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

[ Deep in the back of her mind, Doreen thinks she should be sitting backwards in a chair for this conversation, to make herself more relatable to the Cool Teen. She has somehow stumbled backwards into Responsible Adulthood, and her main qualifications so far seem to be 'taking care of babies' and 'making sandwiches'.

... And being pretty good at consoling people, that's at the top of the list right now. ]

... Aw, nuts. I'm sorry to hear that, dude.

[ Putting some things together, now... ]

Does that mean there's, uh... a new guy in the situation?

[ Fabian slowly nods.

.. then he realizes that - of course - she can't see him like this, so he adds out loud: ]

Yes, there is.

[ Honestly, he is being so forthcoming here. Most of the time people have to drag this out of Fabian, but there's something about Doreen's sheer energy that makes it all come out. Maybe it's the babysitter vibes, considering that the household's maid back home was the only person Fabian could ever be truly open with like this.. ]

And he is just-- I don't even know how to describe him, other than to say he is the least cool man to have ever walked the face of any planet. I truly don't even understand what mama sees in him. [ Now this is typical teenager talk. He even sounds like he's sulking as he says it. ] She was married to the most amazing man alive. A man who was a true hero, whose name everyone knew, a man who could do anything!

[ The boy may be a little biased. ]

And then he dies, and almost right after his funeral she runs off with a pathetic new man. And then she wants a new baby with him, as if she doesn't have me already..! None of it makes any sense whatsoever.

[ The most amazing man alive, Doreen thinks, who tattooed his teenaged son's neck with PIRATE GOLD.

Hoo boy. Maybe she should be majoring in psychology and family therapy and rather than computer science. Doreen whistles through her buck teeth, flipping one of the sandwiches onto a plate and passing it towards Fabian. ]

Dang. I'm sorry to hear that, that must be really tough to deal with.

It really is.

[ At least he's admitting to that - and taking the plate from her when she offers it. The boy is even already picking up the sandwich on it and taking a bite out of it, managing to say through his full mouth: ]

I was thinking of giving him a vasectomy to try and stop it. [ Sorry, Doreen.

The out of pocket sentences truly just don't ever stop with Fabian, apparently. ] It's the only way out.

[ .... WHAT.

Doreen's just. She's just gonna stare for a few seconds, set the frying pan down, plate up her own sandwich, and focus on eating it for a minute. Give her a minute, she needs to gather her thoughts! She's pretty sure Fabian must be joking... but then, he does have a sword.]

... Pretty sure it's not? Personally, I'd try family therapy before improvised delicate surgery.

Wha--

[ Fabian's jaw drops.

Like she just suggested something outrageous. Something far more outrageous than family therapy, anyway. ]

Why would I go to family therapy with him? And with my mama? That sounds insane! We don't need family therapy, I just need to get Gilear straight out of my life!

And impromptu ding-dong surgery isn't insane?!

[ It comes off sounding a little more incredulous and shrill than Doreen intended, and she quickly dials it back. Don't want Fabian getting defensive and withdrawing! ]

Have you talked to your mom about this whole... situation?

[ Doreen definitely has the perfect approach to this situation. Because Fabian definitely would have gotten super defensive if she had questioned it any more than that out loud - but since Doreen is immediately moving on to a different track, he's instead getting distracted enough to pay attention to that, rather than her outrage.

Because clearly impromptu ding-dong surgery is a great idea! Fabian sure thinks so! He likes to think his papa would greatly approve!! ]

Of course. I have told her many times that she absolutely should not get together with that man. I mean-- I told her as much back when she was oogling him at papa's funeral!

[ It's not so much outrage, it's more... incredulous horror. Impromptu ding-dong surgery is going from 0-100 on the conflict-solving scale! Even though, from what Doreen's gathered, the rowdy pirate dad who tattooed his son's neck in gold probably would be distressingly enthusiastic about sword-based problem solving.

... But hey, Doreen's here to come up with other solutions! That don't involve swords! ]

No, see, that's where a family therapist would come in handy! Sometimes it can help to have a neutral party in on the conversation who can point things out in a non-judgmental way. Plus, like... listen, parents sometimes aren't super great at listening to their kids, and they might be more inclined to listen to criticism from another adult? It's hard to argue against someone in an office with a fancy degree on their wall.

