etrayamods: (Default)
∎ ETRAYA MODS ∎ ([personal profile] etrayamods) wrote in [community profile] etrayamemes2025-03-28 09:16 am
Entry tags:

TDM 007

content warnings for this TDM include: violence, potential death, body horror, physical transformation, loss of senses, loss of autonomy

⏵ arrival⏴



Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. New characters are introduced to the AI, then informed of a mission that they are required to participate in before they can return to their home base of Etraya. A world called Aphaia is falling apart, and while there is nothing they can do to resolve this broken world, they can participate in the Gamerunner's Stratagem.

Their mission is simple: step through the glowing purple portal that Aurora creates once they've had time to listen to her, and survive until a similar portal reopens in front of them, allowing them to return to Etraya. The Gamerunner's Stratagem is something they have been working on building for quite some time. She informs all newcomers that they will not be present on this world that long: their exit will appear to them exactly when it's meant to, allowing them to meet the others who have been recruited to save their worlds. She provides each and every arrival with an earpiece, allowing them to communicate with the other Etrayans. Aurora suggests taking a bag full of supplies along with them, which she will fill with a few generic items as well as any specific items they may need: synthetic blood for vampires, protein bars for those who may burn through calories faster, medication for anyone who requires it.


⏵ aphaia ⏴


Aphaia is a neon-lit, chaotic planet. Cameras are everywhere, every action and inaction is judged by the 'audience'. Towering holograms advertise upcoming events while flashing leader boards track the most "popular" players. Contestants are thrown into challenges, many of which are games of skill, survival, and deception all to keep the viewers entertained. Not participating is an option! However, avoiding playing along and not putting on a show will quickly cause participants' score to go down, and scores that reach zero? Well.

Unfortunately, there are only so many resources left on Aphaia. Their wildlife has died off, their planet is falling apart, and most others in this galaxy were either destroyed from the inside out, or warring planets trying to gain control of remaining resources destroyed them to avoid others getting involved. Their natural resources are depleted, and only those who manage to keep their scores up are given the luxury of having any supplies. As soon as one steps foot on Aphaia, as soon as they breathe, they intake nanotechnology which tracks their oxygen consumption, their food, everything they do or need. As soon as their scores reach zero?

They disappear. There one moment, and completely gone the next. Their communicators go offline, and while everything they were carrying will be left behind, no one will be able to find them. They are simply--gone, erased from existence.

This is a death and counts as a death as outlined in the game FAQ! Please keep this in mind.

"Points" that go towards their total score will be assigned to contestants from the moment they drop down on planet. This will be visible using the HUD on their earpiece, and will be randomized at the beginning. For the sake of the TDM, we ask that no one be assigned Paragon initially, but you're free to use other ranks!

The possible rankings are:

100: PARAGON
99-80: LUMINARY
79-70: CHAMPION
69-50: CONTENDER
49-30: UNDERLING
30-0: SHADE

Ranks may change daily, or even hourly depending on the kind of situation one has found themselves in. Are they having a very public break up in which it comes out that they wronged their ex? They may go from a Champion to a Shade before they can even blink. Did they save a defenseless reporter from the big bad villain of the week? They may find themselves quickly elevated up to Luminary and given all the benefits that comes with being upper class. The world is their oyster, they only need to figure out how they'd like to utilize it!

Aphaia is broken up into four districts.

The Colosseum is a dynamic battle arena where combatants fight for entertainment, with shifting environments controlled by the audience. Victories earn points, while losses depend on performance.

The Symposium is a lavish social hub for top contestants, where alliances and betrayals are made under the audience’s watchful eye.

The Agora is the public center of Aphaia, where contestants engage with the audience through polls, interviews, and challenges to maintain popularity. It also houses the contestants in high-rise apartments.

And Backalleys provide hidden spaces with intentional blind spots for secret dealings, though the Gamerunner is always aware of what happens there.


⏵ st★rlight soirée ⏴


Something special is happening in the Colosseum. Lights flicker as the arena shifts, rearranging itself into a grand, glittering ballroom - if a ballroom had stadium seating, paparazzi drones, and an ever-changing floor plan designed to disorient those within it. Silver chandeliers pulse with artificial starlight, their glow refracted through the crystalline floors. Music swells, but it sounds - unnatural. It thrums through your veins, setting your blood alight with the urge to dance.

