etrayalogs | MAY MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: May 17th-31st
WHERE: On Etraya
WHAT: A mingle log!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A, please note any needed warnings in threads.

⏵ a hero's return ⏴

As champions exit the Labyrinth, they’ll find that their environment has gone through some fairly drastic changes. Where there used to be larger bodies of water is now thinner rivers going through land; the amount of bridges connecting landmasses has decreased, given what had been individual islands are now much more connected. In addition, Etraya is significantly more green; flowers bloom, birds chirp cheerfully, and there are numerous additional species of insects, mammals, and aquatic creatures throughout the lands. Baby foxes roam through forested areas, bees pollinate the flowers to spread them more thoroughly around the inhabited areas, and it feels brighter. Or perhaps that’s just in comparison to how the Labyrinth had been.

There are more areas to explore, new facilities, animals, and Etraya feels significantly more settled than it had before. Aurora’s promise of renovations had been true. And if one looks up, they may notice a city bubble visible on the closest planet that hadn't been visible before.

⏵ coffee break ⏴
After hearing Clarke’s suggestion, Aurora sets up a new cafe close to the apartment complex, and sends out notices to individuals with mandatory coffee hour times listed for them to come to Corrine's Cafe and make a few friends.

While the note does state that it is mandatory, there will be no follow-up from Aurora nor the companion bots to ensure those who receive notes do show. Given this is Aurora trying to take suggestions in mind and see how successful they are among the citizens of Etraya, however, following directives may not be a terrible idea.

It's up like a modern-day, smaller cafe. One walks in through the front door, and is greeted by a companion bot behind the counter who offers a wave of their hand and a friendly “Welcome! Let me know when you’re ready to order”. The menu offers lattes, mochas, espresso, black coffee, several different kinds of teas, and a few drinks that are a little odd to find in a cafe; ale, canned sodas and coffees, numerous bottles of wine, but only pinot noir.

Soft music plays in the background, impossible to place but it sounds as if it may be based on tracks that were popular in the early 90s.

Tables and booths are set up to seat two to four, with packets of sugar and small containers of creamer set out towards the middle. There are charging stations set up at every table, which may seem strange considering phones and laptops aren’t widely available, but Aurora’s doing her best. There are also a few bookshelves full of the classics, a few historical fiction, and several written by H.P. Lovecraft.

Each seat has a placard in front of it, with a name, and a ‘fun fact’. One might say “Hello! My name is Joe, and I like to paint!” Another may say “Hi, I’m Jill! My sister died tragically in front of me and I’ve never gotten over it.”

⏵ new horizons ⏴

Several of the new bridges found in Etraya now have signs posted just outside of them, and on those signs is a QR code that the earpiece’s HUD can scan. Scanning this with the HUD will bring up a scavenger hunt, listing several items and circling areas where they can be found.

Some of these objects will be obvious: find Corrine at Corrine’s Cafe - the companion bot who runs the counter, find a delicious meal at Bangsan Market, break into S.T.A.R Labs, or find room 87 at Point Blanc Academy. Some will be less obvious, like locating a bat, becoming friends with an archer, find a pink shirt, open bagged milk without making a mess, or get a drink at the mutant-friendly pub. Please feel free to make up your own items to find around Etraya!

⏵ NOTES ⏴
Welcome to our mid-month mingle!

Please feel free to use this to explore Etraya, put up wildcard prompts (you don't need to use the above!), or use the open prompts to assist in jumpstarting cr.

This mingle covers the period from May 17th to May 31st. Our next mission (and next mod log) will not go up until June 7th.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i: coffee break.
[ As soon as she leaves the labyrinth, the normally-gregarious Lisa Wilbourn speaks to no one.

Instead, she makes a beeline for her apartment, locks the door, and does not turn the light on. At first, she doesn't even take a shower. Instead, she takes out the notebook she'd carried throughout the maze, tears out each of the pages, and lets down the walls holding back her reactivated power.

A few hours later, Lisa has an updated red string wall, additions to her database, and a killer migraine.

The notice that she's expected to report to a mandatory coffee hour just adds insult to injury. But Lisa knows what mandatory means, and the implicit promise of violence behind it. Fine. She's used to operating without a choice.

Lisa arrives wearing large, round sunglasses, a fuzzy blue sweater and loose jeans, her hair pulled up in a loose, messy bun. She does not take off her sunglasses when she enters the shop. Instead, she orders a drip coffee with three shots of espresso and four pumps of vanilla, sits at a table in the back, and pretends to read a story.

A few placards are placed in front of her. You might find:

Hello! I'm Lisa, and my favorite restaurant is Fugly Bob's or Hello! I'm Tattletale, and I'm a homewrecker!

Lisa gets up and leaves just before a bot sets down at her table a placard that reads: Hello, my name is Sarah Livsey. Ask me about my brother! ]

ii: wildcard.
[ Message me on plurk @ moonlanding or in the game discord to plot! Lisa will also be helping out with Natsuno's project, and I'm up for some scavenger hunt stuff as well. ]

[Amy is sat miserably against the wall. Waiting for her "date" to arrive and bother her with more conversations with a stranger. It helps that Tattletale is in sight, and she can just watch whatever she's doing - in case she looks at Amy like she's going to reveal something.

Sometimes she'll order something up at the counter just to not so subtly take a peek at her cards. The homewrecker one gets something between a grimace and a huff of amusement. It's not wrong.

She avoids any direct conversation until Lisa suddenly leaves, and the bot puts another card down.

She should leave it. But her curiosity gets the best of her and she has to find out what it says.

"Hello, my name is Sarah Livsey. Ask me about my brother."

She's not sure what she should be feeling. Vindication? Confusion? Sarah Livsey... of course, she knows nothing about Lisa's origins. She knows about Alec Vasil's origins - everyone does. And Rachel Lindt too. And Taylor Hebert. But nothing about Lisa.

Ask me about my brother.

She stares at it. Stares at the door that Lisa left through.

Each and every one of them is a freeze frame of a moment that broke them. Never growing older, never moving on. Amy's shard feeds her terror every time she thinks about Victoria. What terror that isn't already there.

What happened to Lisa's brother?

She remembers Lisa's face when she realized what Taylor Hebert had done. She remembers the way that Riley told Taylor Hebert they should talk to Lisa - To Tattletale, first, and the way that Taylor had looked at Lisa with an expression of... guilt. Lisa's speech once she was done rubbing salt into Amy's wounds.

What happened to Lisa? To Sarah Livsey?

It doesn't matter. Amy's under no obligation to feel sorry for her.

It's not sympathy that moves Amy to take the card and rip it up before anyone sees. It's just... professional courtesy.]

MAY MINGLE

lisa wilbourn | worm

(not here)