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

[knightowl]

Not surprising. It's an old show. Did you watch it?

[ Bruce pushes the plate food away. ]

[leastdramatic]

A few episodes, yeah. Seemed like a fun show. My dad's a big fan of it. Even got a collection of the merch.

[In the Batcave no less]

[knightowl]

Is that right? I have a nice little collection of my own.

[ Also in his Batcave! ]

[leastdramatic]

Yeah. Glass cases and everything for them. The costume's kinda neat in a vintage kind of way.

[Or at least not worse than a pointy-eared cowl]

[knightowl]

Vintage.

[ God Bruce you're so old. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Is that a smirk Jason's making? Maybe]

Yeah. Vintage. Or at least that's what it is to me.

[His Bruce might think otherwise]

[knightowl]

And who are you?

[ Good thing to start gathering a little intel. ]

[leastdramatic]

Name's Jason. And you?

[God, he really can't shake off how familiar this man must be]

[knightowl]

[ For a moment, Bruce considers giving Jason an alias. It's not like he doesn't have a ton of them. But ultimately decides on the truth. Just no last names. ]

Bruce.

[leastdramatic]

[Oh... Now it clicks for Jason why the older man seemed so familiar. Logically he knows Bruce can't be Batman forever and that age will catch up with him. But it's still hard to imagine a Bruce past his prime. But sure enough, here's a version of his adoptive father that's exactly that]

From Gotham?

[knightowl]

Born and raised.

[leastdramatic]

[Welp]

Same here. We got a lot in common. There are several people who would feel the same here.

[knightowl]

I don't think we have anything in common.

[ Said the old man confidently even though this kid is exactly the type of kid he would have stuffed in a Robin suit back in the day. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Oh how to put this delicately without setting off alarm bells. Jason's also aware that there could be differences with how the elderly Bruce's BatFamily turned out versus Jason's own family]

Alfred always makes crumpets from scratch and hates it when any of us get too caught up with work because our food gets cold.

[knightowl]

[ Sorry, Jason. Alarm bells are being set off. The warm feeling from the food is gone and so is Bruce's smile. ]

You knew Alfred?

[leastdramatic]

[Welp. It needed to come out anyway]

Yeah. He's like another parent to us. Makes the best cookies too.

[knightowl]

[ Hmn. It bothers him that he still can't recall this kid. He must come from an alternate timeline. One where Alfred is still alive. ]

Somethings never change.

[leastdramatic]

Yup. It'd be weird to imagine if it was otherwise.

[Alfred is just too good like that]

By the way, there's a bunch of us around here, including a younger you.

[knightowl]

How many exactly?

[ He's met all manner of alternate versions of himself. Some he did not particularly like (looking at you Justice Lord Batman). He's more likely to avoid this younger version. ]

[leastdramatic]

Including myself? Five. There’s probably a few landmarks you’ll recognize here too.

[It’s still weird to see the Daily Planet and any of Gotham’s buildings in one place]

[knightowl]

We haven't met. You're part of the family?

[ Had to be if he knew Alfred and that Bruce is...was Batman. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason nods]

From what it's sounding like, we come from two different versions of the same family.

[knightowl]

So it would seem.

[ Well, Jason, he sure hopes nothing horrible happened to you that caused deep psychological issues that followed you into adulthood! ]

[leastdramatic]

[Oh yeah. He's just been peachy keen]

Whose in yours?

[knightowl]

Dick Grayson. Barbara Gordon. Tim Drake.

[ He hesitates to add Terry since he asked Terry to return the Batman suit. Did he still count? To Bruce he did. ]

And Terry McGinnis.