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

network un: HELLION

[vexant]

You ever think about how stupid the name "Kid Omega" is?

[querulus]

nope

:)

[vexant]

Aren't you older than me?

[querulus]

[Does time travel you don't remember because a psychic robot was screaming in your head the whole time count? Or being astral plane goo? Or being resurrected in a realm outside of time and space? Don't answer that. Any of it.]

bold of you to assume i know how old you are

[vexant]

Younger than you, but I wouldn't go by "kid" anymore
But it'd just be even more stupid if you dropped the kid part of your name for just omega
Who the hell goes by "omega"?
And who keeps "kid" going into their 20s?

[querulus]

w o w

you're a very judgemental person jsyk. you should work on that. maybe try yoga.

[vexant]

It's not my fault you refuse to grow up

[querulus]

[Alright, screw this. He's switching to telepathy.]

/You wanna just cut to the part where you punch me or whatever so we can get it over with? I know you're pissed./

[vexant]

( for a moment, julian considers ignoring quentin. he could pretend he just - didn't get the message. of course, quentin would immediately know how it was bullshit. but it's not as if couldn't just - pretend anyway. why not?

unfortunately for the both of them, julian opts to not ignore him. )

/Who said I was pissed at you?/

[querulus]

/So you're not mad I lied to you./

[PRESS X TO DOUBT]

/About... the future. Krakoa. All of that. You. You're not pissed at all about any of that./

[vexant]

( well, damn. guess he did kind of do that, didn't he. all the secrets of the future, quentin had said, and one of them just happened to be the destruction of everything.

in quire's defense, julian would have likely done the same thing had their positions been switched. there's no need to make someone suffer before they have to. and krakoa?

hurts. )

/Why should I be?/

( he wants quentin to provide the ammo. to say just how wrong he was, give julian more reasons to be pissed at him. )

[querulus]

[.... Shit, did he just play himself? Was Keller not going to be pissed at him???

Shit.]

/I dunno, man, you're always mad about something. It's kind of your main shtick?/

[Nailed it.]

[vexant]

/Is that the best you've got? You're the one who was telling me I should be pissed./

( not being able to do this face-to-face is very unsatisfying, so, you know what? he's just - going to start looking for quire. )

[querulus]

[Okay, hold on, what the fuck is happening right now??]

/You get pissed off at me for doing literally anything. Walking. Talking. Breathing. But then I deliberately withhold information—multiple times, by the way—about our island paradise crashing and burning so you won't get all mopey and shit, and that. That is totally fine? "Eh, whatever, happens to the best of us. Why would I be mad about that?" The math isn't mathing./

[Aaand now he can feel Keller going somewhere. Great.]

/Where are you going?/

[vexant]

/So I wouldn't get all mopey and shit? Seriously?/

( for a moment, he considers just. not answering the second half of that. if quentin's going to be a nosy bitch and sus out that he's on the move, he can figure out where julian is going on his own too.

but that's less satisfying than, )

/I'm coming for you./

[querulus]

/Oh, that's what you have a problem with? Would you prefer "unfathomably depressed and angry beyond all reasoning"?

And dude, cut it out with the Dirty Harry routine. I'm the one who said the whole "cut the chase" thing and blah blah blah. You're not a master goddamn tracker who's gonna catch me unawares. Look, here, I'll prove it./

[A small pink dot labeled QQ that's not unlike a video game waypoint appears abruptly in Julian's vision, along with some smaller text indicating distance from said waypoint. Handy!

It's at this point that Quentin pauses to briefly consider why he is inviting Julian Keller to come kick the shit out of him for a thing that literally doesn't seem to have been a problem before Quentin brought it up. And then he immediately decides he doesn't want to think about it.

Quentin Quire? Sabotaging himself to dull the hollow pain of guilt, grief, and self-loathing? It's more likely than you think!]

[vexant]

( the fuck is quentin talking about, with his dirty harry crap. and does julian really care? probably not, actually.

unfortunately, quentin takes all the fun out of tracking him down by providing julian with a telepathic gps locator, which. takes the wind out of his sails for a moment. his lips purse, more annoyed than anything else, but also, )

/Fine. Be that way./

( because look, julian's not even going to go towards quentin now. in fact: he's turning around on his heels, and heading in the opposite direction. )

[querulus]

[He's walking away??]

/Are you kidding me? You are fucking impossible, you know that?/

[Impossible how? Not important.]

/What even is the point of you if you don't even do the one thing you're good at?/

[vexant]

( that gets his attention. that makes him a little angry. moreso than the withholding of information, for what it's worth. he's still walking away, but: )

/The one thing I'm good at, is it? And what's that supposed to be?/

[querulus]

[Somewhere in the city, Quentin Quire is strongly considering beating his head against a wall. (He doesn't, because his head is obviously too amazing for that.) None of this is going according to plan, and it's all Julian Keller's fault.

