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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Yuuup, [ Gorgug manages to slip in, to answer the question of who's in charge: still the AI baby. And that's the sad state of affairs, isn't it? The people can't do anything about their boss baby AI. ]

Someone broke the door trying to get to the AI before us-- he complained about it, so I had to fix it to be nice. And then he told us to get lost, but we ignored him.

[ So, when you think about it- ] A stupid door wasn't gonna stop anyone from following us.

Oh, [ he sounds, looking down at the sheet properly this time. ] ...it reminds me of school. Like 7 grade, or something like that. I never went to camp.

[ But there's a familiarity to this kind of page anyway. He looks back at it and decides: ]

I can fill it. [ Though, looking at it again- ] Should I fill it at the end of the day?

[while the bots are calculating countermeasures to diffuse shit, Knife fires again (16 (9+7)), and while their footing is being hassled by metal slaves, they now aim toward Popp's own footing, to keep him jumping, evading.

more distance is good, not only to escape, but apparently he's a fucking mage?? goddammit. Cool, set the forest on fire trying to hit me so I have a smokescreen, bitch!

unfortunately, one of the little bitch bots has latched onto their leg, and Knife isn't strong enough to kick them off (3), which means Popp gets a reprieve from any follow-up fire.]

Fucking! F-! GET OFF!!

If that were true... [WHICH THEY WILL NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY!!] That'd imply...you've been stalking me. Or something.

[He wants to judge Kirk for what he's done. That was genuinely a slaughter- those normal people stood no chance against Kirk and the others. Not only that, but it had been against the orders his government had said- sure they had permission, but probably not permission to go that hard.

But what a hypocrite that would make him, wouldn't it? Isn't what he did exactly that? Not identical in every manner, but close enough that he'd be casting stones while living in his own glass house.

He remembers hearing of Will. He knows that was Kirk's friend. The one who betrayed him. It's even more complicated now, isn't it?

Jayce sighs out his nose, lips taut. If he can't forgive Kirk, then how could anyone forgive Jayce?]

What happened was... out of your control, wasn't it? People make mistakes.

After the past few ones of either getting my ass beat on a train without access to soap, or getting thrown around an arena with a whole audience watching, I'll take juvenile any day.

[And the idea of swimming in a lake in this hot weather actually seems like it would be really refreshing. There was so little natural environments to enjoy in Piltover, and not that he couldn't be doing a dip in a lake at any time here, it's nice that it's a "mission worthy" activity right now.]

[Jayce lifts his eyebrows and twists his lips in a 'yeah, emergency equipment probably isn't a bad idea' concession as he keeps listening. And maybe he'd be a little more concerned the green guy has a gun just ready to go on him, but Jayce'll admit to himself through some personal biases that he is just straight up not threatened by someone this small.

Except that thought gets completely banished when Riz opens up the briefcase. This is blowing his mind.]

WHAT.

[He is comical levels of surprised.]

[ Two guys not cartoonishly eating their food... less so on Gorgug's side, but he's still being polite!! ]

...where they keep the food? [ Where do they keep the food... ] ...in the hall cabin? Where we... eat...

[ He doesn't know the name of that building, okay!! ]

[She nods, and leaves it at that. If it went as well as it could, then h'es right; it's a success. Besides, he's holding out a box to her — her newest weakness is definitely presents. Carefully picking up the box, she opens it. A slight smile pulls at her lips; a good sign, when it comes to Laura.]

You made it?

[She points to the symbol.]

Que es esto?

I will.

[Genuinely. It seems like a good idea, to whisper problems to stuffed animals that won't ever tell anyone else.]

Do you have one, too? Something to talk to, if you don't feel like talking to people?

[ It's not every day that Gorgug has to look up at anyone, but-- he also doesn't immediately look up, thinking about if taking a picture of himself would count with her logic..

But, nevertheless! ]

I'm okay with minimum points. But your tail is cool; anyone would want to take a picture of it on a nature walk. [ Regardless of points! ]

Can you...use it like a pillow to sleep? Have you tried?

[ You know.

just wonderin'. ]

"Oh, damn. That's a while. I was actually here some time ago, but I left. But now I'm back. Bit of a mindfuck." But Wade's used to that though, honestly. If it's not one crazy batshit thing, it's another. Although more often than not, the reason for that is Wade himself.

Although in this case, it seems more out of his hands.

"Wild game? I'm not much of a hunter, myself. Unless you count the most dangerous game. Definitely prefer the free kind that just ends up at the table without me having to murder it myself."

Not much of a camp fan? Can't say I am either. Never went as a kid and I don't think I missed out.

[one would say the woods were just not her thing.]

Got tie-dye in there? [says Maria in her pink, tie-dyed crop top.]

[ He can tell the story lands, but past that, Harold has little insight into what Carver's going through. He's clearly still distressed, almost frozen through long periods of delay in his response, but anything more nuanced is utterly opaque. Harold has always cared about people and equally always been rather awkward about how to express it. ]

... They're not all that sympathetic, of course.

[ It's a strange sort of reassurance. He doesn't want Carver to think they'd been some kind of heroic figures -- they were just people doing their best, like he'd promised the Machine. That was all he could promise.

Harold casts his mind back to how they got into this conversation, and finally gives up and addresses it directly. ]

I apologize if anything I've said has distressed you. It was not my intent.

