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

No, I mean, yes. I agree. I'm sorry. I should have said that first. I won't say a word unless it's people that know and it's completely secure.

[He's still completely at a loss, so whatever it is, is what's going to be. Dick's not offended by it. He's learning to back off and let life happen here. It's going to be easier. His brain is slow in figuring it out, but the control he really enjoys having is hard won.

It's a battle, but right this second, the smarter part of his brain wins. The silent side.]

[ It'd be nice to say she relaxes then. She'd never raised her voice a single octave either time, yet the severity was there—the commitment to something much bigger than anything here. To the fact, she could come right over this table, straight from this chair, if she had to.

She doesn't do either. She considers Dick. ]

Okay. [ Though it's not entirely. It's an acknowledgment of his acknowledgment. Barbara will never feel comfortable exposing herself (and all of the people Oracle protects through herself), to someone she has no proof of her ability to trust. Most people never learn who she is. This is a leap of faith. A choice. ] Why did you need a computer to stop Scarecrow?

[It's probably wise of him not to mention how that while Babs was Oracle's keeper, she was afraid of using it. She didn't want to hold that much power. It was too much information for one person and then when she did use it, it was hacked. There was her fear personified.

Thinking that something else is coming, he takes a second. ]

Oh, Batman built most of it and he used it with Barbara to help track and keep Crane from his plan at the time, getting him off the streets and in to Arkham the first time. Then NSA slapped fines all over it and it was shuttered. Too many private rights to be violated.

[ Barbara is still waiting when he finishes.
Sipping at her coffee, slow and calm. Focused.

Waiting long enough, she realizes he's not figuring out how to say more.
To explain the more complicated parts of this offending program.

Her brow wrinkles very subtly. ]

It was a tracking program?

[ The 'just' is implied, but not cruelly.
She's simply expecting more. ]

[There are facts that Dick misses, but he doesn't always know everything. He's not always in the loop-- it tracks with how Dick became more and more obsessed with finding and delivering his own form of vengeance, and how he tried to distance himself from Bruce in greater leagues toward the end of their 'partnership' as Batman and Robin.

Oracle was a complicated program that Dick didn't have the knowledge to explain completely, but he did his best sitting there with coffee in his hand.]

It's more than that. Barbara was afraid of it even when I begged her to use it last. It was the ultimate AI... spy. It could watch people, anyone, anywhere around the globe, listen in, know what they were doing. That type of power was dangerous, especially if somehow it got into the wrong hands.

[He paused, not knowing how much he should tell her, how much he should leave to his own knowledge. Dick erred on the side of caution and waited for anymore questions instead.]

[ Barbara listens, and with the information he chooses to give her, she starts doing what she always does: piecing it together in her head, finding the flaws, labeling the blind spots. There are comparisons and contrasts she can make already, but she's focusing on the other picture first. After Dick finishes, but before responding, she flags a waitress walking past their table with a request for a refill on her next time around.

Then, returned to him. And the conversation directly. ]

Neither of you were certain you could keep it in your own hands?
[ Also. ] Why was the NSA involved? How did they find out about it?

[Still fingering his mug, taking too much time over his coffee Dick tries to piece together information he knows. It's not a lot more than he's already told her. He knows that Barbara put together everything with Bruce and that it took Oracle to catch Scarecrow the first time.

The NSA got involved because they wanted to know how Crane was apprehended and Barbara was the Commissioner? Dick wasn't even certain about that. How did they get into it. That's the only guess he has. ]

I imagine because it was used through official police channels and they got the information. I don't know the direct intel there. I know it happened. I know they shut it down, but Barbara kept it up in case it was needed. Then when we did use it again, Crane hacked it with insider knowledge and a photo of Babs from Lady Vic. Bitch still hates Babs and I for being indirectly responsible for her boyfriend's death. Don't ask me how it was done, I don't know that much. It just was. Barbara destroyed it completely as soon as she knew.