Why is the ballroom designed as if intentionally put together to throw off one's balance? Well, it's time for the Panopticon Prom, of course!

The Panopticon Prom isn't just an adventure in dancing and impressing your most recent crush. It's a test of endurance, cunning, grace, and charm. The floor beneath your feet moves as if it has a mind of it's own, shifting to the beat like a living creature all of it's own. It tilts, undulates, even vanishing in sections to keep dancers on edge. After all, it's difficult to keep up one's pace if they're falling through a hole in the floor to the foam pit below.

Drones zip through the air, catching every stumble, every misstep, and every attempt to throw off others on the dance floor. This is a competition, after all; and what fun is a dance battle without having the freedom to thwart someone else on their road to victory?

The rules are simple:
  • You must dance with a partner. This can be an ally, an enemy, or someone you intend on using as a stepping stone to victory. It matters not, as long as you have one hand (or limb) on them at all times.
  • The longer you last, the better your chances. Endurance is the name of the game, meaning one must pace themselves on the dance floor. While epic twirls and impressive moves will garner more attention, it may also hurt your chances in the long run.
  • You may sabotage others by throwing them off balance, but keep in mind: everything is televised, and it won't stay secret for long.
  • The arena adapts to the chaos. Expect sudden obstacles, environmental shifts, and sudden changes in the music's tempo. Gravity may shift, walls may close in, but participants can't let that stop them - they must continue to dance, if they wish to win.
The audience is watching. Who will make the final cut and become Prom King and Queen? Everyone is vying for the titles: it doesn't matter what rank you started at when you joined the Panopticon Prom. Whoever wins becomes a Paragon until their points drop. There aren't many opportunities to sail through the rankings, but this is a sure way to do it. As long as they can keep up.


⏵ casino royale ⏴


Out in the Agora, another popular quarterly event is being set up! The Casino Royale has been destroyed countless times, but it seems as if the Gamerunner just can't let it go - every time it gets knocked down, it gets rebuilt.

There is one rule. One must take a turn at the revolving wheel just inside the door as their entry fee, and whatever the wheel lands on, they must maintain until they exit the building for the night. Sometimes, this is easier: an effect they have no control over and cannot undo even if they wanted to. Sometimes, this is more difficult: an assigned task they must complete. Failure to abide by the wheel once means receiving a penalty. Twice? Certain death if caught by any employee.

The wheel's effects are as follows:

1 You must speak entirely in rhyme. 2 Your body has become unnaturally delicate. The smallest injury hurts like a fatal wound.
3 You must avoid stepping into any sources of light. Doing so causes massive burns to appear on any area of your skin where light has touched. 4 You have been transformed into an animal! You can still think as you had before, but you cannot speak or communicate easily.
5 You have been cursed with supernatural strength, but cannot control it. 6 Time doesn't flow normally for you anymore. Each mistake you make makes you visibly younger, slowly erasing your experiences, skills, or even memories.
7 You can no longer form your own words, but only repeat what others have said to you. 8 You cannot meet another person's gaze.
9 You can no longer turn around, physically or metaphorically. If you try to return where you came from, you'll find that the pathway no longer exists. 10 You are given a specific letter that you must avoid using out loud entirely. "A"? Better hope you know enough words without one.
11 Every time you speak, your words come true - but never in the way you intended. Trying to control this is futile; the monkey's paw curls with every new sentence. 12 Within the casino, you lose the ability to feel anything. No pain, no pleasure, no warmth, and no cold. At first it may feel like a blessing - until you realize you cannot feel hunger, or tell if you're injured.
13 Regardless of if you've drunken anything, you still act inebriated. The effect only gets worse the longer you stay. 14 No one can see you. You are invisible, even if you are still able to reach out and touch or converse with those around you.
15 Any special ability you have is gone. You are reduced down to what an average human being is capable of - regardless of if you are human. 16 Violent impulses become impossible to ignore. You are rage incarnate, and you will be heard.
17 Every time you make a decision - to walk into an area, to start a conversation, anything, a small thread pulls loose from your clothing or your skin. Keep making choices, and you may become entirely undone. 18 You may speak freely, but for every syllable you say, your ability to hear slowly fades. You may want to watch your word count - too many, and you may not be able to hear at all.
19 Perhaps you arrived with a friend, or beside a stranger. It matters not: whoever came in either just before or just after you, you feel a powerful urge to protect them to the point of aggression. 20 Love is in the air - at least it is for you. Every time you meet someone's gaze, you feel the need to try and make them fall in love with you, through whatever means necessary.


