TDM ONE: Like A Prayer

[heaping_mods]

You may hate me…

You wake up wearing a collar. It seems simple enough: It has a display on the front that has an audiograph that moves with the wearer’s speech. It is black and white and the audiograph is blue.

It also seems easy enough to remove, if you wanted to.

Should you, though?

If you were to remove it, the act of doing so would trigger an electric shock through both it and anything else touching it. Yes, that includes you. No, you will not be able to stay conscious through it. When you wake up, you’ll find it around your neck again, just as it was before.

But where are you?

Short answer: in a bunk bed in what seems to be a dilapidated home or abandoned sanitarium. There are many other bunk beds, all of which have their own occupants. Your lovely neighbors.

Long answer: check locations for more information on this house!

This is where you’re going to spend a lot of time, so get used to it.

Everyone must stand alone…

When you enter the kitchen of the house, you’ll find a deck of cards on the table. Next to it is a slip of paper that reads simply:

Play for a prize.
Try to get the old maid. Try not to get pairs, at great cost to yourself.

Let’s explain the rules:

OOC Card game rules:
All queens are removed from the deck but one, an old maid.
If you make a pair, the collar gives you a nice jolt of pain.
If you force a pair on someone, the collar gives you a rush of euphoria.
If you get the old maid and manage to keep it after all the cards are gone, you win a prize.
To get your prize, please put a comment in this thread.

You can determine whether you get a pair in one of two ways: use a coin flipping RNG site or plot it out for yourself or with others. If the former, we suggest this site, set to flip one australian dollar. Heads for pair, tails for no pair.

Down on my knees…
As you try to get situated, you find yourself in the company of a blind man.

He has brown hair and stands rather tall, at 6’5”. He wears glasses but they don’t seem to help worth shit. Will you guide him as he tries to make his way through the house? He will be grateful and treat you nicely if you do.

If you don’t, he’ll just laugh and… treat you nicely. This is the way Jonny is. He treats everyone like they’re worth something, until their walls slowly crumble. Will this happen with you? Or will you somehow avoid his kindness?

He sits you down in the game room and offers you one to play. You can choose from a few, all of which seem to be old board games with crumbling pieces.

(For more information on Jonny, check Allies and Adversaries!)

No end, and no beginning…

As you start to gain your bearings, perhaps you want to explore a bit. This makes sense; the only way you’re going to understand what kind of situation you’ve found yourself in is if you start poking your head into rooms, even ones where you do not belong.

At the end of a long hallway, a large red door greets you. It has an almost classic style to it, with heavy cherry wood and an ornate brass handle.

You go in, and find yourself in the middle of a library.

The colors are warm, there’s a fire burning in the hearth, and everything seems so inviting. There are even plush chairs for you to sit in and relax. Don’t you want to just rest for a while?

If you decide to, you may find that the chairs aren’t actually that comfortable for long. The longer you sit in them the more they feel like pins and needles stabbing into your flesh. The fire sounds are almost a bit too loud. The colors are too intense. All of the books, if you try to read them, come out with nothing but gibberish.

You may even hear shuffling from inside the chairs, like something – or someone – is wriggling about under you, trying to get out.

The longer you stay in, the worse the sensations get. You may start to have wounds develop on your flesh, or you may start hearing voices or tasting colors. You definitely need to get out.

If you try to get out, though…

Please beware the electric shock. This room doesn’t like it when people try to leave, you see.

You can come in, but you can’t get out.

Definitely a strange conundrum, wouldn’t you say?

Eventually, you wake up. The whole thing was a dream. They seem to be so real here… and when you look around at all those companions, their faces betray that they may have had a similar dream.

Don’t you wanna be tough enough…

Or maybe you have a different dream. Maybe you have both, we’re not judging.

You find yourself in a garden. While the outside of the house is all sand and desert, in this dream, it blooms true with many purple flowers of all kinds. If it exists, it can be found here. There’s a slight drizzle going on from the sky, another thing that can never be found in reality.

There’s a dirty figure sitting in the middle of the garden, reclining on a lawn chair. Despite the fact they’re in a full suit and tie, they seem to be sunbathing.

Do they notice you? Do they care? Who knows; they’re not really much for talking at the moment.

There’s even a table with some snacks and tea that you can take a sample of; it’s like they were left out for a tea party. Whatever your favorite tea is, that’s what’s in the pot. Your favorite cookies and snacks are on the tray, and everything is very inviting. Perhaps if you take a sip or even nibble on some, there might be some…reactions.

OOC Guide to reactions:
Pink cookies: Sweet cookies that make you feel sweet.
Honey tarts: Heavy and syrupy, but they make you buzz with gossip.
Lemon candies: Tart candies that make you feel bitter. Time to Trauma-dump.
Peach crisps: Peachy and crunchy, these make you very touchy-feely. You want to hug and touch others in either a platonic or amorous way.

Welcome to the first TDM! Please check out our docs, or play around!

Reserves open October 1, Apps October 6, and the application can be found here.