November Mingle

[etrayamods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: November 22nd - Early December
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, and an unexpected guest!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A, please note any needed warnings in threads.

⏵ arrival ⏴ Welcome to Etraya! Arrival goes as expected - or it would, except it is not just Aurora that greets the newcomers as they arrive. Certainly they receive their earpiece so they can communicate with one another as those before them have, however there is what seems to be a woman waiting for them that is of a more flesh and blood persuasion as they leave the hospital. She carries an air about her that isn't quite like the newcomers themselves, but she is decidedly not one of the companion bots, nor Aurora. She has bone-straight blonde hair reaching past her shoulders, with a straight-cut fringe hanging above her eyes. The black dress that ends just before her mid-thighs also has a rather revealing neckline, though the sleeves which cover her arms almost feel like a mockery of modesty considering the rest. She is also wearing black stockings and black pumps, and the red of her lipstick is striking against the extreme contrast in shades she otherwise holds. As each newcomer independently files out of the hospital, she makes certain to garner their individual attention, either with a wave of her hand, a wiggle of her fingers, or directly calling them over. She is persistent, and with being so new, it is wise to heed her. Not that anyone can force one to, if they choose to walk away, nor does she seem interested in trying to, but she has her means for those proving stubborn. However, those who aren't... “Hey! I know you’re not just walking past me. I’ve got- you know, plot relevant, written all over me. I picked this dress out just for you, you know?’ “C’mere, listen up. Mama’s got a little bit of homework for you, but it’s gonna help you, too, okay? I need you to go find the hot goss, the piping hot tea on the street for me. Find out what everyone’s saying about the people we’re stuck with, okay? People are a lot more relaxed and honest when they talk about others, right? This is about efficiency. Efficiency, honey. Don’t worry, I’ll be in the trenches, too. But make sure you come find me again. I’ll be around here, okay? I know you’re as confused as I am. Well no. I’m much less confused than you are. But if you can tell me about the people here, I’ll tell you more about where you are and what this is about.” For those who ignored her, or those not newly arrived, they will receive a message through their earpiece: “Girl. Hey. Listen. I’m kind of in a pinch, okay? I need like… a little favor. But its a fun favor! I need you to get your girl some info. I need the word on the street, honey. I need the tea piping hot- I need you to go talk to your friends, enemies, frenemies, butt buddies, cousins, and have them tell you about anyone they know. I need straight facts and good gossip on everyone here. And then get back to me. Kisses. And this isn’t something for nothing. If you bring me some good goss, you’ll get some good info in turn about your whole situation. Cause that’s what you’re missing most besides home, right? Context.” ⏵ spill the tea ⏴ Tatianna having now tasked everyone (new and old) with finding out more about their fellow inhabitants—if not for their sake, for her curiosity—and in exchange she will give them valuable information that may aid them with acclimating here, or something far more valuable depending on how hot the goss is! However, she will not just hand out her secrets so easily, and so she will need one piece of gossip about each inhabitant. So she expects everyone to get mingling and talking, she isn't a charity here! To assist in this, the companion bots have set up cozy little wicker daybeds around the main hub of the city. All of which are suspiciously cozy and warm once you have sat down on them, but especially so with the accompanying aroma of the tea wafting from the kettle which rests on the center table, accompanied by sweetmeats. The tea itself also stays warm despite the cool autumn air, and so long as you stay within the daybeds, the biting chill won't reach you either. However, the tea is not only perpetually the right temperature, but it seems to have a way of loosening one's tongue. Especially the more one imbibes it. Did you mean to share that secret that might not have been yours