The casino is alive with the hum of conversation, the clink of glasses, and the steady whirl of the roulette wheels. Golden chandeliers cast a warm glow over velvet-lined tables, where fortunes are made and lost with the flick of a wrist. But something feels. . . off.

The dealers never blink. The cards never seem random. And the house always wins - always. Maybe it's just paranoia, or maybe this casino is something more than just a den of chance. Tonight, you're not here just to play; you're here on a mission.

You've arrived dressed to kill, blending into the sea of bodies filling the casino's floors. But you're not here to win points or boost your social standing - you're here to win intel. Somewhere in this casino is a single flash drive containing information on just how Aphaia maintains their system. The only problem? The House knows someone is coming for it. After all, they're well-aware of the game: whoever retrieves the flash drive will obtain information on how to flip the script, to change the rules of the game to fit their wants and needs, rather than following the current Gamerunner. After all, this is the Gamerunner's Stratagem that Aurora has sent them out on! Many apply for 'employment' within the Casino Royale in hopes of getting insider information on where the flash drive is hidden and what it looks like. However, it seems that even the employees have no clue where it has been hidden.

⏵ NOTES ⏴


This is an extension of our Aphaia Mission! We have included enough information in this post that catching up to current in game logs isn't necessary to play with it, but you are welcome to use any part of the Aphaia setting in your prompts as you'd like. Current players are also welcome to bring the events from this TDM into their in-game threads.

This mission can happen outside of time as needed! Incoming characters will find themselves introduced to Aphaia as they arrive. Current characters may find Aurora calling on them to visit Aphaia after the current mission for the Gamerunner's Stratagem.

Characters already in game are welcome to post to the TDM, too! Please mark them as current characters in your header. Threads can be kept as game canon as long as both characters get into the game!

Please direct all questions relating to this log to our mod queries comment! All other questions can be directed to our FAQ.

FULL NAVIGATION

querulus: (psylocke - literally why)

[personal profile] querulus 2025-04-14 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[Self-preservation.

There's a subtle difference between that and jealousy, and Quentin "Semantics" Quire certainly has an appreciation for that difference. Self-preservation is about survival, the base instinct to keep what's yours. The best cave, the best food, the best resources. And Quentin? Well, he's a damn good resource. He's powerful, clever, and most importantly, phenomenally stupid. No, not stupid. Gullible. Prize sap. Omega level sucker.

Quentin tenses his jaw in bitter acceptance, and his shoulders deflate. He moves away from the wall, instead opting to pace the room slowly but with an anxious sort of energy.]


What, like I'd just leave her if I knew? Even if it changed everything, even if I suddenly and miraculously did have a chance with you, and you didn't, you know, hate me—why would I leave her? You're not interchangable.

[He stops, realizes something, and looks over at Sophie, blinking owlishly.]

Uhh. No offense.
hurtling: (pic#17733313)

don't encourage him lol

[personal profile] hurtling 2025-04-14 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
( unfortunately for them both, he was a bit more touchy on the subject of killing for reasons unknown to shadow, but painfully obvious to him. the thought of doing something like that was far too much for him and yet—

hadn't he decided earlier that nothing mattered when he went pickpocketing? still, he had to do something to keep his mind and humanity intact. )


That doesn't mean we have to kill for it. Our hosts might not like it.

( echo and aurora, but unbeknownst to him they actually didn't quite care. )

Let's knock them out, get the attire and figure out to shut the lights off. Without killing anyone.
levelshift: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/71579998 (I will fucking kill you)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-04-14 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[Once they're in there, Accelerator surveys the situation. There are a few people working, Blaze is being awkward, and there's no obvious signs of some special flash drive. How irritating.

He squints, then deliberately steps over to a nearby employee sitting at a desk in front of a few computer screens. On the screens are various camera feeds within the casino's main floor. The employee is ignoring them, so he helps out a little by violently kicking the poor guy's chair, forcibly spinning him around to face him and Blaze. The guy yelps, but before he can complain he notices the terrifyingly ferocious look Accelerator is giving him.]


