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

Are they? This is a mystery to everyone except the barnacles themselves, which--may be up to a roll of the dice for young Sephiroth, if he wants to truly find out. Because Gorgug is hearing that question, glancing at the barnacles, and:

"I have no clue."

Are they moving? Are they magical, forever living despite horrendous conditions? Are they perhaps even being kept alive by the celestial energy that encompasses the van via the celestial being attuned to the van?

That's all to be decided...by Sephiroth('s next tag, those barnacles can be as dead or alive as you want).

[ooc: i dicerolled this.]

There is a certain perfectly sensible wariness to getting too close to a vehicle that is still running; he's had to dodge them before. But he's also pretty sure he can guess the turn radius of this thing, and when he crouches to investigate, it's from a position he's pretty sure he won't get squished from.

"...These ones look empty," he says slowly, reaching a gloved finger to ... stick it in the empty barnacle shell just to be sure nothing's in there. "I'll have to check all of them to be sure. Can you put that in park please? I don't want to get run over."

Some of them are still in there, magic obeyed its OWN rules. These ones however, are hollow shells of their former selves.

This was not something Gorgug was expecting to happen today: for someone to notice and care about (to an extent) the barnacles on his van. But when Sephiroth asks his request? Gorgug humours him, turning off the engine and locking the transmission. No need to keep the elemental engine running if he's going to open the door now and step out.

Even he's interested now. Walking over, but giving Sephiroth space as he might want to move. But Gorgug crouches, arms hanging on his knees as he inspects some of the barnacles closest to him.

"I never cleaned them off since I thought they'd fall off eventually. And I kinda got distracted with other stuff. Like homework." And repeatedly fixing the van, living his life... "It's really been a long time. Maybe they're feeding off the van."

Somehow. Maybe. ...Maybe not.

It's now considerably safer to get close to a multiton vehicle without concern about being squished, which means as soon as it's turned off he's investigating more of them one at a time. He does move, but it's not with the sense of wanting to avoid closeness so much as there's more barnacles to investigate.

"I don't .. know a lot about them, but I think once they're on they're on until they're removed." There were huge scrapers in Junon specifically for the purpose of de-barnacling things, if they came off on their own would it be necessary?

Homework is .. a school thing. Gorgug therefore, attends school. Or attended. "I think there's something in a couple of these." Maybe they WERE feeding off the van. ".. You might want to submerge them in water a bit if you want them to keep living. I'm pretty sure usually they need water."

He doesn't sound too sure of that, because obviously these ones are still there after all that time NOT being in water..

He knows nothing about barnacles. Other than the fact that they cling onto surfaces (usually shells), and-- whatever. Sephiroth mentions if he wants them to keep living, and Gorgug isn't sure. It's not like he's interested in them dying (and hearing that any are still alive is--well, a little fascinating; should they be dead?), but he's never thought about them until now.

Like leaving a dead plant in the corner of a room you keep meaning to clean out, but put off because--it's not like it can die more.

"Oh." Oh. That's his initial response, a brief thought to the celestial occupying his van and its domain, but not for long. "...we could them them into the water around here, the streams and stuff. Is that safe?"

Do they, like, need to be reintergrated back to water, or something? Is that a thing.

He's almost certain they should be dead but his knowledge of barnacles, while it might be a little greater than Gorgug's, is still extremely limited. Maybe they weren't aquatic after all!

The barnacles are stared at silently for a long time. WAS it safe? Would that be introducing an invasive species to the waterways? Wasn't that a bad thing? Or was that mussels.

This is the kind of thing Sephiroth is pretty sure should be researched before being acted upon. "I don't see why not," he concludes, reasonably sure it had to be mussels. What could go wrong, introducing perhaps indestructabel barnacles to Etraya? "You don't have to really worry much about putting a fish in water, so it should be the same principle once they're ... actually off.."

