etrayalogs | OCTOBER MINGLE

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OCTOBER MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: October 25th - Early November
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, and some holiday fun!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Supernatural elements, temporary physical alterations, mild horror and jump scares, spooky scary skeleton robots, mild suggestion of compulsion or loss of control, mild body horror.

⏵ arrival ⏴
Welcome to Etraya! Everything is fine now. 😊

Arrival goes expected - or it does for the most part. Aurora greets newcomers in the hospital as they awaken, offers a brief explanation and gives them their earpiece so they can communicate with one another.

Around the hospital and outside of it, Companion Bots are hard at work decorating the city for Halloween—complete with festive touches like pumpkins, cobwebs, and glowing ghost decorations. The atmosphere is fun, light-hearted, and maybe just a little spooky. 🎃👻

Some carry buckets of candy, and offer those they come across a trick or treat. Except both options are, in fact, treats. 🍬 Tricks are treats specifically wrapped in a green wrapper that very clearly declares that they are tricks. Treats are wrapped in orange, and labeled with treat! Companion bots will recommend that those who do want to take a trick take them when they're beside their friends. There won't be any permanent effects from these, nor will they be terrible tricks - just fun ones! All effects last roughly 24 hours.

Giggle Drops cause uncontrollable giggling that bubbles up randomly, even during serious conversations.
Beasty Bites cause characters to grow small fangs, and they will begin craving red foods - apples, cherries, etc.
Bat Gummies cause small, bat-like shadows to follow characters around wherever they wander. These shadows are harmless, and super cute.
Pumpkin Puff is a cotton-candy-like treat, that causes their voices to change dramatically. Either becoming significantly deeper or perhaps very high-pitched, as if they've recently inhaled helium.
Floating Fudge gives characters the ability to float in the air! Just a few feet off the ground, but it's still fun. Right?

⏵ getting spooky! ⏴
Etraya is embracing the season - and maybe even going a little overboard.

Around the hospital, a few small pop-up shops are manned by festively dressed companion bots. They offer samples to everyone - although sampling isn't really necessary. After all, everything here is free!

Candy Shops: Perfect for stocking up on sweets and treats for the upcoming trick-or-treating event. These will not stock the tricks the companion bots offer around Etraya, but instead only carry harmless sweets. They do take custom requests, too, and are happy to create the treats others want!

Costume Shops: Find the perfect costume for Halloween! But beware... rumor has it, if you wear a costume, you might become whatever you dressed up as for a few hours. Those who put on vampire costumes may find themselves suddenly craving blood and growing fangs - those with werewolf costumes may find themselves feeling a little wolfish. These effects may last a few hours, up to a few days.

⏵ masquerade ⏴

In the spirit of mystery, Etraya will be hosting a Masquerade Ball outside the hospital through the nights of October 26th and 27th. Dance anonymously with other attendees and make new friends under the cover of your disguise. Everyone receives a single rose they can exchange with someone else throughout the evening. At the stroke of midnight, the roses will reveal the true identities of your masked dance partners. 🌹

⏵ all hallow's eve ⏴

On October 31st, multiple companion bots set up shop along one of the walkways through the larger island towards the center. With chairs and small booths set up, they offer candies out to trick-or-treaters who wander around through the first part of the night. Some of them will request trick-or-treaters to do a trick for them, to earn a bigger treat! They may ask characters to dance, sing, or show a talent unique to them. Can your character bend themselves into a pretzel? They want to see it, and will offer them a nice bracelet in exchange! Can they whistle super loud? Maybe they'll get a nice piece of kevlar armor after showing off. This can be anything within reason - bike parts, small weaponry, armor pieces, toys, canvases for painting. Please request these items HERE.

Not everything is as light-hearted as it seems, however. Aurora issues a warning to the citizens of Etraya: Do not stay outside after midnight. Strange happenings have been reported, and those who disobey may start seeing visions of past loved ones. The visions are compelling—guiding people away from the safety of the buildings and into the mysterious mist surrounding the outskirts.

But be careful, these spirits may not be as friendly as they seem.

If you come into contact with these ghosts, you’ll feel a chilling cold, leading to hypothermia-like symptoms. The longer you’re exposed, the worse it gets. Treatment? You’ll need to be warmed up quickly.

⏵ skellys! ⏴

The Companion Bots wanted to join in on the fun, so they painted themselves with glow-in-the-dark paint to look like skeletons. But in the dead of night, for those already suffering from the chilling touch of the ghosts, seeing glowing skeletons approach from the darkness might not be the most comforting sight. 🤖💀

Stay safe, warm up, and enjoy the festivities!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

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I think this is the one. I'm going to go ahead and get it.

