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∎ ETRAYA MODS ∎ ([personal profile] etrayamods) wrote in [community profile] etrayamemes2025-05-30 09:20 am
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TDM 008


content warnings for this TDM include: gambling references, mild horror themes and suggestive content


⏵ arrival⏴

Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. Newcomers generally find themselves waking up within the hospital, are given a brief overview of their situation, and sent on their way. Now? They wake up immersed in a game within The Gold Saucer. But it doesn't quite feel like a game: whether it's snowy mountains, riding a chocobo as you listened to the wind quickly pass by your ears, or in the middle of a battle with a beast, it feels utterly real.

It's only after the game concludes - either by winning or losing - that you find yourself back in the main game area. A bot, dressed as personnel in this lavish playground, approaches each arrival with an earpiece allowing them to communicate with those in their same situation. It also serves to inform them of their goal: collect enough gold saucer points (or GP) by playing the games to acquire a card fashioned to their own likeness from the game counter. Then, they must trade it for someone else's. Seems simple enough, right? Hopefully the cards aren't too expensive...


⏵ the gold saucer ⏴

The Gold Saucer is an ode to the very idea of fun. It’s huge, labyrinthine, colorful, and lively. Everywhere you look, there’s something to do. At the same time, it’s also impossible to tell what time it is. There are no windows to the outside, there are no clocks. This place is beyond such a thing.

There are games everywhere you look, ranging from the pseudo-gambling to sports to pixelated video games in cabinets. Yet no matter which boxing game, pinball machine, or skeeball machine you look at, the same creatures and themes arrive. Cactuars, chocobos, the fiercest Behemoth, the cuddliest Moogle… For those from the realms of Final Fantasy, this will feel natural- homey even. Everyone else will simply understand that there is a fairly strong central theme here about magic, machines, and monsters.

It’s hard to tell how long you spend here, and it seems to sit outside of the very concept of time. Still, there are many restaurants, lounges, and vending machines. There are shops and costume rentals. There are even little pharmacies with headache remedies if the partying gets out of hand. And when you grow tired, there is a hotel- though it is made up like a haunted house, you can count on getting some semi-restful sleep.


⏵ playtime ⏴
Interdimensional Games


At first, stepping through to play any of these games may make participants wonder if they have been teleported somewhere else entirely. But on closer inspection, all the skies above are merely well-constructed interiors with painted ceilings. After all, it always seems to be daytime during these games.

Snowboarding - Race to the bottom of the mountain, but avoid obstacles and complete as many tricks as possible!

Chocobo Racing- Race on Chocobo-back around a treacherous outdoors race track which can either be taking place in a desert, a swampy forest, or upon an island beach. Work in tandem with your rented bird and against your competition by throwing hazards in their way or utilizing buffs garnered on the track. Different colored birds will yield different advantages.

Yellow - Good All Rounder
Red - Fast, but hard to steer
Blue - Slower, but very easy to steer. Much easier to pick up items from them.
Green- Resilient against traps and sabotage

Colosseum Battle- Face off against the fiercest beasts around. Pair up with friends or rivals to Collaborate or Compete to do the most damage and deliver the final blow. These battles are synced to the comparative power of the one entering the competition.

We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily, after all. And indeed, no one will get seriously, gruesomely, or permanently injured in these battles. Those without fighting capabilities can rent weapons outfitted Materia to assist them in their trial. These will allow anyone to cast spells, though not guarantee any better wielding of weapons. There are a hundred rounds, starting with fairly simple Spriggans, ranging all the way up to blood-thirsty Behemoths to challenge even the most battle-hardened hero.

Gold Saucer Games


Leap of Faith- Players are presented with an obstacle course that stretches a hundred feet into the air upon floating platforms and islands. Both are held aloft by magical crystals. Powers are entirely nerfed, though falling and hitting the ground is strangely painless. Those who collect the most silver and gold statuettes of cactuars placed at random throughout the course will be awarded proportionate GP; though there is a bonus for those that reach the very top first.

Triple Triad- Everywhere you look, people are playing this game on little 3 by 3 boards, or any surface with enough space. You will be given a loaner deck to play with. Are you clever enough to defeat your fellows.

