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]

( It's the so-called tragedy of being an omega-level mutant, it seems. Someone always wants you for something, if they're not busy fearing you.

But Quentin's words get him to fold his arms in front of his chest and stare. Very Scott Summers, very Cyclops of him. Despite the stoic projection he leans into, he picks up on the feeling there coming from the other telepath — I got you fam — and it has him huff some under his breath as he eyes Quentin there. )

I don't even know what karaoke is.

( A sad truth. Even things like television, lights in refrigerators, or something as seemingly simple as a coffee machine are almost a foreign concept to him still despite the time he's spent in 616 the other world he's fallen into prior to here. Living in the age of Apocalypse was a little more hiding and keeping low as a means to survive rather than going out every night to spend time doing... karaoke. )

[querulus]

Aaand now I'm sad. See what you did? You made your only friend sad. 

[He does not look very sad.

Quentin points at Nate decisively. He's got a Plan now. Is it a good plan? Don't worry about it.]

Okay, look, Slim Jr. I've got a sneaking suspicion introducing you to karaoke is gonna be like one of those "giving a Victorian child a Dorito" things, so we're gonna start small. I'm guessing you've never had pizza, yeah?

[overconfidently]

( The Slim Jr. comment goes over his head but is maybe for the best. The inquiry regarding pizza has him take a second to mull over before he’s eyeing Quentin there curiously. )

I don’t think so, no. Why?

( Would a planet falling apart like this one even have something like pizza? )

[querulus]

You "don't think so"? It's a yes or no—you know what? Whatever. Doesn't matter. 

[He jerks his head in the direction he came from initially.]

You feel the cluster of minds over that way, yeah? Turns out if you shmooze enough you can get pretty much whatever you want. How's your shmoozing?

[overconfidently]

( There’s a flutter of annoyance that can briefly be felt telepathically for a moment. Yes, he can feel the cluster of minds nearby. What telepath can’t? But he can also feel the way this planet is broken and falling apart and how no one seems to really care that is and doesn’t understand how getting something like pizza is going to help the people here any. Have people simply become so complacent as they did back in his own world with Apocalypse ruling as a tyrant? It bothers him to think. If they’re here and capable of doing what they can, they should be helping, not playing games and getting pizza.

All of this can be easily felt if Quentin is capable of picking up on it, but rather than say any of it, he simply glances off in the direction of where the minds can be felt. )

We’re telepaths. Schmoozing comes easy to us, doesn’t it?

( Mind control and all, right? )

[querulus]

[Quentin is (regrettably) all too capable of picking up on it, and he gives Nate a look that's at first curious, then sharply analytical. Then he shrugs, and his usual nonchalance is back in place.]

Whatever you say, pal. I'll hold you to that. Come on.

[His feet lift off the ground, and he heads off, assuming Nate will follow. Quentin doesn't look back at him either, but he does reach out telepathically when he's sure the gap in conversation won't be noticeable to any outside viewers.]

/Cool it on the moral high ground, buddy. Look around you. The cameras? Don't know about you, but I can't feel who's on the other side of them, which means they're either shielded or really goddamn far away. Probably off planet. And the damn things are everywhere. As far as I know this is the only secure way of communicating. You get what that means, right?/

[overconfidently]

( He stares after Quentin before he follows along by taking to the sky, staring back to where there had been for only a brief moment. When he hears the other’s voice within his mind, he looks ahead to him. Quiet. Gaze drifting around them as they go. Fine. He has a point. One which he hadn’t considered, but. It doesn’t ease his mind concerning the lack of initiative in saving this planet. No, it’s not theirs and no, it’s not Etraya which they’re supposedly stationed on. But it’s still one with people on it and the thought of them all being destroyed because of being complacent is troubling to him.

But that’s the thing with Nate. He’s far more reactive than proactive and he’s still trying to learn to not be that. Sigh on his lips, he lifts his gaze some in thought. )

So, what? We just smile for the cameras and keep everything else like this? Fine. Hope you can keep up then.

( To which he allows his power to flare up some around him, aura gold and bright, and zips his way past Quentin there for Agora, spinning some as he does. )

The only thing you’ll be holding is my dust at this rate.

[querulus]

[He can tell Nate's impatient, and look, he gets it. Quentin just about crawls out of his skin every time a teammate is more than 30 seconds late for a meet-up or mission briefing or if they even talk too slow. But a cocky Omega level psychic with unreliable control over his powers running headfirst into shit without thinking? Shit that involves a mysterious, unreachable, and all-knowing "audience"? That's stupid. Really stupid.]

/We smile for the cameras and gather information. You know, recon? I don't like this any more than you do, trust me—/

Aw, cripes.

[Aaaand he's gone. Sure, there's nothing actually stopping Quentin from continuing that conversation telepathically. He can still sense Nate perfectly fine. He just, well. Didn't expect to get dusted by the guy who couldn't keep his thoughts in his own head a few minutes ago.

Alright, fine. Nate wants to get flashy? Quentin can do flashy. Let's see... psychic constructs? Yeah, that's a QQ Classic. He has yet to see anyone match the complexity of his shit, but hey, maybe Nate'll be the first. Or he'll get schooled. Either way, not boring! But what to make? Hmm. Motorcycle? Jetpack? No, no, that's so... last era. Gotta match his new aesthetic.