( after giving chrollo a solid and confident nod, she held out her hand to him to give him a thumbs up. soon she spun around yet again and headed back into the changing room.

she was going to change, purchase the costume and head back to the apartment she claimed to prepare for the masquerade tonight. )

( woah slow down there gorgug-

that was quite a bit of information for heather to process and while she had arrived in what was a hospital, she was now starting to wonder just how exactly this place worked. was he on a spaceship because that's where he was on in his world? or did echo bring them in like that to test them out?

all good questions as they began to get closer to the apartments. )

No one told me about any crashes or spaceships. I guess we were brought in differently? But now I'm curious, did anyone die during the crash?

You're a good person Harold.

( she's not going to cry over this or be too emotional, her reputation was already at stake with the way she had behaved before.

but his comments and thoughts do touch her, stirring a sense of justice and wanting to help others too. whether he had been a teacher for a brief stint or not, he was clearly still teaching people here and there.

at least as far as heather was concerned, who knew what the truth was. she was at least hoping what he was showing her was the real him. )

Well anytime you need more help with carrying stuff or need a tea taste tester, I'm here. If you feed me any weird teas that make me do stuff though, I'll be annoyed.

( just a joke! )

Yes, I'll try to refrain from drugging you, [ he says with maximal sarcasm, partly to cover how taken aback and touched he is himself at being called a good person.

It's not that he wants to refute it, but Harold feels so much like he is only doing what he can. Some small tiny piece of resistance against the horrible merciless entropy of the universe. He's always tried to be this person, it's just now his life has narrowed down to so small an avenue that he has nothing else to distract him.

They can change the world, or someone else will change it for them. Isn't that what Nathan said? And Nathan was really in the end right about everything.

He purposefully changes subject. ] Those books I was carrying? It turns out the library rather came with me. You're welcome any time. That's where we're staying now, myself and Mr. Reese.

Your friend right? And is that place really suited for anyone to live in?

( then again, it wasn't like anyone here seemed to care too deeply about what was going on, or rather what anyone was doing in particular.

after all, heather claimed a random apartment as hers and so far no one had complained. )

Are there beds there? I haven't been to it myself actually.

Good choice.

(he'll mimic, two thumbs up, even!

that is a very convenient timing, he should swing by a market and get himself some food to eat as a back-up in case the food is laced in the masquerade, if there's even any food to begin with.

he'll say his goodbyes and get going.)

[The dead of Shadowheart's world have a nasty habit of persisting beyond their natural end, and necromancy is hardly a difficult skill to learn. She's well familiar with ghosts, and well equipped to fend them off. But the way this woman speaks, the pause as she stumbles over her words, makes Shadowheart wonder whether ghosts in other worlds might be a less common and more dangerous matter. She glances around through the fog, searching for signs of movement, and sees only the stranger's red magic reflected back.

Scratch whines, sniffing the air before pressing his nose to the ground and snuffling around the woman's feet, ears pressed back against the top of his head as he searches for the source of everyone's unease.]

Ghosts often look like the person they were in life. Know any spirits with unfinished business who might be bound to you?

[Man, he feels like he's back in school again...]

Pretty good explanation. You're definitely better at explaining things than me, and I'm the teacher.

[He laughs.]

Probably rude to ask but did you name yourself? Or did someone willingly give you that name? Feel free to not answer if you don't want to.

[His name is a complete fake out to draw suspicion away from him, but. He's just a little curious with his new companion and is happy to just strike up conversation.]

"Exactly!"

The two of them may be having separate conversations, but Vincent feels the need to vent a little about the madness he had to endure. Heather understands, partially, but he probably would bore her with all his complaints. Or maybe, she would like to know how angry the whole matter made him.

"Don't you feel those with power end up becoming lunatics that can't understand average people's lives?" He holds his hand up. "No, no, that's not it. They think they know best how to help others without thinking of the ramifications, is a better way to put it."

'Course I have to think about it.

[ He doesn't snap his words at her, but instead waves her comment off with a flick of his wrist. ]

If we end up successful in sparing our world, I may return. I may return a corpse. [ A wag of his finger and smile on his lips. ] Which is hilarious to think about, don't you think? Returning as a corpse. Like I'm a book being checked out. [ His lips widen more as he finds the humor. ]

But the Order will always be part of my thoughts. [ Such is life. ] However, I won't bother you too much with it, Heather. [ He reaches out and pats the air over her shoulder rather than making contact. ] To say it was unkind to you would be an understatement, you may very well be the greatest victim of the Order here and then.

