etrayalogs | MISSION 004 WRAP-UP

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MISSION 004 WRAP-UP

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: August 9th and going forward
WHERE: Returning to Etraya
WHAT: End of Mission 004 Log
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A

⏵ there's no place like home ⏴
On the morning of August 9th, every Etrayan’s earpiece receives a message from Eos: FAIL or PASS in big, bold letters with no further context. Players are free to choose which response their character gets; if they were able to go through Moorecroft without letting on that they were from Etraya, or another city bubble in general, they will receive a PASS. Those whose identities as Etrayans were spoiled, will get a FAIL. This response has no bearing on whether or not they participated in the midnight breakouts, nor what condition they’ve managed to get themselves into.

It wouldn’t be the first time some kids from Moorecroft tore up the town looking for answers, even if it is the first time in a while they’ve managed to get as far as they had and cause as much damage as they have.

Regardless, any responses sent to Eos will bounce right back to the original sender, with a RECEIVER UNAVAILABLE error: it seems that, shortly after sending through their results, all of those from Etraya have been disconnected from Eos’ network, and reconnected to Aurora’s by the friendly companion bots stepping through another portal in the middle of Moorecroft’s park. They’ll offer waves of their hands, and usher everyone back to Etraya proper. They’ll offer explanations similar to what Aurora would give to newcomers arriving to those who were dropped in with Eos, as well as offer to assist them in getting settled in Etraya.

The companion bots will allow Etrayans to step through the portal with items they can carry, minus the smaller android babies. If they insist, it will be explained to them that, much like the companion bots native to Etraya, these babies are meant to assist newcomers in settling, and they cannot take them from Eos.

Welcome home.

At the very least, everything looks normal on this side.

⏵ whispered secrets of the night ⏴
Or it seems normal enough. While previous excursions outside of Etraya have featured environmental changes, the city bubble now appears exactly as it had before everyone left. Buildings stand as pristine as ever, animals have been fed and cared for, and everyone is invited to return to their homes for a quick rest.

But as you meander through the familiar streets and over bridges, an unsettling stillness clings to the air. The usual sounds of Etraya–the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds, and the chatter from the companion bots– feel slightly off. Shadows stretch a little too long, lingering in the corners of your vision, and the light, although warm, seems to cast an unnatural tint over everything. It’s as if the city itself had been holding its breath in everyone’s absence.

As days pass, the eerie stillness begins to ebb. The animals gradually resume their usual activities, and companion bots return to their routines, chatting with Etrayans as they wander the city and help set up new facilities.

Yet despite the return of normalcy, a sense of unease lingers. The city feels different as if it’s been touched by something while you were away. There are no curfews on Etraya, unlike Moorecroft, but those who wander in the dark may be unable to help but notice that it almost feels as if something is watching you, waiting for you to let your guard down. Etraya appears to be the same, but something has changed, shifted. And it’s only a matter of time before that change reveals itself.

Those who wander outside at night during their first several days back will feel like they are being watched, but will be unable to find what is watching them, regardless of the method they use to try and discern what it is.

⏵ sea la vie ⏴ The unsettling sensation of being watched gradually fades over the next few days. Etraya begins to feel more like the place you remember: slightly empty, but comfortably so. The weather shifts unpredictably, with cool breezes one day and almost stifling warmth the next.

The companion bots, seemingly oblivious to any lingering unease, appear to be in full vacation mode. They spend a significant amount of time on the two small, sandy islands that are just south of the hospital, setting up for what looks like the perfect beach day. Chairs are arranged in neat rows, colorful towels are spread out across the sand, and a small shack has been built just off the side of the bridge that offers swimsuits and any other beach-related item that they could need - or most of them! The narrow river means surfboards are out of the question; instead, the bots provide massive tube floaties, perfect for lazily drifting down the currents.

