familiarity, it's not something that venom is able to recognize in full. eddie feels surprised that he's able to feel... whatever this is. it's like having a feeling forced into his soul, but an ambivalent one. it's immediately clear that this name, this symbiote, doesn't mean them any harm.
venom moves closer, blob head hovering near sleeper to get a better look at them. )
YOU... ARE US.
( he knows that isn't right, not the right way to phrase it, but human language is limited, and to see so much of himself in a fellow symbiote here is unfathomable. )
no subject
[There aren't many ways to downplay the relationship. They can feel the connection on some level. But this isn't their Eddie or their parent. Not quite.]
You are not from the same Earth I am, clearly. Venom would not forget about their spawn.
no subject
eddie looks... more surprised. until now, he'd never given much thought to symbiote reproduction. maybe he assumed symbiotes just split in half like cells.
to ward off the shock, eddie says the first thing that's on his mind. )
...We're really not in any position to pay child support right now.
We don't know where we are. No one will tell us why we're here. We have no money. This is a lot to take in...
no subject
I'm more worried about how Dylan might be coping.
[They didn't really leave their favorite sibling in the best place. And being snatched to another world is a bit of a wrench in things.]
I'm sure Aurora told you how we have been taken to prove our worlds deserve preservation.
no subject
Who's your mom?
( again, alien biology, kind of a new thing. )
What's wrong with your siblings?
( he has QUESTIONS. )
Would preserving our world mean destroying yours? What are the rules here?
no subject
I don't have a mother. Symbiotes don't need sex to reproduce.
[Sleeper flicks their ears in amusement that this Eddie is clueless about that aspect of symbiote biology. It's hardly a surprise.]]
When you have siblings named things like Carnage, Phage and Agony they aren't really the kind of people you invite for tea.
no subject
So... So it all works out with us? In your world? We make it work?
( oh, that hopeful smile. who's gonna tell him? )
no subject
[Sleeper looks a bit nervous about the topic. Things with the family are kind of difficult. Between most of their siblings not having an ounce of remorse or restraint and the situation with Eddie's absence...]
You try really hard to be there for us. You pretty much suck at it, but you try. Which is more than some people get.
no subject
( not that everything this cat is saying isn't piquing eddie's attention, but seeing how his codex is the reason everything in his life has become ten times worse, he's honing in on this.
sleeper is a cat, and eddie is a human, and in this moment he feels the need to rectify their height difference. he takes a seat on the ground, a little strained, like he isn't used to being cross-legged.
it's a lot. hearing that he's an absentee father is, you know, not great, but that's just one piece of information among what feels like millions. it feels like his brain might explode. so, he closes his eyes for a second, taking a breath. )
Can we, like, touch you? ...Cat child? Venom Jr.?
( respectfully. this cat barely seems like a cat, after all. they turned down a good can of tuna and a good 'pspspspsp'! )
no subject
[They consider the question, and they decide the best thing to do is just headbutt the hand nearest to them as an invitation.]
Do I just call you Venom, or Eddie, or does it depend on who's driving the body?
no subject
( it's unusual by earth standards, but with names like carnage, and venom, it sort of fits in. sleeper feels like venom, but smoother. he gets the feeling his hand won't come away sticky, and he scratches behind sleeper's ears. )
We sorta answer to both. Either. We're both here.
( in a 'if you shout venom from across the room, they'll both turn their heads' kind of way. venom can't stop peering down at his cat spawn, and neither can eddie, really. )
Clearly we have, like, a novel's worth of questions... also, not sure if any of this is real. ( just being honest. suddenly learning that he's got a kid and a cat in another dimension just seems like the sort of thing he'd dream about. ) But, if it is... it's, cool, I guess. It's a lot. I feel lightheaded.
...You doing okay here?
no subject
[They press happily into the ear scratches, making a soft thrum of a purr in encouragement.]
I have been here a couple of months now, and it's...always something. But there's chocolate and other things to eat, so it's not a complete waste of a pocket dimension.
no subject
( it's a LOT to take in!! )
But, if we do that, are you still gonna be here?
( is this a really weird dream that he's going to wake up from? or, worse, will he be just as bad as his alternate universe counterpart and disappear from his new child's life? )