WAYPOINT SHRIL, PT.2

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All (New Hosts may tag anything from their arrival date on Waypoint Shril forward.)
WHERE: WAYPOINT SHRIL
WHEN: Day :033 - :038
SUMMARY: Come one, come all, to the most amazing show you will ever see! Catch-all for the all ABA! Events, excluding the Demolition Man Derby and Awards Ceremony on day :039.
WARNINGS: N/A, will update as necessary.

I hope you’re all absolutely zazzled and ready to kick things off with a bang! As always, I’m Jaymez St. Jaymez St. Jaymez and I’ll be laying it all down for you as we head into this exciting and definitely deadly five day extravaganza! I’m positively passionate about bringing you all the hottest goss straight from the barrangar’s mouth, breaking down all the most important events that happen on Waypoint Shril for this entire Aurora Blue Arena!! I hope you’re ready, but we all know you’re not! Let’s get it going then!

     ABA! DAY I. THE OPENING CEREMONIES
You’ll forgive me if I scream, won’t you? Have you ever seen anything so zane in your entire life? I know you haven’t, but don’t worry, I’m here to help you process.

So we all know what happened at the big opening, right? Talk about flashy, and did our judges look great or what? I heard from a reliable source that Talius spent the whole night about neck deep in Surellian Smoke Brandy, but you almost couldn’t tell, they managed to keep all their feet on the platform at all times. Anyway, everyone in the stands had a chance to enjoy the show - and the announcements, of course! I have to say, for as long as I’ve been doing this, these sound like some of the best challenges we’ve ever seen. And last time around we had the Great Galactic Cookoff!

Of course, we all enjoyed the show. How could we not? It’s the afterparty that everyone was looking forward to though. Did you catch sight of all the competitors up in the front? The camera loves them, but close up or no you couldn’t get half as close as the people here taking part in the action. After the show wrapped up there was an exclusive meet-and-greet. Sorry, did I say exclusive? Just about anyone with a piece of paper that said ‘press’ on it got into the party. They say it’s business, but you know, it’s funny? I saw a lot more drinks in hand than holo-pads and cam-wires. In my own hand, too, if you know what I’m saying.

Of course, not all the competitors stuck around. Plenty of others ended up drifting off to the more- lets say colorful sectors of Waypoint Shril. Police reported a small brawl down by the SOMEWHERE SOMEWHERE SOMEWHERE, no less than five people had to be taken to the nearby medic station and an entire pop-up artisanal sugar glass stand was destroyed. TUH-RAGIC.


     ABA! DAY II. LIP SYNC FOR YOUR LIFE
I know we all saw it, but hold on to your glitter gloss and pull up your grav-control shorts, because just talking about it is enough to give me the vapors. I can hardly believe what I just witnessed. Did anyone expect that raggedy bunch of Team 010 to turn around such a hot performance? I didn't know Calridians knew left from right, much less up from down but the next time I meet one in a bar I might just have to ask for a demonstration. But of course that wasn't all (PLEASE). If you're anyone who knows anyone, I'm sure you'll be hearing all about the big backstage blowup between those two teams - wow I sure do hope everyone recovers in time for tomorrow events - and who could forget when the stage tilted over and that poor sweet doll from Team Sparkle Ribbon went sliding off that terrible drop and got sliced to, well, ribbons by the laser light show (RIP. YOU WERE FABULOUS AND WAY TO SCORE SOME MAJOR POINTS FOR YOUR TEAM ON THE WAY OUT). Of course, nothing stands up to the entire stagebeing lit on fire - unless, of course, we're talking Miss Mystery's absolutely stunning display of, uhhhh… Well, that dress sure was something, wasn't it? ( *∵* )

