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

[ John watches this whole process, though he hasn't moved to close his book yet. He can smell the second cup of tea from where he is, though he doesn't recognize it. Harold probably would, it's distinctive. But it's definitely curious what Riz is doing with the tea, how he's prepared to take home samples. Is that just for here and now, or does he always have those on him? Certainly he's put more thought to the tea than John, who completely ignored it. ]

I don't have a favorite tea. Is that your favorite tea?

[ He's more of a coffee guy, but he doesn't need to share his beverage preferences. ]

No. But I don't really like tea. I'm more of a coffee guy, [ Riz says, not having nearly the same reservations about sharing little facts about himself. Besides, that's one of the major Riz facts, as far as he's concerned: he's a Goblin, he's a detective, and he loves coffee to a point at which his parents should really be alarmed. ]

But as teas go, this one smells a lot more like coffee, so it's at least trying to anticipate what my favourite would be before I get the chance to test it out for myself. The same as what happens at the diner. Only this... [ He taps his teaspoon against the edge of the cup. ] Is a new addition we're being pressured into, so it's definitely fishy. I'm banking on it having some sort of magic beyond the, uh, anticipatory palate thing.

Is there any food or beverage here that isn't more than it seems?

[ A genuine question. John hasn't even eaten at the diner. He only eats and drinks what he cooks himself, and he only trusts the grocery store because he has to eat something. If that was optional he wouldn't eat at all. ]

[ Riz stares at John for a second, his eyes just a bit too wide, too steady to be altogether comfortable -- then he blinks rapidly, three times in a row, and starts to talk. Sorry, John. You've set him off. ]

There's really no way to tell, definitively speaking. Not all effects are going to be, like, immediately obvious? For all we know, this place operates on Feywild rules and eating here at all means that we're stuck here for good, but it's not as though we had any other choice. Most of us need to eat and drink.

[ There is a precious moment in which he's about to speculate about what species wouldn't need that with a tangent into vampirism and possible reasonings for the powers that be not bringing any vampires in -- but he remembers to stay on topic just in time. ]

At first, I stuck with homemade food, but they're the ones supplying the food even though we don't have any supply chain in sight, which is weird. So if they really wanted to dose us with something, they'd put it in the ingredients too. In my experience, the places that have been here the whole time are more or less okay? But the stuff that shows up out of the blue...

[ He flicks his finger against the rim of the teacup. Ting! ]

It's fishy. I don't like it.

[ Sometimes it seems as though Riz doesn't like much. ]

[ The strange look in Riz's eyes does not pass John's notice, but he decides quickly that it was just him preparing to deliver this little speech. He's clearly come to the same conclusions that John has about the necessity of the grocery store, though the comment about "places that have been here the whole time" is news to him.

Riz is... strange. He's a kid, he goes to school, but there's something very organized about him. In a certain way he comes off more mature than his age would indicate. John needs to remember that he is a kid even if he's deserving of John's respect. ]

There were some food trucks a few month back. A girl ate at one and was compelled to eat dirt. This might be like that.

Dirt? [ All at once, Riz turns from a tiny academic spinning conspiracy theories back into a teenaged boy, a youthful light returning to his eyes as he wrinkles his nose. ] Eugh, gross. That's just an asshole move. What's even the point, besides humiliating people?

[ At the very least, he thinks that the bad things that happen ought to have some sort of rhyme or reason to them. The fact that they don't appear to is something that he finds endlessly irritating.

Absently, he removes a little notebook from his pocket and scribbles a note inside: food trucks - compelled eating organic matter. ]

It's strange, isn't it? That they don't seem to have the same rules with the groceries, or the established restaurants. [ Maybe they just want to see when they'll catch on. ]

I do wish we had some sort of reliable food source outside of what they give us, though.

Bad season for farming, though given everything needs to come from Aurora it means everything can be tampered with. If they can contaminate food with unnatural effects what stops them from doing the same to the soil or water? The companion bots are everywhere and could easily sabotage any self sufficient food sources.

