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

Potluck

[aimsforknees]

[ Some time between Halloween and this disaster of a potluck John has accepted that Strange Things Happen Here. There's no reason for kittens to start suddenly spilling out of cupboards (which is incredibly Not His Problem). The scream does attract his attention however, and he comes running over, staring with great concern and a little alarm at the young girl in front of him. ]

What's wrong? Are you hurt?

[featherings]

Ah, no! I mean, it wasn't me! It was the egg. The egg screamed?

[Why?? Why this?? Why did it scream? That startled her with the sudden noise, let alone initially wondering if it was the egg or someone else. No. The egg was. Somehow. She isn't sure why or how that was a thing. The egg otherwise seems normal. As far as she can tell? She had not been expecting that. At all.]

[aimsforknees]

[ The egg... screamed? The egg screamed. He looks at the cracked egg. It seems perfectly normal, apart from being cracked. ]

The egg screamed.

[ He doesn't sound disbelieving, or even incredulous. Just as if he's confirming a fact. ]

[featherings]

It did! It wasn't me! I don't know how or why that happened. I don't ever recall eggs doing that before. But nobody else was screaming?

[So it must have been the egg? Even if Sakura had no idea how or why that would happen. But she does try to reassure the other checking on her that she is alright. She said that she was fine and that it was not her that screamed. She isn't hurt or anything. She was just surprised, startled.]

[aimsforknees]

[ Well, there's one way to test this.

John grabs an egg and an empty bowl and cracks the egg into the bowl. The egg screams. He just raises an eyebrow and looks down at the young girl. ]

It screamed.

[featherings]

See, it was the egg! It gave me such a fright. I wasn't expecting it.

[At least he was. From her telling him about it. Still, she has never encountered that with eggs before, so she isn't quite sure what to make of it. Maybe this is normal for the eggs in this world? For them to scream? If hers did and then so did the one he cracked as well.]

Maybe eggs do that here?

[aimsforknees]

[ That's an easy answer. John shakes his head. ]

I've cooked with eggs here plenty, they don't usually scream. But strange things happen that don't have good explanations. This whole cooking competition seems... [ how should he put it? ] unusual.

[featherings]

They don't usually? I wonder why these do? What's so unusual about cooking competitions?

[Sakura isn't sure what is normal for this place. She only recently arrived and all. So it's harder for her to tell exactly what might be strange or normal. Cooking doesn't seem that strange, though. The eggs screaming, sure. But otherwise. It doesn't seem that odd?]

[aimsforknees]

[ Ah, maybe she's new? Or doesn't usually cook? She does seem rather young, though he started helping his mom with cooking from a young age so that doesn't mean much. ]

The competition itself isn't unusual, but people have been reporting strange things like ingredients unexpectedly pickling during cooking, or kittens running out of cupboards. Or screaming eggs.

[ She probably would have liked the kittens better than screaming eggs. ]

[featherings]

Kittens in the cupboards?

[Of course that mention would get her attention. She was called the Little Kitty of the group by Fai and his illustrations when he had to give their names in one world, for example. So, she does like cats. Sakura crouches down and opens one of the cupboards almost expectantly. Clearly wanting to find her own cats and not more cooking utensils and equipment or ingredients.]

[aimsforknees]

[ Oh no— but no kittens appear, to John's relief. He doesn't want to handle kittens. That is very much not his problem to deal with. Still, he's composed enough to not let out a sigh of relief. ]

There aren't usually kittens here. Especially in cupboards. It's as strange as screaming eggs.

[ John hasn't actually seen any cats around before today. ]

[featherings]

Oh. I thought the kitties might need help if any were stuck in the cupboards.

[Sakura says, even as she pouted at the lack of kitties. But she is also relieved at the same moment of learning that they weren't trapped. She admits to finding the screaming eggs rather odd but is at least not as surprised by it now. It has happened a couple of times, and she knows to expect it.]

[aimsforknees]

[ Yeah, maybe, but also she's a kid, and kids like kittens. Of course she was hoping to find kittens. Still, he'll let her off the hook. ]

What are you making?

[featherings]

Oh! I'm making cookies — chocolate chip, like Fai-san taught me when we ran the cafe together. I'm not sure if mine would be as good as his, though. But it was the first thing I thought of.

[She's still getting her memories of home back. But she remembers the recipe she made more recently with Fai. So she can at least try that. Even if she isn't as confident doing it without him there to help. She thinks she remembers the recipe well enough that it seems to be going okay. Egg excitement aside....]

[aimsforknees]

[ Chocolate chip cookies are a good choice for a kid to make. ]

I've made chocolate chip cookies before, want some help? I can at least do the oven for you.

[ To be fair, John was probably using the oven at her age, though he remembers his mom impressing on him how he had to be careful, how she didn't want him using it without her. If he can take things in and out of the oven for this girl then it'll be time well spent. ]

[featherings]

Oh? Um, sure! If you weren't busy, doing your cooking. I won't say no if you'd like to help.

[She doesn't expect it, merely appreciates the offer even as she is still not on Fai's level but she is learning and capable enough with some basics. Sakura won't say no if he would like to help with the oven. Ensuring that is preheated and that the cookies wouldn't burn, that they were taken out in time.]

[aimsforknees]

[ John shakes his head. ]

I was just passing by. Tell me what I can do.

[ Oh, but if they're making cookies together— ]

I'm John. What's your name?

[featherings]

I'm Sakura. I'm just about to add the eggs to the dry ingredients. So it's almost ready, along with the chocolate chips. Then we can put it in the oven. I've put it on to preheat already. Would you like to help make sure the oven tray is ready?

[He could help. She doesn't mind if he wants to help with the oven. Cookies weren't too complicated. But the oven was the important thing, to be sure that the thing was at the right temperature, and that the food was not in there too long.]

[aimsforknees]

[ He can do that. John starts opening cupboards, looking for parchment paper. ]

Have you made chocolate chip cookies before?

[ He didn't see a recipe, so he assumes she knows what she's doing. Aha, there's the parchment paper. He takes the box out and tears off a piece that will fit on the baking tray. ]

[featherings]

Yes. Fai-san taught me, when he was running a cafe one time. So we made lots together then for a bit. Before we moved on to the next world.

[Which she says so casually. Because she is used to it. Different worlds, the idea being something she herself had experienced. So this, ending up here, is not necessarily as strange to her as it might be to others. At least, in theory. Sakura continues to figure out her ingredients and mix them together as he readies the oven and all.]