etrayamemes | TDM 001

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!tdm

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⏴

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[ Krouse's mouth picks up at one corner, his eyebrows drawing together slightly as he tries to parse if she's making a joke. Not doing so hot, when he's more feverish than he can remember being since he was a little kid.

He can't tell. The almost-smile ebbs away, unnoticed by him. ]

I'll try not to.

[ He closes the rest of the distance between them and holds his hand over hers. There's another slight hesitation before he drops his fingers into her palm, and then he sucks in a shallow breath at the shock of how cold she is.

But then comes the relief, a break in the clammy caul that's been clinging to him since he trailed his fingers in the water. He exhales unsteadily, half-lidded gaze fixed on their hands. ]

Yeah.

[ people being surprised at how cold she is is not exactly new and she accepts it with surprising equanimity. it's not quite embarrassing, but it is weird enough that she is very aware of it at the moment.

she takes a step back, away from the water, gently drawing him with her. ]

I don't think we're supposed to be here yet, this place hasn't been... properly calibrated. [ she's paraphrasing what the companion bots said as they tried to usher her back to the city center again before she darted around them. she's also trying to sound smart.

jury's out on her success. ]

[ Touching her hand had been fine. The transition to something a lot more like holding isn't. Her hand is so small, chilled fingers careful and unsure as they tug him along. It reminds him too much of things he only thinks about when he's alone.

Krouse's muted expression twists and cracks. Not for long, and not by much. Only enough for Sydney to be able to catch a glimpse of something raw and bloodied underneath.

He twists his hand out of hers fluidly, his mouth flattening into a tight line. The heat under his skin flares back up, but he can deal. ]

I wanted to see if there was anything else out here.

[ Which is halfway to admitting he knew he wasn't supposed to be out here in the first place. Something she apparently knew too, but out here she came, making them a pair of rulebreakers from the jump.

But that doesn't help him with the fact he's standing here like an idiot, having just apparently rejected the help she offered freely, the seconds ticking on without him coming up with an explanation. ]

The water does something to thermoregulation. [ He says, brusquely. ] According to the hologram. Skin contact is apparently supposed to help. So we should probably find somewhere to sit and balance each other out.

[ He's assuming she has the same problem in reverse, and there's enough bitterness in the irony to choke him if he lets himself go there.

He won't go there. He takes another breath instead, pulling air to the bottom of his lungs. ]

But it's your call. I'm not going to pressure you. If you want to find someone else, go ahead. I'll figure it out.

[ oh he thinks—

sydney shakes her head. ]

I didn't touch the water.

[ victor taught her to lie without hesitation, without flinching. he smiled, gave away the game sometimes, but between him and mitch and june, sydney could lie as easy as breathing. it's telling the truth that makes her fidget now. her... improper thermoregulation or whatever isn't because of the river or this place, it's just her. ]

I'll still hold your hand if you want.

Edited 2024-02-29 04:45 (UTC)

[ He doesn't know exactly what he did or said to make her uncomfortable, given the buffet table of discomfort he spread out for her to pick from. He just knows it's something, and the way she fidgets touches off another low pang of too familiar anxiety of his own.

If he turns her down again, she's going to think he has a problem with her. He's sure of it; he's far less sure how rational that sureness is. ]

Are you sure?

[ The question slips out anyway, stupid and embarrassing. ]

I just - I don't want to make you do anything you're not sure about.

[ There's something like a plea at the edge of his voice, despite his best efforts to keep it out. The idea of her feeling pushed into contact is like a weight digging into his chest, somehow heavier than whatever might happen to him if he doesn't bring down his temperature. ]

I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't sure.

[ she holds out her hand again, icy blue eyes clear. ]

And you can help me look for my dog. His name's Dol.

[ The prospect of there being an exchange of favours is a thin thread to grasp, especially when he half-thinks it might be a sop to his pride. But that, and her final reassurance, is enough.

Krouse takes her offered hand. He's prepared for the shock of cold this time. That sense of instant cooling relief radiates back up his arm and spreads out, as refreshing as iced lemonade on the hottest day of summer. He nods, some of the tension slipping out of his shoulders. ]

Okay.

[ The chill of her fingers tucked tucked against his palm lingers. Maybe she runs cold; maybe he's just that overheated by comparison. Figuring it out isn't the top priority. Apparently, they have a dog to look for. ]

Mine's Krouse. [ He pauses, then winces slightly. ] My name. I don't have a dog.

[ usually the chill of her skin isn't helpful, not even for her, constantly layered up because she's cold even if it is just how her body works now, but she's helping now, just by being a syd-sicle.

just by being her. ]

I'm Sydney. [ her smile is a small thing but it comes easily. ] Dol's huge, if he's here, he'll be hard to miss.

[ huge compared to her, pocket sized for portability. ]

[ If they just keep talking, maybe this won't be as awkward. Krouse doesn't really believe that, but he's willing to give it a shot. ]

Pleased to make your acquaintance.

[ So of course the next thing he says has to make him sound like a pretentious dick. He controls his wince better this time, at least. ]

Where haven't you looked so far? [ Better. More focused. ] I haven't seen a dog back that way, so we can strike that off the list.

[ Which is good, from what Krouse knows about dogs. It's too easy to picture one ending up in the water, and that wouldn't end well.

That's most of what he's thinking about as his feelings start to bleed through their contact, something he's not yet aware of. Apprehension and slowly cohering purpose, like finding Sydney's dog is a mission all on its own - and under that, guilt with the gritty, tar-like consistency of a blood clot, which has nothing to do with Sydney's missing dog and a lot to do with the relief that comes with holding her hand.

But wrapped around that is a dull grey fog, numbing and disconnected. Krouse isn't all here, in this place or in himself. ]

I looked through the hospital, but it creeped me out so I left.

