etrayalogs | October Mingle

October Mingle

❬ ARRIVAL ❭

Welcome to Etraya!

Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital.

In the hospital's lobby are several party tables set out with miscellaneous baked goods: pumpkin bread slices, Halloween themed cookies, breads, mini pumpkin pies. To drink, there is mulled tea and iced pumpkin spice flavored coffee to accompany them - as well as some apple cider (non-alcoholic), for those who are opposed to the other offerings.

Outside of the hospital continues to carry the autumn theme, and not merely the weather itself. The decor of the buildings and the immediate surrounding area of the hospital has been influenced by the spirit of Halloween. For those unfamiliar with the Earth holiday, it looks like whoever is in charge of decorating really loves cartoonish depictions of pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, spiders, and bats. Not to mention the orange and purple lights, which wrap around various trees and outline the tops of some buildings and overhangs.

Even the Companion Bots themselves seem in on the festivities. Some dressed in ridiculous costumes, and while there are those more dedicated to their costuming craft, others might simply be wearing cat ears, or something of a more inflatable distinction.

If one is likewise feeling festive and in want of a costume of their own, there is a building not far from the hospital just for that: 8 Grandage Place. This abandoned apartment building is decorated in a particularly spooky fashion, with a particular sign draped across the front of the building. This is where the companion bots themselves acquired their costumes, and where Etrayans may find their own as well! Though with the reach of the multiverse at play here, the selection is more extensive than a standard Spirit Halloween.

The quality is about the same, though.

❬ TRICK OR MEET ❭

Upon the first morning of the new arrivals, the current residents of Etraya will find right outside their door (or tent) that they have been bequeathed a small plastic cauldron full of an assortment of individually wrapped candies. These candies are from across the multiverse, some familiar, some less so. Do you know what a Reese's is? What about a Moonburst? The names don't really matter, they're all little candies made of sugary or chocolaty goodness, much to delight of children and to the dismay of teeth everywhere. However, they are not the only thing within the bounds of the cauldron.

With them is a single note:

Treats to gift the new
With a trick's paid due
Five new faces met
Five less points of debt
Should one disregard this note and eat all the candy, they will find that each new day the candy will be restored. Whether that be achieved through another cauldron being delivered at their doorstep, or it simply being refilled while they sleep. Whichever the case may be, this will continue until the rhyme is followed, or until the 31st.

As for the newcomers of Etraya, they will be given their own little card with instructions. Either a companion bot will offer one to them upon their exit of the hospital, or after they pick a costume for themselves at the Spirit Halloween. The companion bots will be persistent in this endeavor, until at least one card is taken from them.

Upon the card, it instructs in rhyme:

With ghoulish guise picked
Seek those to be tricked
To their homes you flap
Find them on your map!
Simple enough instructions, though the task itself may prove otherwise when there are some lingering effects from the previous mission. Some such effects that could very well impact the functionality of the ear pieces and the maps within them, among myriad other inconvenient things.

❬ FARMING FOR FEAR ❭

On the night of October 31st, Etrayans will find signs and posters plastered all over various buildings advertising a haunted barn over on Ramsey Farm. Directions will send characters to the barn on property. The theme? The barn has been decorated in the style of a traditional Shinto Shrine that apparently leads to the Underworld. Some characters who are familiar with this concept may be reminded of the Buddhist Osorezan Bodaiji Temple in Japan.

Partway onto the property of the farm jack-o'-lanterns (courtesy of Jon Kent) in a variety of designs line a path, getting spookier closer to the barn. Out in front is a large stone torii gate made by Toph Bei Fong that has been painted red, as well as a table where Vivi will take payment to enter the haunted barn. That's right folks, this isn't free: every entrant requires payment in the form of candy (good candy, no cheap suckers or gum allowed) or baked goods. Accelerator is hanging around with Vivi to make sure there aren't any problems. Anyone who tries sneaking in will likely be kicked out by John Reese, whom they've recruited as security for the night.

The interior of the barn has been converted into a dark maze pulling from a mishmash of cultures. Speakers are hidden throughout and blare ominous drumming, the sounds of cackling demons and crackling fire, and horrific screams. Fog billows in from machines scrounged from the junk yard and fixed up, and the occasional strobe light flickering makes walking through disorienting. Somehow, they've even managed to pump the smell of sulfur into the building. As characters twist and turn their way through the maze they'll come across elaborate red-lit dioramas made from stone and scrap material of demons (some looking like oni, some like they're straight from the Bible) torturing people. If that isn't scary enough, fairly impressive demon and skeleton puppets have been rigged to pop out from behind corners and dark spots to provide jumpscares. And if that isn't enough, then chances are Damian, who is lurking throughout the barn, will ambush characters when they least expect it to ensure that everyone gets scared.