OMS [tn: oh my sequins]! So, basically it was completely off the runway. What else can you say? I can barely wait to see what the ones who lived through that bring to the stage tomorrow. Still, I mean I know what you’re saying. You’re all 'Jaymez St. Jaymez St. Jaymez we didn’t come to you to hear what we all saw, even if we do love your dazzling and completely fresh take on the whole sitch.' No no, I know, you want to know what you couldn’t see on your holos. Ok so, you know Baranay Bartrold and his partner Aarara Ang? The pair who were disqualified in round three at the last ABA!!? Well, they’re back again, only this time they weren’t here for the competition. Rumor has it they’ve been taking cash and cred in exchange for SarSarSeven. You know, that completely wrong, oh-so-right concoction that’s said to give absolutely anyone an edge like no other? Of course everything’s got a price, and SarSar goes beyond the hefty price tag. They say that if you take too much of it, you’ll go completely off the rack (gag) and end end up, like, totally changed. Which may explain the attacks we’ve seen. Several groups of people have been found in various states of like, not so good, and people have reported seeing hairy, misshapen shapes in the shadows clinging to the buildings and lurking in the ventilation. It’s totally creep-central……. unless that’s your thing. I’m not about to yuck your yums sweet things.

Oh, and there was that tramp Garzield. I’ve been told I have to tell you that he held some tacky little off the books game show in some sketchy back lot just after the competition ended and gave away, like, some paltry thousands of Shen to any old rando that drifted in off the streets. Oh sure, he had like a wheel, some doors, and some bright lights but I think we can all agree that they just washed him out. Ugh. No one should wear that shade of chartreuse.

     ABA! DAY III. WAYPOINT WROBO WRESTLING FEDERATION
Get me a sparkling sizza water, because I’m burning up! You think things can’t get any bigger, any better, any bloodier, and then the competition begins! I’m still trying to process and I’m sure all you at home are too. But don’t you worry your sweet little heads, because I’m here to help you get your heads back on straight or sideways or any which way they’re supposed to go. I think we all knew this event was going to be big. I mean, 400 feet is nothing to sneeze at, but did we know it was going to be this big? I mean, first off, you had the fourth place finishers from last year who got in a hee-yooge blowout over whether their wrestler GARBAN THE FEARSOME was, like, an ex-con or an ex-cop? Everyone knows that’s not what it was really about - ahem- Still, you’d think that the way they were trying to fight themselves would make them an easy team to beat, but the team they were up against had a shrevil of a time figuring out how to fight someone who can’t be predicted at all. Then you had PARADA and GUCICI. Sure, they started out normal enough with a fairly rote ‘you stole the love of my life’ storyline, but the twist ending, where they were re-incarnated lovers? Gorgeous! I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage when their half-nelson turned into a full on full grope-sesh. I’ve never been more glad to be posted under the Aircon. And then there were the two teams that kept trying to out-heel each other. I mean, how many orphanages (yes, actual orphanges) did they each burn down? You’ll have to start making more orphans at this rate! Still, it made for a good show, and they really did know how to work the ropes, which you all know Jaymez appreciates.

Of course that's not all. During the day's matches, I hear there was QUITE the upset on Platform Alfa. Apparently some giant ship decided they didn't want to follow the rules and opted to jump the line to park and crashed straight into the platform (R-U-D-E). I won't bore you with the details (fire, explosions, the tragic death of the occasional bystander probably), but I can happily report that that particular ship won't be crashing into anyone else any time soon. The crew's been arrested, expecting of course the captain. Apparently the dastardly drog managed to escape into the crowd and confusion and make his way onto Waypoint Shril. So keep your eyes peeled for any shady looking Roanotian with a cut temple and a scorched jacket. He's probably trouble. >:(

In more RIDICULOUSLY EXCITING news (I know, I know - 'Jaymez St. Jaymez St. Jaymez, what could be more exciting than everything I've witnessed today?' but hold on and regulate your breathing, because this is going to give you an absolute fit), a little lilran told me today that if you hurry right along you might just catch the Late Night Hour with none other than THE Scrilliax Shann, the winner of the ABA! four years ago. Oh my glord, if she isn't just the definition of glamorous and everyone knows her parties are the pinnacle of stellarnomenal. GUH, I'm breaking a sweat just thinking about what it's going to be like. Of course, now this party is going to be exclusive, so I sure hope you have an invite. Apparently only the wildly spectacular (cough), the radically famous, or the stunningly gorgeous are going to have any hope of getting through the doors. But I promise, it'll be worth it. Sure, the last time I saw a holo of Scrilliax she had about five different beings following on their hands and tentacles after her but honestly - not a bad way to live.

