etrayamemes | TDM 007

Entry tags:

!tdm

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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ how could she be so thoughtless? looking almost resigned, there's already an apology at blaze's lips. ]

Please excuse me.

[ but as she lifts her gaze, she finds in front of her an unexpectedly familiar figure. not only is it much shorter than the many humans and other creatures that seem to populate this place, but she immediately finds her eyes widening as they land on black and red. his fist is raised, and he's clearly on guard, but can she say that this only makes it easier to match the sour expression to a name?

holding her hands in front of her in an effort to show that she means no harm. ]

You're Sonic's friend from before, yes?

[He holds his stance, even after the show of peace gesture. It's when he hears the name Sonic that he starts to think. They know the blue hedgehog. Friends is...an interesting word choice to describe their relation. All they did was save the world together. He hadn't consider anything more than them just having a mutual goal. Eitherway, he wonders if Sonic would want anything to do with him after what he did to Tom.]

We're not friends. [Like all things with Shadow. It's complicated. At least he is lowering his fist, but still not fully relaxed around her. If they know Sonic though, then they're not an enemy?] Who are you?

Of course. I suppose we haven't formally introduced ourselves.

[ she doesn't press the matter. they've met, so far as she's concerned, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're familiar, and she's no person to judge another's relationship... even if sonic does have a certain way of creeping his way into your heart. for now, blaze places a hand to her chest. ]

I am Blaze the Cat, Princess of the Sol Empire and guardian of the Sol Emeralds. I was there with Silver in Dr. Eggman's city.

[ surely he remembers needing to be rescued, yes? they've crossed paths here and there before, but that's probably the main one. ]

[...A name would have been just fine. But he gets a gargle of words he does not recognize. And they're saying things as if he's expected to know what she's talking about. His brow just furrows, confused. Annoyed. He's very certain this is the first time he's ever met this cat. And he's never heard of "Dr. Eggman City"? Some previous pet project of the younger Robotnik?]

I don't know what you're talking about.

Huh?

[ for a moment, she only blinks at him. clearly, his response... isn't what she'd expected, but she immediately runs the entire interaction through her mind again. it only takes a moment for her to come to a conclusion as to what should be done. ]

I apologize. I seem to have mistaken you for someone else.

[ there are hundreds of possibilities for what could cause this misunderstanding between the two of them, but at the end of the day, their relationship isn't so intimate or familiar that blaze feels any desire to push it. if this is their first meeting, then so be it. ]

[A raised brow. Mistaken him for someone else? He's the only one that's...well the way he is. Obviously not Sonic they're referring to. A suspicious look.] Who?

[ oh? is he curious after all?

blaze seems to consider it for a moment, as if weighing whether she should say it, before she offers up her answer: ]

I believe his name was... Shadow the Hedgehog.

[That's-. The response recieves an unimpressed look from Shadow. Was she trying to insult him? He half considers just leaving after that.]

Are you trying to be funny? I am Shadow. [He doesn't recall ever ending with "the hedgehog", but he did learn recently that's what he is apparently, so...] Just what are you playing at?

I am not. If I was lying, Shadow, where would I have learned that name?

[ she says the name as if challenging it. it's hardly as if he'd introduced himself to her, is he sure that he's not the one playing games? ]

Even if you were of significant fame, I am not from your world in the first place.

[He's annoyed someone is acting as if they know better. Like he should know when he's never met this cat ever. It's irritating that she knows him, of him? And he doesn't. Fame? What fame? Was it a lost memory from before his time on Earth?] That doesn't make any sense. [Frustrating as this is, he believes they are speaking the truth, for now.]

It's only been me. You make it sound like there could be others with my name. [Sure he wants to know where he's from and if there's other like him. But this ain't it.]

That's not necessarily what I'm saying.

[ unless he absolutely refuses the possibility of them having met before. after all, she's just some time back dealt with sonic in such a similar position.

that's why her first thought, that she's not tactful enough to dance around, is: ]

Are you sure your memory is alright? Perhaps those fake emeralds had more of an effect than we thought. What do you remember last?