[ John has thought about it and come to the conclusion that there's no way to completely get beyond Aurora and Echo's grasp. It's not a thought he enjoys, but he feels it's the truth; in the end there's nothing he can truly trust here. ]

[ Riz groans, deflating across the table in a dispirited puddle of teenaged frustration, cheek pressed against the cool surface of the table. ]

You're right. There's no outside resources, meaning there's no point if the aim is to stop them from fucking with our food and water sources.

[ He drags his head up long enough to rest it on the heel of his hand. ]

It sucks. I've been here for months, and at no point has it sucked any less. Even if we could find ways around it, they're magic -- they can tamper with it like [ a snap of his fingers! ] that!

...I didn't really want to become a farmer anyway.

[ John has to admit that Riz's reaction is comical. They might have a difference in opinion on Riz's path of education, but John is privately relieved that he has typically dramatic teenage reactions. Of course, it means he has teenage sensibilities to go along with deadly pursuits, but John will just have to keep that caution in the back of his mind; for now he can just enjoy a kid being a kid. ]

I haven't come up with a solution. Still, I think we can say that groceries and home cooked food is the safest route. Hope you're good at cooking.

[ And yet, despite him being a kid, there is an analytical side to Riz that reminds him of Harold, a little bit. John has no problems treating him with the respect his maturity deserves, there's no need to talk down to him in this conversation despite the difference in their age. ]

I'm not, [ Riz laughs into the crook of his arm. ] But it's passable.

[ He forces himself to straighten up again; as much as he'd like to continue on with the dramatics, it's probably not a great look on him. He fusses with his hair for a moment fastidiously sweeping it back into place. ]

I figured to only trust our own cooking pretty early on. Lucky for us, I already had experience from making sure there was something when my Mom came home from work. But I really miss being able to just get take-out whenever I wanna. I'd say maybe we should potluck it up, but there was a cannibal here, apparently? So maybe not.

[ The fussing with his looks reminds John of Harold and he's hit with a stab of liking for Riz. That's probably not right, he shouldn't let his feelings for Harold bleed over like that, but— he's a strange kid, hasn't given John any reason to distrust him, has actually been rather helpful to John, and, well. He's enjoyable to be around, as much as John enjoys anyone's company. ]

I almost trust other people's cooking less than anything provided here. Cannibalism aside, it's impossible to say what ulterior motives people have; someone could consider the rest of us competition and use it as an opportunity to poison everyone. [ He thinks this is a perfectly reasonable concern to be explaining. ] And beside that, I'm not sure I trust the culinary skills of the general population.

Wow, you're even more paranoid than I am!

[ This isn't entirely polite (though Riz appears to be blithely unaware of the fact) but something in his tone suggests that he finds this quality admirable rather than troubling. Which he does. Coming up with back-up plans for situations that may never come up is supposed to be his specialty, which means he could learn a thing or two. ]

You're totally right. Someone out there could be deranged enough to pull that sort of stunt. I should make sure to have some antitoxins in my medkit too.

[ And look in the available stores to see what things could be repurposed as poisons. Which, for Riz, is great fun! He loves an intel-gathering field trip. ]

So much for my ploy to make other people cook for me, though. They can't all be that bad at cooking.

[ Apparently that's a good thing, and while a strange one, John takes it as a compliment. ]

The food at the cannibal dinner party was good, on par with some fine establishments. It was still cannibalism.

[ The lesson there is obvious enough that John is sure Riz will get it. The food was, objectively really good. It was also a lie. John no longer trusts something that wasn't made by himself or Harold. ]

Shit, were you there?

[ Riz grimaces, the mere thought of it making him feel a bit sick. ]

I'm not, like, ethically against the practice - [ that would make him a hypocrite, considering he had very happily devoured his Vice-Principal raw ] - but everything about that... I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that so casually.

[ For all that Riz is a very self-important young man, he's always been quick with an apology if he thinks he's in the wrong. Mentioning something that people were actually victims of so flippantly? Dick move. ]

[ Oh, John didn't mean it that way. He was just proving a point. Obviously if he'd known he wouldn't have attended, but he's not one to get bogged down in things he had no control over. He's too practical to care about the fact that it happened. ]

I was just demonstrating that even the best food might not be what it seems. The stuff you get food poisoning from might be the safest out there.

No, of course not. Practically speaking, you should only accept food from people you can more or less trust. But...

