TDM 001

[etrayamods]

⏵ arrival⏴ Arrival goes as anticipated. Characters awaken in the pristine, new hospital, greeted by Aurora and potentially getting a rundown of what's happening depending on their approach to being dropped somewhere new. The door to their room opens, and new arrivals are left free to explore their new environment. Or what exists of it anyway. Exiting the hospital will show that there isn't much of anything just yet. Generally, Echo can build new facilities before new arrivals awaken, but it appears that this time… well, it didn't happen. The apartment complex exists, standing just beside the hospital, and there are a few facilities that are half constructed, companion bots carrying around rebar and other necessary bits and pieces, but they're not quite ready. Oops. But maybe, just maybe, one of those half-built facilities is familiar - a childhood home, a favorite supermarket, the run-down garage they worked at as a youth, a grounded spaceship in the middle of one of the massive bridges connecting land over rivers. The companion bots will offer quiet apologies if approached; they were expecting new arrivals to touch down, but not quite this early. They'll be ready soon! A few more days at most, they promise. In the meantime, do not stray too far from the hospital. While most of Etraya looks habitable, they have not finished verifying that it's safe for its new inhabitants. The apartment building and hospital are safe, and the land directly around them is fine, but beyond that? Stay away. But hey, the hospital's cafeteria is fully stocked with cuisine from across the multiverse! Please feel free to settle in, choose an apartment, and get to know your new friends. ⏵ water you doing?⏴ Decide not to listen? Well, the companion bots had offered their warnings. Etraya is a new establishment, one that received newcomers before it was ready. And as such, the land has not quite been prepared for their arrival. Wandering off the land the apartment building and hospital are settled on comes with very, very poor results. Take a step down into the river below, and you'll find yourself uncomfortably hot. Or cold. Or hot and cold, because whatever that 'water' is, it wasn't meant to be played in. The only way to resolve the temperature regulation issue, as Aurora informs, is finding a buddy to cuddle up with. Those who are lucky may have a nearby friend they're familiar with and don't mind leaning a shoulder against. Those that don't? Well. . . have fun having a very uncomfortable conversation with a stranger, asking them if it's alright if you lean into them or hold their hand for a bit. Any physical contact will do, as long as it's directly skin-to-skin. Except that's not where the contact stops. Characters will find that, for the next several hours, they'll feel everything that their companion feels. Frustration, anger, amusement, homesickness that comes from being so far away from their families and friends - all those feelings? They're not your feelings, they're our feelings now. No explanation is given for how the empathy bond and the temperature regulation are related, but it may have to do with how since they had decided not to listen, it was time to test how well they could cohabitate with their new friends. ⏵ bonding bingo ⏴ Maybe it feels a little too much like Obi-Wan had when receiving Leia's message, but all new arrivals are their universe's only hope. Except they're not the only ones arriving, and not the only ones who are trying to keep their worlds safe. Instead, they've arrived with several others who carry the same weight on their shoulders. And they aren't meant to go through this alone. The people they've arrived with are both their new companions and their competition. Both comrades to fight beside and enemies to battle against, depending on what the specific mission of the month is. But currently? They're here to bond. It's important to get to know those who they'll be spending the next unspecified but lengthy amount of time with, isn't it? To that extent, Aurora's hologram waits just inside the hospital's front doors, offering bonding bingo cards to those willing to participate. It's not necessary, but she does specify that this is one way to get ahead: cooperation is important, especially given what they're going to face together. Bingo cards are three long and three across, and offer a multitude of activities you can do to check each box off. Some examples include: Learn someone's biggest secret Get into a fight Tell someone something that you've never admitted out loud to Throw a drink on someone Win a game of pool in the apartment building's recreation room Cheat on a card game without getting caught Hug a new friend Get stabbed Steal something important to someone Pull off an elaborate prank on a stranger ⏵ matchmaker ⏴ When the earpiece is put on, a nice green HUD(head-up display) lights up in front of new arrivals. It asks them for their name, which is fairly standard for these. Except it seems it wants them to put together a profile to help pair them off with other new arrivals. For some, this information may autofill with what Aurora was able to discern about them from watching them in their home worlds. But some lucky individuals may catch their profiles before they're posted live, and have the opportunity to edit out information included in fields, even if they're not able to clear it out entirely. Welcome to Aurora's idea of matchmaking. Have fun getting paired off with a buddy or four, with your profiles exchanged between one another. Maybe they're the perfect match. Maybe this is a nightmare in the making. <center><table style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 2;"><tr><td width="260" align="center"><img src="IMG URL HERE" style="width: 245px; border-radius: 15px; border: 1px solid #7F7F7F; box-shadow: #8D8D8D 1px 1px 1px;"><br /><b><big><big>CHARACTER NAME (CHARACTER AGE)</big></big></b><br><div align="justify"> CHARACTER BIO</div></center></td></tr></table></center> ⏵ OOC ⏴ Welcome to our first TDM! We're excited to have you here. For more information on character arrivals, click here. For any questions relating to the TDM please reply below. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ. ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

