etrayalogs | MISSION 003

WHO: Everyone and their plushies!
WHEN: June 7th to 25th
WHERE: Everywhere
WHAT: The third Mission
NOTES\WARNINGS: Violence against cute inanimate objects, nightmares, psychological horror, potential death and injury. Please add additional warnings as needed within threads.

⏵ care bear delivery⏴

Last week all characters received one of two possible messages informing them about this month’s mission; some people received a message informing them about the plushie delivery and letting them know they are to protect it.

While others were informed that the plushies must be destroyed starting on June 14th, as any ones remaining after June 20th will cause untold destruction upon the city and its inhabitants. Those who received the second message will find themselves unable to share it with other people.

As promised, on the morning of June 7th, all characters receive a delivery from the companion bots: one stuffed animal plushie handed directly to them. The shape of the plushie differs between characters, but their size is somewhat consistent; they’re all bigger than a fist and small enough to be carried around.

The plushies are magical in nature. Those who fall asleep with their plushies in the same room will find that they will not experience any nightmares and awaken feeling refreshed, even if they only sleep a few hours, or sleep in twenty-minute intervals (looking at you, Bats) rather than go for a full night's sleep. If they lock the plushies away, they will still experience some relief, but it won't nearly as much. Those experiencing intense feelings of guilt, sorrow, homesickness, fear, or pain will find that they still feel those emotions, but with significantly less intensity than they may usually have. Stressors are less stressful, and overall, it seems like the plushies and their magical properties are trying to help. It's as if something else is helping to carry the weight of that suffering.

However, characters will also become more attached and protective of their plushies the longer they have them.

⏵ teddy tailor⏴

After receiving their plushies, citizens of Etraya will find a new, colorful addition to the first level of the hospital, where one might expect to see a gift store, decorated with various tiny outfits. Those who wander inside will find that the place is not a store, but a tailor’s workshop. The companion bots manning it will happily guide people through the steps to make an outfit for their plushie. All kinds of fabrics and patterns can be found throughout the workshop, and a few sewing machines are set up for their use.

The companion bots will not physically help, but perhaps other citizens coming in can assist. After all, all those new plushie friends deserve a special outfit.

⏵ tea party⏴

Before the end of the week, citizens will receive an invitation to a Tea Party taking place at Ramsey Farms. Attendance is not mandatory, but the last several days have been nice, haven't they? Surely everyone is feeling like having some tea and scones.

The farm is set up with various tables and tea sets. All tables have exactly four seats and are meant to be occupied by two citizens and their respective plushies. Once seated, citizens may feel compelled to share how their plushie has been helping them these past few days, perhaps they might even get specific about their fears and traumas.

⏵ seek & destroy⏴

As the first week wraps up, citizens receive one more invitation, this one to participate in a game of Hide & Seek with their plushies. Those who received the message to protect their plushies will be told to hide, while those tasked with destroying the plushies will be the seekers. The game will take place over the morning of June 16th; by then, people may feel fairly protective of their plushies.

No information is provided regarding prizes or winning parameters and Aurora will not answer questions pertaining to the game. But hey, the tea party went so well; surely, this will be fun too.

Once a plushie is destroyed, all of those negative feelings that had been suppressed will return to characters. For those who only had their plushie for a week, they'll feel those emotions more intensely, but it won't be as terrible to lose it. The longer they have had the plushie, the more emotions it absorbs, and the more backlash they'll receive when it's destroyed. Characters with intense night terrors may immediately fall asleep once the plushie is destroyed, throwing them into one of the worst night terrors they have experienced.

Characters cannot destroy their own plushies. Those who receive the message to destroy them are welcome to ask other people to destroy it for them, but if they attempt to explain their reasoning, they'll find themselves losing their train of thought or otherwise unable to explain Aurora's mission.

As stated in Aurora's second mission, any plushies that have not been destroyed by the 20th will become a problem all of its own. The exception to this is if Wade Wilson dresses a plushie in the outfit he had received for it. This outfit will both lower the amount of emotions the plushie absorbs, and slow down its transformation.

⏵ cadaver consolations ⏴
And they do transform. After thirteen days of absorbing negative emotions and taking on nightmares for others, the plushies become something so much more than just plushies. Instead of being soft, huggable items meant to assist in lowering stressors, they take on aspects of those stressors. Perhaps your worst nightmare involves watching your loved ones burn to death - your plushie is no longer a cute little teddy bear but is instead the shape of what had once been your mother, burned and singed almost beyond recognizable if it wasn't for her voice calling out to you, telling you that you did this to her as she chases you down. Perhaps you've been feeling guilty for how things went down in the Labyrinth, and the plushie takes on the shape of a friend who had fallen to save you, whispering into your ear about how it is your fault, you did this to them.

