etrayalogs | MISSION 009

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MISSION 009

⏵ CAMP ETRAYA ⏴
On May 16th, Aurora and the companion bots direct those not heading off to Solmara to make their way to Camp Etraya.

Nestled away from everything else in a large clearing full of wildflowers and redwoods, Camp Etraya is a nostalgic summer camp experience put together just for it's residents! Cabins are assigned, scary stories are told around campfires, gossiping happens among friends on the trails surrounding the cabins - and don't be surprised when something goes awry. After all, this is still Etraya.

While the rest of Etraya is still accessible and will not be blocked off, characters are discouraged from venturing far from camp for too long: Aurora will specify that they are on a mission, and that missions do require participation, but she has intentionally left them the freedom to wander. Not sleeping in their assigned cabins, not participating in events, and staying away from Camp Etraya will end with her having to take more extensive security measures, so please be on your best behavior! The last thing she wants to do is start enforcing boundaries, but she will if she has to.

Camp is set up much like your generic summer camp! Each cabin is named, housing is assigned to characters as they arrive, there are camp counselors, and rotating daily tasks and chores. There are also multiple activities that characters are expected to participate in, and each activity is worth points that goes toward their camp graduation score. This score will be visible on their earpiece, and follows the A-F grading system. We are not be monitoring this, and are leaving character scores up to players. We do, however, ask that you please report your characters' camp grade HERE for rewards and demerits to be handed out after the mission itself.

Cabin assignments can be found here, which also has their roles, and chores assigned to that cabin. Those who are participating in Solmara have received an assigned cabin, too, but their absence toward the beginning will not harm the cabin's ability to compete given how spread out their assignments are.

⏵ WELCOME TO CAMP ⏴

Camp life is meant to instill a sense of belonging, connection with nature, encouragement towards the creative, all on top of a firm foundation of responsibility. Upon arriving, campers will be escorted towards a table of white t-shirts and countless buckets of dye!

Each Etrayan will be invited to make three Tie-Dyed shirts- as well as required to wear one as part of their summer uniform. Camp counselors must wear 80s basketball shorts or cut-off jeans. Campers may wear cargo shorts or a skort. For those with physical limitations to what they can wear, accommodations will be provided.

Here, bonding is the camp runners' priority. They will be pushed into various ice-breaker activities, such as trust falls, two truths and a lie, and Never have I Ever. As the sun goes down, there will be weenies roasting over the bonfire, followed by s’mores and a sing-a-long! With the stars well-visible, it’s off to bed with campers.

Each day after will start much the same: with the ringing of the bell and raising of the flag (Aurora, while unfamiliar with flag designs but an understanding of the concept, has chosen a rainbow flag for the camp. Rainbows make people happy, right?), followed by a meal at the Great Hall, morning assembly, activities with counselors, chores, free time, and then an evening winding down by the great fire. An hour after sun down, campers will be escorted back to their cabins for curfew. Camp Counselors are expected to keep track of their campers, and ensure they're all within their cabins for bedtime. This is part of their grade, too! Curfew lifts an hour before the first bell.

⏵ CAMP ACTIVITIES ⏴

As with most summer camps, Camp Etraya offers a wide variety of activities to participate in. While some of these activities may be mandatory, others are optional. We'll be leaving this up to individual player discretion: perhaps Viktor is mandated to report to arts and crafts, whilst it's optional for Silco to show. Silco, on the other hand, may be mandated to report to the archery contest. Characters are encouraged to participate in a minimum of one camp activity per day.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of camp activities.

Three-Legged Race - You and a partner are tied together at your ankles, and you must race others to the finish line. Those with abilities that would give them an advantage will find that the rope that ties them together hinders those abilities from functioning.
Archery - This can be more traditional, magical, or include moving targets! If you're particularly unlucky, your target may even shoot back.
Softball - What instills a sense of camaraderie better than a bit of team sports? Games will be held on Wednesdays, the field is otherwise available for practice.
Dodge Ball - Standing diametrically opposed to Softball is dodge ball, the bully’s sport. This is a great opportunity to claim dominance or be sent to the Nurse’s Office.
Obstacle Course - You are directed into a large maze with multiple obstacles for them to overcome, such as rock climbing walls, ramps, tires, and nets.
Capture the Flag - Small teams are put together in order to take the flag from a particular bot, whose entire goal is to avoid being caught.
Canoe Race - Canoes are placed into the rivers just off of the camp, and characters must race to the finish line.
Chocobo Riding - Learn how to care for and ride these magnificent birds! Newbies will be taken around the corral, whereas more experienced riders can take the trail around the lake.
Arts and Crafts - Make friendship bracelets, bead lizards, paint rocks, learn origami! Or perhaps you're tasked with putting together an enchanted necklace. Don't know how to do enchantments? Now is as good of a time as any to learn.
Campfire stories - Share scary stories amongst yourselves around the campfire late into the night. If you're particularly unlucky, you may just hear the thing you were just warning others about..

