MISSION 009

[etrayamods]

⏵ 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⏴

Comments

riz gukgak | ota

[stresstokens]

a. breaking curfew.

[ Riz doesn't sleep.

It's not something he talks about much, though it's something some have cottoned onto by now, between the ever-present circles underneath his eyes and the sheer amount of caffeine he crams into his body on any given day, but it's been a part of his life since he was roughly nine years old. He gets four hours on a good night, but anything else? Out of the question. This habitual, lifelong insomnia coupled with the unthinkable situation of having to sleep alongside a bunch of strangers has only one logical result, which is to sneak out after everyone else has settled in for the night. His presence doesn't make the stories of this place being haunted any better; people might see a flash of movement in the middle of night, rustling bushes, cracking branches, a gleam of glowing eyes, Riz so quick and so stealthy that it's almost impossible to spot him as anything other than a lingering presence.

But if you catch him, you'll quickly find nothing nearly as nefarious. He finds himself a nice place that's well out of the way, squinting down at a book, or pecking away at the keyboard of a small laptop (coding practice from the looks of it), or just quietly surveying the surroundings. If you care for some midnight company, he might be your best bet. ]

b. shooting practice.

[ Technically speaking, Riz has learned how to use a shortbow in Rogue class. It's just one of those things that everyone has to learn one by one. But it's apparent by the firearm in his underarm holster that bow and arrow certainly isn't his preference. It takes way more arm strength than the squeeze of the trigger for one and though he appears to be a shockingly good shot, it's a bit of a struggle.

Rubbing at his - admittedly scrawny - biceps, he eventually appears to give up and instead goes digging around in his briefcase before he produces a crossbow far too large to have been able to fit there in the first place. ]

There, [ he says with some satisfaction, swinging it up to eye level and surveying the targets before them. ] This still counts, right? It's still a bow.

[ And if you happen to be struggling with aiming, he'll actually have a decent tip or two for you -- or if you ask really nicely, maybe you can have a spin at the crowssbow too. ]

c. an exercise in bonding.

[ Camp isn't really Riz's thing. Then again, he's never been camping before, so he can't say it's not his thing either. But between the emphasis on sports, sleeping communally, and the fact that he's been forced out of his perpetual suit-and-tie get-up and into tie-dye that makes him look about four years younger than he actually is despite the mess of tattoos covering his forearms, he's not really feeling the vibes of this whole enforced bonding exercise.

But if it's what they're supposed to do, then so be it. He revolves a marshmallow over the fire slowly and methodically as he thinks, bits of molten sugar dripping off and sizzling into the fire below. ]

Okay, two truths and a lie? Um... [ He'd like to look interesting, if he can. But not like he's trying too hard to seem interesting. ] I've been to Hell once, I lived in a giant mansion back home, annnnnnd my tattoos actually cover the rest of my torso too.

d. closed to team armadillo.

[ Most of the time, Riz is a perfect cabinmate. He's quiet, polite, helpful; he hasn't been labeled a pleasure to have in class multiple years in a row for no reason, after all. He's a pleasant presence, helping with their admittedly paltry tasks and dutifully making sure the cabin and everything in it are spic and span. He's eager to make conversation, and will accompany his cabinmates to whichever activities they'd like company for. And if you don't feel like doing the work? Just shove it onto Riz -- he never appears to actually say no.

Where he's not a perfect cabinmate, however, is at night. When he doesn't manage to sneak out, he simply covers himself in his blanket as though others won't be able to hear the incessant flipping of pages or the tappa-tap-tap of claws against his device or, worse yet, the perpetual presence of faintly luminescent eyes staring into the darkness as he waits for everyone else to go to sleep.

On at least one occasion, he awakens from a nightmare with a yelp at an ungodly hour, sits up with ramrod-straight posture, then marches outside with a gun in his hand. Don't worry. It's probably nothing to worry about. ]

e. wildcard!

[ go nuts! he'll be atrocious at any sport besides dodgeball, eager to hear scary stories, and gifted when it comes to the practicality of arts and crafts but decidedly less so when it comes to creativity and will otherwise just be around for whatever you like. :> ]

breaking curfew

[lastonetodie]

[ The Custodian does not truly need sleep, and while he has certainly spent a great deal of his life completely alone, to the point that the even breaths of sleeping strangers is something of a comfort to him, it also makes him feel odd in a way he's not quite willing to examine. Even more so when he is in such close proximity to living beings.