[Taking a breath, Dick closes his eyes. There's pain there, grief for what was, what could have been. A lost love, a part of his life that he'll never get back. The moment batgirl was created and then later lost to become something more as commissioner.]

Huh.

[ GCPD.

That's definitely not any of the handful of predictable answers she thought might answer that. But that makes sense. If Barbara is a cop, and she built it. Somehow, with Bruce. Above the board. Both built and destroyed it. She's in the middle of teasing a question from that thought when she's surprised by the crassness just slid into there, and her consideration of him sharpens for that beat before fading back to mild attentiveness again.

It's a lot to consider, but also, it was also incredibly short-lived.

Built impressive, used only twice, then demolished. It's almost ... sad. ]

Yeah.

[There's not a lot more to say. It was what happened. Dick was still obtuse as to letting Barbara in on what the other Babs did. He'd tell her if asked directly, but he hadn't been, so he found no reason to offer up the information.

Right now, things seemed alright. Dick happened to use harsh language when it suited him. It came and went and he never much thought about it. It was a part of his everyday, and being in the city around people who used that type of language daily didn't really help. ]

Argus came in at the end and helped out. They work with the force now. It's a better system than it was.

The thousand-eyed monster.

[ It's the barest mumble, attached to the further ripples of differences everywhere, before Barbara flips to a polite smile and a genial thank you for the waitservice bot that has finally made it back around to them. It's a small pause for the top-up on her coffee, and for it to get more than two or three feet from them. ]

And that was that?

The end?

Edited 2024-05-26 21:38 (UTC)

[Tipping his head, Dick considered her muttered breath and wondered a little about it, but decided not to ask. He didn't really have to worry about that in his world currently. Things were working well enough and Argus had saved things when the police force had all but gone rogue. ]

With Oracle, yes. That's that. The titans and I left Gotham shortly after Crane was put away again.

[ Barbara is trying her best not to let some part of her twitch every time he continues to say Oracle. At least every time as of this point, has not been using it while in implication of her answering to or having the name. It's a grace she's giving it, but it still runs a hundred nails down chalkboards.

The uncertainty. The public location.

He stops without adding anything else to it, and Barbara could say she was surprised, but she isn't. This is their third conversation, and she remembers each of the other down to the granular seconds and details no one's mind keeps even just hours later. Behavior is deeply predictable at that point. She picked up her new cup, considering testing whether it was still too hot. ]

Hmm. Your turn, then, it seems.

You were going to tell me things that I couldn't repeat to another soul, I guess? How you and your person became something I only knew as a computer?

[It doesn't dawn on Dick not to say it. It's not like he's offering up state secrets to anyone here because it's a thing that doesn't exist in this world. It was public police knowledge in his world, and it's been destroyed. It's not a person, identity, codename.

Now that he's discussing her, it's almost as if he switches gears and his mind moves into alter realities. This place still knows their secrets. He's got not grandiose ideas that it wouldn't. Aurora/Etraya stole them, and did who knows what while they were naked and unconscious. It saw their wardrobes, and non-wardrobes. They are still under watchful eyes no matter where they are or what they're doing. Dick hardly believes that anything is sacred.

Still, it's good to be careful and he understands that, has always understood that. It's his job to know that. ]

Right. How can I be who I am?

[ It's such a strange question, isn't it? Especially for someone whose concept of Oracle is a deconstructed computer program only used twice. Was something alive if it was for only that long? (She didn't think the AI of her own algorithmic brain scans would like that thought.) Either way, the NSA would be pocket change compared to who all might come for her if the world knew everything she'd already done and continued doing up to the day before getting here. Barbara leans back in her chair and shifts her cup to one hand to free the other.

She raises a finger. ] Eidetic memory.

[ Another. ] Genius level intellect.

[ A last, but with a well meaning smirk added. ]
And an utterly unstoppable can-do attitude.

[Leaning back in a similar fashion, without the coffee cup. Dick considers things for a little bit. Her smirk has him smiling, because of course she's got the will power of an unstoppable bull in the proverbial china shop. That he would never doubt. She would make anything work that she wanted, but this is a very different Barbara than the one he knows.