     ABA! DAY IV-V. CATCH YOUR BREATH
[Just a clearly heavily staged (and digitally '~*~enhanced~*~') video of Jaymez St. Jaymez St. Jaymez fanning themselves. It's on loop. There is quite a lot of product placement for a five second clip.]

     ABA! DAY VI. LEGENDS OF THE BEAST NINJA GLADIATOR WARRIOR MASTER
I’m- I’m sorry. I just need a second. Flob, my mascara is running, I must look like a total mess. But can you blame me? I am just - floored. Overwhelmed. Like, completely blasted. It feels like I’ve been blasted by the solar winds on Plezas Twelve. This. Was. Incredible. Like, these are the times you think like, wow, I’m so like lucky to be here. To be as fabulous as I am so that I had a chance to stand here and witness some of the most impressive feats of strength and skill and - let's be honest - pure friendship we saw here today. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried harder than I did when Shivarana was hanging from that cage by her one slender clawed feeding arm while Garavan, who had already fallen into the slip-mud earlier in the round finally admitted that she loved her. An incredible upset. And then there was the temple fun-run, where one of the trailing teams managed to successfully guess the correct door seven times in a row before being grabbed by one of the guardians. My head is absolutely spinning. And then there was the team challenge, where one team ended up stuck halfway through their passage and had to make the tough call to cut half of their team off - literally. I’m still not sure how they broke the chain, but it was fully legal. Still, going into the finale at half-strength… Well, I don’t envy them. We lost so many great teams in this challenge. Fargarvaragarvarava will never be able to afford her surgery now. It’s just so heartbreaking. But that pain only makes the victories sweeter, right? And let me tell you, we’ll be popping bottles of sugar water tonight.

Now, if you're like me then you might need some time to recover before you face tomorrow (I am. NOT. READY.). Luckily, that should be totally doable thanks to the ABA!s brave security force. What's that? You don't know what happened? Oh my darlings, I hate to break the news but during the competition there was an unprecedented threat against the Judges lives and all our happiness. Apparently in the middle of today's event, an assassin attempted to get a line on our beloved trendsetters. If you thought for a moment that Saldo Saldo's amazingly mysterious shape looked momentarily unnerved, why it wasn't your imagination. Luckily, the assassin was foiled before anything terrible could occur. Which, like, thank the stars. I don't know what I'd do without them.

But I DO know I certainly wouldn't be caught dead room sharing with a bunch of defunct competitors. Did you know that when you get ejected from the competition, you lose your room and board? Which means that a bunch of shambles of teams are looking for places to crash for the rest of the week. Eughk. Get a job, losers.

KISS KISS, MY LITTLE SAINTS. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us. We’ll be heading into the last and final event - and we’ll get to meet this year’s victors. Stay with me! I’ve been, am, and will be Jaymez St. Jaymez St. Jaymez, reporting from Waypoint Shril, for this Aurora Blue Arena!!

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((OOC NOTES: This log is the catch-all for all ABA! Events, excluding the Demolition Man Derby and Awards Ceremony on Day :039. You'll notice the structure of this is… atypical. Feel free to glom on to absolutely any of the above hooks and prompts and go absolutely wild with them. No drama is too minor, no explosion too large. However feel free to also create your own logs concurrent to these happenings if nothing catches your eye. That said, please don't log or thread anything beyond Day :039 - you never know when things might wrap up with an unexpected bang. For full details of the events, please see the WAYPOINT SHRIL, PT.2 post. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to drop us a note on the Mod Contact page.

