FEBRUARY MINGLE

[etrayamods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: February 14th - March
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, a mini mission, and some new city features!
NOTES\WARNINGS:

⏵ arrival ⏴ Welcome to Etraya! Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital. In the hospital's lobby are several party tables set out with miscellaneous baked goods: croissants, cookies, breads, cake slices, as well as tea and coffee to accompany them - or hot chocolate, for those who are opposed to the other offerings. Outside the hospital, the last remnants of snow are melting in the sunlight as the weather begins to warm up. It's still chilly enough one might want to put on a coat, but not so cold a jacket is necessary for wandering around without freezing off one's fingers. We hope you enjoy your stay. ⏵ heroes return ⏴ As the Quantum Rail train glides to a halt, returning passengers step out onto familiar ground - the train station, right where they had initially begun their mission. When exiting the station, their earpieces vibrate, indicating the automatic download of a detailed map which highlights key locations, transit paths, and notable landmarks. As Aurora promised, she had been working on a few renovations around Etraya! A sleek trolley system now winds through Etraya, following clearly marked pathways through the city bubble to make travel across the city smoother. However, the trolley only moves one way, eternally following the loop Aurora has set it on. And because of this, it takes six hours to complete it's loop all the way around. Don't miss your stop! Pets and animals have been returned to their usual preferred areas, some awaiting the arrival of their owners, and others keeping to themselves in the forested areas throughout Etraya. Beyond the small upgrades, things seem relatively unchanged - until one familiar sign catches the eye. One marked by four vertical lines, methodically crossed out one by one: the final slash has now been drawn through. The tally is complete. What it indicates has yet to be made clear, but it has to mean something, right? No one would go through the effort of making an ominous-sounding sign without following through. ⏵ love in the air ⏴ This Valentines Day, Aurora and the companion bots have opted to try something a little different: they have scattered mystery valentines across the city. Hidden within mailboxes, tucked into cafe menus, slipped under doors, on the outside of high windows for those wall-crawlers to spot. There are countless of these little slips of papers, strewn throughout the city. And within each valentine, is a challenge or gesture to complete. Please feel free to make these up yourselves as long as they fit in with the theme! Some examples include: Deliver a flower to a stranger. Write a heartfelt poem for someone. Share a box of chocolates! Confess your feelings for another. Play matchmaker for two people - this can be platonic, or romantic! Gift a friend with a stuffed animal. Give five different people a genuine compliment. While not mandatory, completing five tasks will earn an individual an additional ten points to use towards anything they would like! Each little Valentine is signed "Your Secret Admirer. ♡", and some of them may even be addressed to specific individuals. Don't be surprised, Eddie, if you see one or two that are specifically addressed to you lurking around your collection of chicken friends! And while most of these are harmless, some of the valentines cards come with effects for those who come into contact with the paper. Perhaps they thought it was a piece of garbage, or were just kicking it out of the way rather than intending on taking part. It doesn't matter! They get to join in on the fun, too. Heart Eyes - your pupils literally turn into hearts for a few hours, making it hard to focus on anything other than things (or people) you find attractive. Love-Struck Stammer - You can only speak in poetic compliments or romantic declarations, regardless of whom you're speaking to. Chocolate Bliss - Everything feels good. Simple. Easy. As if there's nothing in the world to concern yourself with. You feel happy, without any concerns or worry. Rose-Tinted Vision - everything looks soft and romantic, as if you're in a romance novel. You know the ones. Magnetic Attraction - regardless of what you had been doing, you suddenly find yourself unable to leave the side of the person closest to you. Had you been eating chocolates while walking down the street? Well, have fun getting stuck to the guy who'd been out for a jog! Serenade Syndrome - you find it impossible to resist the urge to sing your words, turning all conversations into love ballads. Heartstrings - A thread appears, connecting you to someone close by who you share many similarities too. Perhaps you had never met this person before, but the threads tied around your pinky fingers that refuse to let go until you allow yourself to open up to them clearly means you should be a little more familiar with them. Love is in the air—or maybe just a bit of well-intended chaos! 💕 ⏵ NOTES ⏴ Welcome back from the mission, and welcome to Etraya for our newcomers! We've tried to keep this log simple for an easy introduction, as well as some downtime for our mission-goers who worked hard to solve the Quantum Rail mystery. There is something else going on, but. . . well, no one seems to know what! The computer that had been on the lower floor of the hospital is now missing, and Aurora may seem a little flustered as she flits around Etraya, in search of something. 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

Gadriel | Warhammer 40K

[thecodexabides]

Arrival

[He's been pulled out suspended animation before, so for a moment, the disorientation is 'normal'. Expected, at least, to suddenly come to and not know where you are, or who you are, and then get struck with the sinking feeling that everyone you knew the last time you were awake...is probably dead now.

