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⏴

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[ They've got bigger fish to fry, but Riz does find himself wondering momentarily if Gorgug's missing the Cig Figs right about now. The spirit of music has never taken to Riz, and he doesn't know what it's like, but... he must like it, right? Or else why would he have made a career out of it?

Well, he should have plenty of time for drumming. Maybe when they're not trying to get to the bottom of a seriously creepy mystery. A little belatedly (a little obviously) in the midst of their Messaging, he blurts out: ] Oh, uh -- yeah. I am. Hi.

I mean, even if they just sent us here to live out this weird white picket fence dream, it would be fishy, right? No place that pushes conformity this much isn't hiding anything bad. Even Kristen's old cult would probably say this is all a bit much.

[ They specialized in soft control, not hard control, after all. ]

What we know we're hiding is what's coming out after dark. I hear that if you break curfew? Those robots will really fuck you up if you don't just agree to go home immediately. So what's so big that they're willing to straight-up kill people to hide?

Uhhh, whatcha doing?

[ eavesdropping? gasp! ]

Went through the teacher's desk, [ Riz says with a sigh, stretching his tattooed arms out in front of him to rest his head on them, cheek smushed against his forearm as though he's intentionally looking as pathetic as possible so that the teacher will take pity on him and send him home. Which he's not, for the record. If anything, he just looks more peeved at Riz's general existence.

Riz's eyes flick over to the teacher, then back to Amy. ]

There wasn't anything interesting in there. Just some dirty magazines that honestly seem kind of inappropriate to keep at your job?

[ Is he just going to the staff room and -- ew, ew, ew, no, never mind, not thinking about it. But it does explain why the teacher is glowering at Riz as though he'd kicked his cat. ]

...what'd they do to piss you off so much?

[ Beyond being a fucking moron. Which, considering his experience here so far, seems extremly credible. ]

My world is super cool, [ Riz says with a grin, because of the virtues, he's never learned humility. And yeah, his world has a world-ending event every other week that most people never get to hear about - that's what adventurers are for - but that doesn't stop it from being totally badass. ] If we can, you should definitely come visit! I'll show you around. You'd fit right in.

[ That may or may not be a compliment depending on what perspective you're looking at things from. But from Riz, he at least means it as a compliment as he busies himself with the toppings bar, which is rapidly getting out of hand.

There's more toppings than ice cream at this point. He appears to be concentrating very hard on whether he wants multi-coloured mini marshmallows or white regular-sized marshmallows. ]

I can eat 'em all at once, [ he says absently. ] I've got a strong stomach.

"Cool, 'cause otherwise I'd have to shoot you." He holds his hands up as though in surrender. "Joking! Obviously!"

He's not totaly joking, but Izuku doesn't need to know that. It's not as though he'd shoot before running! He'd shoot after running, if need be, as though that makes that act any less bonkers than it is.

He leans down to help Izuku sort through them, reaching out with an arched brow as though to say: may I? Once he manages to liberate a few of them, he flips through them with a little frown tugging at his mouth.

"The robots definitely get violent about curfew. Some people have gotten really fucked up." His eyes narrow as he scans a report of nonsense, people getting too worked up about graffiti and loitering. "It might be a secret even to the people who've lived here for a long time. I don't get the impression that any of the people who live here are actually in charge of much." His eyes flick over to Deku. "Unless you've caught onto something different?"

Everything's up in the air right now. It'd actually be nice to have one of his theories laid to rest.

[ Hushed, and under her breath: ] Oh my god he makes dad jokes.

[ BUT more to the point! Doreen heaves a sigh! ]

Ugh, I know! I used to live in the suburbs, there's never anything going on out there! Good amount of trees, I'll grant you that, but I miss the big city!

[ ... Wait, shoot. Hang on. Doreen doesn't know much about Fabian, but given his pointy ears and the fact that he used magic and drew a crossbow on her in their last encounter, it isn't a big leap to assume that he comes from some kind of fantasy world. Do they not have grilled cheese sandwiches where he's from? Is he about to get his mind absolutely blown?

Having jumped to the wrong conclusion, Doreen gives him a grin over her shoulder and gets to cheese-grillin'. ]

It's a sandwich! Want a sandwich? You look kinda beat, my dude.

[ Krouse could go for a smoke. If not for the baby, he'd give into the impulse, but even if she's not flesh and blood he still doubts it'd be appreciated. Peter might get docked some kind of parenting points for exposing his ward to carcinogens.