'Wait, can I NPC this character?' When it doubt, the answer is probably yes. Use your best judgement, but we encourage you to go wild. Should you desire mod input or for us to bounce into a thread, feel free to reach out to us and we'll be happy to accommodate. We may also be threadjacking some of these threads, however don't feel compelled to wait for us to do so. Have fun and don't get killed!))

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Comments

[blooded]

( there are moments where damon wants to kiss elena.

that's inaccurate — he always wants to kiss elena. it's more accurate to say, there are moments where he wants to kiss her even more than he usually does. yearning for elena, yearning at all, is an ache damon has well settled into by now. he knows his place and lives within it, always wanting things he can't have, taking that which he can by force and charm. wanting is in his blood, now — he doesn't even really know what he'd do if he got any of the things he wanted. but sometimes he wants more than usual, and right now, with elena smiling playfully at him, her foot resting lightly in his lap, nothing to worry about and no terror pounding down their door, he wants so much he aches with it.

he doesn't give himself time to think about it. he's quiet for just a moment, watching her with a little smile on his face, and then the smile settles into his habitual smirk and he traces a finger over the whorl of her ankle bone, trailing slowly upward. )

Theoretically, probably. But why would I go for the ankle when there are so many better places to bite? Even if you're determined to stay below the waist, we could do better than the ankle.

[martyric]

( for elena, the moments aren't so pronounced.

she'd be lying if she tried to claim that there weren't times where she felt...something. where she could imagine the world damon lived in where they're friends, good friends. there are these moments, brief and fleeting, where she wonders if it's ever something more -- but he hasn't mentioned it, and if there exists a time where her and stefan aren't together, where her and damon ever step into that kind of a relationship, she hasn't been able to feel as much in their connection.

this speaks more to her inability ( and unwillingness ) to gather pieces of information from another person's mind than damon's mental fortitude, but that definitely plays a part too.

and here's one of those moments, where his hands are gentle around her ankle and his finger touches gently against the thin skin, and she wonders. she wonders what it might be like to know everything he knows.

maybe there's something she's missing out on. )

I wouldn't say determined, but fine. ( she squints, still playful, still amused, and stretches out her leg a little more. ) Where would you suggest?

[blooded]

( it's easier to be like this without stefan here. probably damon should feel bad about that — his brother did give up his own freedom to save damon's life, after all. he even does, a little bit. given the choice between a simpler friendship with elena and his brother's freedom, damon knows what he would choose. but that doesn't change the fact that it is easier. the spectre of stefan doesn't hang over them the way it has in the past, forcing space between them where there mightn't have been any otherwise. they just... are. simple, fun, friends.

it's terrible of damon, but he is grateful for it. )

Well, ( he says slowly, drawing out the word. his finger trails from her ankle up her calf, slowly traversing the skin left bare by her dress. ) The best places to bite have the biggest concentration of veins. ( his hand his moved higher now, but stops at elena's knee. only his thumb brushes the inside of her thigh, and his eyes stay sharp on hers. ) Your thigh has a whole branch of arteries — some of them are hard to get to, but there's one close enough to the skin you can use it to take your pulse.

( abruptly, damon gives a tug to elena's knee, pulling her further up the couch and laying her legs fully in his lap. over the dress, he presses his fingers to her inner thigh, feeling the blood rushing beneath it. )

The femoral artery. Feel that? Your pulse? If I was going to feed on you anywhere but your neck or wrist, it'd be there.

[martyric]

( really, she probably could have anticipated this the moment he said below the waist. elena's a smart girl, after all, it's not like it went completely over her head.

it's just complicated. she doesn't know whether or not she should feel guilty, whether or not she should feel anything. her and stefan didn't part on good terms but they didn't break up, and the last time damon tried to kiss her-

well, she remembers that moment all too clearly. 'i'm not katherine', she'd said. what a joke that turned out to be. )

Huh, you don't see people taking pulses from there very often. ( she remarks, and it's all very casual, light, fun, as if his hand isn't currently pressed into her leg and she isn't currently gazing up at him like it's some cheap romantic comedy and the music is about to start swelling in the background.

but it's a moment, she can't deny that, and it feels almost dangerous. not that she feels in any danger from damon, she knows well enough to know that he poses no risk to her any time soon, but they can both feel it when her heart rate spikes slightly, and she breaks the eye contact without warning.

jesus christ. ) I think- I mean, trying to bite my thigh would just be awkward.

