etrayalogs | FEBRUARY MINGLE

Entry tags:

FEBRUARY MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: February 14th - March
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, a mini mission, and some new city features!
NOTES\WARNINGS:

⏵ arrival ⏴
Welcome to Etraya!

Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital.

In the hospital's lobby are several party tables set out with miscellaneous baked goods: croissants, cookies, breads, cake slices, as well as tea and coffee to accompany them - or hot chocolate, for those who are opposed to the other offerings.

Outside the hospital, the last remnants of snow are melting in the sunlight as the weather begins to warm up. It's still chilly enough one might want to put on a coat, but not so cold a jacket is necessary for wandering around without freezing off one's fingers.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

⏵ heroes return ⏴

As the Quantum Rail train glides to a halt, returning passengers step out onto familiar ground - the train station, right where they had initially begun their mission. When exiting the station, their earpieces vibrate, indicating the automatic download of a detailed map which highlights key locations, transit paths, and notable landmarks. As Aurora promised, she had been working on a few renovations around Etraya! A sleek trolley system now winds through Etraya, following clearly marked pathways through the city bubble to make travel across the city smoother. However, the trolley only moves one way, eternally following the loop Aurora has set it on. And because of this, it takes six hours to complete it's loop all the way around. Don't miss your stop!

Pets and animals have been returned to their usual preferred areas, some awaiting the arrival of their owners, and others keeping to themselves in the forested areas throughout Etraya.

Beyond the small upgrades, things seem relatively unchanged - until one familiar sign catches the eye. One marked by four vertical lines, methodically crossed out one by one: the final slash has now been drawn through. The tally is complete. What it indicates has yet to be made clear, but it has to mean something, right? No one would go through the effort of making an ominous-sounding sign without following through.

⏵ love in the air ⏴

This Valentines Day, Aurora and the companion bots have opted to try something a little different: they have scattered mystery valentines across the city. Hidden within mailboxes, tucked into cafe menus, slipped under doors, on the outside of high windows for those wall-crawlers to spot. There are countless of these little slips of papers, strewn throughout the city. And within each valentine, is a challenge or gesture to complete. Please feel free to make these up yourselves as long as they fit in with the theme!

Some examples include:

Deliver a flower to a stranger.
Write a heartfelt poem for someone.
Share a box of chocolates!
Confess your feelings for another.
Play matchmaker for two people - this can be platonic, or romantic!
Gift a friend with a stuffed animal.
Give five different people a genuine compliment.

While not mandatory, completing five tasks will earn an individual an additional ten points to use towards anything they would like!

Each little Valentine is signed "Your Secret Admirer. ♡", and some of them may even be addressed to specific individuals. Don't be surprised, Eddie, if you see one or two that are specifically addressed to you lurking around your collection of chicken friends!

And while most of these are harmless, some of the valentines cards come with effects for those who come into contact with the paper. Perhaps they thought it was a piece of garbage, or were just kicking it out of the way rather than intending on taking part. It doesn't matter! They get to join in on the fun, too.

Heart Eyes - your pupils literally turn into hearts for a few hours, making it hard to focus on anything other than things (or people) you find attractive.
Love-Struck Stammer - You can only speak in poetic compliments or romantic declarations, regardless of whom you're speaking to.
Chocolate Bliss - Everything feels good. Simple. Easy. As if there's nothing in the world to concern yourself with. You feel happy, without any concerns or worry.
Rose-Tinted Vision - everything looks soft and romantic, as if you're in a romance novel. You know the ones.
Magnetic Attraction - regardless of what you had been doing, you suddenly find yourself unable to leave the side of the person closest to you. Had you been eating chocolates while walking down the street? Well, have fun getting stuck to the guy who'd been out for a jog!
Serenade Syndrome - you find it impossible to resist the urge to sing your words, turning all conversations into love ballads.
Heartstrings - A thread appears, connecting you to someone close by who you share many similarities too. Perhaps you had never met this person before, but the threads tied around your pinky fingers that refuse to let go until you allow yourself to open up to them clearly means you should be a little more familiar with them.

Love is in the air—or maybe just a bit of well-intended chaos! 💕

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome back from the mission, and welcome to Etraya for our newcomers! We've tried to keep this log simple for an easy introduction, as well as some downtime for our mission-goers who worked hard to solve the Quantum Rail mystery.

There is something else going on, but. . . well, no one seems to know what! The computer that had been on the lower floor of the hospital is now missing, and Aurora may seem a little flustered as she flits around Etraya, in search of something.

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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( He straightens up, still eyeing his son, holding a piece of scrap metal at his side. )

Not that fast.

Your observational skills are as keen as always.

( there's the sarcasm. damian considers leaving it there, but - )

I returned home, for two years.

( Brows furrow again and he's left standing there. Confused. )

When?

( Because he would have noticed that — keeps track of Damian as much as his son keeps track of him. )

Right after we exited the train.

( it's as accurate as damian can give; it wasn't all that long after that he'd suddenly found himself gone and then returned. damian hadn't strayed from his usual locations within Etraya at that point: he'd gone to the cave, gotten into a spat with drake, took some time to cool off and now he's - here. )

( He takes a moment for himself — mulls over that bit of information provided to him. This has happened before with Dick and the beard, but. He hadn't expected it to happen to Damian. Maybe he should have and yet, he didn't.

Another second or two of mulling over it all, he makes his way down the pile he's currently on, bits of junk rolling alongside him, until they hit the ground and so, too, do Bruce's feet. Bringing a hand up, fingers pinch the top of his scarf there on the bridge of his nose, pulling it down around his neck as he makes his way over the teen. Standing in front of him, he looks him over — blue eyes sweeping their gaze for any telltale signs of anything that might have happened to him before they're landing back on Damian's face.

Gently then, he reaches out, hand resting on his shoulder. )

Are you ok?

I. . .

( he's not pushing away bruce's hand. not leaning into it, either, so it's less approval and more relenting. are you okay is a loaded question - it wouldn't have mattered if it was now or two years ago; damian's life has always been hectic, being okay was never in the cards for him. being alive, yes. content for a moment, possible. but okay?

his mouth twists into an unpleasant scowl, considering his words carefully. there's no recent trauma to him physically that would clear up damian's circumstances; the burns have begun healing, and all obvious bruising has always been covered by his clothing. )

No. I am tired and angry and there is nothing that can be done to resolve it.

( He's older now. He can see it with being this close to him and he... doesn't know how to entirely feel about that, nor does he know how to respond to the way Damian simply stands there at his touch, or the words to leave him with such a scowl on his face. Two years... a lot can happen in two years.

Gently, he drops his hand away, almost reluctant to, but. He does. Taking a moment for himself, he looks past him. Swallows. Then lets himself look back down to Damian there. )

What happened?

I can't neatly summarize two years of our lives.

( jon's absence, grayson's injury, pennyworth's death, ra's death, his. . . feud, with slade. what bruce had done to todd, damian's betrayal to his family. his multiple deaths. the incident with his mother. and emma's - )

The multiverse was at risk due to the actions of another Bruce Wayne. Multiples. We resolved it, and Wonder Woman was able to piece our universe back together, which was then put at risk by Father's pet project. We resolved it, again. Grayson grew a beard.

( obviously. )

( He lets him vent — lets him say what he needs or wants to say. Silent. None of it... makes any sense to him. How could it? He's not from the Gotham Damian and the others — minus Jason — are from and therefore, doesn't know anything that's been going on or could possibly go on there for Damian. So he lets him get it out however he means to, noting the way he says certain words. When he's finished, for the moment, he looks down. )

Sounds like a lot.

Life is a lot, father. Especially given our profession. We fight, we get knocked down, again and again. Yet the horrors persist, and so do we.

( it's not even the half of it. all of that is just covering a couple of the attempts at destroying the world. it doesn't cover waller, nor does it cover damian getting grossly infected with beast boy's spores and becoming a - cat. he doesn't talk about jon, nor how the wayne manor wasn't in the hands of waynes but vandal savage. and as damian had said - he is angry. bitter. it's clear from his tone, from how the scowl never fades, from how he remains sitting here but doesn't seem particularly pleased about it.

none of it is this bruce wayne's fault. taking out his anger on someone who damian remembers trying won't do anything for anyone. he sighs, that same irritation still clear from the way he's holding himself, but he does offer - )

I went to high school and picked up a new hobby.

( His gaze drops, feelings mixed on the things Damian has likely experienced in the span of two years being home. He doesn't ask everything he's been through — doesn't see the point in demanding it out of him when he's clearly still trying to adjust to being here again. He can't relate — doesn't know what it feels like to be sent back home and then ripped right out again, only to be brought back here.

But... like Dick, he'd been home again and like Dick, that's where he belongs. Not here. )

We'll get you back there. Somehow.

( To his family, his father, his friends, his Gotham. )

I don't want to go back right now.

( and there's the real problem. his shoulders hunch down a little, that irritated expression twisting into something a little - less ready for murder, more concerned as damian raises his legs up onto the rubble he's sat himself down on, pressing his legs to his chest. )

I hate it there. No one listens to me and I don't even have the freedom to run away from home like most teenagers would, because Father will die without someone to catch him when he falls and Drake is occupied elsewhere.

Edited 2025-02-17 21:34 (UTC)

( Gaze dropping again, he takes yet another moment for himself before he's slowly moving over there to where Damian is and, gently, takes a seat beside him on the crate, shoulder pressing to Damian's as he looks ahead across the junkyard. After a moment of silence, he looks down to his hands and the way they're covered in grime and grease. )

I'm sure he doesn't mean to be. He probably doesn't even know he's being that way. He just... gets lost in his head. In his own things. ( Anger, regret, guilt, heartache. Emotions. ) It's just... hard sometimes. But that's not fair to you.

