etrayalogs | November Mingle

November Mingle

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: November 22nd - Early December
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, and an unexpected guest!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A, please note any needed warnings in threads.

⏵ arrival ⏴
Welcome to Etraya!

Arrival goes as expected - or it would, except it is not just Aurora that greets the newcomers as they arrive. Certainly they receive their earpiece so they can communicate with one another as those before them have, however there is what seems to be a woman waiting for them that is of a more flesh and blood persuasion as they leave the hospital. She carries an air about her that isn't quite like the newcomers themselves, but she is decidedly not one of the companion bots, nor Aurora.

She has bone-straight blonde hair reaching past her shoulders, with a straight-cut fringe hanging above her eyes. The black dress that ends just before her mid-thighs also has a rather revealing neckline, though the sleeves which cover her arms almost feel like a mockery of modesty considering the rest. She is also wearing black stockings and black pumps, and the red of her lipstick is striking against the extreme contrast in shades she otherwise holds.

As each newcomer independently files out of the hospital, she makes certain to garner their individual attention, either with a wave of her hand, a wiggle of her fingers, or directly calling them over. She is persistent, and with being so new, it is wise to heed her. Not that anyone can force one to, if they choose to walk away, nor does she seem interested in trying to, but she has her means for those proving stubborn.

However, those who aren't...

“Hey! I know you’re not just walking past me. I’ve got- you know, plot relevant, written all over me. I picked this dress out just for you, you know?’

“C’mere, listen up. Mama’s got a little bit of homework for you, but it’s gonna help you, too, okay? I need you to go find the hot goss, the piping hot tea on the street for me. Find out what everyone’s saying about the people we’re stuck with, okay? People are a lot more relaxed and honest when they talk about others, right? This is about efficiency.

Efficiency, honey.

Don’t worry, I’ll be in the trenches, too. But make sure you come find me again. I’ll be around here, okay? I know you’re as confused as I am. Well no. I’m much less confused than you are. But if you can tell me about the people here, I’ll tell you more about where you are and what this is about.”

For those who ignored her, or those not newly arrived, they will receive a message through their earpiece:

“Girl. Hey. Listen. I’m kind of in a pinch, okay? I need like… a little favor. But its a fun favor! I need you to get your girl some info. I need the word on the street, honey. I need the tea piping hot- I need you to go talk to your friends, enemies, frenemies, butt buddies, cousins, and have them tell you about anyone they know. I need straight facts and good gossip on everyone here. And then get back to me. Kisses.

And this isn’t something for nothing. If you bring me some good goss, you’ll get some good info in turn about your whole situation. Cause that’s what you’re missing most besides home, right? Context.”

⏵ spill the tea ⏴

Tatianna having now tasked everyone (new and old) with finding out more about their fellow inhabitants—if not for their sake, for her curiosity—and in exchange she will give them valuable information that may aid them with acclimating here, or something far more valuable depending on how hot the goss is! However, she will not just hand out her secrets so easily, and so she will need one piece of gossip about each inhabitant. So she expects everyone to get mingling and talking, she isn't a charity here!

To assist in this, the companion bots have set up cozy little wicker daybeds around the main hub of the city. All of which are suspiciously cozy and warm once you have sat down on them, but especially so with the accompanying aroma of the tea wafting from the kettle which rests on the center table, accompanied by sweetmeats. The tea itself also stays warm despite the cool autumn air, and so long as you stay within the daybeds, the biting chill won't reach you either.

However, the tea is not only perpetually the right temperature, but it seems to have a way of loosening one's tongue. Especially the more one imbibes it. Did you mean to share that secret that might not have been yours to begin with? Or that personal detail about your best friend that wasn't meant to be known by anyone but who they themselves have told? Probably not, but the cat is out of the bag now, isn't it? Well, hopefully word won't get around...after all, it isn't likely who you are talking is going to tell everyone else, right? Right?

Adding to the oddity of it all, the tea one drinks might not be the same tea that their companion is drinking, despite it pouring from the same kettle. What might be one person's earl grey, is another's pumpkin spice chai. Whatever it may be that pours out, it certainly seems to be to one's liking, or its closest approximation. There's probably some deeper meaning in that, some sort of symbolism one might surmise from the nature of sharing gossip and it being tainted by personal bias, but who cares about navel gazing about such a thing?

After all, this is meant to be an enjoyable endeavor! Getting to know your fellow inhabitant should feel as comfortable as catching up with an old friend. What better way than to do it by sharing tea you both will enjoy? ☕

⏵ close knit ⏴

As the tail end of November draws nearer, people will have already begun to see the first flakes of snow. It grows colder, and while there isn't quite a blizzard or a snow storm happening, the snow does not seem to let up with its descent. It doesn't quite get so cold that it is untenable, of course, but it would be advisable to bundle up! In fact, the companion bots seem to be on the case with assisting in just that!