francis 'trickster' krouse | worm

[equivo]

⏵ arrival

[ A teenage boy perches on an unfinished wall of one of the construction projects farthest from the hospital, watching the companion bots lay a foundation for another part of the yet-indeterminate building. The orange jumpsuit he's wearing is half-unzipped and tied loosely at his waist, leaving him in a white tank top, his arms and the back of his neck warmed by the mild sunshine.

It's a nice day, for the end of the world. Funny how that works.

He's not really thinking about that. He's not really thinking about anything at all. Whoever happens to approach him might be able to pick that up from the faint haze over his eyes when he turns his head to watch their progress, his hands braced on the rough edges of the cinderblocks he's sitting on almost seven feet off the ground. ]

I don't know any more than you do.

[ He tells them, in lieu of hello, with a creak of disuse underlining the words. ]

⏵ water you doing?

[ Krouse didn't jump into the river. Any impulse to do so had been brief and unexamined.

Trailing his fingers through the shallows had been enough. That's what the hologram tells him, a little late to be helpful. He supposes he brought it on himself, wandering where he was told not to go. A person might think he'd have learned any better, but it wasn't really about whether or not he knew it was a bad idea to slip outside of the invisible boundaries.

And the causes don't change the consequences. The fringe of his hair is stuck to his forehead in a welter of sweat, his tank top sticking uncomfortably close to his skin as he hikes back to relative 'civilization' in an overheated haze. He stops for the first person he sees, face screwing up in reluctance as he considers what his next step is. ]

Hey. [ He says, voice rasping. ] Do you have a minute?

⏵ bonding bingo

[ Krouse accepted the bingo card he was offered without blinking at it. It's as strange as anything else, and it's easier to comply than to question every little thing as it comes up.

He took a look at it when he got it, but he's only studying it now as he sits in front of a barely picked at plate of hospital cafeteria burger and fries. He frowns slightly at it, then turns to whoever happens to be closest in the sparsely occupied room. ]

Have you looked at this yet?

[ He holds up the card so they'll know what he's talking about. ]

⏵ matchmaker

[ Krouse answers the prompt for his name the way he has a hundred times before. It's only when he sees what it's for that he realizes it was a mistake.

If he could have it his way, there wouldn't be a profile, but that doesn't seem to be an option. It's not as though the information isn't available to the powers that be, considering where they picked him up from. But maybe he can control some of how it gets out.

He deletes all but one line of the bio and swaps out the name. Bare bones, but not conspicuously so. He thinks he'd have even thought it was kind of funny, once. ]

TRICKSTER KROUSE 18 If you like playing games, this e-sports competitor turned bad boy might be your match.

matchmaker

[gastro]

[ They've built a cavernous hospital room, just for Noelle. They've given her a little communication device. How kind of them.

The last time Noelle tried to leave a place like this, it went horribly wrong. This time, she fills out the stupid bio, uploads an out of focus picture of her ragged face, and swipes until she gets bored.

