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

agoddessonce: (found you)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-04-03 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ (Maybe the cuts in the jacket are stylish? Unclear.)

Ororo doesn't draw away, letting this very young version of Laura hold onto her for as long as she needs to hold her. It's still a jumble of memories - Ororo remembers running away from androids or robots of some sort, of this Laura stubbornly trying to fight them anyway? And offering to clean a bullet wound for Ororo when she found that she had no healing factor. Of sharing photos of Logan with her over biscuits in a coffee shop... Of saving a little bird that was separated from its mother. ]


I just came back myself, darling. I'm sorry I was not here.

Have you been alone? There are others like us here - have you met them yet?
overconfidently: overconfidently. (pic#15681307)

[personal profile] overconfidently 2025-04-03 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
( This is one of his fears in being who he is — being what he is as Sinister had explained. He doesn’t realize it at first — doesn’t realize there’d been someone else within the vicinity, but. He hadn’t even realized everything was floating around him to begin with, never mind spinning and shooting off randomly in his frustration.

It takes him a second to pick up on it and when he sees— when he hears the way the other crashes into the ground, everything suddenly drops and Nate stares in disbelief before he starts to quickly make his way over, the voices having ceased. )


Hey! I— are you ok?!

( Shit. )
heybub: (pic#8491968)

[personal profile] heybub 2025-04-03 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ He tries to remember because he thinks if he'd ever seen her before, even briefly, he would have remembered her. But there's nothing. It's blank. Empty. Gone. And that he can't get past that block frustrates him endlessly. How could there be nothing?

Giving him a name solves the mystery of at least one side of the dog tags around his neck. His name is Logan. ]


No. Who are you?
Edited 2025-04-03 00:10 (UTC)
waxen_wings: (014)

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-04-03 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Speaking of defending the school, do you know how to work the security system? I can't figure it out, and we should probably add the guy that Julian challenged to a duel after he called me anathema.

If and when we get back, I'll put it in the lounge, I guess? Somewhere people'd find it, but not front and center where it's going to make anybody upset about who's here and not.
heybub: (pic#6627148)

[personal profile] heybub 2025-04-03 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
Away from here.
resurrxion: (000000000034 - Copy)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ josh draws his hand back, watching the emotion tumble forth with a troubled expression. he's not the right guy for this conversation, he's not the right person for any conversation involving -

well, anything around that night. the bus. the terrible chasm it left within him. ]


I know.

[ he lets out a breath. trying to think about how he felt - and knowing that his fuckup had him fleeing the others for years. ]

Look, uh... [ his blank eyes shift skyward, searching the neon haze for a moment before dropping back down. ] You're welcome, man. I just meant - that night was a long time ago for me. I forgave you ages ago, and... I dunno, things got messy... forget what you're supposed say. What do you want to say?
waxen_wings: (044)

Video

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-04-03 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yeah, okay, hi Mr. Summers. Jay doesn't say it - that'd be mean. He does, however think it.

And then he turns on video because it wouldn't have to be a question if he was on screen. Jay makes sure to hold it so that the feed catches a good view of his bright red wings. Even gives them a little flutter so it's perfectly clear.
]

They're not a cosplay.
heybub: (Countdown to ass kicking)

[personal profile] heybub 2025-04-03 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
Ain't worried about that. I can find my own way. I just wanna get out of here.
waxen_wings: (041)

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-04-03 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
Except... you're here too, now, so we're even. Aren't we?

[ Mojoverse and Etraya cancel out, so home and Etraya. Even stevens. ]

That bit still doesn't make any sense. If this is a mission, and we can't do anything to stop what's going on here, then why does it matter at all? Why get us to chase each other in circles around the colisseum and perform like puppets for them?
levelshift: (glance 2)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-04-03 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Accelerator squints a little as he watches the video. Is some animal using this thing? Or a demon like Qliphah?]

Yep. Congratulations.

[That is sarcasm.]
bigpoofymammoth: (Ice Age 5)

[personal profile] bigpoofymammoth 2025-04-03 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Well that’s the thing. As far as I know, the only way to get out of Etraya is if Echo decides to send us back. And even then, there’s always a chance that we could get dragged back to it.
vexant: (kucRk6i)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-03 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
( that's his name. and josh voicing it earns him another big grin, as julian raises his free hand and presses it to the chair behind josh, effectively blocking him in. )

You remember when we were kids, and you would've followed me anywhere?
resurrxion: (000000128)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
That makes me sound like your lost puppy. [ oh, oh he is very close now. and that joke is falling so flat. josh blinks rapidly, slowly clocking their positions and just how close julian is. ]
shoplifter: (pic#12480959)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2025-04-03 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, she thinks. That's neat.