Once they're actually off. Right. One of the barnacles even pokes out...something from inside its top hole as Gorgug's staring at a selection of them, as if they needed any evidence of some of them still being alive. Gorgug winces, 'cause they're kind of gross? But he's also now looking at them, their shapes. He could try scraping them off with his hand, but that seems... like it would be a mess, and may or may not work?

...

"I think I'm gonna need a tool if I-- don't wanna kill them." Something to get underneath the shells and just... pop them off. He's still squinting, but looks over at Sephiroth. "Wait, did you want any? My workshop's close-- I could save you a few. Were you going somewhere?"

Maybe it's...on the way? Close? What was he doing before his life got taken over by the most durable barnacles in Etraya?

It's like a tentacle in a shell. Are they supposed to look like that? Sephiroth frowns, reaching out to prod a little at one of the shells, leaning just a little to test for toughness. It doesn't give.

Whatever barnacles are made out of, they're resilient. "I wasn't really going anywhere," he says a little absently, taking off one glove so he can work on getting fingernails under an empty barnacle shell and work on prying it off.

He's not going to get too far. He has plenty of strength but fingernails are not exactly resilient. "Just seeing what there is in this city. A chisel might do it." He looks up after a moment, frowning at his glaring lack of success. "I'd eat them if I took one, it won't matter if they're dead then, would it?"

"I guess not," comes Gorgug's answer. He doesn't really care if Sephiroth wants to eat them, though he wonders, saying out loud, "Is that safe? You think it's safe? Do you cook barnacles first?"

Someone does not eat enough sea food to be an expert in this, if people even eat barnacles (are they technically a 'shell fish'?). ...unless this is actually something gross that is flying over Gorgug's head. He looks at the stuck on little critters, and adds, regardless of what Sephiroth might decide for his stomach, "I've got a chisel. I can give you a bag, and... do whatever you want with them after."

At least, once they go to his workshop. If Sephiroth wants to keep exploring, there's a few other buildings in the area for that.

"..I don't know." That's a question for a library! Or at least a cookbook, but most shellfish did need some cooking and this was a thing in a shell therefore it's probably reasonable to treat it similarly.

But there's an invitation here, it's going to mean visiting this workshop, which.. frankly he's fine with, Gorgug doesn't look at all like a scientist or someone who might be up to anything nefarious.

He straightens up smoothly. "Alright. If nothing else I can assist on their removal. I'm certain I have read that they're bad to have on something." Why that is he doesn't know, maybe they ate metal, or whatever else they were attached to.

Something else to find out from a library...

"I read if you can reproduce its glue, it's useful for a lot of projects. Maybe I can try that?"

You know, just reproduce barnacle glue. He points to the van, telling Sephiroth, "You can get in the other side," while he then walks back to the driving side he came out of. Suddenly, he's wondering if all the barnacles might just die and fall off of his van now that people are paying more than half a second attention on them. ...not a serious thought, but this is the most consideration he's giving them beyond passing "oh yeah, I need to clean them off" whenever he noticed them on his van.

When Sephiroth gets inside, it's much like any camper van, save, if he bothers to look over towards the driver's console, a sapphire stone just lodged in there. But know what's more interesting?

All the hanging dangling trinkets off the hook where a rearview mirror would be in cars, ohh. Look, an air freshener! A logo for something called 'FIGS AND THE CIG FIGS'! A sticker on the outside on the window saying 'VOTE 4 APPLEBEES'! ...backwards.

This is technically Sephiroth's first encounter with a van, but he does know enough about motor vehicles that getting in on the other side isn't needing much of a translation. He does however check to see if there's a side door as well as passenger front; it may be that the front seats are reserved for others. "If it can stick to a van for all this time, it must be a strong adhesive.."

A worthwhile project to pursue??

That there is an entire little house inside the van for a moment stops Sephiroth, mid-reach for seat, considering this with all the absolute focus he devoted to anything new and interesting. "Oh, this is very convenient," is the quiet murmur as he settles into place. Take your home with you, who needs an apartment??