She doesn't get bored. Instead, one of Noelle's many hearts drops into one of her many stomachs. ]

you survived

[equivo]

[ Krouse only had one heart. He hasn't heard from it since the world burned it out of his chest with one last, terrible star.

If he was holding anything, he would have dropped it. Could have done something with the sound of a thud or glass shattering. But all that he has is a floating picture of a face he never thought he'd see again while he was awake, two words burned into the air underneath it.

It can't be her. It's not her. It's some hideous fucking joke at his expense, like a hundred other fucking jokes.

He didn't even have a picture of her. She always hated having her picture taken, even before. They wouldn't have let him keep one even if he had it. He can't stop looking at this one, the soft blur of shoddy focus smoothing out the detailed of her cracked lips and hollow eyes. The burn over his eyes does the rest, until it's barely a shadow of her face cast on a dark wall. ]

whatever game this is supposed to be, i'm not fucking playing

who is this

[gastro]

[ He doesn't get it. Idiotic of Noelle to assume that he would.

She wants to scream, to tear down the walls of this newest cage. Fuck its natural light and its stupid comms device. It doesn't even run Doom.

The fact that Noelle is able to hold back is the first win she's had in a while. Not that it matters, when Noelle has long understood that her two options are places like this, or not being alive at all.

Who is she? That's not something Noelle can answer. Like an old save file, something overwrote the person called Noelle Meinhardt a long time ago. ]

sorry. you've been through enough

i'll leave you alone

[equivo]

[ Only one person bothered to tell Krouse she was sorry, after. He hadn't taken it well. But as much as he hated her - hated fucking all of them - he doesn't think she'd do this.

There had been this other game he used to play by himself, early on. It didn't have a name. It was just something he did when he couldn't convince himself to sleep otherwise. The game was, he'd tell himself that nothing that was happening was real. It was all just some messed up dream, and as soon as he went to sleep in it, he'd wake up to weak December sunshine through the frost on his window. He'd think about what a fucked up dream that had been, for a minute, and then he'd forget all about it.

He stopped needing it when he started being tired enough to sleep anywhere, any time, dropping into fitful spells of a few hours here and there to keep him going. There was never enough time to work himself back into true insomnia.

He'd started playing it again in solitary, before the trial. Sometimes, at the lagging end of a conditioning session wearing off, when sleep wouldn't come with the docile obedience he'd been promised, he'd still do it.

Sometimes, if he was lucky, he'd dream about her. ]

wait

[ It's not her. It's not. He knows it's not. ]

what build was i going to use for the tournament

arrival

[neverleave]

[Aurora told him to stay away from the surrounding area, so naturally Natsuno is heading out to explore. He's wearing a striped black-and-white outfit, like he just escaped an old movie prison. He took an EMS bag from the hospital and packed it with some food and water from the cafeteria, as well as a knife and surgical tools - just in case.

He tilts his head up at Krouse, regarding the other teen with... well, without much of an expression, honestly, merely taking in his presence like he does with all the other arrivals.]

Multiverse scale battle royale, right?

[equivo]

[ The cartoonish get up the other guy is wearing would've got a smirk out of Krouse, once upon a time. Here, he notes it neutrally, not ready to assign any particular meaning to it. Given the alternate universes at play, there's not much to assume from how anyone's dressed.

At least that's what he's going to go with if anyone questions him about the screaming prison orange of his jumpsuit. He meets Natsuno's lack of expression with the same, paired with a slight nod. ]

That's what I heard.

[ More or less. Aurora hadn't said it would be as competitive as that implies, but Krouse is making an inference. He makes another when he looks at the guy's bag. ]

You heading out somewhere?

[neverleave]

[Aurora said nothing about a competition, but Natsuno is suspicious. From his experience, mysterious beings with great power are usually dicks; who knows what "tests" they think they can put people through to determine the worth of an entire universe.]

Yeah, trying to map out the place. Can't be that big if it's still "under construction."

[equivo]

[ Mapping out the place is a good idea. It's one Krouse could have had. Knowing the layout was always a cornerstone of his strategies.

