⏵ APHAIA ⏴
At the request of those inhabiting Etraya, Aurora has adjusted the mission schedule a little in order to send everyone into a world that is actively dying. Which means that, on the morning of March 14th, everyone will be directed to a glowing, purple portal situated just outside the hospital. Aurora will recommend that those with pets leave them behind; given the mission parameters of survive, she anticipates that it will not be a place for companion animals to accompany their owners to. She will not, however, force this: people are welcome to bring their companions if they'd like!
Once they have stepped through the portal, it will become clear that survival will not come easily. The sky overhead is fractured into a kaleidoscope of neon colors, artificial stars blinking in and out of existence among shards. Towering structures resembling stadiums and coliseums stretch endlessly into the horizon, their surfaces plastered with massive holographic advertisements displaying the face of past "champions" - many of whom appear to be long-since deceased.
From the moment they step through the portal, cameras whir to life around them, zooming in on their expressions while loudly announcing their names, their specialties, and what they are capable of. Applause echoes through unseen speakers when talents worth the excitement are announced: those with fighting capabilities, unique extraordinary powers, or odd talents seem to get the loudest reaction.
And once introductions are complete, a loud, booming voice cuts through the noise:
WELCOME, CONTESTANTS! ARE YOU PREPARED TO SEE WHO AMONG YOU IS THE SMARTEST, THE HOTTEST, THE STRONGEST, AND THE SHINIEST? ONLY THOSE AMONG YOU WHO ARE WORTHY WILL SURVIVE. KALI TYCHI!!
There is no introduction to the voice. No explanation.
Welcome to Aphaia.
⏵ SURVIVAL SPOTLIGHT ⏴
Aphaia is a dying world. Once vibrant, now it is little more than a stage - an arena where survival meets spectacle and death is a form of entertainment. Cameras are everywhere, their mechanical eyes dissecting every action, hesitation, every moment of weakness. To the residents of Aphaia, it's all a game. After all, they know they are living on borrowed time - why not make it fun?
Towering holograms flicker with advertisements for upcoming challenges, massive leaderboards shift constantly, tracking the contestants' popularity in real time. Every move is judged, and every breath is measured.
Participation is not mandatory, but refusal comes with some hefty consequences. Those who refuse to play fade into the background, their scores slowly dropping closer and closer to zero.
And when it does bottom out? They disappear. No body, no remains, just - erased entirely from existence.
Now, survival is not just about brute force (although there is some of that too!), but about entertainment. Contestants are not simply fighters, but performers earning the favor of other contestants.
Each contestant has a score, visible using the HUD of their earpiece. Scores range from 1-100, with 80+ reserved for crowd favorites. The moment scores hit zero, they disappear, presumed (and are) dead.
New contestants start with a randomized score, assigned the moment they step onto Aphaia's surface. From there, their survival depends on strategy, skill, and showmanship.
Nanotechnology laces the very air they breathe, embedding itself into their bodies. It monitors oxygen, tracks food intake, measures every potential need for everyone, including alien species whose needs differ. Supplies are scarce - meaning only those who keep their scores up receive rations, shelter, and medical aid. The lower one's score? The less they get.
And there are no second chances.
⏵ DISTRICTS ⏴
Aphaia is separated into four districts.
The Colosseum is where blood is currency. A high-tech battle arena where combatants are pitted against each other for entertainment, the Colosseum is always prepared for any battle one may wish to take part of. The floors shift, and the environment changes at the whim of the audience. It's built to support any challenge that requires physicality: the floors will break into massive labyrinths meant to confuse individuals, or the walls will raise to create rooms that are difficult to escape to test one's intellect. Within the Colosseum, contestants are invited to battle one another and others for glory. Are you a warrior? Built for combat? Do you have capabilities that shine through with physical action, rather than mental stimulation? This is the place for you.
A place of luxury, the Symposium is where alliances are forged - and broken. Here, the highest-rated contestants (those who rank Luminary or higher) are invited to partake in fine dining and lavish parties. Violence is not permitted within the walls of the Symposium; while this may provide the false illusion of safety, it is anything but. Whispered betrayals are passed between contestants within the walls of the Symposium, with deals struck to ensure that those who rank high enough to enjoy all the benefits it offers continue to be able to visit.