[ He tilts his head, gaze flicking over to John. It's nice of him not to get too hung up on the details, but he still feels bad. He needs to be more conscientious when he speaks, he tells himself, not for the last time.

Not that John's trying to make him feel bad, or anything. It's just that Sklonda Gukgak raised her boy right. ]

Is there anyone you trust around here aside from Mr. Finch?

[ He's making assumptions here, but he at least knows the intrinsic trust of knowing someone from your own world. Well enough to know they're not going to try to roofie your ass, anyway. ]

[ Is there anyone? The immediate and obvious answer is: no. Is that the kind of thing he should be sharing? Well, he can probably get information in return if he shares; even if Riz doesn't answer the question back that'll be personality information. Honesty serves him here. ]

No. Is there anyone you trust here?

[ More than just tactical information, he's curious. ]

Yes, [ Riz answers immediately, though his expression quickly turns thoughtful. ] But they're people I trust in different ways. Doreen's really sweet. She actually cooked for me the day I arrived.

[ Riz had been a soggy cat at the time, near feral with fear and upset, and she had simply kindly showed him to the Diner and let his nerves unfurl. He'll never forget that. ]

Then there's Rin and Mal. A couple others I still need to get to know, too. But if we're talking trust like, trust with my life, trust with everything -- that's just Fabian and Gorgug.

[ When Riz isn't actively trying to disguise his emotions - which in fairness happens an awful lot - he's an open book. He's not hiding it now. When it comes to Fabian and Gorgug, his expression is nothing but deeply, deeply fond. ]

I know them from home, though. They're my party members.

[ John commits those names to memory. He'd met Mal on his first day here, unless there's two people with that name. And Fabian too, at the food truck. What a character. He wouldn't have pegged Riz and Fabian as friends, but it just goes to show that you never know. But he can tell how much they mean to him. ]

Are they the people you made the video post with?

[ The one about robot hand holding. And Moorecroft. Before John's time, but he's read the network from start to finish. ]

Oh -- yeah, I guess you would check the backlogs too, wouldn't you?

[ Riz smiles, a loose, fond thing. It comes easier to his face than any of his other expressions despite the fact that that post had not been their finest moment. Gorgug and Fabian had gotten into a spat, and then Riz had gotten so worked up that he threw up over something completely different, and --

Well, John doesn't need to know any of that stuff. ]

Yes, that's them. We're missing three of our group, but it is what it is.

[ They're doing just fine on their own! (No they're not.) ]

[ That smile is the kind of expression John wants to see on someone Riz's age. The genuine happiness and fondness is easily apparent and he's glad Riz has friends like that. ]

Did you all meet at school?

[ He's curious for curiosity's sake, but also it'll help him understand Fabian and Gorgug better when he runs into them next, which is bound to happen in a place like Etraya. ]

Uh-huh. We all met on our first day of freshman year, [ Riz says, nostalgic for it in the way that only a teenager can be nostalgic for something that had happened a scant year and change ago. He's still at the age where every single year feels incredibly huge, before the years begin to blend into one another.

He'd been a little dork back then, huh? ]

All six of us managed to get detention, so we were all kinda shoved together that way. [ He doubts they'd be friends otherwise. It's crossed his mind before... but who cares how they became friends, as long as it happened in the first place? ] After that, we all formed an adventuring party, so we've been together ever since.

[ Detention? That's definitely cute. ]

Detention, huh? Bunch of troublemakers?

Hey, I'm very rule-abiding, I'll have you know! It's just that... well, we all got pretty unlucky.

[ Except for Fabian and Gorgug, who got into a fight. And there's Fig, who had practically asked for detention, or Kristen who literally asked for detention, but... ]

Our Vice Principal was a real jerk, [ he says instead, deciding to leave out the rest of it. ] But I'm glad that he was, or else we probably never would've met.

Liked to exert his power over the poor innocent students? I was your age once, I know what kind of trouble kids get into.

[ But it's said in a bit of a joking tone. He does believe Riz is probably rule-abiding but Fabian struck him as the kind of kid who might get carried away. ]

Edited (woops forgor which thread this was in) 2025-05-04 19:14 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

November Mingle

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject