etrayalogs | FEBRUARY MINGLE

Entry tags:

FEBRUARY MINGLE

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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ What kind of life indeed? John can't even imagine it. Can't imagine being worthy of being with her after all he'd done, though he would have tried. But Kara was right, in the end: there's no going back from the path he started down. He can see that now. ]

I just wanted a better one for her. [ But he has nothing more he can say about Jessica. It's a closed book. He's said all there is to say. His fate was sealed in an airport terminal years ago. ] What about you?

[ A better life. An easy thing to say, to aspire to. It's one of those lofty little phrases people like to turn to without really thinking about the how and why. What's better mean? How do you get there? That's the part that trips people up.

But then, it's easy to love a ghost.

Carver exhales. He knew the question was coming back to him. He could lie, he supposes. No one here would know the difference except maybe whatever bullshit magic's bound him and John together in the first place. ]

Had someone. Didn't keep them. Chose my team instead.

[ He doesn't say Riley's name. He served during DADT and maybe there's no one left to give a shit now, but he doesn't want to fight about it here and he'd have to fight about it if John said something, out of sheer principle. ]

[ John understands. There's a sense of belonging that can't be denied with that kind of comradery. He was never close enough with his team in the Army not to leave them for different opportunities, but he understands. He's seen it in others. There was Joey, after all, who fell into a life of crime just to support the family of a fellow Marine he felt responsible for. ]

What was their name?

[ If John had to spill his guts then Carver does too. ]

[ His jaw works. Then: ]

Riley.

[ It's been something like fifteen years since Riley kicked him out. There was no going back after that. They didn't even fight at the end. Riley just told him how it was and Carver accepted it, knew there was no point in promising it'd be different because it wouldn't.

He doesn't know if Riley survived the fall. So many didn't. ]

We served together.

[ Served together but not part of the same team? John is a little surprised at that, but doesn't let it show. But. He knows how hard it is to talk about this. He can tell it's hard for Carver. He didn't want Carver to push him and he doesn't want to push in return. If they need to confess then this is confession enough. He's about to open his mouth and call an end to this conversation when the thread just... dissolves. Like it was never there. He stares at his hand just for a moment, and then drains his glass. He feels like that's deserved. ]

Sometimes this place is awful.

[ There's no fanfare when it ends. Carver stares at his hand, flexing his gingers in case this too is a trap. But the string is just gone.

He takes his glass without a word and downs the rest of the sake with a hiss. ]

Yeah. Sure fucking is.

Want some more potatoes and sake?

[ There's more of both, and the potatoes are good. It's his favorite way of making potatoes, though there's something to be said for mashed. Honestly, it was a toss up. But the offer is more of an attempt to return to normalcy, to put this conversation behind them. ]

More sake.

[ Alcohol suddenly sounds like a great plan. He hasn't said Riley's name in years, has a sense that John doesn't talk much about Jessica either. Some ghosts should lie where they rest. ]

[ He fetches the bottle and pours some for Carver; John is still working on his first glass. Talking about Jessica was hard, but he's putting effort into not drinking that way. He doesn't take more potatoes either, he can put those in a container and leave in the fridge as leftover to collect later. ]

At least we got a meal out of it.

[ This time, Carver makes an effort not to hunch over and shield his glass. The reflex doesn't serve him here. He's supposed to be acting normal. He drinks slower this time, watching John. ]

It was good. You know how to cook.

I learned when I was a kid. Helped my mom.

[ He doesn't feel like he needs to hide that detail from Carver. It's personal but not overly so, and he doesn't feel like he's giving any sort of advantage away by revealing it. ]

[ Carver's quiet for a long time, just watching. Then: ]

My grandma taught me. Mom was deployed most of the time. Somebody had to cook.

[ The silence between them isn't uncomfortable, so John is a little surprised when Carver shares something as well. ]

My father died when I was young. It was just the two of us after that. She was busy supporting us, so I helped out when I was old enough.