In the heart of Aphaia is the Agora. Pulsing with flashing billboards featuring the faces of many past and current contestants and live polls of the current scores of those who are still alive, the Agora is where contestants are invited to engage with the public to shape their own narrative.
In the streets, many contestants can be found putting on quirky performances, participating in challenges, or conducting interviews with other contestants. Charisma can be just as valuable as brute strength, and this is the place for those who rely on their ability to sweet-talk others to make sure their points remain high. This is where the facilities for the non-physical challenges resides, such as Echoes of the Past and Tychaios.
The Agora contains the housing district in which contestants reside. There are a few massive apartment towers stacked to the sky. The high-ranking live in luxury, enjoying rooms up to two bedrooms with plenty of space - the lower ranking individuals reside in smaller apartments, with significantly less amenities.
On the edges of Aphaia are the Backalleys, where rules are meant to be broken. A maze of shadowed corridors and hidden tunnels, there are multiple "convenient" corners where camera blind spots can be found. Here is where people come to converse between one another outside the eyes of the audience or to find temporary sanctuary from their lives being consistently narrated. However, it is also well-known that while they may be able to find areas where the cameras cannot reach, the Gamerunner is also aware of these blind spots.
⏵ RATED & REVIEWED ⏴
While the highest rated contestants get to go to The Symposium, those middling or in danger of falling off get invited to only the finest of trashy talk shows.
Anyone can see how this daily, midday TV show plays out. Stand in front of a television long enough and you’ll see reruns of bruised competitors hashing it out in front of an audience over failed plans, ruined alliances, and broken friendships. If you want to see the worst in others Kathiki Pidón is the show to watch.
Though one might wonder why anyone would ever go on this thing, it is a nearly universal guilty pleasure. There is a chance to raise one’s own rating without risking one’s life. But say the wrong things, and you may become more unpopular than ever. It is a desperate place to go- but they do always give a hot meal to anyone who agrees to come on. It might be your only chance to recuperate.
This is also a great opportunity to try to lower someone else’s ranking by airing out private grievances very publicly. Was the only reason you lost because you were tricked or betrayed? Is there a secret alliance you want people to know about? Or perhaps you need a platform to earn a little sympathy.
Kathiki will be more than happy to host you, donning his usual black and gold suit and holding his slim microphone for you to speak into.
For those who are a little shier, Kathiki has a private booth in the back of the studio where you can pour your heart out in front of a camera. This can have the same benefits, but it may be edited in very unfortunate ways before the public sees it.
⏵ NOTES ⏴
Please use our NPC Threads toplevel on this post for any NPC interactions you'd like! This includes Kathiki.
For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴
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etrayamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etrayalogs2025-03-14 11:19 am
no subject
It's not the violence that she finds disturbing, if anyone is pretty desensitized to it, it'd be Jinx. What is truly messing with her is the state of the memory, the shapes, the way it looks like noise, and the disorientation. She's never been this gone, but the visual aspect of the memory triggers the anxiety within her.
Like she can't tell what's really real, with how jumbled it is.
The second part of it is the sheer horror that someone she knows has endured. Jinx happens to be a little sensitive, and there's concern not for the man Accelerator is ripping apart, but for the boy himself.
She's sure the fucker deserved it. Accelerator, she doesn't think he does.)
... I'm sorry, Accelerator. This-- fucking sucks.
(What else is there to say?)
no subject
Kihara is pulling something out of his lab coat. It's tiny, and from all the spinning it's hard to tell what it is. Crushing it between his fingers, he cackles, saying more incomprehensible words and kicking Accelerator in the side several times.
That's when another figure enters the office. Clad in white and gold, short, and just as jittery-looking as Kihara. The real Accelerator is pretty sure he knows who that is, and the way his simulated self hauls himself to his feet in front of her to shield her from Kihara seems to confirm that. After a beat she moves over to the girl on the desk, pulling her down to the ground and behind it for safety as Accelerator continues to get the shit beaten out of him. After a few more minutes of this, a sound can be heard bubbling up from behind the desk.