❬ NEW HOME BEFORE THE HARVEST ❭

A different type of newcomer...
Early in the morning of the 1st, there will be a post made to the network from someone with the username Tatianna. Some might recognize the name, while for others this will be their first interaction with her. Well, if one could call this an interaction, for she seems to have little interest in responding to anyone who actually replies to the post.

"Long time, no see, Etrayans. Seems like you haven’t failed yet, and your city still stands. Happy for you. No, really. I’m super glad. You’re definitely all super worth it.

"Anyway, we have some folks that weren’t so lucky. I’ve got them posted up at the hospital for now while they recover, so give them some space, got it? They were all half dead when we got them, and they all need their shots, and you probably need yours.

"You can thank Dylan for that, by the way. Went on some little mission for Aurora, came back with more than just himself! You can ask him about the details, but if you want the chance to talk to them, maybe you should actually try to make them feel welcome first. Unlike how I was treated.

"Let’s see if the rest of you can do a single redeeming activity. I wanna see a gift basket from every one of you. Take your time, think about it. And if you put together a nice enough basket and drop it off in front of the hospital with me then maybe- Maybe if you collectively do a passable job, I’ll let you speak to them when they’re feeling better."

While Tatianna will not be answering anyone on the network, she will be available around the hospital to receive whatever gestures of welcome and hospitality people have to offer for these mysterious and new refugees.

❬ NOTES ❭

📌 — Happy Halloween and welcome newcomers to the game! A note on the costumes that can be found in the Spirit Halloween: anything related to worlds from the characters present in game is allowed, though it might be best to check with someone first before grabbing something specific about their character. Otherwise, the sky is mostly the limit for silly costume shenanigans!

📌 — As for the little trick or treat task that has been given: characters who complete it will earn 5 extra points. These points do count towards the 25 point monthly maximum! If the character is not new they need 5 interactions (not separate threads, there can be multiple people in a single thread) with new characters where they give them candy to earn the extra 5 points.

New characters need to "trick or treat" while in costume and get candy from 5 different characters, potentially visiting their homes to do so. One can check the locations' page to get the lay of the land and where people might be, but if the exchange happens out in the wild, that also works. Once they get 5 pieces of candy from 5 people, they also get 5 points!

📌 — Feel free to play with some of the lingering effects from the TDM for the mingle, the residual impact on the land and people are still very much around. Powers may act a little funny, unfortunate incidents might occur. Have fun with it! And feel free to keep working on your bingo cards -- threads from this post will count towards them, and we'll draw prizes prior to the next mission! We've reduced the comment requirement to 5 instead of 7 to make bingo squares easier to complete.

📌 — As for the new refugees, they will be properly introduced at a later time. The effort put into these welcoming gifts and gestures by Etrayans as a whole will impact how they view them, and will flavor future interactions!

📌 — For all questions relating to the this mingle specifically, please use the MOD QUERIES comment below. Other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

🔵FULL NAVIGATION🔵

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He is successfully fucked with and stops pressing when Sam flinches, but when he admits that's a joke, Adrian rolls his eyes with a scoff and presses again, watching the blood roll down Sam's arm. This would be lethal to someone if left unattended for long enough, but even now he can see the seams of the cut aren't pulling further away from the blade like they should. They're healing, although slower because the blade's still there. Adrian pushes it in even further, still staring, because there's a lot of things he's seen before, done before, but this... isn't one of them.

It's a little scary. And more than a little exciting. He wonders if he should go to the bone. If slicing through muscle would still barely register. He's envious. His grip on Sam's wrist loosens and he slides his hand up to hold at the elbow instead, watching the blood roll down into Sam's hand to form a blade.]

Huh.

( metal solidifies with intricate runes etched into the blade, though if asked, sam wouldn't know jack shit about what the hell they're supposed to mean. it's less intentional, more instinct that shapes the weapon - but he doesn't hold still like this for long. the hilt looks like something one would expect from something closer to a claymore, but sam's knee buckles and he gives a gentle yank against vigilante's arm before it reaches the approximate length of a gladius. )

See? Told you - I heal quick, an' now I've got something bigger to stab you with.

[He looks up at Sam and withdraws his sword from Sam's skin- the blade comes back clean because it seems all the blood that would have been on it has formed a weapon in Sam's hand. This must be the power of being an angel, right? Without prompting, Adrian takes a step back into a fighting stance.]

Is this going to get me in trouble with God? I'm not super Christian or anything, but I really want to fight you.

I don't believe in God, so it'd be pretty fucked if it did get you in trouble.