So he drifts silently around the camp at night, so as to not wake anyone up. At least he has no lights to give him away when those campers who are taking their jobs as supervisors more seriously make their rounds; he stays well out of their way, and makes rounds of his own, reveling in the sounds and sights of a world full of living creatures.

It's on one of these little patrols that he finds Riz. Who should be asleep, by all accounts, but he supposes that as he has no authority here, he needs not interfere.

Is he coding? Interesting. ]

What is it that you are working on? [ He keeps his voice quiet. ]

[stresstokens]

[ The Custodian is a big guy, but somehow, he still manages to be incredibly silent. He almost doesn't hear him coming up until he's practically on top of him, ears pinning back against his head and going perfectly still as he waits, ready for whatever threat that must be heading towards him.

But it's not. It's -- a friend? Is the Custodian his friend? Riz isn't sure if he counts. It's not like they hang out, or know that much about each other, but he still feels a certain sort of kindred spirit with the Custodian despite their obvious differences. He likes him. That's good enough, he decides, and a good enough reason to believe that he's not going to rat him out and drag him back to that awful cabin filled with people Riz doesn't trust enough to sleep beside. (He is getting a little sleepy, these days. Just because he operates on little sleep doesn't mean he operates on no sleep, but it turns out a Spring Break filled with battling against the Nightmare King isn't conducive to peaceful nights.) ]

Hey, [ he says, voice as quiet as The Custodian's, eyes darting to the side to make sure that they're alone before he lifts his little laptop up so that the Custodian can see. ] I've been teaching myself how to code? I figured it'd be a useful skill around here for, um, tinkering and cameras and networks and stuff.

[ He grins sheepishly at him. ]

I'm not quite there yet.

[ The coding on the screen is still obviously rudimentary, though that goes hand-in-hand with the textbook resting open upon a log guiding him through the steps. ]

[lastonetodie]

[ It was considered polite for him to not leave traces of his presence; he has no idea that this might be alarming to people now.

He takes a last look around before he directs his attention to Riz's laptop, clearly taking cues from him on how he might react. The Custodian is not someone who has ever needed to fear his surroundings, has no instinct for it.

He takes in the textbook, the code in a language he does not know. ]

It is a good start. [ He stops hovering over him from behind so he can glide over and awkwardly arrange himself to sit besides Riz, juggling his staff so he doesn't accidentally poke the boy in the process. Sitting, too, is something he's not particularly used to. It's not like he gets tired. ] It is a useful skill to know. And an interesting one.

[ He knows how to code in the language he's used to, which is no good to anyone. He privately quails at the idea of trying, not necessarily because it's a bad thing to expand his knowledge base but because it doesn't help with his self-imposed mission. ]

Are you enjoying learning it?

[stresstokens]

[ Riz takes a moment to sincerely evaluate the question. The way he does this has gotten him in trouble from time to time - when someone asks how something looks, they don't want to hear the truth. or when someone asks him how he's doing, they don't really want to hear it. or when someone says they want him to go over their paper for any mistakes, you'd better not be as honest as you can be. - but he knows the Custodian well enough by now to realize that he's not really put off by anything Riz says or does.

Which is nice, actually. He wonders how far that sort of thing can be pushed. ]

I think so, [ he says honestly, after a moment. ] I like learning things. And I've missed having something to work on here. I'm supposed to be in classes and stuff, not stagnating.

[ He eyes the lines of simple code. ]

...besides. I think it'll be useful.

[ Riz likes being useful. ]

A; fellow insomniac...

[zauneyete]

[ Riz, do you want to know what your horrible future looks like? It's this. Withered, too-thin, angry, sour That's what too little sleeping does to you, because you know who else doesn't sleep much? That's right, it's Silco! When he's being asked to sleep around other people? Even less so. You try putting a guy with obscene Trust Issues to the point of paranoia in a room to sleep with other people?

Catch him not doing that, thank you.

So he's out here, puffing away on a cigar, and walking his way to the lake. At least that's the only time the man isn't just complaining the entire time.

He stops at the sight of glowing eyes in the dark, and meets it with one of his own. He slides a knife out from his boot, slowly, lifting his leg to pull it free. ]

Who's there?

[ He asks, ready to strike if he has to.

Buddy it's summer camp.

That doesn't seem to matter to him. ]

[stresstokens]

[ All Riz wants is some peace and quiet, some time to be left to his own devices, and to not be beholden to all of the camp activities and games and full cabins. It has been his hope that he would be one of the only ones to do so and that the others would be more cooperative with their lot, except it turns out that half of the camp is just as unhappy with their lot as Riz is.

