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

[overconfidently]

( Again, he just... what? Staring at him, brow raised, he looks away then, arms still crossed in front of his chest. Of all the people he could run into here, he gets this guy. Sigh on his lips, he shakes his head, turning. )

You don't make a whole lot of sense. You know that, right?

( Taking a few steps, he lets his arms drop down and takes a second to look around. He wants to reach out with his telepathy — wants to see if he can pick up on anyone here that might even just barely be familiar to him, but. After what had just happened, he's not so sure. )

This planet is broken. I can feel it dying and instead of trying to save it, they bring us here for some sort of game.

[fourthwalled]

I know. When I do start making sense is when you should start to worry.

[For himself, for everyone.]

So this place is like Secret Wars, but less cool. [Wade surmises, starting to walk in a direction, expecting Nate to follow. Hopefully he does, or Wade's just going to be talking to himself.] I'm guessing the games aren't going to be Monopoly or Snakes & Ladders. Really wishing I'd shown up with my guns about now. Thank god, I at least have my cocaine.

[overconfidently]

( The look he gives Wade is one of disbelief. The things he says— the incessant chatter... he's almost afraid to see what it's like inside his head. Then again, maybe there isn't all that much to see or hear. Regardless, he follows after him, keeping an eye on their surroundings as they go. )

Cocaine's bad for you.

( He rolls his eyes. )

What's with the suit?

( It's very... X-Men and Avengers. )

[fourthwalled]

Thanks for the PSA, champ. [Sparkle rainbow fingers!]

Cocaine is also fun as hell. And I can't die, so it doesn't really matter.

[He can have all the terrible vices he wants, thank you very much!]

The suit is so the bad guys can't see me bleed. And the rock throwers can't see my skull fragments. [Also he likes it. Better than having the mask off. Although it's gotten easier over the years to let people see.]

[overconfidently]

( The champ comment gets him to nudge Wade forward into a stumble with his mind. Just playful. Nothing seriously malicious. )

It obviously doesn't seem to do much to you if you're up and walking around like you are.

( He must have a healing mutation. He's seen it before. )

So what are you? X-Men? Avengers? You're not X-Force.

( Heh. )

[fourthwalled]

[He plays the stumble off like it's his own clumsiness, even though it's obvious that it's Nate's doing.]

Yeah, I've gotten hit with worse than rocks. Not much will keep me down. Except for laundromat prices. [Red made his suit way fucking easier to clean.] Any superheroes who wear white must be fucking loaded.

[Blink, double-take, blink again.]

I'm not X-Force? [What the Hell?] I started X-Force! [In his Universe, anyway. Wade steps a little closer.] So you've heard of X-Force? Who'd you meet? How were they? Good? Was it, Shatterstar? I know he's a bit of a dick, but he means well. Mostly.

[overconfidently]

( When he's suddenly there all close, Nate stops and blinks — left eye flashing a warm shade of gold for a moment. This guy... he's come across a number of people in his short time, but this one right here really takes the cake in terms of strange.

Rather than list off the team he'd been working with, he gives a single name. )

Domino.

[fourthwalled]

[Deadpool does notice the eye, and it is pretty damn fucking familiar. Hmm...]

Domino? Nice! Love her. [She might feel the same? Or she at least tolerates him.] Stupidest fucking powers on the planet, but she does still manage to be a badass despite that.

[overconfidently]

( Brow raising, the arms fold there in front of his chest. )

And what exactly do you think are cool powers to have?

( Please enlighten him. )

[fourthwalled]

Oh, shit. That's a good question! Let me think. [He looks off in the distance, tapping his chin.] Shapeshifting is pretty cool, controlling lightning, telekinesis-- [Wade gestures to Nate. Cause, how else had he brained him with a rock?] Flight? I'd kill to be able to fly. Teleportation. Control of elements like water, ice, wind... oh! The ability to take other people's powers? That's a good one...

[He's going to keep going it seems.]

[overconfidently]

( He knows a few people with those abilities that this guy just... keeps listing. )

What about reading other people's minds?

[fourthwalled]

Nah-- [He waves his hand away at that idea.] Sure, it sounds nice. But I don't even want to be in my own head, let alone anyone else's.

[That sounds like a nightmare.]

[overconfidently]

( Brow raised again, he glances off. )

Can't imagine why.

( Just a bit of sass before he's looking back to him. )

So why do you want to fly so much?

[fourthwalled]

So I can feel the wind in my hair. [Heh.]

Also, it'd be so freeing! Like you're a bird and nothing else around you matters! Plus, there's the amount you'd save on airfare. Have you seen ticket prices lately?

[overconfidently]

( He can't say that he has, but. With that in mind, he glances up to the air for a moment before he goes and lifts a hand... and lifts Wade up in the process. Gently. Floating him off the ground and up into the air a little. While doing so, his left eye glows again for a moment and he watches him — keeps his hand out. )

[fourthwalled]

Fuck--!

