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]

[ Barbara has no want to insult him or make him feel any more put out by his own world than he already sounds like he is, in his own words, there—but it is strange. That their world's similarities do seem to break down along those lines. How far back would she even have to reach for the first wave of 'creatures' as he calls them? Of mazes, and puzzles, and strange cases that sometimes turn into labyrinths and mirror houses of madness? ]

Yeah, there's been .... a lot. A lot of a lot.

Just when you think the world might run out of tricks,
it comes back in with a new bag.

[cohero]

[A lot of a lot, then it sounds like he was correct in his assumptions and maybe that has to account for at least some of the differences in the way they have in communicating with one another. The amount of life experience makes for a pretty big gap in the way they understand the world in general. Dick knew he didn't get the multiverse as well, but there's so much more he feels.

Settling himself around that fact takes him a few seconds. ]

Hm. A new bag. I imagine that I must have sounded all sorts of naive, haven't I. I have to apologize for that. I have grown up with a lot ... less in my life.

[A short pause.]

I don't see it as a bad thing, but I think it sets us apart in yet another way, which is good. Carbon copies are boring. I am older, but much younger in many ways. I have a lot to learn, and I can respect that.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara gives a small shrug and takes another sip from her cooling coffee. It's as good a metaphor as any other. This whole place was just another stepping stone on that metaphor. A new bag the universe threw at them when they thought things might breathe again for a while. ] No, not naive. Just differently skilled. Differently lived.

I try not to judge people by worlds they weren't in.

[ She'd only slipped once and that was well and truly over a month back now.
Barbara tilted her head, eyebrow raising a little at his words. ]

Just how much older is it that you think you are?

[cohero]

[Looking at her eyebrows, maybe Dick misjudged. He figured he was older but time in the multiverse could do strange things. Maybe time where they were from ran differently. He didn't think to ask about that. Maybe his thirty-two years would be young. He didn't know how old Barbara was, he was merely comparing himself to the other Dick in this circumstance. He could always be completely wrong.

Wrinkling his nose, he shrugged.]

Not very much, a few years. A lot can happen in a few years though. I'm thirty-two. I honestly have no idea how old anyone else is. I think Damian is what, around thirteen, I think he might have mentioned it, but I can't remember if he did or not. I've had more on my mind that I need to keep recorded, and I haven't been writing things down like I normally would in my notes and transfer to the computer. I need one soon.

[Bruce always kept such meticulous notes and he knows that's one of the reasons he was always so successful with thing that occurred past and present. Dick did it mostly by computer, but he had been forced to start doing it by hand since he was here and he didn't have the same skill as his Bruce did.]

[her_own_rules]

[ That's an interestingly contradictory walkback for his earlier statement, but Barbara is starting to get accustomed to this habit of his. This waffling on his stances and how the logic between them plays out between one statement and the next. It's been weeks since they've seen each other, but she's building an assortment of notes that is only this Dick Grayson. She has been since the first—and only—outburst of hers. ]

I've already done the rounds on that for all of ours.

[ Of course, she has.
Oracle wouldn't ever do any less.
While doing everything else this place demanded, too. ]

Ages, places in the timeline, and how the latter shifts the prior.

Not that I'm advising too many grand compromises with our captors, but supposedly, they can get you one of those, too. Maybe even the one that was yours—if they're to be believed on that score, and if you can trust that whatever they hand you hasn't been as tampered with as everything in the buildings already here.