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

limiterrings: (pic#17723460)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-03-29 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ what's this.

another one.

he's ready to dodge the flurry of fire heading his way, thinking to dodge to the side, but instead of doing that. shadow kicks off in the direction opposite of where that burst is coming from. in this speed, he doesn't take a detour, letting that bullet pierce through to catch up to him side by side. ]


Hmph. Haven't learned your les—

[ quick to close his mouth, crimson eyes look at the individual running at his side with movement that doesn't trip in any capacity despite wearing heels. ]

...
heavensnight: (Well I have a fun idea babe)

[personal profile] heavensnight 2025-03-29 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, no, this place is more literal.

[Maria doesn't know who this is and so because she doesn't know, she feels sorry for her. it seems like this is the kind of person who needs help.]

Do you know what it said about this whole thing?
odinpusrex: (260)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2025-03-29 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[As they make their ascent, Barnabas simply observes. Unblinking in his study, unmoving in his anticipation. He is intrigued by Knife activating something in their boots. Doubtlessly magical in nature, for what else could it be?

Well, besides the technological, he supposes, but somehow he finds it unlikely.

The boost in speed is not entirely expected, but it is appreciated. As they draw swiftly nearer, he merely shifts to follow their movements, tucking his left arm behind his back as he turns his side to Knife. Effectively taking a fencer's stance as they approach him like a charging bull—but as a fencer might and Barnabas does, he weaves with practiced deftness that armor might not have normally allowed most men.

Part of him considered taking the chance to trip his speedy opponent, but there is a balance to maintain here. Should he demoralize them just as they put in some honest effort, that would not serve at all. So, instead, he faces them once more, turning his body to take that stance again, his sword aimed low.

He waits.]
Edited 2025-03-29 23:54 (UTC)
fireboost: (pic#17677812)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-03-29 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she didn't take him for a coward, but as she approaches, he flees. his own speed is impressive, but blaze isn't one to be dissuaded so easily.

tripping is the last thing on her mind. rather, it's a single-minded determination and rage as she looks to her side, where shadow skates on those shoes of his. ]


I will teach you a lesson if you do not return the emerald!

[ he gets one chance. ]
devota: (⚖ stranger the places)

[personal profile] devota 2025-03-29 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
That the world is dying, that this whole thing is some sort of twisted game?

[It's said quietly, because she doesn't wish to offend the people of this dying world.

Did she truly doom her own world? She'd done what she could to save it.]


My conversation with Aurora was rather brief, I'm afraid.
agoddessonce: (right...?)

un: Storm

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-29 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Given that the only handle she sees is Guthrie, and there are many Guthries who would call her Ms Munroe, Ororo has to pause a moment and try to suss out: which one was this? Hmm.

Well, she's at least relatively certain it isn't Sam. Maybe. ]


I've not seen any convenience stores here in Aphaia.

What makes you less qualified?
agoddessonce: (Default)

un: Storm

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Hellion! This throws her all the way back to the Jean Grey School. ]

Thank you for the update, Hellion. And please feel free to use names or codenames - we haven't been in the classroom for quite some time.

Have you and Icarus been staying at the Institute? It is still around?
banworthy: (pic#17599771)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-03-30 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ His arms drop to his side as he twists his head equally to the left. The best way to explain his expression would be exasperated.

She doesn't want to make it worse for him.

He takes a step forward and breathes out an irritated noise in her direction. Holding both hands out to her, he twists his expression into a smile. He thought that she loved to make life hard for him - given how much she hated money and hated how he built up their Order.

Flicking his finger in her direction, he snaps it in the air a few times. It was their organization and one of them fucked it up! Which one was it, Claudia?! ]
knewiwasmore: (heh... no)

Colosseum

[personal profile] knewiwasmore 2025-03-30 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ Scott finds himself watching her from afar. It's not that he hesitates to approach her, Ororo of all people, who might as well be the best friend he's ever had that he hasn't fucked. But it's a new place, a new territory, and he wants to see how she handles it. Take the cue.

