etrayalogs | 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

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fiiine, it takes more than a little bit of surprise fire to ruin my day."

He grumbles while mopping up coffee, less out of consideration for whoever has to clean up and more of an excuse to not make eye contact, this was... not the worst first impression he has made by far, but he does feel quite stupid.

"I'm Popp, if you were wondering. I'd say I'm not normally so jumpy, but that'd be a lie."

"Well, I can't really blame you, given that I did set my croissant on fire."

Quentin has absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to judging other peopl for being anxious. He has the prescriptions to prove it.

"That was. Really cool? The fireball."

"Hehe, you think so? I had a really good teacher."

Popp puffs up - his surface mood is easy to shove in one direction or another.

"Who taught you?" Quentin asks, because that's. Actually something he'd like to know? He knows there are magic schools other than Brakebills out there, though he suspects he's about to be told about a teaching method not found on Earth.

"Master Avan taught me all of the basics, and even some advanced spells like Kafrizzle. He called himself a Hero Tutor, but he could do just about anything, he invented his own sword style and everything. Don't ask me too much about the sword style, though; he scolded me all the time for not paying attention."

Popp sounds fond and wistful. He would sound much the same even if Master Avan were still alive, but he'd also complain about having to do chores.

Hero Tutor is very much not anything Quentin's ever heard of before, though he can't help but be intrigued. It kind of sounds like someone who makes a living of being the mentor on a Hero's Journey. (Is that possible? Is that a thing? One thing Quentin's been told about being a magician is that there aren't really quests and things to go around, but he'd also been told Fillory wasn't real and now not only is it real, Quentin is actively on another world right now.)

"What does Kafrizzle do?"

Quests and Heroes and Dark Lords are all very unironically real to Popp. Hero is more of a profession than a label from society, but it is still both of those.

"The same thing as Frizz, but stronger and hotter. The only way to have a better fire spell is to cast multiple at the same time... Which isn't something most humans can even dream of doing."

"That, uh, sounds like Battle Magic?"

Which is very much off-limits for anyone at Brakebills or otherwise classically-trained magicians, as he understands it. "They just teach you that?"

"Yeah, yeah! That's exactly what it is. I said Hero Tutor, not Cooking Tutor... even if he was also good at that, too. It'd be pretty hard to fight the Dark Army if I couldn't actually fight."

It's still quite hard to fight the Dark Army, actually, but he'd rather sound proud and confident after his panicked first impression.

...He doesn't want the otherworldly mages to think that Master Avan's a bad teacher, okay?

"That... makes sense?"

The Dark Army one hundred percent sounds like the name of the antagonists in a fantasy novel, and he is absolutely going to explore that when he gets a chance. "It's just, uh, technically forbidden where I'm from. It's not taught."

And he's gotten in serious trouble for copying a piece of battle magic he saw one (1) time, so.

"We have forbidden magic too, but it's forbidden because it's for really evil stuff, like shutting people up in ice coffins until they die."

Absolutely nothing Popp says about the Dark Army and their various deeds is going to make them seem any less like what Quentin is taking them for.

"You can already set things on fire by accident, so what's wrong with learning how to do it on purpose? It's not like you're a bad guy."

He doesn't have anything in particular to base this on. Just, you know. He seems fine! Popp trusts his instincts.

FEBRUARY MINGLE

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