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

fireboost: (pic#17773388)

soirée

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ dimitri may be looking for a dance partner, but a certain feline is searching for something else. observing the dancers, though she's unsure if she should join them on the floor herself—she's still hesitant. instead, she spies a certain individual, well dressed, passing by her with a searching gaze.

when their eyes meet, she takes a few steps closer, lifting an empty wine glass for him to see. ]


Excuse me, can I have another glass of water?

[ he must be one of the servers, correct? the first she's seen all night. ]
resurrxion: (000000000031)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ okay.

okay. okay. he's the only one here of the original squad. not david, who could logic his way through this. or sofia, who would be able to find just the right words to ease jay's mind. just him.

he scrubs a hand through his hair, leaving it at odd angles as he looks away. ]


I'm at a 32. [ ...... ] I don't really wanna run the risk of hurting you.

[ the words hang uncertainly for a moment as josh remembers that all jay would know him as is the healer. that he's from the era where his powers just heal and not from where they are now. ]

Unless, like, they give points for entertainment? We could run it like a wrestling match.
vexant: (hNptXYb)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-03 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
( cute.

julian leans in closer still, weight on the balls of his feet and the hand pressing against the seat of josh's chair. he doesn't quite touch josh, but he's close enough to feel his bodyheat. )


You know. You're mine. ( and almost as an afterthought, ) Wanna make out?
resurrxion: (000000002)

1/2

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ]
fireboost: (pic#17773411)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ the light helps, though it doesn't reveal anything new. what he finds in the diary seems to be a list:

- How to Live
- The Manitous
- A Broken Blade
- The Escape Artist
- Kamikaze Biker

blaze hums thoughtfully, but as he finishes reading the list, she'll make her way over with her own findings. ]


This was in the fridge. Do you think it's a clue as well?

[ holding out a piece of paper for shadow to take—seemingly blank. ]
resurrxion: (000000000143)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ he's speedrunning several things at once.

one, did he have a crush on julian keller back in the day? yes. probably, like, 95 percent sure that's why that friendship breakup felt like a breakup breakup. so, check. that's a positive to the makeout.

two, did he abandon julian to... lose his hands, lose his spleen, and nearly die to the m-pox? double check. that's a negative to the makeout.

three, was he a raging whore to deal with his feelings in the way of the maladjusted x-men before him? yes. yes he was. and honestly if the right offer came along he would be again.

four, is this the right offer? maybe. he's spent the last few years too busy for a decent makeout session, surrounded by people decades older than him. and the ive are more like the weirdest family than lovers, so like, that's not a problem. but... ]


Jules, hey, I'm not - [ his eyes dart to his lips and back up. ] I'm not saying no but since when do you want to make out with me?
leastdramatic: (It's not me)

[personal profile] leastdramatic 2025-04-03 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Hah. Got it in one there. Probably comes from that whole primal need to show off as being the strongest.

[Jason shrugs]

I've gotten better about it.
resurrxion: (000000000423)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ poor scott.

because this is yet another mutant who has not had the greatest summers time. josh winces when he hears the void, torn somewhere between bracing himself for a reprimand or an order... but the voice isn't totally right. ]


Well, mutant allies too.
knightowl: (011)

[personal profile] knightowl 2025-04-03 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ A question he would not get an answer to. Bruce's face gives away nothing and he isn't so much hiding his emotions as he is simply existing. He didn't have much to emote about these days. He was old and grumpy and everyone around him would know it just by looking at him. ]

Unfortunate that you find yourself in this place instead of where you're from.

[ An invitation to fill in that blank if Jon was interested in taking it. Bruce is certainly interested in how he'll answer. ]
limiterrings: (pic#17750846)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ a diary list, and now a blank sheet of paper. once he takes it, he brings the blank sheet of paper to layer it on top of the page with the diary list.

does it do anything? ]


...Hm.

[ he looks to blaze, the light that peers through the window illuminating where she stands. ]

Possibly.
fireboost: (pic#17773408)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ blaze watches silently as he places it in the diary, but as shadow will find, no clues become apparent when he places the paper over the page of the list. instead, he'll find that the texture on a few small parts of the paper are a little odd, though it looks to be completely blank. perhaps it has something to do with that?

blaze has a hand to her chin, she's thinking over the diary clues while shadow investigates the paper. ]


Then I'll leave it to you. I have something I want to see about.
waxen_wings: (060)

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-04-03 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Eeesh, they have to get that score up, and fast. Jay hasn't caught onto any pattern behind how far scores fall on a poor performance, but scores are out of a hundred. Josh isn't even pulling a D.

