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]

[ It'd be entertaining at least.
Though Barbara would stop him.
And his sublimation. ]

And you're sure—you saw nothing—

[ between? after you—? when you—?;

she settles for oblique again.
She still doesn't want the word in her mouth. ]

—before you woke up again?

[ It's childish. She's thought it too much in the past. She will daily for a good while. (About everyone in their family.) She could shout it if she had to. But. She can't outrace every single perfect preserved second of each day of months of memory of what it felt like to live with it, when she thought it was real and it would never stop being a hole in her until she died, potentially several decades later. ]

[riskfalling]

[ He watches her for a long moment without saying anything, but silence between them has always been as eloquent as any words, and it is now, too, both in this moment and in the breath she took earlier, the pause that might as well have lasted for a lifetime. The look in his eyes is all sympathy and understanding; he'd been out for all of it, thankfully, once the blackness had swept in.

Just like he had the times before. He wasn't the one who had to deal with the sudden calculus of loss. ]

Nothing.

[ He tries to live in the moment, to keep from wondering too much about the things he can't control and can't answer, like: is there an afterlife?

But it's troubling him, too. It's there in the faint ruckle of his brow, the somberness that's overtaken his usual cheery warmth. Nothing. That's what they can expect, here, before waking up to find themselves not... quite... like they remember being before. ]

[her_own_rules]

[ Even at odds with everything—her body and this topic, that she can't outrun either—she wants to reach over and smooth the tension from his forehead. The seriousness in his eyes. But there's the chair, the table, and the fact that she probably wouldn't even if the first weren't true right now. That's more private, the same as most of what goes with this topic. Her heart aches, even as her mind facets to the single word he said. The answer never wavering.

It's not that Dick's never lied to her, but he isn't right now. Hasn't about this.
Not since everyone was spat out of the labyrinth without any balls of yarn. ]

Have you thought about comparing notes with Clarke?

[ But also. ] I can discreetly if you'd rather not.

[riskfalling]

Who?

[ No, he has no idea Clarke and porkchop girl are one and the same. It doesn't matter, though; he lifts a hand to wave the idea off, shaking his head. ]

No. The last thing I want to do is make anyone else relive it happening to them. Besides, I have the sneaking suspicion that we'll find out whatever it all means sooner or later.

[ Whether they like the answers or not is a wholly different question. For now, he picks up his coffee and smiles at her over it. ]

Besides, why ruin a perfectly nice mandatory coffee date?

[her_own_rules]

[ It doesn't mean she won't; only that she'll take it under advisement he'd rather she didn't. But Barbara's not about to turn down avenues she needs to know about for the man across the table from her. (Nor from the foolhardy self-preservation lacking members of her family only too glad to dive on a grenade now and then without the ticket back.) Still, that doesn't linger in her expression. It doesn't need to. When he's smiling, it makes Barbara's mouth automatically try to pull a whisper of the same from him.

(Damnably infectious, his smile is. Has been.
For longer than she's considered fighting it.
She hates it. Definitely the right word.)

Instead, she lifts her coffee, saying over her cup: ] God forbid we act against orders.

[ She almost takes a sip, but then her gaze flits back to him. There's a coolness there that so few people ever realize isn't at all. But it's been a very long time, if there ever was a time, when he was one of them. ] It might be the only chance in two universes we can ever make it through one.

[riskfalling]

Yeah, that's never been your style, [ and now he's actively teasing her, because there's the faintest unfurling at the corner of her mouth and he'd much prefer to chase her smile than talk anymore about what happened, what it means, whether there are repercussions still rippling out from it.

They're here, now, and they're together, and that's what he wants to focus on, so he does, cheerfully sipping at his coffee. ]

Then we better make it count, don't you think? At least until a decent Italian place finds its way here. Don't think I don't know you'd be all over some linguine in clam sauce.

[her_own_rules]

[ It's easier to slide toward it, a back and forth just a little faster, a little wittier. The knowledge of neither of those topics is truly going anywhere. But they don't have to have fingers pressed down on them any longer than necessary. Especially in the middle of this place, with a wealth of unknowns abounding.

(And maybe he's not entirely wrong.) ]

Maybe if you ask oh so nicely,
they'll consider throwing one in.
Or a pizza place. Just for you.

[ She leans back, with a raise of eyebrows. ]

But if you really want to show a girl a good time,
I need at least 7-8 more high-rises not spread a half mile apart.