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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

cactusy: (good‚ just bleed all over the place)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-07-04 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Okay." She quirks a brow. "The library, and then the subway? I know where it is."

It's not meant to be a flex - just a reassurance that Bossie wouldn't be in trouble for bringing her back to it.
herofhopeless: (thinking)

[personal profile] herofhopeless 2025-07-04 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
That’s true, but you wear your passion loudly. Most people aren’t confident enough to do that.

[Awkward as it was.].

I, uh, thought that might be the case based on your responses. You are a tough opponent. I can see why you don’t have many peers.

[Clive, mid sip of wine, almost chokes on his surprised laugh.]

My voice is one of your favorite things about me? So you like that I can beat you up and that I sound good. You have weird tastes.

[Clive shakes his head a little, still smiling. What a strange man. He tilts his head a little bit, examining Sleipnir, trying to imagine what Barnabas must look like through his eyes. He stares for a couple of beats and sighs. Nope. He’s got nothing.]

When you look at him, what do you see? Barnabas, I mean.

[Clive lets his hands slide down Sleipnir’s shoulders down to his forearms and then back into his own lap. Clive moves to rest his elbow on the bar and props his chin up with an open palm. The two of them stare at each other in silence, Clive’s expression ponderous.]

So, [He finally starts.] You are put out that I am worried about you while you are trying to be worried about me. Because you -

[Clive lightly taps the area just below the cute big bow on Sleipnir’s dress.]

Want to take care of -

[He taps his own bare chest.]

Me?
Edited 2025-07-04 04:04 (UTC)
asgardianlegend: (easycompany-thor2-192)

[personal profile] asgardianlegend 2025-07-04 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Eventually, yes. Although, time seems to feel differently while you're there and when you leave.

[He's pretty sure it's some type of time dilation, but that's hardly something he can go spouting to a newcomer. Not many people in his acquaintance back home would understand that, so he's not going to overwhelm a stranger.]

How about I come and find you? If you stand by the area in front of the board with the rideable birds called Chocobos, I will be able to find you. You will know it is me when I arrive.

[Besides, he can fly and he's made his way through the Gold Saucer already, so he's got some idea of what he's doing by this point.]
ornitiers: (Give to)

[personal profile] ornitiers 2025-07-04 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
A guy wearing a mask is....like with a puppet?

[Someone controlling things. Like Kuja. Manipulating the Queen along with Garland. Vivi blinks, before he seems to realize that the other was just throwing out ideas. Possibilities? Things Sonic might hope would happen? Vivi isn't sure, but he tilts his head, his hat shifting with the movement as his hands shift in front of him more.]

Oh. So this is what you just think might happen. A mystery like in stories?
fromfire: (the shore was gone)

[personal profile] fromfire 2025-07-04 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
Appreciated.

[ He breathes out a little laugh through his nose.

But the conversation has turned to something more serious. He can't rely on easing it with jokes. It wouldn't be sincere or honest. The most that he can offer is a little honesty.

The corner of his lips lift into a sad smile when she breathes. He sees the moment of vulnerability, but keeps his eyes on her rather than look away this time. Someone should see this much of her; someone should know she felt this way. Even if he is going to fade to nothing, someone should've have seen this much so she knows that she is not alone.

His chin lifts slightly before she asks him a difficult question. ]


That will have be to be up to her.

[ He can't make that decision for her; he's already made one for her. It was a decision that Alicia didn't even know existed. He doesn't believe he has the right to make any more.

But does Clea have that right? His eyes search hers for a second before smiling; she has always been the one to advocate Alicia make her own choices. Or at least, that is what his memories has told him. His gaze shifts to something melancholy, but he blinks and it is gone. ]


She might choose something different than what any of us are thinking.

