etrayamemes | TDM 001

Entry tags:

!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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Daisy's heart is suddenly in her throat at the sound of a very familiar voice as she comes to a stop near the river. Coming to a stop, her legs suddenly feel as though they're about to give out as she finds her voice.]

...Joric?

Edited 2024-02-29 00:40 (UTC)

[ He has not yet explored enough that a great deal of people here know his name and on suddenly hearing it he turns his head and is stunned by who he sees. At first he wonders if this strange curse comes with hallucinations as well, because surely she can't be here. But right behind that thought comes the question: "Why not? If I am here, why not her too?" and he suddenly rises from where he was knelt beside the river bank. ]

Daisy.

[ He takes long strides towards her, opening his arms wide. ]

[Daisy steps towards him on unsteady legs, wrapping her arms tightly around him once he's close enough.]

Oh my god.

[She says breathlessly, face pressing into his shoulder as she stands on her tip toes. Pulling back after a moment to look at his face, she cups his cheek in her hand.]

You're here.

[At first she's relieved, on the verge of feeling happy until she realizes...]

You're here.

[She repeats, her tone different this time. Because they both know, or at least she assumes he does at this point, that being here wasn't a good thing.]

[ As soon as they're hugging the chill he feels deep in his bones lifts away and he feels himself again. Being in no hurry to let her go, he keeps hands resting on the small of her back, absorbing both her warmth and her words. ]

Yes. But Daisy, it worked. Our regrets being undone. It worked and the spell is no longer in my mind.

[ His brow furrows. ]

It's not home, but at least that went right.

[ Now he lifts his hand to brush over her hair. ]

And you, elskan? Did you arrive straight here from the station?

[Tears immediately spring to her eyes when Joric tells her he’s free from the spell. That’s all he’s wanted since arriving on the station, and now he’s free from it.

She reaches up with her other hand, stroking his cheek with her thumb. Unable to speak for a moment with the knot of emotion forming in her throat.]

I don’t remember going home.

[She admits, a few tears spilling over. She has no idea if her regret has been undone. If her mother is alive.]

[ He can only imagine how that must hurt her and he pulls her to his chest to hold tight. Since he's terrible at knowing what words need said, he merely kisses the top of her head and strokes her back instead of saying banal things like "It will be all right," or "I'm sorry." It gives him a moment to think over their situation. Surely if his regret has been undone before he awoke here, hers must have been too. Why would there be a difference? ]

I wish you could have seen your home. But I believe your regret was undone. The difference is that mine applied to myself so I can see the results, while yours was for someone else. I cannot see why I would be granted mine and you wouldn't when we all accomplished the same goal. So it must be undone.

[Daisy exhales slowly, trying to calm her breathing. So many emotions flood through her at first. Anger, fear and relief are at the forefront. Relief because she never thought she'd see Joric again, and he's okay. Better than okay.

She wants to believe that what he's saying is true, but without that confirmation herself? She can't allow herself to think that the universe has, once again, screwed her over. But she doesn't want him to worry about her, or to take away from this moment. The relief he must be feeling that he's no longer stuck with that spell looming over him.

Nodding in fake agreement, Daisy's arms squeeze around him briefly before she pulls her head back to look up at him.]

Are you okay?

[Her eyes wander his face, only now realizing he had been warning something about the water.]

You said the water was cursed?

Yes, fine.

[ He loosens his hold and then draws back his arms to look on his hands. ]

That is to say the water affected me somehow. I felt unnaturally cold from it, but then you arrived and it went away. Still, I wouldn't recommend touching it.

[Frowning down at his hands, Daisy can't see anything wrong with them. But it's rare for him to feel cold, so she believes him when he tells her something is clearly wrong with it.

Taking hold of his hands between her own, hers barely cover half of his own but she tries to warm them up regardless.]

We should probably leave then.

[~~It's almost as if the warnings they had been given were for a good reason.~~ Before she moves, however, she has to ask...]

Have you seen anyone else from the station?

Probably a good idea.

[ A frown settles across his face before he gives a brief shake of his head and starts moving back towards the buildings. ]

Not yet.

[ He's unsure if he should consider it a blessing or a curse that he ended up here instead of home. He wanted so desperately to return to his life before the spell was put on him. He'd leave the army properly and return to the clan. Find work and reconnect with friends. But then again, there was no Daisy at home. ]

But if we ended up here, perhaps we're not the only ones.

[Lacing her fingers through his, Daisy lets him lead the way back up towards what little civilization there was around them.]