to begin with? Or that personal detail about your best friend that wasn't meant to be known by anyone but who they themselves have told? Probably not, but the cat is out of the bag now, isn't it? Well, hopefully word won't get around...after all, it isn't likely who you are talking is going to tell everyone else, right? Right? Adding to the oddity of it all, the tea one drinks might not be the same tea that their companion is drinking, despite it pouring from the same kettle. What might be one person's earl grey, is another's pumpkin spice chai. Whatever it may be that pours out, it certainly seems to be to one's liking, or its closest approximation. There's probably some deeper meaning in that, some sort of symbolism one might surmise from the nature of sharing gossip and it being tainted by personal bias, but who cares about navel gazing about such a thing? After all, this is meant to be an enjoyable endeavor! Getting to know your fellow inhabitant should feel as comfortable as catching up with an old friend. What better way than to do it by sharing tea you both will enjoy? ☕ ⏵ close knit ⏴ As the tail end of November draws nearer, people will have already begun to see the first flakes of snow. It grows colder, and while there isn't quite a blizzard or a snow storm happening, the snow does not seem to let up with its descent. It doesn't quite get so cold that it is untenable, of course, but it would be advisable to bundle up! In fact, the companion bots seem to be on the case with assisting in just that! Around the city people will find groups of companion bots busily knitting sweaters, scarves, gloves, hats, and so forth. In fact, the moment they see someone they clock as not quite bundled enough, they will insist on supplying them with whatever they deem as being without. Are you already wearing a scarf? Well, clearly you need two of them! How about the gloves? Couldn't hurt to have several pairs! However, that isn't all that's available to people, after all there are cafes out and about where one might get a hot beverage to help fight off the cold, but for those less inclined for such establishments, the companion bots are here to serve! There is at least one companion bot per knitting group that seems to have hot cocoa on hand. If they see someone who is looking particularly cold (almost everyone is, the companion bots aren't particularly keen on the signs of successful temperature regulation), they will have a paper cup of hot cocoa imposed upon them that has their name on the side. Or, sort of. It is at least a close approximation of their name, or maybe it is an alternate spelling? Really, who can blame the bots for getting confused, there are so many of you! ⏵ snow more games ⏴ The snow is here to stay, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a bad thing! With everyone well supplied in their winter garb, the companion bots have set up spots for fun activities! Perhaps the inhabitants would enjoy a fun snowball fight, or some sledding? Some of the waters have frozen over, so ice skating is always a possibility too. Though one might want to be careful if they are to venture past what the companion bots have marked as safe. Some of the companion bots are trying their best at making a snowman, but all their efforts seem to come out rather...square. They're trying their best, but maybe they can learn by following the inhabitant's examples. There are others that will offer gold star stickers to those who seem to dominate in the snowball fights, but unfortunately the stickers don't stick too well with all the snow. Well, they tried! People will still find bots out and about with nice warm beverages available to fight off the cold, too. That service will continue to be available for the foreseeable future. Similarly, if someone comes out who is a little too under-dressed for the weather, the bots might have to pick up those knitting needles again, so be sure to put on your winter clothes..! ⏵ NOTES ⏴ To report information to Tatianna, do so here! She will only give each person their rewarded information once she has a bit of information on each character in the game. Each bit of gossip does not require a thread to count though it should be IC knowledge gained through IC means. Try to check what gossip has been given to her already, because doubling up will not yield results! Good luck! For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ. ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