But then he hears her and he can't help but press forward to stand at her side, making a show of examining and then dismissing the weapon.
]

I think we're both experts at taking a thrust from a meatier weapon. Try something else.

[ It's not awkward to remind her about how they've both been with Logan. It's just X-Men things, especially Krakoa. ]
agoddessonce: ([jean] the only one there ever was)

un: Storm

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ In her heart of hearts, though she knows it's selfish to wish anyone be trapped far away from home, she knows that if there was one person she wanted to still be here with her - it's Jean. ]

I am in some sort of colosseum. Outside, for fresh air.

How long have I been gone?


[ She's not sure what the best answer to hear will be, but... Jean could be honest with her, at least. ]
devota: (⚖ that everything would go my way)

[personal profile] devota 2025-03-30 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[She points at him, her expression flat.]

As I recall, it was your meddling that made things worse.

I believe your exact words were "kill the crazy bitch".

[And then he didn't even die immediately.]
banworthy: (pic#17599724)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-03-30 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ He takes an exaggerated step backwards before pressing his hands against his chest, pushing his fingertips into the front of his clothes until they wrinkle.

Dropping his hands, he flings his arms out to his side. Pointing to his head, he flicks his hand away from his hair before pointing up toward the ceiling. Another gesture to her mouth as he holds his hands out and leans forward.

She's the one who agreed with him! What he's been saying all along! She's the blasphemer not him! ]
waxen_wings: (041)

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-03-30 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
No, that's in Etraya. We're not stuck in Aphaia permanently I don't think. She said it was some kind of mission.

I haven't been here that long? You asked for an update on the city. I was there a few weeks, seemed okay to me, but it's not like I know how it's "supposed" to be. Nobody burned the school to the ground so I think we're doing okay.
banworthy: (pic#17599711)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-03-30 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
You've been called that by other people?

[ That's great. He wonders who is spreading the good word. ]

What do you mean what did you do? [ He can't help but make a face at that question. His arm starts to fling outward as he gestures, but it gets caught in light. Jerking it backwards immediately, he holds his hand as he sees the skin starting to turn a painful red color. ]

I blame this on you, too.
agoddessonce: ([scott] learned it from you)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's Scott, that much is unmistakable. Some mannerisms were constant over universes, it seemed, and Scott's posture and cadence and firmly set ruby red glasses are some of them.

He's not her Scott. But that matters little; he's a familiar one, and maybe one she'd spoken to last she was here.

She smooths down her dress - something in gold, as if to mirror his blue - and takes his hand. ]


Cyclops. You know I wouldn't let you fall - unless it was some manoeuvre you and I had come up with together.

So... a dance, yes?
fireboost: (pic#17753543)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-03-30 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
I believe it is called Aphaia. A dying world, I was told.

[ she has no way to verify this claim, but she does know one thing. ]

I would advise you find a way to leave as your first priority.
devota: (⚖ they’re becoming us)

[personal profile] devota 2025-03-30 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
And then you tried to use that useless object against me. A blasphemous medallion. You believed my father's words. Him, when his insanity and blasphemy was well known and considered dangerous.

[She glares at him.]

And then you had her kill him for his trinket!
redvisor: please don't take. (pic#16616283)

[personal profile] redvisor 2025-03-30 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
( Long enough, but not too long then. He makes a mental note of that. )

Still have that here, do they? Didn't seem to be as much around first time I was here.

( However long ago that was. )
agoddessonce: (gay panic)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ In contrast - Ororo has come straight from her world. From a time when she'd been suffering imminent death from poisoning, only to be tended to and given some sort of suspicious occult treatment that restored her physical body to absolute perfect health.