Fashion Report- Theobold, familiar to some, stands by himself in a little booth with a dressing room and an incredibly expansive walk-in closet. He is a robot of distinguished fashion and strong opinions on those fashions. Do you dare subject yourself to his scrutiny? Come prepare in his wondrous closets to make the best outfit for the chance to win a prize. Please submit your fashion here!

There are Arcade Machines and activities galore. If you can think of it, it’s probably there- Just with that Final Fantasy pastiche on it, of course.


⏵ the beehive lounge ⏴

There are other places to eat at the Gold Saucer, but the vending machines and cafés all pale in comparison to the dinners at the Beehive.

For all the rave reviews, there is a dress code at the Beehive, and this is literal. If you step inside and are not currently wearing a dress, you will be ushered into a sideroom and appropriately made over.

However, this is only for those trying to go in through the normal doors. Around the side there happens to be an employee entrance, manned by a bot. He will only allow those in who seem like they intend to work— and therefore must be wearing at least one piece of the Bunnysuit Collection to trick the guard.

Once you are made over or have snuck in, you are free to relax inside with drinks, dine on a fine meal, watch the dancers, or participate yourself if you feel brave enough. Why would anyone ever dance here? Well, that’s simple. It pays really well. So if you’re sick of games, or terrible at them— you can always come dance for a shift. Though, don't get any unseemly ideas about freeing yourself of your clothing, this isn't that kind of establishment!


⏵ haunted house ⏴

When you grow too weary or drunk from a day of games, you may be directed to somewhere a little quieter to sleep. Up the elevator, and through the doors reveals a modest walk through some woods until a quaint, victorian hotel appears. It is always nighttime here, and the stars and moon twinkle above.

The receptionist, a bot in a rather bedraggled-looking chocobo mascot costume checks you in and shows you to your room. You can sleep here, especially if you can tolerate the hokey haunted decorations strung up around the place. Though sometimes, late at night, there will come a vigorous thumping on the door to startle sleeping patrons awake- Only for the culprit to vanish and be impossible to locate.



⏵ ticket counter ⏴


The prize counter is manned by a bot and has a sign posted overhead. Most prizes will be handed over inside an appropriately sized wrapped box, as the contents are a mystery.


Sparklers & Glowsticks 10 gp
Bunny Suit 300 gp
Bunny Stockings & Heels 150 gp
Animal Ears (Random) 500 gp
Kigurumi (Random) 100 gp
Chocobo Barding (Random) 1000 gp
Classic White Mage Robes 500 gp
Classic Black Mage Robes 500 gp
Plush Toy (Random) 100 gp
Wind-Up Minion (Random) 200 gp
Chocobo Mascot Suit (Random Color) 2000 gp
Triple Triad Booster Pack 50 gp
Triple Triad Card in your Likeness 10,000 gp


⏵ NOTES ⏴


This TDM may be treated as a mini-Mission. Time will not pass inside of it in relation to the world outside - meaning, this can be happening at any time between late May into early July!

This Gold Saucer is a bit of a mix between that of FF7's and FF14's, but it also has some things that neither have as well. Any inaccuracies are entirely intentional, aimed to make this rest within a space of uncanny valley for those who are familiar. While otherwise being a bit of a chaotic fantastical funhouse for everyone else! If there is something unlisted, chances are it will exist if it is in either of the other versions of the Gold Saucer.

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 to our mod queries comment!

FULL NAVIGATION

tinflower: (pic#17899660)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-06-26 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Gorgug spins when she yelps, staring for one second, but taking a step towards her that isn't immediately followed when she starts handling the brooms herself. Asks her a quick, "Have you got it?", and he'd be willing to give her a hand if she isn't too hurried to do it all herself!

Regardless: ]
I've been here-- two days? I showed up two days ago. [ He looks at her ears then, pointed and obvious as they are. ] Did you get-- did a bot give you one of those earpieces? Did it say anything?

