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⏴

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( a loaded question with an even more loaded answer. you okay, the man asks, and damian turns towards him with a look on his face: irritation plain as day despite the mask covering his eyes. it's the scowl, that looks like it belongs on the face of someone significantly older than someone of damian's stature.

this newcomer may be wearing a skintight onesie, but it's nothing abnormal as far as damian is concerned. grayson wears similar attire often. )

Am I okay. ( he says okay like the word itself greatly offends him. perhaps it does. ) I have been adequately seen to, considering the circumstances.

[ Ben smiles, a little startled by the attitude, but mostly relieved the kid has an attitude to give. ]

Adequately seen to?

[ He's pretty sure normal kids don't speak like that, but he's here dealing with a multiverse so what does he know? ]

Sufficiently looked after.

( if damian words it differently, perhaps he will get the message and leave him alone. there's no need for this plebeian to be asking if he's okay, as if he should be concerned for damian's well-being. he's assuming the concern is due to damian's youth, but his youth has never been a deterrent for damian. )

I know what it means, I was surprised by the wording.

[ how does one talk with an angry kid? ]

... so, what did you think about the intro speech?

[ does he believe it? Ben isn't sure he does himself. But if that's not it then where are they? Virtual simulation? Something else? ]

Unwise choices have been made.

( intentionally unspecific. unwise in the sense that - some of the individuals he's spotted rampaging around may not have been the best choice for this mission if that's what this is. unwise in pulling damian, if this is all a ploy. because he will find out. )

I couldn't agree more. You can't get any reliable results from a sample this random.

This is bad statistics.

[ among other many bad things going on. you can't assign a grade to whole worlds based in the behavior of a handful of people, you can't make kids carry the weight of every life in their entire universe, hell, you shouldn't make a kid carry the weight of a pet hamster's life. ]

( no, the method of choosing which universe survives is a poor one at best, if he follows what 'aurora' was repeating. judging a world off of a few inhabitants, and what appears to be a random selection at that, is not how one should go about making decisions like this. thus far, damian has been unable to spot any rhyme or reason behind who has shown up, which only makes his suspicions that this is all a trick grow.

but he is giving damian footholds to grab onto. not echo, not aurora, but this person in front of him. )

How would you have chosen?

Edited 2024-02-25 19:21 (UTC)

[ the easy answer is to say he wouldn't. time and time again he has refused to put one life over another, it's been someone else making the call the handful of times he's had to.

but that's getting out of the trolley problem by not playing. the trolley is coming, the lever is right there, he either pulls it or not. ]

If this is about the universe getting too big, then you approach it like trimming a bush, take out the new branches. The universes just starting to show up that haven't developed sentient life yet, only let those develop once an older universe has died.

Have you heard of the relative state formulation?

( the theory that every choice, every potential outcome, branches yet another universe in an endless cycle thus creating a near-infinite amount of universes. which would make culling off the new ones impossible, as every decision would cause branching.

whether or not it's true is something else entirely. damian's familiarity with the multiverse doesn't follow these rules, but it doesn't mean that they're not true. simply that the other earths that were accessible to their side were significantly different, rather than branches off the same root his own was born of. )

I have. In my world it was proved wrong around forty years ago— time-travel is possible, altering the timeline in the past, rewrites the future. Back to the Future style, if that's a film you're familiar with.

[ that doesn't mean it can't be true in other universe, in which case it would make sense to trim those, since those would be the ones sprawling beyond control. ]

( pop culture reference noted, even if damian has never bothered to keep up with the trends. he doesn't say as much. )

Cull those who are just beginning to experience life. ( it's a reasonable path to take, and he understands why. even if damian disagrees with the decision, it's one based in logic. he can respect that.

not that he voices as much. no, damian starts down the hallway instead. there's investigating to do. )

Yeah. When there's no good choices you gotta go for the ones that cause the least amount of harm.

[ not that he believes in not having a good choice, but that's him being a stubborn optimist. ]

Mind having some company?

Yes.

( he does mind. but he isn't purposefully blocking ben from following him just yet, even if he speeds up his pace some. )

[ ben's following, he'd rather not leave the kid unsupervised. ]

Do you happen to have a mirror with you.

For what.

( he doesn't have a mirror on him, but he does reach down into his utility belt and pull out a very shiny, reflective knife. which is close enough to a mirror as far as damian is concerned. doesn't offer it back, but he is holding it up so what he has is clear enough. )

I have this.

[ ben doesn't reach for the knife, he just looks at his reflection with increased confusion. ]

Well. I thought I was time traveling, but I was wrong.

( damian looks to the knife in his hand.

then back towards the man following him.

then back to the knife. )

What made you think that?

That's what I've been doing for the past year. It's called leaping— you can't time-travel as yourself, the accelerator puts your consciousness into someone else's body.

But I'm me right now.

( his father has traveled through time without body switching, but damian is well-aware that the rules of this man's world likely don't match his own.

so he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. doesn't offer his thoughts on it. )

Congratulations.

( snarking is always an option though. )

[ Ben actually laughs at the dryness of the comment. ]

I know you're being sarcastic, but it's actually very nice to be myself.

( he laughs, and damian stops once more.

turns around to face him, and looks him over, head to toe, as if he's - assessing the man before him. snorts, before turning back around and going back to his quick pace towards the staircase. )

I can't imagine why.

[ well, Ben cracks up properly this time. ]

It's nice not to be wearing a bra for once.

( he's starting up the staircase, doesn't stop when he gives an ugly snort in response.

doesn't give an actual response to it, because - the one on the edge of his tongue is a little too much. even for him. )

Oh, so you don't dislike me that much. That's great news.

[ look at him, capable of identifying self-restraint when he sees it. ]

( damian reaches a landing on the staircase, but it continues up several more floors. him stopping isn't because he's reached his destination, it's so he can lock eyes with ben. )

I don't have any interest in hearing about your bedroom interests. Or any others. Unless you're going to make yourself useful, stay downstairs. I am not a child, I do not need an adult. And I will not hesitate to leave you behind if you slow me down or get in my way.

(no subject)

quantumnomad - 2024-03-08 04:45 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

brat - 2024-03-08 05:28 (UTC) - Expand

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