etrayalogs | MAY MINGLE

MAY MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: May 17th-31st
WHERE: On Etraya
WHAT: A mingle log!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A, please note any needed warnings in threads.

⏵ a hero's return ⏴

As champions exit the Labyrinth, they’ll find that their environment has gone through some fairly drastic changes. Where there used to be larger bodies of water is now thinner rivers going through land; the amount of bridges connecting landmasses has decreased, given what had been individual islands are now much more connected. In addition, Etraya is significantly more green; flowers bloom, birds chirp cheerfully, and there are numerous additional species of insects, mammals, and aquatic creatures throughout the lands. Baby foxes roam through forested areas, bees pollinate the flowers to spread them more thoroughly around the inhabited areas, and it feels brighter. Or perhaps that’s just in comparison to how the Labyrinth had been.

There are more areas to explore, new facilities, animals, and Etraya feels significantly more settled than it had before. Aurora’s promise of renovations had been true. And if one looks up, they may notice a city bubble visible on the closest planet that hadn't been visible before.

⏵ coffee break ⏴
After hearing Clarke’s suggestion, Aurora sets up a new cafe close to the apartment complex, and sends out notices to individuals with mandatory coffee hour times listed for them to come to Corrine's Cafe and make a few friends.

While the note does state that it is mandatory, there will be no follow-up from Aurora nor the companion bots to ensure those who receive notes do show. Given this is Aurora trying to take suggestions in mind and see how successful they are among the citizens of Etraya, however, following directives may not be a terrible idea.

It's up like a modern-day, smaller cafe. One walks in through the front door, and is greeted by a companion bot behind the counter who offers a wave of their hand and a friendly “Welcome! Let me know when you’re ready to order”. The menu offers lattes, mochas, espresso, black coffee, several different kinds of teas, and a few drinks that are a little odd to find in a cafe; ale, canned sodas and coffees, numerous bottles of wine, but only pinot noir.

Soft music plays in the background, impossible to place but it sounds as if it may be based on tracks that were popular in the early 90s.

Tables and booths are set up to seat two to four, with packets of sugar and small containers of creamer set out towards the middle. There are charging stations set up at every table, which may seem strange considering phones and laptops aren’t widely available, but Aurora’s doing her best. There are also a few bookshelves full of the classics, a few historical fiction, and several written by H.P. Lovecraft.

Each seat has a placard in front of it, with a name, and a ‘fun fact’. One might say “Hello! My name is Joe, and I like to paint!” Another may say “Hi, I’m Jill! My sister died tragically in front of me and I’ve never gotten over it.”

⏵ new horizons ⏴

Several of the new bridges found in Etraya now have signs posted just outside of them, and on those signs is a QR code that the earpiece’s HUD can scan. Scanning this with the HUD will bring up a scavenger hunt, listing several items and circling areas where they can be found.

Some of these objects will be obvious: find Corrine at Corrine’s Cafe - the companion bot who runs the counter, find a delicious meal at Bangsan Market, break into S.T.A.R Labs, or find room 87 at Point Blanc Academy. Some will be less obvious, like locating a bat, becoming friends with an archer, find a pink shirt, open bagged milk without making a mess, or get a drink at the mutant-friendly pub. Please feel free to make up your own items to find around Etraya!

⏵ NOTES ⏴
Welcome to our mid-month mingle!

Please feel free to use this to explore Etraya, put up wildcard prompts (you don't need to use the above!), or use the open prompts to assist in jumpstarting cr.

This mingle covers the period from May 17th to May 31st. Our next mission (and next mod log) will not go up until June 7th.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Robert -- Iceman -- has been using it to refer to himself. You two would use something like that to describe yourselves that way.

[ She settles her tea on her table, this time with a little buttered croissant before she makes sure to face him properly. ]

I'm glad you're faring better since our last encounter. Are your hearing aids still giving you trouble?