⏵ NIGHT TIME ⏴

Once campers have been put to bed, the counselors can still stay up. Unwind with hidden beers and the strumming of a guitar. Don’t get too comfortable, though, since without supervision, no one is keeping the campers in bed.

After dark, should campers evade their counselors, they can go exploring in the dark. Eerie lights glimmer from the lake. There’s rumors of a headless spectre walking from the archery field to the edge of the forest. Should you behave, you still might hear a scratching at your bunk house window.

And on the very last night of camp, there will be a talent show. Show off your hidden talent and bask in the excitement of wowing your fellow campers!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome to Camp Etraya! Please enjoy the s'mores and campfire songs. :)

Camp will last approximately two weeks, going from May 16th to May 30th.

For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

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What, sex?

[Now that’d be a shame. Lose an arm and all your hair without experiencing it when everything still worked as expected.]

[he catches the lube and turns it in his hand to look it over.]

[ ~~Scare off predators with a more muscular form...?~~

Dion hums as he thinks that over. ]

Would it affect your physical strength?

Sex with a man.

[ As far as he knows, he's had a normal sex life. Average number of partners of which the experienced ones would rate him as average and the inexperienced ones anywhere from good to great. He's no sex guru, but he cares about giving his partner a good time.

Usually, anyway. With this one partner he suspects his focus will be on not embarrassing himself. ]

[Maria has cut all of her shorts to be too short and she really has to look to get Shaw something that wouldn't practically have her ass almost hanging out.

but the jean shorts she pulls put are well above the knee.]

If you're down to showing off some leg?

At least they won't make me look like a PTA mom.

[She grumbles - and then she strips off the towel and starts to dress right then and there, not bothering to seek out privacy first. She's already wearing underwear, so at least there's that.]

[She gives him a concerned expression. By how he looks, he's gotten attacked a lot, though she's polite enough not to say something about it.]

I... will pray that we don't.

As dire as Aphaia was, it wasn't a battlefield.

I mean, yeah. Of course. [Says a deeply flawed and insecure teenager who, in fact, has not gotten lucky. And recently got dumped.]

[ listen, fur compacts easily, and stuffing that much tail down her pants made her look like she had, I quote, 'a rad badonk' ]

Wha... what?

[ it takes her a second to figure out where she lost Gorgug in that conversation! ]

No, no, I was being literal! I would talk to them, and if they were jerks, maybe there would be a punch! I don't bite people. Only like... wires. I chewed through a metal floor once, do not recommend, it was super gross.

[Mayuko gets it--her circle of friends back home was never very large.]

Thanks--I really felt that one. Oof... I guess we'll see after four more mornings if I can hit the broadside of a barn.

... I'd say this is an authentic camp experience. There are almost too many options for activities, though. It's difficult to decide what to do. I would have had fewer, with counselors paired or teamed up for stations. Or have more assigned to the mess hall, the laundry area, the showers, the necessary management. Even managing the supply deliveries from the main city to here. But I'm not the director.

[She props an elbow on the table and lean forward with a smile.]

Today, or another day if something memorable happens while you're here. It's for you to keep.

"She told us that we got the Aphaia mission earlier than planned because someone asked her to, if I recall correctly. Even this might be just an elaborate cover for the other mission."

As such as Mayuko was enjoying the somewhat familiar environment, she doubted Aurora was too cut-up about assigning two taxing missions in a row.

The toad eyed the now-leaning-in woman approvingly, then placed both hands on the same side of the box and made as if to push. He'll be happy to share his opinion once he's stretching his legs outside.