[ His fingers twitch at his side; he curls his hand into a lightly held fist. Alicia, what will you paint? ]
reincarnesiac: (uuuuuh no fool)

[personal profile] reincarnesiac 2025-07-04 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
( Alex takes a moment to make an educated guess on if sharing her "this feels like the universe's worst kind of reality show" is worth saying. It requires so much explaining, she opts to set it aside for now. )

I think we're in a waiting stage and asked to perform tasks so that our unseen audience can decide on unquantified achievements toward goals that aren't as direct as they might sound?

( ...................... really that would sound just like the Fea, if Alex knew anything about them. )
reincarnesiac: (smile and be easy)

[personal profile] reincarnesiac 2025-07-04 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
( It's fine, this human resurrects after she dies. Can't remember much from before the resurrecting, but that's fine, right? It's all. Just. Fine. )

Wait, really? You're not the first person I've heard say something like that, but I think most of them mean whatever place they can come and go from the casino. Not in the whole, hey I've taken a trip through the multiverse, how about you? Sort of way.

( She takes note of the names, for all she lacks context to place them as specific persons. It's fine. She knows she'd sound the same referring to any of her friends or coworkers back home. )

There are also some decent booths around. None of them are going to be long enough for you, but one of the round ones might manage to keep most of you level? You can even grab someone to keep you company by staking the table out while you sleep.

( Yes, she has in fact already done this for some people. No, she does not worry about her losing sleep. She catnaps where she can. )

Probably's better than battlefield sleeping too. Even comes with coffee when you wake up! Or hot chocolate, or tea, or whatever makes you happy. Mimosas if you feel like drinking first thing in the "morning."

( She does in fact use her fingers to form the quotation marks she puts around the word morning. )
ornitiers: (You have)

[personal profile] ornitiers 2025-07-04 09:24 am (UTC)(link)
Um, alright. At least. It looks familiar? But there might be lots of different sorts of games you can play with cards. It was more Zidane who played. I just went along with him and watched.

[So he might only be vaguely aware of the rules. Sort of. Vivi doesn't mind just watching for now. Observing, seeing if it is the game he remembers Zidane and some others playing before. He lets Dion get in ahead a little more before he approaches, glowing eyes watching.]
tinflower: (pic#17375568)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-07-04 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Snapped neck, snapped spine--everything should be broken on this boy, most likely. He's not quick to get up or show signs of life, which is neither a good thing, but also understandable in most(????) circumstances. Mostly because it would mean that he was dead before unconscious, but in reality (this reality)...

He's just stunned. Whatever isn't letting them feel the effects of their mistakes aren't stopping things like snow is cold and I just went flying through the air and hit the snow, the latter which comes with a higher level of humiliation. Of injury to one's dignity. Which is not nerfed.

But. But. Gorgug does hear his name, and unceremoniously does he rise, body strewn sideways, limbs still intact. He feels nothing as he sits up, but it's a disorienting effect as he squints at the world, and then hears a distant sound that puts terror down his spine. But he spots Alex over by a tree, and oh, yeah. He was meant to be doing this course with her?

Why did he choose to do this gaaaame. ]


I'm-- I'm coming! I'm ALIVE!

[ Because that might be worth announcing, though his voice is strained and he doesn't sound very confident in anything. He stands, nearly toppling when the snowboard has somehow managed to stay attached to his feet, and puts one hand on his helmet that he has no idea if to be pleased for, or find a waste of time to be wearing.

But don't fear, Alex, as Gorgug kicks a leg to get him started, heading straight for his partner in games? in misery? Maybe to help, if she needs it, or just to say: ]
I don't like going really fast!

[ Is this the thing to comment on, and to look so upset about? Apparently so. ]
stylebythemile: (009)

[personal profile] stylebythemile 2025-07-04 12:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Knuckles? She schools her face into a neutral expression, but her eyes do widen a touch. It isn't the Knuckles she knows, so she does her best to set any thoughts on the echidna aside, trying to make sense of what this Sonic is telling her.

It's not supposed to make sense, though. It's another dimension for a reason. But now she's wondering if there are two Robotniks where she's from...

