etrayalogs | JUNE MINGLE.

JUNE MINGLE.

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: Late June into Early July
WHERE: On Etraya
WHAT: A mingle log!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A, please note any needed warnings in threads.

⏵ arrival ⏴
Maybe your arrival goes as anticipated. Characters awaken in the pristine, new hospital, greeted by Aurora and potentially getting a rundown of what's happening depending on their approach to being dropped somewhere new. The door to their room opens, and new arrivals are left free to explore their new environment.

Or perhaps you started in space. Perhaps you were stuck on a space station, trying to escape a black hole for who knows how long. Time isn't consistent there, not like it's meant to be.

And then you're here. Maybe you stepped foot into an odd hallway, which broke off into an escape pod which promptly disappeared entirely and ended up docking on the Southeast part of the city. Perhaps you had been walking through the hallways when suddenly you felt a pull. A tugging sensation in your gut, moments before the floor dropped away and the air was stolen from your lungs. It almost, almost feels like dying - like drowning but without the water. Stars flash before your eyes, and a warm sensation begins spreading from that tug. Right when it feels like it's beginning to get too hot, you're suddenly too cold.

And standing in front of Corrine's Cafe, drenched in fluid that's a little too gooey (don't put it in your mouth, Connor) to be considered water. Maybe don't think about that too hard.

A few companion bots swarm the area before long, bringing towels and apologies for newcomers. This isn't how you're meant to arrive, but at least they got you off that ship! They'll hand over an earpiece, but rather than earpieces that are not yet programmed with names, the companion bots have taken it upon themselves to give names out to the newcomers. Some may be closer to an average name, like "Jimmy Smith", or "Arthur Pendragon" (that's normal, right?), or they may be something a little more nonsensical, like "CHEESE IS DELICIOUS".

If they make their way to the hospital, Aurora will give something closer to her normal spiel. Those who don't may want to ask some of their newfound friends because there's no explanation given by the bots working the cafe or those who have come to help. Maybe the others who have been here longer will have a better explanation.

⏵ friendship bracelets ⏴
On July 1st, Aurora sends out a message to everyone through their ear pieces:

Hello, Citizens of Etraya.

I am glad that you enjoyed your coffee break. Given the success of this previous endeavor, I have opted to try another experiment. This mission is optional, you are not required to complete it. However, the successful completion of this mission may aid in assisting me in assigning similar missions in the future. I would recommend, if you enjoy the task, to make an attempt.

My companion bots will be handing out ten beads to each participant along with a piece of string. You will each receive one red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, pink, silver, and black bead. The goal of this mission will be to assemble a bracelet that is one color, by exchanging beads between participants. You may choose what finished color you would like to aim for. Given the limited quantity of beads, you will want to ensure you are choosing a color that has not already been widely chosen.

I would like to see twenty completed bracelets. Once completed, you may return them to any companion bot. I have set up the Diner to accommodate this, but you may participate from anywhere on Etraya.

If I receive at least twenty bracelets, I will provide two of those who complete theirs the opportunity to assist me in choosing not the next mission, but the one after that.

Thank you,
Aurora

As stated in Aurora's announcement, the Diner has been set up with numerous "friendship" themed party banners. There are cookies and cakes out on the tables, although they may not be to everyone's tastes: some of the flavors are a little outrageous, while others are more generic. Just don't expect that cookie that looks like it has pickles in it instead of chocolate chips to be anything but a pickle cookie. Because it is one.

⏵ nova city ⏴ The Southeast of Etraya had been relatively empty; Wolf Cove has overtaken the southernmost bit of land with its own little environmental set up: instead of the green grass featured in the rest of Etraya, it's covered in snow. But Wolf Cove isn't the only new addition: Nova City has overtaken a large portion of two massive islands. Numerous skyscrapers stand tall enough that their rooftops almost hit the atmospheric bubble Etraya has surrounded itself in.

The buildings themselves, however, are empty. There is no furniture, no signs of life, no dust, even. These facilities were not put here to use the insides of the buildings, but for the sake of having buildings.