[The cat gives a bright "prrrt!" as he trots over and rubs his blocky tomcat's head against the proffered hand. During the nights Riz had stayed in, Daichi had more or less been awake, too. Listening from Mayuko's bed or the vacant bunk. Given the leeway to roam the camp or stay inside as he saw fit, there were always opportunities for catnaps during the day.

Not so for the two-legs, hustling and bustling all day. The cat sniffs delicately the hand and whatever else the little one is holding--there is clearly something distressing Mayuko's camper.]

[That's what Mayuko likes to hear! She nods decisively, then walks to the table with the ingredients.]

First, we make sure that the ingredients are here, and in the right size before we roast the marshmallows.

[She holds up an unbroken graham cracker and full chocolate bar.]

We break them in half--the cracker most carefully. The half of the cracker that is the most intact will be the bottom layer, because it has to hold up the bottom piece of chocolate and the marshmallow when we eat. Like so.

[She shows the line dividing the cracker's two halves to Laura, then snaps it. One half is larger than the other, but no chunks fall away.]

[there's a joke to be made that Vander already comes to see her for therapy. isn't that why she lives with him? for both of them, really. Maria does like him, a lot, and she knows the sentiment is returned. but their relationship was full of benefits. one of the benefits was that since they had each other, they didn't have to worry about being alone. Maria considered this to be the underlying reason Vander kept her around.

and maybe that wasn't very fair to Vander, especially after he tells her he appreciates her. this perception of him painted him as using her though Maria didn't see it as such. but from the outside looking in, they seemed strange, didn't they? it was possibly why Maria didn't tell people. one of the reasons she kept her first apartment was so she could hide that she was living with Vander. Maria didn't care what their relationship was as long as it could continue but part of her wondered if Vander would feel the same if more knew. he'd wanted something casual, and though this was far from casual now, they kept the boundaries up.

Maria considers his question because it wasn't something she'd thought about. in her mind, the result would always be that Vander would want her to leave one day. not once had she thought that he may never want that. it takes her a short moment to consider his question, what her answer is, and the only answer she has is:] I don't know. Gotta admit, I've never considered that you might not ask me to leave. It just seemed inevitable? [and maybe that was part of their problem. that Maria thought about their situation ending when Vander got tired of her or needed her out for whatever reason. it was how things always went for her, it seemed. Vander wasn't James, he'd shown that again and again, but Maria still operated like all people would be like James. maybe it was time for her to think differently.

she sighs and leans her head on him.] I really don't know. I like you a lot and I don't want things to be complicated for us.

[Vander tipped his head up to view the stars between the darkened foliage and wondered when things had begun to change between them. It was fun and domestic and teasing and light-hearted at times, but it was also passionate, quiet, and sometimes sad between them. They didn't face much negativity in their own relationship, so perhaps he was sensitive to the subtle shifts.

Perhaps it had been selfish of him to go to Solmara, especially when so many made it clear that this counted for nothing when it came to saving their worlds. It had been selfish, and he had no doubt that he had off-loaded a lot of his negative emotions however subtle on Maria along the way. He tried to hide his grief behind the usual smile, but when he was with her every night or every day at some point, it no doubt leaked out and undermined any sense of fun that they had. And then there were... his less than stellar record for keeping out of trouble or caring very little about his own physical health.

His self-destruction was a fact he considered nothing more than a coping mechanism. It wasn't fun. It wasn't light-hearted. She filled a void to keep him from spirally, and now he wondered if she looked at him as a friend and realized how damaged he was and thought pulling away was her smartest choice. He didn't know; serious conversations with emotional substance were not their go-to.

He sighed from his nose, sliding his palm down his own bashed up leg as a reminder that yeah, this was yet another sign of how Maria potentially felt obligated to take care of him, lift him up, keep him on the straight and narrow. It wasn't fun. He wanted to protect her, to prove that not all men where like the one that she had been created for, but what a poor showing he was presenting, right?

Lost in his ruminations, he almost missed her actual reply until he felt her head against his shoulder and wound back what he had heard to consider.] I'm not him. If I ever make you feel like James did, if I ever make you feel... used, I apologize. Never, ever is it my intention to make you feel anything but appreciated and special because you are. You deserve the world and all the happiness in it, and you deserve to be cherished. [If that wasn't him, fair enough. He still wanted to be her friend and would support her to find that special person. Friendship didn't end just because someone found their person somewhere else.