[ It's a familiar story, in the end. A lot of the other Reapers had beginnings like that. Or uglier, sharper. The Army tends to recruit people who want to escape something, even if it's just themselves.

Carver rubs his thumb along the rim of the glass, watching John. ]

We did okay, I guess. We were pretty fucking poor but we made it work. Got easier after my mom reenlisted as an officer. I saw her a few times a year.

[ He snorts. ]

God, she was mad when I signed up.

I think mine would have been too.

[ And probably mad that he got in a fight bad enough that the judge gave him a choice between enlisting and jail. It was worth it, though. She'd died not long before then though, a swift illness that left him alone. It hadn't been the best time. ]

[ Would have been. But wasn’t? Carver hums a little, taking another drink. He supposes it doesn’t matter that he’s letting John these things. Who else would he talk about it with? ]

She died after I went to Korengal. My grandma, too. And that was just that.

[ John takes a drink, thinks about how to say the next thing. ]

Makes it easier to come back a stranger.

[ He's glad his parents didn't see him become who he is today. ]

[ He shrugs at that. Just is what it is. ]

Wasn’t much point in coming back. Couldn’t be in the Army after that. Couldn’t be a civilian either. My sister got tired of bailing me out of the drunk tank. Said she’d take me with on the private jobs she was pulling with the commander, but only if I sobered up. I owe them a lot for that.

[ He gets the drinking. All too well. It wasn't that many years ago he was drinking himself to death on the streets of New York. Now he's careful with his drinks, doesn't let himself get that way anymore. He has a purpose, Harold's purpose, to carry him onwards. He can manage to make it through his dark moments knowing there will be a number in the morning. ]

I never went back to being a civilian. Went straight to the CIA.

[ Now that is a casual drop of information for Carver. John is pretty sure he hasn't mentioned that before. ]

[ It's nice to have some confirmation. Carver inclines his head slightly. ]

Kinda figured, way you talked. Way you move.

[ Training like that bleeds through. And there aren't many places to get it. ]

We probably ran in some of the same circles.

What kind of work did you do?

[ John isn't entirely sure they did, he was more on the intelligence side of things. Put a lot of people in the ground, but only after doing his homework. Most of the time, at least. The CIA liked how good he was at making judgment calls just based on his gut feeling, especially considering he was either proved right in the aftermath, or they didn't care to confirm. He thinks sometimes Kara and Mark just liked seeing him kill people, seeing him bend more to their purpose. Being less of a "boy scout," as Kara used to put it. ]

[ Carver lifts his glass, watching the sake swirl. There are a lot of ways he could answer that. He wouldn't necessarily have to lie. Just emphasize certain aspects over others. John and Harold already know he kicked doors in; Carver could let them believe that was the end of it.

Or he could tell the truth, and see how it settles. ]

Everything, [ he says after a moment, softly. ] We took people, held them. Extracted information. Started a few wars. Ended a couple others. All the shit the U.S. didn't wanna admit they ordered done.

[ Maybe not so different, then. John remembers how Kara used to handle interrogations, how sick it made him. Sometimes he tried to push back, take over, get her to pick another way, but she never liked that and sometimes he was just too worn down to try. ]

Similar, but I was smaller scale. Just one partner and our handler. Mostly intelligence and making people disappear. No teeth, no fingerprints.

[ He feels a familiar cold creeping in, his chest freezing over. But this is who he is, the good he does for Harold is just a veneer on all he's done before. ]

Surgical.

[ In and out, suited for delicate work, no backup, probably a limited extraction window. Carver nods slowly. Similar to his own role, but not quite the same. The Reapers nearly always fought in a pack. ]

Comes in handy here. How’d Harold find you?

[ How did Harold find him? On the verge of death. Getting picked up by the police. It's so strange to look back on that day in the park, this stranger looking right through him, saying all these secrets so casually. ]

I got arrested for beating up some kids on the train. They started it.

[ But that's all John has to say on that topic. The details of those early days are for them and them alone. ]

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cw: alcoholism and suicidal ideation

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cw: torture

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