Around the city people will find groups of companion bots busily knitting sweaters, scarves, gloves, hats, and so forth. In fact, the moment they see someone they clock as not quite bundled enough, they will insist on supplying them with whatever they deem as being without. Are you already wearing a scarf? Well, clearly you need two of them! How about the gloves? Couldn't hurt to have several pairs!

However, that isn't all that's available to people, after all there are cafes out and about where one might get a hot beverage to help fight off the cold, but for those less inclined for such establishments, the companion bots are here to serve! There is at least one companion bot per knitting group that seems to have hot cocoa on hand. If they see someone who is looking particularly cold (almost everyone is, the companion bots aren't particularly keen on the signs of successful temperature regulation), they will have a paper cup of hot cocoa imposed upon them that has their name on the side.

Or, sort of. It is at least a close approximation of their name, or maybe it is an alternate spelling? Really, who can blame the bots for getting confused, there are so many of you!

⏵ snow more games ⏴

The snow is here to stay, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a bad thing! With everyone well supplied in their winter garb, the companion bots have set up spots for fun activities! Perhaps the inhabitants would enjoy a fun snowball fight, or some sledding? Some of the waters have frozen over, so ice skating is always a possibility too. Though one might want to be careful if they are to venture past what the companion bots have marked as safe.

Some of the companion bots are trying their best at making a snowman, but all their efforts seem to come out rather...square. They're trying their best, but maybe they can learn by following the inhabitant's examples. There are others that will offer gold star stickers to those who seem to dominate in the snowball fights, but unfortunately the stickers don't stick too well with all the snow. Well, they tried!

People will still find bots out and about with nice warm beverages available to fight off the cold, too. That service will continue to be available for the foreseeable future. Similarly, if someone comes out who is a little too under-dressed for the weather, the bots might have to pick up those knitting needles again, so be sure to put on your winter clothes..!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

To report information to Tatianna, do so here! She will only give each person their rewarded information once she has a bit of information on each character in the game. Each bit of gossip does not require a thread to count though it should be IC knowledge gained through IC means. Try to check what gossip has been given to her already, because doubling up will not yield results! Good luck!

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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, come now, Boss! Even Kunikida-kun needs encouragement from time to time!

[...Technically true.]

And what could bolster his spirit more than seeing the President engaging in one of his very own rituals for good health?? It's a moment he'll treasure for years.

[Or at least, it's one Dazai will treasure. Considering Kunikida isn't even here. Ahem.]

Would he now?

[Okay, time to give some real answers. Dazai has been in France all this time, he can't know how things turned out in Yokohama.]

The nurses may get mad at me if I do anything too strenuous. Any dancing will have to wait.

[Unlike SOME PEOPLE, he can be good and sit still while he heals.]

As I said, I'd do the dance accompaniment, naturally!

[But there's still a little itch at the back of his mind that says -- he wasn't that unwell before. He had been strong enough to leave the agency on his own and disappear somewhere even before they'd ultimately hunted down Pushkin.

Something's wrong, but he can't quite put his finger on what. He needs more information.]

Buuuuut I suppose it can wait. I hear a peaceful walk through the snow followed by some hot cocoa can do wonders for revitalizing the spirit, as well. You've got to see to your mental health as well, you know~

[Says Osamu fucking Dazai. It's fine. Don't worry about it.]

[His spirit absolutely needs revitalization, but.]

I don't think snow or hot cocoa can do wonders about being nearly sliced in half, unfortunately. That's for the field of medicine.

[Or Yosano, but Yosano isn't here.]

[what.

no seriously, what the fuck? Even Dazai's poker face isn't quite powerful enough to keep him from reacting to that statement, if only for a split second.]

[He does collect himself quickly, perhaps moreso than most people, but he isn't exactly inhuman, for all his distance from the concept. His voice loses the sing-song lilt pretty much immediately though. He hadn't meant to get into business this quickly, but it is what it is.]

...Aurora-chan assured us our worlds would remain intact as long as we complete missions, but I suppose it was foolish to assume that also meant things would remain in stasis while we're here.

[An error in calculation; he's had to adjust his thinking on a few things in the past weeks, so this one is also slotted neatly in place, paradigm shifted for his assumptions just like that.]

It truly must have been someone exceptional to land a blow like that on you, Fukuzawa-san.

Edited 2024-11-30 07:22 (UTC)

[Oh. Hmm. Dazai didn't give a full answer, but it's enough of one that Fukuzawa can put the rest of the pieces together. Dazai has been in Europe for about a month now, as far as Fukuzawa knows, but Dazai could have left the world entirely then.]

