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

[ 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.]

Well it doesn't have to be hoping for memories anymore.

[ For how long? He doesn't want to think about that part. ]

[Daisy lifts her own hand to cup the side of his face, thumb stroking his cheek.]

It's really gone? Your rage?

[She knows he has no reason to lie to her about that, but maybe she just needs that be reassured that if his regret had been undone, then that means hers has to be as well.]

[ He gives a brief nod. ]

I would know if it remained. It is wholly absent and I am as I used to be.

[ It suddenly strikes him that she's never known him without it. Not that it came out to show itself to her, but before he'd even arrived on the station he had changed in personality from his former self. ]

Now you might know me without it hanging over me like an unwelcome shadow.

[A smile finds its way onto her face when he talks about getting to know him again, this time without the rage.]

I can't wait.

[Leaning up on her tip toes she kisses him again, hand still resting against his cheek.]

[ He grins back at her, settling arms around her waist. ]

While that happens, we should also figure out where we're meant to get our food, and probably some furniture.

[ He glances over at the empty room. ]

I don't mind sitting on the floor and eating, but I'd much prefer a table.

[Fingertips stroke the back of his neck when he mentions needing to find food, which makes her snort.]

Of course that’s your priority here.

[Daisy teases affectionately before sighing as she looks around the empty space. Furniture just makes this feel more permanent. Or at the very least, a long term stay. And if it weren’t for Joric here…

Pressing her lips together as the mixture of emotions bubble to the surface, she smiles tightly up at him. Not wanting to speak her thoughts.]

We should go see what we can find.

[ His thoughts are all formed towards the practical: their immediate survival here. So when a mixture of emotions rush in, he knows they're not his. Looking at her with a startled expression, he asks: ]

Daisy?

[ He can't imagine she'd be doing any of this on purpose, especially knowing his history with having his mind messed with. ]

I can feel... what you are feeling. How?

[Daisy is suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of alarm before Joric even speaks up, and when he does her expression shifts to closely mirroring his.]

I don’t know.

[She says, a pit in her stomach. Because she’s beginning to realize some of the emotions she’s feeling aren’t hers.]

Do you think it’s the water?

But you didn't touch it.

[ ... ]

Did I bring this upon us?

[ Why is nature turning on him??? ]

Maybe it's something else.

[There's still so much they don't understand this place, or what it's capable of. She really doesn't like the theory that's just come to mind, but she voices it anyway.]

What if we're all connected somehow?

Connected? Like our minds?

[ He does a quick test by saying “Can you hear me?” and when she doesn’t answer he’s a bit relieved she can’t hear his every thought or she’d realize just how often he thinks of her naked.]

[Daisy doesn't hear anything, but she can feel a brief rush of relief run through her that definitely isn't her own.]

I don't know, but if it's happening to us...

[Lowering her hands from around him, Daisy glances towards the window.]

It could be happening to the others too.

[ He looks thoughtful for a moment before he explains what he's thinking. ]

We're not being overwhelmed with emotions so it's either proximity or that water, like you said. If it's the latter, people should be safe as long as they stay away from it.

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