etrayamemes | TDM 001

⏵ 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.

⏵ 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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ On what planet does Tim treat Damian as less than any other brother? Jason exists. ]

How do I not treat you like I treat them? You think I trusted Hood so easily after he came back? Things are better, but they’re still not great. Work in progress, but we’re trying to understand each other. He’s never gonna be Dick. I’m always going to be his replacement. Baby steps. We can work together. Still my brother.

I have a contingency plan for him, too, and for Kon. And for Superman, and for B, and two dozen other people that I know personally. Being someone I love doesn’t get people out of it. The only people I don’t have them for are people I’m confident I could take. And Dick.

[ Because… he hasn’t managed to put one together. There’s a mental block there, and a stubborn refusal to believe that it could ever be needed. ]

I know I’m not perfect. I know I screw up sometimes. You’re still my brother. I’m still here.

[ He could’ve bailed when Damian crashed into him, but he didn’t. Tim made an allowance for Damian, like Dick would’ve wanted, even while claiming he doesn’t give him special treatment. He does. He should be allowed complain when turning the other cheek just gets that one slapped. ]

You want to tell me how I’m the problem so we can try to understand each other?

[ He’s not, but he wasn’t really with Jason either. It’s not Tim’s fault that Bruce keeps letting kids be Robins as a means to work on their issues. ]

( he's intending on walking away. to leave it there, to not snap, because that's just going to be proving tim's point even more, isn't it? and damian doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right. but damian stops, despite knowing it's a terrible idea. twists around so he's facing tim once more, hands balled into fists at his sides. )

I have been trying! ( it's loud; his voice loses that even tone he'd worked hard to keep. he's not angry, just - upset. ) I've been trying for years! Yet regardless of how hard I try, it never seems to matter to you! You've always, always treated me as lesser than you! As if you're just waiting for me to tip over the edge, regardless of how much effort I've put into trying to be better! Todd has targeted you numerous times yet you have forgiven him, but you still hold everything against me.

( arms swing out wide, palms forward. )

If I wanted to hurt you I could have multiple times over. Yet you've consistently treated me like I'm an enemy.

[ Tim knows Damian has been trying. Dick has told him, repeatedly. But the fact that Damian keeps up the constant low level abuse, no matter who’s there to witness statements about how I wish you had been murdered or how circumstances might mean it’s a bad time to risk breaking a shoulder… it’s so frustrating. Unlike people Tim has more patience for - god knows Bart has driven Tim up the walls and across the ceiling - the positives for Damian are… what, exactly? When he ignores Tim and Tim doesn’t even realize he’s making that effort? ]

Maybe I have more empathy for him because sometimes I see how he must feel! And sometimes we actually talk, which I know is something this family does as a last resort, but fuck you’d be surprised how far knowing you’re not alone gets you. I don’t know when you’re trying, I don’t know what you’re mad about, because whenever you talk to me, it’s this. How did I piss you off today, huh? By going first at your suggestion? By not brawling on the lawn?

[ He’s gesticulating here and there, but careful not to point or close the distance. Tim didn’t care to ask these questions - he thought he’d get only grief in response - but Damian is practically begging him to treat him better.

(Which is rich, because Damian talks to Tim like a serf.) ]

You’ve jumped on me twice today, unprovoked, and I’m still here. Why doesn’t that count for anything? What more do you want from me?

[ How the fuck is Tim the one treating Damian like an enemy, when Damian is the one attacking him. ]

What about how I feel?!

( he's yelling now, fists balled at his sides, leaning forward like he intends to come closer to drake but doesn't quite. )

I didn't want to get stuck here, I didn-- ( but he cuts himself off.

takes in a deep breath. )

If I wanted to hurt you, I would have.

( he's done. this is going to turn into a fight if they keep it up, which is just going to mean drake wins, and damian can't let that happen. so he's turning back around, and stomping off down the pathway he came. drake can follow him if he really wants to, but it's likely not a good idea. )

Damian, I -

[ Aaaaand he's leaving. Of course, he's leaving. Every single time Tim sees anything more than piss and vinegar in him, Damian has to 180 on him, and Tim is so tired.

What's the difference between Jason and Damian? Jason doesn't give Tim whiplash. Tim knows from go whether they're going to fight or talk, and, if it's talk, Jason doesn't threaten him on the way out the door.

Tim knows damn well that Damian could've prolonged either exchange and one or both of them would be hurting right now. (Physically. Looks like they're already hurting otherwise. It doesn't feel great to have these fights.) That's not the point, because Tim can protect himself better than he had. Can be more on guard than he was, but apparently that bothers Damian even as he complains that Tim won't let him live things down. (How is he supposed to be any less suspicious of Damian than he already is, when he's still (still!) shoving in that last violent word.

Forget him. Why does he bother - it's clear Damian wants to force Tim into the Enemy role and won't have it any other way. ]

TDM 001

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