Hey, how about answering a few fucking questions about your job, huh?

[The guy just kind of sputters, instead of telling either of them off.]
levelshift: (sigh)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-04-14 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[Accelerator shakes his head.]

Aurora's more of an administrative assistant. Echo's the one who can move people between universes.
limiterrings: (pic#17753219)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-14 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Hm.

[ that's information, not enough, but something he'll look into. ]

How annoying.

[ not because he can't reach "echo", but because without the emerald, crossing universes and dimensions are an ability outside his control.

maybe there's something that can be done with it and echo but nothing comes that easy. ]


I'll talk to her myself then.

[ if he manages to return to that world called etraya. ]
limiterrings: (pic#17782008)

shadow won't but you know he does things that warrants questions

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-14 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Your hosts.

[ there's no "our" considering shadow abides by no one's rules, even this isn't following james rules when he's given him the option on what he wants to do. if he doesn't want to kill then he won't get the outfit by killing, but there's always incapacitating someone to get the outfit too.

it is curious that he shows morals here still. ]


It works. [ he has nothing against it, willing to knock them out and get this over with. ]

Let's get this over with. [ the hedgehog takes a step forward, placing distance between him and the human until he stumbles stands promptly in the way of an alien who's trying to get into a room. annoyingly, the hedgehog says something out of james' hearing range, but the alien seems confused then offended as they thump, thump, thump their way over towards james. ]
fourthwalled: (side look)

[personal profile] fourthwalled 2025-04-14 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm so ready. It's like... I was made for this. [Eat your heart out, Mark Ruffalo. Wade with the swords at his side, he walks up beside her. They look like quite the pair.]

Let's kick some ass! [He lifts the blades as the doors open.] And also stab it a little.
fourthwalled: (crossed arms)

[personal profile] fourthwalled 2025-04-14 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Suit yourself. [Wade is still pouting, but he does slow to let Logan go, but calls after him. He has to get the last word, after all.] But you've not seen the last of me, bub! You're gonna learn to love me!

[In Wade's own mind, anyway.]
sabigoe: (⚙ 63)

have you seen the sonic & friends chicken and banana dance w/ shadow.. i think it's like this thread

[personal profile] sabigoe 2025-04-14 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ In her exhaustion, she's caught off guard, her whole body dipped dangerously low, feeling the empty air in the open gap below. Panic slowly sets in, replacing any sign of joy. For a moment, she considers manifesting her weapon—

Then suddenly, Fio is back upright on her feet.

He got his point across. If Shadow just dropped her right there, it wouldn't be her first experience with betrayal. It takes her a near minute to recover, to process the words and for the scare to subside. Again her words are slow as she gathers her thoughts and while she knows she has a difficult time expressing herself at length, not as eloquent as an adult, she tries. ]


If... a stranger tells me that my world is in danger and that I have a chance to save it, then... I'm willing to take that chance. [ She won't deny the possibility that Aurora may not be as trustworthy as she seems. This isn't the first time that she's been pulled from her world by someone that she barely knows. Even back then, she was betrayed and put through too much pain. And yet, it was also around that time that she was able to truly find a place to belong. ]

I want to protect everyone else's worlds, because even if I've never seen them, I know they're precious to someone. I'll protect yours too. I'm sure it's a very special place to you and many others.

If there turns out to be another way to return home, then I'd love to learn about it.

[ ...For now, she will take the risk of trusting in Aurora.

Clearly still shaken, but she masks it with a weak smile. She stands straight, grabs the edge of her fluffy dress and looks out towards the audience. She curtsies. ]


Hehe. I think you outshined me... I hope you earned lots of points for that stunt, Darkie. I hope it'll help you in your goal.
abit_ofboth: (serious close up)

[personal profile] abit_ofboth 2025-04-14 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Expert? I don’t know if I’d go that far, but have been in Etraya for quite some time now and have experienced similar instances a good number of times since my arrival. And before that I did experience some places a lot like this one.

[The trickster god, yes. Loki is aware that many here still see him like that and he hasn’t gone out of his way to correct many people, though if it came up directly in conversation, he might. It’s simply something he really hasn’t been for a few hundred years now. Though until he actually bothers to explain that to someone, he realizes that he won’t necessarily be trusted.]