[So he clocks the whole situation as 'oh, a LOT of time has passed and things are different' until the whole thing about saving the world. He thought Etraya was the name of the new ship he was on, like the Resilient.

[He's still processing it, and how BRIGHT everything is. So much light, and none of it candles or torches. But he knows to be quiet during a briefing, so he sits, and listens, head bowed, obedient.

[He makes an obvious and hard to miss sight, down by the snacks--he's nine feet tall, his face ripped with scars, and wearing a heavy suit of armor, with a chainsword. Definitely does not fit into the hospital waiting room vibe. He's also looking slightly scared of the food. He's tried one or two things, and other than the coffee, most of it has just too much flavor for him. He manages to eat them, because he needs the calories and glucose is one of the nutrients he knows he needs and can taste in them, but he does NOT look like he is enjoying them. ]

Do they have any with less...flavor?

Railway Adventures
[The railway map was something else, and he spends the next several hours randomly getting off and on at different points, trying to orient himself to this place. ]
(ooc: feel free to bump into him, physically, in any location. He's large will probably stop and stare at just about anything.)

Love is in the Air

[Flowers. He has to give flowers to someone? This is possibly the most absurd mission he has ever been sent on.

[Still, he has had it ingrained in him to follow orders when given, so if you cross his path, at any point, he may shove a flower at you. It may be a rose, or it may be some flower he yoinked out of someone's garden. Whatever.]

HERE. [Surely that's romantic. A large person shoving floral items at you. So much charm. Very romantic.]

Magnetic attraction
[Well, this is your lucky day, if by lucky day, you mean a day when suddenly everything you do is shadowed by someone large and heavily armed, following you around. Every time you look over at him, though, he is either staring directly at you, or assiduously staring in the opposite direction.

[At least his weapons aren't drawn so he's probably harmless, right? ]

What?

(ooc: the standard wildcard, just feel free to bump into him anywhere and do things. He WILL actually talk. He's just not great at initiating conversations that have nothing to do with things like killcounts and Imperium history. )

Love is in the Air

[cantilevers]

[Ah. Well, that would be a flower shoved at him, root ball, dirt, stem and all. Vander took it and tilted his head to regard the man in question. It was rare that he was the smallest guy in a room, so he was impressed to meet someone taller than himself.

He held up the flower by the root ball with the stem swinging dangerously close to falling over. He had learned about the occasion and finding it an odd custom but willing to play along, and this one in particular seemed to perhaps be stoic enough to need to lighten up? Who knew.]

I think this is the first flower anyone's ever given to me. Usually its rocks. Does this gesture come with a name from the giver, hmm?

excellent

[thecodexabides]

[Listen, when Gadriel has a mission, he accomplishes it 100%. So, why give merely a cut stem flower, when you could give the WHOLE THING. With even a bit of the dirt it came from.

[Thoroughness. That is what wins wars.]

The mission said flower. Not rocks. [Hence, this blooming...probably roadside weed. ]

Gadriel.

i'm so sorry how dumb this might get

[cantilevers]

[He would say he was touched, but honestly, he had no idea what to make of these valentine's traditions or even why they were happening after that train mission. Who was Valentine and why did they have to do this? No idea.

The corner of his lips pulled in a little smile at the response. A stiff and formal kind of fella, wasn't he?]

You know that dirt has a mix of miniature rocks in it, right? So, you've successfully given me both. Double dipping. [He held the flower up to admire it.] Aren't you just a charmer, Gadriel?

Hope you like talking to a human brick wall

[thecodexabides]

[Gadriel has no context for this. Valentines day would sound a lot like heresy if someone explained it to him. Which no one has. He just knows he has been told to give people flowers. Done. ]

Oh. [He did not know that. Why would he?] Is that wrong?

I am not. I am an Ultramarine.

vander is going to have a field day

[cantilevers]

[Vander was already having such a good time. This guy might be tall, but it was like trying to converse with a blank slate, and there was a lot to work with there in terms of trying to discover what it was that made this guy tick.

All Zaunites, no matter how well-behaved, had a streak of being shit disturbers. He was not immune and he'd dealt with enforcers with similar stiff-upper-lip-esque behavior.]

I consider it an added bonus to the mission. You should too.

[He had no idea what Ultramarine was.]

Are all Ultramarines charmers like you then? Or are you just special?

Magnetic Attraction

[badlydisarmed]

[At 5'6" it's not rare for Robert to be towered over, and as a doctor in a teaching hospital he's used to being shadowed. The armor and weapons are new, though.

