MAY MINGLE

[etrayamods]

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⏴

Comments

[her_own_rules]

⏵ a hero's return ⏴

[ Aside from those who know expressly how and where to find her, Barbara Gordon wasn't seen much for the week after she (and hers) got out of the labyrinth. She'd been in worse shape than she'd found herself in a long time, but then, being stuck in a maze without a bed, regular food and water, anything at all with consistent reliability, while spending the whole time engaged in fights and puzzles—well, that was bound to do it to anyone.

But she wasn't anyone, and her body had flaws even the least trained child here didn't have. For the most part, Barbara tries to focus on the fact that she's lucky that the experimental tech in her spine didn't overextend itself and turn off entirely. Without a bed, chair, wheelchair, pain meds, or anything for around twenty days. Just the stubborn refusal to sit down and let the overwhelming pain win.

There'd been a lot of rest after it. And a visit to the hospital.
And the acquisition of two different wheelchairs ].

⏵ coffee break ⏴

[ Barbara does go to coffee, if still, and even more so now, unenchanted with what this place and Aurora deem mandatory. Barbara makes her way there in her wheelchair, which already has had the back handlebars removed. She's not impressed when she gets to the table with her own little placard, which on different days reads:

→ My name is Barbara, but I have two others.
→ My name is Barbara, and I know most of the secrets in my world.
→ My name is Barbara, and I can take over almost all tech worldwide in less than 12 minutes.

Often, they get crumpled and shoved in a pocket, but maybe you caught one before that happened or before she made it to her table that day. (Similarly, if you want to antagonize me without your own, wildcard that, too!). Barbara settles in to drink a coffee. Often, it's black if she's by herself, but sometimes she gives in and has something nicer.

Occasionally, she can be found there, sans note cards,
working on her laptop, building a brand new code language. ]

⏵coffee

[cohero]

[Wandering around the coffee shop after sitting in his spot for too long with no one bothering him, Dick spots red hair he can't ignore. His gut twists. They didn't leave things on great terms and he knows that it was his fault. He hadn't wanted to tell her things about the other Barbara, especially right before they went running through the labyrinth-- and it drew a rift between them.

She should be a stranger to him, but she still mattered a little more to Dick than he wanted her to. Sighing at himself he stepped forward and read one of the cards in front of her. ]

You have two more names, huh? I only know of one of them.

[His dark eyes looked to hers, apology heavy.]

Listen. I'm sorry for being such a ... an idiot before we left. You. you were right to call me out, and I don't ever want us to be closed off to each other if we can help it. I mean, yeah, we're still getting to know one another, but I want to get to know you. If you're still open to it.

[Humble pie wasn't always the easiest thing to chew down, but Dick did it-- and he did it while not saying a word about how rough she must have had it, and how he noticed that she was in her chair now. It was notable, and twisted him up good. still, he figured that was better left unsaid. If she needed things to be talked about, she'd bring it up.]

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara doesn't point out she'd made a reference to that at a point, too, once, and he'd missed it. She didn't hold him to remembering that and now she knew he hadn't had the context to catch it at the time. Not with how much they kept finding differences between their worlds, between who they were and might be in each of those worlds--or weren't at in her case in his world.

Barbara's expression remains patiently focused as he skips from a commentary on the tiny placard for which she already has two different answers and launches instead into an apology. And for as much as it's sudden, it's as emotionally bare and effusive as what she usually expects of their Dick Grayson. A cut-open heart, as committed to an emotional plunge as he was to the free fall from the highest of buildings.

There's a beat longer than normal conversation silence would take for a response. Then. ]

You should probably sit down, then.

[cohero]

[Maybe Dick recalls a little something about it, but it certainly didn't stick at the time. The first meeting between them was shortly after Dick had recovered after his rain drugging, and while bits and pieces of that meeting remain wrapped around him a lot of the smaller details flitted away when he fought the undesirable rebound affects from said drugging. The second time, he was clogged up with selfish interests and not in a place he should have been.

Done was Dick worrying about comparing or not comparing. It was about learning the best they could about one another. He had met his counterpart, and spent time with him. They'd survived a life or death encounter, and would not be scolded by anyone for falling on their proverbial swords for one another. It took some of the wind out of Dick's sails, and the vinegar and vitriol with it.