I hope they made it back to their worlds.

[As much as she’ll miss them, she had been prepared as best as she could be to be parted from them. It still hasn’t fully hit her that this is real. That Joric is here with here. Her heart does a leap, and then immediately she feels guilty for that kind for reaction.]

Did you already pick out an apartment?

So do I.

[ A good deal of them were preventing calamities, deaths, and the like. If they're not also here, than he hopes they have achieved what they set out to do. ]

Uh, no. You know me; I always head straight towards nature, warnings or no.

[Daisy laughs softly at that, because he's not wrong.]

Well, then I guess it's a good thing I already have one picked out.

[She teases. Not entirely liking the fact that having a place to stay just makes this feel like she'll be here longer than she wants to be.]

[ That makes things easier since he hadn't been sure if there was a difference to the apartments or if they were all the same. Relief floods through him. ]

You want me for a roommate? You saw how I kept my bedroom on the station.

[Daisy feels relief as well, although she can't pinpoint as to why, it doesn't feel out of place either. She is relieved to see him.

It wasn't her intention to share an apartment with anyone, and yet...]

Only if you want to.

[She says it causally, but in reality the idea of spending more time with him makes her feel excited. Despite the awful situation they've found themselves in. He makes her safe. Has done for a while now.]

[ On the one hand it'd be nice to live in the way he'd been accustomed to, which is in his own space, on the other, he's never feel the need to have his alone time when he had the option to be with her instead. And as he thinks it over he feels a rush of excitement. Well, that's answer enough isn't it? Strange how it washed over him so quickly though. ]

I would want to. If you do too.

I do.

[She sounds surprised by her admission, but she's still smiling. She's lived with boyfriends before, but...

This feel's different, because being around him makes her feel...

It's hard to put words to it, but it happy seems the most accurate feeling to how he makes her feel. He makes her feel happy. The apartment building wasn't far up the hill from where they had been, and it was the tallest building here so it wasn't difficult to see either.]

Your hands feel warmer. Are you feeling better?

All right then. That's settled.

[ He can't tell if this feeling inside is all him or some other force at work, but he hardly minds. He is happy to still have her in his life, even if the circumstances are strange. ]

I am. It was a strange thing, but I felt better as soon as you touched me.

[Daisy bites her lower lip to keep from smiling too big at that.]

I've heard I have that affect on people.

[She teases lightly as she leads the way into the apartment building.]

You'll be happy to know the rooms are more spacious on here.

[ That makes him laugh. ]

I am just one of many to tell you, hm?

[ He wouldn't be surprised if that was some secret power she had. It definitely seems to work on him. ]

Are they? Big beds too?

Something like that.

[Her smile grows as she steps out onto the floor where her apartment is, digging for the keys.]

Bigger than they were on the station.

[Which isn’t saying much. Unlocking her door, Daisy steps inside and out of the way for him. The space is bare, save for a bed in the other room. There’s a fridge, with nothing in it. Counters with empty shelves above them, a stove and a sink.]

Haven’t lived in an apartment in a while.

[She admits, tossing the keys onto the counter after locking the front door.]

Edited 2024-03-03 14:56 (UTC)

[ He follows her in and immediately checks the view. He just doesn't like being cut off from nature if he doesn't have to be. Seeing as there's not much built yet, there's not much to see but the hospital. Ugh. ]

Mm, much more space.

[ Not that he really knows what to fill it with. ]

I'm assuming it has one of those temperature things, since there's no fireplace.

[ He checks in the bedroom quickly, approving of the bed. Many of the beds he'd slept in on their missions were too short. And of course the indoor bathroom plumbing pleases him. Returning to her, eyes take her in and without saying anything he takes her face in his hands and tilts up her chin in order to kiss her. ]

[Daisy’s gaze lifts to his when he tilts her chin up, and her arms immediately wrap around him when he kisses her. She never thought she’d see him again, much less kiss him.

Heart hammering in her chest, she keeps herself pressed against him even as she pulls back to take much needed breath.]

I never thought I’d see you again.

[Daisy says, tears welling up in her eyes despite them remaining closed for now.]

[ He slowly pulls back, looking down at her wet eyelashes and stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. ]

I know. It seemed so final.

[ Walking away from that part of his life without even the memories of it to carry back with him. ]

But here we are. How can such coincidences exist?

[Daisy leans her cheek towards his touch, opening her eyes to look up at him.]

I thought I'd be lucky enough to remember you.

[This? Being reunited in any capacity? Didn't seem at all possible.]

Water you doing?

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