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

( Man pointing at self? )

I guess you don't have to.

( Really. Really, it wasn't on his agenda either, and he's not the type to look for any excuse to cozy up with her just because she's a girl. Rather... she's soaking wet, and if she did that, he'd also be soaking wet— the problem here is that he's not quite so cold as to tell her to fend for herself either now that he's overheard her predicament. )

She said any physical contact would work, right? Maybe holding hands would be easier... ( Read: less weird. )

[Between scowling she's also futilely fanning herself with a hand, because she hates being hot like this--as if being soaking wet wasn't bad enough on its own!

Her gaze narrows suspiciously at this guy, even as her fanning speeds up.]

What...hold hands with you?

[Not...that she sees anyone else around, a glance confirms, and her glower settles back on him. Ugh, so hot...it's as bad as a desert, and if this keeps up...

--No, she can't just give in! Stubbornly, she crosses her arms and tries to pretend she isn't sweating buckets. Look, she has pride to consider!! And her pride is definitely not already taking a hit from the temperature problem, or anything like that...]

Hmph...and you think you're qualified because...?

( Ouch. There was some bite to that one. )

I just thought you seemed uncomfortable. If it's the only way to get rid of it...

( Since she does not seem to be having a good time right now, so of course he's going to want to help. Maybe even more so when that kind of response reminds him of a certain someone he knows.

That said, if the resemblance holds, his sole qualification is probably going to be that he's the only one here. Maybe that he's patient enough to stay willing to hold her hand even when she's looking at him like that. But you can't exactly list either of those as reasons, so he'll go ahead and make another offer to go with it: )

Or we could look for someone who's more, um... "qualified".

( Whatever she means by that. )

[Not that she'll admit it, but he does of course have her pegged pretty well. There's nobody else in the vicinity, and she can't exactly express what "qualified" is even supposed to mean. She makes a grumpy squeak in her throat of discomfort, fans herself more rapidly--no use, it's just getting more and more unbearable.]

If it's...the only way...

[She looks down at her increasingly-sweaty hand, then glances to him, and... The very idea of holding hands with a total stranger practically sends an embarrassed shudder through her.]

--Ugh, I can't just--do that! Nobody holds hands with a total stranger! I know--I'll just take everything off instead, then I'll get a nice breeze-

[That is definitely far more normal than holding hands, right? Right??]

( Now hold on a minute— )

T-that's not necessary!

( Just blurting that out, and before she can even think about taking any steps towards actually actioning that, Haru's going to reach out and take her hand in his to occupy it. She said it was fine, right? And he's definitely not letting her go with that alternative, even if her hand is kind of sweaty and feels a hundred degrees hotter than his own.

To that end, he's also not letting go if she tries to pull it away— not until he knows she's not going to get any other ideas. )

Sorry, but it's a situation where it can't be helped. Just for a little while, okay?

[He's quick--indeed, before she can even think to follow through on her own suggestion, he's grabbing her hand and...oh no, he's holding it!!]

Ugh, gross!! L--let go, we're seriously not doing this!!

[HANDHOLDING IS EMBARRASSING OKAY she can't deal with this!!]

( Okay, that one kind of stings, being conscientious as he is for the explicit purpose of not being called gross by others. Haru winces. )

Eh? Is it that bad? It's not helping?

( Girl he is just holding it!! At a time like this, they have to think about the bigger issue! )

Of course it's not-

[She starts to snap at him, but she supposes that maybe her temperature is starting to recalibrate itself. Somewhere underneath the heat of embarrassment, anyway.]

Th--that's besides the point! Ugh, I don't believe this!

[She groans, giving her hand a half-hearted tug, but he sure is holding tight. How mortifying...holding hands and needing his help... Yes, yes she is going to be more than a little overdramatic about this.]

Man...can I just die already?

TDM 001

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