Some of them he was able to hide from easily enough as they stomped on out to stargaze or drink for a flask, or whatever it is they were up to, but like recognizes like, and only someone just as on-edge as Riz himself would be able to spot him rustling about in the roughage.

And only someone as on-edge as Riz would respond with a knife instead of just assuming that he's run into some errant raccoon. And of course Mr. Revolution is paranoid. Everyone is out to get him. The eyes vanish as Riz slips behind a tree, narrow shoulders hunched and arms pressed tight to his body, though he does call out: ] If you throw that knife at me, I'm gonna be really mad. God forbid a dude doesn't wanna be locked in a cabin eight hours a night.

[ The voice, cantankerous though it is, is filled with a particular sort of teenaged imputence and a reediness that suggests glasses wedged a little too low on his broad nose. Though they've only spoken the one time, Silco may well recognize it. ]

[zauneyete]

[ He does, and the knife stays in hand, but he isn't exactly the type that's going to put it down just because he recognizes the voice. Though he isn't exactly looking to lob it out into the dark either.

His eyes scan the shadows, though Silco doesn't have the luxury of closing his, so one of his eyes is a pinprick in the too-dark night. ]

And you think I'm interested in carting you back to our little... jails for the night? Please. I'm just looking for a place to smoke.

[ And to get the FUCK away from being around too many people. One or two? Sure. But these groups? Silco doesn't settle well with the experience. ]

[stresstokens]

I dunno. Maybe you'd like to get on Aurora's good side and show what a good little camper you are, [ Riz says crankily, emerging from behind the true to eye Silco warily, though he appears to be telling the truth. Riz doesn't show his true skepticism about this whole thing to everyone - he's used to being a vibekiller, but shit here gets so rough that he doesn't want to kill the vibe when some people are actually having fun - but even after a single conversation, it's been made abundantly clear that this guy has no problem with criticizing the world around him.

Dryly, ] I'm pretty sure smoking is against the rules too.

'bonding'. bonding? truth or lies.

[miniroth]

[Just turning up at people's campfires when he's not assigned to has proven to be interesting so far, and a good way to delay the inevitable encroachment of the dreaded Curfew; Cable's hard to avoid for long.

It's still a little bit away, and there's no real accident that Sephiroth's relocated to Riz's fire, far, faaaar from his cabin, to sit on his heels and watch the marshmallow melt.

Green skin reminded him of Gorgug. But he hadn't seen him anywhere.]

Mansion is the lie? [He sounds cautious about it.] You're well dressed but not what I would expect out of the decadently wealthy.

[stresstokens]

The guy I know who does live in a mansion doesn't exactly dress like you'd expect someone who's decadently wealthy to dress, but point taken, [ Riz says, nodding in defeat. In truth, it's obvious to see that Fabian's wealthy by the way he dresses, but only if you look carefully; it's not that what he wears is fancy, but it's always solidly well-made, the sort of garments that will last years and years and years, whereas Riz's cheap dress shirts seem to disintegrate after not too long. ] But yeah, you caught me.

[ He lives in the mansion now, but that's happenstance. It's not like this place decided to bring Strongtower Luxury Apartments to Etraya too. He gnaws thoughtfully on a bit of jerky he had... liberated from the lunchroom. Riz does, however, take a moment to eye the guy in front of him thoughtfully; he hasn't seen him around a lot, but he's pretty sure he's supposed to be in his own cabin. More than that... that head of silver hair looks awfully similar to something he's seen in Cloud's memories. ]

Your turn.

[miniroth]

Hm, how does he dress? I've ..interacted with my share of the rich and famous, I wonder if there's common threads across different planets.

[It has the sound of idle curiosity, even if Sephiroth manages to school his expression to neutrality like he preferred. Depending on who wore it, things differed- Scarlet always wore fancy and new and fashionable, but the Shinras tended towards perfectly made and long-lasting over the latest thing in magazines.

Sephiroth absolutely should be somewhere else right now. He isn't.

Sooner or later he'll be tracked down. It wouldn't be the first time.]

...And I'm going to have questions about 'hell'.

[He leans back a little, thinking. Two truths and a lie... but kept to standards most people would find acceptable and not terribly shocking. That left off.. a lot.]

How about.. I can fly a helicopter, I have three mothers, and before about eight months ago I hadn't met more than a dozen people total face to face.

[stresstokens]

Um, he likes, like, tight dance clothes? [ That's the best way he can describe Fabian's fashion sense. It's all just... very tight. He's pretty sure it's for the function of dance, but he can't be completely sure. ] And his letterman jacket, a lot. I think it's just up to an individual fashion sense kinda deal.