And what was the plan, exactly? For Keller to be justifiably pissed off, come scream at Quentin for a bit, maybe push him around some—which, no, Quentin does not in fact want—and then...? What? Quentin gets to not feel like shit about lying? About the fact that he knows what Sophie told Julian wasn't the whole truth? About all the bullshit he did and saw on X-Force? Just so he can indulge in a little therapeutic self-destruction after Sophie dug up a big chunk of grief, and that fucking hurts? None of which is even remotely Julian's problem?? Man, this plan sucks. Quentin's had some stinkers before, but... this? This is a doozie even by his standards.]

/Fuck. You know what? Forget it. Do over.

There's no easy-breezy way to say this, so, uh. Look. I didn't tell you about Krakoa because it's complicated. Like really complicated. More than Sophie knows. More than you've gotta know, considering the cringe "Krakoan" act.

Now here's the moral quandary: do I tell you? Dunno. I kinda planned on you never finding out at all, and the whole damn business is a big pile of suck, sooo... But hey, now you can make an informed decision on whether not to be pissed at me. I'll leave my waypoint up for now. You want it gone, I dunno, blink twice or whatever. Have fun. QQ over and out./

[vexant]

( why does julian always have to be the adult here. it's annoying. irritating. he hates it. except he also realizes: being the adult is the role he took on intentionally, it's just that he hadn't planned on bringing quire into the equation. leading the hellions back in the day? fine. outside of jay, they were all on the same wavelength - or, well, sooraya may have not agreed with him sometimes, but she still listened. when he'd cover noriko's ass, people would listen. when he was shoved into the rejects-slash-would-be-villains class? they still listened. but quire? is in a whole other league. that's part of the bullshit with teams, isn't it? compatibility. and the whole blah blah blah leader responsibility to pull everyone together or whatever, which is, admittedly, a little above his paygrade. )

Fuck it. This isn't working.

( it's grumbled out loud, more to himself than anything else, before julian turns himself back around and doesn't bother with the whole i'm coming for you slow walking around routine, because neither of them are limited to crap like that. he's walking through aphaia one moment, and flying at an almost concerning speed straight for quentin, fully intending on just ramming straight into him to grab hold of his collar and shove him back against the closest wall.

because that's what quentin was after, right? the bully routine. )

[querulus]

[Success...? Okay, honestly, Quentin was 50/50 that Julian would just keep walking away and not even bother. It didn't seem to upset him that much that Quentin lied, for whatever reason. Quentin could've just left we'll enough alone and not ever had to talk about this whole mess.

But here's the thing he's realized: he wants to talk about it. At least, some small part of him does. A lot of him doesn't. Emotions run high when talking anything Krakoa back home, understandably so, and this place offers a rare opportunity to talk about what he experienced with someone who doesn't (yet) have a mountain of their own trauma related to the Fall. Everything he had doubts about, choices he wasn't happy about but doesn't know if he regrets. Would Julian have been his first—or second (or third)— choice for that conversation? Nope. But thanks to a certain blonde beauty queen, that ship has sailed. And since Quentin has no intention of telling anyone else, Julian's who he'll have to make do with.

... Unless the guy completely obliterates him first. He sure is moving awfully fast... And not... slowing down...]

Oh—

[Quentin pulls up enough of a TK shield around his body to tank it when Julian hits him, though the back of his skull still smacks the wall uncomfortably, and he makes the ungraceful "guhh" noise of someone getting the wind knocked out of him. Quentin barks out a humorless breathy laugh and wheezes a reply that sounds way, way more cocky than he actually feels.]

Guess you decided.

[God. Why did he invite this again? Oh right, because he's mentally unstable. That.]

[vexant]

( quentin pads out his own landing, which saves julian from having to do it. good. he'd just hate to offer a cushion when he's busy doing - this. still, he's careful. there's enough pressure with julian's forearm against quentin's collar to bruise, but not nearly enough to break anything. same with the telekinetic force julian uses to hold quentin up, not that he necessarily needs it. this is a show of force, of power, which julian has every intention of coming out in top of. )

Yeah, I did. ( avoidance isn't getting him anywhere. not doing what quentin wants isn't, even if his frustration at julian's unwillingness to bend was hilarious. but it wasn't solving anything, just putting them straight back into where they'd been in the library: biting at each other's throats in a back and forth cycle that solved nothing. so, now? julian's leaning right into quentin, putting his weight on that forearm he's got shoved right up against him, pushing his way into quentin's space until their faces are so close, he can feel quentin breathing. )

Because I am sick of your attitude. You're too busy projecting all of your own problems onto everyone else that you can't fucking see what's right in front of you. You think I'm pissed at you, for not telling me about our goddamn home getting decimated, again? I get it, idiot. You think I would have done any different, if our positions had been reversed?