( it's supposed to be as funny and teasing as everything else she's said today, but the humour catches. is she nervous now? she's been a lot of things around damon in the last month, but nervous....nervous hasn't really been one of them. )

[blooded]

( she's not katherine. if damon knew she was doubting the truth of that... god, he'd compose fucking sonnets to the ways she is nothing like katherine pierce. elena is her own person, entirely, beautifully separate from katherine, and damon will never not be grateful for that.

her pulse quickens, racing underneath his fingers, and elena averts her eyes frm his, and usually that would be damon's cue to leave her alone. to move his hand from her thigh and to make a joke that would make things normal again. but he's captivated, by her, by the spell of the moment, and he doesn't lift his hand. )

Not as much as you'd think, ( he says, his voice low. his fingers trace circles around her thigh, slow movements over the dress. it'd be easy to slip his hand under it, to feel her skin again. ) Messy, yeah, but not awkward. Without clothes in the way, the mess hardly even matters. And with the way it feels... No one's going to worry about that, anyway.

( elena's a smart girl. it'd be impossible for her to have missed the implication, even before damon made it rather more explicit: the only times he's ever bitten somewhere here, it's been foreplay. his eyes had dropped to follow his own fingers in their circles, but now he lifts them to hers again, his gaze intense. )

[martyric]

No, I guess they wouldn't...

( she's stuck on that word - dangerous. it's dangerous, this is dangerous, her position, this feeling, this feeling. she's not used to being scared of her feelings. before her parents died she'd embraced them without hesitation, had leapt into a relationship with her long time best friend without so much as a thought for what might occur if it didn't work out. even after they'd died she'd been reserved, not scared. things had been muted, but it was sadness, not fear, that had seen her withdrawing from the world.

whatever is happening here with damon is an entirely different beast. the girl who had hated him feels almost like a different person - and elena has to wonder if maybe she is. it might have only been a month, but it's been one of the weirdest months of her life. she's learned about vampires, mentally connected with a dozen different strangers, been fed on, healed, and through almost all of it, there has been damon. she'd be naive if she tried to claim she had no idea about how he might feel for her, but it genuinely hadn't occurred to her that maybe her feelings were moving somewhere similar.

would it really be so wrong to indulge this a little longer? )

What does it feel like?

( there's been a rush when he's bitten her, sure, but it's all been a little bit of fear mingled with adrenaline and that natural fight or fight reflex that she's had to forcefully chase away. the closest it's ever come to intimate was the first time, but even then elena isn't sure that she'd use that word. intense might be closer to the mark, honestly.

she shouldn't ask. she shouldn't hold his eye contact and wonder briefly if she's been holding her breath along with it the whole time. she shouldn't let the hand at her thigh creep any higher, shouldn't be able to feel her pulse quickening. )

[blooded]

( for once, damon and elena are in full agreement: this is dangerous. letting himself do this, getting this close to her, touching her like this... it's so dangerous, for so many reasons. he has self-control issues at the best of times, and this — well, it's the best of times for the complete wrong reasons. keeping himself from following through will require a herculean effort damon is really just not sure he possesses the willpower to put forward, even knowing all the reasons that now is not a good time to fuck up.

there's so much she still doesn't know. so much about him, about her, about their lives and the things they've been through, the things he's done. she deserves to know more before she makes this kind of choice. )

Remember when I bit your neck? ( damon's focus shifts from elena's eyes to her neck, and he leans over her, bringing his hand up to brush over the marks his teeth left in her skin. his thumb rests there, light, just over her trachea. when he speaks, his voice is low again. ) It's like that, but... more. It hurts less, because your thigh is less delicate — but it's so sensitive, you're aware of everywhere you're being touched. You can feel the pull through your whole torso.

