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

[westcoasts]

( it's not that he thinks she likes being alone — it's not that simple, he knows that, and it's not that he doesn't think she tries. she's had people, people that aren't him, and that's— it's fine. he has people that aren't her. they're just not that good at being together anymore, not like they used to be, and that's not okay, but it is how it is, at least for now.

he shifts his weight as he looks at her. she is tired, but how is he supposed to do anything about that when every time they try to talk, they end up like this? )

I don't know, Bobbi. I kinda got the impression that you being better meant time spent not with me.

( it's blunt.

it's funny, despite everything, despite how so many people seem to think he's shit at it these days (or maybe he was always shit, maybe that was just the bravado talking—), he was always quite good at teams when he wanted to be. at saying the right thing. the thunderbolts — his thunderbolts, not the team luke had put together — had been great for a while, but whenever he tries to talk as clint, to talk in his personal life, he just makes a mess of it.

and then she says she'd still have her husband and he winces. exhales a short, perfunctory breath that's almost a laugh. did she just say that? first she tells him she needs him (because skrulls, not because she actually wants him—), and now—. ) —You told me the Skrulls got you when you were coming to see me to finalise our divorce, Bobbi. Don't give me that. You were over it. You were over us before they got you.

( that shouldn't be the bit he focuses on, but it's hard not to when it's the last thing she says, when it feels like she's just suckerpunched him into some kind of alternate reality. they'd still be married? he'd tried.

his hand hovers by the bridge of his brow and he closes his eyes. what? what. should he have tried harder? he doesn't know if he could have, not then. he knows he could have handled everything with slade better, knows he can't say or do enough to make up for that, but—.

(god, he doesn't want to have this conversation.) )

And I know that's on me.

[mockingbirdy]

[He says that he's responsible for some of the original things and it catches her off guard. She wasn't expecting it, not with the way the conversation is going.

Does he think that if she was better she wouldn't be around him? That she only shows up because of that. It can't be true right? She'd showed up to the Ronin mess because she was worried about him.

She'd answered his dumb phone calls about how to spell words even when they weren't right because it was him.

Did she say that she was going with the papers? It sounds like her, she probably did but all the fights bleed into one another. It's true she was set on it, but it was so long ago it's hard to remember if she absolutely would have. Could they have maybe worked it out?]

It's on me too. [All of it really is on them both. Different parts more so then each other.

Every time she runs away from him it's not really about him. It's her own inability to deal with things and she knows that. She knows they went to therapy and she still made stupid jokes and couldn't address them.

Clint Barton is a man who has big feelings, and Bobbi Morse is a woman who does anything she can not to have feelings.

She crosses her arms, not in anger, but because she's uncomfortable, protecting herself and she looks back down away from him.

Why is the thing she's so hung up on the fact that he said if she's better it means not spending time with him. She's showed him for years how much she doesn't need him. sShe literally dragged him on vacation with her other ex to show him how he wasn't even special.

God. God Bobbi you are such an idiot rings through her mind.]

I don't... [Think that's the truth?]

Look. I probably meant that when I said it, but Clint. [She forces herself to look up at him.]

Even when we do nothing but fight, there isn't a time I think I would be better if I didn't have Clint Barton in my life.

[A huff of laughter and the saddest hint of a smile curls to her lips.]

If anything Clint Barton is too good for Bobbi Morse.

[westcoasts]

( it's not really something he's at the point of denying anymore — the west coast avengers was good when it was good, but it'd turned into an extended train wreck of their marriage dissolving, slowly and loudly, he's aware he could have been better in a lot of ways, aware that his reaction in front of their friends. to the phantom rider thing left a lot (lot) to be desired, and it'd taken him a long time to even understand what he did wrong. how unsupportive he'd been.

he may not have grown much, may not have always grown in the right way, but at least he'd managed to get some perspective on that.

he's not going to say bobbi was blameless — they'd gone to marriage counselling for a reason — but the split's not fifty-fifty. he doesn't point it out, though, not when she says it's on her too, because self-flagellation doesn't feel like it's the right response and he's never been very good at it, not outwardly. he thinks they both know where most of the blame sits, especially when she says she'd meant what she said.

but then she keeps on talking and it's worse, actually, than her telling him it was all his fault. than telling him that his stupid hypocrisy and inflexibility is why they've never been able to make it work; worse than asking him why he can't just accept people as they are because she tells him that he's too good for her, and he doesn't think he's ever heard anything more wrong in his life.

his gaze lingers on her for longer than necessary as he takes in the imitation of a smile, the way it doesn't reach her eyes. the way it's anything but happy. )

Come on, Bobbi. Look at my life. We both know that's not true.