[furtitude]

Yeah. [He says it quietly, expression reflective.] Someone needs to fix it.

[Someone. Someone who has a claim to leadership of Ventrexia - and not like Avocato, whose authority might win the respect of some Ventrexians, but who was one of the war mongers. Someone new. Someone that wants to change things.]

[For just a moment he imagines what it might be like to have the weight of a crown on his head. It'd probably feel like the weight of a neutron star, honestly.]

It'll take a lot of work. There were a lot of people willing to work for him. And they did lots of terrible things. [The tea loosens his tongue.] Like my da -

[He quickly shuts the thought down, snapping his mouth shut, looking troubled that, for some reason, he'd said anything at all. Without the tea he'd have kept that a little closer to the vest.]

[He's also troubled that he'd still almost called him "dad."]

[He picks his words carefully, not wanting to talk about it more, but hating the idea of leaving it there, at that false definition. That dangling "da-" will bother him for days.]

Like the guy who raised me.

[The man who raised an orphan...aannnd tried to pretend he wasn't the one that orphaned him.]

He's kind of a jerk.

[It's an inverse. Instead of a man trying to drag an orphan out of the darkness, it'd been a man in the darkness accidentally dragging one out of the light. Into hatred and vengeance, into violence and casual bloodshed.]

[He'd placed the gun right into his hands.]

[And the worst part is he'd done it out of love and care and trying to give him a future.]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason knows Cato was about to say the word “dad.” He also knows painfully well what it’s like to have a shitty father. He’s supposed to be someone who nurtures and protect his kid but he hurts instead. It’s a traumatic experience to have and one too many people in Jason’s family can empathize with]

Yeah, crappy parents will do a lot to you. I know what that’s like. My dad wasn’t a prize winner himself and I had problems with the guy who took me in afterwards.

[Huh… That last part about Bruce wasn’t supposed to come out]

You still in contact with him?

[It’s asked without judgement. Going no-contact would be very understandable while Jason also knows that sometimes it’s hard to cut off a parent]

[furtitude]

[Little Cato's ears perk up. The prospect of ever, ever talking to someone with a similar experience, who wasn't a part of his crew and therefore had some form of bias or another, hadn't really occurred to him as being a possibility.]

[That's one problem with your entire social circle - your entire world - essentially being one group of people.]

[For instance, he doesn't know how he can talk to Gary about it when Avocato is his best friend, when he's dedicated himself to being a co-parent, and when Gary has issues with grief over losing his own really cool dad. A grandpa Little Cato had only seen through a magical viewing window to the past - a man who he wishes he could've gotten to know. He seemed like a great guy and he understands how Gary had nursed that grief his whole life]

[When he talks next, it's not the tea. He's forthcoming because it's a chance to talk to someone outside his crew that maybe actually understands something similar.]

Can't help it. Same crew, same ship. And the whole saving-the-universe thing was starting to look pretty bad. If I went off to try to become a bounty hunter again, I wouldn't be able to help fight it.

[And he had helped, he had been a valuable member of the crew, he'd sometimes pulled things off that they needed someone to. He wanted the agency of being there, so that even if it all ended, at least he could say he tried.]

Besides, if I left again, my other dad would just come after me and probably be all sad and then I'd feel guilty and come back. And he's a really a good dad, who's never hurt me. He's always just tried to make me happy.

He adopted me when Avocato was out of the picture for a while.

[He has his own "The guy who took him in afterwards." But who's done so much right.]

It's just... it's hard because I think he still wants to be parents with my fat - with the guy who raised me, together.

[He doesn't even know if Gary knew Avocato's big secret, or for how long. He's been trying not to think about it, to take refuge in the fact the human side of the family is separate, different.]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason is patient as he listens. It seems like Cato could use the talk. Jason wouldn't consider himself the best person to do counseling but it's hard to turn away when it's a topic he can relate all too well]

Yeah, that's the thing about family. It's usually messy and there are always other connections involved. Not that easy to do a total cut-off. Then there's the emotional toll too. You don't wanna lose all the good that comes with your family.

[Jason thinks back about how he was when he first came back from Gotham. All the rage and hurt he was carrying with him and causing towards Bruce and his brothers bought nothing good]

It's painful when it happens.

[furtitude]

[The look Little Cato gives him is empathetic.]

[He has a tremendous amount of sympathy for someone else who's dealt with difficult family too.]

[He doesn't know what to say to someone he doesn't really know about it though.]

Did it ever get better for you?

[The hope in his voice is not just for himself, not just at the idea that maybe his own situation can resolve. He hopes it'd get better for anyone else who dealt with this, especially someone clearly trying to extend a kindness.]

[leastdramatic]

[At that question, Jason makes a small smile. He wants Cato's expectations not to be too high but he doesn't want to leave him hopeless either]

It took a lot of work from everyone, including me. No one was an angel during this. We all had to face what we did to each other.

[And god knows everyone in the family is stubborn as shit when it comes to emotional unpacking]

I know I did a lot of pretty bad stuff. I was angry and just wanted to make everyone else hurt like I was.

