etrayalogs | MISSION 004 (part 1)

MISSION 004 (part 1)

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: July 19th-July 27th.
WHERE: Moorecroft Village
WHAT: Enjoy life in your new suburban neighborhood!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Potential death.

⏵ welcome home ⏴
Welcome to Moorecroft Village, where the sun casts a gentle glow through soft white clouds. Pavement paths wind around the village, adorned with wildflowers in every hue. Birds sing a soothing melody, while a few content cats lounge in sunspots or on benches along the streets. Cars hum by, ferrying residents to work, the store, or back home after a busy day.

It looks almost perfect. The ideal little village, occupied by individuals from all over. Orcs, elves, faeries, werewolves, vampires, and dhampirs coexist harmoniously, each contributing to their quaint little town. Despite their varied backgrounds, they appear to embrace this place as their own. They take their baby carriages out during the day for a stroll, chatting with friends and neighbors about current happenings, discussing their most recent mission (a ‘game’ of Whodunit, in which one of theirs, Theo, was tasked with killing one of their own each day and they all had to figure out who had killed them before they could come back to life) and the difficulties therein, new job assignments, weird things the teens in their houses are getting up to... generic, neighborly conversations.

The village is full of life. There are numerous facilities to wander and things to do! The library houses a vast collection of books spanning history from countless other worlds and whimsical children's tales. Teens gather at the ice skating rink, while the movie theater screens films spanning generations. An aquarium full of wonders: glowing rainbow fish, miniature great white sharks, a colorful octopus with patterns running over it that almost look like ivy, and numerous others.

In the daytime, everyone can explore clothing stores, indulge in gourmet cakes from the grocers, and partake in leisurely pursuits without financial concerns; just like on Etraya, money does not exist here.

⏵ help wanted ⏴
Moorecroft surpasses Etraya in its development, offering attractions and activities to engage its inhabitants throughout the day. But with these advancements come additional responsibilities. By day, at least one adult from every household is expected to fulfill their shifts at 'day jobs', lasting anywhere from four to eight hours. Meanwhile, the youth are expected to go to school, absorbing knowledge in various disciplines.

Each job duty requires different skillsets, but whether or not those required skillsets are matched to those who are expected to work them... well. They’ll have plenty of time for training, won’t they? Or perhaps they’ll get dropped right into their job and be expected to figure it out all on their own.

For the younger residents, education is structured into two main institutions: "Sandalwood Lower" for those twelve and under, and "Maplewood Upper" for older students. These schools offer a broad curriculum encompassing Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Technology, Fine Arts, and a diverse array of Foreign Languages. Electives range widely, from specific sports to Survival Training, Creative Writing, Journalism, and Sociology.

At lunchtime, the school cafeteria presents an array of choices. Options range from standard fare like school pizza to other offerings such as vampire's blood, brains, and hearts—just in case an unexpected guest should drop in. After all, one never knows who might show up in Moorecroft.

⏵ honey do's ⏴
But life extends beyond work and school. A structured routine of what is expected of each household is kept on digital calendars, and installed on the wall in the kitchen of each house. These calendars update daily with smaller tasks, and weekly with larger ones, detailing what is expected of those residing within its walls.

Typical tasks include simple activities such as:

Take the child(ren) for a walk outdoors.
Visit the local park.
Bake a pie for the neighbors.
Tell your spouse(s) how important they are to you.
Share a secret.
Shop with your child(ren).
Mow the lawn.
Don’t forget to attend your child’s school’s PTA meeting!
Help with homework.
Take family photos.
Go on a date.

More complex tasks are found under weekly checklists, and may involve:

Host a neighborhood barbeque competition.
Volunteer at the hospital.
Teach your child a sport.
Start a soccer league.
Create a garage band.
Get a part time job.
Join a club.

Eos will check off each task as it is completed. At the bottom of each calendar, a tally records the completion of tasks, providing a visual measure of productivity and community involvement.