⏵ polaroid pandemonium ⏴ Everyone receives an invitation to Corrine’s Cafe, along with a table number. The invitation may arrive via a companion bot delivering it to them physically, or as a direct message from Aurora via their earpiece. The invitation instructs them to meet at the cafe at a specific time and sit at a designated table.

At each table, two envelopes sit in front of two chairs, each containing a collection of photos. These images capture significant moments from your history - events you may have forgotten or ones that have shaped who you are. On the back of each envelope, instructions for the task await: discuss the moment featured in the photo with your partner, and share what it means to you. Whether it’s a memory of a terrible ordeal, or one of your happiest times with your loved ones. The choice to participate is yours; however, Aurora and the companion bots make it clear that your place at the table is pre-reserved whether you show up or not - meaning, your photos may still be viewed by others, even if you decide not to show up.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

This log marks the end of their visit to Moorecroft! Characters return to Etraya on August 9th regardless of what shenanigans they were getting up to within the other city bubble. We'll be following up with the mission: breakout threads, as well as continuing to follow through with NPC threads and provide further information for those still participating in plotting.

For any questions relating to the contents of this log, please use the mod queries thread. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Are we assigned the person we must share our photos with?

Nope! You can either choose people to thread this with or leave open prompts for whoever to interact with.

Wonderful 💙 Thank you!

⏵ there's no place like home ⏴(locked to the family)

[When Kate's earpiece went off, she'd been getting ready for work. There's a moment of confusion before she shrugs it off and heads to the kitchen for breakfast.

Maybe someone else has an idea about the message?]

Coffee.

[She's not very articulate before caffeine.]

⏵ sea la vie ⏴

[There's nothing like a day spent at the beach, so Kate can be found spending several days there. Lazing along the river on a tube, walking Lucky along the sand, or just enjoying the sun and the view from under an umbrella.]

All we need is some beach volleyball or a Frisbee and this would be perfect.

⏵ polaroid pandemonium ⏴

[Whoever comes along to join Kate at her table will find her already peaking at one of her photos. The smile on her face says a lot about the image she's looking at. It's obviously a good memory, or so it seems. She'll worry about the other one in a few minutes, after she greets her partner for the game.]

⏵Wild Card⏴

[ooc: add your own or let me know, and I'll write something.]

01. whispered secrets of the night

( she's usually the one that is doing the watching at night so having that reversed?

she doesn't like it. it's a new feeling too because she's been out plenty before while she's been stuck in this godforsaken place and she's never looked over her shoulder as much as she is tonight. it's disconcerting and it's really pissing her the hell off.

she even stops a few times and searches her surroundings but finds nothing. it's annoying. it's fucking frustrating. )

Okay, if you're there, come out before I break your face.

( it's not an idle threat. )

02. sea la vie

( you know who's not a beach person? jessica. you know who's there anyway? jessica.

but, she shows up in her usual armor of jeans, tee shirt and leather jacket despite the setting. she finds a chair and plops herself in it, pulling out the flask and tipping her sunglasses down over her eyes.

she doesn't really know what she's doing here but she's here. don't ask her to get into a bathing suit or go in the water. that will not be happening. )

03. wildcard

( i had major surgery just before the event so i wasn't able to participate and i'm slowly making my way back here with some general prompts. feel free to tag, everythings's ota and if you wanna discuss, find me at jortles for chatter. )

[ Will be putting up starters as they occur to me or as requested. Hit me up at

seemarierun if you want something special. Wildcards welcome. ]

[ The bots aren’t sentient. They don’t have whims. Tim refuses to give them that much credit.

The machines didn’t simply wake up and decide it was time for a beach party. They were directed to do it, because someone wanted them at the beach.

Therefore, Tim is at the beach, because it’s all too suspicious that suddenly the riverside is stocked with everything that the beachcomber could want to lure them in. He’s already raided the shack for a white bucket hat, rashguard, swim shorts and an entire tube of zinc sunscreen that he’s bringing with him. It’s his now.

(If Echo wanted someone to fight sea monsters, they should have kidnapped Aqualad.)