There's more to it, of course, things she patently refuses to linger on. But still - the Ororo that Cid sees now is all glowing skin, scars magically disappeared, and wide surprised eyes as the memories filter in. ]


Cid. Cidolfus. [ She drops the weapon she'd been examining back down to its display rack, heading over to meet him halfway. ]

You're here. You - [ Her expression shifts to a worried frown as she reaches for his face. The familiar scruff. ] You've not been eating well, have you?
rudelanguage: (pic#17730078)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-03-30 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
[no blades have come flashing out this time around; Knife figures they may want to limit the usage if it could be linked to them with another face later. eyes everywhere or whatever. eugh.

but also running really fast means there's other things to think about right in front of them - like clotheslining a dancing couple after calling out an ill-timed head's up.]


Uh. Woops. [well, they stopped. people gasped and then tittered about that. sure, yay.

they look around, then back down at the konked-out couple, then over their shoulder at Barnabas just man_standing_emoji over there.

they pick up one of the dancers by the ankle, spin, and throw them at Barnabas. here. yeet. do something]
rudelanguage: (pic#17730072)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-03-30 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Knife clenches their jaw for a tick to keep from sassing aloud. yeah no SHIT leaving is the first priority - this place smells like ass!

...and it's also not the town they're supposed to be in. and stuff. but yeah.]


...We...gotta kill it faster? Or what.
dreamsofearth: (Worried)

[personal profile] dreamsofearth 2025-03-30 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
[The mood shifts in the crowd as cries rise up, and Maria who is already standing frozen stares as various aliens crush close. Everything is happening so fast, she doesn't know what's happening. She's just aware that people are screaming because of fear and pain. There's fizzling pops and bangs as something flies over the crowd and cameras go off like fireworks as they drop from the sky. Everyone was much bigger than her and she couldn't see.

She turns away, intending to flee when someone or something grabs her arm. Though before she can pull away or say anything the grip goes slack and she feels something splash against her back as she covers her face. The crowd presses close and she is shoved away from the disturbance. Already dizzy and lightheaded, the girl cries out as she tries to push away to safety, her pulse roaring in her ears. Though when she glanced back, she saw a flash of familiar black and crimson between a pair of bodies. No....she had to be seeing things. She knew sometimes when in relapse her mind could get affected and she'd hallucinate. But...]


No wait! Stop! [She was lost in the crush of bodies once more and she had no strength to fight against it. Even a full grown healthy human wouldn't be able to force themself through the force of nature that was a stampeding crush of a crowd. Thankfully the direction she was moving was bringing her closer to the edges of the busy square as people worked on fleeing to get away. Surely it couldn't be him!? Her vision swam and the world tilted crazily as she was pushed along. Her breaths gasped into burning lungs. She'd never been so terrified in her entire life.]
agoddessonce: (found you)

screaming!! (hi)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
Dean. [ She finally greets him by name as they settle into some sort of dance form. Position. It's nothing fancy, no required time and steps, but she's going to assume the lead anyway. ]

I had not even known I was away. But - yes, it seems I will be returning; whenever this mess with the colosseum and the casino is over, at least. [ Or so they're led to believe. Anyway.

She gives his arm a squeeze. She's glad to see a familiar face. ]


Has much changed?
agoddessonce: (blacktie event)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-03-30 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ He'll feel her surprise - it's a shift and flicker of the air and temperature when she hears that voice. When she looks up at him, it's with a frown that looks like she can't decide if she's annoyed or happy to see him. ]

- I was simply concerned as to what I might have to do if it did snap. But I suppose handling two meaty weapons at once could be a blessing, hmm?

[ Scott would surely know all about that. Probably. She quirks a brow at him as she sets the lance back down. ]
knewiwasmore: (looking in the distance)

[personal profile] knewiwasmore 2025-03-30 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
I can promise you I've spent many late nights finding out the possibilities of that blessing.

[ Scott. She didn't actually say it for a reason, but he's a terrible menace. Or maybe he just sees that frown and wants to startle her into laughing.

She's pretty no matter what face she makes, but she's most charming in full enjoyment of a situation.
]
Edited 2025-03-30 00:35 (UTC)