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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! |
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"We haven't," he admits. No murder sprees so far. "Yet. It doesn't worry you that we might? That God saved us so we could kill for Him?"
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"That you have killed in the past doesn't mean you will in the future, Mr. Bossie. What is it that you intend to do now?"
It doesn't necessarily demand an answer, but it's open to one, genuinely curious. Asking for his opinion and his decisions independent of anything else.
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"I see. I can't fault your logic. You've been with him a long time, haven't you?"
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"I gave Mr. Carver two rules for working with us," he states. "Would you like to know what they are?"
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But Pope isn't here.
And Bossie, despite his own usual shyness, feels comfortable with Harold. "Yeah," he says, hoping they're rules he can live with.
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And the rules themselves are, of course, very telling of Harold's character.
"The first is that you are welcome to leave -- to break our affiliation -- at any time, but you must inform me of this before taking any action against myself, Mr. Reese, or Ms. Shaw."
Sometimes people end up enemies for authentic reasons. Harold doesn't expect a lifetime commitment, but he does expect them to refrain from outright betrayal.
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He'll feel conflicted over it later, but right now it makes sense and it cements them all together in a way that soothes him.
"Then you should know I want to work with a guy I met. Kaeya. He's investigating our roles here, you know, and Aurora he mentioned--he's asking questions I think we all want answered."
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"It's always beneficial to make connections and establish additional information sources. There's nothing wrong with that, or with making friends. We're secretive by nature and by habit, so I would appreciate your discretion -- but that isn't a rule."
Trust Harold to include making friends as a valid reason to socialize outside of the team. He's not great at it himself, but he understands it as a basic human need and really wishes his little coterie of dangerous killers had more of a support system. He has a professional paranoid's reflexive need to control the flow of information completely, but he will even give that up in deference to someone's need for connection.
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"I'll be careful," he promises. "I won't tell him shit that would compromise us."
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"Yes, thank you," he agrees, explicitly accepting the reassurance.
Then he has to explain the second rule, which he wants to do as levelly as the first but understands might not make sense without proper context. Maybe the only thing to do is just repeat it exactly as stated to Carver, and see what Bossie takes from it. Stating it differently in summation might run him into trouble in terms of needing to articulate when violence is acceptable for self-defense and when it isn't, and that isn't really the point of the rule.
"The second rule. For as long as you work with us, if I have reason to believe someone is harming you, physically or mentally, I will not stand by passively as it occurs." A split second hesitation before he adds, "No matter who it is."
He wouldn't just stand by if he knew anyone was being hurt, but it carries a different tenor here. Harold wants it known that he can't be asked to allow them to come to harm.
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"You must really like Carver," he says, because he's not sure how to take the notion that a near stranger would care what happened to him. Working together or not.
Maybe he's just used to being a grunt.
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"Well," he says, "I do. But that isn't the reason why. No one is irrelevant, remember?"
In a gentler tone: "That includes you."
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He wonders if Harold would still feel that way if he knew the full depth of what he and Carver have done to people. A lot of people. In God's name or not, he suspects humans would loathe him for it.
But he wants to believe.
"Those are really your only rules?"
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"For the moment. Perhaps I'll think of more," Harold allows. "This really goes unstated, normally, so it's a bit challenging for me to articulate it. I can't say we ever intended to ... become what we are now. It happened organically."
But he absolutely believes that John and Shaw and Root and even Fusco all understand and abide by those rules. They won't betray one another, they won't harm one another, and they'll protect each other as best they can. It just didn't ever need to be said aloud. Harold is trying very hard to figure out what these unspoken assumptions are that Carver and now Bossie have so he can address them, but it's a bit like searching for a light switch in the dark, hoping he hits the right one.
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If he's going to live peacefully with this little group, he needs to know faces and names, know who to protect.
What a strange thought that is: protecting people he doesn't even know. People he hasn't bled for yet.
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"It's myself, John Reese, and Sameen Shaw. And yourself and Mr. Carver, of course. We have other allies we could pull on as need be, but nothing formal."
Nothing quite of the same variety he has with his real team, where Harold can give an instruction and have it followed instantly, with absolute faith. He treasures and cherishes that immensely, and never takes it for granted -- every such instruction is measured with care.
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"What's Reese like?" How did he end up in this group? He's next up on Bossie's list to meet, unless he runs into Shaw first. Either way he intends to meet everyone, get a feel for all of them, decide how far he can trust his life to them.
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"Low-key and vaguely menacing," he says dryly, quoting himself from an old conversation. "To most people, that is. He's extremely competent, acquires weapons at a frightening rate, and can disappear into a crowd better than I can."
That last one is obviously complimentary, coming from Harold. But then he softens palpably and finishes with: "He's also a good man."
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"You meet him in your world or here?"
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What a funny question to Harold. It's impossible to imagine his routine existence at home without John anymore. That's probably a large factor in why he's decided to stay here... he doesn't want to return to a world without him.
"I originally hired him to work on the numbers," he explains. "I had all the information in the world and not the physical capability to do something with it."
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