etrayalogs | 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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Summer camp was for rich white kids back in Carver’s day and there weren’t many of those in his circle. He knows a thing or two about camp counselors from movies and, in some ways, from his own experiences as an instructor wrangling young soldiers. He didn’t have to wear shorts or herd anyone into doing crafts, though.

He gives the other man a once-over, scowling. ]

I’d tell you to go fuck a blender, [ he drawls, ] but by God, you’ve beaten me there. Can we drop the charade, please? This is just more AI themed bullshit.

Oh, I did more than just fuck that blender. I got allll up in there. [Since he's got scars everywhere. Also he doesn't look too mad to be made fun of. He's used to it by now. He just puts that pain into the bottomless agony bucket in his soul along with the rest of it. It's fine.]

Maybe it's all AI bullshit, but why not take a chance to relax before the next challenge that will have you reliving all your darkest memories or fighting bigfoot or Mary Poppins or whatever. Take the good times where you can get it, I say.

Mhmmnope.

[ They're just not gonna play that game. Carver decided the moment someone looked at him and said he needed to wear cargo shorts. He stares at the other man, all those scars, that skin like candle wax. Any who's survived that much damage and can still move is dangerous, but then, most people are. Everyone is a threat, always, and it's a sin to forget. ]

Relax. I'm not gonna burn the cabin down. I'm not just doing this shit.

[ He'll sleep out in the woods, the way God intended. ]

[Wade could 100% burn a cabin down. But he was told to keep his pranks 'reasonable'. Ugh!] Have it your way.

[He understands hating this place, even if he's not acting like it. Wade's entire life is a performance because spending too long on his actual feelings is no good for anyone. Considering him, he twirls the glitter in his fingers before sliding it into a pocket of his tiny shorts.] I get it, you're a serious man with serious- [He notices the way he's staring at him and sizing him up.] eyeballs.

So you don't want glitter. But how about- [He rifles through his pockets, faltering on something. Well, that would be a terrible idea. Screw it. He's not the Chaos Coordinator for nothing. Who needs reasonable!? He pulls out a small camping knife.] A baby knife for the very serious man? [He tosses it on the bed beside Brandon.]

[ Carver rolls his very serious eyeballs. He doesn't mind joking when it's with people he knows and likes, but neither of those factors apply here and the summer camp of it all has him tensed up with anxious paranoia. There's always a trick with this bullshit. He doesn't like games unless he's running them. ]

Baby knife, [ he repeats, eyebrows raised. ] Adorable. Thanks, I'm good.

[ He's got his own knife, not baby-sized, tucked under his shirt. And a backup in his boot, just in case. ]

Anyway, you won't see me. I'll sleep in the woods.

[Wade groans.] Man, if you weren't a Penguin I'd say have at it. But if you being a grumpy loner piece of shit mean our cabin loses?

[He looks very intense for a second. His is in fact a dangerous person, even if he acts like a fool. Maybe this is all stupid, but maybe it means his universe is saved if they win. Or he's a step closer to saving it at least.] You'll see more than my serious eyeballs, alright?

[ That’s funny. That shift in stance, away from the good times bullshit? That feels real. And that makes this fucker interesting in a whole different kind of way.

Carver tilts his head to the side. Weight evenly spread, hands loose at his sides. ]

I’m not sleeping in here, [ he replies, tone conversational. ] I’m not gonna fuck with anyone, or set anything on fire. So deal with it.

[Wade doesn't appear to care that this guy looks like he can fight and might be about to try. The nonchalance of a guy who can't die. He also doesn't move out of the way of the door.]

I am the coordinator of pranks, but arson... probably doesn't fall into the 'pranks within reason' territory. So, I guess that's good to hear. Still, you not participating does fuck with me. Why couldn't I get the cabin full of bubbly extraverts? Fucking bullshit.

That's your problem, not mine.

[ Carver sleeping in proximity with a bunch of strangers and all their bullshit won't end well. He's self-aware enough to recognize that. At this point, his choices are either insomnia, sleeping in the woods, or exploding on someone. The latter, he's pretty sure, is going to reflect on him worse than his failure to embrace the camp spirit.

None of which he has a pressing desire to explain to a stranger. Especially one who's still blocking the door. ]

Move.

[Would it be better for his cabin and his own grade to fight Carver or to let him go? Fight him. Let him go. Stab him? No, that would definitely be bad.]

Fuck me, the burden of leadership is so complicated! [Maybe it's a good thing that X-Force was so short lived because he sucks at this.]

Fine, fine. I'll move. But you better make a Tie Dye shirt tomorrow, mister. Something to brighten you up and turn that frown upside down.

[He steps aside finally to let Brandon pass. Although he'll 100% be trying to figure out where he goes out in the woods to keep an eye on him. So he didn't end up getting eaten by space bears or whatever the hell is out there.]

[ Carver sneers at him, showing his teeth the way that dogs do. But he doesn’t go for his weapons or shoulder-check the fucker because he’s supposed to be playing civilized with the rest of Etraya and that won’t do. All the rules are different now and he hears how unreasonable he sounds when he points that out, all this bullshit people pull like it’s nothing, like it wouldn’t get them worse than dead back home.

But that’s his problem, and nobody likes a whiner.

Carver just heads out into the woods. He won’t come back to the cabin, not once. ]

MISSION 009

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