⏵ night watch ⏴
As the sun lowers over the horizon, everything shifts. Every long-term resident understands the consequences of curfew and the threats within. They retreat to their homes, urging those unfamiliar to them who may not understand the rules just yet that they, too, need to return indoors for the night.

Within the confines of their houses, life continues under a fragile veil of normalcy. A peek into some of the homes of long-term residents will find them playing board games with their family units, completing homework or work assignments they were unable to finish during the day, watching a few family-friendly shows on their couches, or enjoying a late dinner. Eventually, they’ll return to their beds and wait for the sound of their alarms.

In Moorecroft, no friendly companion bots roam the streets during the day. In their place, highly advanced robots emerge to enforce curfew once the time comes. They silently make their way through the streets, sweeping away anything that isn’t part of Eos’ design: trash left out on the street, bugs left by suspicious men wearing cowls that have ears on them, graffiti, new decor that Eos decides she doesn’t like. No winds shake the trees, there are no cars on the road, but noises can be heard coming from outside that don't sound... normal by any means. Croaks, whispers, scratches against doors and walls alike.

Those who defy curfew will be asked, once, to return to their homes. If they opt not to listen, they are met with force: physically restrained, subdued, and dragged back to their homes. If they decide to fight, the bots are not above killing them and dropping their limp bodies just inside the front door of their houses. They will revive after 48 hours but not without cost. Each return carries an absence—a missing memory, a lost skill, or a fragment of their very essence, stolen away in the process of their revival.

Even those who manage to evade capture will awaken in their beds with no recollection of their death or what they may have witnessed before dying. They will instead have a vague feeling that something horrifying happened.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Daily and weekly tasks can be chosen by players! We won't be listing these out for each household, but relying on players to choose what's most fun for them to play with within their households.

As noted on Mission Plotting, we're open to one group successfully staying out past curfew, but would like to keep this to one thread.

We have a separate log for NPC interactions for this mission!

For any questions relating to the contents of this log, mod queries thread on the initial plotting post to assist us in keeping all mission-related information in one place. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( sam's taking a step forward towards the kitchen when tim leans out, and he - snorts in response when he opens his mouth without actually making a sound. or doesn't at first, because tim's issuing a challenge and sam's giving a playful grin as he starts towards the basement. )

Don't start shit you're not gonna finish.

( challenge accepted. tim disappears through the door, and sam follows after him. he doesn't skip the staircase entirely, but takes it a few steps at a time. )

That a problem you run into a lot? People not being able to finish what they start?

[ He doesn’t overemphasize the word finish: Tim runs a respectable Robin banter.

Besides, Sam seems like he’ll do the mental dirty work all by himself. Leaving Tim free to check under the stairs, in storage containers, and snap a picture of the electric panel. ]

Shall we kill the lights and check the second floor?

Edited 2024-07-23 23:26 (UTC)

More often than I'd like.

( tim's - still digging through shit, so sam lets him be with that while he blocks off the end of the staircase. he's not intending on keeping tim down here, more - well, a challenge was issued, and now sam needs to see it through. )

Lights, no lights, doesn't make any difference to me.

Might be a common denominator there.

[ Sam’s hard to miss, standing at the bottom of the stairs like that. The only path back upstairs, and Tim’d have to push past him or ask him to move.

Meaning Sam would be able to get his hands on him or give him a hard time over that last shot.

Nope. Tim jumps and catches the handrail of the stairs inches from where it meets the ceiling. He doesn’t scrabble or grunt - first leg immediately gets a foot on outside lip of stair, the other swings over the rail. He turns his head to the side to clear the ceiling spyglass, but not because he bumps it. Because he knows needed. ]

You coming?

( damn.

sam whistles low, before he turns around on his heels to follow tim back up the staircase. he could rush ahead, run to catch up with tim and nab him, but it's not as if sam's in any rush to get him. it's more fun this way, isn't it? he takes the stairs two at a time, but isn't running to catch up with him; it's more of an even saunter. )

I can do that too.