Once he's sure the giant is following him on purpose, he stops walking and turns around.]

What what?

oh no I love it

[thecodexabides]

[It's hard once you get all his mass and armor moving, to stop on a dime, but he manages it...barely, as the other man turns around.]

I was not doing anything. [Absolutely normal thing to say. ]

[badlydisarmed]

That's exactly the kind of thing a flasher would say.

[Robert looks him up and... well, up. Tall people are so annoying. On the bright side, it'd be a feat to flash anyone with that much armor on, so it can't be that.]

What's your deal? Looking for a leader?

[thecodexabides]

Sergeant. That is my rank. [Not 'flasher' whatever heretical designation that might be.]

Are you one? [Does that explain why he feels compelled to follow the other man around?] Are you an Inquisitor? [Because clearly everything must correlate directly with things he understands from his world. In his defense, he's been alive for centuries and the Imperium for forty thousand years, so...he's got some basis to think it's eternal and universal.]

[badlydisarmed]

Did you not pay attention to the welcome speech?

[Big and unlikely to question orders would do well in a militaristic world.]

I'm a surgeon.

[One missing an arm, but he's hoping to get that fixed now that he's in a place that might have the resources for it. He does have a prosthetic one, but the thing is busted.]

magnetics

[zauneyete]

[ Unfortunately for Gadriel, he's leveled with a stare that is half the most hateful look a human being can muster, and half the look of someone intensely annoyed with him. He had been trying to lift cigars from the store, and this giant is very clearly interfering with that.

(Yes, the cigars are free. Yes, he knows that. No, he doesn't care, it doesn't feel right if he isn't ripping someone off.) ]

You won't stop following me.

[ A tip of his head, and one eye blinked at him. The other — a blackened one — keeps staring, no lid to blink. It's eerie. (probably warp shit) ]

So you should do that. Mind your own business.

[ His fingers are twitching to grab the cigars when nobody's looking. Indulge an old man in his games, ok? ]

yes good

[thecodexabides]

[Oh, so basically the Chaplain. Except creepier. Which is an accomplishment, really.]

I am not following you. [It is all just...an accident. Yes, that's it. Just randomly happening to...keep...this stranger...in a ten foot radius. ] Maybe you are in my way.

ehehehe

[zauneyete]

[ You know, somehow Silco manages it. Somehow. ]

Ah yes. Me. In your way.

[ His eyes start around what — torso height?? space marines are so tall — look all the way up to the man's head, and then back down to eye-level. Then back up to his head. ]

You think so?

[ One of his eyebrows moved, the other, inert (drawn in) didn't. It lifted as if there was a question there. ]

Perhaps you should tell me how? That way I can extricate myself from your path, hm?

Re: ehehehe

[thecodexabides]

[When you say it like that it sounds...weird and wrong.

[Stop doing that, please. ]

If I knew how you were getting in my way I would suggest an alternative. [Please don't confuse him. It's very easy to do right now.

He is going to start walking away now, but oops about a minute later, he's back, but looking annoyed.]

[zauneyete]

[ He walks away, and Silco's shoulders relax only slightly, before he turns back toward the counter, where the cigars are.

There's a robot here who seems to do all the stocking. Where they come from, he doesn't know. He starts to reach, his fingers quick, to slide around a pack of cigars, and tug it back towards him, to dart back into his coat.

The robot doesn't notice.

Gadriel probably does, with how he's coming back.

Silco takes one look at him, and blinks a single eye before turning to him. ]

And what is it this time? I'm interested what your excuse will be.

arrival!

[stresstokens]

Oh, um...

[ Riz pauses, looking at the table filled with what appear to be your regular, run-of-the-mill snacks and candies, then glances back at the man and the deep displeasure on his face. ]

I don't think so, no.

[ Gadriel may recognize Riz as a Goblin, which is to say, a diminuitive green creature with claws and fangs, but he's an awfully proper looking Goblin; though he is fully equipped with a gun and a sword, he looks otherwise quite harmless in his tidy little suit and vest, yellow eyes magnified behind the lenses of his glasses. ]

Were you wanting, like... rice? A protein shake? They'll have more stuff for you at the grocery store, or over at the Diner. I can show you on the map!

oh no i'm so sorry

[thecodexabides]

[Sadly, no, he does not recognize goblins. However, small green things, he DOES recognize. He's spent the last decade fighting them.

