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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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Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Laugh at me, so you're laughing with me.
Always so good at it. Producing that kind of light and laughter from anything.
(Always so good at making her laugh even when she didn't want to. Every time.)
"I believe you called it 'distinguished' every time Damian threatened to shave you in your sleep." That's light, but it wasn't his question either. It was her opinion on it, and she hadn't really. Oh, she had. But not really. "To me, it was just ... you. I've seen you in every manner of way since I was barely old enough to balance on a banister. Short shorts, and pixie boots, and tight curls. Wavy. The blue disco monstrosity." Light. Not insulting. Maybe because it's the four words before. "Bald."
Ric Grayson's choices weren't Dick's,
but it'd still been his face, his head, his body.
Her brow knitted slightly. She didn't think there was a way he could show up not like that.
Or did that make her hypocritical for all the right now seconds?
For the confusion about a loss that wasn't "lost."
"We didn't do—" Babs doesn't quite know what to call it. "—'this.' I don't know if it was because we went to bed and woke up in the same place. Or that it felt like no time had been missing at all." Between them, at least not really. A month back home wasn't the same as a year. The hours of one night fast asleep in Etraya weren't the same as months. But that feels hypocritical. He'd still been ahead, and he hadn't...
Mybe it's just that he's that much better than her.
(He's always been better than her.
Better than everyone around him.
Wait until the JLA says it, too.)
Was she trying to say that? Imply that?
Now that she'd said it, she didn't know.
Which somehow felt worse.
She curled up, just a little bit, frowning,
head ducking a little more toward her own shoulder.
For a second, it had made sense, but saying it lost it.
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The part that she's still getting drawn back to, worrying at it, all goes back to the same issue. One that he suspects is going to plague him for a while, until he really manages to establish himself here, because from the way he sees it nothing is going to help more than just time. Which is a hard conclusion to come to, given that it means no one can do anything to make it easier, they just have to get through it one day at a time. And, most challenging, not overthink questions that just don't have any clear answers. Which isn't a new development, they didn't before either, he just incidentally brought all of that to the forefront with his arrival like this.
It's hard. Everyone looking from the outside in could be forgiven for thinking that he's impervious to doubt, he radiates confidence, both as Nightwing and in his personal life, but the truth is that he has as much as anyone else. And some of those are persistent, and they always hit him in quiet moments when he's most prone to brooding. Worrying.
He knows. He figures she does too.
"We could go in circles with that all night," he says instead, now stroking her hair, gentle and reassuring. "I know it's awkward, trying to piece all this together, but it'll work. It'll be alright. All the important things, none of that has changed, right?"
He loves her. He has practically since they met and he was hit with a huge crush, and he doesn't think that anything in the multiverse could ever change that. And, if anything, this feels like a somewhat ironic reversal of their last serious conversation.
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He's stroking her hair, he's comforting her, and that's not, it shouldn't be his job, right? Not in these circumstances? Not even a full day into being in this place and she's made a mess of things, hasn't she? Was it better when there was a table between them and all the brass facts of this place to relate, the names and places and endless missions designed to somehow meet some quota on that first ultimatum?
The one he, somehow, didn't even get on arrival this time.
And: does that mean something has changed?
Will she have to contact Aurora again?
(She may have forgotten there was a question at the end of his words.
One that was truly important no matter how rhetorically put.)