He drops into a chair near the middle of row and begins slathering on sunscreen until he’s deathly pale. ]

You here to play lifeguard too?

Edited 2024-08-10 01:10 (UTC)

( ooc— open + private starters below. if u have sth u wanna do or u wanna figure out a way to shoot the shit, just send me a pm or pp @

spandex! )

( it's not that clint can knows precisely why he's being invited to the cafe, but he can hazard a guess based off the last (first) time. the one that was "mandatory". this time, apparently, isn't, but it doesn't stop clint from turning up, primarily out of a desire to see what — if any — information is being shared about him slash him-adjacent.

the envelopes are opened as soon as clint arrives, the instructions entirely ignored. the first features a young adult of maybe nineteen, unmistakenly a teenage clint, clad in a questionable suede, fringed pant-and-jacket set, red bow in hand, a set of targets in the distance, in a— circus tent?

(yes.)

where clint is evidently the focus of the shot, the crowd visible clearly has its attention split, a handful of heads turned towards clint, while the remainder appear shocked and startled, focus spread in different directions. the implication would be a commotion going on elsewhere, one entirely unexpected, one that hadn't succeeded — at that immediate moment in time, at least — in catching clint's attention.

even if, based off the pinch of his brow and the curve of his lips, it'd appear he was at least aware.

and in the present, once the photo's been studied with critical interest, it's dropped with apparent disinterest. it's not that it wasn't a defining moment for clint barton — it absolutely was — but whatever bothered the clint barton of sixteen(ish) years ago clearly doesn't bother the clint barton of now. he's busy turning his attention to coffee (naturally) and a pastry. it's not particularly elegant, and it's only when crumbs drop onto the photo and the envelope that clint remembers there's something there.

right—.

he leans forward and over the table, attention sliding back to the photo for a whole ten seconds (maybe). )

I dunno, ( uttered around a mouthful of pain aux raisins. (he's charming.) ) —Think that was the day Iron Man ruined my show.

( ooc— v happy to write alternatives for this, just hmu, fam. )

Edited 2024-08-10 10:39 (UTC)

( none of clint's recent trips to the beach have been especially joyous for a myriad of reasons that mostly amount to things like "sharks" and "sized up version of one of his oldest friends attacking people and things" and, once, "children". the latter, he'd mostly been able to ignore in favour of deck chairs (for better or worse, for this is what I'm supposed to be doing or not and it might turn out badly—).

deckchairs is what clint's doing now, floaties going entirely ignored. after moorecroft, after the "die dead at night for breaking curfew" thing, there's the lingering question of why — why etraya and aurora are so different to moorecroft and eos, and that is—

something going to the beach will help shed light on? no. but after a month of getting up early and baking bread (terrible) and pastries (even worse), clint thinks he deserves a break or two. swimshorts, sunglasses (natch), sunscreen (maybe he's missed a spot, who knows—), a towel and, shoved unceremoniously under the chair that he's decided is HIS for at least the next couple of hours (maybe), a small cooler (sandwiches? drinks? yes.).

he may or may not almost be asleep ("resting his eyes") when a shadow falling over both him and the chair signifies someone standing right in the way of the sun (uncool) and, it's a slow moment before he cracks open an eye, his lips quirk, and— )

The only acceptable reason to block the sun is if you're bringing me ice cream. ( or beer. or food, generally. )

i. whispered secrets

[ After the stifling curfew enforced in Moorecroft, perhaps it’s no wonder that Fett stays out later than usual upon their return to Etraya. It should be a bit of a relief to have the freedom to do that again—to patrol the mostly-deserted area surrounding his own home, without being harassed by bots or shoved back into an over-crowded, noisy house in the suburbs. It is a relief. So why can’t Fett shake this lingering feeling of unease?

It feels like he’s being watched—or, more so than usual. Fett figures Aurora is usually keeping tabs on them one way or another, but this feels different. Predatory, almost. Like something is waiting to catch him alone.