She's far from scared of the way powerful technology and knowledge works. Dick can see that already. The wheels start to churn and he can understand a fraction of what it might mean for her to be Oracle. The computer that he knew, as a person. That means that all that information-- is now her. She has the access, the bridges, the capabilities.

She. Is. Oracle. Fuck.

He blinks a few time in recognition of skill and power, in awe, then nods. ]

Nice to meet you, then. Your work and name will stay silent. I swear it.

[ There's so much she can't put into words. Not here—and sometimes not at all. At least not in a way many people will understand that she's still speaking English, but she loves it. Who she is. What she does. How many people it helps, both in costumes and out of them. There's no lie that to understand the broadest scope of what she can do, it has to be seen in action—and, as a few months ago proved again, only when the planet's safety is in so much peril she can't pull her hands the keys any longer, do people see the full scope. How much. How far. How easily.

It could be enough to say there will be a demonstration of that soon enough.
Even if it'll start small. Whispers in dark corners.
She still has so much work to do.

No carts before horses here. ]

You should work on getting yourself a second earpiece.
I have it on good authority, you may need it soon.

[There's a wide smile on his face, it creases his cheeks enough to dimple slightly. Maybe he'll never be able to understand the full scope of who she is, or what she does, but there's a better appreciation for it and for her as a person.

Dick feels that a start has been made between them- a better one than was made before. This time it was a true introduction and Dick hopefully didn't bumble it up too much. He knows that he's been terrible thus far, but he's trying to mend his fences and take better steps.

He nods and assesses her words. ]

My first priority is a suit, and then the earpiece. Sounds like the start of an adventure.

[ Barbara makes a noise in her throat.
Something between hmm and mm. ]

Something like that. [ Maybe even more like a rebellion.
But Barbara did so refuse to be controlled. By anyone.

It can wait. She has to finish writing the new code language.
And then she'll need to test it. Before there are others brought in.
She takes another sip of her coffee, continuing to consider him.]

Anything else you'd like to know about?

No, no questions. This doesn't have to be an all question about us session does it? I thought we were having coffee.

[Finishing up his coffee, Dick sits forward and steeples his fingers, eventually folding them. There are things he could ask, but they aren't extremely relevant to much.

He's not sure if she wants to be asked about how things went in the labyrinth, not by him anyways. He has a feeling that her jury is still out on how she feels about him.

He knows he fucked up their conversations more than once. There's an internal meter counting in his head, along with all the sighs and the weight he carries for it. He's not great with this newer side of the family. Maybe he won't be. He's not certain how to interact. It all feels so foreign and awkward. Giving in, he blows out a breath.]

Not a lot to ask, but I'm glad you and Dick made it through the labyrinth. That place was rough on everyone. It pushed limits and I wonder if it's pushing relationships on this side now a little.

[ Not a lot to ask, and she supposes that's as much as he's decided he needs to know about who she really is instead of who she really isn't. All five exchanged names between them, some 2-3 minute ice breaker intros, and one difference check. It's a little disappointing, but Barbara sets it aside. That can be his choice. They can keep it to more business-level things. ]

Same. I'm glad that everyone made it out. [ Even if some the worse for the wear, like Dick at home. ] It makes you wonder what's next. I was told about how last month, people's evil doubles arrived, and people had to figure out which was which and, in some cases, dispose of them. I don't mind a good fight, but I'm not here to kill anyone. And I've had enough experiences fighting myself to live a lifetime.

[Taking things slow and turning it into a more natural flowing conversation rather than something that felt like a personal interrogation fit Dick better right now. He'd been through the personal ringer lately with others and he really felt the need to sit back and relax a little with someone. Share a little city gossip as he got to know Barbara around the corners. He didn't feel the need to dive into favorite colors and places to eat. They'd get there, one day.

This was another way of learning about someone. Watching expressions, finding out what they deemed important to discuss, facial expressions, finger motions. It all told of who she was, and Dick noticed those things, because he was Dick. ]

I can't think about what's next yet. I am still dealing with the fallout of what happened all around.