...yes, he was an exceptional person.

[But he can't be sad and gay right now, there's others things to focus on.]

What is the last thing you remember, before coming here?

[Oh. Ohhh, Dazai hates that. The implications of that question are incredibly uncomfortable. If Yokohama hasn't been in stasis while he's been gone, his absence would have been noticed. If that's not the case, then Echo and Aurora are even more powerful than previously imagined. And it opens up a possibility he's not ready to think about.]

...The cannibalism virus incident. You attended the party aboard the S.S. Zelda.

[He closes his eyes, unsettled.]

I take it the atmosphere in the Agency of late is no longer quite so celebratory.

[Unasked is the obvious question: what happened?]

Edited 2024-11-30 07:50 (UTC)

...not as of late, no.

[He wonders how much he should even tell Dazai, because that would affect the timeline right? Or is it only the book that can affect the timeline? Honestly this whole timeline nonsense makes his head hurt, and fuck it, he'll give his people an advantage if he can.]

A couple weeks after that party, the Agency was accused of a crime it didn't commit. We became the targets of the Hunting Dogs for it. Some of us were arrested, and you were sent to prison far, far away. I still don't know what's become of you.

In the month afterwards, those who weren't arrested fought to free the others and prove our innocence.

[He. He'll hold off on mentioning the vampires for now.]

The leader of the Hunting Dogs is the one who injured me, before I struck him down. The others fought other members of the Hunting Dogs too.

[Dazai goes very, very still. It's only a few weeks' discrepancy, not anything on the scale of years, but it is a discrepancy. He couldn't have been arrested if he's been here, after all. Fukuzawa is, very distinctly, from his future. Which means--

His lips start to part, unbidden, into the shape Odasa-- before he catches and stops himself. Not here. Not now. Focus.

Once he's sure his voice won't shake, he answers:]

So, then, Echo-san has power not only over life and death, but time.

[Are they truly a god? Dazai has had his doubts, but even if not, the amount of power Echo wields is truly incredible. Even for an anti-gifted such as himself, they would be a formidable opponent.

Another long silence.]

There's more to it than that. You wouldn't kill him without establishing our innocence. It'd only make us look more guilty.

[He has to think for a moment. Back before the party, back when he was infected with the virus...they already knew about 'that group' right? It's only been a few weeks but it feels like a decade has passed. He can't remember if that group was known yet back then.]

Does the group "Decay of the Angels" ring a bell?

[That it does, though he'd only learned the broad shape of the organization and its schemes by that time. Even so, it's clear who's behind the events Fukuzawa describes.]

...So, that monster's finally made his next move. I had been wondering when it would come.

[His arrest makes sense, now. He's long made plans with Ango for how to communicate if he were to be arrested, and likely he'd planned to get caught so he could find out the details of what Dostoevsky was up to. How did that lead to the president killing the leader of the Hunting Dogs? Those dots he still can't connect yet.]

Their plan must involve Fukuchi's death, then, with you as the murderer.

[...]

Did he ask you to kill him? You have more than enough skill to win a battle without taking your enemy's head, and aren't easily riled to impulsive rage, either.

[Fukuzawa doesn't answer immediately. The question alone drags him back to that fight, watching the Agency members fall one by one, his own attempt to fight back, his near-death, their talk...

He knows the truth now. He knows the truth of everything Fukuchi did, of why the Decay of Angels even exist. And the worst part of it all is that he can't tell a single soul the truth of that day. The lie of 'Fukuzawa, the hero of the people, prevented the end of the world' is what will be written down in history books, while his childhood friend will be known as a villain.

His heart had already been shattered into a thousand pieces, but hearing the question makes those pieces ache again.]

...no. He had been swayed by Dostoevsky's words of 'a world with no abilities' and saw it as the perfect future. He was in cahoots the entire time. I only won our fight because we trained at the same dojo as children, and I knew all of his moves. He was about to kill Kunikida and Ranpo, and I did what was needed to save them.

[Fukuchi had to carry that painful truth alone for fifteen years. Now Fukuzawa will have to carry it alone for the rest of his life. Not a single soul can know, not even Dazai.]

[Dazai watches Fukuzawa's face. The President is an honorable man, one he's put his faith in for the past four years, and has had no reason to distrust him. Yet, all the pieces of the story don't mesh neatly. In what situation would Fukuzawa need to strike to kill, rather than disable, if Fukuchi was distracted with the other Agency members? And if his injury was as severe as he says ... how was he able to land that blow in the first place?