Which is why he’s here now, out in the woods between central Etraya and the Beviin-Vasur farm, leaning against a tree with seeming nonchalance. If someone—or something wants to confront him, let them. He’s not afraid of being caught alone. And, after the month he’s had? He’s not exactly afraid of a fight, either. ]

ii. polaroid pandemonium

[ By now, Fett has become accustomed to intermittently being called to Corrine’s Cafe for Aurora’s latest “game.” He doesn’t particularly look forward to it; the tasks themselves are often inane at best and actively annoying at worst. The only thing to be said for them is that they tend to be easy enough to achieve: trade a few beads, talk about some contrived topic, that sort of thing. And, at the very least, they’ve been more tolerable than Eos’s assignments had been in her insufferable game of house.

Thus, after receiving Aurora’s message, he shows up on time and finds his place in the cafe without confusion or complaint, sitting down and reading the instructions on the back of the envelope. ’Let’s get this over with.’

”Discuss the moment featured in the photo with your partner, and share what it means to you.”

Okay. So it’s one of those tasks: sharing about themselves, baring their souls—the kind Fett can stand least, in other words.

Time to see just how spiteful Aurora has decided to be. He pulls out a small stack of photos from the envelope and begins to leaf through them.

The first photo shows what seems to be a battlefield—an arena carved of red rock, strewn with broken droids and the bodies of humanoids and animals alike. In the foreground, a boy—Fett, a lifetime ago—crouches in the sand, a silver-and-blue Mandalorian battle helmet clutched in his hands, the dome of it pressed to his forehead.

This one, Fett was almost expecting. The sight of it stirs up the same old sense memories—the sand in his eyes, the cold metal against his fingertips, that all-consuming sense of utter desolation. But if it’s a painful memory, it’s also one he’s relived enough times in his long life that seeing a reminder of it can hardly shock him. He regards the photo for a moment, letting those old sensations fade back into numbness, then shuffles it to the back of the pile and continues onto the next.

The second photo is a mugshot. It shows him as a teenager this time, perhaps 17 or 18 years old, with brown skin and short, messy dark hair. The neck plate and pauldrons of his Mandalorian armor are visible and of the same make and color as Fett’s are now. There’s a grim set to his mouth that doesn’t quite meet his eyes—those are vacant, dazed.

Another bad memory. Fett shuffles it to the back of the pile, ignoring the growing pit in his stomach.

The third photo is difficult to make out. Most of the image is fire—engulfing the ground and snaking up the wet, red walls of the peculiar cavern where it’s been taken. One has to really look to see the figure in the image: curled up on the ground, burning alive.

Now that’s just rude, Fett thinks. The photo shows his escape from the Sarlacc, but in a way that makes it look like he may as well have died down there. Sure, he’d set himself on fire and broken most of his limbs in the process, but he’d gotten out. Nearly killed the damn thing, too.

And the last photo—

The last photo is something that Fett glimpses for all of a second before slamming it facedown on the table—which is, coincidentally, precisely when his partner arrives. As they approach, his fingers twitch around the photo like he wants to crumple it up. But he doesn’t.

There’s a tense, silent moment in which Fett doesn’t move at all. Then, stiffly, he nods at the envelope on their side of the table. ]

Instructions are on the back.

[Unable to get her brain to shut off, Daisy wanders the streets late into the evening after grabbing something to eat at the diner. Her hands are in the back pockets of her jeans, and her body language is loose and relaxed. Which is far from how she feels mentally right now. Not only because of her thoughts, but the uneasy feeling of being watched as well.

Her body goes tense when someone calls out, but after a few seconds her brain catches up and she realizes she knows that voice.]

It's just me.

[Daisy explains after looking around and finding Jessica on the corner of the street she was just about to turn onto. Unaware that she's also experiencing the same feelings of being watched.]

[ Krouse wouldn't call himself a beach person in a habitual sense, but he hasn't had the opportunity to revisit the possibility in a while. If their hosts are going to be good enough to set all of this up for them, he might as well give it a shot.

