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

I did. I was given very little notice about it.

[She doesn't bring up that she'd been dead before that.

But his words do catch her attention all the same.]

People disappear?

Yeah- [ he wonders briefly if he should've brought it up, especially on the heels of how Aphaia disappears people, but, ] Aurora says they go back where they came from? Or sometimes they disappear for a while, and then come back.

We don't know why, but you get used to not knowing the reason for anything you want to know about here.

[ Unfortunately. He takes a nice sip of his cocoa, just because. ]

I showed up on a mission too. I was at school.

At school?

[That is some ridiculously unfortunate timing.]

It's a strange thing to hear about, people vanishing, but I came here after dying, so perhaps it's not so unusual.

Oh, sorry about your death. [ As if apologising for losing out on a scratch card... ] That happens too, yeah. Or people say they're about to die? I, uh, know Aurora says you can stay here if you don't want to go back to being dead. I talked about it with some friends.

[ ... ] But I guess you wanna be around a while before deciding if you wanna move in permanently.

[ Probably??? ]

It doesn't matter. I accepted my death.

[She's not bothered in the least by how casual he is about it.]

I have heard about being able to start anew here.

[Vincent had told her, and the idea had been appealing, the way he'd explained it.]

Oh, then-- that's good. [ That's good? That's good! ] No one's done it yet, but-- yeah. Aurora's nice. You can talk to her about it.

[ If that's on their mind? She seems pretty chill about the dying thing. And she's not talking about wanting to be in Heaven or Hell yet, so--! ]

I might have to.

[For now, she thinks it's best to focus on these missions Aurora sends them on.]

Have you spoken to Aurora, then? I've only had the one brief conversation with her, upon my arrival.

Yeah. I don't mind talking to her. Some people don't like it, but she's-- she's helpful. Kind of the best watch guard you can hope for in this situation?

[ They're still stuck here, she's still part of the system, but at least not an aggressive party. ]

You want to know what I think about her?

[ If she can be trusted, he means to say, but that's usually the question he gets: Do you trust her? ]

Certainly. Tell me what you think of her.

[It's clear Claudia has no real opinion, having only briefly spoken to her briefly before Apaia.]

Given our circumstances, I would prefer to think the best of her.

[ It's a subject he always feels awkward about, but it's one he's had over the network more often than not. Maybe it's the way she already speaks about Aurora, I would prefer to think the best of her, that makes his own answer-- a little easier. ]

I think she's honest--as honest as she can be. She was made to take care of us, and that's different for each of them like her. One of them makes everyone live in house groups and pretend to be families with each other, and do jobs they pick for them. Aurora just lets us do what we want, as long as we go on the missions.

But, she's never lived before, so... [ He points, perhaps towards a visible structure, though unlikely that it's main component is present. He's mainly pointing in its direction as he explains, ] We only got a trolley that goes around the bubble recently because I, I think someone asked for it. We had to walk everywhere before. A lot of stuff is really far apart.

[ And Aurora doesn't really experience the boredom of walking. ]

"Made to take care of us"?

[Claudia's head tips curiously.]

What is she?

[She asks the question curiously, without fear or judgement. Claudia had been able to tell that she wasn't human, but this young man isn't either. The problem with growing up so isolated from the outside world is that Claudia barely has a concept for what a computer is. She has no real frame of reference.]

[ Gorgug's aware that this person might not know what an AI is, and as he looks back at her, he looks upward trying to think, a scrunch at the bridge of his nose, the aged wrinkles around his eyes deepening with the furrow of his brow. ]

Um, she's... she's artificial. There's a... uh, there's someone called Echo, and they made AI, and, and if you don't know what that is, you can just think of someone making a device that's really, really smart.

[ ...

He remembers the lizard around his neck, and with his muffin already eaten, he grabs it and peels it off to hold out. It wiggles its little legs without something to cling onto, almost like a real creature being suddenly dangled in the air. ]

This isn't as smart as Aurora, but it can think. So she's a really smart one of these.

[ Kind of?? Gorgug always likes visual examples, personally. ]

[It's clear she doesn't entirely understand, but she nods. So, Aurora isn't entirely a person, but nevertheless desires to help them. Of course, it raises more questions for her.]

Is Echo someone we can speak to as well? Or are they elsewhere?

[ But maybe she does understand...!! Regardless, Gorgug lets the wiggling bot find perch back on his shoulder--in which it scrambles to curl around his neck again, as if that's a good hiding spot. He grimaces for a second, but- ]

No, they're-- somewhere else. No one gets to talk to them. We've been here... half a year? A year? No one's ever heard a thing from them. We don't even know what they are.

Not at all?

[For a moment, she watches the little robot lizard with fascination before turning back to the topic at hand.]

Isn't that unusual?

[It's enough to make her question the motivations of Echo. Even Claudia had never thought she was saving the universe, just her own world.]

[ Hmmm. ] They're some powerful being that gets to decide which universe gets to go or stay and think they're the only one who can save them. Why would they bother with us if they don't have to?

[ It's how Gorgug's seen it. But he also adds, since it's always a piece an information he's kept close in mind: ]

They also lose something about themselves when they bring people in. Who knows what that means for how they're thinking?

It makes me wary. I have no doubt there are important reasons we were brought here, but...

[That nobody has ever spoken to Echo?]

It does seem... odd, doesn't it?

Everything is odd, [ he says after a thoughtful second, head bobbing with the reply. But he looks at her, curious. ]

Is there something you think is going on?

[ In particular? ]

No, nothing terrible.

[She's not sure what to make of the situation.]

It just seems strange to be brought here by someone who has never spoken to anyone present.

[ Gorgug hums in agreement, understanding. The reason could be anything, really, good or bad or in between. He takes a sip of his hot cocoa, theorising in that middle: ]

Well, they've been doing this for years. There's a lot of planets, or universes. [ He pauses. ] Lot of them just have humans on them. Are you from a human-only planet?

I am, yes.

[Well, there are the denizens of the Fog World and Otherworld both, but Claudia isn't certain how to classify them, or if they can truly be considered people.]

Does that mean that there's more than just us here that they've recruited?

[ 'More than just us'? He thinks about it, and then points at himself. ]

Do I look like a human to you?

[ He's asking genuinely, if confused. Are there green, tusk-mouthed humans where she's from?? ]

No.

[She gestures around them.]

I meant here. Are there other bases, on other worlds? This isn’t very many people. In my own world there are countless stars; who know how many have planets that are inhabited?

[ Ohhh. He considers what she says for a second. ]

We're actually representing our universes, so you're representing all those planets. And all those different people. [ He's nodding, just thinking about that amount. Yep. ]

There's different planets they're doing this on too. And there's two other cities like this on this one. That I know about. [ ... ] One of them's more diverse, but you have to have a job and go to school.

[ The horror. ]

I see.

[It makes more sense now, that there are other groups. It seemed far too small of a group, without active divine intervention.]

…going to work or school sounds quite ordinary. Is it not for you?

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