Well, the last one that was imminently dying was Lamentis. It had been heavily mined which lead to its implosion. That resulted in parts of it crashing into its moon, Lamentis-1. I suppose technically I was on the moon when it started to crumble, but I believe it still counts as a dying planet in all the ways that count.

[He could also mention his knowledge of Ragnarok, but that one still hits a bit close to home.]

Is this your first time then?
sophielicious: (nyx_047)

[personal profile] sophielicious 2025-04-14 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
(For all their discrepancies and tribulations, this was not a complete disaster once she managed to get out of her own cycle of mean girling. It wasn't. It was honest, and this was something she could appreciate. Like he had said, they had never spoken like this. In a world where Quentin didn't follow her around like a spineless lost puppy, she could have appreciated him, and most likely would.

In a world where he saw her as a person from the get-go, not as a projection for affection and baseless longing.

She could. She certainly would.

That world is not the one they come from. In her eyes, he never really tried, he was weird, invasive, and creepy. She can't say what she feels is hatred, but she can't place the feeling of indignation that she feels about all of it. Her life was cut short, and it seems like with the little time she has had, he's at every corner, even in the background. Heroine of Open Day. The Cuckoo he resurrected. And even that is not the thing she talks about as of late.

He dated her fucking sister. She's been peeved about it, and he knows because she rubbed it on his face before. If they're not, then is it not bogus to date her identical sister, whose brain she shares? Like all the bullcrap she had to deal with hardly matters. Which is, you know, totally fine and great except SHE WAS THE ONE WHO HAD TO DEAL WITH HIS BULLCRAP.

It's the 'you're not interchangeable' that does it for her. All progress, gone, and there are a billion thoughts in her head that run a million miles per hour.

"How dare you." "You sabotaged yourself." "I would not hate you if you actually gave me a choice not to. You never do." "Dorkus." "Fuck you."

She's never been one to just accept things. Unfortunately, being the brave one comes with a bit of a temper, and if she couldn't hold her tongue for Kamala's sake in front of her family, she definitely would not even consider it an option for Quentin's feelings. Fuck him.

Hope he can feel the searing burn in his brain that she does, and the air she sucks in only fuels it.)


Are you fucking kidding me? No offense? All offense taken. You got to yell at me, so now it's my turn, right? Not interchangeable. Tell me one time you ever thought of Phoebe before she jumped you. Just one. Can't, right? Because you haven't.

(She does not believe for a second that Quentin pursued shit, so. Gotta be that.)

Seems like we're pretty fucking replaceable for you. The first one that says hi is close enough, right? Good for you, Quire. You get the girl, I get stuck dealing with your bullshit.
knightowl: (036)

[personal profile] knightowl 2025-04-14 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It wasn't really a what but a who in Bruce's mind and there'd only been one person Bruce would define as wicked. He'd been a man with so little regard for other people he could torture a child to the point of insanity. Turn him on the people that loved him. Try to convince him to kill the man who'd taken him in as his own son.

There'd only be one person who would ever fit that definition and he's been dead for 40 years.

At least, that's what Bruce tells himself. ]


What I think doesn't matter.
vexant: (pic#17745064)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-14 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, well. Welcome to being as fucked as the rest of us.

( congrats on getting stuck in another universe, where everything sucks and who the hell knows where they'll end up next. )

At least it's not as bad as it could be.
abit_ofboth: (facepalm 2)

[personal profile] abit_ofboth 2025-04-14 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yes, I imagine so. It must be difficult to come up with all those rhymes just to be able to speak. I do wonder how long these curses last.

[Or else Loki runs the risk of hurting a few people and destroying this place accidentally. He does hope this isn’t something Hob has had to endure. He wouldn’t want to see him or any of his friends here cursed as well.

Loki chuckles when he realizes what he’s done and shakes his head.]
My apologies, force of habit. I do hope this curse ends before I have to change all my normal actions.

I see yes. I will be sure to ask you again once this is over. You are new, and not from here it seems? Are you with those of us that came from Etraya then?

[As he talks he begins to try and move carefully through the room, meaning to start their search as they talk.]
limiterrings: (pic#17723499)

I SAWWWW ITTTTTT shadow did NOT want to be there did you see the other one

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-14 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ unwavering trust in something that might not be honest, believing that there's something that could destroy their world, and if so isn't it only one can be saved? the hedgehog twitches his ears, looking away as if it's the dumbest thing she's said so far. the attire that he wears begins to crumble, disappearing into particles to remove the suit of armor off his body. ]

Foolish.

