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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...I see.

[ Of course, she believes him. Figures he would give a vague answer. As a counselor, she believes she's accompanying him back to his cabin, since he's the camper. Which is why she asked in the first place. She should be easily avoidable for someone as powerful as Shadow that it's probably not necessary to lie to her...

...

...Just a bit of walking along in silence before she speaks again. ]

Can we head to my cabin first? There's something I made that I wanna show you. [ A gift. (No, it's not a rock... sorry.) Though reluctant, she forces on a smile regardless, even though she's bracing for the possibility of rejection. ] I'm with the Giraffes. It's close to the shower house.

[He stops, looking to her. His expression a cross between "what now?" annoyed and confusion. Giraffes. Noted on her location. After a moment's consideration, he turns and continues back into the campsite. Rather than return to his cabin though, he stops once more. He looks to her, waiting expectantly. She can take lead.]

[ As usual, his visible annoyance is met with Fio's polite smile. The cabin for the Giraffes is further beyond where he indicated his cabin supposedly is. This means there's some additional walking time, which also means there's some time for Fio to strike up a conversation before they actually get there.

It doesn't take long for her to understand that she needs to take the lead and she does, walking a few paces ahead. There is a bit of silence before she starts talking again to fill the silence: ]

So did the stars look like the ones back home? The moon looks a little like Earth's moon, I think? [ Maybe there's differences, but she's unable to observe too closely to figure that out. A beat, realizing not everyone may know what "Earth" is. ] ...Have you heard of Earth, Dusky?

[Would have been nice if they just kept walking in silence until they went their separate ways, but we unfortunately can't always have what we want.]

...I know of an Earth. [There's some bitterness in his voice. The world meant to be his home, but it never felt like one to him.] It's not the same. [The stars are not the same ones he knows. They are placed differently in the sky, so he wouldn't be able to use them to navigate until he had a star map or more information about them. The moon, well, until recently when his moon got sliced, they would have been the similiar enough.]

[ Fio won't let him have that extended silence, unfortunately. She continues to be eager to talk, to get to know him better, despite how little to no information that he shares. She remains persistent, even when he seems to be always annoyed with her. ]

Oh... I'm sorry they're not the same. [ She says, with some uncertainty. Honestly, she's unsure of how to interpret his answer, whether it's a good or bad thing. ] I hope it was still nice to look at.

[No, it wasn't. It's now a constant reminder in the sky of when Earth nearly got destroyed, a plot he had a part in. He doesn't say anything to that.]

So you came from an Earth.

[ Oh, the focus is already on her now... ]

Uh-huh. [ At first, the answer comes easily. She's been telling most people that she's from Earth, in a very early era. In a way, that's still true. As she walks further along, a realization dawns upon her and she comes to a halt. With her newfound knowledge about space and recalling how she had to travel down to Earth, that doesn't sound entirely accurate anymore. Her eyes lift slightly, staring up at the moon hanging in the sky. ]

...No. Actually, I'm from space. [ She says, in a casual manner. ] The moon. My memories are from an Earth.

[ That sounds about right. Facing forward, she resumes walking along, trying to keep an eye out for the cabin door decorated with origami flowers. ]

[His left ear twitch when she corrects herself, stopping with her. She...came from space as well? He follows her gaze toward the moon, pieces coming together about her behavior earlier, about wanting to be "closer to the moon".]

Does that mean you only know Earth from space? [A tilt of his head, making sense of her phrasing.]

[ As they walk further along, she ponders in silence how to answer. The lifetime she lived, the one ingrained into her memory—is an era that didn't have advanced technology, so it's difficult to put in her own words. She remembers the truth: that the people of the Cage are neither alive or dead, but live in the form of "data." If she were still in that form, she would only be able to exist within a virtual landscape or anywhere that fell in between virtual and reality. She wouldn't physically exist.

...She's whole now though, because of a favor that she asked for. And probably because she's here in Etraya. But when she returns to Earth, she will still be in a physical form as well. And possibly the only human alive... until the others can figure out a way to come back as well. ]

...It's kind of hard to explain. I'm not sure if I understand it all too well. [ She didn't exactly watch the Earth from space. For the longest time, she didn't realize her world, her story was a record kept as data within a server—a sad memory of a young human girl from many years ago when Earth still had life. ] On the moon, there's this place called the Cage. That's where I'm from. It's a place where all of humanity's memories from Earth are kept. As "data"... that's what I was told.

[...Someplace calling itself "the Cage" doesn't exactly envoke happy thoughts. He's also isn't sure if he likes what her words might be implying. She lives in a place where all data of humanity is stored.

...

She has memories of earth, but is on the moon. Quietly.] ...Fio, who are you?

[ Fio never troubled herself with the thought of being "data" in the past. Never did pause to think too deeply about it. She always felt real... she always felt like herself. All she thought about is what she could do to move forward. All she thought about was what she can do to help those that she cared about.

What she's more worried about is telling him the reason why such a server even exists on the moon in the first place. And the kind of life her human self once lived through... even as data, she felt that same pain. ]

...Hm? Who am I? [ She doesn't understand what he's getting at. Walking a little further, they come up to the steps to the Giraffes cabin, the front door decorated with white origami flowers. There's one stray flower, one that had fallen onto the steps from the breeze. She bends down to pick it up. ]

That's a weird question. But I think you just answered it, Dusky. [ Is this the first time he's ever called her by name? She smiles, a bit tiredly. ] ...Can you wait here a bit, please?

[Things are serious if he's using her name. He frowns when he doesn't receive a proper answer and left to wonder. Who is she, and why there all of humanities be stored on the moon? The implications seem grim in his mind. Perhaps she was too young to understand what he meant when phrasing the question the way he did. A mystery that will unfortunately have to wait.

He stops just as they reach her cabin, forgetting for a moment she still had something to show him. He looks to her as she picks the fallen flower. He doesn't go anywhere, remaining where he is, waiting as asked.]

[ The state of her version of Earth shouldn't be any of his concern anyway. She doesn't want the conversation to steer towards something so sad. She wants to focus on something happier, like showing off what she made.

A small jog up the steps and she pushes the door open, stepping into her cabin and shuffling as quietly as she possibly can to her bunk. (Even if most of her assigned campers are dead asleep or possibly have already snuck off for the night.) The fallen paper flower is set aside for now, to be fixed later in the day. After some rummaging through her belongings, she heads back outside, with something small grasped in the palm of her hand. There's a small hint of unease in her smile. She's a little nervous. ]

I was watching everyone make bracelets and it gave me this really great idea on what I should do with some of my flowers.

[ Knowing how wary the hedgehog can be, she won't try to play any "games" with him. She goes straight to showing off what's in her hand: a small glass locket, with a single pressed, dried white flower inside. Shadow may recognize it as one of the primrose flowers from the other day. The accessory is held together by black and red thread woven together, clearly inspired by the hedgehog's quills. The little ornament looks like it can be hung from anywhere. ]

Something to remember me by, when I go back to my Earth.

[ She does not know when that is... but there is no "if" she goes back. ]

[There was a moment, he thought about just leaving her right then and there. She's back to her cabin, he doesn't need to stay. He can continue to do anything besides going back to his own cabin now. But he chooses to remain, quietly waiting until she comes back outside again.

He frowns the moment she starts to talk. He sees where this was going. Or maybe he already guessed when she said she had something to show him. He stares at the locket, how she had placed a familiar flower inside it. One of his ears falls forward slightly.]

I don't have anything for you. [Surprising no one, he doesn't immediately accept it.]

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MISSION 009

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