He considers it, leaning forward slightly where he's sitting. ]

Do you want a hand?

[ He's not doing anything else, and the mild drive to be cooperative in group endeavors exists independent of the group. ]

bonding

[notthatstraight]

[Kate's looking for a place to sit and enjoy her own order of fries when someone speaks to her. She looks him over before making up her mind to join him or not.]

You don't happen to have stab someone on yours, do you? I'm really not in the mood, even if it's only by fork.

[equivo]

[ A look of faint resignation crosses Krouse's face. He sets his bingo card back on the table without looking at it again. ]

No.

[ He sits back in his chair, putting his hands flat on the table. ]

I have 'get stabbed'.

[ Which either means they match, and she's talking about not wanting to be stabbed, or that she actually has 'stab someone' printed somewhere on hers. Either way isn't ideal. ]

I'm not sure that's a bonding activity.

[notthatstraight]

[His answer seems to pacify her enough that she takes a seat across from him.]

Well, I mean you could bond over bandages, scars, so much from a simple injury.

[She might have done something like that before.]

[equivo]

[ There's something about a girl like this deciding to sit at a table with him that strikes Krouse a little funny, but the thought doesn't linger. It's not important. She can sit where she wants. It probably will save her neck strain. ]

I guess.

[ He's still not sure it makes sense, but that's fine. Plenty of things don't make sense. ]

Like a blood oath.

[ He supplies, after a moment. ]

matchmaker

[ghostface]

( krouse, 18, bad boy meet danny, 25, bad dog. in a digital sea of equally foreign faces and nondescript profiles, nothing in particular about krouse's profile stands out from any of the others. but it is the only one danny mentally thumbs back to, like a fingernail hooking on a splinter. )

games of chance or games of skill?

[equivo]

[ Krouse hadn't expected anyone to take a second look, let alone make a comment. That one remaining sentence had seemed like enough of a red flag to leave up to ward off attention without standing out in the wrong way. Not a guy to get to know, and not one to watch out for.

And of all the comments he didn't expect, a question about the kind of games he plays is up there. ]

trick question.

there's no such thing as a game of skill that doesn't involve chance. skill includes tilting the odds in your favor.

what you're asking is if i prefer games where i can influence my chances over games where i can't. and since i'd have to be an idiot to pick the second option, i guess you have an answer.

[ghostface]

( good answer. it's a tell, but it's an interesting one. )

what i'm guessing is that you ain't a gracious loser. am i hot or cold?

bingo

[myagic]

[Rita, dressed in a black and white prison outfit straight out of some old movie or cartoon (not that she gets the reference), had only just plunked herself down in a seat to take a look at the bingo card. And she's not too impressed by what she sees.

She almost ignores the voice, until an idle glance confirms he's looking at her, at which point she frowns and leans an elbow on the table, propping her chin on her hand.]

Yeah, and I think I've already seen enough to get that it's stupid. I mean--"Compliment a stranger"? "Tickle someone"?

[She wrinkles her nose in displeasure.]

And then there's ones for starting a fight and getting stabbed, too--like anyone's going to bond over that!

[equivo]

[ Krouse wonders if people ever actually wore outfits like that in prison. If they covered it in history class, it must have been one of the lessons he was busy thinking about something else during.

He'd think it was a little difficult to imagine this girl ending up behind bars, but he knows better. He can just hold out for the possibility of a costume party being involved. ]

Those are the ones I'm wondering about. [ He says, quietly. ] Latter two. Not the first ones.

[ Which are, indeed, just stupid. And once he double checks, not on his card. ]

At least compliments and tickling are easy. [ He sets his card down. ] Are you planning on doing any of them?

[myagic]

[The outfit is certainly offset by the golden choker around her neck; set with a little red gem, to most it would look like a nice piece of jewelry.]

Easy? [She scoffs, fixing him with a skeptical eye.] Ew, not a chance! Complimenting some random weirdo is already one thing, but tickling them? Gross!

bingo

[thinkerseven]

[ The person Krouse approaches has their head bowed, studying a series of bingo cards and making a few notes on an adjacent napkin. She doesn't look up when she hears him approach. Soft footfalls; precise rhythm; thrall. She doesn't need his voice to place who it is, although it's not a horrible thing to be right once again. This precious jewel of information is as useless as the last.