( julian lets that sit. not long enough for quentin to bark out a response, just long enough for him to have a moment to really think about it. )

For someone who claims to be a genius, you spend an awful lot of time proving you're the most exhausting person in every room. And I. Don't. Have the time or energy to bother with it. ( his arm shoves into quentin even harder, as julian takes another step closer. there's no space between them, no room for quentin to breathe without julian feeling the rise and fall of his chest. ) I don't get pissed at you for basic bullshit. I get pissed at you for being the stupidest, most self-destructive asshole on the block. Hell, Quire. If you were half as smart as you think you are, you might've been dangerous. Instead, you're just a self-absorbed, would-be punk.

[querulus]

[When the amygdala perceives a threat, it sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. Sympathetic nervous system floods the body with stress hormones. Heart rate rises, pupils dilate, respiration becomes more rapid as small airways in the lungs open to allow for the most oxygen to be taken in per breath. Trembling next. Pallid complexion. It's all hard-wired, a primitive survival instinct that telepathy can't fully control or prevent, at least not by the telepath who owns the brain in question and not when in the clutches of said instinctive reaction, and later Quentin will be mortified that Julian is plenty close enough see that he's panicking. No matter what his hippocampus is saying—that Keller is all bark and no bite, that Quentin could reach into his brain and make him let go at any time with virtually no effort—his stupid amygdala is screaming no no no I don't want to die, not again. And it's showing.

It takes longer than he would like to admit to reclaim control over his brain, no thanks at all to Keller progressively giving him less and less space to breathe let alone think, and even more time to try and halfway process anything he's actually saying. Quentin projecting his problems onto others? Sure, believable. Most exhausting person in the room? Sounds legit. Self-destructive asshole? Guilty as charged, your honor. And he'd love to give his input on all this whole fascinating character study-slash-roast Julian's decided to give him, but you see the problem is he can't. Fucking. Breathe.]

Let me go!!

[There's no telepathic command behind the words, but Quentin's voice echoes in Julian's brain as much as his hoarse yelling does in the outside world. His "freeze" response of stiffly keeping balled fists at his side abruptly switches to "flight," and he furiously grabs at Julian's forearm and stupid non-existent wrist. His voice, on the other hand, is too shaky to sound truly angry or threatening, with just a slight edge of desperation. Between the adrenaline throwing his breathing a curveball and the pressure on his chest, he can't exactly manage the kind of clear, confident tone he'd prefer.]

Come on, man, I can't—you win, okay? Uncle! I don't want to use my powers on you again, but you've gotta let me go.

[vexant]

( unfortunately for them both, julian does recognize the signs of a panic attack. it's the shaky voice, the grabbing desperately for him, that tips him off. and the nice thing to do here would be to back off. to give quentin some air, give him time to come back to himself before he goes back to his high-pitched whining and bitching. but julian?

well. he doesn't do that. his grip loosens some; pressure against quentin's collar significantly less hard than it had been, but it's still there. he's not letting him move away, not giving him a clear out, because this back and forth has to stop. there's no telekinetic force holding him up anymore, it's just julian. even the metal prosthetics are keeping off of him. )

No. I need you to listen.

( quire's voice is shaky, but julian's is firm. confident. unwavering. )

Look at me. Breathe. You want to take a look in my head? Go for it. But if you try to manipulate me physically in any way, you'll regret it.

( it's giving quire permission to snoop. to learn that julian? doesn't mean to harm him any. this isn't him using his physical presence to intimidate him - or not by julian's definition at least. this is him getting into quire's face, to make sure he understands. he was angry about quentin knowing krakoa was gone and letting julian think everything was just dandy. but with that anger comes the understanding that julian would have done the same thing. there's no point in making someone suffer through something twice, is there? and he - gets it. it was a bid to keep julian from kicking the shit out of quentin or whatever - as if that's what he would have done with that knowledge. maybe he would have. maybe he would have taken out his anger on quentin just because he's an easy and conveniently located target, but the point is that quentin hadn't told him, and maybe, just maybe, buried keep in that stupid skull of his - quentin meant it as a way to protect julian.

doesn't matter what quentin's intentions were. what matters is julian's: he's here to correct a misunderstanding, to prevent this back and forth - or reruns as quentin calls them. neither of them need to be wasting their energy like this. )

And when you're ready to calm down, shut up, and listen, we'll finish this so I can fuck off and leave you to your moping.