TDM 007

[etrayamods]

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⏴

Comments

nate grey, marvel comics.

[overconfidently]

⊗ ARRIVAL

( Once again, he finds himself some place that isn't his world and once again, he doesn't recognize anything or anyone.

He doesn't get very far — takes maybe a handful of steps after exiting the portal before he starts hearing everything. Whispers on a telepathic wind. A telepath-telekinetic combo without the tight control of his mutation just yet, he finds himself stopping there when his telepathy goes and reaches out like it does, crawling across Aphaia in search of something — of someone — he can claim is familiar.

But it's not just the things he hears. It's the things he feels as well and with the way this planet is seemingly broken, it begins to make him feel sick. A glowing gold eye burns between splayed fingers against his face, just barely peering through as he tries to focus. Where am I? What... is this place? thoughts that drift out from the depths of his mind and glide across the telepathic airways around him, like a shooting star, unaware he's even doing so.

Is this really happening? Is he really alone again?

So lost within his own mind, he doesn't even notice the way rocks and junk begin to float around him. Some lazily drifting about, others rapidly spinning and even shooting off randomly. Careful. Wouldn't want to get hit in the head by a rock accidentally. )

⊗ COLOSSEUM

( Nate stands there in the arena amidst the chatter and anticipation of the crowd for the next match, arms folded in front of his chest. Head tilted some, his eyes remain closed — doing his best to tune out all the mental voices of those here. For as much as his telepathic abilities give him an advantage over others, it's also capable of hindering him when it decides to act up on him and he finds it difficult to control; he still hasn't mastered it nor reached his full potential.

This challenge is one that requires a partner. A team-up. Something he has... a bit of expeirence with, but he tends to be more of a loner than a team player. It's why the moment he senses the presence of his teammate arrive, he doesn't bother to open his eyes — doesn't bother to move. )

No offense, but I don't really need your help with this. I can take care of this in a couple minutes, max.

( Overconfident? Maybe just a little. )

⊗ CASINO ROYALE

( Regardless of the time he's spent outside his own world and in the new one that's to be considered home, a casino isn't exactly a place he's ever found himself in and it's why he stands there in the middle of it, bewildered almost at everything he sees.

He wanders throughout it — watching the strange way the dealers lack much in the way of human emotion and stands in on a card game or two, taking note of the bets placed, the cards dealt, and the way every person who plays loses. Every single time. Puzzled, he tilts his head. )

I don't get it. What's the point of this?

( Gambling, he means. )

⊗ NETWORK

username: nate.grey
hello? where am i?

⊗ WILDCARD, ETC.

( obligatory wildcard prompt. feel free to pm to discuss anything as well as more personal prompts if you want to plot something. will match brackets or prose if you have a preference, not too picky. )

colosseum

[limiterrings]

[ a team up isn't what shadow's looking for, when he comes here to rack points it's to rack points not to better his relationships with people. telling them initially to give him a different round, the aliens had already said that they wouldn't change anything, and this is what shadow will have to deal with.

he'll deal with it alright.

the moment he comes out to the field, the hedgehog's ears twitch at the sound of a confident, unfamiliar voice. shadow closes his eyes for a moment contemplating if this is something he even wants to deal with, but he also feels the same, he doesn't need his help with this either. ]

I didn't ask nor do I care.

[ his arms cross as he stops next to the other, a good amount of space between them. ]

Do whatever you want, just don't get in my way.

[ slowly his eyes open, crimson scan the opposite side of the arena to see what it is they're up against. ] If you do, I'll handle you myself.

[overconfidently]

( His eyes remain closed — arms folded there in front of his chest still. Hearing the other's voice, he huffs, grin faint there on his lips. Well, at least they have the same idea for this. Still, he doesn't think much of his partner's capabilities here. )

I'd almost like to see you try, but that wouldn't exactly be fair to you.

( Up ahead, a group of what seems to be goblins in armored pieces make their way out. Some small. Some relatively large. One big guy in particular that wields a spiked club held together by a chain. Nate still doesn't bother to open his eyes — he can see them through his mind and he isn't too worried about it. )

I can leave you a couple little ones if you really want.

[limiterrings]

[ cocky, who else does he know that's like that?

it doesn't matter, the hedgehog raises one hand to wave off the other's comment. the group of goblins are enthusiastic about what they have before them: a human and a small animal. to be entirely honest, these beasts probably finds the duo to be on the less intimidating side and have probably seen worse. ]

Hmph, I see now. You must be overcompensating for something.