[ He pulls his hand back. ] My faith should not diminish your pain, though. Shame that none of the others could learn this simple lesson, no? [ Another wave of his hand. ] Bah, but we're still on this -- so what do you want to talk about?

Want to dress up like a serial killer?

Edited 2024-11-15 03:15 (UTC)

[Dazai can't say he's given that matter particularly a great deal of thought; he enjoys the company of beautiful women, certainly, but being one? Eh. In the Port Mafia, it wouldn't have made much difference, either way.

At any rate, the question is a far more interesting topic of conversation. Dazai hums, pillowing his head against his arms as they walk.]

You could say that. [Whether or not you should is another question.] Though I never did quite understand the appeal of "death do us part". Humans fear death, and yet nobody wants to be the one left behind, either.

[A paradox, though it's hardly a unique one. To live is to bear with contradictions upon contradictions. Most people's choices don't tend to be rational. There's entire branches of psychology based on that simple fact.

He turns to Krouse, thoughtful.]

Are you familiar with Romeo and Juliet, by chance? I'm still not sure to what degree different Earths overlap.

[ Krouse taps the rim of his glass against his mask's 'mouth', a tiny clink mostly lost to the ongoing celebrations, such as they are. ]

I'd drink to that. The eternal lament of anyone with spare brain cells and functional sensory systems.

[ He shakes his head, lowing his 'sipped' drink. ]

'Functional sensory systems'. I've been listening to the bots too much.

[ A cunning ruse to distract from Krouse's new commitment to getting John to spit up a solid 'tomfoolery' one of these days, or at least a 'shenanigans'. Given John's air of discipline, Krouse might even be content with a good, old-fashioned 'enough of this dicking around'.

Not that Krouse himself will evoke that. Intentionally. Ideally, someone else takes the fall on that one. ]

Do you talk to them often?

[ John hasn't talked to them apart from absolute necessity, though Harold has interrogated them (not that he would call it such) and shared his findings with John. That's the benefit of being a team, of having Harold, an AI expert that he can trust. Those first few days without Harold were bleak, John is only able to stand here and make jokes about 'tomfoolery' because he has Harold here. He doesn't want to envision who he'd be without Harold again. ]

What kind of expedition were you going on? Were you going to this "unexplored continent"?

[ It's small talk, but John is just here to gauge more about the people around him. Get a feeling of the climate of the populace here. Not every conversation needs to get at the heart of the problem. ]

[ John doesn't take offense at the annoyance, and especially when she follows it up with a measured response. ]

I've been cooking for myself since I do need to eat. I just have to hope nothing is ever wrong with the groceries. Thanks for the offer, though. I take it you have some sort of supernatural ability?

I miss her, he wants to say, but doesn't. He should talk about something else. Class A was shattered. Ashido took Midnight's loss particularly hard. That battle was a big part of why Izuku left to draw the danger to himself. His compulsion to save everyone dear to him is no less present here.

Katsuki is freezing. It's like leaning against a chilly stone wall. Izuku nearly jumps out of his skin. Also, it's Katsuki, who wears prickliness like armor, but Izuku is resolute in his mission to keep him warm.

At least Katsuki seems to have enough presence of mind to remember that holding a hot water bag to his center can help stave off hypothermia. Izuku remembers their training too. He has to observe him for signs, which means when Katsuki glances at him, he's already staring intently.

Izuku has come to expect the little thrill whenever he meets his eyes, receives a compliment, or even just has a relatively normal conversation with him. He can feel his heart beat faster, but the extra heat is probably good in this situation. He can live with this undercurrent. He cares more about Katsuki's well-being than examining these feelings.

"You have to stay awake," he agrees with urgency, nudging his shoulder insistently with his and closing his hand on his bicep. He's prepared to pinch him awake if need be. "Think of... I dunno... facts, we can ask each other questions. How old were we when we bought our first All Might trading cards together?"

Yes, but I was brought here before. The Kakin empire built a rather sturdy ship for the expedition, so I was one of thousands set to go.

(half right, as we know.)

I was going to simply take notes of the findings and calamities we find, if there truly were any to witness.

[She shrugs, her head tilting back and forth as she blithely says,] I'm a cleric. [Most people here don't really know what that means, but she says it anyway, in case he does.] A healer. I can cure most any wound, and a few other things besides. Diseases, curses, that sort of thing.

[Her eyes rake over the whole of his body, taking a moment to admire the physique up-close that she'd previously been admiring from afar.]

And what about you? Your attitudes towards food aside, you're too muscular for a chef. So what sorts of skills have you got?

[ That's... really useful. Really, really useful. John thinks of all the times he's had stitches, of being stuck in that wheelchair in that apartment after Snow shot him. If he had an ally that could speed up that process or eliminate it entirely...