[ she doesn't think dol would hang out in a hospital anyway. syd doesn't like the cold and hospitals are always cold for no reason at all. dol would know that. ]

And he's not at the river. Maybe—[ she grimaces, shaking her head like she can shake off that fog, and shifts her hand in his so their fingers lace together, focusing on the feel of his knuckles against hers. come on, syd. get it together.

what would victor do? thinking of victor causes a flare of anger and loss and grief, all thread through with homesickness because she misses him. misses their peripatetic life roaming through hotels and local parks.

she rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. ]

Maybe there's some grass somewhere. He likes parks.

[ He can't get over how small her fingers are. It's worse when they're threaded through his, chilly little matchsticks brushing against sensitive, rarely touched skin. ]

It is creepy.

[ He hadn't put that exact word to it before, but it fits. All those hallways smelling of disinfectant without disease, lined with rooms of empty, neatly made beds. When he thinks abandoned hospital, he'd usually think of something out of a zombie movie, or something post-apocalyptic, a place where the disaster already came and went. This one feels like it's waiting for a disaster that hasn't happened yet.

But maybe all hospitals are like that, empty or full. Places where you wait for the worst to happen.

He can't tell the difference between the flare of grief from someone else and his own. They muddle together, boundaries dissolving. ]

If he's friendly, maybe he went towards the centre. [ He looks at Sydney, dark eyes heavy, and scrapes together a thin, barely reassuring smile. ] He could be looking for you.

[ He's not good at making other people feel better at the best of times. In the face of a stranger's sadness and worry, he's all but useless. The impulse he follows through on comes because he's at a loss, and he regrets its awkwardness as soon as he does it: a tentative squeeze of her hand, like he's not sure how much pressure he can risk. ]

[ her mouth twitches into a smile, just as small and fleeting as before. ]

He would be, [ she agrees, voice softening with affection for her dog. he's already done so much for her, of course dol would be looking for her. she loves dol so much, considering he might not be here is unbearable so she simply doesn't consider it as a possibility. ] He's a good dog.

[ she puffs out a breath and decides his idea is the best bet, veering to the left to lead them toward the brand new city center. ]

You can ask. Why I'm so cold. [ why it's not because of the river. she shouldn't answer if he does, but it would be silly to be in this place and not have one person who knows, just in case. in case of eli. ]

[ Krouse follows her lead docilely, half surprised still by her smile. He'd been expecting a look of rebuke at best, and a ripple of disgust at worst.

He supposes things are going badly enough for her that even a stranger's awkward fumbling counts for something. Stuck in a new place with a missing dog, told the weight of her world has been assigned to her narrow shoulders.

Whatever further thought he was going to put into that is derailed by her prompting, his mind only able to hold onto most of one idea at a time. He frowns at the side of her head, trying to parse what she could be getting at. ]

Why are you cold? [ He asks, because she wants him to, and then, because he can't fucking help himself - ] Are you feeling okay?

[ look, she is starved for talking to people outside of two grown ass adult men who look after her and a phone friend, so. he isn't actively trying to kill her and he is actively helping her look for her dog so barring him changing his mind on the former, his company is kind of nice.

feels like it's a normal thing, all abnormal things considered, just walking and talking. ]

Kind of fuzzy, but— [ her shoulders lift in a shrug, eyebrows knitting together. ] Are you really not curious?

[ most people are, is the thing, which is why she offered permission for him to ask, but it really doesn't seem like he wants to know. which is weird. ]

[ Should he be curious? Krouse probes the edge of the question like a loose tooth, an odd and troubling ache.

It's the kind of thing he thinks he would have been curious about, before. She's still not warming up even as he levels out, fever dropping to a faint cling of heat. He knows poor circulation can make people's extremities cold; he can guess that there's a number of other causes that could do the same thing.

She's not saying it like it's anything like that. ]

I am now.

[ The look he gives her isn't as glossed over the ones prior to it. There's a measure of reserve in it, preemptive resignation to something he only half-suspects. ]

I froze in a lake.

[ she leaves out the "to death" part, it seems obvious enough.

serena had told her not to tell anyone what she could do and though that compulsion is gone now, erased when serena died, it still doesn't come out to explain that she's not a zombie or broken like eli thought they all were. ]

It didn't stick, obviously. But the cold did.

[ Didn't stick, and a chill that never goes away, so unusual that she assumes anyone who feels it would clock it as exceptional. If he hadn't been self-combusting by degrees, maybe he would have.

He understands, or at least he thinks he does, and the resignation in his eyes deepens to something that borders on exhausted, abstract regret. None of the filters he's put up around this subject are in play, anymore than most of the barriers he puts up around anything else he preferred to keep at arm's length. ]

Okay.

[ He should tell her he's sorry. He thinks he almost could be. ]

I get it. [ And the feeling that he does bleeds through their link: a fragile brush of empathy, not born of general compassion but of specific recognition. ] Don't worry about it.

[ she clings to that flutter of empathy, the comfort of recognition. ]

Usually it's not helpful.

[ the cold, at least. the rest of her is beyond helpful. she doesn't want to delve into the rest so she tries inexpertly to adjust the trajectory of the conversation. ]

Are you feeling better?

[ Inexpert or not, Krouse is willing to be nudged wherever else she wants to go from here. If he were more clearheaded, he might question that - where the secondary sense of awkwardness is coming from, outside of what comes naturally.

It's easier that he's not. ]

Yeah.

[ He nods, then remembers to tag on a slight smile, and all before he actually stops to assess if he is still feeling better. It turns out that he is, so that's fine. ]

Appreciate the assist. [ With a touch of levity that all but creaks with disuse, surprising even him. ] My brain melting out of my ears isn't really how I'd been hoping to go out.

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TDM 001

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