The rest of it will keep. They don't half to pretend move on; they kinda need to. Turns out strategy was important after all.
]

I guess the good news is my healing's, well, healing again.

[ Move it along quick, without talking about why it wasn't, because that should be good news. ]

If you get in a lucky shot, it won't matter, and yeah, obviously we're gonna fake it. I don't want to fight in their stupid coliseum, but I also don't want you flub an interview and lose 33 points. The other options are worse, trust me. We'd have to figure out a way to publicly do something that makes you instantly interesting and popular.
resurrxion: (000000000096)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-03 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ josh brightens a little at the mention of his healing. pushing down how it's another reminder of how he failed him. had he been just a little stronger, he could have saved jay's life.

but he also remembers the way jay had screamed at him. he hadn't wanted to be saved. ]


Like I said dude, here's where Jersey Shore comes in handy. And Survivor. And Big Brother. [ he rests a hand on his hip, grinning. ] My goal was to be on one before the whole mutant thing. So, I got the formula down for what gets the popular vote, just need a few things to make it work.
limiterrings: (pic#17750801)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ they're probably books that are lined against the wall and he wonders if that's what she's going to go look into.

as for the sheet of paper, he'll rub his fingers along the grooves to see if they make a word, unless they're braille. ]


You do that.

[ he has his little paper to mess with. ]
fireboost: (pic#17773399)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ that's exactly what she's gone to look into, she'll be examining the spines of each of the books while he messes with his little paper.

which does not have braile—but it feels kind of like somebody might have spilled something on it in places. ]
waxen_wings: (058)

[personal profile] waxen_wings 2025-04-03 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ The answer's not immediately forthcoming, aside from a sharp gasp when ribs knit back together before the effects of a flail chest can take shape. Jay heard the question and dimly understood it, but a healing factor doesn't mean invulnerability or immunity to pain. He needs at least ten seconds of lying here screaming ow ow ow shit ow internally before he feels like doing anything.

To his credit, Jay sits up about fifteen seconds after he hit the ground. It's clear that there's still something wrong , because one wing and an arm are still at odd angles, but they're slowly straightening out.
]

I'm okay. Something hit me.

[ He looks up to see what, but there's nothing there. Jay flinches and touches his jaw gingerly as something pops back into place. Next time, he's crashing feet first. ]
mossheaded: (04)

♡!

[personal profile] mossheaded 2025-04-03 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
If Zoro was at all fazed by her staring, he didn't show it.

He understood the confusion well enough, given that he was currently wrestling with the same. It was disconcerting, how she could be so similar to the woman he knew, yet still a stranger. It was because she wasn't a perfect replica that Zoro was convinced this wasn't the work of a devil fruit - While they'd encountered people capable of imitating or skewing perception in the past, what power would this even be? And on top of that, what were the odds he'd run into it here, on top of everything else going on?

At the mention of Sanji's name, Zoro's jaw tightened, annoyance cracking the mask of impassivity. That bastard had better not be here, but Luffy? Much as Zoro wanted to see him, it was for the good of the crew that he wasn't here, especially with how they'd left things.

"Same as you. Brought here by some weird woman called Angora, told that we're supposed to save the world or some crap like that."

Aurora, but you know - Close enough. He'd only been half-listening. It also wasn't likely the answer that Nami was looking for, but he didn't appear to be offering anything further.
limiterrings: (pic#17723495)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ damn, shadow hates this. where's amy to figure it out, but he might as well turn around to the window to try and see if the sun will help him make sense of what was spilled on a supposedly blank sheet of paper.

he stops, humming in thought between the diary and the sheet of paper given to him. he'll double check the book one last time to see if the slip of paper isn't the one that was ripped out supposedly. ]
fireboost: (pic#17751962)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ it isn't the one that's ripped out! the stained paper is whole, even if there are lines from how it was folded up while tucked in the fridge. while there are some scraps of the inner side of the ripped out piece still remaining in the diary.

but as he holds it up to the light, something shines through.

the number 12 is stained into the paper.

and blaze just so happens to peek over her shoulder at that moment, observing shadow's discovery. ]


Did you figure it out?
dreamsofearth: (All Smiles)

[personal profile] dreamsofearth 2025-04-03 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
[Maria giggled again as Shadow played along at being all gallant. Oh he was just too sweet! The applause from inside the colosseum and her earpiece beeping made her pause and look up though. The bubble they had found themselves in had burst and reality set in. It didn't stop her from looking back down at Shadow with a smile, eyes still filled with delight.]