[ shadow takes him to be the type who wishes to show-off. ]

All I need to know is whether the fight ends when they're all incapacitated or dead.

[ from the sound of things, the hedgehog doesn't have a preference, but a voice does ring in his head about how he shouldn't kill. if the latter, then the victory will be handed to the individual by him, but if it's the former... there shouldn't be a problem. ]

arrival; CW: injury

[waxen_wings]

[ Jay is just flying low and minding his own business, trying to figure out what the lay of the land is here in Aphaia. But although he has wings, no one thought to give him eyes in the back of his head.

An unseen rock the size of a coffee table crashes into a wing, breaking it with crack. He yelps and tries to compensate for it as he spirals, but can't get enough lift back. Jay hits the ground hard with a sickening thump and doesn't move. ]

[overconfidently]

( 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. )

[waxen_wings]

[ 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. ]

⊗ ARRIVAL

[heartofthedream]

[ The moment he walks through the portal in Apaia, Nate's mind rolls across hers with nearly the same strength of Hope's own closeted echo of her (The Phoenix's) own vastness. It's not the same as the bond she has with Scott (that seems to permeate all worlds). Their children, the Grey-Summers children, from every time and place across the vast spanning multiverse are telepathic powerhouses beyond reckoning. It could be said to be that. (But it isn't.)

Or it could be said to be the proliferation of his confused thought stumbling out into all the minds who can hear thusly in his bewildered state. (But isn't.) It isn't even that it's a lack of control, or need for it, when her Scott appeared. It's all blown away by the sheer surprise, and the door cracks open immediately like a sledge hammer crashes into her ribs, her heart. The presence of her son. It's been so, so long. Again. Since she's felt Nate, seen him. Since he had to disappear into the multiverse after setting his idealistic error wrong. (And how very Grey-Summers was that, too?) ]

{ Nate?! }

[overconfidently]

( Amidst the chaos around him, he hears a voice among the many call out his name and it’s enough to have him peer through those splayed fingers there on his face. He knows this voice. It’s familiar in ways he wishes could be more, but. He knows who it belongs to. There’s no mistaking who it could.

Jean Grey.

His mother.

His mother is here. )

Jean?

( Telepathic voice a whisper of confusion, his left eye glows that bright gold again as he tries to focus on her voice — on her presence and where she could be here. Why was she here? Were the others here, too? Was Scott? His father. Everything is a little out of sorts for him and if he’s going to find out those answers, he needs to quell the mindless chatter he’s picking up on around here. )

Where are you? Where am I?

[heartofthedream]

{ I'll come to you. Just stay there. }

[ Nothing else matters. For the first time in a while, she was annoyed she couldn't fold space. Couldn't just step into another place from where she's supposed to exist outside of all space and time. Except her. He's pressing through so much confusion, and what strikes her as logic tries to filter in through her joy (at getting to see him again soon; being able to feel him now), and disappointment (for his capture), and concern (for the maelstrom of his thought)—is the sudden realization: Oh.

He's younger than he was.

(Like Nathan returning so much younger than expected.
At the very beginning of Krakoa.


At least this doesn't involve self-slaughter.


[Hopefully.])

Everything in her mind is going too fast, but all that she can focus on is his presence and her need to send herself scorchingly fast across the sky—a comment of starlight, hotter and brighter than the core of a star. It's a sight that Etraya has not witnessed yet. The Apaia will have in full color 3D to replay too many times. Fire incarnate crackles as everything Jean in crescendos toward one need: to reach Nate. ]

{ Just breathe. I'll be there shortly. }

colosseum

[vexant]

( i don't really need your help says the asshole who doesn't even look at him. which, honestly? he probably doesn't, depending on their opponents. still doesn't make julian any happier about the arrogant approach (that's julian's line, thanks) which is why he snorts, raising his arms up to cross them over his chest as he raises a brow at nate. )

No? Then have at it, champ. I'll just sit on my hands and watch.

( haha, get it, because he doesn't have any hands. )

[overconfidently]

( The smirk that touches his lips is soft and barely there but, oh. It's there. )

Don't be so offended. I'll get us out of this and we can move on with our time here.

( In Aphaia and these challenges they're meant to endure.