[mockingbirdy]

[The fact that she's ready to argue with him of this should really seal the deal that she should just leave. That they can walk away and regroup.

Is he right? Is she just looking at his life with rose colored glasses on? Or is he just doing that to hers.

He looks at her and it hurts. ]

Sure it is sport. [It's why she can disappoint him so much.]

[It's really all it's come down to. They can talk all they want about the first time with Slade. But it was the second time when she really knew it was true.

When Clint had almost killed for her. When he'd almost crossed a line that he never should have because how she makes him. It's why they'd truly never made it. Bobbi Morse isn't happy about killing, but she's comfortable doing it.

And that makes Clint the better person. Even if it was hard to stomach he had to go through it anyways later. ]

You were always the hero. [And she wasn't, and that was always too much for him. It's hard to not wonder sometimes how it was that different then some of the other agents she knew but it didn't matter. Clint's code was his own and she'd decided long ago she didn't want to be the thing that made him change it, the thing that made him resent her. ]

[westcoasts]

( the fact that he'd killed bruce makes it even worse, he thinks. the fact that he'd killed his friend and he still tries to act like there are lines he won't cross. he knows he'll cross them, it's just a matter of when and why. of the right person asking him, of needing him to.

the fact that bobbi doesn't mention bruce makes it worse. he knows they're both thinking it, even when she says 'you were always the hero'. they've never spoken about it, have they? and he doesn't know if they're going to talk about it now, not as he glances away from her to the bar, at her unfinished drink and his.

he'd only talked about it precisely as much as had been necessary, which had been firstly too much for his liking but given the circumstances, entirely necessary. to carol, to cho, to the authorities. didn't really talk about it all that much to the hulk, and he'd got why the hulk was—

well, upset was probably an understatement. )

They don't put heroes on murder trials, Bobbi. ( well, they might do, he guesses. false accusations and things like that. but — god, it's always been so complicated, hasn't it? he's believed in not killing for so long, that it's the most important thing about being an avenger, but even he knows it's not as black-and-white as he's always liked to pretend.

and he'd always pretended it was with bobbi. that was why he hadn't stuck with her and fortune, why they didn't want to make it work because they knew what he'd done to the skrulls, because of what he'd almost done — been willing to do — to cross. how much he'd wanted to kill norman. it's always been easier to pretend that he's got some kind of moral character, instead of admitting that it's all for show because he can't bear the thought of who he'd be otherwise.

he turns away from her to face the bar, to pick up the drink he'd decided he didn't really want anymore, but then they'd continued talking, and now the conversation's moved from her to him, and—. nope.

he lets the silence linger as he downs the rest of his drink, placing the bottle back down on the side with a soft thud, the sound dampened by the ring of condensation at the bottom of the glass. )

And I've had at least one beer too many tonight to talk about Bruce, so I'm going to go home and sleep it off.

( one beer too many or one beer not enough, it's not really the truth. it's just an excuse for him to do the one thing he's really good at: avoidance. )

[mockingbirdy]

[Sure they do Clint. Bucky, Steve, Daredevil, Natasha to name a few but she knows that actually saying that to Clint won't make him feel any better about it. Hell she's surprised he even brought up Bruce at all, they'd never mentioned it.

Then he says he's going to go to bed and she's relieved. She's wanted to leave for a while but given his tendency to say she always does that, always runs off. Of course the fact that she'd stayed might have just been due to pure hardheadedness. ]

Good night Clint.

[She doesn't say anymore and doesn't even look up at him again. Of course the issue with being at one place and living right next to each other means she can't even fucking walk out at the same as him because it's awkward as hell. She also would like to go fucking climb into bed and hope to wake up at her house in the normal world.

She slides back into her seat to let him go and she's not sure that this talking thing doesn't make it all even worse then it was to start.

There's a reason why they never talked.]