[Not to mention the literal body count Jason racked up]

The work is never done really. Sometimes, we still slip but we talk to each other a lot better now compared to before. You hope you get better at handling things as time goes on.

[furtitude]

[Little Cato thinks hard about this and even though he was innocent, there's still some truth to the idea he needs to work on things, too. Even if it's just for himself.]

[Fox had made him realize that. Gentle Fox, who was capable of being deadly but never really wanted to fight. Fox, who taught him you didn't have to kill to be a warrior.]

[He thinks hard about what his father's mistakes had made him. He's the one that chose to keep his son close to a dictator, after all. He's the one that's been foolish enough to think said dictator would never do something that'd hurt his son. That belief had been dashed in the killing field, amidst the sobs of the children of all of Lord Commander's generals. It'd been ground into powder as Lord Commander's men dragged him away from his father, and he'd been stuffed in a cell for years.]

[He'd told Gary he wanted to slit Lord Commander's throat and dance in his blood after his father died. As time went on, he'd never stopped feeling that way. Even after the long years in the time shard. Even after getting Avocato back.]

[He's good at hate, even if some people never get to see that side of him, because they're kind to him. He's good at killing. He's his father's son that way. But after spending time with Fox, he's starting to realize that's not entirely a good thing.]

The hard part for me is I don't have to change to fix things with everyone. Or fix things with him. He's the one that screwed up. And I don't know if I can ever forgive some of it.

[He holds a paw to his chest.]

I think maybe I need to change some things because of him. [Because of what his father had raised him to be.]

The only reason I don't do bad stuff is that the people I always do it against are bad. I still can do the stuff.

[And he almost became a bounty hunter once, without much thought, which isn't actually not a morally bankrupt profession.]

And a friend of mine made me realize I don't really think about it much and that could be a...bad...thing? [He's never been able to really articulate this before.] I just don't know what to do about it.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason gets the sense that he would recognize what "bad stuff" Cato is talking about. It's not an easy thing to talk about so he has to be careful about not prying too much into it. It's already a surprisingly personal conversation they're having and he doesn't want to push Cato's boundaries already. He's just here to try and listen]

Doing the stuff you do could be bad not because of who you're doing it to but because how it affects you. There are things you don't wanna get used to doing, even if you think some bad guys deserve it. Because in the end... it could hurt you and the people you care about, even if you didn't mean to. It could hurt because you could become numb and stop caring.

Not saying it's easy to change though, especially if you've been doing it for a long time. I know I'm still working things out with myself.

[Maybe it'll be a lifelong project for him. But he's okay with that if it means still having his family around]

cw: child kidnapping

[furtitude]

[It speaks to a lot of things that this has come up in conversation, and that it's only partially the tea: that he's lived a very isolated life and doesn't have anyone outside his crew - outside his family - to talk about problems in the crew, so someone else's insight is welcome if they're from a similar situation. That killing is a topic of casual conversation, because it always has been, including with both parents, since the crew has to do it all the time. (Plus, his one dad helped commit genocide, and his grandma is one of the galaxy's most infamous assassins even, and it's just like...a thing nobody cares about.)]

[It speaks to the fact that he's not even sure what a normal conversation with a stranger entails anymore because he's used to most strangers shooting at him and also you lose all sense of it when three years of very important social development were done inside a cell, occasionally hissing at your captors, and the most common topic of conversation was "my father is going to find me and kill you."]

[(And 60 more years were lived so painfully alone that he didn't get socialized then at all.)]

[No one has ever really told him that he should consider getting used to it as a thing that could hurt him. No one's ever pointed out how it could make him numb or cold.]

[And it could. It could make him into the kind of man Avocato had been, enough of a stone-cold killer a dictator could look at him and see promise in building an empire. A master of death.]

[He's capable of coldness and he's certainly capable of hate. The time directly after his father's death had been...bad. His thirst for revenge had been extreme. It'd been Gary that drew him out of it, Gary who could empathize with the sudden loss of a parent. And Quinn asking for help in saving the Earth, making it clear she saw him as someone that could help save something, not just end someone.]

