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

[waytodie]

[Yelena is pretty sure it’s all a long con. Just a kitschy way to make some cash or whatever is like it in this new world they’ve found themselves in. Come to think of it, she isn’t sure she’s paid for anything the whole time she’s been here. Granted most of it had been stuck in that damned maze…]

Who does not want to know their future? [She asks with a smile up at her.]

Got any particular place you want to move to? [Because she certainly has no idea about how any of this works or if it will at all.]

[matermali]

[ How well-acquainted Vanessa is with the cons of the usual spiritualist in London. If only the same could be said of her. There is a reason she doesn't normally offer these things to just anyone, and that because it rarely leads anywhere good for either party.

Secrets tend to be secret for a reason.

If there's an assumption that Vanessa will be asking for some form of payment, then she'll be disappointed. But she may be disappointed by quite a bit more by the end, depending on what is asked and learned. Vanessa is only less concerned for herself in this instance, because she can't sense anything particularly supernatural about this other woman.

But she has been wrong before. ]

My house is not far.

[ Just beside the complex, actually. Which is fortunate, because Vanessa hasn't exactly brought her cards along, even if she is willing to go along with Aurora's ploy on this single matter.

Standing, she gathers her book and drink. ]

However, we can settle somewhere within the nearby apartments once I retrieve my cards, if that is more to your comfort.

[waytodie]

Sure. [Following a strange woman she just met, claiming to be able to tell her future? What could go wrong, honestly?

She grabs her coffee to take with her as they leave the cafe to head toward her house. Yelena lets her lead the way.]

I am Yelena, by the way. [She was going to include a silly little fact, but she's stumbling on what to share, so it takes a second or two longer than she meant to.] And... I know how to pilot a helicopter.

[matermali]

[ Vanessa is quite comfortable with silence as much as she can be anonymity, so she doesn’t think to press for anything like a name while walking. Once it’s offered, however, there’s a touch of amusement tipping her smile while the one named Yelena seems to be thinking further on what to add.

Tragic that some details are lost on one such as Vanessa, even with what she had learned in the City. Fortunately, she is keen enough in languages to get the gist that it must fly, but what she is picturing has more to do with archaic designs that were never actually manned, and certainly never remained aloft for long. ]

I am assuming that to be quite complicated? I’m afraid that I know nothing of helicopters. Are they bigger than a car?

[ Those, she has become familiar with.

Well. Bentleys she has become familiar with. ]

[waytodie]

Much bigger and way more complicated. They are SO cool! Maybe you will see one someday. [She is not really thinking the woman out of time, she just figures she lived some crazy sheltered life; it wouldn't be the first time she'd heard of such a thing, after all.]

[matermali]

Perhaps I will.

[ The enthusiasm is nearly infectious, and Vanessa does enjoy seeing new things. She can’t say for certain if she’ll ever witness the sort that Yelena speaks of, but given all the amazing sights since her first summoning to the city, then it’s entirely possible. ]

What inspired you to learn to pilot them?

[waytodie]

Oh- well, that's a less cool story than you might think.

[She seems suddenly much more subdued and less ready to dive into that particular explanation. But she manages to give one that at least might make some kind of sense.]

I guess you could say... I grew up in something of a military family and it was just sort of all part of the expectations.

[Not untrue, exactly, but not... actually what was going on, either. #ItsComplicated is just the theme of her life, sorry, Vanessa.]

[matermali]

[ She is the last person to forcibly pry into another's personal history when it is so clearly an uncomfortable topic, and it's hardly her first encounter with a former soldier. There is a touch of surprise at hearing of a woman in military, though.

She knows how capable some women can be, but she is so used to most of them being cowed and weakened by societal expectations that she herself doesn't think much of most she encounters. It's only thanks to her unusual life choices, then time in the City, that she has even learned of other women capable of fighting, but spell-craft has usually been involved one way or another. Witches and sorceresses are usually outcasts, finding strength in their isolation, or with other outcasts.

Military is something of a different matter. That requires the men to acknowledge a woman's strength, doesn't it? Normal men. ]

May I ask, are you from Earth?

[waytodie]

[So many things range from world to world, and time to time– in her world, things were so different even within her lifetime, nevermind comparing to when her parents had grown up. Not that any of her family had what one might call a normal upbringing.

She purses her lips and nods at the question.] I am from Earth, Russia, by birth.

[People have opinions about that sometimes, but it's not like she flattens her accent to hide it, so there's nothing stopping her owning that piece of herself anyway.]