All he had left was his heart, his words and hopefully enough wisdom to only step on a few toes as he went about trying to feel his way back through the mistakes he'd made.

Settling down across from her, Dick sips from his coffee and lays a hand on the table, fingers curled inward as he looks over at her.]

Thank you for hearing me out.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara has black coffee and a muffin this time. Apple Cinnamon. It's not a favorite, but it's good for what it is—well-made. Like the art nouveau decorated lattes. She is not against machines, but she's surprised at how well they do everything they do here. Things that seem utterly frivolous to the byline they were sold on being her for. ]

I don't think we have the grace of making enemies of each other here, forging allenation—any of us.

[ For as much as this place is supposed to be about pitting them and their worlds and everyone else and their worlds in a forced multiversal cage match, so much of the labyrinth had relied on helping whoever you came across. Need to rely on each other. Needing to choose each other. Yes, she's been turning it over and over in her mind. It's better than some other things she has been trying not to. ]

coffee break.

[riskfalling]

I know a secret, too.

[ Dick's placard, as he drops down into the seat across from her, says: Hi, my name is Dick Grayson, and I used to have a mullet.

He's brandishing a little bouquet of flowers, that he holds out to her, accompanied by a smile that admits: yes, he's an idiot, yes, he's grounded, no, he's not going anywhere. ]

Sometimes, you like flowers.

[her_own_rules]

[ There is a moment before Babara puts out a hand to take the flowers. It's not like he wasn't there this morning, or last night, or any of either in the last few days. Anyone else, and she'd call it emotional and monetary bribing. With Bruce, by which she means Alfred, she'd be half tempted to drop them in a fit of pique. But Dick isn't like that, and she's not mad at him (even though she is).

She doesn't like to feel ... fragile.

She doesn't like to feel it looking at him. Ever. She definitely doesn't like it at both ends of the spectrum of inside her and outside of her at once. She doesn't like having to face both at once and knowing there's only one choice. There will never be more than one choice. For him. For both of them. She lets her gaze drop to the flowers. She thinks about how that secret isn't a lie either, and so few people actually know that, as she ducks her head to smell one of the flowers.

It's not entirely evasive when she says into them. ]

The mullet really was a choice.

[riskfalling]

It was period-appropriate.

[ She tips her face down, breathing in the scent of the flowers he brought, and he's knocked sideways all over again by the reality of her. Picking and choosing her words, mere days, hours, from having learned she might have needed to grieve him all over again.

She's amazing. Thank god she's here with him; thank god. Thank god he didn't leave her again. ]

How's your back feeling?

[her_own_rules]

You just keep telling yourself that.

[ She lays the flowers on her lap, given the arms of the chair, and the flat plain of her raised legs, help balance it in a way her empty lap wouldn't entirely. And maybe she doesn't quite want to let go of them. Of some subtle, physical act of Dick Grayson's effusive, sometimes messy, but always loyal heart. Of his loving her. Of it mattering. That he is truly sorry, even about things they can't take back and would do again.

She loves him. She always has.
Every bit of the good man he is.

And sometimes, briefly, the world reminds her why that's terrifying, too.

The question makes her wrinkle her nose, and she lets her whole face scrunch up semi-exaggeratedly with it. Topic #2 she doesn't really want to talk about, but she'd rather do that one, and he's going to continue asking. It's been a very long time since anything this big ricochetted into their lives, without breaks or beds amid prolonged fighting. So he'll keep asking, and Cass n' Steph will keep bouncing in with reasonable and transparently obvious excuses. She doesn't ]

Like a rude coworker who won't get out of my office no matter how nice I ask.

[ A returning volley. ]

How are you feeling?

coffee;

[bad_habit]

[He has much the same thoughts on the placards, but it doesn't matter how many times you throw them out, they just pop right back in. Angel had eventually given up, it's not like he has any shame and after this place chewing him up and spitting him out he somehow has less than he had before.

Probably cause his mind and body is still sore, despite having rested and refreshed.]

So did ya like, pick Barbara as a name and got others, or is it one of those ya got saddled with one of those first name is ya last name deals?

Cause I mean if ya could pick any name why Barbara of all things.

[her_own_rules]

[ That's ... a lot, isn't it. Not that she hasn't handled a lot more. You don't do children and Flash's with a tolerance for a lot very, very suddenly from right out of nowhere. The considering look turns placable. ]

I like Barbara.
It's a family name.