He catches her gaze and realizes he might have an angle. She could just be evaluating him the way he evaluates any target, but there might be something more there. He's well aware that he can be considered attractive. ]

Who says chefs can't enjoy working out? [ He gives a bit of a sly smile before continuing on. ] I have a military background, I like to keep in shape. It's useful.

[ That's true but not the entire story. As usual he's reluctant to give away too much, it's an urge he has to fight against, but some truth is necessary. He wants to make a connection here and that requires honesty. It's a practical trade. ]

[ That seems... like an odd choice. An unexplored continent full of potential calamities and thousands of people were going? ]

That's a large group for an expedition to an unknown place. Not to mention a ship would have to be rather large to accommodate all those people.

Not exactly, [ he admits with a grimace, thinking of how painful sleeping on the cot is for his back sometimes, ] but we're working on it.

[ Both of them are too paranoid to stay in the provided apartments. And truthfully, it is nice to have a piece of home; it's sanity-restoring, to feel even a small part of New York came with him. Even if all of John's guns are now water toys and all of Harold's computers are missing, the building itself has a psychologically comforting effect. They're still going to build it up to be as safe as possible, of course, taking nothing for granted, but they'd rather do that there than anywhere else. ]

We'll need to install some security measures, but nothing of consequence around here is cheap, it seems. I can only hope our first mission isn't too onerous.

[ Considering Harold already has a whole list of things he wants to use his points on... ]

[ He didn't mean to be so opaque, Harold just gets easily lost in his thoughts on these things. There's a reason the Machine thought his natural long-term cover would be a professor of computer ethics. ]

More the decision for when they do use violence. [ He wrestles his many-layered thoughts into some kind of sensible order. ]

It's easy, too easy, to sanction violence when you are removed from it. And the further removed you are, the easier it is. I don't like the idea of my creations being used as a tool to provide that distance.

[ That's, you know, a bit of an understatement, but Harold is too reserved to let on. ]

[There's something about her cursing in turn that makes him want to laugh despite the situation. His lips pursed into a flat line to hold back his laughter through it all, but he does find himself at ease to know that she is taking him seriously. Well aware that it's a bit silly to worry so much about ghosts, but there's something off about this place if he's using his loved ones against him. A shaky breath escaping from his lips momentarily, gaining what composure he has left to try and keep a straight face as his mind wanders the possibilities of why she could be a ghost.

He can't think too long on it though, being offered the lantern and all. It's a sweet gesture, and her earlier statement about letting Lilith's ghost take him comes to mind. Some part of him wondering if he should bring it up or not, but he doesn't. Instead, he just smiles at her, and takes the lantern with a soft nod. One hand gripping it, while the other one reaches out to pat her head in thanks. A soft, but fatherly gesture.]

Thanks sweetheart.

[It's said with the utmost affection, but it isn't off putting. He pulls his hand back shortly after the comment, and walks right beside her so that they can keep at a mutual pace rather than have him stay behind. Immediately noticing the benefits of having the lantern, the cold and odd feeling of being haunted beginning to subside. Silently making a mental note to have her keep the lantern once they're back.]

Do you know where you're going or is this a shot in the literal dark?

Oh, we're in the same field then. Never heard of an artificer but maybe we can touch brains or something, sometime. When we're not walking in the dead of night.

[Another soft laugh, before his expression does turn a bit more serious at the topic changing. It's honestly something that he wants to forget about, since the implications could mean the worst back home. He didn't know what was happening back there, and given what they were here for, it's hard not to think the worst. He really can't help but sigh, scratching the back of his neck.]

Honestly, I won't lie to you. I thought I saw my wife, but she was a ghost. Problem is, when I left, she was very much alive. So, I'm not entirely sure if she's dead, or if this place is just playing a good ol' prank on me.

[It was actually a bit heart warming that this stranger seems to care about his comfort. He'll keep that in mind, as the bitter cold still surrounds them. This definitely wasn't normal, but he hasn't been here long enough to know what this place was like.]

Honestly, I still feels something surrounding us, but not sure what it is. And I don't know if it's haunting me specifically, or... If it's trying to haunt us both. Have you not seen anything since you've been out?

[He taps at his chin in curiosity, trying to ignore the fact that it feels like something or someone is trying to touch his ankles.]

You're cold too, right?

[Accelerator is very quick to shake his head.]

No way, anyone can explain this in layman's terms. It's not that hard.

[Either way, he doesn't really mind answering.]

No, scientists came up with it. I was too young to think it up myself.

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OCTOBER MINGLE

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