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

[ She certainly has his Sharon’s straightforward charm. It’s nice, he thinks as they shake hands, to start off with most of their metaphorical cards on the table. ]

Steve Rogers.

[ Taking the offered seat, he watches her speculatively. ]

But not the one you know, I’m guessing.

No.

[ Her grip is firm without attempting to challenge his, and she doesn't let it linger, even if she wants to.

Which she does. He isn't her Steve, but she can see the resemblance — more in attitude than in features or build. It's the way he holds himself, centered and calm. ]

But you're not the first other version of him I've met.

[ She settles back into her chair, hand light on her mug of coffee, the tip of her index finger tapping idly against the porcelain as she studies him. She hasn't seen even her Steve in... months; it's difficult to take her eyes off him. ]

I heard from Bobbi that you were here. But I have to admit... it's still a little strange.

[ Well, that's a little foreboding but hey, one thing at a time. He'll have to get used to this new way that people recognize him, knowing a different version of Steve Rogers.

A part of him aches for someone who actually knows him, but he seems to have disappointed the one person here who does. ]

Bobbi's the, uh, scientist right? [ Among other things. ] Strange how?

You don't think it's strange?

[ She cocks her head to the side, sending a sheet of blonde hair shifting over her shoulder, watching him with interest. ]

I'm not your Sharon, after all... although I hope there are some resemblances.

[ Not as many as she hopes there are between him and her own Steve... or, to put it more accurately, as few as she hopes there are between him and another Steve she knew. She sets an elbow on the table and leans her chin onto her hand as she considers him. ]

We'll just have to get to know each other all over again. Like... who was your best friend, growing up? What was that like?

[ This seems like a good time to remember that the Sharon Carter he knew was a spy with no qualms keeping secrets from him. This one's line of questioning, along with the comment about meeting other versions of Steve Rogers, doesn't add up to anything good. His brow furrows thinking about what the wrong answers might be to her question. ]

Bucky Barnes. We grew up together in Brooklyn.

[ He's not going into more detail. If they're getting to know each other, he can ask questions too. ]

How are you related to Peggy Carter?

[ She huffs a little laugh of surprise that isn't really surprise, and lifts her coffee for a sip. There's no shift of her shoulders, no change of her expression, but something relaxes in her, all the same. ]

Bucky Barnes, huh? That is a little different.

[ But not so much that it's something to worry about, hopefully. Sharon smiles at him over the edge of her mug, lips twitching slightly away from blasé politeness and towards real humor... and a little mischief. Seems this Steve has a little canniness of his own. ]

She's my great-aunt. And the reason I joined SHIELD.

[ It seems to have been a right answer. He can't imagine a world where he didn't always have Bucky, at least as kids, but the multiverse apparently works in weird ways. At least she answers his question, and that hasn't changed. Or how she smiles like there's something only she knows.

He sits back in his chair and raises an eyebrow. ]

Don't suppose they sent you to spy on your Rogers too?

Depends on the when.

[ Not that it had been much in the way of spying when Steve knew all along that SHIELD was having her keep an eye on him. The steadiness of her glance flickers; she toys idly with one of the torn-up scraps of paper. ]

But not most of the time, no. We worked together. We have for a long time.

So she was spying on you, huh? Were you up to something, Rogers?

[ There's a distinct teasing note in her voice; that eyebrow does nothing to dissuade her. ]

[ That would have been nice, if SHIELD had been upfront about anything at all. One thing they did end up teaching him is that even the best spies have tells. Whatever had been on the torn card was something she didn't want anyone to see.

It doesn't occur to him that it might be about Captain America. Why would it be?

Although one thing is for sure: Sharon Carter has never been especially impressed by any of it. That was something he had liked about her, once he got over the whole spying thing. ]

Kept ducking their regular babysitters so they had her move in across the hall. Nice blonde nurse.

[ Just like his mom. Anything to keep an eye on the freshly defrosted man out of time, and keep him out of the way. ]

I wasn't the one up to something.

[ Her eyes narrow, and then Sharon— laughs, setting down her mug and wrinkling her nose at him. ]

So, not spying. Protective detail. Is it that you actually don't know the difference, or are you just annoyed you didn't spot it?

[ Nice blonde nurse. She nods at that, turning it over in her head. That would work, probably. Maybe not with her Steve, not anymore, but there was a time when he wasn't looking for SHIELD operatives around every corner. ]

Or is it that she was undercover?

Between the bugged apartment and reporting to Fury, I'd still call it spying. And because nobody, including her, thought to mention her being related to Peggy till the funeral.

[ It didn't take much digging into history books to know that Margaret Carter had been important to Captain America. Fury might have thought it was perfectly fine assigning her niece to keep any eye on him, but Steve had felt like an idiot twice over before everything came out. ]

At least she wasn't doing it for HYDRA.

[ Funeral. Her eyebrows flicker into a furrow that smooths in the next heartbeat.

So Peggy is gone in that world. And it sounds as though she hasn't come back. ]

I'd be willing to bet she did think about it and decided not to.

[ Which he knows, but is choosing to be annoyed about anyway. At least you know her name is what she opens her mouth to say next, before he drops a bombshell and sends a deluge of memory over her. Her voice stay conversational, but the look in her eyes is guarded. ]

Why, was that a concern?

[ He had understood her reasoning, in retrospect, but between being internationally wanted fugitives and the decimation, they had never gotten to talk much after that.

Something in her gaze shifts when he mentions HYDRA. He might be on dangerous ground here but he'd rather have it out in the open sooner than later. ]

SHIELD was compromised for decades from the top down. She wasn't one of the double agents.

Well, I'm glad to hear that.

[ It's flat and final. She'd never want to believe of a version of herself capable of it, but it's not as though her own hands are all that clean.

She blinks away a memory of the Supreme Leader smiling at her over a candlelight dinner and shakes her hair back over her shoulder. ]

Anything left of SHIELD?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MAY MINGLE

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