He taps the fingers of one hand restlessly across his knee instead, turning his eyes up towards the sky. ]

Trying, or adapting. It's a question mark, sure, but we know this one is more experienced, and look where they've ended up here. More security measures built in, more rules for the residents.

So if we assume they're built to be adapt to what we do, maybe it would be a good idea to make some good faith gestures. I'm not saying roll over for everything, but be choosy about where we push.

Although fuck if I know how they ended up with this scenario, if that's the case.

[ The good news is that Krouse can be sure nothing past the door is going to be as hard to look at as Fabian's face is now.

It's not unbearable. Krouse has seen people more fucked up than this, which doesn't mean Fabian seems like the picture of relative well-being. The biggest problem with it is how familiar it is, that burned out, sunken expression. ]

I won't.

[ Any trace of levity is as snuffed out as Fabian's attempted arrogance. His fingers curl slightly on the edges of his brownie pan, which now strikes him as woefully, ineptly inadequate. He'd assumed whatever was going on required some light raising of spirits, but this - baked goods and ribbing aren't going to cut it.

The shift is subtle. Krouse doesn't steel his shoulders or straighten his spine. It's mostly all around his eyes, steady and dark, and in the firm assurance undergirding his voice. ]

Seriously.

[ Of course he'll think of him differently. He already is. Just not in the way he guesses Fabian thinks he will. ]

[ Fabian looks up from the baby and over at her when Asuka says that last part. It sounds meaningful in some way, but.. Fabian isn't too sure if he's reading into that too much.

Or maybe he's just projecting, really. He doesn't really know whether he himself wants kids, has never stopped to consider it, but he can at least acknowledge that the entire topic is really awkward. It's why it's so awkward to have to try to take care of this baby in the first place, let alone how much he feels like he's absolutely beefing it. ]

Well, sometimes people want someone to.. carry on their legacy.

[ This is a very, very normal thing to say about this topic. Clearly.

Even more so when Fabian seems to be giving it relatively instinctively. Like - for some reason - he truly believes this, of all things. ]

Right?

[ Fabian opens his mouth, shuts it, and then puts out his hands in front of him, palms turned out towards Aelwyn. ]

Look. You may not remember.

[ Surely. Everything is pointing towards Aelwyn being from an earlier point in time than him, and then with some.. weird time added onto that, judging by the person she had been looking for in that spaceship. ]

But I have changed. I am a new man now. [ .. It's the most stupid thing to declare so formally.

But that's Fabian for you. Clearly she missed his transformation, and she still thinks he's a guy who is weak enough for girls that he'd just let them do snuff off his chest! No more!!

(He's definitely still that desperate. But. He's trying to look better right now.) ]

This body is a temple!

[ A temple he poured bad baby milk in at several parties already. ]

Now it's upside down!

[ Forget Gorgug going into a panic. This is a dual panic at this point, since Fabian sounds just as worked up as Gorgug likely feels in this moment..

At least it does make him reach out in panic to take the baby again and actually turn it the proper side up. It doesn't make the baby stop crying, so it doesn't help much, but at least Fabian feels a little bit more at ease not seeing the baby hang upside down.. That surely can't be good for the baby!

Still, the crying is very, very awkward. Fabian winces a little, looks around them, and then decides to use an emergency move. ]

Gorgug, can you-- Can you come inside with me?

[ He gestures with a thumb in the direction of his house.

Fabian definitely wasn't planning on inviting anyone in there when he knows just what mess it is in there - let alone one of the other Bad Kids. He doesn't want them to find out how bad he's doing.

But it has got to be better than standing out here, especially when more and more people are looking at these two teenage boys and their fake baby crying its head off. ]

[ It does sound tempting. Maybe not the talking part, because talking about all of this is so complicated. But the idea of not being alone for a moment.. That is nice.

Even though Fabian has so many friends here in town, he hasn't been seeking any of them out. There just hasn't been time for it, somewhere between his boring job and his failing home life.

And he knows she's going to see the signs of the latter on him the moment he opens the door even a little bit further. The moment he moves out to sit there with her. So before he does that, the young man still clings to the door, asking her: ]

.. Promise you won't judge me?

[ It feels silly. It feels too vulnerable. Fabian hates it.

But he needs that promise. If he comes out and Aerith looks at him like he's as stupid as he feels right now, Fabian feels like something fundamental will start to crumble inside of him. ]

[ Has Fabian taken the baby, is the baby upright in Gorgug's arms.