[ Besides, Fabian's father was richer than God, and he dressed like the very image of the pirate he was until he died. But he quickly shakes off any lingering thoughts on fashion to pay attention to Sephiroth's set of questions. ]

Hm... [ Usually, it's the most outlandish one that's the truth, isn't it? He takes a stab at it. ]

Do you not have three mothers?

cabin armadillo

[welcome_summer]

[Riz would have definitely gotten positive remarks in Mayuko's class. The Armadillo group as a whole is drama-free--at least during the day. The nights are more of a struggle. Conner (likely) goes to Hank's cabin when he can, Paine skips out on curfew on occasion and Riz... well.

But her alternating morning schedule of mandatory-archery, and chocobo care and riding, followed by monitoring the Quiet Zone in the afternoon (or asking a camper to fill in so she can do one of the free-time activities herself) have her aching and tuckered out by the end of the day. Sometimes she manages to stay up and attend the "counselor meeting," but she otherwise drifts off soon after returning to the cabin.

When Riz startles awake, it's enough to bring Mayuko out of a deep sleep. She mutters to herself and prepares to settle until she hears the door.

While Mayuko does a bedcheck and gets some longer pants and boots back on, a white blob in the darkness is already following Riz in concern.]

[stresstokens]

Despite being a Rogue, Riz is, at his heart, a rule-follower. Breaking the rules without good cause just makes him feel itchy and he's entirely aware that he's the biggest stickler of his little friend group, constantly getting on people's cases for their shoddy attendance in class, or their irresponsibility in property damage. But when it comes to having to sleep? Not even his own mother - a woman he otherwise religiously listens to - has been able to make him behave.

So once he wakes up from another nightmare without being able to just go to the kitchen and make himself a coffee and watch some shit on his crystal to make himself forget about it, he opens the window far more quietly than he ought to have been able to, slips out, and closes it gently upon his exit. He'll come back to the cabin before lights-up, he reasons, and everyone will be none the wiser, including the nice girl who happens to be leading their cozy little cabin.

He's made it halfway to the woods when he realizes something is following him and whips around, hand flying to the holster of his gun. ]

What the hell...? [ Eyes narrowed, he reaches up to his tie and flicks a switch on it to cast a spell for any malicious intentions, but none seem to materialize. That doesn't mean that it's not gonna fuck him up, of course -- it just means it's not evil. ] Hello?

[welcome_summer]

[In response, there is a meow.

There was a fluffy white-and-orange cat sleeping on the porch who, waking up and seeing someone leaving the cabin, trotted after them. When the young goblin stops, he stops, his plumed tail waving in a relaxed manner, and adds another, louder meow.

He might not be the smartest feline, but even he knows it's dangerous to go alone.]

A

[maximumlegend]

[ Does Fabian like having to do the lights out check for the cabins? Not really. Though it's not even that anything about the task in particular bothers him - it's just the fact they are doing dumb stuff like this at all. He's made his distaste for this fake camp situation very clear to just about anyone who would listen, after all.

And in this case, 'just about anyone' didn't mean the people it usually does. After all, he's forced to spend most of his time either with his cabin mates or the people who were assigned the same activities as him. Gorgug isn't even here, and he's hardly even seen Riz, and it's dumb, and it's annoying, and Fabian is frankly pretty done with all of this as he's wandering around camp, checking all the cabins to make sure the lights are out before he's supposed to return to his own.

Riz isn't easy to spot in the middle of all of that. It doesn't have anything to do with the lack of light - Fabian didn't even have the bring a flashlight when he's got darkvision, after all - but more how sneaky the other is. In fact, Fabian thinks that if it had been anyone but him patrolling during lights out today, they likely wouldn't have spotted the other. It's only the familiarity with Riz that gets Fabian to recognize his friend from his a glimpse of him.

He immediately abandons his task, wandering over to where he spotted Riz, and allowing himself to sit down next to the other - yes, even if it's in a bush, though it's not exactly Fabian's preferred rendezvous spot - with a loud sigh. ]

I should've known you'd be out here.

[stresstokens]

Oh, Fabian!

[ Riz had dived into a bush as soon as he heard approaching foot steps - though a part of him did wonder if it was Fabian; he knows the other's gait by now, the clinking of whatever jewelry he might be wearing, the occasional heaved sigh when he feels put-upon, which is most of the time - but springs out immediately after Fabian's approach, leaves and twigs tumbling out after him. ]

I wasn't one hundred percent that it was you. [ He takes a moment to fish one of the twigs out of his hair, fussing at the unruly curls to try to get them back into place. Without his Mom to nag him, he needs a haircut desperately. ] And yeah, of course I'm out here! I'm not gonna sleep in a room full of virtual strangers. It's weird. You're so lucky you get to be on "night patrol".