( hey! )

I don't call myself a himbo, ( he interjects, a quick comment that isn't entirely lacking in defensiveness but how much of that is real and how much of that isn't affected isn't clear.

as she shifts, as she places her croissant on the table, he frowns and cranes his neck towards the counter. he should've gotten a pastry—. the thought's evident in the pull of his features, the way he seems to be thinking, and it also means that the hearing aid in his ear is quite visible before— )

They're not Stark Tech, ( he answers, turning back to her. ) I got through so many of those before calling it quits. Broken, lost. You name it, it happened. ( which is to say— ) These are great. Just need to remember to replace the batteries every now and then.

Or find a buddy who's a good alternative.

Don't you? [ She sounds dubious, because it feels like something he'd do. And because he's got his eyes on her plate, she splits it and offers him half as they continue talking, smile twisting somewhat. ]

Does Tony know that Stark Tech is so unreliable? That a buddy on call may be needed for when its battery depletes itself. [ She shakes her head. ]

One would think he'd have developed a way to provide it with some kind of... solar powered energy cell.

Think it's just the hearing aids, although I was thinking of switching to an iPhone before we got pulled here. ( it's somewhere between contemplative and off-hand as an utterance, like it's a passing thought he hadn't settled on one way or the other. ) Anyway, I told him they were too small and too fiddly. He offered to get me some better ones, but sometimes the stuff you want is your stuff, y'know? Even if it's not the fanciest and most expensive, ( he adds, reaching for the croissant.

he takes a bite — delicious! — and raises it at her. inelegantly around his mouthful, he says (mumbles, muffled)— ) Thanks.

I just hope your stuff, or his stuff, would just mean they serve their intended purpose well. And are not easily lost. [ But hey, what does she know about this specific thing? Nothing, really, so she nods as she takes a bite off of her own pastry.

She has decent manners, so it's not til after she swallows that she continues. ]

Did you find anything interesting while you were in there? Or anyone, maybe?

So, before I went in, I spoke to Aurora. Had a few questions, y'know? ( clint always has questions. his belligerence with authority may have tempered over the years, may have mellowed, but it's not gone. it's still there but until his temper gets the better of him, it mostly makes itself known in pointed questions. ) Asked her if I could get my bow, 'cause—. ( his stuff. he likes having his stuff, and although he can fight without it, it's not what he prefers. )

She said no, mentioned something about points, so I asked her if Kate got her dad's fancy-ass building with points, and that was a no, too. ( he places the croissant down and, not completely mannerless, wipes his fingers on a napkin. ) She eventually elaborated that my bow's a tool, and the building's a replica. She conceded to put a copy of my bow in the labyrinth.

She didn't explain the difference between copy and tool, but I thought it was kinda interesting. Something to keep in mind.

I only got information about renovations. [ She'd asked about the atmosphere, and got strange answers about renovating, or something. Maybe she should have asked for something like Clint did?

Still, her eyes squint in confusion at what he says. Points? Tools? ]

A copy of a bow, and replica of a building... Does she realize that copies and replicas mean the same thing? [ She doesn't get it. ]

The terminology is certainly interesting, however. Copies imply that... more can be made. A second bow? A third building? And these can all be requested with... [ a beat. ] points, of some kind?

[ She thinks a little further, and then: ] Do you think we are in a twisted gameshow of some sort?

( twisted gameshow, she says, and he pulls a face, attention sliding over to the companion bot behind the counter. he mutters a clearly audible ugh, distaste pulling at the corners of his mouth. ) What, like Arcade's thing? With the murderbots? God, I hate that. I hate him.

( that would suck.

but he doesn't linger on the topic. instead, he moves on because ororo brings up a good point. he hums before speaking— )

Yeah, I thought it maybe meant that getting my bow — the one that's currently in my apartment, mounted right above my couch where I fell asleep — is different to getting a copy. That it means there's a chance of defects, or it's not quite what you're expecting, 'cause Aurora — or whoever — has to make it rather than bring it here.

And then I thought that maybe it's just a quirk of programming language, and kinda wished Viz was here to translate.

But it kinda sounded like there are things we can ask for and Aurora'll give them to us if she thinks we've earned them, and then there are things that Aurora'll provide for us — like buildings — if she's, I dunno, feeling in the mood? Benevolent?