It's a song. God knows what it's about, because the lyrics are just as unintelligible as everything Kihara had been saying. But the emotion is clear, it's warm and comforting, and it's enough encouragement for the simulation of Accelerator to once again get to his feet and fight back.
One good punch sends him crashing to the ground, and this time, Kihara turns to retrieve something from one of the bodies laying on the ground. He turns back to Accelerator, an anti-personnel grenade in his hand, and he pulls the pin before tossing it onto him. There's a pop and a bright flash of light - like a flashbang? which is odd - and Kihara starts cackling away.
But the light dims and the smoke starts to clear - since when do flashbangs release smoke? - and Accelerator is standing there, still in one piece, and he doesn't hesitate to grab Kihara's face as he stares back at him, stunned. From his back bursts some kind of pitch black substance, flaring outwards and upwards like a pair of wings. Whatever it is is completely inhuman, and from the expression on Kihara's face that's exactly what he's thinking. As Accelerator smiles away Kihara mumbles something, Accelerator replies in an equally inhuman language, and the wings shift and an invisible force slams into the scientist, sending him through the broken window and into the sky. Within the span of a few seconds he's little more than a burning speck.
And the memory ends. The Gamerunner's voice jumps in as everything freezes, cheerily declaring that now the real challenge begins: they have to figure out what has been changed in the memory. If they don't, then that change becomes permanent. Fun!]
cw hallucinations mentions
She isn't particularly okay, and the fact that she doesn't understand what it all means in conjunction to the disturbing way the images are presented only exacerbates her discomfort. Unreality is not unfamiliar, and perhaps the chaotic and disconnected way his brain damage captures the scene is what makes her the most rattled. It's real, and it isn't, and it definitely is. Not the same, but it feels to her a certain way that she can swear she's exhaling pure cortisol when she takes off the visor.)
You should be banned from this thing.
no subject
[No arguments there. Most of his memories are awful even on good days, and subjecting other people to them is downright cruel. Accelerator supposes that means more of an audience, more viewers for the Gamerunner and more of a distraction for the Aphaians from their situation.
He exhales slowly. Okay, the faster they get this over with the better.
(At least he got to see himself killing Kihara Amata. That felt good.)]
We need to figure out what changed. I don't want anything fucking with my memories permanently.
[He's already having to deal with that from Echo, he doesn't want even more of it.]
no subject
(Which she is doubting, because a lot of the time, she wasn't even sure what she saw, but on the condition that she can, well.
One of them is way too familiar with grenades, and that's the tip she is giving right now that she is slowly releasing his arm to tap on the chompers she has clipped on her belt.)
If I tell you, are you going to just leave and not answer shit? Because I have a ton of questions, and it's better I ask then I read in the paper all messed up.
no subject
He inhales slowly.]
... I can try to answer some of them.
[There are some things that are too personal, too private, and some things he just doesn't have answers for at all. But he can try.]
no subject
(For all the confidence, she just hopes she's right, because there is so much more to look at that memory that makes very little sense that she isn't even sure it could be something else. It's a mess.)
no subject
... Right. He was sure that had happened, and it did. It had been a bad night.
He removes the vr headset, setting it aside as an employee comes out to shuffle them along, so they can set up the next challenge.]
no subject
It's almost like she's silently asking if he's okay.)
no subject
That night had been rough, and showing it from his perspective - with his brain injury in full force - only made it worse. More confusing. He's no magic expert, and most of what went down in Academy City was magic or related to magic.
Once they're a bit away from other people, he sighs.]
What do you want to know? Keep in mind I don't know half of what the fuck was going on that night, and I still don't.
no subject
(Which she finds to be the most important part, trying to get a general of what she just had gone through. If he's okay, which she finds the answer to be most likely not.)
I'm gonna assume the guy deserved it.
no subject
[His choker isn't something he's going to answer questions about. It's too big of a weakness, makes him too vulnerable. Harold and Aurora are the only ones who know about it, and he'd like to keep it that way.]
Yeah, he did. He was a bastard. No one's gonna miss him.
no subject
(Or, most of them, actually, but there's nothing from that scene that made sense to her.)
Who was he? One of the scientists you told me?
no subject
Yeah. He was considered one of the top scientists in the city, and he developed my ability.
[Probably the most influential adult in his life up until recently, which is just sad.]