[ entirely foolish, something he doesn't understand as to why she would say with nothing confirmed. she's willing to count on something fed to her, something... of peril with a resolution as long as she follows these missions? so trusting, so willing to help some people who hardly deserve that sort of patience. it gets under his skin, it annoys him, it feels to familiar to something specific in his life that he relinquishes his hand from her own, then they come to his chest crossed as he turns away.

she did do what she promised, his points are out of shade, no longer dangerously close to where they were at the start.

making his way away from her, the hedgehog stands at the flight of stairs that leads them up from the arena. ]


Come.

[ from how he's been so far, one would think that he was prepared to keep distance from the young girl. he doesn't wait though, he's already making his way up expecting her to follow, considering she followed him here all the while anyway. ]
overconfidently: overconfidently. (pic#15703057)

[personal profile] overconfidently 2025-04-14 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
You don’t say.

( Sarcasm. Pure and unfiltered at that. He knows it could be worse. He’s lived through worse himself, but. Doesn’t make it any more annoying to be at the so-called mercy of another… being… of some type who seems to have ways of nullifying one’s own abilities. Annoying and concerning, really.

Arms still folded there in front of his chest, he regards Julian for a second or two longer before he’s dropping his arms down with a sigh and starting to head past him. )


Why doesn’t anyone take flight from this Etraya? Where is this Echo even located? Has no one tried to reach out to them?

( Telepathically, he means. )
querulus: (avengers - feels bad man)

[personal profile] querulus 2025-04-14 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Quentin's been in enough heads to not flinch when Julian's own terrible memories come spilling back at him. It's to be expected when you've just dumped a bucket of extra trauma into a brain that's already chock-full of it. Though really, if anything it's helpful, in a fucked up kind of way. A loud noise that isn't originating in his own head? Yes, please, and thank you. Two brains making a racket is a lot less lonely than one. Point to Julian. On a technicality, but eh, sure, why not.

Second point he wins is that whole thing about letting some asshole fuck him up and blah blah blah. Because that? That appeals to the contrarian in Quentin, which, well. Let's be honest here, is one of the strongest, most deeply ingrained, bone-deep traits in Quentin's whole dumpster fire of a psyche. Petulance doesn't quite override the anxiety racing through his veins, but it helps, and he does reflexively wrinkle his nose in a brief flicker of defiance. Did Julian have any idea that was the right button to push, or was he just blindly mashing until something worked? Who knows. Regardless, that's two points. And a deficit of like a billion.

Still, those two points are why Quentin goes along with whatever Julian's up to that doesn't involve giving Quentin the space he asked for multiple times. He instinctively resists Julian's attempt to telekinetically move his hand, but a glance at his mind—how many times is Quentin going to have to tell this jerk to use his words—fills Quentin in on Julian's intentions. Well... if he's not going to go away, why not? Quentin makes a skeptical expression but moves his hand, partly on his own and partly with some TK assistance, to put two fingers at Julian's pulse, which is now racing as much as Quentin's after some telepathy trauma-dumping. Oops. It's weird, but it's not like Julian has wrists to feel his pulse the normal way. And hey, speaking of missing hands and making it weird, Quentin couldn't help but notice that hesitation about "cold metal" when he was poking around just now, so he helpfully... patches Keller into his own nervous system. Specifically, the nervous system for the hand at his pulsepoint. Been a while since the guy's felt a real hand, right? Might as well.

Also if they can both feel it, that means Quentin doesn't have to actually count.]
restingstitchface: (Severe)

[personal profile] restingstitchface 2025-04-14 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[What I think doesn't matter.

Crane has counselled others who believe their thoughts are irrelevent. Inmates and patients who suffered such deep wounds their psyche had to crack or shatter in order to survive. Such minds can never recover. They can only adapt. That he is responsible for those wounds is a separate matter. Those people made choices that brought them into his world. Gotham and her people had turned on him since he was young. In the end, those people are finally getting what they deserve.

Such is what he would tell himself were he his own counsellor. But his emotionless face buries the truth beneath reasons and motivations. He enjoys the reversal.