Like Arcade, yes. Or Mojo. [ Her frown deepens. She won't repeat what he says, but it's obvious she shares the sentiment. ] They are more overt, however. And very particular about letting us know that we have them, specifically, to blame. [ And not, you know, anyone else. It wouldn't do to let another villain get all the credit for their creative genius, after all.

She sighs. ]

A benevolent god, then. Who measures the worth of her world's people through some arbitrary points system... Wonderful.

There are so many new buildings now, though. Borne from that kindness. Do you think we can trust them? Have you seen any of the new ones?

I don't trust any of this, Storm. ( it's comes out more tired than he means it to, because that hasn't changed, not from arrival not through to the labyrinth, and certainly not with this "mandatory" coffee session. he knows it's a little hypocritical — he'd chided kate for deciding to use bishop's building as a new base of sorts, but as soon as aurora had mentioned (a copy of) his bow would be in the labyrinth, he hadn't thought twice about taking it.

hadn't even thought twice about asking her for it, either. )

There's my building, ( he adds after a breath of a pause. it's meant as explanation, a furthering of why he's still reluctant to trust. then, because he's not sure if ororo's familiar— ) The apartment building in Bed-Stuy I bought a few years back. I haven't told Kate yet, or Bobbi, 'cause—.

( he runs a hand through his hair. )

Need to make sure it is safe, y'know? Feels like someone's just trying to ( what's the term— ) lovebomb us with things that are familiar and homey, so we overlook how messed up all this really is.

[ She's not familiar with the term, but the way he uses it makes something unpleasant curl in her gut. Because he's right; she, too, can't shake the uncertain feeling that something here, something in all the gifts that come after putting them into a labyrinth for unclear reasons, is... very wrong.

There isn't even much they can actually do just yet. That's a separate frustration that they have to figure out another time. But for now... ]

You told me, however. [ For whatever reason. She'll examine the why for it later. ] Shall I help you make sure it is safe? [ She gets to her feet. Good thing her drink is in a to-go cup. ]

( the why isn't something he's really thought about either, it's just that telling ororo felt more of the right decision than not. that maybe it's because when kate and bobbi find out it's here and he didn't say anything, he can point at ororo and say he wasn't hiding the fact that it's here, he told her, he just forgot to mention it. he hadn't seen them after realising it was here and then stuff happened and— whatever, it wasn't deliberate.

he's never been an especially good liar, but he's always been good at bending the truth. at playing with facts. at cheating.

he doesn't expect ororo to offer to investigate it with him, and the surprise flits across his expression entirely unsmoothly. she gets to her feet before he's really had time to think about it, and it takes him a second to untangle his legs and join her. his coffee's not in a to-go cup and he looks briefly and momentarily disappointed by that before opting to neck the rest of it.

(waste not, want not and all that.) )

It's not far. Next little island over. Can't miss it, it's a solid piece of Brooklyn architecture. ( compared to the everything else of the everything else. )

As opposed to the rest of the architecture?

[ They're thinking the same things, it seems. But it was pretty easy to point out. And: ] There's something else from home, too. A place we... [ -- the X-Men -- ] that I used to frequent, with friends. I've not investigated it myself yet, but perhaps I will, after this.

[ Maybe if this proves to be safe under their own scrutiny, it would be easier to go in there. ]

It isn't from Brooklyn, however. Westchester, where the Institute used to be.

( he glances at her out of the corner of his eyes when she mentions 'something else', a little watchful as she amends 'we' into 'I'. he doesn't know if it'd be good form to offer to give her a hand in return for coming with him, and so he doesn't say anything for now. they'll cross that bridge (ha—) when they get to it. )

Westchester was always a bit rich for me, ( he says instead. it's a remark devoid of the context that the only reason clint had ended up where he'd ended up was because the rent was cheap as far as brooklyn went these days, that up until the whole thing with barney and zemo, even though he'd had money, he'd never had money. (then barney had stolen it all back, the shit—. and then he'd been ronin again, because he's a shit too, and that'd been a good way to get SOME money.)