Unconcerned with the creature in question, she turns toward Shadow in full.]


I have everything I need already.

Do you have to give me something?
limiterrings: (pic#17723472)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ this is almost like amy's birthday party, but in a closed space and not an entire train. then he'll make this quick then, walking over to the bed and dresser, he's going to look underneath the sheets and mattress, even under the bed since he has to be thorough.

then he'll place his attention on the drawer after.

if they're on a time limit, it is a shame that she hasn't let him know how much time they have to their names. ]


Hm...

[ rustle, rustle.... ]
vexant: (pic#13307327)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-03 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
You wish.

( he is very close. and the grin is back, julian looking all to pleased with himself. josh may have a hand on his shoulder, but julian has him cornered. )

Remember how much you liked me?
resurrxion: (000000128)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ absolutely trapped. it doesn't matter that he could drop julian like a stone, there's no way he can get the upper hand under these eyes. ]

Well... I remember how much you liked me.

[ he remembers being sixteen and desperate for a place to belong and fitting oh so easily into place beside julian, who seemed to be on his wavelength. ]
limiterrings: (pic#17723495)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
To do things for free in a place like this, it doesn't seem wise.

[ which means offering her help for nothing in return will be why people use her, if she's smart, she'd know to use others to her advantage instead. ]

Normally, you would ask for something.

[ but if she has everything she needs... ]
querulus: (wca - tmw existential crisis)

[personal profile] querulus 2025-04-03 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
/That's not what I said./

[Ugh, that was. Snippier than he meant it to sound. He's really crashing and burning over here.]

/If someone asks, we tell them. If they don't... Eh. The whole mess sucks anyway. No point in pissing in anyone's Cheerios unless we have to./
shoplifter: (pic#11989731)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2025-04-03 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Hmm. Something to consider, if that’s true. Perhaps she just figured he was mean enough to happily take without giving. And perhaps she did not care, because she didn’t want the fluffy animal alien to die by way of vanishing into nothingness.]

You can owe me on a different mission.

If you’re still here for another.

[It’s hard to say, when it comes to Etraya.]
vexant: (BidTkvj)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-03 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
You were obsessed with me.

( clearly it wasn't the other way around. josh isn't moving away though, so julian figures this is working. )

Did you miss me? After you took off, wherever the hell you went off to.
laserguy: (smug)

[personal profile] laserguy 2025-04-03 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
[That sure is a face..... it's fine. Scott's kind of getting used to it. He's been sent worse expressions before. Not that he's bragging or anything. Uh-huh.]

You just type it out on the keyboard and direct it towards me.

[He explains first, before he starts typing once more. Scott figures that it's better to lead by example in this case.] this sort of thing is pretty new to me too. we have phones and stuff, but not this.
agoddessonce: (PTA meeting)

[personal profile] agoddessonce 2025-04-03 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
That's hardly specific. How can you go somewhere when you don't know where you are going?
oblige: (mull)

[personal profile] oblige 2025-04-03 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed, though I suppose we are here to meet a certain need.

[ Dion would never claim that the two of them know each other as people and he sees no reason to try. Neither of them want that. They're old adversaries, and while there is a certain brutal intimacy to combat, it remains impersonal in many of the ways that matter. He can gauge how Odin will move in battle because failing to do so has cost him a long recovery before, but he has little window into his thoughts.

Yet he knows more than Barnabas would have any reason to suspect, by way of a mutual acquaintance of theirs. Dion understands the man better in death than he ever had in life. Even so, there is only so much one can glean from another's ultimately misguided motivations (pot, meet kettle) and Dion is disinclined to delude himself into believing otherwise.

He will, however, derive a certain private satisfaction from knowing something that his old foe wouldn't suspect him to be aware of. It will remain in the confines of his own mind, at least for the time being. ]


...So tell me, as it appears you've been lurking. How well has that strategy been working?

[ Much as battle would be a welcome respite, Dion supposes they should get down to business. Neither of them, he'd surmise, are truly suited to an investigation. They are instruments of war. The Phoenix would be better suited, but Dion would be loath to wish whatever all this is upon him. So that leaves him and Odin, two blunt instruments, searching for... Something he has never even heard of. ]
levelshift: <user name=patch-robots site=livejournal.com> (what the shit is this?!)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-04-03 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Thankfully, Accelerator does notice the gesturing out of the corner of his eye. It takes him a moment to catch onto what he means, but he'll pick up on it eventually.]

What?

[He pulls a smartphone out of his back pocket, turning the selfie camera on. This time, he notices both the blue and red hair. That is not normal.]

What the shit?! What the fuck is this??