And the van has jewelry. Or at least. Ornamentation. Isn't that what all the interesting dangly things are? One of them definitely looks like a gemstone, it has to be decoration. Why did Gorgug put it all over his vehicle though, and not himself? The half-orc is studied for a long moment, then the air fresheners, logos, dangly trinkets and more.

He concludes asking if it's like a bird decorating their nest is probably unfathomably rude, and thus decides not to. "I've never seen one of these before. Are they all like yours?" SAFER.

Gorgug is, for his part, paying attention to Sephiroth. He gets on his seatbelt quickly enough, but he notices the way the guy is looking around--and then at him, which does make Gorgug look down at himself, as if he'll notice something there that he didn't before worth looking at. But no-- the guy seems to be...taking something in? Making some calculation and conclusion?

Or so Gorgug assumes, and he doesn't get to ask before the guy speaks. He blinks, and thinks (does he mean the interior?), before asking, "The van? You don't have vans?"

Have they been standing outside all this time thinking too much about barnacles, when the coolest thing here is the van?

"...If we do I've never been in one. Transport trucks and helicopters yes, but this is better." Not only are the seats actually comfortable, look at all the other stuff.

Maybe he wouldn't dislike being sent out for missions if they were transported in one of these. "It's like a little tiny mobile base."

Sephiroth still wants to ask about the ornaments, but that he's not yet sure of. It could be some purpose obvious to everyone else that would be uncouth to just point out...

Huh. Gorgug's listening, and he's trying to imagine what Sephiroth is saying-- which he thinks he does understand, but not the idea those would exist but not vans?

"So, you just have-- military vehicles? You mean that kind of base?" He glances at Sephiroth as he asks it, really trying to imagine this. Maybe it has nothing to do with military, but the mobile base really pushed Gorgug's mind that way. "How do people get between places without the-- without transporting them? Like...civilians?"

He isn't sure how to ask that. Do people just not...travel? Unless it's for transport?

There's a long moment of silence as Sephiroth considers how to explain what a base is. "No. A base is where the vehicles come to and leave from, where you keep troops and weapons and the like until they are needed. They are places to live, eat, sleep and so on, but a truck-sized one on wheels is... new."

Camper vans are mindblowing, he never even thought anyone would try this kind of thing. "I think civilians mostly use trains and chocobos. A ... large bird used for riding and pulling carriages." He turns a little in his seat to study the rest of the van for a long moment. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing like this. It's very clever."

He could be wrong, he hasn't actually gotten out much.

"Oh." Oh. Well, he knows what that kind of base is, but he thought it was an already moving base. There's no real room to explain that, so he'll just be fascinated, and also confused, about the idea of a van being some untouched idea in a world with helicopters and trucks.

When Sephiroth looks in the back, there's cushioned seating on either sides, and small cubbies underneath them for storage. While there's a few colourful pillows and some stickers on the walls, the more immediate focus will probably go to the pile of scrap metals, coppers and wires that have been shoved in there. Though the very far back doors do have some colourful paint work of stars, and the word 'FIG' written with flames around it.

"It's probably better than a carriage pulled by a bird. Those kind of spaces look pretty small? I've never been in one. They're kind of old-fashioned where I'm from. But maybe they're big in some part of the world... I went to this area that didn't have crystals or rides like this."

It takes him a second, but Gorgug thinks to explain about that crystal, looking at Sephiroth quickly as he touches at the earpiece on his own ear. "--These, one of these. Talking devices you can call or text with? Some people have different names for them."

What was the one that he kept hearing? It's not coming to mind...

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FEBRUARY MINGLE

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THE WEIGHT OF DECISIONS UPON MY SHOULDERS.

😔 i knew you would be strong enough to handle it

but what if i wasn't

we would have perished 😔 society would have collapsed

Society must live on!

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