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

( she thinks about his question. what else do i need? for all the fine education sylvie has received throughout her life, she isn't sure any of it has prepared her for the real struggles and battles of life. and she is no soldier, she wasn't taught to fight, she's had to learn on her own. with her own methods, her own two hands.

carefully, she enquires, voice kept soft: )

What do you need, to be a soldier?

A strong body and constitution. The willingness to kill in order to defend your homeland, and a willingness to follow orders.

[ Nothing really beyond that. It's always been a bonus that he can make quick decisions on the battlefield and had a swiftness of foot that seemed at odds with his large frame. ]

( she takes those words in, swallowing heavily. at the back of her mind, she realises that charles was a soldier, if only for a little while before he became a fully-fledged businessman during the war.

she can vividly imagine him, being all those things, too.

trying for a small laugh, not one that mocks, but poking a little fun at herself, she says, )

I've got none of those things.

that's where she and joric differ, it seems. and where she will always differ from her brother. )

Mm, well that isn't a bad thing. After all, soldiers need people to protect.

[ And that's always been his philosophy: he protects those who can't protect themselves. ]

So you go on and do the things you're good at, and people like me will make sure you can keep doing so.

( she's quiet for a long time after that, looking at him without truly seeing him. then, after another moment, silent and vibrating, she reaches over with both hands, folding them over one of his. he has big hands, like charles has big hands. she is so very small in comparison to men like them. )

Thank you.

( that is all she says. but she's smiling, although it's a small, careful, slightly hesitant smile. apologetic. sorry for me, it means. sorry. )

[ He gives a vague shrug at first, not really thinking much of it. After all, he's not one to ask to be thanked. But then he considers and thinks it might mean something more to her so he gives a nod, lowering his eyes to their hands. ]

You're welcome.

( smile growing warmer, truer, once more, sylvie nods and draws back, her hands landing in her lap once more, folded neatly. you're welcome, he says. so maybe she really is.

looking off to the side, she thinks, she should get more cake. )

[ With the lull in conversation, he drains his soft drink to the bottom and crunches a piece of ice before setting the cup down. ]

Staying longer? I'm heading out. Better see if I missed anything.

The world can take care of itself a little while yet.

( she leans back in her seat, smiling at him. )

I might see if there are more sweets. ( a pause. ) Whatever you find out there, stay safe.

[ He nods briefly before pushing himself up with a hand braced on the table. It wobbles a little under the force of it, but he pays it no mind. ]

And you as well. I will likely see you again. Until then.

TDM 001

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