Sonia shakes her head as if it will help clear her confusion. And she wants to ask if this other dimension's Knuckles is alright. To say she doesn't know how to feel about that would be a lie; she knows she's worried about a Knuckles she hasn't even met. So what?]


Right. Well I can tell you that the Egg-- I mean, the Robotnik I know wouldn't lift a finger to help the world unless his empire was under threat.
restingstitchface: (Uplifted)

[personal profile] restingstitchface 2025-07-04 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Difficult but not impossible. Storage conditions change according to climate, weather, temperature and time. Plus rye is more prevalent in some regions than others.

I personally deem it stress-induced psychosis. The region where people danced was riddled with starvation and disease, and superstition was the norm.


[He has more to say about the word witch but chooses to shelve it.]

But whether a man without limbs complains of those who dance really isn't relevent to me. What is more important is what happens because of it.
knittedkitten: (Default)

[personal profile] knittedkitten 2025-07-04 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Lenore is ready to explain the concept of trash when she feels a heavy weight press against her chest.] I don't know. [She doesn't often look sad, but there is no denying the pain that flickers across her expression at the mention of her lost companion. Amun is more than a friend, but a piece of her, and she doesn't know where he is or if he's safe.

If only she had his body.]


I was hoping to find more information on how to find him, but I haven't had any luck. [She's more charismatic than most of their little rag-tag team, but that doesn't say much. Jadon is the only other person with a semblance of people skills.]

You haven't seen him, have you?
glassescannon: (Default)

[personal profile] glassescannon 2025-07-04 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[Seth peers at the device curiously. He hasn't seen its equal in Kyria, but he admits that there is much that he doesn't know about the worlds outside of his home.] Interesting. [It'd be useful for when he gets separated from his new friends. Of course, he simply needs to get used to traveling in a group, but he suspects that it'll take him a long time to feel familiar with it.]

Aurora? I see. So there is a function like that.

[He nods and listens to the explanation from the recording. It's helpful in a sense, but lacks any useful information that he can use to navigate this situation.]

So we're here for the time being. [He glances around the semi-quiet hotel space.] I'd prefer somewhere... less exciting. [It's obvious that Seth is being overstimulated by the chaos of the casino, even the haunted house wasn't free of it's overwhelming nature.]
star_freckles: (Default)

[personal profile] star_freckles 2025-07-04 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course it does. [Time has never been Relle's friend and it continues to be a pain in the ass. Luckily, she's a half-elf, so she has more time than others.

Her head nods in reply, and it takes a few awkward seconds of silence for her to remember that he can't see her.]
That sounds better. [She doesn't need to get lost in another carnival.] I think I saw a sign like that.

[It takes her a little while to find her way back to where the cute birds were. She remembers them vividly thanks to Gwen. It's the kind of family that Gwen would have adopted in her past, and would have somehow ended up living in their home.] How do I know it's you? [She isn't sure if she's that recognizable either, though she hasn't seen many women with vibrant pink hair.

At the very least, she can look incredibly lost.]
star_freckles: (Default)

[personal profile] star_freckles 2025-07-04 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[There is a long pause as Relle tries to make sense of this new explanation. She understands the concept of games and an audience, but she's never thought of it being involuntary.

It is very Fea, though Relle can't imagine Nazos or Leolar doing something like this. Even so, it's her reality now. She might as well accept the situation and move past it. She's never been one to spend a lot of time overthinking things.]


Weird. [Is all she says in reply to this revelation.] Would someone really want to watch me do random tasks?

[She's thinking of things like watering a garden of plants that are trying to eat her or walking up a hill with no end. It sounds rather boring to her.]
repaintress: by betenoir (Default)

No she'd hate it but the tie dye would be the ONE thing she wouldn't hate lol

[personal profile] repaintress 2025-07-04 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds intriguing. Do you have examples here?
tinflower: (pic#17564154)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-07-04 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's a pinch to his mouth, a frown with his disappointment, because of course it's gotta be in the body. He's willing to let it go, to continue, and doesn't think much else until the weapon comes out.

