etrayalogs | APRIL MINGLE

APRIL MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: April 25th - Early May
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, spring activities, and feathered friends!
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.

However, if they are arriving from Aphaia, it's a little different, though mostly through means and familiarity. They will still show up in the hospital of course, but how can vary. Either through Aurora offering a portal for escape, their own demise (however it might have happened), or even a simple blink of their eyes and they're in the hospital. They had been given the briefest explanation last time they were here, but at least Aurora can better answer their questions now. No time constraints nor rushing them off to a dying world, this time!

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, spring is sprung, it is warm and comfortable. Flowers have bloomed, and everything is in a sharp contrast to Aphaia—there is life within the bubble, and even the myriad wildlife seems to be basking in the glow of it all. Almost as if a celebration of that life itself.

Bees are buzzing, birds are—warking?

⏵ Birds of a Feather ⏴

Etraya has always had its interesting assortment of critters, but there seems to be a particularly colorful array of birds wandering around. Those familiar would know they are named Chocobos, those less so familiar, well, these are some strange looking ostriches, or whatever large bipedal bird equivalent fits. While the birds all seem to be of the same species, there are certainly some variety in their features. Some with friendlier faces and others looking a bit more eagle-like.

They are not particularly congregated in any one spot within Etraya, seeming to stick to groups, while others don't, yet even some are accompanied by newly hatched chicks. The observant might be quick to notice that their colors dictate some level of behavior, or even where their little groups mingle:

Colors	Behavior and habitat
Yellow	Can be found just about anywhere in Etraya, they don't necessarily stick to self-made groups, and typically are more likely to be friendly to people. However, if they are in the company of a newly hatched chick, they can become wary, though easily won over with some greens.
Green	These Chocobos are mostly found in grassy or woodsy areas, almost always in pairs, and sometimes found in the trees themselves. They are more wary than their yellow brethren, though if they see someone struggling or in danger, they are quick to offer assistance in what way they can. Doting like motherhens.
Blue	Most often found by bodies of water, these Chocobo seem content to keep to themselves. Three to a group, they are not so easy to approach without being noticed. Their skill and love of water is clear, however, and it's not unusual to find them flapping about or swimming. Though they may flee to the water if you spook them.
Brown	The most skiddish of the Chocobo, they can be found throughout Etraya, though further away from anything occupied by people. They stick to groups of four, though they have a clear leader who sports blue and green feathers, but seemingly is not of the other two types. Should they catch sight or sound of someone approaching they are like to run off, or they might attempt to defend themselves.
Red	There seems to be only one of these running around. Highly aggressive to anyone who dares to approach it. Best to avoid it. Very likely to hurl comet-like balls of fire your way. Untamable.

The birds all favor these strange cabbage looking plants that can be found out and about in the wilds of Etraya. Some proving a little overeager in their voracity to eat the leafy greens. One should be careful, with those large beaks of theirs.

⏵ Gift Hunt ⏴

It isn't only the birds that have shown up out of nowhere. Small to medium sized boxes, wrapped as if they should be under a tree, and maybe not hidden in a tree, have also appeared. For whatever reason (possibly the same reason eggs were given out over winter) there seems to be gifts hidden all over Etraya! Some in more difficult to find locations (in trees, on top of a roof, on snake island), while others look as though whoever "hid" it gave up halfway through and simply dropped it on the ground and put a leaf over it.

For those who need a little extra help, well, certainly your fellow Etrayans could lend a hand, however there are also perfectly capable birds about for those still left wanting. Certainly that blue chocobo could assist with crossing the river to obtain that perfectly balanced gift on a rock! Or what about that green chocobo roosting in a tree not too far from that gift stuck in the branches because it has entirely too many ribbons?

With that said, there might also be some dangers in trying to take one of the myriad gifts from a chocobo's nest, especially if there's a chick presently sleeping next to it. Perhaps befriending them would be a good idea first, besides, isn't friendship with a big bird the truest gift of all?

On the tag of each and every gift box says the same thing:

To: You
Love: 💋

Each gift has a random assortment within. Some contain candy, others contain alcohol, make-up...maybe even a pair of socks, very perfunctory gifts with very little thought or feeling put into them. However, there is at least one gift that is personally relevant to each character in Etraya. This item will be the equivalent of a 5 point AC reward, and does not have to be found by the person it is intended for.

What better way to break the ice than to give someone their gift which you opened!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome to Etraya newcomers and happy spring to everyone!

It appears that someone is trying to correct her previous mistake of handing out eggs during the winter holidays, and now there's a hunt for gifts accompanied by a bunch of lovely birds to help out!

Some notes in regard to Chocobos:

-Each color can be tamed except for the red one, he's a free spirit. Should someone wish to harm or attack this chocobo, let us mods know. There is only one of him, after all.

-The others will just take various amounts of work to win over, however, but they are loving and cute companions for those who are willing to put in the effort! And who knows, maybe more colors could arise with time and patience...