[ Just what does she know actually? That she's taking as a dream. ]
bluejustice: (32)

[personal profile] bluejustice 2025-06-26 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[He lets out a full belly laugh at that. Needing a moment to recover.]

Oh man, that was un-bread-ably bad. I feel like we’ve officially toasted any sense of dignity we had left.
borrowers: (pic#17835002)

[personal profile] borrowers 2025-06-26 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[Etraya...?

It's not familiar at all, but she hasn't been very many places in her young life. One house is a whole city to her, full of so many possibilities. This? This is more than her young mind can comprehend right now.]


Forced... Then we've been taken by humans?

[She's got a soft spot for normal humans, but they're usually the culprit, considering borrowers are much too small to do any taking.]
borrowers: (pic#17834910)

[personal profile] borrowers 2025-06-26 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[A black mage? That sounds so completely foreign... and incredibly interesting! She can't help but feel curiosity drum up within her, a million questions bit back. Her parents certainly never told her to be careful of mages... Whatever that is.]

My name is Arrietty. [She doesn't introduce herself to people often. After all, the majority of people in her life were the very people who had seen her take her first breath; no introductions necessary.] ... Any spot near the wall would be good.

[... Okay. Maybe a few questions wouldn't hurt.]

Is this your home?

quibblingfunctionary: made by dethruki (thinky)

[personal profile] quibblingfunctionary 2025-06-26 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It is a small surprise when His Majesty decides to continue to devote his full attention to him, if only for it having not happened in some time. Sleipnir relishes in his gaze, although there is an undercurrent which haunts him, seems to haunt them both. Separation. Impossible, yet having done once, the sting of knowing it may occur again is one which curls in his stomach, gripping unkindly. Imagining Barnabas without him, bereft-

No. Sleipnir is here and he is here to stay. He will find whatever devil has caused this disunity and ensure it never happens again.

Still, he thought Barnabas would enlighten him upon chocoboback as they race through whatever track which lay before them. That they are to take a detour... Not to say he minds; Sleipnir's pleasure at this is as strong as his concern for his King. ]


Yes, my liege.

[ When His Majesty's hand leaves his face to remain on his shoulder Sleipnir's own hand presses gently atop it as he had before then gives it a firm squeeze before letting his arm drop to the side. He allows himself to be easily corralled through the exit of the racing track, although the shift in environments is still strange to him.

Outwardly he is unaffected, inwardly, with his liege lord here, Sleipnir now allows himself to feel a small amount unnerved by all the unnaturalness around them. Bright lights and discordant sounds, hellish despite the happy-fun veneer it coats itself in. Something evil is at work here.

His arrival had been startling in the suddenness of the shift of planes in which Sleipnir had walked. Yet not so much as to have thrown one's balance; he thought surely there was a purpose to this. After all, God does not make mistakes. Knowing there to be design in this, one needed only to find the tapestry's thread.

But the more he wandered and spoke to the strange Fallen-like beings the more he hadn't been certain. Sleipnir's familiarity with this building... with this world was... next to nothing. Still he had moved through it confidently, as if he'd already solved all the mysteries and was only entertaining himself as he sought an exit. Is there to be no exit?

Barnabas's inquiry has already pulled some answers from the dark. It is a world and indeed not building. ]


Only that we have been told we are to be champions of our world, which seems to be beset by some unspecified horror of which only collecting a miniature painting of one's self can vanquish.

[ What Sleipnir cannot understand is how His Majesty has been here a year and has yet to achieve his small likeness- unless what the Fallen-adjacent creatures spoke of is false, which considering the grandness of the claim, is entirely possible. ]
strumpet: (pic#17864924)

[personal profile] strumpet 2025-06-26 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I can't say for sure that we are, but when your world is at stake and you have to prove it's worth saving well....

( she's not trying to influence him towards being violent or to seek out a way to have the upper hand against others, really she was only trying to show him her intentions for offering a kind hand was for the sake of friendship.

though for the first time perhaps in ever, it seemed she might have made a misstep in the way she communicated. )


The last one did at least, but I'm not entirely sure. I've only been here two and a half months, not too long really.
ornitiers: (Share with me)

[personal profile] ornitiers 2025-06-26 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Arietty? Ah, alright. I'm usually the smallest back home in our group of friends. Along with Eiko.