[Gadriel jumps back, drawing his combat knife in a defensive crouch. Is he afraid of the itty bitty green guy? yes no. of course not. ]

I do not need your help, Ork.

oh my god HAHAH NO WORRIES

[stresstokens]

Wh --

[ Riz too springs backwards, arms held up defensively in front of him as he gets a damn good look at that (very, very sharp looking) knife. ]

What the fuck, man? [ He immediately yells back. ] I was just giving you directions!

[ It's not a reaction that's terribly strange to him, though; while it's not normally so extreme or so immediate, being a Goblin in a Human's world comes with its fair share of trials. Though... ]

Wait, you think I'm an orc?

[ He finds being attacked for being an Orc to be even more offensive than being attacked for being a Goblin - Gorgug's a half-orc, and the idea of his gentle friend getting attacked is much worse than him going through it - but more than that...

Well. Orcs are supposed to be tall. This has certainly never happened before. ]

[thecodexabides]

I know Orks. [Checklist: green, pointy ears. Ork.]

A young one, which is why you are so small. [And also why you are not dead yet.] And why you have not attacked me first.

[stresstokens]

No, you friggin' racist! I'm small because I'm a Goblin, not an Orc, and I didn't attack you 'cause being born green doesn't mean I go around attacking strangers.

[ He jabs an accusatory finger in his direction. ]

But one of my best friends is a Half-Orc, and he's one of the gentlest guys I know. You can pull that shit on me, but if you do it to him, I'm gonna shoot your dick off!

[ And that's that on deescalation!

Okay, he may have failed at deescalating. This appears to be something that he only realizes after the fact, fierce expression diminishing as he weighs the odds of this actually going well for him. ]

Arrival.

[miniroth]

[Gadriel is an absolutely towering figure, above and beyond anything actually human Sephiroth's ever observed before.

So he observes for a while. He didn't need to be at the hospital, it's just another easy location to get meals from he doesn't have to do a lot of guessing over. Unfortunately for him, he's missed the arrival of a couple of friends at this point, too late to catch them leaving for other parts of the city, but this guy.. is impossible to miss in turn.

It's probably not the first time a Space Marine's been stared at by some kid, surely local, surely just human. Ignore the eyes, people have faintly glowing snakelike eyes all over the place right? And he's not going to say or do ANYTHING up until he observes a certain .. familiar discomfort with the variety of choices to be had. It's none of his business. He should stay out of it. And yet.

He approaches anyway, to observe just out of easy grabbing range. No, that definitely looks to him like things aren't really being enjoyed much, and the question that follows earns a long pause and a nod.]

They do, please remain here.

[And then the boy, half Gadriel's size, heads to a completely DIFFERENT section, rummaging about before coming up with something he feels is more suitable, returning with .. bread? It looks like bread, a dark and hearty rye-ish look. It smells faintly fishy.]

This is nutritionally complete, and as close to nutrient loaf as I have been able to find.

[Should Gadriel actually eat it, it's not entirely unlike eating soft, faintly fish flavored wet cardboard.]

[thecodexabides]

[The few times Gadriel has been around civilians, there has been a lot of staring. His kind tend to make normal humans uncomfortable--their size, their strange chemical smell, their uncanny speed. They're the kind of heroes of the Imperium no one actually wants to get too close to, however glad they might be that Astartes exist.

[He's still not quite sure what is happening: he spent the briefing listening for the details but there was nothing about the enemies they'd face, the appropriate loadouts they should take, or even the terrain. He'd kept waiting for that information but it never came.

[And then this food. All glucose and...strong flavor. And he needs the glucose, yes, because this body is not powered by faith alone but it's too much.

[When the small person offers him the food, he takes it, and, well, it's not delicious, but he wouldn't know. He gives a sigh of something like relief. ]

Thank you. [See? he's not without manners.] Is this food [Gestures toward the main table.] normal nutrition for people here?

[miniroth]

[It's easier to deal with archon loaf than it is to handle pizza. Sephiroth might be fond of what deep fried foods he's experimented with, but they inevitably made him ill, and perhaps this man had a similar issue.

There's obvious hesitation at trying to come up with an appropriate answer this time.]

I've only been on three planets, including this one, and my experience with this one is very limited.

[It's hard to say if this is common or if his sample size is simply very restricted.]

But it does .. seem to favor heavily processed and artificially flavored, perhaps because it preserves better. I've found selecting ingredients from other facilities and making my own meals to be a little less bizarre.

[thecodexabides]

I have lost count of the number of planets I have made planetfall on. [A lot. Just. A lot.] Most of the time we are supplied by our own rear echelon. [Deliciously bland mass produced nutritionally optimized rations.]

I will take your advice, little brother. [Because this other stuff? Unsurvivable. He needs glucose, yes, but not that much.]

How long have you been here?