-Feel free to pull from all the designs of chocobos throughout the Final Fantasy series. If you fancy FFXII's, for example, there are some that look like that. Variety is the spice of life!

Concerning the personal item, be sure to plot out and get permission when finding someone else's item. This is meant to encourage possible new CR and mingling, but the choice of the item should ultimately be within the hands of the player who is receiving it.

If you are uncertain if your item is appropriate for the reward cost, feel free to ask here!

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

[Jason goes quiet at Bruce's admission. It sounds like Bruce's Tim Drake had quite the different path from the Tim Jason knows. A path that's uncomfortably familiar to Jason...]

He was kidnapped, wasn't he?

[There's a reason why Bruce only had 2 Robins. It makes grim sense...]

Barbara and I searched for him for three weeks and then Joker sent us this.

[ The jack in the box, tucked under his arm. Only bigger and, as Bruce mentioned, with a grenade full of confetti inside. ]

[At that, Jason goes cold. His own torture and death was within a matter of what? An hour? That alone was already hell. Three weeks is almost unimaginable]

What'd he do to him?

[Because with the Joker, it's never just tying up and gagging his victims. There's always some sort of sick twist to it to make himself laugh]

[ Bruce...almost doesn't answer. It's all too fresh. Even after all these years. But then he remembers he hadn't told Terry and that didn't end well for him. He was part of it. Just like Jason was. ]

He was tortured. Brainwashed. Joker had turned him into [ Joker Junior. ] his own twisted image.

[It's worse than Jason imagined. Physical torture was one thing. But to push someone to the point of becoming another Joker is another. Was that the breaking point for his family? How does anyone recover from that? Jason is quiet for a long time, trying to process]

And Tim shot him in revenge?

[He can almost see how it could've happened. Would Jason have done the same? Or would he have been too far gone even for that?]

[ They don't, Jason. They don't ever recover. ]

Joker ordered him to shoot me and Tim almost did. But didn't at the last moment. Leslie brought him back to himself and he stopped being Robin.

[ Because Bruce forbade it. Poured all of his energy into being everything Gotham needed without the need of a partner. It worked - until it didn't. And he had no one to turn to, because he'd pushed them all away.

But that, he keeps to himself. ]

[Jason isn't sure if he should be relieved that Bruce's Tim turned around and shot the Joker. The bastard deserves it and then some. If there's anyone who deserves to die, it's the Joker. But the damage was already done and it's almost unimaginable how Tim could recover from that. Jason understands why Tim would stop being Robin. He would've done the same]

And things were never the same between all of you.

[Jason had been wondering what could've caused Bruce to shut out so many people. It seems like this would've done it]

[ Bruce...says nothing. It's what killed the family for good, yes. Barbara quit, Tim went away. Dick was already gone. And Bruce was alone. Until some punk came along and swiped his suit.

Right then, he really missed Terry. ]

I told you he came back. But it isn't him. I buried him myself. So, I've been trying to figure out how.

[ And more importantly, who. Who would have the motive to bring him back? Clone him or dig up his corpse and drop him in a Lazarus Pit, if that's how they brought him back. No one knew he was there except Bruce, Barbara, Tim, and Jim. He has an idea. While he's been here, he's had time to think over the facts. He doesn't like the answer. Maybe Jason's perspective can give him a new angle.

Or at least, he can tell him it's not who he thinks it might be. ]

[There's a long, uncomfortably tense silent moment as Jason thinks. The older Bruce hasn't spoken too much about what his world is like so Jason can only hazard some guesses based on the possible similarities between their worlds]

Are the Lazarus Pits still around?

[Bruce sounds certain that he thought the Joker was dead until recently. So he must've seen the body. Maybe someone tampered the body afterwards...?]

[ A thought he's considered. But unless one of the others spoke about what's happened, no one knew he'd be there to dig him up. True enough Ra's may have found the burial site, but he didn't really have a need for Joker. ]

At the time this happened? Yes. Ra's al Ghul controlled them.

[ A glance at Jason. Don't think he hasn't noticed the uncomfortable silence. ]

I assume that's true where you are from?

Been like that for centuries. You probably know the story.

[Jason fidgets a little with the batarang]

Talia has access too.

[ It is Bruce's turn to grow quiet, frowning a bit at the thought of her. Talia deserved better. Even after the betrayals, he would not have wished what happened to her on anyone. ]

I have. You know it well?

Yeah.

[Jason takes a breathe before continue]

She's also why I came back to life.

[Jason still doesn't know if what she had done was really a good thing given how she took him in afterwards]

[...Honestly, Bruce should have guessed. Jason had been acting strange since he spotted the jack in the box. If Talia was involved, he was near a Lazarus Pit at the very least. The Joker had done enough damage that maybe it necessitated the use of one.

Quietly, he says: ]

Tell me what happened.

[Jason tries to take a breathe and he looks away before responding back]

Your Tim isn't the only one who got hurt by that psycho.