But like with all new additions to Etraya, new buildings also mean an array of new creatures. Birds of all shapes and sizes flock to the empty city, enjoying standing on top of street lamps, stray cats wander through alleyways, rodents of all shapes have begun appearing and making themselves comfortable. But those aren't the issue.

It's the massive snakes that take up almost entire alleyways as they make their way between buildings, attempting to devour any creature small enough to fit into their mouths that happen to come across them. The green dragon that has built a nest on one of the taller buildings, and has a habit of swatting at anyone who comes near her - or worse yet, when she's particularly in a foul mood, breathes fire on them.

Aurora has asked for those capable, to try and handle at least the snakes. They're fine while they're in the city, but there is no guarantee they will stay there. The dragon at least seems content staying right where she is.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

To report a completed bracelet, please reply to the bracelet turn-in comment. Given the fifth mission is scheduled in September, we will continue to accept submissions for this through the beginning of August, at which point we will randomly select two characters.

For any questions relating to the contents of this log, please reply to our mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He shakes his head.]

Not usually, but I don't know if it's much better than the usual way. People wake up in beds at the hospital. Which — I don't know, seems like it'd cause some pretty bad reactions, depending on who it is...

[Otto, for example. Not that Peter knows the guy has had rude awakenings in hospital rooms before. Maybe the good doc lucked out there, in a way. As Peter opens the door into his apartment, he motions towards the... big hole in his wall. Very person-sized, that hole.]

Sorry, ignore that. Some evil spirit version of me tried to kill me a few weeks ago, and I haven't gotten around to fixing it.

[Tea! Tea is more important. He moves toward the kitchen counter to prepare some cups. They're very randomized mugs he's thrifted, and will 100% have bad science jokes on them.]

But, uh! Yeah, the situation up on that station really messed with the natural order of things. I hope everyone up there is luckier than us at getting it out of its loop...

Ah.

[Otto's tone is not at all even or casual, about the hospital. If -

Well. He didn't wake up there. So it's fine. And certainly there's no reason to talk about it with this Peter, so let's just set that entire topic aside! Otto inspects the hole in the wall for a moment - that's going to be a pain to fix - before following Peter to stand near the counter.]

Hopefully. I feel bad that we couldn't help them more before leaving.

[Yeah, definitely for the best hospitals weren't involved this time.

Sliding a embarrassing science-themed mug of tea over to Otto, he moves to settle his elbows on his counter himself. There's a stool for Otto to sit, if he'd like, though Peter wonders if the guy ever needs a chair again; the arms can make their own, probably...]

The people going in and out are good people; they'll be able to figure something out.

And we might even be able to get back up there and finish the work.

[A grimace.]

... After whatever next mission there is, maybe.

[Otto does sit on the stool, the lower pair of actuators bracing against the floor to provide a bit of back support. He could just sort of sit in mid-air with them, but he doesn't much like doing so. Moving around is one thing, but it feels strange to just...dangle there.]

How soon is that going to start?

[He sips the tea. This kid has definitely never made tea before, huh.]

[Never before. Never ever.

(We all know who made the tea in his residence, but we'll try not to think about it.)]

I'm not... totally sure. I don't think there's a specific timeframe these things happen, anyway. I just know usually Aurora will send out messages to everyone detailing at least some of what's expected to happen.

[... Ugh, this tea is nasty. He'll drink it anyway, because he's not wasteful.]

Either way, don't expect to hear from the being who brought us here. It's been months, and they haven't shown up even once. They just... work through their AI systems.

[Yep, we're very much not thinking about anyone who may or may not have liked tea!]

Never a good idea.

[He says, deeply self-deprecating. Are we at the point where we can have gallows humor about that?]

[Look at us, a pair of sad sacks who have lost loved ones who enjoyed tea.

Jeez.]

O-oh, yeah. Right. Not always the best.

Actually — I had an AI, once. Her name was Karen, and she was pretty cool.

... She gave me pretty good relationship advice about girls.

[There are... two kinds of AI in this world...]

Really?

[That's difficult to imagine from where he's standing! For a few different reasons!]

Is that kind of technology common in your universe, or was it just you?

[The place seemed futuristic by Otto's standards, but he could also tell that nanotech suit was top-of-the-line. This Peter's got resources aplenty.]