[But Arietty was tiny! Vivi does his best to be cautious to keep her steady in his hands as he walks. Trying to keep an eye on her and that he doesn't get bumped into and drops her.]

My home? No. I left home a while ago, traveling. That's when I met Zidane and G -- ah, Dagger and the others. This is new, though. This place. Some things here seem familiar, but. I haven't been here before.

levelshift: (guh)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-06-26 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[Accelerator, meanwhile, pushes himself up and rubs his head. It's fine, he'll survive. He's just going to have a big headache for a while.]

..... Pick a less excruciating game next time.
hasitsthorns: where the good lord split ya. (Don't let the door hit ya)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2025-06-26 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Rosie glances down at herself, then back up to the snowy landscape. Hm. Yeah, that doesn't quite match. Does it? Oops. ] Nah, I'm alright! I grew up in a really cold place, so I'm just kind of... used to it?

[ Sure, we'll go with that. ]

But you're in Etraya! Kind of. This place is a game, I think. Fancy virtual reality!
thelightshines: (stop talking)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-06-26 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[This serpent was persistent. Even as he disappears and reappears elsewhere, it's was relentless in it's pursuit. Well, what else was he to expect after practically gouging it's eye out? He just had to be careful where he positions or else he could just as easily catch the backend of the serpent like Sonic did.

Speaking of. He thought he heard that blue hedgehog shouting his name somewhere. Sound like he survived that tail strike. Eyes locks in onto a blue dot flailing to get his attention ahead. Hardly given a moment to think what they were doing, he narrowly dodges the jaws of the massive serpent suddenly coming up to his left. His left arm suddenly stings with pain, teeth having scraped it as he avoided becoming an actual snack.

He disappears in a flash, longer than before. The serpent had to pause, unable to get their sights on him. In the next moment, it was getting pelted by chaos spears. Shadow had reappeared closer to Sonic, still hovering above as he gets the serpent's attention. Whatever Sonic was planning, better be ready as the pissed off monster starts to swim in Shadow's direction.]
bluejustice: (86)

[personal profile] bluejustice 2025-06-26 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Having this time< however brief, without having to worry about running all the time, gives him the chance to focus. His chaos energy comes naturally to him in his speed, but he has been able to use it in other ways. It's just a little harder to manage.

He can feel it, trickling around his whole body, making his quills bristle with electricity. Just like he expected the snake ignores him, too focused on Shadow. And when the moment's right he jumps, like a lighting bolt striking into the sky, punching the snake square under it's jaw. The blow erupts with a burst of explosive energy that ripples through the entire arena, causing the hologram to flicker for just a moment.]
borrowers: (pic#17834895)

[personal profile] borrowers 2025-06-26 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[A look of concern flashes across her features.]

I do. My mother and father... but we're — we aren't supposed to reveal ourselves to humans. It's dangerous. [Which... has left her terribly conflicted, you can imagine.] What is a network?

[And why would she be on it?]
herofhopeless: (Default)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-06-26 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[Maybe if their world had been one where magic didn't cause harm, didn't create an environment for some to own others, life would have been different. Different or not, this was the world they were given and this is the world Clive will never stop fighting for.]

A whole lot of them start with the word 'why' for me.

[Clive sighs and leans back in his chair.]

I'm sure there are people far more equipped that you would rather have that kind of conversation with.
thelightshines: (the changin' ocean tides?)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-06-26 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I...don't think it's them. The only humans I've seen have been ones brought here too. [The only things that have been explaining this place have been robots, or a screen projection of something that looks human. There has to be something controlling all these machines though, right?]

Humans cause problems for borrowers like you? [The way she immediately targets humans, sounds like they deal with them often.]
herofhopeless: (thinking)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-06-26 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Clive sighs and rubs his hand over his face.]

This is a lot to take in. I need some time to think.

[Clive gives Yuri an apologetic smile.]

