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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[ John kneels down in front of her and gently reaches over to click the buckles in place. ]

Don't worry about the swimming, the life vest will keep you afloat if you fall in and I can swim for both of us. I'm going to pull on the shoulder straps to make sure it won't slip off, okay?

[ He doesn't want to go yanking on it without warning her first. ]

'Kay. Thank you.

[ A nod, remaining completely still as John secures the buckles. Now she's ready to go, hopefully. She should probably learn to swim someday too. That's for another time. ]

...This will really let me float? [ Her hands grip the edges of the vest, feeling the material and wondering how it even works at all. It sounds like magic. ] How?

[ Permission given, he stands up and grabs the straps that go over the shoulders and pull them up enough that her heels lift off the ground for a moment, but the life vest doesn't budge. Good. He lets go of the straps and takes a step back to give her personal space again. ]

It's filled with something that floats on water. Even if it gets wet it won't sink. Because there's so much of it around you, you'll float too.

[ The vest sits snug and secure around her small form. As he explains, her small fingers tighten around the vest, as if afraid she might lose it. She is going to have to stop clinging onto it though if she wants to try the paddle. ]

It's like a magical item!

[ That's... cute. There's not really another way to describe it. ]

It's like a magical item. If you wear it in the water it'll keep you safe, so make sure you don't unbuckle it or loosen the straps.

[ Not only does he need a small life vest for her, he also needs a small paddle. Thankfully Aurora was prepared, so he walks over to the rack where they're resting and grabs one each in their sizes, but doesn't hand hers over yet; he wants her to get in the boat without worrying about the paddle. ]

Let's head down to the dock if you're ready to give it a try.

[ Obedient nodding. ]

'Kay. Don't worry. I won't break the magic spell.

[ Fio makes way down the docks, where the canoes await. As excited as she is, she doesn't start clambering into the boat on her own. She only looks down at it, watching it bob up and down in the water. Though it's close enough to board, it does look like she might accidentally slip into the lake if she made one wrong, clumsy step. That would just be trouble for everyone.

She looks back up at John, a little shyly. ]

...Mister? Can you help me?

[ He hadn't wanted to presume but he's glad she asked for his help. Some kids like to do things on their own, but she's small enough that he's worried about her getting into the boat by herself. And he just.. he likes helping kids. John places her paddle by the seat in the bow of a canoe. ]

Up we go, [ he gives as a warning before picking her up from under her arms and carefully placing her in the front of the canoe. She's so light. She's just a kid, and a little one at that. It's not right that she should have this kind of pressure, should be put in these situations. Canoeing is one thing, summer camp must be fun for someone her age, but what if she had been in Aphaia? Had she been in Aphaia? He doesn't know everyone here, even though their population isn't that large. And certainly to his knowledge there's not peers her age.

He's determined to make canoeing as fun as he can, though he's not sure how he's going to do that. Maybe she'll just like being on the water.

Not about to ask her to care for the bow line, he undoes it himself and uses a paddle to keep the boat from drifting off. ]

I'm going to step in and it's going to rock, hold on.

[ John does his best to step right in the center, but the canoe still rocks and bobs a bit as he gets on, and then settles down as he sits in the spot behind her. ]

My name is John, what's yours?

[ She does like doing things on her own, when she thinks she's capable of it or there really is no other option out there. Luckily back in Aphaia, she only had to navigate the bustling city alone for a short amount of time, before coming across a friend.

In this case, she knows very well that she can't swim and that this is something that requires extra assistance. Very easily, her small form is lifted up, then back down into the boat. Though seated, she doesn't move much at all until John joins her. ]

I'm Fio. [ When the canoe stops rocking too much, she peers over the edge of the boat. ] ...John? Are there fishies in the lake?

[ That's adorable. There's no other way to describe it. She wants to know about the "fishies". He doesn't consider himself kind and gentle in a way that resonates with children, but he wants to try for Fio, to take some of the hard lines out of his voice. For a moment he thinks of Joss, how she might sound, what she might say; she was always good with people. ]

There's fish in the lake. The big fish are pretty deep but there's little ones closer to the surface. Do you want to see the fish?

[ Hopefully the look into the lake means she does want to see them, they can paddle around until they find some fish. ]

[ Fio's the predictable sort, unable to hide the feelings from her face. He's absolutely correct assuming that she wants to see the fish. While a grown adult could very easily do the rowing, she dislikes feeling unhelpful. And he's been plenty helpful to her already. She's here to learn. And this will become one of the memories that she would like to speak of when she returns to Earth someday. ]

Yeah! I wanna see 'em! [ Her tiny hands grip tightly around the paddle, lightly splashing at the water with it. She may have seen others paddling around the lake earlier, but she waits for the proper instruction. ] Um... how do I do this?

[ The paddling is going to be a bit tricky since their physical ability is so different. Normally they'd paddle on opposite sides, but he's going to have to teach her a slightly different method since that would just end up spinning them in circles; the strength of John's stroke will be vastly different than hers. ]

Then let's go see the fish. I'm going to teach you a method of paddling that will be a bit easier for your size.

Hold your paddle at the top with one hand and about halfway down with your other hand. Put the paddle up and down in the water so the flat side is facing forward, and then pull it towards the back of the boat. Try to pull it with your body as well as your arms, you want your shoulders to move with the motion. And then move your paddle to the other side of the canoe and do the same thing. If you switch back and forth you'll go forward.

[ He's not used to explaining technical motions in a way a child could understand. He's not sure if she'd know a word like "perpendicular" or a phrase like "turn with your core." If she doesn't seem to understand he'll ask if he can position her hands, demonstrate the motion for her, but he doesn't want to presume she's okay being touched. Besides, some children like doing more than being shown; it can be more satisfying figuring it out. ]

[ Though attentive, it's about halfway through the explanation, Fio's lost. Usually when others speak too many words at once, she has a difficult time following along. At the very least, she's capable of paying enough attention that she manages to attempt the first part of the instruction. She looks down at the paddle, positioning her hands as instructed and muttering the initial steps to herself. ]

At the top, one hand. Half way, the other hand. [ ...Fio already forgot the rest of what he said. Lifting her eyes, she looks at him expectantly both for approval and to remind her of the following steps. ] Like this?

[ John watches as she moves her hands into position, repeating his instructions, and realizes maybe he should have gone slower, but they're halfway through now. He gives a nod. ]

Like that. Now put the paddle in the water so the flat part is facing forwards and pull it towards the back of the boat.

[ They're still near the dock, but John is fairly confident she won't have enough strength to the motion to make them run into it, at least not fast enough that he can't course correct the boat. Then again, there's so many unusual people here that he wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to have some sort of super strength. That gives him an idea. ]

I'll show you.

[ He sticks his paddle in and slowly demonstrates the motion on one side, then on the other side. The strokes pull them a bit further from the docks so even if she does spin the boat they won't hit it. ]

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MISSION 009

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