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

[reapoman]

If only.

[ He definitely knows that can't be it. ]

I'm Ivan, by the way.

[heavensnight]

[his response makes it obvious that they definitely are not dead, not that she had believed it possible. she isn't sure she can die anyway. not like people usually would.]

I'm Maria. I'm not used to talking to people so thanks. [the understatement of a century.]

[reapoman]

[ They're alike in that much, at least. As far as Ivan knows, he still simply cannot die. ]

I should be thanking you. I'm not a great conversationalist, myself.

[ He glances around, watching others get set upon by the helper bots who drag them off to go cook something. ]

Maybe we should get out of here before they get to us.

[heavensnight]

Good idea, I'm not in the mood to play housewife barbie right now. [she motions for them to go the other way.]

Is this when we keep up small talk and talk about the weather or something?

[reapoman]

[ Away they go, then! Just a casual (if somewhat brisk, so they outpace the robots) stroll away from the world's weirdest Iron Chef competition. ]

Are you asking for instructions or-?

[heavensnight]

Let's just say I haven't had a real conversation in a long time.

[She flashes him a smile, as if joking. But she considers it true. Sorry, James, but she's not counting you right now.]

[reapoman]

[ James "sad and wet" Sunderland is an outlier and should not be counted. ]

And why is that? If you don't mind my asking.

[heavensnight]

Opportunity never arose? [that's one way of putting it.]

My line of work isn't really about conversation anyway.

[reapoman]

[ Ivan won't pry too deeply, of course. He knows people have their limits, but she has opened herself up to yet another question so he may as well ask it. If she doesn't want to share, he'll let it go. ]

Oh? What is it that you do?

[heavensnight]

Exotic dancer. [she doesn't mind telling. actually, it might be amusing to see his reaction to that answer.] People aren't typically paying for conversation.

[reapoman]

[ If she was waiting for him to fluster, it regrettably doesn't happen. He just sort of nods and gives a small hum of acknowledgement. ]

I see. I'm a mortician, myself, so my clients aren't big on conversation, either.

[heavensnight]

[it's refreshing. there were always two most common ways for a man to react. she preferred no reaction at all.]

Well, that's fun. You probably have just as many fun work stories as I do. Not that I'm asking. Who wants to talk about work?

[reapoman]

Not me. [ A small chuckle. ] It always brings down the mood, for some reason.

So, what would you prefer to talk about?

[heavensnight]

What are the appropriate subjects? Sports? Weather? Seems like nothing worthy of talking about given our situation.

[reapoman]

I guess not... but if all we do is focus on how we're doomed, we'll probably go crazy.

[ They might be forced to focus on it eventually, but certainly not right now. ]

Hungry? We could try and get some more normal food.

[ No offense to all the people stuck back there cooking. ]

[heavensnight]

[it was true, she knew that from personal experience. but she also couldn't really help it. after all, she didn't know why she was here.]

I know we were joking before but you are being a gentleman and I appreciate it. Especially since I'm pretty bad at not focusing on my doomed existence. [sounds like that would be a joke but it isn't.]

Do you think if we try to go anywhere near food, we'll end up being roped into playing celebrity chef?

[reapoman]

I get it.

[ Technically, they know why they're all there, but why they were chosen in particular? That's a mystery that will haunt Ivan for a while. He's not exactly an upstanding paragon of humanity.

Like he said, he's trying not to think about it. ]

There's only one way to find out, right? Since we're away from... whatever that mess was, I think we're probably safe.

[heavensnight]

Let's just find a way out. I hate hospitals. [and being in one longer and longer, she just found the anxiety building.]

And as we figure that out, tell me about your world. What's it like? I never thought there'd be more than one and I guess I should be broadening my intellect.

[reapoman]

[ Ivan arguably spends too much time in hospitals. He's happy to get out of here, too. ]

I don't really have a basis for comparison. It's... normal? I know that's not terribly thrilling.

[heavensnight]

Well, I guess if I compared it to mine...we don't have people pulled to save the world. You read about that in stories. [being pulled to be punished in a hellscape, though. that's possible.]

[reapoman]

I guess our worlds are similar in that regard.

[ He can think of a few people who would be qualified to save the world, but... well, he's still not sure what the rules are. Back home, anything supernatural is kept under wraps. Here? All bets are probably off but he doesn't want to risk it when he's so freshly arrived. ]

What do you call your world? Mine's just Earth.

[heavensnight]

Earth for me as well. Must be a pretty common name. Mostly water, going all to shit?

[everything typically did always end up going bad, she thought. that was definitely a common theme in everything.]