( Nor is it ever fair to Alfred back home. )

( bruce is trying. damian can see it, even if he disagrees with what he's trying to do. but he understands this is also - bruce defending himself, albeit one that is entirely different. damian sees those edges, too: where this bruce and his own collide, the differences between them, how this one is still so - young, untested. he could get into it. could yell and scream for days about all the stupid, reckless things his father does when he should know better.

yet all he does is turn his head to give bruce the flattest look. )

If you ever fall from several stories up, dislocate your shoulder and elbow while drugged to the point you would have died if I wasn't there to administer a cure, then insist on suiting back up, I will dislocate both of your knees and give your cowl to Todd.

Edited 2025-02-17 21:56 (UTC)

( Slowly, he looks to Damian there — still finding it strange to see him two years older now — and, after a moment, he says, almost just as flatly: )

Same goes for you.

( A gentle attempt at being a little more light-hearted despite the heaviness of it all. )

You wouldn't. Just like Father wouldn't. He won't strike me, because he fears all it will take is one step in the wrong direction to convince me I should follow in Ra's footsteps, especially now that he is gone. You won't, because when you look at me you see a child.

( damian had worked out most of his aggression with drake. it'd been part of the reason he'd decided to approach him first: his anger hadn't been directed at him, but drake was a convenient target who would understand where damian was coming from. despite their rocky relationship, a robin won't let another robin fall.

he takes a slow breath in through his nose, before shifting so he's leaning right up against bruce's side. )

I was reading Grandfather's journals. They were full of sketches, and details regarding family trips he'd gone on. Movies he'd watched. Other... mundane activities.

( Whether or not Damian's correct in his assumption, he remains quiet there, feeling the weight of the boy there against his side. He stares at his hands still. Quiet. Gently picks at the skin around a finger while he mulls over what to say. In the end, he sighs — lets himself look ahead again before he just... speaks. )

When I look at you... I see a boy who was stubborn enough to stick by my side when I didn't want anyone there. I see a boy who, despite my thinking too young to be following along after me, showed how capable he is of taking care of not only himself, but others around him, even when he shouldn't have to. I see a boy who grew up far too fast at such a young age, yet still maintains the ability to create friendships and lasting bonds with others, so much to the point that it hurts sometimes when we can't protect them.

( At that then, he gently looks to Damian. )

I see a boy who I hope to meet some day in my own Gotham and think of as my son as I do you.

( damian doesn't correct him. doesn't point out the fact that if damian exists back in bruce's world, it means that he would have still been raised by talia al ghul. that he would have still massacred more people in the first decade of his life than damian can ever atone for. doesn't tell bruce that damian's stubborn inability to let him go at it alone may have seemed like it was for bruce, and maybe it was to an extent - but significantly more out of a fear of not having a place for himself. that damian's purpose, his reason for being, relies so heavily on his family that he's not certain what he would be without them. )

. . . have you realized how, before Batman, Gotham's criminals were more manageable?

( It dawns on him how he'd referred to Damian just then as his son and he... falls quiet. They've been together here — lived and worked together for almost a year now and yet, he's not the man Damian has known. Not the man Damian had went back to for two years, it seems. What right does he have to look at and think of him as a son he'd never had, when he very much has a father back within his own Gotham? He'll never be that man to Damian and he shouldn't want to be anyways. He needs to get him back to his father. To his Gotham. That's where he belongs. Not here. Not with him. He just... doesn't ever handle loss well. Even when it's for the best.

Only after a moment does he realize Damian's asked him something and he gently snaps himself out of his thoughts — fleeting glance given to him before he's looking back down to his hands and the way he'd began picking at his skin around that finger even more without even realizing it. )

Somewhat.

Edited 2025-02-18 20:23 (UTC)

Do you think it's possible that... our presence, Batman and Robin respectively, could just be making Gotham become the very mess we've been trying to fix?

( it's a loaded question, but it's one he'd posed to his own father shortly before coming back here, too. one bruce had promptly ignored without even considering, stating they had a duty to gotham. and while damian understands the sentiment, he can't quite agree that - their presence has been good. they break everything they touch. criminals in gotham have just gotten worse with every addition to their family. the crimes have escalated. they aren't fixing anything, they can - they can throw everyone in arkham, dominate their enemies, destroy any opposition, but even when damian had tried erasing the minds of criminals in order to reform them, it hadn't fixed anything. hadn't healed anyone.

it's a concern that's been on his mind since emma. damian went for the greatest threat first, the biggest, and managed to fail at saving a little girl. a little girl he had been cruel to just moments prior, because he - he doesn't know how to help, only how to fight. )

Maybe.