but that's where he leaves it, adjusting his quiver a little as they step outside the coffee shop, bow held in his free hand. a brief pause, and he looks one way then the other before deciding: that way, and he indicates the direction with a point of his bow. )

It is, isn't it? Or it had been, the last time we had been there. [ Ages and ages ago, now. When the school had been renamed in Jean's name, it felt more removed from the rest of the county. But in the old days (goddess, when did she start sounding so old?), when the X-Men weren't public and they could still drive downtown... she felt it, then. ]

The mansion itself was quite opulent, even the first time I was brought there. I was very surprised. But I hadn't realized how well-off the surrounding town was until I explored the rest of New York.

[ She takes a look around them now, at all the green surrounding them as they walk, the chirp of birds and insects that hadn't been around before their time in the labyrinth. ]

It is so quiet here. Compared to all the life in city. [ No traffic. No bright lights, no people hurrying to get to where they must go... ]

When I was a kid at the circus, having families from places like that come to spend money was always seen as a good day. ( it's a remark made in lieu of agreement because she's right: it's hard to piece together the disparity until it's there in front of you. )

It wasn't so different with the Avengers when I first joined. I didn't really get why Jarvis was there, ( he admits, a slow, lazy smile tugging at his lips. ) Kinda figured he was my own personal butler and didn't understand why Wanda and Pietro weren't asking him to do all the things they didn't want to do. ( if he's exaggerating or not, there's nothing in his voice or expression that gives it away. jarvis was one of the main reasons he'd even ended up an avenger, and he's fond of the man.

—even if he'd been a hotheaded little dick back then.

still, she's right about etraya, about how quiet it is. he's found himself wondering if that's not why he finds it so discomforting — he's never done quiet, never done slow. there's always been noise, and hustle and bustle, even when he hasn't wanted any of it. ) —And I don't want to point out the obvious, but it's only quiet 'cause there's only about sixty of us here.

I think I just did not have a clear idea of how Americans lived. How different people's lives could be in the same city. [ She came to New York on Charles's private jet, landed straight in Westchester. It was only when she'd asked Logan to bring her to Harlem, a place she knew by name as where she was born, that she'd made the startling realization that what she'd had as a child in Cairo... was a reality, even there.

But that was a long time ago. And it was a problem still today, but a problem on Earth. Here, things were very different. ]

It's quiet because there is life in New York, Clint. Here, this world is just trying to learn how to live - taking copies of different worlds and places, and what can be found there, trying to make a replica of how we lived our lives. [ Maybe they are copies, too. But that's a thought experiment for another time. ]

If she fills this place up with more like us, more buildings... I expect it to be a little less quiet. But I doubt that that would be better, necessarily.

( he glances at her, first when she says that she didn't know how different lives within the same city could be, and again when she says there's life in new york. he inhales, sharply and audibly, at that remark. (isn't that what he'd said? there's sixty of them—). he thinks, too, that most people would finish a comment like that with 'barton' rather than clint, and he presses his lips together before exhaling through his nose. )

—Yeah, eight million lives versus sixty, which is what I just said. ( he interrupts, apparently unable to help himself. (come on! give him some credit!) but then she moves on to talking about copies and replicas, and he lets it drop.

it'd occurred to him, too, that they might be copies and it'd been a thought that'd made him feel a little sick, actually, so he hadn't lingered on it, because if they are—. (bobbi.) )

And the only way this is going to be any degree of better is when we get answers to what's going on and go home.

( but whatever. whatever. )

My building's got four floors, a basement and a rooftop, and—. ( —oh. hold up. ) We might have to—. I mean, I don't have my key.

[ It is what he'd said, and she gives him a brief, bemused look. Was there something wrong with what she'd said, to support him? Why was he so offended?