[Sure, he'd killed a ton of corrupt Infinity Guardsman, but at least it was for a reason, at least it was because they were trying to save billions of people, and at least it was a situation where they were shooting first.]

Is it a weird thing in your world for killing to be normal? I was making up fake secrets with someone else to share with that gossip lady to get intel out of her and the secret he made up was that he killed someone.

Like it was a big, dramatic thing that'd work good as fake gossip.

Is it a big, dramatic thing in other places? Is it that way in your world?

[Jason was on the money about what the "bad stuff" was.]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason frowns as he tries to think about how to answer Cato without giving away too much of what he and his family do. He hasn't realized yet the tea is giving him a strange urge to do so]

Yeah. It is. There are people who are used to killing but it's not like that for most people. And the people who are used to killing aren't the nicest people you would wanna meet.

[Jason knows how ruthless and brutal he was when he was a crime lord. He knows how cold he was. He always told himself that the ends justify the means. But after enough time, it's easy to say that to everything, even when trying to kill one's own relatives.

These days, Jason's usually confident in his self-restraint and his ability to not fire his guns to kill. But then there are other times, when the darker part of him creeps back up, especially if he's witnessed darkness from others. From the scum who continue to hurt innocent people for their ruthless desires]

[furtitude]

[Little Cato looks thoughtful, trying to wrap his head around the idea of worlds where it's mostly bad people that do the killing and only a few good people.]

[In his world there's a lot who are defending themselves from attack while trying to get by.]

[Or people like his crew, who are trying to do good and facing off against a lot of people trying to kill them to stop them.]

[It's hard for him to. It's hard when was the world junior champion of a sport that involved scoring points by dismembering your opponent. It's hard when he saw people exploded in the streets by Lord Commander's security forces just for not having their identification on hand - and everyone just treated it like it was normal. It's hard when he's from a world where people were willing to kill their own kids to show their loyalty to someone else.]

[And it's especially hard when people try to kill his crew basically all the time. Not even just the people that tried to kill them when they were trying to fix something and they resisted. Sometimes outright chasing after them like the DeWinters or Todd Watson.]

I don't know if I can change it even though I want to. And I do want to. I've been thinking about it a lot. I had a friend who taught me some stuff about how there were others ways to be.

[Had a friend. Had.]

But it's hard because people are always trying to kill us. That's the way my universe kinda just is? [He shrugs a shoulder.] Everybody's killing somebody. You could even be trying to live the most peaceful life ever and Lord Commander could still roll up on your world and bomb it from orbit.

[The tea makes him drop a thing he's tried to avoid saying around the humans, knowing they might find it kind of sad and existential.]

Like we fought really hard but we couldn't save the Earth. Humans in the colonies and on other planets survived, but...

[He trails off.]

It's hard to see how it'd be possible to be anything else.

[And that is the tragedy. He can't not fight for his life alongside his crew or he'll die or they'll die. They can't not fight the fight they're fighting or the universe will die - and even with them fighting, they're probably going to lose, especially now that Invictus broke into the universe. The scale is overwhelming, the stakes are too important, the odds are nearly impossible.]

It sounds nice. Places where it's different there.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason isn’t repelled by Cato. He’s sympathetic to Cato’s plight. It sounds like a larger scale version of how he had to survive his childhood. No child should have had to make their first kill and yet he had to. It was damn or be damned]

There’s nothing wrong with trying to defend yourself. Kill or not kill isn’t as easy of a choice as people make it out to be. Sometimes you have to do it to survive.

There’s a quote from my world. “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.”

Meaning you have to be careful that whatever you’re fighting doesn’t warp you and turn you into the thing you’re trying to fight.

[furtitude]

"I've already kinda seen the abyss."

He imagines the giant floating eye-like void that was Invictus. A black hole from which nothing could escape. Nothing in all of existence.

An all-consuming abyss of hatred.

"Hard pass."

[leastdramatic]

Jason wonders if Cato means he's seen a literal abyss or things really did get that metaphorically dark for him.

"That's a good sign then," He says. "Some would take a swan dive into it because they don't care anymore."