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etrayamemes2025-05-30 09:20 am
etrayamods) wrote in 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 ⏴ 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. 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.
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! |
no subject
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. ]
no subject
[Barnabas breathes the words out almost more than he says them. In part with mild annoyance at their situation, but also twinned in a strange relief in being so close with Sleipnir again. A relief that he does not often feel, or rather, he hasn't since their forced separation.
The clamor of the area is...a lot, but that is ever the weight of the world to them. The frivolity of those who bask in their sinful volition and vile indulgence. Regardless of the discordant misery they weave in their wake. As they draw away from the collection of light and sound, Barnabas presses upon the area, muffling some of that noise and shielding them of some of that light.
A small sanctuary of peace, only for them as they steal away from the rest. Barnabas having found a small seating area, he gestures for Sleipnir to sit as he likewise take his own chair.]
This cacophonous catacomb of depravity is to serve as the backdrop for a singular errand to which an otherwise grander purpose will be satisfied. Like many before it, terms have been laid and completed, or failed, and we have found ourselves returned to our gaol once more.
[Barnabas offers the area a momentary glance, before his eyes shift back to focus on Sleipnir and Sleipnir alone.]
Should fate be kind, you will return with me.
[Would Aurora tantalize him so cruelly? Does he dare to hope for kindness? He knows better, and yet...]
no subject
Now is not the time to join with Barnabas, not the way Sleipnir wants to, and so instead he will stay close and keep the guiding hand on him for as long as his liege wishes it to stay so. Even then he shall remain within a grasping length.
Once the riotous swell of noise and shine are dimmed into an easily endurable range Sleipnir will crack his neck letting go of the tension brought on by being in such a grating environment. Has Barnabas been made to suffer such ear splitting pain and eye-sores constantly in their time apart? The world is cruel... it is likely.
However, Sleipnir and Barnabas now have their own pocket of space just for them to live and breath in. A haven in which he sits himself directly next to Barnabas- not wanting any space to exist between them. Surely something which can rip even them apart from each other for a year's span will warrant close attention to understand what has befallen them...
With eyes never leaving his Majesty, Sleipnir drinks from the fountain of Barnabas' wisdom and experience. This collection of miniature paintings is to be but one of many duties levied at their feet. Assignments given, performance surely judged, and thusly rendering some form of remark towards whether their own world shall be saved... And by whose graces is this judgement brought about? Who are they to think they can play the role of the almighty?
To have dared to separate him from Barnabas-His liege lord levies him with a gaze and then with once more a heavy load dropped into air in the form of mere words. World shattering words. The fear creeps anew in his chest; Barnabas Tharmr without him yet in need of him. There is uncertainty in the balance of his liege's carefully chosen words. 'Should fate be kind'... when has it ever? Sleipnir's eyes are unwavering and his voice firm as he makes his vow to Barnabas. ]
It matters not what fate decides, either way I shall see me returned with you.
[ But it isn't fate, is it? There must be someone giving out the tasks for them to complete. If there is someone assigning these quests then there is someone deciding who comes and who goes. And if there is someone deciding that... then there is someone for him to lean his blade into for having ripped them apart to begin with. Some sort of orchestrator. He will find them,
open their throat, and pull out their heart and bring it to His Majesty to see what he shall have done with it.]no subject
[He answers simply, though there is a warmth to his words, a comfort in them that is otherwise shrouded from those that otherwise do not know him. But who, save dear Sleipnir, knows him best of all? While the nature of him has been changed by the Almighty Himself, there are still those that can edge through the calmness of his mind, of his emotions. That stillness not truly as still as he thinks it ought to be, no.
Sleipnir, his companion for over five decades, can burrow into this guarded heart of his and stir the traces of feelings that are otherwise terminal in their tranquility.
The warmth and weight of Sleipnir besides him, so close and affirming in his reality only stirs this all the more. Like a primordial spear thrust within the waters of the world, giving form to the formless, even if for only a blissful moment. It is more than what anyone else affords him, after all. Barnabas' eyes scan over him, drinking in his visage as if he were nectar itself rejuvenating his weary soul.]
It is not only we who have been brought here. Seen you Bahamut or... Cidolfus?
[The last name is said with a slight edge, though not as harsh as it should be, all things considered.]