( It's a thought he's had — wondering if he's making a difference or just making things worse. Crime and assault are up in his Gotham since his putting on the cape and cowl and making his presence known within her dark, shadowy streets. Yet he still puts the cowl on — still goes out and does what he can. Because no one else will. But sometimes... he just doesn't know. )

I've wondered if what I'm doing is even making a difference.

( He stares ahead as he says that and, despite his two years into it, he already seems tired. )

But I have to try... because no one else will.

( and that's the kicker, isn't it. can't leave gotham to it's own devices, the city will burn itself down in moments. can't continue on as they have been, because maybe it's them that's kicking up sparks to begin with. but regardless, what they've been doing back home - it's reacting, not preventing. it's dominating their enemies, not helping anyone. bruce hosts countless fundraisers, starts countless non-profits, rehomes families, tries to protect those who need it, and yet still there are so many people out there who suffer. who they can't fix, because they aren't healers, and damian wouldn't wish the lazarus pits onto his worst enemies, let alone gotham's most vulnerable.

it's not even his city. damian wasn't born and raised in gotham, and his sentimental attachments to it are due to bruce's presence. grayson has moved on. drake goes where he needs to. todd and brown are from gotham's seedier areas, but todd doesn't limit himself to gotham, either - albeit less out of choice, and more due to their father's need to strong-arm him out of city borders.

and damian - is just here. a boy who was stubborn enough to stick by my side, this version of his father says, which isn't all that off from their relationship back home. damian has left, broken and torn around the edges, refusing the name of robin because he felt it wasn't something he could have anymore. grayson would never take it from him, but a robin doesn't make the same mistakes damian had. a robin doesn't feel smothered by their father's shadow.

a robin doesn't make the mistakes damian has. )

I felt like I was... finding my place, before. Discovering what it meant to be Robin and Damian Wayne. But I lost it. I failed to protect those who mattered most, and failed again in my efforts to - prevent further losses. I help Batman because someone has to. Someone has to be the light, and Batman cannot be Batman without Robin.

( his head tips, looking up to this bruce who isn't his batman, but is listening where damian's father had refused. )

But what does that make me? What is my purpose, my reason? I thought it was following in Grandfather's footsteps, but it wasn't. I thought it was following Father's, but.. I don't know, anymore. We aren't helping Gotham heal, we are just applying stitches over a wound that continues to get deeper regardless of how hard we work to close it.

( He sits there and listens as Damian talks — lets him say what he needs or wants to say, like always. Still picking at the skin of a finger, he keeps his gaze cast down, occasionally lifting it only to keep an eye on their surroundings. Not that there's much to worry about out here, but. Still a protective habit of his he's fallen into when around Damian.

Taking a moment for himself — mulling over a couple things there in his head, he licks over his lips then and looks ahead, keeping shoulder to shoulder with him. )

Gotham will always be angry and scarred like us. Those scars... even after they heal, can still hurt us. Destroy us, even. But we can be more than that. You are more than that. You're hope. It's what people need. To know someone is out there for them.

( Things he's been thinking about as of late.

A beat, his gaze drops — grows distant almost before he's glancing over to Damian there out of the corner of his eye and, when he speaks, his words are soft and careful. )

Who did you lose?

( you're hope, he says, but damian - damian doesn't have any hope left. robin is meant to be a bright spot in otherwise endless shadows, but damian has shed the red and yellow tunic. he was never as witty as grayson, not as head-strong and fierce as todd, nor as clever and intuitive as drake. not as courageous as brown. drake had said if he was really a failure, their father would have taken it all away from him, but damian doesn't believe that. bruce knows he can't cage damian, and attempting to do so would only cause the rift between them to grow even larger. he isn't hope, and he isn't still robin because he's good at it. robin is a leash. an anchor.

albeit one that has worked terribly over the last few years. he could start at the beginning. tell bruce of jon's disappearance in space, of grayson's injury, how everything quickly began to spiral out of control while the world was falling apart, how much damian had failed. how hard he'd tried for redemption, just to never feel like it was enough. just like it wasn't enough when he first started trying to undo all the mistakes he had made as a child within the league. all the lives he'd stolen. )

Alfred.

( it's one word, one name, but it carries the grief of everything that had happened before it and everything after. pennyworth died, and their family fell apart. his death may have not been the beginning, but it was when it all spiraled out of control. )

Edited 2025-02-21 00:19 (UTC)

( It's a name he doesn't expect to hear and one that makes his heart drop down into his stomach almost the second it leaves Damian's lips. A name that holds so much meaning — so many feelings he sometimes can't even convey to the man he's had there with him since birth.

He stares. Dumbfounded. Unable to compute that name coupled with loss and his face scrunches up some as he shakes his head some. )

What do you mean?

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