The moment he senses the presence of their opponents, he opens his eyes — blue looking ahead at the dark magician looking pair that step out. Cloaked in a robe-like armor and wielding what appears to be a staff of some sort, he tilts his head curiously at the sight — picks up on something about them, then lets his arms drop away to his sides. )

Magic users? Something's different about them.

[vexant]

I'm not offended.

( yes he is.

not that it matters much, because nate is right: they need to get out of here and move on, there's probably more important shit to get into. their opponents walk out and they look like some idiots from one of those - those games with the tiny figures he sees every once in a while. those things. he knows what he's thinking, that's the important part.

and, see, julian isn't a telepath, so all he sees is a pair of weirdos. )

You're the mind guy, not me. Why don't you tell me?

arrival

[fourthwalled]

[Wade takes most of the weird ass things that happen to him in stride. It may also help that he remembers Etraya... although the portal to the battle planet filming his every move is new. Although playing to an audience at all times is already his specialty!]

Take that fourth walls. I'm gonna wreck this bitch. [He does a set of finger guns at a camera as he passes it, hefting up on the bag of supplies he'd collected before getting dumped here. He'd come here in costume, but it seems his weapons hadn't done him the courtesy of coming along too.

Wade is still getting his bearings when he spots the figure, only taking a few steps toward Nate when a rock zips at him like a bullet, clocking him right in the head with a loud crack--] Ack, fuck! [He crumples to the ground, legs collapsing underneath him like an accordion.]

[overconfidently]

( It's the sudden crack that snaps him out of the frustration whipping around him from all the chatter polluting his brain and the moment he realizes he'd clocked someone with... everything floating and spinning around, he makes it stop. Instantly. Rocks and junk dropping to the ground... just like whoever'd been hit.

Shit.

He stands there — hand still in front of his face before he drops it away and slowly begins to make his way over to the crumpled sight there a little ways from him. )

Hey... hey!

( Steps quicken and he stumbles a little towards the fallen person. )

Are you ok? Can you hear me?

[fourthwalled]

[The injury isn't obvious because of the mask, but there does seem to be a rather sizable dent on his head-- indicating the shattered skull underneath. Most people wouldn't be getting up so easy from such an injury.

But Wade's not most people. He's already pushing himself up onto his shoulders, wobbly as his brain and skull start to repair themselves.] WRu..?

[His vision is blurry at first, slowly the younger man's face comes into focus. He'd asked a question. Was he okay?] Mm. Not okay. B..But-- [He shakes his head, rattling his thoughts free, shaking off his TBI in stride.] No worse than usual.

[He rubs his head.] You come here and hurl rocks often?

arrival;

[sodark]

[Cable has a deeply eerie feeling about being here. It's probably not too surprising, it's something that should feel unsettling. It's deeper than that, though. It's been strange and it feels strange. He's not as in tune with anything as he ought to be (given he's still in a state where his powers are almost nothing but a blocker for his virus) but he does have a gut feeling that troubles him.

Doesn't help much when errant rocks are flying around. Cable narrowly avoids one that swoops past his head and barely catches another coming in at another angle. When he locates what he assumes is the source of the rock-fuckery, his metal hand tosses the rock at Nate's feet.]

Knock it off.

🥹 ahhh

[overconfidently]

( He should have felt him before.

It takes him a second — takes a rock thrown at his feet to pull him out from the incessant chatter that plagues his mind on this planet. Or at least, pull him out long enough to glance up through splayed fingers and catch sight of the one responsible for the thrown rock. When he sees him, his left eye shines bright with gold for a moment and the voices are replaced with a sudden pressing around his head and he squeezes his eyes shut.

He should have known. He should have felt him from before. )

Quit it, old man.

( Being so close to his alternate self… to his big brother… it always takes a second for him to not lose his mind. Literally.

He knows this isn’t the Cable he’d met, fought, and parted ways with a little awhile ago, but he still feels the same to him in certain ways and with another moment of focusing on himself and not the other, he finally drops the spinning rocks and junk around him. He doesn’t know which he prefers. The incessant chatter of those on this planet suddenly pouring into his mind uncontrollably, or the whole existential crisis that happens in his head when he’s near Cable. Either way, he gets it in check and straightens up some, breath leaving his lips. )

Why are you even here?

👀👀👀❤️

[sodark]

[Now in closer proximity to the culprit, he can get a better look at him. It allows him to zero in on similarities. He's not the only person in the universe with an eye that glows, surely. The other things he notices make him feel like he's looking in a mirror and he doesn't really recognise himself. It doesn't help the niggling, uncomfortable feeling he has.