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Maybe next time we will have something more light-hearted to talk about.
herofhopeless: (cute)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-06-26 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Many great men are also hated. It all depends on perspective. Even if you decide to do something that will improve other people's lots in life, change always hurts someone. Even still, I think that if he turned out to be someone who wasn't what I expected, I would still want to know him.

[Clive wonders if someone will ask about him this way hundreds of years from now. But not Clive as the man. Much like The Founder's legacy has been boiled down, any legacy that Clive leaves behind will likely be the same. It might sting more if part of his motivation to do this was to be remembered, but it stings all the same. In time, he will be forgotten. His actions may remain, but the man will not. Clive sighs quietly and internally shakes the melancholy away as best as he can.]

I'll do my best to not let you down then.

[Clive lightly and briefly brushes his knuckle against Verso's cheek before reaching to grab the cup that he intended to use to rinse the other man off with but aborts mid motion.]

Verso!

[He laughs, splashing his companion lightly.]

I think if you tried that at any party you would get kicked out. Both halves of you.

herofhopeless: (determined)

more plushies than she'll ever know what to do with (make a plushie mountain and jump in it)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-06-27 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
We would cover more ground if we split up. I'll take the north and east quadrants of the map. You can take the south and west. We can meet here -

[He points at the ticket counter.]

And share what we found. I'm thinking we reconvene in two hours.

[Clive is in his element now. Or rather, a similar element. Give him a monster to kill, a battle to plan, or people to help and he is good to go.]

Sound good?
herofhopeless: (drinking time)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-06-27 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Clive puts an elbow on the bar and leans his cheek against a closed fist, body shedding more tension. He takes a sip of his wine before gesturing towards Sleipnir with the glass.]

So, if your goal is to think about what your partner wants, and they want you to be romantic, then couldn't you be considered a romantic person?

[Clive shrugs.]

I don't know, ensuring that your partner is well taken care of can be a bit romantic in its own way, even if it ends up just being sex.

[Clive takes another drink, choosing not to respond to the compliments. He lowers his glass, resting it against his thigh as he watches Sleipnir watch him. He knows what desire looks like on the man across from him and this perfunctory examination of his body is not that.

Until Sleipnir's eyes travel from Clive's lips to regain eye contact. His heart very unhelpfully gives a sudden thump and Clive resists the sudden tightness in his chest. Though he tries his best, this is not eye contact that Clive can maintain. While this may not be the most overt, Sleipnir has shown his desire; this environment is far more... intimate. The darker lighting, the proximity, the lack of violence.

Clive busies himself with draining his wine glass and waving the bartender over to order another.]
betenoir: (Alienation)

[personal profile] betenoir 2025-06-27 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Two months is barely time at all.

[But his words sound tired. To a devoted man, two months is all the time in the world.]

I hope being here all that time has seen you well.

[Does he? He would not harm someone who has shown kindness to his family. She is not from their world and so doesn't have his enmity. But it's complicated. For he will when it proves necessary.]
Edited 2025-06-27 00:45 (UTC)
repaintress: by betenoir (Default)

Clea Dessendre - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | New character | Returning player | Beware Spoilers!

[personal profile] repaintress 2025-06-27 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
((OOC: I used to go here! Hi! Fashionably late, here. Please be aware there's likely to be major Clair Obscur spoilers ahead. If you'd like a wildcard starter, hit me up via PM or at [plurk.com profile] ScoutRPsStuff))

Arcade/Skeeball (I like Skeeball okay):


Ordinarily, games feel juvenile.[ Ordinarily, games feel juvenile. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, Clea finds they remind her of childhood. Presently, that isn't an unwelcome feeling, reminding her of days she had not appreciated back when she had had them. People who had been a part of her childhood she had not appreciated back when she had them. She would give anything to go back to the age when she would have played these games with glee. With him.

It is at least something to focus on. She should be attempting to discover more about this place: About the strange Canvas that had brought her here, about the apparent 'goal'. (Clea has no desire for any representation of herself, but should she acquire the card it will be hers to destroy rather than trade.)

Instead, she is playing something called...skeeball. God save the Anglophones, they do try.