She sighs, and opts not to pursue it; allies were few here, friends even less, so it wasn't wise to pick a fight for such a small and petty reason. Less so when they had other things, more present things, to worry about. Ororo's stance shifts, she pulls back whatever worries and anxieties she might have been telegraphing all this while and puts on a more professional and composed look. He'd needed Storm's help for this, she may as well give him what he expected. ]

... We can see if the place is unlocked - perhaps Echo and Aurora have left a copy of your key for you somewhere. [ Perhaps there was a houseplant outside that was hiding one, or something. She'd make sure to check. ]

If we cannot get inside the traditional way, well, there are other methods.

( it hadn't occurred to her that she'd been agreeing with him, in truth, he'd thought it pedantry of the sort he usually comes out with. but when he catches her glance, the way she questions his interruption without saying anything, he realises he'd been wrong.

(nice, barton—. amazing kneejerk reaction.)

but then she suggests that it'll be unlocked, or a key left somewhere and he realises that thought hadn't occurred to him either — well, not the latter, anyway. his assumption had been to opt for a less traditional means of entry, either by picking the lock on the main entrance, jimmying a window open, or by scaling the fire escape and picking the lock to the door from the roof.

the way he looks a little sheepish reflects his thoughts even as his gaze travels skyward. none of the other buildings had been locked, had they? the keys to the main apartment complex had all been left in the lobby—. (his building doesn't have a lobby.) )

I was thinking the roof, ( he admits eventually. ) My apartment's on the top floor, there's no elevator, and it makes more sense to go top-to-bottom. Especially if it comes with any of my stuff.

[ All business, Ororo nods as he details his plan. Top to bottom seemed appropriate, and if he wanted to prioritize his own apartment, to see if he had his own things in there, then that was his prerogative. ]

I can lift us up. Do you need to hold on? [ She could carry him with the wind if he was amenable to that, if he was sensitive to someone physically carrying him. She knows some men were sensitive to that sort of offer. ]

Or I could head up ahead - I will let you know if the door at the roof is locked. I have my picks with me.

( he doesn't really know what she's asking. sure, the words are all english and they all make sense, but as one sentence, he's not sure what she's getting at. hold on to what? her? does he? his expression dances between confused and uncertain, a frown knitting his eyebrows together as he works and reworks through the question.

finally, he shrugs. )

You're the one that flies. My expertise is mostly in falling.

( clint is sensitive in many ways, most of them relating to confidence, to insecurities he'll never admit to, to rejection. what he's not especially sensitive about is a woman being more powerful than him. stronger. more capable. he'd married bobbi, after all. dated natasha, dated jess. dated karla. all women smarter than him (not difficult—), all women who could kick his ass in a multitude of ways. (well, he could hold his own, but—.)

he gestures at her, a vague action with his hand as if to say 'do whatever'. )

[ It's uncomfortable, that she doesn't know him well because they rarely worked together. Still, she figures he's been carried before? It's part of the job.

So she nods, lifts up a couple of feet so she can take him by the arms and summons a precisely measured gust of wind to carry them both without straining his joints. ]

It won't be long. [ -- she says belatedly, lifting off until they're at his rooftop. ]

( she picks him up and it is a little uncomfortable precisely because they done know each other, not really. not in any way that matters. but she's right — he's been carried before, but not like this, not with the weather used as an accompaniment, and it's different enough but — fortunately(? question mark) for the both of them, it doesn't take long.

there's a second after they land where he just eyes the view — first of the rooftop, then over etraya. it's so green and so quiet. he's used to hearing bed-stuy down below, to hearing the traffic not getting very far, angry horns and equally angry yells. the mixture of deeply familiar and unfamiliar is—
—it's the first time he's felt how jarring it is.

and then he turns, quite abruptly, to the door leading into the building. he doesn't linger on the roof, doesn't bother to take a moment to think about how it should have his neighbors up here.

he tries the handle. jostles it. thinks aurora probably meant for them to enter from the ground, and even though ororo had said she had a pick, he opts to root around in his pocket for his.

(he wouldn't be a carnie kid—.) )

[ She's halfway to offering to pick it for him, but he gets ahead of her. That makes her smile a little, even if he misses it while he's very busy over the door. Well, no reason he shouldn't take point. It's his building, after all. ]

If I may - have you ever broken into your own home before?

[ She's not judging! It happens. ]

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