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

[sonofzod]

Off world? Why would she be off world?

[ they’d been in the middle of a fight. He’s worried about how that’s ended now. Did she have to flee? Did Kirk? ]

[godsandbats]

[Through his red goggles, Kirk looks back at Hernan in surprise]

She went back to New Genesis to tie up loose ends. You don't remember?

[Now Kirk was concerned. He's wondering now if whatever it took to kidnap Superman was having an additional adverse effect. Maybe his memory?]

[sonofzod]

[ So it doesn't sound like she had to leave because he disappeared. It sounds like she left of her own accord. Still Hernan doesn't like the sound of it. ]

No I don't. The last thing I remember is Steve Trevor shooting me with that red beam.

[godsandbats]

[That... is quite a bit of critical information missing. Kirk isn't happy about what he needs to fill Hernan in on but there's no getting around. It's too important]

All three of us survive that battle. But beams that mimic a red sun can kill you and the US military full of those weapons. Project Fair Play works, Hernan.

[Kirk knows how arrogant Hernan can be and most of the time that arrogance is warranted. but Project Fair Play is the first time Hernan's met something that could hurt him so severely. It's something Kirk wants Hernan to keep in mind]

We're not dead or incarcerated because a bigger threat came up that we all had to work against.

[sonofzod]

[ He had his suspicions. The beams had burned his hand and made him bleed. If it couldn't kill him, it could come damn near close. He doesn't like that information. But as one does, he puts it away to deal with later. Or never. ]

Well at least we know they're smart enough to figure out who would have to save them. Who is this bigger threat?

[godsandbats]

[At that question, Hernan might sense a very slightly elevated heart rate from Kirk. Kirk has no intentions to lie. Even if he wants to it wouldn’t work with Hernan anyway. But on an emotional level, it’s still a difficult topic to talk about]

Magnus. He was behind all those murders. Every scientist murdered was part of Fair Play. He wanted to frame us. Wanted us to take him into the tower so he can take over the power core. He needed that for his nanite bomb. If it had detonated, it would’ve boom-tubed trillions of nanites all over the planet and forced us all into a single hive mind. Free will would’ve been obliterated.

[It all said in what sounds like Kirk’s usual monotone. He’s keeping to the facts. They help keep in mind why the Justice League had to stop his former best friend]

In the end, when we had him cornered, Will committed suicide.

[It’s the same monotone but internally, Kirk still has grief. It’s grief he wishes he didn’t have and might be trying to avoid. Ever since Will revealed his true colors, Kirk’s been left with a lot of questions about himself and his relationships with Will and Tina. They’re questions he doesn’t know he’ll ever have answers to. It still leaves him disturbed though]

[sonofzod]

[ In a way, it made a lot of sense. Hernan had asked at the start of the whole ordeal who would have the balls to frame them? Someone who knew they - that Hernan - could be killed. It makes him angry and if Kirk had not confirmed his death already, Hernan would have gladly broken Will in two, Fair Play or no Fair Play.

But even in his indignation, Hernan does not miss the change in Kirk's heart rate. He knew Kirk cared for Will and Tina and if this is how it turned out for them, it must have been difficult for Kirk to accept. Hernan puts a hand on Kirk's shoulder. ]

He was a coward then. You deserved better.

[godsandbats]

[Logically, Kirk knows Hernan is right. Ultimately, Will's the only one to blame for all the death and destruction he set off. But a smaller, quieter voice within Kirk sometimes ask what would've happened if he had just stayed away from the Magnuses after his transformation.

Maybe Kirk had been so desperate to hold onto the remaining shreds of his per-vampiric life that he was blind to whatever red flags there might've been every time he talked with Will and Tina.

There's been a lot of uncomfortable and possibly unanswerable questions Kirk has been asking himself. It's unsettling and he's probably been using the Kryptonian data project as an excuse to not let his mind wander too far into those topics.

He lets Hernan touch him, appreciating the reminder that he's not actually alone. He's a good anchor to have. Since meeting him on that faithful night at Gotham's docks, Kirk has always been grateful for Hernan's kindness and generosity. Their friendship meant to Kirk as much as his relationships with the Magnuses were. Or rather, now it's more important to him than ever]

So did Tina. She was killed and replaced years ago.

[Again, the small voice of guilt stirs in Kirk. Maybe Tina wouldn't have been murdered and replaced if he had stayed away. Maybe then, nothing would have set Will down his insane path towards death and destruction]

[sonofzod]

[ It enrages him that Magnus thought he could do these heinous things and get away with it. It enrages him that he very nearly did because Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor would not listen to reason. There was no trust and Hernan wonders if he should bother saving them ever again, if they are going to keep Fair Play in action. ]

I know you, cuate. You are blaming yourself for this. Magnus did this to you and to Tina. Don't make yourself responsible for him.