[Dick is intimately familiar with what happened with Dick-- not only because he went through a drill situation with Dick, and escaped it after the other man had died, but also because Dick has had to deal with Bruce after he and Damian went through the wringer and the pain that's echoed through the mansion in the aftermath. It's not easy, and Dick feels that and understands that it had to be a bombshell for Barbara as well. Dick also dealing with his own fallout after the labyrinth and some of the things that happened to him there. Things that he did that weren't in his nature, and were forced on him. He'll make it through, but he's got no one he'd talk about them with at this point in time.]

So, wait. There were doubles last month? A labyrinth this month. I see that they really do like testing and pushing our limits. Now there's a new bubble city, and people. I have to wonder what that's going to mean for us. No, no killing, but the stakes are getting higher.

[ Oh. So he's that type.
That's not a liberty she has. Oracle has.
She has too many lives to protect. They come first.

And it's another difference between the two men, between him and everyone in her family. The continued construe of facts making up this whole and another person under that familiar double-name. ]

We've had worse. [ That we is more distant, referring to her people and her world, more than the two of them. She was still pressing herself to the task of swearing off the assumption of similarities, especially with so many observed differences and emotional swings. ]

Admittedly, the Labyrinth was more the speed I expected in some ways. With something so far outside the normal, I expect more than what we'd routinely get at home. If anything surprised me in the Labyrinth, it was how much people were required to work together to complete their tasks, rather than the dividing nature our welcome speeches told us to have.

[Not entirely sure what that type would mean, Dick is doing his best to take care of those around him. He's not been the best version of himself since coming here and Dick knows that he needs to reverse his attitude and refocus on who he is as the Nightwing and the Dick Grayson that showed up here not knowing what was in store for him.

There's been too much worry about image and being a person that the others might admire, and in doing so, Dick has reverted into a person he swore he'd never be again. It's a slow revelation, but at least he's catching it now rather than later.

He nods. It's sounded like they've had to deal with a greater variety of things and he knows that he will learn from that as well. ]

It was rather different than what I'd get at home. I can't say that I've ever done a dance puzzle on top of a roof in Gotham. No, I know what you mean, but still, for me things are different. The creatures, the challenges were different and I did a lot on my own. I'm used to putting people behind bars, not killing wasps, and half lizard monsters.

[ Barbara's eyebrows pique slightly, paused over her cup.
The surprise is clear in her expression ]

Truly?

[ Barbara can't help but compare his examples to all the green monsters that had plagued the whole planet, and space outside of it, without warning so recently. That is only the most recent example of an unexpected that was what counted as something truly outside of the box of the norm. In a life where something that big happened every few months was a constant for Batgirl, and Oracle was often helping support any number of heroes through their own locational events that were half that, but half more than the normal often as days ended in 'y'. ]

[It's time for Dick to ask for a fresh cup of coffee. This conversation is growing in interest for him. He knows that their world is very different from his, but how many experiences have they had that are completely different, how much longer and broader a scope have they been through.

It's beginning to feel like Dick's an amateur in comparison, not that his training is less, merely the life experience. He's fought plenty of big names in Gotham, but from the things he's heard from Damian and the look on Barbara's face, and a couple things Dick mentioned-- this Dick is starting to really wonder. ]

Honest and truly. I take it you've faced plenty of creatures then. I am getting the feeling that your experiences possibly outweigh what I've been through, not that it's a contest. It's merely that you all seemed to have faced down a lot more serious situations. I know trigon has popped up more than once, and it seemed so nonchalant, when he's been such a big factor for us, especially my last mission with Brother Blood. I mean, my life has mostly been about fighting the big named faces in Gotham, with a couple stints at saving the world. They've been big to us, but I heard things from Damian, Dick and now the way you look...

[He trails off, referring to his thought process, running it politely through his mind, doing the best to be polite and not overly prying, but obviously curious.]

MAY MINGLE

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