And I'm attached to some of the nicknames.

[bad_habit]

Ain't nothin' wrong with it, I guess moreso if ya got family ties to it, kinda ol' fashioned so that checks out.

[A lot is often the way he could be described so that's pretty par the course.]

Like Barbie or whatever?

[She doesn't much look like a Barbie to be honest.]

[her_own_rules]

Babs.

But it's more for family and close friends.

[ It doesn't disguise itself as a lack of invitation. It is. Even though sometimes it happens from the most random places, she lets that fly without comment. She has far bigger things to be concerned with than what someone decides to call her or do with her name. ]

coffee

[upbyone]

[ Kyra had no intention of actually socializing. She's just walking by with a latte (complete with cute cat art) but the laptop distracts her. ]

Where did you get that?

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara glanced up at the girl, one finger silently depressing a key to witch the screen. Not that she expects anyone to be able to decipher it (she's playing against a multiversal ai). The ability is below almost everyone in her world, and the people who can, most of them aren't human. ]

I got lucky. It was in my bag with me when this place took me.

[upbyone]

[ Kyra is brilliant in her own right, but she'd need much more than a split second to see whatever the woman was working on.

The answer she gets is disappointing but not surprising. As usual. She considers just ducking out of the conversation but. ]

That is not a standard build.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barabara's surprised to have it pointed out.
Again. Not something most people notice. ]


Personal modifications.

[ A beat. ]

You work on computers?

Coffee

[mockingbirdy]

[Bobbi doesn't catch Barbra's card before she crumples it away. She's busy getting a skinny vanilla late but she does notice the lack of card. The other day hers had been horrible and she'd wish she'd thought to not put it out.

She figures whatever it was is stressful though and decides maybe the woman could use an easy conversation and not someone questioning her as to why he card isn't there. She slides into the seat across from her and sets her own card down.

Hi, I'm Dr. Barbra Morse, I like corgis.

Which is true, but a little weird of a card still for her liking. At least they acknowledged the PHD.]

I think the bot finally got my coffee order right.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara notes the name, and there's a quirk to her mouth. ]

What kind of drink is it?

[mockingbirdy]

Skinny vanilla. Sugar free syrup not because I'm worried about the calories, just because I don't like my coffee too sweet.

[She really should probably just drink black coffee but a little bit of a flavor is nice.]

I'm Bobbi.

[her_own_rules]

Same here. I don't mind a touch of sweetness to it now and then, but not all the time,
and not over the top insanely like drinking it is licking a bag of sugar.

[ Barbara appreciates black coffee a lot.
Her family would probably hazard to call it too much. ]

a hero's return

[smallbat]

[Cass drops by to check on Babs in her apartment with Dick on the regular since they got back and this time she's brought food from the new burger place that popped up while they were gone.

She knocks on the door, just to make sure it's okay to come in first. You never know with those two and calls out to her. ]

Is it okay if I let myself in? I brought food.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara's resting on the couch with her laptop, working on the code she spent a lot of the empty time in the labyrinth teasing out. Between a dozen codes, she knows perfectly and half a dozen earlier creations of her own. There are flowers on the living room table not far as well as a cup of tea (in a super boring, but at least sky blue) mug.

She pauses at the knock, and then her mouth quirks just barely. ]

You're good, Cass!

[smallbat]

[She let's herself in and toes off her shoes in the entryway. In her arms is two big bags from the newest burger place that had opened up. It's filled with sandwiches, fries and a couple of milk shakes depending on what Babs might be feeling like. ]

I brought enough incase Dick was home. [She says sitting the bags on the coffee table before moving to sit on the floor next to it. ]

You forgetting to eat again?

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara puts her laptop on a pillow to one side of her, leaving the other side fully open. As Cass brought in the bags, the smell of greasy fast food made her stomach squeeze appreciatively—while Barbara didn't answer the question—, she carefully shifted. One foot tucked under her opposing knee and one foot on the floor. Holding still, she tested her body's reaction to the shift and the new position.

But nothing more than the norm,
she threw herself into her words. ]

You are a tiny goddess. Fry me, and come sit down.

[ This with a hand out.
Because who says no to gift fries? ]