etrayalogs | 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

[ Ororo had been testing to see how much later she could stay out, careful not to do this every night, or to be seen. It's difficult - the powers that she could use to take the curfew bots down are very dramatic and would call a lot of attention to her. She's getting the sense that the instruction to "blend in" was not only a mission from Aurora and Echo, but advice to stay alive here in Moorecroft, against Eos's people.

Whatever her theories, they come to a sharp halt when a. she finds Laura in the dark, claws glinting in the sparse light and b. she realizes fighting the bots together would be more trouble than they were really worth. She barely knows Laura's style -- something to rectify immediately, she's going to have to put her through the Danger Room or something isn't she? Goddess, she hates the idea of that -- and she's much, much too young to put through all this knowingly.

So she hisses at Laura to follow her, does not take no for an answer as they take down a few bots a-piece. They're down and smoking from her lightning-- but only temporarily. ]

There are more coming shortly and these ones will be up again sooner rather than later, so you will come with me tonight, Laura. My house is not far.

[Laura seems agitated, pacing like a creature in a cage; perhaps Ororo already knows why, or perhaps she doesn't, but Laura can't help but feel helpless and sad and a little angry. The bots are a perfect target — they don't seem to hurt, to feel bad for being attacked. They attack her first, and it gives her excuses.

Her fighting style is surprisingly graceful and fast for her age. Flips turn into slashes, and cartwheels remove metal limbs off robots and dash weapons into two. And what gunfire or projectile she cannot evade? She takes with only the softest sound of pain (and frankly, it sounds more angry than anything).

Wiping some blood off on her pants, she turns toward Ororo.

Stubbornly:]

But I can keep breaking them. I can keep them busy for everyone else.

You can keep breaking them, but they will keep coming. Robots do not get tired, Laura. [ People, however, do.

Her eyes glow and flash in the growing shadows of the late hour. To Storm's credit, there is no rumble of thunder to give her away... But there is a crackle of lightning over her skin - hands and arms and up her shoulders.

The lightning dies down with a deep inhale of breath that seems to make the air around them feel a little less heavy with the threat of impending rain. All the moisture is being drawn up and up, away from them here and instead to the darkening clouds above. Ororo offers a clean hand for Laura to take, whether her hands bloodied or not.

Ororo's own, other hand is bloodied. She may have sustained a scratch or two on her arms; but Laura should not have to worry about that right now, even if she might smell the acrid tang of it as it more seeps through her sleeve and down to the back of her hand. It'll be fine. ]

Come. We'll talk better in our kitchen. I'll make you something warm to drink.

But I'm not finished...!

[Laura looks frustrated, like she's truly torn between following Ororo or staying and fighting over and over and over, until she can't fight anymore. Ultimately, Storm's been too good to her to just ignore or defy; she reaches out with a blood-stained hand and clasps tightly. She's a tightly wound thing, full of helpless and turbulent energy.

It's a clear the need for violence — a need for a reason to be violent.

But does she want to lose herself in it, when Ororo's watching?

Maybe... not.]

You're finished now, Laura. I am not leaving you here, and I do not want you to leave me, either. Now come. [ Ororo's eyes flash in time with the lightning that splits the sky overhead. She's very patient, normally, but not like this. Not when something dangerous and foreign feels like it's invading the air, and it isn't just the smoke from the bots that they have managed to take down between them.

She gives Laura a little tug to follow after her. If she allows that, they can take off on a brisk little run - Ororo was not about to fly her in this uncertain situation, so they had to make this trip on foot. She drops her voice to a whisper that most people wouldn't hear - but Laura is not most people. And it would be good to give her something to focus on if she wanted to understand what Ororo was saying. ]

We will go in through the back door and into the kitchen; I have a first aid kit in there. [ Laura does not need that first aid kit, she does, but she isn't thinking the most clearly right now or else she wouldn't be drawing attention to her own wounds and needs. ] ... And then - a hot drink.

[As Laura runs, whatever injury is left on her has already began to close up. It's not until they're rushing through the back door that she recognizes the uncomfortable pain and sensation of something beneath the skin — and so she latches her mouth over her wrist and sucks, then spits out a stray bullet fragment onto the floor.

Her ornery expression only melts away when she looks over Ororo and her own bloody marks.]

Are you hurt bad?

[Laura had learned a little, on how to treat wounds. Damian helped some.

... It distracts her for a moment, from her pent up anger and anguish.]

[ The bullet gets a startled, then immediately concerned look from Ororo even though she really shouldn't be. Laura is, after all, just as aggravating as her father.

But even that concern melts away into something a little more tempered as they finally clear the backyard and can step into Ororo's house. The kitchen is dark, and she can flick on the lights for them as soon as the door closes. The blood streaking down her arm should certainly be clearer now, under the harsh florescent lights. It's seeping through the long sleeve that had gotten stuck over the gash. ]

It's nothing life-threatening, love. But I could use a little help in cleaning it up with anti-septic and the like.

[ Ororo's smile is a little bland as she reaches for a large, well-stocked first aid kit on top of the fridge. It's something akin to a first-responder's kit rather than those little ones you get at a corner shop. ]

Unfortunately, I do not have a healing factor to combat infections.

[You worry too much, Ororo. At least, that's what Laura would tell her.

But currently, she is too busy worrying over the other instead. It's true, she doesn't heal — so in a way, Laura feels responsible for her to be well. To get aid. She looks over the arm covered in blood, her nose finding the coppery smell overpowering; she couldn't smell anything else if she tried.]

I can. I can clean it.

I had to help clean a friend's injury before. Stitch it.

MISSION 004 (part 1)

(closed) - laura

cw violence toward a violent child :)b

cw: blood :(b

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