Yes, I don't feel like I should truly complain, [ he agrees in the distinct tone of a complaint, ] but the indignity of wearing shorts and tie-dye is completely unnecessary.

[ Harold is otherwise pretty amiable about trying to fulfill mission 'tasks' in this case. They're silly, but he doesn't take himself that seriously, just his clothes.

And his computers, of course. He finds a nearby table to settle at with it and opens the laptop, waiting for it to boot. He glances over his shoulder at Jayce. ] Have you used a keyboard at all yet?

[ Carver goes quiet again. He misses his gloves, he realizes; that little bit of armor shielding his hands, reading him of his proper shape and all the world requires of him. Maybe this would've been easier if he'd been in uniform. He would've remembered to keep his mouth shut. To stand up tall and do his job the way Pope trained him. Wouldn't have indulged in this emotional nonsense.

But then he wouldn't have heard Harold's story, either.

He shivers. Bear whines and noses against his chest, and Carver remembers to pet him.

It's nice, the softness of Bear's fur. It's easier to focus on that. ]

I wasn't always like this, [ he says, very quietly. ]

Think of it like a uniform. It'll be easier to deal with that way.

[At least that's how he's thinking of it.]

Yes. It's shaped a little different than I'm used to, but easy to figure out once you've practiced.

[He, however, will horrify Harold with the fact he hunt-and-peck types.]

[ That sounds like an apology, but Harold doesn't feel that an apology is warranted. Not for that. ]

I wasn't always like this, either. I used to be an inveterate jogger, [ he says bluntly, trying to startle him a bit with the personal tidbit. The mental to physical health allegory is a bit trite, but perhaps will serve him well enough here. ]

We all just find ways to go on.

[ In a different moment, Carver thinks he would've laughed at that. Maybe taken the opportunity to lighten the mood somehow. Tease Harold a little.

Here, he can't think of a thing to do but hold the dog and focus on his breathing. He's made too many mistakes lately. All of them were sins. One was worse than the others, though, the betrayal that Pope wouldn't have let stand. Not for a second.

And there's no one to correct him here except ghosts.

Carver twitches again. Bear whines. ]

I get emotional sometimes, [ he says, careful to keep his tone flat. His voice steady. No more slip-ups. ] It's hard to focus, to remember my place.

As they came to where they needed to be, she stood there with her Katana now swung forward and in her hands, holding it tightly as she listened to what Vax had to say. She could be playful and even downright sassy to the point where she could disobey orders but Vax was a friend of hers and had shown her grace during a difficult time. She was going to give him all of her attention and put in as much effort as she could.

"I'll be honest I'm actually kinda bad at all three of those things. I don't really come from a world where I have to fight often and I guess I just never thought about my form." Sure she knew how to get out of the way, but blocking was a smarter move; less energy exerted or something.

"Okay so let's start with the sword gripping yeah?"

[ He has to stifle a reflexive, tart, And what place is that? Harold does learn from his mistakes and he does recall how they got to where they are presently. He needs to keep his voice calm and his words undemanding or risk another episode, one perhaps less thankfully mild than this one has been.

And he's been dodging it, reluctant to uncover things that he knows will horrify him, but maybe it's time to stop ducking away from what until now he's been parsing solely by reading between the lines. ]

What was it that made you emotional? [ he asks instead, plain and without pity. ]

[ You have to account for yourself, Carver knows. You have to understand how a mistake was made to avoid doing it again. And that's difficult without correction. Without a test to prove your mettle and your loyalty. Harold's not the commander, but he's due an answer. That much is true. That much is owed.

Things were simpler back home, Carver thinks unhappily. You live or you die and if you live you gotta suffer. Best take it on the chin, son.

Carver feels his fingers twitch, his right hand curling instinctively into a fist. He forces it to relax, to keep his breathing even. He doesn't know what the test will be here, only that there will be one. And that it's probably going to hurt a lot. ]

You talked about saving people, [ Carver says, very softly. ] And for a second, I -

[ He bites it off. ]

I forgot my place.

[ Harold has been trying to be conscientious not to make too many assumptions. He knows he tends to look for the best in people and, despite what John may think, that that can be a dangerous position to take. His very first meeting with Carver had included this very dog prepared to attack him rather than comfort him. Part of not reading into things as more than they are is paying respect, too -- building up a mental image of someone else without their input is disrespectful in the extreme.

So maybe he's not totally surprised to hear him say this, but he is touched, relieved, affirmed in what he's been quietly hoping for Carver all along. That like the rest of the team -- the entire rest of the team, to a one -- there was someone still buried in there that could see themselves doing good.

Goodness, he thinks he would hire him to work the numbers in earnest if his life even remotely worked that way anymore. But what to say in the absence of that job offer? Realistically, why can't it be his place in Etraya? ]

Are you afraid that when you go back, you'll have changed too much to be able to be who you need to be anymore? I assure you when I experienced time at home, I didn't remember a single thing about Etraya.

Or are you afraid that someone will arrive here and take you to task?

[Oh hey, she got him to smile a little; she thinks that probably counts as a win.]

You guys ever make s'mores in the apocalypse? Marshmallows last for years if you store them right.

I don't wear tie-dye.

[Shaw says, in the irritated, mildly defensive tone of someone who senses that she lost this battle before she even realized that she was fighting it.]

Where are the normal clothes?

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MISSION 009

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