[ Spoken like a boy who's never actually gone to summer camp -- or had a sleepover until the Bad Kids. He'll stand by it, though. It's weird! ]

[maximumlegend]

You say that like some of us don't want to sleep. [ Fabian comments.

Which, you know, some of them indeed don't want to sleep! Like Riz! But sometimes part of being a person's best friend is reminding them of what regular people standards are like. It's one thing if Riz is saying this stuff to someone who's used to it like Fabian, but he doesn't want to give anyone in this place reason to pick on Riz.

Mostly because having to murder that person would be messy, obviously.

He steps closer towards the other, reaching out with a hand to assist in trying to make Riz's hair a little bit more presentable. Even if it seems like a lost cause right now. Just how many tiny twigs are stuck in there-- ]

In a bed. A big bed. A bed with elven sheets. [ Hey, at least the one true sign of the fact that this is Fabian and not just some imposter is the fact that he's immediately complaining, right.. ]

b. shooting practice

[hexcope]

[Jayce with a hand on his chin, looking over that oversized crossbow (at least in comparison to Riz’s own size), seems to be weighing the pros and cons of being pedantic about this, versus just admitting that’s a cool crossbow. Being not-a-stick-in-the-mud wins, this time.]

No rule against it, I guess, but you’re just carrying that around all day? That’s what’s in your briefcase?

[stresstokens]

Yeah? I mean, if you're gonna carry anything around in this place, weapons and some emergency equipment are the best place to start, don't you think?

[ He's still carrying, even in his dorky little camp outfit. There's an armpit holster tugging at the flimsy fabric of his tie-dye shirt, and despite others' best attempts to dissuade him, he has absolutely refused to even keep it in his briefcase for the time being. He's convinced something bad will happen soon.

But for now? He's just intent on having fun with target practice. He so rarely gets the opportunity to fuck around with his crossbow. ]

...but the briefcase is magic, [ he confesses, ] so I can carry whatever I want in it without it taking up too much space. See?

[ He reaches into his briefcase and begins to pull something out -- and keeps on pulling it out, far beyond what the briefcase can hold. It's a lot less cool than a crossbow, though. It is, in fact, a broom. ]

[hexcope]

[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.]

A

[crimsonsphere]

[Maybe Paine doesn't sleep so well here. Maybe the unfamiliar rhythms and snores have reminded her that there are a couple of people she's gotten used to bunking with, and neither of them are here and may not be arriving anytime soon, if ever.

Maybe that's why she's taken to patrolling at night herself. Mayuko's nice enough, Paine's not interested in making her job as "camp counselor" harder, but her concession to that is slipping out quietly. Paine still finds the whole of Etraya uncanny... the eerie, unpopulated city reminds her of Zanarkand, except with robots instead of monkeys.

She prefers the monkeys.

The glow and the tapping noises get her attention as she pads around the campsite, doing her best not to crunch on leaves or snap a twig beneath her heel. A strange, low-to-the-ground, oddly white light... she's got her sword ready to draw when she finds its source, and the familiar shape it's illuminating. Oh.]

...What are you up to out here?

[stresstokens]

[ Riz is so consumed by his work that he jolts when Paine approaches, shoulders hunching up to meet his ears, but he relaxes a little once he turns around and it becomes apparent who's managed to get the jump on him. It's kind of funny; he's never spoken to Paine outside of a probable life-or-death scenario, so much so that it seems odd seeing her standing over him, still and peaceful, if not a little on edge. ]

Oh! [ His mind races for a moment before he realizes that Paine's not going to rat him out, because he won't at her out. ] Hey, Paine. [ He gestures down at his laptop. ] I'm teaching myself how to code. It's not very interesting.

[ To listen about, he means. To learn, it is pretty interesting, albeit a little frustrating. ]

Couldn't sleep?

[crimsonsphere]

Hey.

[Nice to see him again when they're not shackled together trying to run a maze that's actively trying to kill them, for an audience.]

Yeah... not a big fan of the cabin. [Fake homey in a fake place.] I get the feeling this whole campground setup is supposed to be carefree and nostalgic, but I'm just not into the vibe.

[All the tie-dye and three legged races and whatnot... but the coding, that sounds like it might be interesting, even if Riz thinks it isn't.]

So what kind of stuff are you planning to do with your computer code?