[ As far as Hernan's concerned, he's just another Dr. Psycho. ]

[godsandbats]

[Kirk doesn't entirely believe Hernan but he nods. It's painfully to have to re-evaluate longtime friendships after a massive betrayal. But Kirk also knows he can't keep dwelling on the past. He has to keep moving forward]

I know. This was all by his hand in the end. And I still have you and Bekka at least.

[For Kirk, it feels strange how he can relate better to non-humans than humans these days. It's a result of having to live with his mutation for so long. But better that than staying alone]

[sonofzod]

You will always have us.

[ For better or worse, the Justice League had become a second family to Hernan and vastly preferred having them all together than torn apart. Bekka's absence puzzles him but it's something to be dealt with later, like Fair Play. ]

If we are not dead, then that means they know I did not kill Luthor. Right?

[godsandbats]

[Kirk nods. Though now it's time to deliver more awkward news]

He's alive. He boom-tubed just before the explosion. I didn't know until afterwards but he was the one who warned Steve Trevor what was actually happening in the tower. Ti-...

[Kirk is then quick to correct himself]

The robot that had mimicked Tina ambushed me and another metal man restrained me.

[sonofzod]

Luthor's alive? Pity.

[ The one thing the metal men had a chance to get right and they messed it up? Not that Hernan wanted Lex Luthor to die. But he wouldn't have shed a tear if he had. At least he didn't let his bias stop him from correcting Steve Trevor. But now Hernan will never escape Luthor's self righteous grandstanding. ]

All of this happened while I was outside?

[godsandbats]

[Kirk nods]

You and Bekka were about to be finished off by the military when Luthor appeared.

[Which means Luthor literally saved two-thirds of the Justice League. Sorry, Hernan]

[sonofzod]

[ Finished off by the military hits him harder than knowing Luthor is the one who saved his life. When he next sees Amanda Waller, he is going to have a few choice words for her. Not all of them are going to be in English. ]

He's going to be even more insufferable.

[godsandbats]

[And the hits keep on coming]

You might not hear from him for a while. He's Bekka's traveling partner. Apparently he grew bored with Earth and wanted to obtain more knowledge beyond the stars.

[At this point, Kirk knows Hernan has a lot of information he needs to unpack. Or ignore. Either way, it's a lot for one man to take even if that man is Superman]

Bekka will be back. And she knows to call you if she gets into trouble.

[Kirk knows Hernan long enough to know that underneath the braggadocio, Hernan would prefer if they all stayed together. There are so few people like themselves]

[sonofzod]

[ Those Metal Men must have knocked his brain out. It's the only explanation he's got. Why else would he be okay with any of that?

Kirk, you know Hernan so well. He is absolutely going to ignore this thing you just said that makes absolutely no sense. ]

What are you making? It smells like blood.

[godsandbats]

[Even the sudden topic change doesn’t surprise Kirk so he’ll go along with it for now]

It was supposed to be noodles, not blood sausage. It seems there’s an additional challenge.

[Kirk shuts the lid, leaves it for a moment and the lifts again. Now it’s tofu]

[sonofzod]

[ Hernan peers over Kirk's shoulder as he lifts the lid and the food changes again. ]

Don't eat that. It will make you sick.

[ He still remembers those Giggle Drops. ]

[godsandbats]

[Kirk looks at Hernan a little puzzled]

How so?

[The entire cooking competition setup is already weird but Kirk wants more details and if it's worth going along with it]

[sonofzod]

This place does strange things to you, especially if you eat the strange food. When I arrived, I had something called Giggle Drops and couldn't stop laughing afterward.

I do not trust it and I don't think you should either.

[godsandbats]

[Kirk raises an eyebrow in surprise and is intrigued]

Interesting. Usually you’re invulnerable. Perhaps not being on Earth is affecting your biology.

[Then again, Fair Play has proven that Hernan can get hurt]

[sonofzod]

I thought the same. But I have not noticed a change in my powers.

[ So that means there is at least a yellow sun here. Not that it did a lot of good helping him to stop giggling. ]

[godsandbats]

Perhaps the sun here is very similar but has a few differences.

[Though speaking of biology, Kirk is also thinking about his own]

There’s been no word on how to escape?

[sonofzod]

None. There are other planets that you can see, but there is some sort barrier that keeps me from flying too high. So I have no real way of telling where we are.

[ Hernan pauses, thinking about that blood sausage. ]

Are you going to be all right?