[ Fabian opens his mouth.

He is about to - instinctively - ask what she means about parents not being great at listening to their kids, of course they are, but then he kind of remembers more than a few conversations from his childhood, and realizes that is going into dangerous territory. So he promptly shuts that mouth again, listening to the rest of what Doreen has to say.

Not that it's necessarily making Fabian look less like he's sulking though. ]

And what when you think your parents are not really the type to be impressed by some fancy degree? [ Certainly not his dad, but considering this is more about his mother-- Fabian doesn't really think she'd care either.

If anything-- ]

I think she might be more willing to listen if said family therapist could defeat her in combat. [ This is probably saying so much about Fabian, especially since he's saying it with a straight face - like he doesn't think it's weird at all. ]

[ Huh. You know what, maybe the rowdiness in this family isn't be limited to the Rowdy Pirate Dad, that makes sense. Maybe this calls for a different approach. Doreen tilts her head to one side, thinks things over for a suspiciously long time... and finally responds with: ]

... What kind of combat? Do you think she'd accept proxy opponents? Like, if someone representing a therapist challenged her on their behalf?

.. uh.

[ Seems like he has to think about that for a moment too. Though less than the pause she needed. ]

I think that might actually work. [ Fabian even sounds like he's telling the truth. He sounds surprised, like he only realized it after thinking about it just now. ] I don't think mama respects anything more than anyone who could beat her in a duel with swords.

Okay then!

[ Doreen cracks her knuckles! ]

Unless she'd be open to like, an arm-wrestling match, I guess I'ma learn how to swordfight. Got lots of time to learn, after all.

[ See, Fabian was in thought so much about the very possibility that he didn't realize Doreen was actually going somewhere with this. It was just a surprising realisation to him, okay! He never really thought about that before!

But it also means that what Doreen says next hits him like a second surprise right after. The boy's one eye goes wide. ]

Wait do you mean? [ Fabian asks, almost instantly.

Judging by him continuing a moment later, he does get what she means. It's just-- ]

Why would you? [ It's not like it's her problem, after all. ]

I mean, I could probably win? Not to brag, but I'm hecka strong and fast, it's part of my whole deal. Plus, we're friends! Why not?

[ Offering to duel your friend's mom when you have super strength and reflexes is... technically not super fair, but it's for a good cause, she thinks! But is offering to fight your friend's mom weird? Did she misjudge this and jump straight into 'helping people' mode without stopping to think about how it affects others? Oh jeez. This is why she needs Tippy around for damage control! She made it weird! ]

... I mean, if it's weird, we could find someone else to swordfight your mom! We've got tons of people here, some of them have to know how to swashbuckle.

[ A pause. ]

... For real though, do you think she'd be open to an arm-wrestling match?

I-- I mean, if you could convince her, perhaps-- [ Though Fabian certainly doesn't think his mother is all that easy to convince..

But that's not the point. It's why he's stammering through that sentence - his heart is not fully in answering it, it's in thinking about a whole lot of other things, all at the same time. ]

It's just, I think--

[ He swallows. ]

I think it is a problem I have to solve myself.

[ That's what it means to be an adult, right? To forge his own identity. To be a maximum legend. He has to be able to do these things by himself. It's so touching that she's offering to help him to such an extent, but there's still some fear that it might be weakness to rely on her. ]

Well, if you want to, that's okay.

[ It should be noted at this point that Doreen isn't actually a licensed therapist, just a very good and empathetic listener. She's starting to get a pretty good idea of Fabian's issues, and while Doreen's issues with her own mom don't really compare (they're mostly limited to her unfortunate tendency to share Doreen's baby pictures and embarrassing childhood stories with friends!), she thinks she knows what angle to approach this from. It's hard, trying to change inflexible parents. ]

... But you don't have to, either. There's really something to be said for the Power of Friendship and Also Therapy!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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cw: involuntary sterilisation?? i'm so sorry, i don't even know how to describe it

THE SOUND I MADE

KGJDFKJ SORRY FOR SUBJECTING YOU TO THE WILDEST SIDES OF THIS CANON IN RP

LISTEN, I'VE WATCHED FH, I WAS PREPARED FOR THE MADNESS

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I can't believe I get to use this icon

AHAHAHA oh my god, doreen... i love her so much

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