Either way, he will be wearing the same frantic expression he currently has been in all this mess because there is still a baby that's crying regardless of whose arms it is in. He nods to Fabian's request, and he'll start to walk with him to the house he-- actually hasn't thought about going to, to this point. All the houses are probably the same, right? And it's not like Gorgug would see anything different in Fabian's house just because he lives there.

But Gorgug is definitely now rushing to get into that house, Fabian. Please. We need to get inside your Cool House. ]

What?

[Aelwyn squints at him. The idea that she might be carrying some expectation that doesn't match whatever present has allowed him to tattoo himself up like some kind of prized cow.

She didn't see him at Tellamine's weird summer camp, she didn't see him at the tower, she didn't see him at...

The party is one of the memories that she came back to. Found herself trapped there in her own nightmares more than once. She was surrounded by facimiles of beautiful women who all smiled and laughed and flirted as Aelwyn took the final step, and faltered.

All of Adaine's dipshit friends were there. Including Fabian. I came here to fuck! Huh. A bottle smashed over a head, snuff off someone's chest - his? Did she kiss him? She kissed a lot of people, screwed a fair few more.

Huh.]

First off... That's the single most cringeworthy way you could possibly even say that and you should feel bad.

[She inclines her head, thinking of how exactly to say this.]

Secondly. We've also only met once, right?

[Aelwyn rests her chin on her hand. The one with the blackened veins that indicate her own commitment.

She smiles. It's a sharp and not quite nice expression. Does she trust this woman with Adaine? No. Does she trust herself with Adaine? Also no. But this is what they're apparently stuck with for now, all four of them.]

Aelwyn. One of our "daughters" is my little sister Adaine.

Just to get it out of the way, I should probably mention that I'll kill you if you do anything to jeapordize her.

[Her tone is the upmost of friendliness, despite the harsh iron to the words beneath them. She can fake a happy family with the best of them after all.]

Do you want to cook tonight or shall I?

[ The reevaluation Krouse gives Gorgug is one of mild curiosity, like he's observing a buried shape being chipped out of dry sand in one of those play archaelogy kits. He taps a thumb against the side of his controller. ]

It's PvP, so...it's as stressful as we make it.

[ There was a time not so long ago that Krouse would have taken that admission as a challenge. Two years, or a month, or a lifetime, depending on exactly how he cares to define what he means when he considers it.

He used to get a kick out of seeing how pissed off he could make his opponents when he did this seriously. It was a strategy to throw them off, it got him views and a following, but he also just liked it. There was an icy, triumphant rush to being able to bait people into fumbling their cool while he kept his.

And it was nothing. Just a game on top of the game. Except he's sitting here now, in a general hum of mostly happy voices, and he thinks about Cody, flushed and crackling with outrage over something - Krouse can't even remember what he'd done that time.

He could've stopped before it came to that. He could have. ]

I won't be a dick on purpose, but if it's getting frustrating, let me know. I'll ease up.

[ Neither of them need shards of plastic flying around, he decides. Good on Gorgug for knowing his own foibles. Not everyone does.

He shrugs, just to underscore that it's not a big deal, and breezes along. ]

The magic user characters are fun. I'd say the ice or fire wizards are the ones to start with. Not a lot of fiddly mechanics upfront.

[ There is a level of suspicion that Riz has that isn't natural to Gorgug, that even as he explains it, Gorgug really has to think: is it a big deal that they're being made to stay in at certain times? Except for the affront it is to them personally as people, and that level of control present in enforcing such a rule.

But he doesn't find it a waste of time, at least. It has him wondering, thinking about his own attempt to understand the whys to the way things are in these bubble cities. Like there's some kind of secret component to every choice made that he has to unravel. For a good score. ]

They really want us to follow the rules? [ Which would be the simple answer, and of course not enough to satisfy a rogue. So: ] ...Do you think they want us to break the rules, or to really not break the rules because they're hiding something?

[ Because Gorgug would like extra credit on his mission homework.... ]

Ororo. [ She says of herself, and since Daisy's literally got her hands full, Ororo just nods pleasantly in lieu of offering a handshake as she introduces herself in return. ]

It is nice to meet you, even if it took coming to an entirely new planet to do so.

I hope we will get to help each other further in the weeks ahead...? I don't think I caught how long we will be here, but I hope we can watch out for one another.