But what he cannot hide is the life behind his eyes. Sparks of curiosity and intelligence matched by the confidence that he is right. His voice is soft and convincing, thoughtful and therapeutic.]


Only the deepest loss makes us believe our thoughts are irrelevent.

[This is light conversation for him. What people think about that doesn't matter.]
fatedfinality: (ʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ)

[personal profile] fatedfinality 2025-04-15 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
I see, [ he answers, expression turning to something more sympathetic. He imagines how he'd feel if anyone from his world showed up. Probably similarly, he has to admit, and that helps at least in being able to empathize. His hands settle lightly at her waist as he admits: ]

There's a few people from home I wouldn't want to see again either, so- You're not alone.

[ Still, he doesn't like seeing her like this. Upset. (At least, not when it isn't potentially his fault.) Would Ardyn be willing to kill a man he knows nothing about beyond that that he seemingly made Maria sad? Absolutely. Should he say that? Well, no- Probably not. He at least has the sense to keep the violent, intrusive instinct for blood where it belongs firmly locked in his head. For now. ]

What did this scoundrel do, though? Since we men can be scoundrels, I know, but even I can't imagine wanting to leave a lady like you on bad terms.
restingstitchface: (Redirect)

[personal profile] restingstitchface 2025-04-15 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
[That calm expression refuses to budge while he contemplates his response. Would he lie to learn what happens? To introduce a variable he can control? Of course. He will and would do so again and again.]

James Joyce. Author.

[From his conspiratorial tone he makes it obvious his name is an alias; that he enjoys an intelligent game. From his occasional glances around the dancefloor, he makes it known that his interest is hardly personal. It is not that he wishes to psychoanalyse her. He wants to psychoanalyse everyone.]
vexant: (pic#14770571)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-15 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
( there's a loose lift of his shoulders at the might keep it comment, because - it's not as if julian gives a shit about a random tee he had sitting around. his jacket he's a little more possessive over, but a plain tee? no biggie, she can keep it if she wants.

they're not in any rush, so julian leads them out the door and walks them through the housing unit. no need to fly, even if it is significantly more fun than walking. )


It's fine. Luminary, which is good enough for the Symposium. Figured as long as I stayed that high, it wouldn't matter much.

( julian's a showboat. he knows how to play to a crowd when he needs to, and he's charming - when he feels like it. this place hasn't been all that difficult on him. )
vocal: (pic#17639536)

starlight soirée

[personal profile] vocal 2025-04-15 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Hm? Well, aren't you a kind soul to help a beautiful woman like myself.

( kimberly responds with a smile, one gloved hand brought to her chest as she finds his straightforwardness endearing. there must be some uses for this person if they're so willing to follow through with the challenges. some are scarier than others, chances for a person to fall and "die" though she isn't sure if the latter is true, and then he could be searching for someone to sabotage and take all the points.

as much as she doesn't know anything about this world, she'll have to take whatever had is extended her way and hold it tightly. )


I'm surprised, was there no one else that caught your eye?

( she extends her other hand to him so that he can take it if he so chooses. )
vexant: (pic#17694944)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-15 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
There's a barrier around the city. Impossible to fly through, even if we had the space equipment to make it out there.

( julian can't breathe in space, but he can fly relatively high up. he'd run into the barrier earlier, which was not a pleasant experience. especially given how he anticipated being able to, you know, work his way through it. molecular manipulation did nothing for him there. and, )

As for reaching out to Echo? You'd have to ask your mom.
enshaedn: (56)

[personal profile] enshaedn 2025-04-15 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
How could there be? One look and I was arrested by your beauty. I just had to ask.

[ he’s smiling, confident, bold, but not arrogant. ]

[ he takes her hand, bowing to kiss the back of it before he’ll guide her to the dance floor. ]

May I have the pleasure of your name?
sortie: (quiet)

[personal profile] sortie 2025-04-15 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yeah. Yeah, he'll go back— it's where he belongs, at least for now. One day, maybe he and the captain will join Fio, but he has no way of knowing when that day might come or how it might occur. After this experience though? It seems possible.

That's more than nothing. ]


We've got time. When we're not on missions, it's pretty peaceful, usually.

[ Lars doesn't know whether he's the best at making good memories, but he'll try. They all owe Fio for her part in ensuring the Cage survived, and with it, all those who remained. ]

They've got a trolley you can ride to see the whole place.