He huffed an amused sound, his face still turned up towards the stars.] That's the problem with relationships of any kind. The more you get to know someone, they are often become complicated. That's part and parcel of having relationships, and that's what makes them so special, good or bad. I'm sorry I haven't been here for you as much as I should have.

[Vander couldn't say that he dealt with many people with the same social intelligence as he had. It was exciting, but often, they had the same tricks of navigation as well.] You're my best friend, Maria.

[Jason laughs. It's all in good fun]

I think we can at least you get to nick that broadside by by morning 3.

I don't think I can do anything that isn't short. Feels weird. [which is a personal problem.

Shaw asks for no privacy so Maria doesn't bother not hiding the fact she checks her out before going about doing her own thing.]

Ahh. Fell for my charms, and now you’re wondering what happens next. Well. You have some idea. [As he wags the lube at him.]

[His brows raise. So it is. He handed it to him.]

You volunteering? Your first time and you want to be bent over?

[ Gorgug uses a clipboard for support as he doodles his own version of a very cute, innocuous (bomb) duck. It's simple enough, that when Ace shows his, Gorgug looks at it...

He stares at it, and then shows his own. ]

They're the same.

[ Clearly. They're so in sync!! ]

For someone who likes his creature comforts as much as Harold does, he really doesn't need very much to feel satisfied with what he has. Beyond appreciating art, material possessions tend to be transient in his life, with only a few rare exceptions like the photograph he keeps of himself and Nathan.

The way she says any of your people is interesting, but he supposes that's a valid question to ask of anyone, framed that way.

"Not yet," he answers, not counting John's very real death at home as it wasn't something that happened here. And he isn't about to discuss it, in any case. "Since this barely feels like it qualifies as a mission, however, I'm expecting our next one to be significantly more demanding."

[ Ohh, okay, so that one's the guardian. Dvalin. Gorgug nods at the comparison made with the saurian and chocobo, however, glad that Kaeya sees the resemblance. ]

Yeah? They look like the cooler cousin of chocobos. ... Icier, [ he amends, but muttered to himself in a cool tone. He thinks he's so funny!!

But he points to Dvalin, switching gears as he recalls: ] Where I'm from, dragons have... they have a lot of stories about hoarding golds or treasures, but they, there's people called dragonborn who-- they look like...if dragons didn't have wings and walked around like we do. [ It wouldn't be enough to say they're bipedal, and he can't say that two-legged people are the default.

Anyway. ] I don't know if they hoard stuff, too. But it's a real thing where you have to be careful if you get something from them, that it might be cursed. That nearly happened to me and my friends.

[ He pauses, then adds: ] There's probably a lot of curses from different people, though. To be fair.

[ Gotta be fair! ]

"Oh shi-- pull it back a little, quick!" He reaches to coax his hand back, "You don't want it to burn! Unless you like the taste of charcoal."

Just lighting it on fire is a strategy. But it's an acquired taste to say the least.

[ Technically what Dean is saying here makes perfect sense. He wants to make sure his brother is alright - which is something Fabian can even understand on some level. He may not have siblings (yet, but that's a whole different can of worms), but he'd also do quite a lot to make sure his mother was alright. That Cathilda was alright.

Gilear can go drive off a cliff though.

But despite it making technical sense, and despite Fabian getting it, he still doesn't seem too excited as he replies with: ]

More like boss us around, right? You're not the only person here you are currently making decisions for!

Surely they can't be this difficult!

[ Granted, Fabian also thinks that surely this task here couldn't possibly be this difficult either, and yet.. Chu Wenshan's pile of paper sure is telling a different story that he's currently witnessing with his own eyes.. ]

It's just crafts, you know.

[ The look indeed does absolutely nothing.

Especially when Riz has to call it an assistant. Maybe it's an appeal towards Fabian's.. Fabianness, but he finds this entire chores duty dumb in the first place, and the fact Riz wants to voluntarily jump in on it is even dumber.

Thankfully Fabian doesn't even have to shoot down Riz on a personal level, because he can easily think of another problem. ]

So are you going to tell that to my cabin's 'camp counselor'? Because he used to be a cool guy, but he has gone completely mad with power over this place throwing him a single bone that doesn't even have any meaning.

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MISSION 009

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