My job here? It is easy enough. [ Ororo takes the camera and puts it into a her shopping cart, along with various household items they might use at home. As well as a little step stool! ]

All I have to do is show up at the station and report the forecast for the morning and for the afternoon. [ And that's a little too easy, for her. Her forecast is always right. ]

But I do find it a little strange how several of the camera crew do not really know what they are doing.

Isn't it because people get assigned random jobs? I met a girl who got made an architect but who was a florist back where she's from.

[ Gorgug can empathise with being dumped with a job that might have nothing to do with whatever they did before this. ]

It's probably amazing you can fit into your job role so easily.

[ Maybe he should actually pay attention to the weather news! Or anything on TV. ]

It... was very strange. But they were never unwelcome, even if their future is ultimately uncertain just for visiting me. [ Her voice turns a touch melancholy there, as she gives the whole thing more thought than she has in a while. She hasn't thought of Kymera in some time, the way she stole out of the mansion once her self-professed duty to keep the infant Shogo safe was done. The letter she left behind for her to find on her own. ]

By coming back and letting me know of their existence - they've created a new branch of timeline, separate from their own. I myself may never have them at all.

But knowing some version of me was able to have them in the first place, and that they grow to do noble, self-sacrficing things is... good. It's enough to know that they were raised well enough to do something important, and that alone has me feeling more than proud of them.

You don't get it.

[ It sounds like the words are ripped straight out of him, somehow. Fabian's tone is so off, maybe only reminiscent of the last time he had a terrible, terrible breakdown and almost didn't get to pull back from it at all. It's like he doesn't even want to be saying these words, but they tumble right out of his mouth all the same.

The look in his eyes matches that sentiment. It's so upset. So desperate. Riz is right about something here-- Fabian is, clearly, not fine.

So not fine that he can't even keep up the act of pretending to be fine, no matter how unconvincing it already was. ]

I.. [ He opens his mouth, then closes it. Like he doesn't know how to convey this to Riz, or how to even put it in words for anyone, himself included. ] It's not okay if I'm not fine. I have to be fine.

[ For so many reasons. Because even with some of the things he's unlearned, Fabian still needs to feel like he's strong in some way. Because he can't afford to be not okay when they're in a place he can't trust. Because he has to prove something. Because he has to be okay with the situation back home, so he has to be okay with this here too.

His tone is almost like he's begging Riz to understand.

At least it's not an aggressive sentiment - at least, in the sense that he doesn't sharply pull away from the other's physical contact or anything.

He just lets it happen, despite his pleading.

Despite the fact that his eye is getting oddly shiny, like it's starting to fill itself with tears that aren't falling just yet. ]

I have to be fine! [ He repeats. ] I have to prove I can do this!

I do hope we can do all this better this time around.

I have no idea if the house would want guests, but you're welcome to come over and meet my Violet at least. Come meet the little baby I'm taking care of. Watch me try and mother. God, Sis, watch me change a diaper. I finally figured it out.

[Some of the girls in the cheer squad returned the wave, while others were too busy paying attention to the game or themselves to notice him. Nuvia was just thrilled to see her team getting along with her friend. She wouldn’t know what to do if it were the opposite. All she knew was that if Riz were being picked on, she would leave the game without a second thought.

So, when he whispered to her about not staying through the whole game, she didn’t blame him at all for it. But when he revealed the real reason, he was visiting, it left Nuvia feeling flabbergasted. No one had ever shown interest in her like this before. Is this how friends work? Nuvia would tearfully smile, happy at the thought, as she gave him a quick hug.]

Thank you for coming! I really appreciate it. [She chuckled softly as she let him go.] I didn’t know people were talking about me. What are they saying?"

[His next question caught the attention of the cheer squad, who started eyeing them. The captain requested a group to follow her to cheer, giving Nuvia permission to rest due to being new. Nuvia smiled and waved, offering her gratitude to the captain as the girls disappointedly left to follow their leader. After some time, Nuvia finally revealed:]

At first, I didn’t know what to expect. Originally, I wanted to join the gardening club because it was a task asked of me, but I wanted to be somewhere I knew I would fit in. When the girls stopped me to request that I join their squad instead, I’ll admit I was disappointed. But after tonight’s performance, I didn’t know I would have so much fun being a cheerleader. I think… I would have been one if schools in my world still offered them.

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MISSION 004 (part 1)

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