Oh. Of course. It's so obvious!

If Nate happens to notice the unusual amalgamating of psychic stuff Quentin is doing somewhere behind him, he won't have to wonder for long as Quentin quickly catches up, now riding a sleek, futuristic-style hoverboard composed entirely of brightly glowing pink psionic energy. He winks and salutes cheekily.]

What was that about dust?

[overconfidently]

( They’re supposed to put on a show here, aren’t they? So fine. They’ll put on a show.

Whatever lingering doubts clinging to him regarding this planet and the mysterious “overlords” of both here and even back on Etraya he’s yet to search out for himself, gently slips away from him the moment he feels an uptick of something going on behind him and, before he even has the chance to glance back, Quentin appears there… on some weird looking thing.

Huh. That’s new. Kind of… cool.

The way those blue eyes of his blink is enough to show his surprise at the sight and he spins around the other mutant there as a means to get a better look at what he’s riding and how. For all the frustration felt with just everything regarding all of this, there’s still that wonder and curiosity there within him at being around another so similar to him.

A wonder and, as expected from a powerful psionic teenager, a need to show off. )

Cool trick. But how fast can you go?

( And for the first time in… he doesn’t even know how long now with how everything just keeps Happening every time he thinks he can catch a break, he smiles in a way that isn’t forced, strained, or bitter. It’s just a plain old regular smile and it genuinely feels good to do that again. So with that said and another flare of his own psionic energy around him, he bursts off from Quentin for Agora because, apparently, this is a race now. )

[querulus]

[How fast can he go? Fuck if Quentin knows. That's the funny thing about having limitless potential and atypical control over your powers. When you only use them intentionally, it's paradoxically harder to know what you actually can do. Quentin hasn't hit many walls whenever he's tried stuff, but, well. Relatively speaking he hasn't tried all that much. Mostly just a bunch of weird shit like self-sustaining telepathic subroutines. Or psychic hover boards. Look, he's an insatiable contrarian (oops) and until pretty recently was a bit of a chronic underachiever (more oops). It's a whole thing. His teen years were rough.

That said, Nate's exuberance is infectious, and Quentin's practically beaming by the time he gets to "cool trick". Nate's right, of course. It is a cool trick. A highly detailed, cyberpunk-inspired hoverboard, complete with an Omega symbol accent in a brighter shade of pink, designed entirely in Quentin's mind, produced as a physical object with psionic energy, and fueled by concentrated brainpower? Damn right it's a "cool trick."

He transfers a set of coordinates to Nate. It's a random rooftop, nothing too exciting, but races need goals, and this is as good as any. It's also a different direction that Nate is heading and coincidentally closer to Quentin. It's not cheating if you're the one making the rules, right? He yells out to Nate, adding in a telepathic echo just in case he's moving too fast to hear, and swerves toward his marker.]

If you can beat me, maybe I'll tell you how I do it!

[There, now he's covered in case he loses (which he very well may). Not that he isn't going to give it a good college try, though! Quentin zooms off, leaving a trail of pink "smoke" in his wake.]

[overconfidently]

( Hey. He's been wanting to do normal things for some time now, so. Why not take advantage when it's there?

Of course, the moment he comes to find Quentin is playing a bit of dirty pool — because he kind of is — he stops mid-air and glances off in the direction the pink-haired mutant is heading off in. Wow. So it's going to be like that, is it?

Left eye glowing, he smirks and, letting the warmth of his own psionic energy wash over him, it flares up around him in the suspicious shape of a bird — hmmm — before he bursts off again after the other mutant, hellbent on catching up to him as quickly as he can. )

Really need a head start to win this?

( Words he pushes towards the other as he spins around in the air after him, spilling golden yellow energy off him as he does. Because he's coming for you Quentin Quire. Like a comet shooting across the sky with a fiery golden tail stretching for a few miles. )

[querulus]

/It's called a tactical advantage. Work smart, not ha—the fuck??/

[You know a really great way to get a "tactical advantage"? Distraction! And what could possibly be more distracting than the fucking Phoenix??

It's not really the Phoenix, of course. Quentin would know if it was. You never forget what the legit Fire Chicken feels like. But still, having a burst of psionic energy in the shape of a huge fuckoff bird bearing down on him is enough to startle him in the way that only someone who recognizes the Phoenix can be startled, and Quentin visibly falters when he looks behind him in alarm. It only takes a second or two for him to recover, but that slows him down enough that his head start is rapidly diminishing, as are his chances of victory.]

/Jesus, dude, warn me next time you're gonna impersonate the space pigeon, will ya? Unless you were trying to give me a heart attack, and if so I want you to know I'm very disappointed in this unsportsmanlike behavior./

[Because marking an endpoint that conveniently gives you an unfair leg up is totally sportsmanlike. That's totally fine, in fact. In any case, Quentin doesn't sound all that upset, at most a little pouty that he got surprised, and he's doing his damndest to make up lost ground even though he has a strong hunch Nate's a bit better at this whole "full throttle psionic bullshit" thing than Quentin is.]

/Also, totally unrelated, but any property damage is an automatic loss, by the way. May the best psychic win!/