( sam doesn't step back any, instead swinging his arm up to place the sword over his shoulders. he needs a moment, but despite showing off after getting the shit scared out of him by a stupid spider, he isn't stupid enough to make that obvious. )

Two rules. One: if you cut anything off of me - a finger, an arm, leg, whatever, I will rip off the bullshit on your head and tear your ear off with my teeth. ( he says it in a very nonchalant tone despite the, you know, threat behind it. but it's whatever. ) And two: don't try to piss me off to throw me off. 'cause if I lose my shit, no one's gonna have a good time.

I don't taunt unless I don't respect you.

[He shifts his back foot a little, making sure he's ready for this. He's totally recovered from getting shot in the alternate dimension, but sometimes he still gets worried about that toe thing that happened. It feels fine, but, you know...]

Oh, and don't cut anything off me too, okay? Normal fight! Stabbing and slicing. Wait- how do I know when I win if you can just heal up so fast? You still get tired, right?

Stabbing, slicing, and punching. I won't maim you unless you maim me first, then it's all fair game.

( the sword swings down, and sam takes the hilt in both hands, raising it significantly more like one might hold a baseball bat than an actual sword.

don't judge him. he's fine. mostly. the feral grin on his mouth certainly implies so. )

Guess you'll just have to see if I tire out or not, huh?

Guess so!

[What a weird stance on Sam. Anyway! Vigilante makes the first move, pulling out one a dagger from his belt with one hand and throwing it at Sam much like he had the first time. Instead aiming for his calf, he throws it just around the knee cap before running up to swing down with his sword against Sam's rib cage.]

Edited 2025-11-06 22:43 (UTC)

( sam isn't a great fighter. he makes up for lack of skill with instinct, good reaction time, and an inability to stay down long after most people would've called it quits.

it works great when he's slicing and dicing asshats who underestimate him just as a general rule. also fine for general fighting, since none of them were very well-trained and generally resort to acting like feral little monsters rather than actual fighters.

it's less good when he's fighting someone who does know what they're doing, but it's fine. a knife goes through his kneecap, and while he gives a yell that definitely indicates that it did hurt, he's yanking it out in time to take a sword to the ribcage before trying to shove an elbow into vigilante's face. mask. something. and he keeps going despite any damage dealt; wounds heal fast, and while sam does eventually start to slow down - adrian will likely be able to place the way his skin goes a little pale, how it's more the bloodloss than it is anything else. mental exhaustion? nah. his body just needs a minute to replace all the blood splattered across spirit halloween.

at least it fits in with the decor. )

[There's definitely a lot of blood on the floor; clean up on aisle whatever. Some of it's Vigilante's for sure, he's a good fighter but he's not Superman. Whatever exchange of blows they've had between them has taken a toll on both, but Vigilante's less likely to show it- both because of the intentional aspect of his costume to cover his whole body and make it less obvious how wounded he is, and second because he's used to expending this kind of stamina. Stamina training was definitely the worst part of all the work he had to do to get like this, but he can't deny it's paid off big time.

Still, he notices the paleness and while there's the drive to keep going until Sam's unconscious... Vigilante doesn't actually want to kill him. With a deep inhale to stabilize his breathing, he looks up to Sam through his slightly cracked visor.]

Draw?

( it feels good to be able to get out and - play. rough house a little without being concerned about it going too far, although he does also realize he'd just met this guy and that level of trust might be misplaced. it's fine, it doesn't matter all that much to him just yet. it's not like this guy is that one old guy from the wine house up on the hill. and this is fun: the longer they go at it, the more he learns.

vigilante calls it a draw, and and sam drops the tip of his blade down into the crappy cheap carpeting, dropping back onto his ass with a huff. there's a grin on his mouth, wide and pleased. the kind of joy that comes from a good adrenaline rush. )

Afraid to admit you lost?

Oh, no. Because I didn't lose.

[And he walks over to where Sam's sitting, looks him over with his head a tilted a little to the side, like he's thinking about a few options here. He could kill him, especially since it seems like he's let his guard down before even agreeing to the draw, so they're still technically fighting, but also he doesn't want to do that. He could elbow drop him instead to ensure his victory without killing him, but even that doesn't feel like the right choice here either.

He should just sit down next to him, right? Right.

Vigilante plops down next to Sam, the carpet feeling damp with blood and he'll need to wash his suit after this, annoyingly. He'll ignore it for now, as he leans back on both hands.]

But you lost a lot of blood, and if you died for real, I was going to have to drag your body around until I could find a place to dispose of it. Sometimes the juice isn't worth the squeeze, you know?