Right in the man's hand.

That releases Gorgug's frown, and there's a return of interest as he looks at it. Not deeply, though his staring gaze could be taken for such. (Wow, cool blade.)

But Gorgug looks at Verso, pointing at the weapon. ]


I'm gonna make something like that too. I've been looking into it. [ And there's a tone in that, a conviction--a spark of excitement that hasn't been there until now. Tinkering. ] I can make the space, but I've gotta make the trick to bring them out.

[ In a way that's functional and convenient...!!! ]
auderes: (pic#17357050)

[personal profile] auderes 2025-07-04 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
The poke isn't all that painful as much as it's just unexpected, enough of a jolt to pull him out of that vague, more asleep than awake state. And with that consciousness floods in the full realization of the fact that he's not home, in his own apartment, despite having no immediate evidence to the contrary. It's hard not to miss that fleeting moment, matched now by the awareness that those moments are likely to be fewer and farther between now that he's here, and as comfortable as he might be able to get it's not the same either. But, much more immediately than that existential observation, he's aware that Barbara is right up against him, that hadn't been a dream.

Not a literal one anyway. He's pretty sure that he wouldn't have migrated over to her side of the bed, generally when he's tired and he finally sleeps there's very little tossing and turning, but he can't completely rule it out. Or, possibly, she could have rolled over and gotten scooped up in his arms, because that's what he would do when he's asleep and she's (at least from his perspective) moving in toward him.

He's pulling back that arm so that he can rub his palm over his face anyway, still sleepy and muffled, but he's awake now, if still too tangled in the blankets and a bit underneath her, he's not trying to extricate himself yet.

"Sorry. Do I need to move?"
fromfire: (am i monster of the deep?)

[personal profile] fromfire 2025-07-04 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you? [ He hums as he mulls over how he can help Gorgug with having the items come out of the space. ] Is it also that's something pulled from the body?

[ Honestly, using Pictos this way isn't something that most people seem to use, since it is engraving magic into their bodies. Invisible or no. ]

I guess you could say the -- [ He lets the weapons vanish so he can hold his hand out. ] -- opening is here. [ He lightly taps the inside of his palm. ] Could you try to do something like that with what you're trying to make?
her_own_rules: Babs (Looking To the Side)

[personal profile] her_own_rules 2025-07-04 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
The small jolt of not expecting, followed by the tension that suddenly comes back into his arms around her and his chest under her, is impossible to miss. That momentary loud thud of his heart under her ear, even as he shifted a little. Lifted one arm to rub at his face, coming more awake in the pitch dark of the room. There's a weird momentary tension between her shoulder blades when he does. Like, even though she made that happen, she hadn't been entirely prepared for it to happen. For the sudden loss of warmth and sleep-heavy weight.

Maybe not the question either, if it's the most apparent and easiest assumption he can make. She's not sure he's wrong to ask it. She's not sure why she hadn't just gently extricated herself from his arms and shifted slow as she could not to wake him while doing so, to let him sleep, let him even begin to heal up. For all that, she made sure to poke her somewhere kind; she knows she's lying on patches of color bruising, too.

She turns her head, chin settling light against his chest, and somehow, she doesn't have any words. Does she want him to move? Is there even enough bed on that side for him to move? Are they in the middle or more on one side? She hadn't thought to figure out any of that and hadn't thought of anything but him, below her and around her.

There's a sigh out her nose, which is probably hard to distinguish in emotion.
But she hasn't moved, and she's staring at him through the darkness.