[Fake emeralds...? He scowls as she says more things that doesn't make sense, making assumptions. Even if it's technically not her fault. She doesn't know and he hasn't reciprocated much knowledge of himself. A part him wants to walk away from this, not wanting to get into himself. But his curiousity and confusion keeps him here.]

Eclipse Cannon. Does that sound familiar?

Actually, no...

[ which is perhaps the strangest part of all. she's spent some time in sonic's world now, and in lending a hand to the restoration, has heard of all kinds of stories about the things happening around them, but that one doesn't ring a bell at all.

instead, she decides to ask another question, trying to place the timeline of what he knows. ]

What about the attack on Metal Sonic on Angel Island? You and Rouge also joined us then.

[All she's doing is continuing to confuse him. When was Sonic made of metal? Who is Rouge? Someone he should know from the sound of it. He's been to three locations on Earth and none of them are called Angel Island. He's just...frowning, getting worn down the more he gets details of things he doesn't recognize.]

No. [Simple. Nothing more to it.]

How strange...

[ it really is puzzling. possibilities race through blaze's mind, but it isn't as if there's anything practical they can do about this. without a full picture of the situation, attempting to utilize the sol emeralds again may be rash. blaze only shakes her head. ]

Well, regardless, there is nothing lost with me. I had only spoken to you once before today, so perhaps we can look into your memory in time.

[ instead, she holds out her hand. ]

As I said, I am Blaze the Cat. It is nice to properly meet you, Shadow the Hedgehog.

[...Again with that assumption. Putting his memories into question. She said so many strange things that he was at a lost. Should he believe any of it? Was this a glimpse into his life before landing on Earth? But Sonic never made any mention of a purple cat named Blaze, nor did he ever see her around the blue hedgehog. None of it adds up. He doesn't know.

His expression might have gotten more grim as he stares at her hand.] No. You don't. [The hand is left hanging as he tries to leave. Done with her and standing in this spot, too close to hitting a memory that he does actually remember. Frankly, he wants to pretend this conversation never happened as it left him with more questions than answers.]

[ hmm, sonic and his group had made it look so easy, but this "friends" thing is actually quite difficult, isn't it? blaze allows her hand to drop back to her side as the hedgehog turns away from her. even gives him a few steps before she calls out to him. ]

... Shadow.

[ ... ]

How many points do you have?

[ perhaps what she said is different from what he wanted to hear. but she'll make one last effort before she concedes, offering something different than an identity crisis this time. if he's not interested, she'll let him go. ]

[Blaze should try making friends with anyone else besides Shadow. She will likely have better success.] That's none of your business.

[It really isn't, stop trying to be familiar with him. But oh, the earpiece says otherwise. In an automated voice that can be heard by both.

POINTS: 32. UNDERLING

He stops, tilting his head up slightly and glaring at where that earpiece would be. Really?]

[ perhaps she would, but by that logic, sonic could have given up on her just as easily when she had lashed out—and her own attitude had been much worse than this, considering the circumstances. that may be why she understands that she cannot force him to take her hand if he's not ready, and instead says: ]

I'm going to the colosseum to earn some.

[ she hadn't planned to, but is admittedly in a similar predicament herself. ]

You're welcome to join me.

[He turns to look towards the stage where everyone is dancing, frowning. Points have to be maintained, he understands that. But he doesn't have to do this specific task, does he? It makes him anxious, to be among a crowd of strangers, let alone do it with someone who has been acting as if they know him.] Go yourself.

Very well.

[ she can accept that. truthfully, his personality doesn't strike her as that of a dancer anyway, but she'll offer a nod of acknowledgement before she turns to enter the stage. ]

I hope to see you again soon, Shadow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TDM 007

omg... here comes a very special boy

He's doing his best....

picks him up like the lion king

Don't do that. He will end you.

alas... thats fair

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