Tattletale looks up at the failed villain and grins. ]

Wow. He walks and he talks! You know, I always suspected that a Scion blast doesn't do anything if Teacher's already irradiated your brain.

[ Tattletale taps her own useless forehead. Irradiation; damage. Damage; personality alteration. Alteration; irreversible. Irreversible; hidden. Hidden; gone. Gone. ]

Seems like you've already gotten into a fight and made a friend. Good on you for pulling off both at once. Don't know why you'd need little old me.

[equivo]

[ That voice. That scar, faded out as it is. She's not even trying to hide it. If Krouse was thinking straight, he'd probably find it insulting.

But that's what Tattletale does. She steps in with her know-it-all attitude and just enough thinker power to back it up, feeds you shit and keeps you in the dark. Scion, Teacher, irradiated brain - running her fingers down his buttons to see what hits, and knowing that doesn't mean it doesn't work.

Trickster stares at her blankly, hands limp at his sides. He blinks slowly; too slowly, controlled and marked with a staccato jump of muscle tension at the corner of one eye. ]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[ He lies, flatly, weight shifting to a centered point above his hips as his shoulders draw back. ]

[thinkerseven]

[ Blink; slow; controlled. Twitch; flex; agitation. Conflict. Lie.

That's good information. Before now, Tattletale didn't know whether or not thralls can lie - still doesn't, technically, since this could be related to the fact that Teacher doesn't have a great grip on him, out here. But fuck if she's going to admit that she doesn't know.

Shoulders; posture. Conflict; bravado. Tattletale reaches over, flicks his bingo card. ]

I can read. Wanna give me a good reason why I should help you get a bingo, or do you want to let me take this one?

water you doing?

[gloomstrider]

[ Unfortunately for Krouse, his first interaction is a tired, black-robed necromancer. Rownan stops walking when Krouse addresses her. Her eyes move to follow the sound of his voice before her body turns to follow. She recognizes him, even sopping wet and shivering. She doesn't know what e-sports are, but she's familiar enough with the term 'bad boy' to know he either had no control over the description, or he's someone she won't want to talk to.

She clasps her hands, one over the other, and manages not to indicate the inconvenience in her expression. ]

I might. [ And then, because he looks so uncomfortable to be asking at all and that's somehow reassuring, ] I do. Why are you wet?

[equivo]

[ Pink hair and black robes isn't the most outlandish get up Krouse has seen, not that he cares about that much. She's not opening with telling him to get the fuck away from her, which he cares about slightly. Or should care about, which comes close enough. ]

I touched the river down there.

[ He points out its general direction, in case she could miss it. ]

It turns out you're not supposed to do that. The hologram said it messes up your temperature. [ He drops his hand to his side, flexing his fingers absently. ] And apparently, the only way to fix it is to touch someone else.

[ He hears how that sounds coming from him, in his sweaty, shivering glory, which manages to sound worse than it did coming from the suspicious hologram down by the river. His face screws up in frustration as he shakes his head. ]

...fuck. No, forget it, this is - I'm not fucking doing this. Just don't go in the river, got it?

[gloomstrider]

[ Most people don't ask to touch Rownan. If Rownan is being touched, it's usually Riot grabbing her for some godsforsaken reason or another, or it's a mistake from someone who winds up dead within minutes. So while she thinks of verbally chiding his idea of taking advice from the human actively embracing his own slow death, he at least earns a blunt: ]

I did not dismiss you.

[ There are probably better ways to tell someone she isn't rejecting a request outright. But. ]

Curses that rely on physical contact to dispel typically involve an energy transfer or an abjuration. If you touch someone, dispelling it from yourself may infect another. [ Common knowledge, but he's taking the 'hologram' at its word. He doesn't seem the common knowledge type. ] How long were you in contact with the water?