What was the point of waking him if she had no words?
A faint frown there, more frustrated at herself than him.
Edited 2025-07-04 17:15 (UTC)
bubblegumheart: (pic#17072356)

Oh that's fair lmao

[personal profile] bubblegumheart 2025-07-04 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always had a lot of fun doing it. And yea, I kept the shirts I made, but I'm not sure about anyone else.
repaintress: by betenoir (Neutral 2)

Clea at camp: This is definitely, 100% Hell

[personal profile] repaintress 2025-07-04 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
May I examine them?
auderes: (pic#17338922)

[personal profile] auderes 2025-07-04 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Dick has no real sense for where he is in the bed either, since it's an unfamiliar space and it's so dark that it would take some effort to get a good idea of the logistics, and really it's not something that he's concerned about, even in his deepest sleep he wouldn't roll off of the bed by accident, and wherever he intentionally moves his instincts would kick in to manage. None of that matters anyway when Barbara just gazes at him in the darkness, so quietly at first that it's hard for him to know what must be going through her mind at this particular moment.

The sigh, and the lack of movement on her part, tell him what he needs to know, and extrapolating from that he thinks he's imagining exactly the cant of her eyebrows, the press of her lips, a conflict in her eyes. The harder part is knowing what's the right thing to do when she's grappling with complicated feelings that he really has no basis for himself, as much as he can try to put himself in her shoes and think about what it would be like if their positions were reversed.

His own sigh is softer, not frustrated with either her or himself, just at this whole situation, no one had any control over that, and all he can do here is what feels right. Which is reaching out with his free hand to brush the back of his fingers lightly across her jaw and cheek, gentle and affectionate, brief enough that he hopes it won't cause her a whole new flutter of indecision.

"Wherever you want to be, Babs, you'll always have a place right here."
repaintress: by betenoir (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] repaintress 2025-07-04 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's an odd sensation, to be seen. To be acknowledged. Clea is not sure what to do with it. Once, with a different man, she would have known, but here and now she is lost. To have someone looking at her with sadness and not with disappointment or need. If he doesn't need or want anything from her, how is she to know what she's supposed to do? Despite him not being Verso, an absurd part of Clea - a part she smothers in her mind as ruthlessly as she plots the downfall of their enemies - wants to apologize.

For making him look at her that way. She's done something wrong.

Alicia is an easier topic.

He's right. It needs to be her decision. Clea 'hmms' in a neutral tone, shifting her weight as she considers his words. ]


You're right. I'll leave her.

[ It should be Alicia's decision and while her sister is young and naive, she isn't stupid. Clea knows what choice she will make. Why would she leave her home and her parents, useless though they may be at the moment? They've had a taste of what Alicia's life is like with only Clea for support, and it is woefully lacking. Could she have done a better job looking after Alicia after the fire?

It's her fault. What 'it' is, Clea does not know, but she knows it happened because she had not been good enough. Skilled enough. Aware enough. The fire? Verso? Alicia's injuries? Yes. ]


I hope that she does. We deserve the surprise and she deserves the freedom. I would welcome it.
her_own_rules: Babs, Oracle (How You Get Me Back Here)

[personal profile] her_own_rules 2025-07-04 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Her eyes close ever so briefly at that touch, her shoulders shifting ever faintly, in a way that doesn't quite reach a shiver or her pushing into the touch. Just enough, this close, aligned with almost her whole body, he can't miss it's not nothing. Him, touching her. Those soft words that he puts with them. Even if it doesn't bleed through air like it does through her chest like her ribs are suddenly gone, and everything in there is simply an ache that asks the question when was the last time he touched her like this?

But. No. No, she doesn't want that memory,
Or the reminder of each counted day,
and she squeezes her eyes shut.

Her jaw knits and unknits, and she opens her eyes, pushing for something that considers itself a fully coherent sentence. Then, she chooses something from ten feet over. And maybe it does divert, but it doesn't entirely change the topic. (And she still hasn't moved away.) Chin still steady, but light, so it's not digging in. "Why did you say earlier you think this is easier for you?"

Of course, she'd been turning over the exact words and the look on his face before she turned away, before she and sleep had finally found each other. Other people had hazy recollections of the words they said, that others said, but Barbara never did. And she could replay a memory a million times, from across all her years, without a touch of degradation. She may have turned away, but hadn't missed either.
Edited 2025-07-04 18:34 (UTC)