[Even now he can still remember clearly the sounds of the crowbar beating him over and over again]

Except with me, he finished the job. Once the crowbar beating was done, I... I remember lying there broken and bleeding out. And the ticking of the bomb. I was locked in.

[ If Joker had ever killed one of them, Bruce always imagined it would have been him. If only because he would never have allowed him to get close to Tim or Barbara or Dick. He'd been wrong about it. Tim's kidnapping a clear indicator that there wasn't a line he wouldn't cross just to make Bruce suffer.

Of course that psychopath would take his Robin.

Jason's story does give him the angle he'd been looking for. Except, it's a new perspective on the prevailing theory. ]

And you were brought back with a Lazarus Pit?

[ He isn't skeptical. He just couldn't see Bruce agreeing to it. ]

Yeah. Talia's idea, not my Bruce's.

[Jason knows Bruce would've never agreed to it and he understands why. There's always a heavy price to pay with a Lazarus Pit]

Talia secretly got my body dug up and then dumped into a Lazarus Pit. My Bruce didn't know about that until years ago. I... was under the League's training for a while.

[Jason's aware of how it was a dark mirror to Bruce's pre-Batman training. Jason was obsessed with vengeance and did whatever he could to match his adoptive father]

[ Bruce frowns. He always frown. But this is deeper, harder set of his mouth. A reaction and not just the look of his face. Anything with the League involved wouldn't be a good development. ]

You were used by them.

[ It's what Ra's does. It's what Talia does. And if they knew Jason had been one of Bruce's? They'd use Jason against him. ]

[Jason looks uncomfortable at that statement. It's understandable where Bruce is coming from and there's no doubt that the League saw Jason as a useful tool. A broken Robin ready to lash out and do whatever it takes to get back at Batman? How perfect it is for any rogue.

But even after all the therapy and reconciliation Jason has worked on, he's still not entirely sure how many of his sins were because of the League's manipulations and how many were coming purely from Jason embracing his darker impulses. There are still plenty of days when Jason questions if he's really a good person and not just some angry man ready to hurt whoever he likes]

Talia funded everything for my training and gave me access to whatever teachers I wanted to... to fight Batman. It took a few years until I felt ready to give Gotham a new kind of order. I wanted to prove to my Bruce a more effective alternative and so the Joker can finally be finished off.

[ It's good that Jason tells him this, even if he'd mostly guessed it. What other reason would Talia have had to dig this boy up out of the grave and drop him into a Pit if not to unleash him on Batman. Jason's death must have struck a deep, agonizing chord. He really did not have to imagine how painful it was for Jason's Bruce.

It also highlights a terrible, grim reality. It's very possible Tim felt the same way Jason had. A desire for revenge. He didn't know what Bruce might have done to earn Jason's ire. Maybe it was as simple as not doing enough. If Tim felt the same way, what was stopping him from using the visage of Bruce's greatest enemy and the memory of his greatest failure to ruin him?

The answer was nothing. Nothing at all. ]

Did it work?

Depends on what you mean. Didn't take me long to seize control of Gotham's most powerful drug dealers. Dealt some pretty heavy blows to the biggest trafficker around too. I wanted my Bruce's attention and I got it.

[Jason's body tightens just slightly as he continues to recollect some of his darkest days]

In the end, I nearly killed myself, him, and the Joker. I tried to make him choose. What happened instead was he took a third option.

[ There's a quiet part of him that doesn't really know what to think about any of this. Jason's story so closely mirrored Tim's - at least their encounters with the Joker - that he feels that twinge guilt, that measure of responsibility all over again. Even if it hadn't been this Bruce specifically. It had been a Bruce and he should have known better. They both should have known better.

The third option, Bruce could only guess at, based on what he would have done. Forcing an impossible choice on him would always have him seeking a way out or at the very least the lesser evil of the two. It's not ideal.

But there's nothing ideal about being a vigilante. ]

The Joker is still alive you said. And so are you.

[ But ultimately, that doesn't mean Bruce chose Jason over the Joker. He just found a way to make the choice less distasteful. ]

[Jason nods. He still wants the Joker dead but he was still alive at least. The whole family works in varying shades of moral gray. There are no easy choices]

He found a different way. After that, I had to retreat and recover and still fought him in other ways. It took a while before we could reconcile. Our relationship still has its issues but it's... better than when I first returned to Gotham.

[Though some days Jason's thoughts go dark and he questions if he's truly redeemed himself]

[ A different way that Jason did not specify. And considering it took a while to reconcile, that they were still fighting before that reconciliation happened, whatever Bruce chose had been dire.

He could think of a couple of things. All of them distasteful, but maybe completely necessary. ]

Clearly he cares about you very much.

We all do. We're family by choice. Most of us were bought together by him. We all love each other.

[Jason fidgets a little with the batarang]

We also all have our traumas and aren't the greatest at dealing with them at times. We either go into ourselves or lash out. You get a manor full of people like that and there are bound to be fights.

But... in the end, we all still love each other and still try to make things work.

APRIL MINGLE

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