Cable's brows furrow deeply at what he perceives as an insult. He can assess that he's being spoken to like there's familiarity between them.]

Have we met-- [He cuts himself off, because he's met two godforsaken versions of his father here already and the sick, disconnected feeling he has seems to resolve itself briefly.]

Jesus. [He wrinkles his nose, irritated by the fact that a. This is happening at all and b. That he can't help trusting the suspicion that they're related somehow and he doesn't want to act on that.]

Same reason you are. [One of endless similarities.]

arrival!

[querulus]

[Quentin Quire has a headache. And that headache's name is Nate Grey.

Not that he has anything against Nate specifically. He barely even knows the guy. Sure, maybe there's a little competitiveness because of the whole "crazy powerful telepath and telekinetic" thing and being one of a pretty short list of male telepaths. But that's whatever. No, no, his beef currently with Nate is the absolutely godawful mess he's spewing out into the telepathic landscape. It's just rude! Quentin is on his way over there from the other side of the city to uh... undecided. Help? Complain? All of the above?? But he reaches out telepathically in the meantime while he figures out the actual plan.]

/Dude. You wanna stop thought-barfing all over my frontal lobe? Can barely hear myself think over here./

😌

[overconfidently]

( For as much as he sometimes ends up hearing the thoughts of those around him — like right now — it’s not often that he hears the voice of another speaking directly to him within his own mind. It takes him a moment — squints between splayed fingers in front of his face and his left eye glows brighter with that almost shimmering gold. He may not know where he currently is, but this is another telepath. Of that, he’s certain.

Zeroing in on that specific voice, unfamiliar as most are, there’s a sort of telepathic pushback that comes. Not necessarily a warning, but more of a telepath being on edge. After he’d caught Xavier snooping on him via the astral plane, he’s always on edge around another unfamiliar telepath. )

Who are you? What do you want?

( There’s not so much hesitation as there is annoyance wrapped up in a bit of confusion within the tone of his telepathic voice. )

:D

[querulus]

[Ooookay, so the "I've heard of you" doesn't go both ways, apparently. Quentin is choosing to believe Nate is from an earlier point in time, because the alternative is so highly insulting it doesn't merit thinking about. Who doesn't know Quentin Quire???

Well. Probably a lot of people. But everybody should!]

/Whoa, whoa, calm down, buddy. We're all friends here.

I'm Quentin. You're putting out a metric fuckton of psychic noise all over the place, and it's giving me a migraine. Just seeing if you could take it down a couple of notches, that's all./

[Quentin gives him the psychic equivalent of a hands-raised pacifying gesture. He comes in peace, really!]

[sophielicious]

(Not only is he eating her brain cells with this psychic disconcertion he's throwing at her, but he's also coincidentally way too close to her physically that one of those rocks almost hits her, if not for her own telekinesis to stop it before it's too late.

She's probably not going to manage this proper, considering he could definitely overpower her if it comes to the worst of it, but no one can blame a girl for trying to calm him down.

Poorly.)

/Cripes, chill. You're okay, alright? I got you, can you please stop leaking all over the place? Pretty please with a cherry on top./

[overconfidently]

( It’s still something strange to hear another’s voice alongside his own, but. It’s enough for him to latch onto amidst the sea of incessant chatter that ricochets around within his own mind, seemingly without a means to stop. He didn’t want this to happen — doesn’t want to hear and feel so many things at once to the point where he feels like it’s almost drowning within his own mind. So he latches onto her voice as if she were a life preserver and pulls himself out from the noise that slowly begins to fade into the background. )

Who are you?

( A glance up with a glowing left eye, his own telepathic voice is both hesitant and curious with just a touch of frustration to it. Understandable with all the noise, but also apprehensive to reach back out to who he’s guessing is another telepath. )

[sophielicious]

(Oh, the eye, the skillset. Okay. He might be another version of Cable, which, if so, she's overconfident in her abilities to deal with it... To some degree. More him than the aforementioned skills, but alas, those are details. Maybe she can help muffle the thoughts, telepathically keep her focus on her only, and let him ground himself on the lifesaver she's throwing him.

Maybe, that is. If it works.)

/I'm one of the Stepford Cuckoos, the Five-In-One. Emma Frost's daughters./

(Maybe that helps, maybe it doesn't. A delicate hand is offered, so he can maybe take it, get his shit together, who knows.)