She tosses the ball in the air twice, spinning it as she throws and catching it as it descends, taking the weight and feel of it in her hand. Then, placing that one aside, she takes another and does the same. It would be a common trick to make the balls different in order to throw off the hapless players.

Satisfied, she swings her arm back and throws with a steady hand and just enough force to bump the ball to the top circle. Clea smiles and picks up another ball. It's simple muscular repetition.

At least until ball four, which goes wide and ends up dropping sadly into the circle labeled '10'.]


Merde.

[ She'll need to try again. She has to be perfect or Verso will- no, he won't tease her. Never again.

She needs to be perfect. Ball six also goes wide. Good. Not good enough.

Again.

This time, balls three and five miss.

Again.

One and six.

Again.

Seven.

Again.

And so the woman can be found, utterly engrossed in the game with a look of pure concentration on her face that is only broken when she lets out disappointed French explitives in time with her mistakes.

She needs to do better. ]

Colosseum Battle


What delightfully interesting creatures these are.
[What delightfully interesting creatures these are! Not as creative as her Nevrons, of course, but moving nonetheless. It only takes watching someone else once and catching a glimpse for Clea to decide she must get closer. And luckily, nobody is there to attempt to persuade her otherwise.

Her first attempts end quickly and ignominiously, with her body bouncing off the floor and several bones cracking as she lands. Rather than discouraging her, the woman trades weapons and tries again. And again. And again. Sometimes, she limps out on one leg. Other times, her face is so swollen she can't see. And yet, each time, she goes back, turning around scarcely a minute after her restoration.

And each time is a delight. The creatures are so varied! So beautiful!

Eventually, she becomes better at wielding the magic, settling into the feeling as she would the magic of a Canvas where she was a guest. Just as the creatures are beautiful to see, they are a joy to fight. To feel her hands crackle with fire, a reflection of how she feels inside, and to set the creatures who had hurt her ablaze.

And then she's rewarded. The small, tiny creature. Green with a monk's hood and a lamp that she thinks she will bestow on the Lampmaster if she ever returns. So tiny So ominous.

Instead of fighting, Clea crouches and inhales a breath. ]


Oh. You're beautiful.

[ There's another person there, but they aren't important. What is important is the delightful little creature walking towards them. Stopping. Walking again. Intimidation. Beautiful. Worthy of a sculpture.

Perhaps they are important. If Clea crouches behind them, they'll lose first. She'll get to see how it hunts. She's certain it does so with grace.]

Leap of Faith


The other games had been strange and unfamiliar.[ The other games have been strange, unfamiliar, and requiring talents that are not Clea's areas of expertise. Could she shoot? Yes. Could she throw? Yes. But those are not activities that make her feel alive. Not in the same way Clea feels alive when she soars through the air, when she uses her body as the finely tuned instrument d'art that she's trained it to be.

Each leap wells a spring of nostalgia in Clea's heart, each delicate and well timed landing causing her to reverberate with both fond memories and fresh pain. She can almost hear an echo: "Nobody could get all the way up there." Can almost see a ghost of an image: of a smorgasbord of items piled to the sky.

Still, there is joy in it.

Joy, in seeing a platform that would only be possible to reach with a full running leap and in dashing forward, using her bare feet to push off the edge at the last second and jumping with graceful abandon in to the air, catching on the higher platform with her fingers. For a moment, she sways in the air, her fingertips turning white with the exertion of holding herself aloft.

Then her other arm follows and Clea hoists herself onto the higher platform with a satisfied 'oomph', pushing herself up on her arms, falling forward into a roll and then standing. She grabs one of the (admittedly somewhat cute - if she were the type who liked 'cute' things. Alicia would like them) statues and then turns her attention to someone nearby, blue eyes glittering and a wild, free smile on her face.]


Would you like to race?

[Of course they are already racing, but there's nothing wrong with more competition, non?]

