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]

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.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason furrows his brow]

Haven't heard of that last one.

[Also, jeez. Did Bruce just never stop adopting even at his age?]

[knightowl]

[ That last one wasn't his fault! Terry stole the suit. ]

He's...he picked up where I had to leave off.

[leastdramatic]

[Ah... That's an unexpected development. Jason had sort of assumed Dick or Tim would inherit the mantle]

Kid must be good if he's donning the cowl.

[knightowl]

[ Nah, Bruce ran them off with his winning personality. ]

He's reckless and impulsive.

[ In other words, he's great. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason grins]

So he’s perfect.

[It seems to be the running theme amongst Jason’s siblings at least]

[knightowl]

[ He just glances at Jason. Yes he's perfect. But we don't just hand out compliments in the House of Wayne. ]

Who are you exactly?

[leastdramatic]

I joined after Dick left the nest but before Tim flew in.

[Jason knows it's not good to talk about the family business out in the open but that should give enough detail for now to Bruce's question]

[knightowl]

[ It's enough. For him, there was no one after Tim. It was too much. He couldn't live with himself if history repeated itself.

He doesn't say anything to that. Just looks thoughtful. ]

[leastdramatic]

Obviously things went different in your world.

[Jason doesn't enough if it's good or bad. Maybe this Bruce got a hold of himself a lot sooner and stopped taking in stray kids to be Robins. Or maybe it took something more sinister for there to be so few Robins]

[knightowl]

[ Jason will never hear the story from Bruce. He refused to tell Terry when it directly involved him. Jason didn't need this particular baggage. It is a 40 year old wound, but it still hurts like it happened yesterday. ]

Much.

[leastdramatic]

[God this is so weird]

The younger you that's here hasn't been on the job for long so far. No Robins yet. There's also Damian.

[knightowl]

I...don't know who that is.

[ But someone he should know apparently. ]