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etrayamemes2024-02-23 01:16 pm
etrayamods) wrote in etrayamemes2024-02-23 01:16 pm
Entry tags:
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:
 ⏵ 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. 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. |
Sophia Monad | Lies of P
[When Sophia sees the river, she can’t help but pull up the skirt of her dress so that she can slip out of her boots. She tests the water with her foot, and the water is just as cold as she imagined, but the chill persists even once she’s stepped away. It thrums through her now as if she’d jumped right in.
Oh. She should have heeded the bots’ warning — now she’ll have to find someone to touch. After being locked away for so long, the thought is both exhilarating and terrifying.]
Might I hold your hand? [she asks, turning to someone nearby.] It seems I’m, understandably, to be punished for not listening to the little robots.
🦋 bonding bingo
Some of these options sound quite concerning. I don’t have it in me to stab someone, but… perhaps one of the games, or a secret. Or even a hug.
[She turns to the person nearest her.]
You don’t think people will go around stabbing each other, do you?
🦋 matchmaker
[Sophia reaches up to touch her hair as she looks at her picture.]
I had brown hair once, you know. Blue is a lovely color, though.
Sophia Monad (25)
🦋 wildcard
(ooc: Feel free to throw anything at her! PM or message
bingo
[That's him, he's some people. Not stab, but get stabbed? Whatever.]
Why play in the first place, though?
no subject
I suppose you're right.
[Insofar as stabbing, she thinks. Not being the stabbee. Does anyone enjoy being stabbed? It's difficult to wrap her head around this.]
And it's to meet people, of course! To mingle. We're all in this together, aren't we? Come, now. Let's see if we can do one of these squares.
[She skims over all the violent options as she looks down at her card.]
We could tell each other a secret. Or we could dance! Or, or...
no subject
Still, it's always wise to get to know the people you're stuck with, figure out potential allies as well as obstacles.]
No dancing, [He says decisively. What else is there? Maybe...]
Right, here's something I never told anyone. When I was six, my parents looked for me for half a day. I told them I got lost, but the truth is that I was hiding nearby watching them freak out. They annoyed me, so I wanted to punish them.
[No one said it has to be a BIG revelation.]
no subject
[Sophia nods, still staring at her card. Even if there are too many strange options for her to get a bingo, at least she'll have tried.]
It's been a long time since I've danced, in truth. It's something I grew up with, as a child, but now I'm not even sure I could.
[She smiles softly despite the fact that she stopped dancing because she wasn't allowed to anymore.
But now the rules of her world don't apply and, for the first time in a long time, she is free.
She leans forward as she listens to the secret, hand pressed to her chest.]
I'm sure your parents were very worried. And that they cared for you very much.
[A pause, and then:]
Do you ever regret that — wanting to hurt them? In retrospect, now that you're here.
no subject
No. Why should I? I was a little kid, and kids do stupid things.
[That childhood anger never really went away, even as Natsuno grew out of petty vengeance. Indeed, he grew out of voicing his grievances at all, having learned that his parents never listened. They thought they know better than anyone, and his father ended up losing a wife, an only son - everything.
Natsuno knows that they loved them. He's sorry for them, but doesn't regret. He shouldn't have been kinder - they should've done better.]
matchmaker
Glances back to the matchmaker description, then back to the blue-haired woman with an almost offended grimace.]
What's with you? Either you're a ghost or not, there's no--being unsure about that!
[Spoken by someone who definitely didn't believe in ghosts for the longest time (and will still stubbornly insist they don't exist in her world, thank you). She is, by the way, dressed in a black and white prison outfit--unfortunately she hasn't yet obtained something better to replace it.]
no subject
[Sophia puts a hand to her chest as she laughs.]
I believe the little robots added that in to be cheeky. If they were watching me back in my world, I suppose I must have seemed quite odd. It's a bit confusing but my body was asleep, so to speak, although I could project myself to certain people, if I so wished.
[She pauses, brow furrowing in thought.]
I am not a ghost.
[But maybe that's what a ghost would say. Hmm.]
And I am very happy to not be a ghost!
[She grips the skirt of her dress as she makes a small curtsey.]
My name is Sophia, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
no subject
[Hmm...her stare remains a little skeptical, but while there was a time she would've dismissed such an explanation outright, it's something that's no longer out of the realm of possibilities, especially considering other worlds. Still, the way Sophia has to follow it up with those additional comments... It really does kind of sound suspicious!!
Rita eyes her warily a moment longer, before shrugging in turn.]
Rita Mordio. Are you sure it's a pleasure, though? If you believe what we were told, that kind of makes us competitors, doesn't it?
no subject
[Sophia grips the skirt of her dress, marveling at being able to feel the fabric, the pleats.]
I'm not quite sure I see it as a competition just yet. In a way, perhaps. My thoughts on the matter might change — no, I'm sure they'll evolve over time. But my world is one where much of what I experienced was cruelty. And so I am perhaps biased. If someone else's world was chosen over mine — because it was kinder, more peaceful — I would understand.
no subject
[Her gaze can't help but follow the movement before her attention returns to Sophia's face, her own expression turning considering.]
I mean, I agree that there's going to be plenty of people out there we're all better off without, but... You don't think there must be at least some people worth saving in your own world? Or something worth preserving?
[Rita can't imagine it. Even back when she distanced herself from people, had nobody she could trust or call friends or family...there were still other things she valued, that she would have fought tooth and nail over.]
no subject
[Even when it's hard, Sophia thinks as she stares out the windows, into the bright world she hopes to explore. Her own world might not survive, but for now she can at least live.]
But coming here, seeing the strange technology, the little robots — there is so much that is new to me.
[She taps her earpiece, startling at the strange floating words and pictures that appear again.]
There are whole worlds out there. It isn't that mine is unworthy of being saved. And it's not that I won't fight for my world — figuratively, of course — but if it were up to me, I couldn't choose which worlds were allowed to exist. I am not that strong. But kinder worlds... I can hope for that, even if it's foolish of me.
no subject
[She listens, letting Sophia speak her mind, giving her a long, considering look. It's funny, isn't it? How someone from a self-admitted cruel world can strive so hard for hope and kindness. Some might call it foolish, or naive--and Rita sort of thinks that too, but also--she sees it as its own type of strength.]
That's pretty understanding of you.
[Whether or not it will do any good here is a different question. For now, Rita decides to change the subject.]
You said it's been a long time since you could walk around--just how long are we talking, anyway?
bingo