OCTOBER MINGLE

[etrayamods]

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⏴

Comments

[onlychildsyndrome]

... why'd he stab you? Was he possessed too?

[ he's very much mortal and the only thing special about him is how traumatized he is. ]

The doll wanted me to kill my ex but I stabbed it instead, so it stabbed me. Kinda my own fault.

[messenger]

No, he thought I was a demon. Dean didn't believe in angels before we met.

[ poor kid. traumatized is the status quo where he comes from. he really fits right in with them, doesn't he? ]

Well, it's good that you resisted.

[ things can only go from bad to worse if you listen to the instructions a possessed doll gives you. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

I didn't wanna hurt her.

I did kill my dad, though.

[ he doesn't sound remotely sorry about it. he hasn't really processed it properly, the whole thing is tied to a series of losses that weren't remotely his fault, and his dad feels like the lesser of them. ]

[messenger]

Oh.

Did you want to?

[ some people do. some people have reason to want to. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

Yeah.

[ it's an easy answer to give. ]

He wasn't— [ he shrugs. ] he wasn't evil or anything, he was just kind of a dick, and he was drunk, and the doll kept telling me shit.

[ trauma, grief, lack of support. the doll made it sound like it was the way out of it. ]

[messenger]

[ castiel gives a considering nod. ]

Fathers are complicated.

Sometimes it's better not to have one.

[ sometimes he wishes he didn't have one, either. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

[ that isn't remotely the response he was expecting to hear. he almost laughs. ]

Right. Yeah.

I mean, I can't say I'm better off because I died and all, but things suck less here.

[messenger]

I haven't been here long enough to say whether things "suck" less, but... Dean seems... better.

[ and yes, he punctuates that with air quotes and all. it's true, though. dean is different. he's older, of course. that goes without saying. but there's something changed in him, since they last met. the dean he knew was unsettled and restless and hungry for meaning, for purpose, for—

for something castiel still doesn't understand.

right now, it's the only point of reference he has. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

He wasn't cool before?

[ Dean is the one person here he kinda cares about. He's a nice guy, eager to help, didn't freak out at the whole patricide thing. ]

[messenger]

I don't understand what you mean by "cool" in this context.

[ doesn't the slang term mean to refer to someone fashionable and popular? ]

He was troubled. The world— Our world was ending. We didn't know how to fix it.

[ but clearly, they did. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

Ah. I guess it's technically ending again, but completing missions can fix it.

Sort of?

[ he doesn't care about his world, but there's at least two people in it he gives a shit about so he's been participating on the missions. ]

[messenger]

So I've heard.

[ it's here that the untouchable demeanor seems to break down. bitterness passes across his face, but there's no use in dwelling on what they can't change. ]

You've been staying with Dean?

[ what a subtle change of subject. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

Yeah, most of the time. Sometimes I hang at the kid-only farm but I'm bad at... being normal, I think.

[ Dean knows about possessed dolls and it cool with the whole murder stuff, being around him is easier. ]

[messenger]

There are farms for children?

[ what

the point, castiel. you're missing it. ]

... I understand. Dean isn't "normal", either.

[onlychildsyndrome]

... you haven't been around humans for that long, have you?

[messenger]

No.

[onlychildsyndrome]

The farm is a normal farm, a couple of kids invited other kids to live there because there's a ton of us.

Also, I got a joke for you to tell Dean. It's gotta be you, it won't be funny otherwise.

[messenger]

I... see.

[ he still doesn't really understand, but he'll take logan's word for it that sometimes children just decide to inhabit farms. ]

What is it?

[onlychildsyndrome]

Tell him people keep telling you that you keep taking things literally, and that you keep telling them you don't. That people who take things literally aren't angels, they're kleptomaniacs.

[ he's not entirely sure castiel will get it, but dean will and that's what'll make it funny. ]

[messenger]

... All right. I'll tell him.

[ it's only as he's committing the joke memory that the meaning clicks, and he arches an eyebrow. ]

I was in Heaven for 2000 years before I was tasked with raising Dean.

[ he's a bit behind on his lore, okay? ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

I have questions.

[ since he's not being smitten he's now more at ease. castiel seems like the type who can be bullied in a friendly way, kinda like dean. ]

[messenger]

[ he's wearing a shitty angel costume, of course he can be bullied in a friendly way. granted, there's an at least 1 in 10 chance he'd attempt to do physical harm to anyone else who tried to put him in one, but a friend of dean is a friend of his, it seems. ]

Go ahead and ask.

[ everyone has questions.

he doesn't actually mind answering, though. he's curious, too. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

What's heaven like? Did you have friends there? Is it like, super dull? What do you mean by "raising" Dean? Do angels not watch humans from heaven? And if you don't, did you come down not knowing what a meme was?

[ he stops there, but he has so many more of them. he could keep going for hours. ]

[messenger]

[ oh dear lord.

junior's lucky he's good at following a conversation. ]

Each individual Heaven depends on the person inhabiting it. I used to. I didn't find it dull. He was dead — I brought him back to life. Some of us do, but I wasn't assigned to the task at the time. Prior to that, we were much more "hands on".

A meme is an element of culture or system of behavior passed on from one individual to another through non-genetic means.

[ he does not know what a meme is. ]

[onlychildsyndrome]

Did you just give me the dictionary definition of meme?

[ he reaches for castiel's sleeve and tugs him towards a corner store. he wants garbage food, but he thinks this guy needs human supervision. ]