( he can't. or he probably could if he kept at it long enough, but that sounds like effort. )

[ They’ve been talking all the while, and the rest of the house remains still. No harm in some cheerful baiting as he leads them up the kitchen stairs. Whenever he hears Sam getting closer, he takes a double-quick step.

(There was a grander staircase in the foyer. Two sets of stairs, and not an old house with servants stairs. You don’t see that too often.)

The back-and-forth keeps it from being boring. The house seems like a house. Almost stereotypical in its aggressively tidy blandness. ]

But you didn’t.

[ Tim and his family don’t have the exclusive rights to parkour tricks. ]

I thought you liked showing off. You couldn’t wait to show me your knife skills.

I don't wanna break the house.

( but since they're taking a trip into the kitchen anyway, sam opts to take a detour to the fridge. swings open the door and - takes stock of what's currently in there: eggs, milk, cheese, juice, water.. the basics. the pack of cheese gets removed from the drawer, and sam tears it open. takes out a piece, and shoves it into his mouth before he gets back to following after tim. )

I'll show off outside.

[ Tim’s already cleared the hall bathroom when Sam gets to the second floor and is at the far end of the hall, opening the double doors of the master bedroom. Two more doors are unopened.

If he wasn’t trying to pay attention to everything around him, because he can almost taste the jumpscare behind every corner in this too normal house, he’d be giving Sam the look he deserves right now. ]

You can bring down a house, and your go-to party trick is a blood knife. If it’s true, I’m docking you two points for thinking I’m that easy to impress, but I think you’re stalling.

I don't like scaring people.

( it's honest, even if it's not the whole truth. his shoulders lift in a small shrug, before sam shoves another piece of cheese into his mouth. keeps following after tim, because he may as well. )

There's nothing else alive in here. Nothing's moving, nothing smells off. I'm no seer, but I'm not usually wrong when a place feels relatively safeish.

I don't scare easily.

[ He wasn't overly scared when Sam slit open his arm. He was concerned, but he gave no indication that he was anxious or fearful.

(If anything, he's shown too little fear, but they're surrounded by very strong personalities, most of whom can take care of themselves in a labyrinth. He can't give a stellar performance as a civilian: he'd get babied.)

It can wait 'til they're outside. ]

I don't think it is. You should have seen the labyrinth we were sent into. Maybe this house is safe right now, but I'm going to treat every toaster like it's going to spray darts at me when the toast pops up. You should too.

I've got good reflexes. If something pops up, 'll handle it.

( tim doesn't scare easily. most people get a little thrown off when someone stabs themselves, but he seemed fine-ish. seems fine now, too, even while they're playing tag throughout a fucky house they're meant to be living in. even if he's laughing a little, because, )

An' if the toaster comes after you, I'll take it out.

Saved from the attack of the terrible toaster. You're a regular knight in shining - clothes.

[ But Tim is laughing too, more than a huff or a snerk, but Sam will have to work on his material if he wants a belly laugh. ]

What does 'good reflexes' mean? You're going to what, snag the darts out of mid air? Dramatically tackle me out of harm's way? Or do you have superspeed, and I'm not going to realize something was wrong until 10 seconds later?

( the question seems to - confuse him a little. sam stops in place, face scrunching up as he tries to think of a good answer for that. because it's not really something he's thought about explaining in words before: he's always been this way, most people know what he is, so it's never been something that's needed explaining. )

I'm a Nephilim. ( as if that explains anything. which he's realizing--it doesn't in this context. ) Not sure if I'd call it super speed, but kinda? I don't know. 's.. we've been told we see shit differently than humans do, but I wouldn't know how to explain it, 'cause I don't know how you see things. You get me? I can move faster, probably not catch darts out of the air fast, but fast enough to block 'em from hitting you.

You mentioned you were half alien. I only know the biblical nephilim, and only enough to know that they’re a logical fallacy.

