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

[ his expression gentles for a moment. ]

Yeah. I watched it with my dad.

You have good taste.

( clint catches the way clark's expression softens, just briefly, while his flickers before settling into a crooked grin. )

I know. ( said easily, said like he genuinely believes it.

he doesn't say that he didn't watch them with his dad. doesn't say that he didn't watch them as a kid at all, really, because there hadn't been a wealth of entertainment at st. ignatius'. he doesn't say that it'd started as a love of western pulp novels because that's not the image of himself he likes to portray. )

I'm the complete package. It's a burden.

[ he really does like this man. there's something about his bravado that feels tempered to clark. and his conversation on the network had given him a lot to think about.

he hums, taking a sip of his coffee. ]

I'm sure you wear it well.

I just thought the cowboy thing would be leading up to something more embarrassing.

I don't really do embarrassment, ( he says, shifting his weight to be able to lean forward and pick up his coffee. it's not true, of course — a lot of clint's bravado, his (over-)confidence is built off the back of insecurity over not being good enough. it sits alongside impulsiveness, recklessness, and a penchant for being hotheaded that, although he's mellowed over the years, is still very much there and it all means that he does and can get embarrassed, but not over things like "enjoys cowboy movies". )

Being embarrassed means you got something to hide, and I'm very secure in myself.

That must be nice.

[ to feel secure. clark has a certain security in his own self-awareness, but it has been battered of late. the world left it in tatters. and he hadn't really been given time to rebuild it before it all fell apart.

here he's more safe. and yet he finds himself less sure. ]

What can I say? I'm a simple guy. Makes the world very simple for me.

( it's accompanied by a shrug, light and dismissive. that it's not as simple as he makes it sound is something he's very happy to move on from, and he fixes his gaze on clark, lips curving up in a small smile. )

So how're you getting on with wrapping your head around the multiverse, Kent?

It comes and goes. I suspect it'll be a while.

[ he cradles the mug, letting the warmth seep through his fingers. ]

Though I'm still not sure what's expected of me.

What makes you think any of us are sure about that? That's the problem, most of the time. People have expectations of one another, and they don't always match up. Person A wants one thing, person B wants something else, all while you're sat there thinking you don't want any of that, actually.

I'm only good at a few things, Kent — granted, I'm really good at those few things — but apart from a few instances in that labyrinth, I still haven't quite managed to work out what it is about a guy that uses a stick-with-string for a living is supposed to be doing in a bubble city with no crime or alien invasions.

( he swaps the coffee in favour of a pastry sat on a small place, something sticky and sweet, and he tears a corner off before shoving it in his mouth. )

So until we get some kind of answers, I'm going to settle on just being me and hope that when there's a choice, I'll make the right one. The good one. People have a habit of making this kind of thing too complicated.

[ clark lets out a small huff of agreement. ]

That's true enough. That's what I'm sticking to.

[ clark kent and superman. maybe he'll find the balance he was searching for before. the answer to the question: do we need a superman?

he waits patiently as clint eats before he brings up another point. ]

I have noticed something. There are a lot of concerns about how their worlds get saved and I'm worried it'll turn into a bloodbath down the line.

What happens when a carrot gets dangled?

( it's a good point, and it serves well enough to mean that any lingering levity, any remainder of clint's air of not taking any of this seriously dissipates. it's not that his expression hardens — hardly — but his gaze is focused solidly on clark, watchful and studious. )

There's a few people here that I know, Kent. From my world, or worlds like it. You said I was a vigilante and, I dunno, that's one word for it, but the Avengers — the team I used to be with — aren't quite that—. ( mm, no, that's not how he wants to put it. a beat. ) It's complicated, but there's a list of rules, things to do with conduct and stuff that you have to agree to if you want the Avengers to take you seriously. One of them, the one that's a line that's drawn pretty hard in the sand for me is: Avengers don't kill.

( it's not as simple as it once was, and he can't say he's never killed, not at this point, but that doesn't mean it's not something he doesn't try and stuck to as much as he can. doesn't mean it's something he's going to abandon just because. )

And me, personally, I'm not a big fan of letting other people kill either. If it comes to it, if there's a "bloodbath", there'll be ways of dealing with it. If everyone has to be thrown into time out for a couple of days until they get their heads on straight, so be it.

( a flicker of realisation, and he adds— ) Don't really care if people don't stay dead here, that's just an excuse for people to desensitize themselves.

[ clark nods slowly. they're on the same page. he had a feeling they would be, but the confirmation helps. ]

Neither am I. Regardless of whether they come back or not. We're not picking and choosing. I won't be party to that.

( good. it doesn't matter if — for as much as clint knows, anyway — clark's just a regular guy. clint's a regular guy too, and that means as much or as little as someone makes it mean.

in return, then, he offers— )

—And for what it's worth, I'm not feeling all that willing to accept that someone that's kidnapped us to another world is telling the truth when she says that the death of our universes is inevitable unless we prove ourselves. ( a breath of a pause and a shrug. ) Maybe it's long odds, but I've always liked those.

[ clark pushes his glasses up in the pretense of normalcy. ]

I'd say you have good odds.

What struck me as odd is elements from other worlds — our worlds — coming into play. It felt scripted. And now these new locations popping up . . . it doesn't ring true.

( oh, those. clint has confessed to ororo that one of them is his, the has-seen-better-days apartment building not far from the cafe, close to that ugly — in clint's opinion, given the overwhelming corporate feeling of it — shinra building. inside, there's not much that says it's owned by him, with the exception of one apartment on the top floor, painted in various shades of purple.

for a moment, it's obvious clint is deciding how he wants to answer that. it's obvious he's deciding how much he wants to say, and it's obvious that clint barton does not have a particularly strong poker face most of the time. )

I asked Aurora about those, 'cause one of my friends ended up with her dad's building. She said they're supposed to provide comfort, which is another way of telling me that she wants us to overlook some stuff.

She admitted they're replicas, though. For whatever that means.

[ clark's frown deepens. that doesn't sound much better. he can see the appeal. a part of him yearns to see the farm away. to run his fingers through the wheat. or even return to the kryptonian ship with its cold metal and quiet hum. ]

Do you think she just wants to keep us here?

What, like a kid playing with dolls?

( that'd be — discomforting, but not especially out there. given everything, it almost sounds feasible. unfortunately it just goes back to the same thing as everything: they don't have enough answers. theoretically, it'd be easier to take aurora and echo at their word at this point, to assume they're telling the truth until proven otherwise, but—.

his lips dip for a second, a mix of unhappiness and consideration, and then he shrugs. )

Yeah, maybe. But right now, we got a lot of maybes.

[ clark grimaces in agreement. ]

Unfortunately.

[ guess he'll continue to focus on finding facts. information. he doesn't want to jump to conclusions, good or bad. that's one thing he learned after recent events. ]

Guess we'll need more time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MAY MINGLE

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