Beehive Lounge 1 - Judgement Call


Fortunately for Clea, she was wearing a dress.[ Fortunately for Clea, the outfit she'd picked out of the annoying metal's man closet - a replica of the Danseuse outfit she'd designed in the Canvas (how had it gotten there? That question disturbs her but the outfit is hers by right) - is a dress and therefore meets the overly literal 'dress code' requirement easily, the shimmering irredescent layers of the garment changing colors as they float through the air. She's ready for some sustenance, having used the evening to finally work out some of the restless energy that's haunted her since her brother's death.

Unfortunately for Clea, she has high standards for dancing and the girls are not meeting them. When had they started dancing? At fourteen?

She calls that a leg bend? It's a 165 degree angle! Madame would have shot any girl past the age of 12 who called that as such. Clea frowns over the rim of her wine glass and takes a sip of the Sauvignon, trying to quiet her urge to rap her hand on the table and snap 'Attention!'

Taking a few more sips, she critically watches as a girl shimmies in a woefully unsymmetrical manner.

Clea's no naif; she's aware there's supposed to be an erotic energy to the establishment. But how incompetence is erotic, Clea cannot fathom. And how that dancing is worth the rates she's seen posted is truly baffling. ]


Are dancers so rare that this establishment has been forced to do away with any semblance of standards? This cannot be worth the going rate.

[ She had not meant to speak aloud, but Clea does not care about being heard and instead raises an eyebrow at the person next to her, clearly expecting agreement.

The men aren't any better. That one's knees are bent as he bends.

They might as well open an establishment dedicated to nails on chalkboards. ]

Beehive Lounge 2 - Eat, Drink, and Be Merry


Sometimes wine makes things more bearable[ Sometimes wine makes things more bearable. Other times, it results in tunnel vision. Clea tries to ignore the dancers, but they're like pebbles in her shoe or Chroma in the edge of her vision and impossible to ignore. There's another emotion, one that is uglier. Jealousy. She misses dancing. She's had to cancel her future collaborations, and there is barely time for the basic exercises to keep her body able to dance. There is no time for choreography or rehearsal, and Clea does not know when there will be again.

The music changes and it isn't completely unbearable. There's some art to it. Clea can see what the steps should be, how the movements should reflect composition and performance.

And so she joins the performance, her movements a marriage of classical form and contortionism, limbs extending and flowing like water in controlled movements that turn Clea's body into a waterfall, all smooth movement and shimmering draping accentuated by the outfit's ethereal, delicate layers.

As the music turns and the tempo picks up the pace, so too does Clea, replacing the slow movements with quick and explosive jumps, spinnig and bending in time with the strangest instruments she has ever heard, delighting in the improvisation. Winding down, Clea finishes the dance with a series of ever more frantic dancing, only to stop still with one leg raised, ankle hooked around the back of her neck, once the music dies.

She then concludes her dance by walking over to the nearest table, picking up a glass, and taking a long drink, swallowing several times before placing it back on the table.

Then she collapses into the nearest chair with a satisfied sigh, breathing heavily and heedless of whether or not the area was already occupied.]

Network:


I just saw someone wearing paisley and tartan. I know where we are now: this is Hell. Unmistakably. It explains what they're passing off as champagne.
bubblegumheart: (pic#17104625)

network! un: cc

[personal profile] bubblegumheart 2025-06-27 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
What's wrong with paisley and tartan?
repaintress: by betenoir (Thinking)

[personal profile] repaintress 2025-06-27 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Dante's Inferno is full of the spirits of the lost and the damned.

If one is going to mix bold patterns, there must be thought and intent. Tartan and Paisley have no concordance and therefore it renders the outfit a rendition of empty, vacuous rebellion.
restingstitchface: (Derisive)

network | un: ulysses

[personal profile] restingstitchface 2025-06-27 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I know you'll disagree since you've offered your opinion: but Hell is other people.

It is neither the fabric nor the champagne that make this place insufferable. It is the people who create them.
theknightshift: (141)

[personal profile] theknightshift 2025-06-27 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know what that is.
theknightshift: (126)

[personal profile] theknightshift 2025-06-27 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ He wouldn't call it enjoyment. But he hasn't lost his patience yet, so! That's something. ]

Not as much as you.

[ A pause and then he shifts farther away from the strangers, nods for Jason to follow. ]

Are you alone?