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

[ornithologist]

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.

[ingestion]

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.

[ornithologist]

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... ]

[ingestion]

( heather remained silent for now, a hand coming to her chin as she listened to harold. she wanted to try and figure out a way to help him, to thank him for what he had done earlier-

but also because she was getting that vibe that he either saw the library as a comfort place, or he didn't trust the apartments provided. she herself had moved into one of them, and while they weren't terrible, she could understand his hesitation.

after all, if she had his level of caution, she would have been spared from the food trucks. )

Do you think you'll ask them for beds too? If not, I can help you move some from the apartments if you want. There's plenty of empty rooms and from the looks of it, I don't think anyone would care if you took two beds.

[ornithologist]

[ Somehow outright stealing hadn't occurred to him. Harold isn't too precious and law-abiding for it under the circumstances -- is it stealing if it's taking from their captors, he wonders sarcastically to himself -- but his reflex and default is always to do things legitimately, at least on the surface. At home he might have a fake identity and mysteriously acquired wealth farmed from unscrupulous blockchain investors and use that to buy something, but he wouldn't outright steal it.

He blinks at her. ]

A solution I had not thought of, [ he says ruefully. ] The bots might help us in the effort, in fact. They seem interested in accommodating us.

Though -- I would not like to advertise our residence at the library. We're both normally very private people.

[ingestion]

I promise I won't tell anyone, your secret is safe with me.

( 'we're both normally very private people'

his words here seemed to stick with her, bringing about curiosity to all of this. he was a kind person and she could sense that, but also seemed to be rather interesting.

however, she wasn't going to pry further into that. it wasn't her place, and really all she wanted to do was pay back his kindness somehow. )

Well I guess I'll leave you to enjoy your new gift, try not to have any 'accidents', okay?

[ornithologist]

Thank you, Ms. Mason. I appreciate that greatly.

[ She's the only person he's told about them taking up residency there, and it had just slipped out, which is very unlike him. But Harold wants to make sure she knows of a safe place she can retreat to if she needs it. There's just something about how receptive she is to having attention, caring...

Harold is extremely private, as he'd said. But there's a limit to his self-protection; if something happened to her because he'd withheld this, he already wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Harold is sometimes awkward, frequently mysterious, always reserved, but it's all in service of hiding how swiftly and deeply he cares about others. ]

Believe me, I'll try not to fire it at all, [ he says ruefully. ] Have a good evening.