Unlike Jessica, he's dressed for the occasion. He's not sure he made the right call. He's not strictly self-conscious about taking his shirt off, but his uneven t-shirt patterned tan isn't a great look, and compared to some of the physiques on display - he can at least take some comfort in knowing no one is going to be looking at him for long. There are more six packs on display here than there are at the Kwik Trip.

He's draped a checked blue and white beach towel around his shoulders anyway, his hands closed on it as he wanders up to Jessica bare foot and in black board shorts. It's a relief to have spotted a cynical port in the proverbial storm. ]

Now, I'm not an expert on sunbathing, but I've heard that it works better if some of the sunlight makes contact with your skin.

[ He teases, half-smiling. ]

Oh, it's just you.

[ She relaxes slightly because she doesn't think it's Daisy doing the stalking and giving her that uncomfortable feeling.

Not if she knows what's good for her. She sighs and shakes her head. Maybe she's just letting this place get to her. ]

What are you doing out here?

Isn't sun bad for you? Skin cancer and all that.

[ Her tone is light as she tips her head up in Krouse's direction. He looks much more like he belongs on the beach than she does. ]

You've seen my skin, you know that I'd burn if even a bit of sun got on my skin and I'd rather not deal with that on top of all the other bullshit here.

Yeah.

[Like she said. Daisy can’t shake the feeling despite not seeing anything, and she glances over her shoulder once before her attention is back on Jessica.]

Same as you, I think.

[Out for a late night walk.]

Did you think I was somebody else?

Not sure what I thought.

[ And that's the honest answer. She rolls her shoulders uncomfortably. ]

It feels like there's smoething else out there. You feeling that too or have I just lost my grip on reality finally?

[Daisy’s concern grows outwardly when Jessica admits to the same feelings of being watched. Brows knitting together, Daisy moves her hands from her pocket, crossing her arms instead.]

Well if you are, I am too.

[Licking her lower lip, she then presses them together to keep from frowning. She lowers her voice, unsure of who or what might be listening.]

I’ve felt it ever since I left the apartments. I thought it was just leftover feelings of constantly being watched on Moorecroft, but I haven’t been able to shake the feeling.

Regarding what's watching Etrayans at night, would Vanessa be able to sense if it is similar or different from what lurked in Moorecroft?

Edited 2024-08-12 21:23 (UTC)

Vanessa is welcome to notice that it feels similar!

Good to know, ty!

~~Danger friend has possibly followed them home?! Can they keep it?~~

We will be following up with further information in future logs! Stay tuned to find out...

[ While she knows better than to feel any comfort with what Etraya offers, even with the fading sense of invisible eyes, it is difficult not to be drawn to the beaches now so designed to invite anyone who desires the sand and sea.

Well, it's a river, but one makes do.

If she takes notice of the flask when drawing up beside Jessica, it's with a subtle glance, before her attention turns to the water that teases at the shore. Vanessa is also thoroughly covered, although the elegant dress and coat that adorns her from neck to ankle is a stark contrast to the other woman's rougher jeans and leather. ]

Whatever it is that followed us back seems to have retreated for the moment. I can scarcely sense it now.

[ Krouse smiles wider as he shrugs, then unceremoniously sinks down to a cross-legged seat on the sand. ]

That's why they invented sunscreen...although you'd need, what, SPF Transylvanian?

[ Or: she has a point. ]

I'm kidding, before you toss me into the river. Just came by to say hello. How've you been?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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MISSION 004 WRAP-UP

mod queries.

Polaroids

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Kate Bishop | Marvel 616 | ota

jessica jones . mcu . ota

Tim Drake | OTA

Beach

➵ clint barton, marvel comics

open, polaroid pandemonium

open, sea le vie

Boba Fett | Star Wars: Legends | OTA

i. whispered secrets

ii. polaroid pandemonium

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02

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02. { and see the children sport upon the shore / and hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.

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