And then there's the broader situation around all this. The Agency being accused of a crime, the Hunting Dogs chasing their President down, only for their leader to be slain by his hand...Fukuzawa would never abandon one of their own, but he's not reckless, either. During the cannibalism incident, he insisted the Agency not go to war with the Port Mafia, even if it resulted in his own death. Would he truly put the whole Agency in a position where they'd be permanently on the run, in exchange for their lives? Mori wouldn't, but he's different. Dazai did leave for a reason.]

...There's still something you're not telling me, I suspect. You have your reasons, I'm sure, so I won't press, but I would like to know -- what becomes of the Agency from here? Do you have evidence of Fukuchi's guilt that will clear our name, or is our association finished?

[Yeah, the story doesn't make much sense without key pieces of information that he'll be keeping to himself for the rest of eternity. He knows that if anyone will see through it, then it will be Dazai. But he's not going to give the truth, even if Dazai knows he is lying. That is the last bit of kindness he can give to his dead friend.]

He hadn't revealed himself yet back at the party, but in my time he's a known member of the Decay of Angels and an enemy of the world. He played the long con, getting a position on the Hunting Dogs so that he could help carry out their plan when the time came.

[He pauses, and he takes in a steady breath before continuing.]

I don't know what will become of the Agency yet. Presumably we will be able to clear our names, since all of the members of the Decay of Angels are either in prison or dead now. But I was brought here right as the fight finished.

[Yosano hadn't even seen to his injuries yet, which is why he's in a hospital bed currently.]

[Being at a disadvantage information-wise is frustrating. He can't make all the puzzle pieces fit together, nor are there enough of them for him to parse the shape of what's missing. Fukuchi was outed as a terrorist, and yet Fukuzawa had to fight him without the Agency being explicitly cleared? It doesn't make sense.]

Sounds as though the dust is settling, then.

[His voice is careful. Tight. He isn't been told the full truth, and while Dazai has a healthy respect for the notion that a man's past is their own, he doesn't appreciate being left in the dark on a matter that affects the whole Agency.]

In that case, let us move our focus to matters in Etraya, shall we? As a word of warning, whatever it is you don't want me to know, Echo and Aurora almost certainly do already. Your past can be thrown in your face at any moment, likely with an audience. It's best to avoid any food or drink provided at their gatherings, as well. They carry unusual properties that can affect even me.

Edited 2024-12-02 04:30 (UTC)

[Yeah, he should have expected that Dazai would see the gaps in his story. This sucks. But at least Dazai is letting it slide for now, so Fukuzawa can take that out and focus on another part of the conversation.]

It affects even you? Even with your ability?

[Man. Now he has to worry about Fukuchi's truth being thrown in his face at any time.]

Even me! There's the possibility it was simply laced with an unknown drug, I suppose, but given the specificity of how to relieve the effects, I have my doubts.

[It was indeed very unsettling tyvm. He still shrugs though, like it's nothing.]

I can at least say my ability is still active for certain, though.

[He's not actually sorry, Castiel, because it was funny, but he didn't intend to make you flop over like a broken marionette at least...?]

Then the possibility remains that mine still works as well.

[He doesn't even have to ask Dazai if anyone else from the Agency is here. He already can tell the answer is no.

Talking about this place seems to have renewed Fukuzawa's focus though. He'll just work through his grief, as he always has.]

What does this city look like in terms of housing and accommodations?

Oh, there's plenty of it. Money doesn't seem to exist as a concept around here, so you can simply claim any empty apartment for your own. So you know, if you've ever wanted bayfront property or a penthouse view, this is an ideal opportunity~

[He sincerely doubts Fukuzawa has ever cared about any of that.]

[Immediately:]

I will stick to regular accommodations.

[He lets out a soft chuckle. Yeah, he thought so.]

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication", hm?

Something like that.

[He shifts his weight in bed, moving to turn and slide his feet out of bed, but he winces and presses a hand against his midsection. Okay, maybe not quite yet. He was patched up pretty well, he won't bleed out, but damn it still hurts. He dislikes showing weakness like this, especially in front of an employee.]

[Ah. That's his cue to leave, it seems. Not because he's uncomfortable -- he'd been too high-level in the Port Mafia for too long for something like this to unsettle him -- but because he can tell Fukuzawa would rather be alone to suffer in peace rather than try to put up a front, regardless of whether Dazai needs it or not.]

Hmmmmmm, I suppose that walk in the snow will have to wait, after all. It wouldn't do for you to rip apart your wounds and bleed out on your first day. You might forget all about the Agency when you come back, and then where would we be~?

[did he just. drop some extremely important information casually like that. maybe. it's fine.]

I'll come by again later. If there's an emergency, you can find me on the network at "appleaday"! Sweet dreaaaams, Boss~~~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

November Mingle

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1/2

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dazai why did u do this to me LMAO the hrs i spent agonizing over this

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