I can't thank you enough. Truly. I hope we can do that again sometime! [She reached out to touch Shadow's shoulder gently before she moved her hand back. She actually wanted to give him a hug, but considering his initial reaction when she first saw him, she didn't want to ruin what she hoped would be the start of a friendship. He hadn't wanted to hold her hand or anything like that, so she would respect his wishes.]

I wonder where...[My Shadow? Other Shadow? Or just Shadow? This situation was really quite strange and she wasn't sure how to address either of them for a moment.] the other Shadow is? I would have thought he'd be here by now...[She frowned slightly in thought.] I hope he's okay. Perhaps I can try contacting him this time.
strumpet: (pic#17736812)

— starlight soiree

[personal profile] strumpet 2025-04-03 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
( unlike most of the people brought here from etraya originally, inara is one of the new arrivals and was lucky enough to be brought in wearing one of her most fanciest articles of clothing. granted that she was an ambassador and one of the more higher-end companions, all of her clothes were on the higher end regardless. of course that meant she stood out amongst the crowd but she wasn't the only one—

with his rather flippant way of avoiding any and all questions, she was intrigued by him. so when the dancing began, inara sauntered her way through the crowds of people, long black curls wafting in the air before she finally made it towards him.

regardless of his words, she was quick to take his hands into her own [soft yet commanding], big doe eyes looking up at him as she worked harder than ever before to charm someone who wasn't even going to be a client of hers.

she was just that intrigued by him. )


Forever? Attended many a ball in your youth? Perhaps a military affair?

( he was welcomed to answer her or not but her composure remained all the same. polite, quaint, and ever so charming. )
thelightshines: (But listen carefully)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-04-03 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[To do this again...he wonders about that. He only did this, because the other wasn't present. Something to pass the time until they arrive. He hadn't consider doing anything with her again once the other takes her back. The bit of happiness he felt when they shared the dance, gradually getting hit with reality. This is not the Maria he knows, and he doesn't want to intrude anymore than he already has, between this Maria and her Shadow. So he's goes silent, when she tells him she hopes to do this again, the hand gently touching his shoulder. Do it with your Shadow, not him.

The moment passes and she brings up a good point. It feels unlike that Shadow to take their time getting here. So he starts to check his surroundings and...ah. A certain dark hedgehog, moving away instead of towards them. He frowns. For them to turn away instead of coming to them, to his Maria. How long had they been there?]
...He's over there. [He'll gesture to a spot behind her. His expression turning more serious. Considering their first encounter, he doesn't know what to expect from the other. Surely they wouldn't try to make a scene in front of Maria, but he can't let his guard down. Just come get Maria and he'll leave peacefully.]
limiterrings: (pic#17703070)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-03 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ as if she knew that he found something, he turns his head to meet her. ]

You must have found something over there to be back already.

[ he offers her the sheet of paper, then nudging towards the window's light. ]

Hold it there.

[ 12... th bookcase? or should he go to that page number in this diary or the listed books. ]
fireboost: (pic#17677811)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-03 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ something like that, surely, or else she finished skimming the titles on the shelves.

she'll accept the paper in any case, holding it up to the light just as shadow had. she looks thoughtful, squinting at the number like that, but she'll hand it back to him once she's had a moment to consider it. 12... 12... Could it be talking about pages? ]


I thought that the list sounded like titles, so I was checking the shelves, but only one book matched. Here, that one.

[ indicating a book that's been slightly pulled out of the shelf, but not so much as to fall, titled: The Escape Artist. ]
fatedfinality: ʜᴇ's ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ! (I ʟᴏᴠᴇ Nᴏᴄᴛɪs ʏᴇs ɪ ᴅᴏ!)

[personal profile] fatedfinality 2025-04-03 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's not subtle by any means. He's fit right in here in Aphaia overall with his flashy, flamboyant nature and rugged charm. The train and its rioting was fun, sure, but there's something about the atmosphere here that just really suits him. His points were low but not seeming to care much had actually won him over more people than it didn't somehow and his ratings improved.

It probably helps too that the Colosseum being a bloodbath or ballroom doesn't matter; he could adapt and adjust to either, but he is glad it's the latter when he sees Maria. Their eyes meet and he smiles brightly in response. Whoever he was talking to before loses his attention abruptly so that he doesn't keep her waiting.
]

Of course, [ he answers, already raising a hand to take one of hers with ease. ] You beat me to asking you first, I admit, but I'm glad you did ask. [ Did she, actually? Probably not, but it sounds better to say so. ] Dancing and then drinks though, perhaps? I have to thank you somehow.