[At first there's shock as his body starts going airborne, flailing arms and legs. Eventually, when he finally settles and realizes what's happening, he's laughing like an excited toddler as he floats, straining himself upward as though he could will himself to move upward.] Higher! Higher!

[overconfidently]

( He… really wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to fly so bad. To be fair, he can understand, being able to fly himself. Just something he maybe took a little for granted with being able to do. Still, Wade goes and demands to go higher and so he does just that. Lifts him up slowly as he, too, joins him up in the air then.

He keeps a relative distance, eyeing the other while keeping a telekinetic hold on him. Watching their surroundings as he takes them both up, hand still out towards Wade as he does. )

[fourthwalled]

[Wade is ecstatic and clearly is not too worried about falling. Not caring about his personal safety came with the territory with Mr. Wade Wilson. He's got both arms out as though it's actually him directing his flight.

Catching Nate's eyes, he grins through his mask.] Why aren't you doing this all the time? If I could do this, my feet would never touch the fucking ground!

cw: brief mentions of dying

[overconfidently]

Because it takes a sort of focus?

( Never mind a certain amount of energy as well. Energy he maybe shouldn’t be burning through so much what with his powers slowly eating him alive from the inside-out; too much for his body to handle. But he won’t let it stop him. Doesn’t let it stop him, even now. What would the point of him even existing be if he did? He may have been bred and born to be a weapon against Apocalypse, but he’s still his own person. Still has the ability to make his own decisions and live his life, however short it may be, as best he can.

At least, that’s what he tells himself.

They’re high off the ground, everything below so small like ants and he looks off into the distance while still keeping a hold on the other. Twisting his wrist slowly and, in turn, twisting Wade around some. Calm. )

It’s quieter up here. Not as much noise.

( Telepathically, he means. )

[fourthwalled]

I guess that makes sense. Don't want to be up here and accidentally plummet to your death because you got distracted. You wouldn't fare as well as I would, I bet. [Let's be real, Wade's totally jumped out of a plane without a parachute before.

Wade finds himself starting to spin and just goes with it, putting his hands behind his neck and just relaxing. Once Nate's wrist stops twisting, he finds himself facing him, floating sideways.]

It's a whole new world. A new, fantastic point of view. [Wade's brain is still going. It never stopped. But the voices in his head didn't belong to other people.] My name's Wade, by the way. I probably should have asked your name before I let you whisk me off into the air, like I'm some kind of Disney Princess.

[overconfidently]

( There’s something strangely comforting? Is that the word for this? About this interaction here with this strange mutant named Wade. Maybe because he doesn’t seem to have an alliance to Xavier — that he hasn’t come to check him out and manipulate him to get something out of him. He doesn’t sense any of that from Wade. He just feels… genuine tomfoolery.

Of course, that might change when he says his name. Maybe. Not like he can’t handle it if it does. )

Nate Grey.

( He eyes him as he says that — drifts by closely while maintaining a bit of distance between them. )

What’s a Disney princess?

( He can’t help himself from asking. )

[fourthwalled]

[For as much as Wade might have tried to be an X-men, it had never been for him. He couldn't be one of them, no matter how hard he'd tried to be. No amount of dinner prep and Velcro Tupperware labels could make up for his other tendencies.]

Grey? [He knows who you are, but also doesn't. It's a complicated fourth wall dance, baby Nate.] As in Jean Grey?

[Being called Nate is interesting too. But he'll get to that. Although all thoughts on that quickly dissolve.]

WHAT'S A DISNEY PRINCESS! Fuck. Stop the presses, I don't give a fuck about your last name. We need to address this first! Have you NEVER seen a Disney movie?!

[overconfidently]

( The sudden outburst nearly has him drop Wade right then and there, but. He manages to catch him, having only let him drop a couple feet. Blue eyes are wide — panic gentle there on his face at the thought of almost letting him fall and... he narrows his eyes at the other, hand stretched out as a means to keep him there. )

What the Hell kind of reaction is that? I almost dropped you.

( Annoyed with the theatrics, clearly. )

[fourthwalled]

[He squeaks as he starts to fall, only to find himself stopped a few moments later.] What!? I couldn't help it! I was just shocked, that's all!

Whenever we get off this planet and back to Etraya, I'm gonna check if Aurora's got any Disney movies lying around. Because I'm making you watch some, whether you want to or not!

[Why he's making that sound like a threat, is hard to say. He's just passionate about certain things, okay?]

[overconfidently]

Why? What's so damn important about them you risk letting me drop you?

( Please tell him. He doesn't get it. Never mind the fact that he's only just barely seen television as it is since that wasn't really much of a thing in the world he came from, but. Details. )