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

2

[banworthy]

[ Vincent has firmly decided he does not trust any of the food given to him. However, it's either cook or judge. If he has to do one, he'll judge. Less work. He also thinks that he can delegate the work to others.

Like the person who asks a very peculiar question. ]

What do you think that criteria meant? [ Time to check it out! ]

[nobraincell]

[Oh, hello there stranger. Chu Wenshan looks at him, the down at the card, then back at him again.]

It's asking whether the food has flavor or not. Probably.

[banworthy]

[ Hey, pal. ]

Yeah, sure.

[ He chimes quickly before holding out his own plate. ]

Do you think this has flavor? Personally, I think it does, but maybe I'm wrong...

[nobraincell]

[He takes the plate! He takes a bite! A strange and very noticeable tremor runs through his entire body!

There's like five seconds of silence before he speaks up again.]

No flavor.

[banworthy]

[ He jolts just a little bit at the tremor and takes a subtle step back.

His chin drops as he stares at the floor before glancing over his shoulder as the silence goes on. Vincent went through a lot of thoughts in that short amount of time. How far was someone to help? If he should help? Or if he should leave? And where is the nearest exit?

But the young man speaks and says something incomprehensible in return.

A second passes before he places an 'X' on his own sheet. ]

Great.

[nobraincell]

Mn.

[He holds the plate back out to the guy again. Also he seems perfectly fine? Maybe you just imagined that tremor.]

Do you know what "rizz" means?

[banworthy]

Presentation?

[ A beat. ]

Pr-rizz-entation?

[ He tries to hold his hands out in a 'tah-dah' pose as best he can whilst still holding his scorecards and pen. ]

[nobraincell]

[...

...........]

That makes sense.

[He then holds the plate up again. Look! You're holding the scorecards! I'm presenting the dish!]

[banworthy]

Guess that's a circle.

[ Because it is being presented. ]

Hey - how about three circles?

[ In a very specific pattern. ]

[nobraincell]

[He nods in agreement at that.]

You're right, it does look like three circles.

[what even is this dish]

Not wet, either.

[banworthy]

Ravoli... maybe.

[ It's a half-guess. ]

I hate that it isn't wet, though. I can't say why.

[ Honestly, he isn't sure if that's better or worse.

Anyway. ]

If you happened to have something good, I'll eat it.

[nobraincell]

Rav...?

[He's never heard of it! Is that what this is?

He looks down at it again, then over at the rest of the foods on the buffet table, then walks away without another word to grab a plate of Mystery Meat™.]

Try this one.

[banworthy]

[ Could he ask him to -- ?

He stares at what is presented to him. His mouth opens as he tries to formulate a reason why he shouldn't until the young man eats it first. However, he thinks he only has a few of those excuses in him.

Well - his companion ate something that looked worse than this and is fine, so surely it's all edible just grotesque in appearance. Surely! ]

Thanks. [ After that long debate, he takes the plate and a bite. ]

[nobraincell]

[The mystery meat does in fact taste like meat! Any more than that, I cannot say.

Chu Wenshan watches him eat it with a suspiciously curious look on his face.]

Do you like it?

[banworthy]

[ It certainly does taste like meat.

As he chews, he looks to the side - like he's attempting to sus out what kind of meat he's eating at the moment. It truly is a mystery. It is indescribable and there is something more frighting about that than the fact it tastes fine. ]

... I don't know.

[nobraincell]

[...He looks down at the scorecard.

Up at the guy.

Down at the scorecard again.]

How do you mark that?

[banworthy]

[ Vincent does the same.

Looks to his face.

Down to the scorecard.

Back to the plate. ]

... well, it was meat. [ He draws a circle. ]