( slowly, he raises his eyes to look into hers again. )

[martyric]

( of course she remembers. even if there wasn't two scars in small, neat circles at her throat, the memory is seared into her mind. and for a moment she very physically recalls the sensation - the pain, but also the warmth, the rush that came with it, the odd absence she felt for a brief moment when it was all over.

while there's no denying that there's always some level of intimacy to this routine that they have, to elena offering up her veins and letting damon sink his fangs into her skin, there's a difference between the relative distance of the pulse point at her wrist. in comparison to the first time it's almost more detached.

in comparison to this it might as well be clinical. )

And it's better, right?

( it's just curiosity that sees her asking, pure and simple. it's not as if she's thinking about it now. it's not as if she's acutely focused on the point where his fingers had just dug into the skin of her thigh, and is now wondering what it would be like if they were fangs. it's not as if she's all too aware of just how thin the dress she's wearing is, now. it's not as if she's thinking about just how compromising this position is, with damon's hand on her throat and their eyes locked on each other.

she's not thinking about any of that, at all. no way. )

Why haven't you done it, then?

( she knows why, elena is hardly that naive, but in the midst of all this danger there's just a little something. it's something that damon spotted in elena the moment he met her, something that flares up now, that calling for passion, and danger. she holds the eye contact and stares back at him, and even if elena thinks it might be just a little too hard to breathe right now, she's not going to break the contact. )

[blooded]

( elena's memory of the moment bleeds over to damon, and he feels it, as visceral as if he'd been the one bitten. he calls to mind his own memory, the press of her back against his chest, the flow of her blood in his mouth, warming him from the inside out, her pulse racing beneath his thumb. the memories feed each other, shared between them this way, and for the first time in this conversation damon's breathless, his pupils dark and wide on elena's, though he's not compelling her at all. )

It's more.

( there's something about tradition to recommend the neck as the place to feed, but yes, damon has always enjoyed the thigh. he shares a feeling again, this time called upon from 1864, when he was human and feeding katherine. those details he keeps out of it, their having no place in this moment, but the feeling of being so connected with another person, damn near breathing, pulses racing, existing in tandem — that has a place here. the heat pooled low in his belly is almost incidental to that feeling of connection, but it's just as undeniable: the fingers ghosting along his inner thighs send sparks dancing through his nerves, his fingers clench in the bedclothes, his breath hitches —

the memory stops suddenly, and damon sits up, blinking at elena for a moment before a smirk spreads slowly over his lips. )

Less messy to go for the wrist.

( in more ways than one, elena. )

[martyric]

( the feedback of the two of their memories brushing against one another is unlike anything she has experienced here on the station, in the waypoint -- but maybe it's actually just the position that they're in. because that's kind of unlike anything she's experienced here, too. hell, it's unlike anything she's experienced full stop.

and then it changes and she's feeling his sensation instead, his experiences of being bitten, and while the idea of damon as a human might have captivated elena with curiosity any other day...it's kind of the last thing on her mind right now. who can blame her? there's a lot going on.

she's never been tempted like this. there has been the occasional moment, a palpable something that seems like it could hint a suggestion at something more, but it's only ever been a mild curiosity, a small niggle, a rogue thought. nothing more. and now he's a foot away from her, maybe less, and elena's eyes drop to his lips as she considers just leaning forward-


and then damon sits up, and just like that the spell breaks. )

Yeah. ( she speaks quickly, immediately internally cringing at the slightly breathless way her voice comes out, and swallows as she shuffles on the couch until she's sitting back up. her dress is still hitched up slightly, material gathered around her thighs, and she very deliberately doesn't look at it. it's killing her, not adjusting it, but it'll also be just as bad to draw attention to it.

her heart is in her throat, and it's not a good feeling this time. ) Good- good thing we've got that one down to a good habit now, huh.

( this has just turned into about the most awkward encounter she's ever experienced. )