[ He says this apologetically, but doesn’t segue into a rant about how you can’t claim angels are sexless and then let them have kids with humans in the same book. ]

But if I get a say in the dart hypothetical, don’t do it unless you’re blocking them with something other than your own body. I’m not comfortable with someone getting hurt because of me, and before you argue, yes, I remember you heal quickly.

[ It’s a sore spot, but the hypothetical discussion keeps anything emotional at arm’s length.

It’s practical: Tim, too, has very good reflexes. Not metahuman, but good enough to catch arrows in flight. He’ll take his chances with the fictitious darts. ]

They call 'em Seraphs, but they're aliens.

( this part, he can explain. or kind of. sam intentionally doesn't focus on the details, because--there's a lot of shit he'd just prefer not to know. )

They mostly communicate telepathically, and aome of 'em have wings, like you'd expect biblical Seraphs to. Thus, the name. An' they're big. Like, taller than most buildings big. A couple ships landed on Earth a long time ago, 'cause I guess they thought they'd use Earth as more neutral ground for their war. 's fine to destroy someone else's planet, but not theirs. They fucked up Earth, majorly. Humans tried to fight back, but most've them just ended up squashed. So they switched gears, an' thought they'd make us. Nephilim.

( sam pauses for a moment, to shove a piece of cheese into his mouth. he's hungry, and still lugging the almost empty pack around. )

So I'm half alien, half human. Or Nephilim, depending on who you ask. 'cause the whole, biblical Seraphs, having half-breeds with humans bullshit.

And I'm... still solidly an atheist, thanks for reaffirming that for me.

[ Whether there might ever be anything that makes him reconsider that philosophy is permanently To Be Determined. For now, this just hammers home that a lot of world religions are explanations for what exists in the natural world. Seraphim might be aliens, got it, makes senses, and nephilim are the children they had with humans. Yup, that tracks too. ]

That's a lot to take in, and I'm not sure I follow who the last they is. I'm sorry that happened, though. In the grander your world doesn't deserve that sense. I'm not apologizing for your existence.

[ He can't even say for certain that it's not what happened in his world. Well, not without asking Vandal Savage, which he will someday. ]

Am I allowed to object to the word "halfbreed"?

It was way before my time, so it doesn't make much difference to me.

( he could just take tim's sorry, but also: it really doesn't. he wouldn't have existed if it didn't happen, but. sam hasn't known anything other than the world left behind after the seraphs came and razed the earth. )

Halfbreed, hybrid, Nephilim, Nephilite, mutant, Fallen - I'm sure there's more words for it. You can object to whatever you want, but I'm used to 'em. Doesn't bother me any.

Edited 2024-07-30 18:13 (UTC)

So the world is majorly unfucked now?

[ Courtrooms have to worry about leading questions, Tim doesn't. Besides, people whose home went to shit (where home can be expanded to country or planet) are usually off-kilter to a degree. Maybe they're used to bribery being de rigeur, even if they don't like it, maybe they think resources are something to be fought over. He'd like to know how much of his framework of "Earth" matches. ]

I don't have any issues with the rest of the words. I won't be using that one, though. It's a slur on my world.

World's still fucked. But it ain't like I've ever seen it unfucked. You know?

( he says it nonchalantly, but it's anything but. he and ari had this conversation before, on the space station. one he doesn't feel like repeating now, especially given ari had a point. a shitty one.

there's still a few more doors to open, so sam shoves another piece of cheese into his mouth and throws a door open. there's a bed, a dresser, a mirror. . . normal, uninteresting bedroom shit. )

It'd feel weird if it wasn't.

I get it. I can still say it sucks.

[ On a smaller scale, Tim would like a normal month in Gotham. Just a prolonged staycation, no breakouts, no small crime, a complete truce of the city with itself. He's never known anything else. What's the most recent stat? 1 in 3 Gothamites will be the victim of or present at a supervillain crime in their lifetime? ]

I thought I was clearing the rooms?

Were you? I thought you were looking for attacking toasters.

( same thing. he takes a step away from the door and raises his arm in a sweeping motion towards where the door remains open. )

Go for it. I'm not gonna stop you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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