( the invitation is there: vigilante drops down beside him, and sam rolls over just enough that when he flops fully down, the back of his head drops down onto vigilante's lap, using him as a pillow as he sucks in a deep breath through his nose and lets it out slow through his mouth.

this is his pillow now, thank you. he'll be fine in a few minutes, he just needs to give his body time to catch up with the amount of bleeding he's done all over everything. the sword itself gets - temporarily abandoned, left in the ground. give it enough time, and it'll dissipate into flakes of silver - but it'll be a while yet before that happens. )

You can't kill me even if you spend a shitton of time trying to bleed me out. 's a lot harder than that.

Uh.

[Sams HEAD is in his LAP where his DICK is. There's a lot of concerns a guy could have about this kind of thing. One: what if this is a trap and Sam's planning on stabbing him in the crotch when his guard is down? Two: what if Sam isn't planning to stab him but moves his head around on his lap too much and gives him a boner? The material on his groin is NOT thick enough material to disguise that. Three: what if someone walks by and thinks they're gay boyfriends??

So sorry, Sam. Even if you're getting comfortable there, Vigilante pushes his shoulder to get him off his lap in an annoyed shoving sort of way.]

Come on man, I'm not your pillow!

( well that's just fucking rude.

vigilante shoves at him, and while sam moves with the shoving, he's not exactly - helping to get himself off of his lap. he plays as dead weight instead, following the shoving but not exactly helping the guy along. )

I let you bleed me dry an' you won't even let me take a quick nap on you? Damn, that's harsh.

You just said you weren't dry! You're still full of blood.

[He wiggles around and eventually winds up with Sam's head on his thighs instead of his lap. That's... fine. Thighs are less gay than laps, but not if he's upright and staring down at Sam. So Adrian lays back down, staring up at the horrible LED-lit ceiling.]

I'm laying down so if someone finds us here, they'll think we got into such an intense fight we both fell unconscious. Not because I'm tired.

Don't ruin my whining.

( technically speaking, if he had been completely drained, he would be dead. instead, he's just laying here and being dramatic - and while sam is perfectly capable of getting himself up and moving, he's intentionally refusing to specifically because vigilante was shoving at him.

because he's a shithead. )

You wanna go for round two?

[As they both lay there on the floor of a Spirit Halloween, surrounded by the blood-soaked carpet, Vigilante considers what a round two would look like. It's not that he's opposed to it- he's not exhausted to the point he couldn't.]

Sure, if I want to win easily, we could. But your fighting style's kind of ass. Like, you're leaving so many openings, it's almost hard to pick which one to go for. Did they not teach you technique in angel school?

[Believe it or not he's NOT trying to sound like an asshole right now.]

You did crack my visor though so you get points for that.

Nah. They kicked me out of angel school before they'd even let me in, so I missed all the fun angel-ass kicking technique teaching.

( some might hear vigilante open his mouth and take offense to it, but sam doesn't. he says worse shit for fun all the time, and this is just dicking around and playing, so. )

Learned to take a hit though.

If you didn't bleed all over the place and almost pass out you definitely would have done a better job at winning. And you said your own knife is supposed to keep you from healing faster? Why? Is it because you fight other angels? Are you like, a fallen angel?

[You know. This isn't bad. He'd probably prefer to have this kind of conversation without the mask on, but now that he's met Sam as Vigilante, he can't meet him as Adrian. Little bit of a bummer.]

It's made out of the blood of a Seraph. I ain't a fallen angel or anything, it's not that literal. I'm half - my ma was some average chick and the other half of my genes came from some dead Seraph. They're huge fuckers who don't die easily at all - heal a lot faster than I do, and some of 'em are a lot more fluid.

( he doesn't really know how to describe it aside from fluid; they can figure that out later. )

But our blood's the only thing that can harm 'em easy. It goes both ways - they hit me, it takes a while for my body to heal it. I hit them, takes a bit for them to get back up, too.

( bringing him to his own knife, which he lifts up, flipping it a few times before catching the hilt in his hand. )

Usually I've got a partner in the field - cause it's hard to swing crap around after you've lost a shitton of blood, right? I cut Tal open with this, he bleeds enough I can make a stupid big sword, I use that sword to cut down Seraphs.

[It's at this point Adrian sits up, looking down at Sam on his thighs, and then at the knife in his hand.]

So you're half Seraph, killing full-blood Seraphs?

[Is he getting this right?]

( adrian sits up, but sam is plenty comfortable, so he just looks up toward him rather than moves to get off of him. )

Yup. Exactly that.

[The gayness of looking down at a guy resting on you isn't at the forefront of his mind at all right now.]

Okay.

...

But why?

( is it gay if no one notices it's gay.

because sam now also looks mildly confused. )

'cause they're shitty? They take out people like they're nothing more than bugs to squash.

cw: yes light gore...

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i'm timeskipping a bit bc fighting threads are effort

agreed

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cw: casual homophobia??

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1/2

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