From the 20th through the 25th, these plushies remain corporeal. While they may not look soft and fluffy, it's possible to find threads hanging off their bodies. Yanking on these threads will cause them to fall apart, thus destroying the nightmarish creature intent on following its owner to their death. After the twenty-fifth, they will no longer be corporeal and cannot be destroyed through traditional methods. Instead, player characters will need to pull aspects of their fear out of the mangled creature. Perhaps the creature is carrying a replica of a treasured necklace that needs to be yanked off it, or its chest has been torn open, its heart hanging loose for those around it to grab hold of. The character responsible for the plushie will need to devour their fears, which will cause the creature to unravel piece by piece.

How this looks is wholly up to you, as is how far your character's nightmarish creature gets. Whether it's devour in a literal sense, or if it's overcoming their fear by destroying it or overcoming it - the extent of how messy this gets is up to each player, as is how messy their plushie gets.

⏵ NOTES ⏴
The soothing nature of the plushies is magical. They are magically charmed to absorb negative energies and contain them. Characters who can sense magic of this nature are free to notice this.

Those warded from being affected by others' magic may also find that their plushies are not effective for them. This can be played to players' preference; maybe the plushies can work around the wards, but maybe they cannot.

When a character’s plushie is destroyed, the character will feel the full hit of all the emotions it had been holding for them, if a character's plushie survives past June 20th it will transform into a monster, if it survives past the 25th it becomes much harder (and traumatizing) to destroy. They will need to be destroyed, as the plushies will not disappear on their own regardless of how long they're around.

Any questions can be directed to the mod queries thread in the plotting post

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He is sure not a fan of tea, but spiking it sure helps. He doesn't bother to refill it from the pot either, just dumps straight liquor into the cup before offering it. ]

Yeah. Wasn't a doll like a lot of people seem to have gotten, though. Just a stuffed version of my car.

[ but he'll die for the damn thing ]

Yeah?

[ With a small laugh, Jessica pulls her plushie thing out of her pocket. Stuffed version of a flask. ]

I think they're calling me out there.

[ But whatever. ]

[ That makes him laugh, and he reaches over to pick up the little stuffed car from the chair beside him, where it had been hidden under his jacket. ]

Kinda surprised I didn’t get one like you, to be honest.

[ He’s glancing pointedly at his teacup. ]

Maybe that would have been your second choice.

[ She's not ashamed of the plush flask but it's definitely telling. Heartening to know that maybe she's not the ony person in this place with absolutely shit coping mechanisms. ]

If the other one was unavailable. I'd offer to share but I'm not sure that's allowed. Not that I really know what's allowed with this place.

Probably.

[ Oh God she is definitely not. Dean's coping mechanisms are drink until it doesn't matter, fuck until it doesn't matter, drive fast and dangerous and everything inbetween. Easiest to not even address the problem. ]

I don't have a damn clue what's allowed here anymore. It's a friggin' mess, and nothing is really clear.

You know what? That makes two of us.

[ And she's going to salute to that, bringing her glass up and knocking back the rest of the tea with a few swallows. ]

It feels like we're goddamned rats in a maze.

[ Sometimes literally. ]

Just here for amusement.

Literally, after that labyrinth.

[ He'll knock his drink back too, let it burn his throat on the way down. ]

Almost like a, what's the name of that movie. Truman Show? That kinda deal.

Never saw it.

[ But if it's anything like this place, she definitely doesn't want to either. ]

I want out of here. But, doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. Yay for us.

Weird flick. Dude literally lives his life in a huge bubble city and it's filmed for TV, but he's got no idea the whole ass world is watching.

[ Feels similar, but hell if he knows just how much they're being watched. ]

No, it doesn't. I don't like feeling trapped.

Me either.

[ And yet, there was shit to do about it. ]

I've tried walking as far as possible here and it does nothing. It's just like we're completely cut off from anywhere else. I don't even know how that's freaking possible.

[ hm. interesting. ]

I admit I haven't done that, and now I feel kinda dumb for not trying. Do you just hit a wall? Or circle back?

It just seems to...I don't know, I keep walking but I don't get anywhere. The landscape doesn't change no matter how many steps I take.

[ She doesn't know if she's explaining it clearly. ]

Maybe it's just one giant circle.

[ He may have to go check it out himself at some point, see for himself. Hopefully he doesn't die in the process. ]

Sounds like it might be. Less than ideal.

It's that or magic and I don't know which explanation I like better.

[ The answer is neither. ]

I'm this close to just getting drunk and staying drunk and ignoring everything else about this place.

MISSION 003

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