It's common, but it definitely has levels of capability. There are popular phones in my world has an AI you can give commands to, and you can have conversations online with kinda mediocre AI learning systems. But then there's people like M— Tony Stark. He made an AI advanced enough to gain its own sentience in its own body.

... He was a good guy, too. For the record. His name was Vision, and he was part of the Avengers at one point.

[It occurs to him, just how much loss happened. Not only did Black Widow and Iron Man die, but so did Vision; he's just not so sure the outside world was as devastated as they were for the others. Which... is sad. He deserved a lot of mourning, too. He was a hero.]

Fascinating. These are as advanced as it got, for my world.

[He tilts his head towards one of the actuators, which is...pretty openly watching and listening to this conversation. Peter probably knows about as much about their design as anyone left besides Otto himself, though.]

But I think we were several decades in the past - wasn't it sometime in the 2020s for you?

2024, yeah. I think with time, your world's gonna be pretty caught up, because there's definitely been a ton of advancements in my world in the last few decades...

[He looks at the actuator, raising his eyebrows.]

But yours are definitely more advanced than a lot of stuff we've got going on.

Do they, like... still have thoughts you can hear, too? I'm used to AI being really talkative, and from what you said, you had a pretty noisy headspace before we adjusted things.

Edited 2024-08-23 00:18 (UTC)

[Otto frowns reflexively down at his tea. The memory of how his mind had felt with the broken chip is still...unnerving. He doesn't much like to think about it. He thinks about it a fair amount anyway.]

...yes. It's certainly much quieter now. Not as...obtrusive. I can tune them out, and even when I do listen, it's...the divide between us is clear.

[Not like before, when everything had been such a powerful slurry. When he'd slipped out of being an I and into us and we. Otto huffs and drags himself out of his own head, glancing back up at Peter.]

Still entirely different than how it was before the accident, of course, but I doubt it's possible to go back to that. I glanced over some of those scans you took...confirmed what I already knew, I suppose.

[The entire system's fused too closely with his spine and nervous system to be removed short of a medical miracle. Maybe that's still possible - everything's possible lately - but the risks would be so extreme that Otto's not even sure he'd want to try. Not now that they're under control, anyway.]

[Peter sighs through his nose, looking relieved. He was really, really confident in his work, but that doesn't mean he didn't fear it failing — as a scientist, you always have to be ready for the worst of it. Otto's still okay, though; the legs still work as intended, and they can still provide support.

Even so...]

I'm sorry we weren't able to figure out a way to take them off.

Even with the kind of technology we have... it'd make brain surgery look like a walk in the park. If I'd had more time at the end there, I might've been able to convince Dr. Strange to help... but...

[Well. You saw how urgently he was working, to make sure Strange didn't just send them all home.]

No!

[It's a reflexive response, at least partially the actuators' own alarm leaking through. But certainly not entirely. Otto wasn't conscious when it happened, but he still can remember, if only in a strange dreamlike way, why they killed all those doctors. He breathes out slowly, cupping his hands around his tea to try and stop them shaking. Don't think about that.]

No, don't - apologize, dear boy. It's not your fault. And it may be for the best you didn't try. You may have had them restrained, but they're...rather strongly opposed to that idea.

[He flinches only slightly, more out of habit than actual fear.

Uh. Superhero Flinch, or whatever.

But when the quiet falls and Octavius responds, Peter can't help but feel a little guilty.]

Sorry... I didn't mean to rile them up or anything.

[Otto grimaces slightly to himself. What is wrong with him, can't he control himself for ten minutes?]

No, no, you're quite alright. I'm sorry.

... Look, it's been a pretty crappy week for you. In general.

Don't let it get to you, huh?

[After a moment, he rubs his hands together, then seems to reach a conclusion.]

You know, you can totally freshen up if you want to. I don't know how well the actuators fit in there, but my bathroom's actually super nice, and I'm gonna guess that weird gunk they dropped you here in is pretty annoying.

We've got time to talk about — all of this.

...well, that's very kind of you, but I don't want to impose. I don't think they're likely to fit well at all.

[More than that - good god, has he imposed on this kid enough.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JUNE MINGLE.

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