Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

[midpointmods]

The town of Midpoint: called thus because it is at the exact center of the game arena, a busy little Western town full of strange people, many of whom don’t look remotely human, because this is where all the players gather and live. Midpoint Saloon: called thus because it is the only bar in Midpoint. It’s also the biggest building in town, four stories high, dotted with windows, painted a jaunty yellow and decorated with red and green flowers in all the window boxes.

This is where your veteran teammate points you. Or just stomps off to and hopes you follow.

Downstairs is a bar and tavern, Old West style, right down to the upright piano in one corner and a raucous crowd of locals - largely locals, but with a healthy smattering of unusual or downright alien faces that clearly indicate the presence of other Players - eating, drinking, gambling, and getting into trouble. There’s a broad, bearded man behind the bar, waving cheerfully at you as you enter.

The rest of the night and the next day is yours to do with what you see fit. Explore the town, take a long nap in your new room, try to get to know people... everyone is here for the next twenty-four hours before travel to the mission site, so it’s a good chance to scope out the competition, at the very least.

Comments

Bucky Barnes/Soldat | MCU | Veteran player

[worthallthis]

I. Arrival - Closed to Daylight and Inarra

It's taken most of the day to get here from the jail, and the sun is starting to set off to their left and in their eyes. Soldat is pretty sure their companions are ready for a break. "See those buildings?" Soldat gestures ahead, at the first outlying homes of Midpoint. "That's town. We'll get you rooms. Some dinner for the lady."

Since Daylight doesn't... eat. They're pretty sure of this, even if he's all different colors and actually swears now.


II. Home - Closed to Sam and Misty

It's been a long-ass day, and as soon as they've got their new teammates settled with rooms, Soldat retreats upstairs to see where their allies are: Sam's room is checked, and their own, shared with Misty, is checked. They know both of them were summoned to a mission, as well, and they're trusting that the game makers know better than to pit them against their volatile sniper.

"You back yet?"


III. Social, or attempting to be - OTA

In the past, Soldat has mostly taken meals in their room. Making friends with people they had to kill over and over again had been too hard a thing to wrap their brain around.

But now that there are people here they know... and they're starting to think some quietly rebellious thoughts again... they're making an attempt at not being a complete hermit. After a little time to catch up with favorite people, they're back down here, sitting at a table near the wall where they can see the exit, the door to the kitchen, and the stairs.

When they're not eating, Soldat alternates between playing solitaire and folding paper into little animals, but anyone showing interest gets the question, "Know how to play poker?"

II

[shadowsran]

"I am."

It doesn't sound drained, but it lacks the usual pep. Contemplative, mostly. Nothing identifiable in that tone that would imply something more worrying than that. She's in a fresh change of clothes, curled against one arm of the sofa in their shared space, eyes fixed on the ceiling fan overhead. They focus on him almost immediately.

"How's the job? Team?"

She sits up a little higher, the ready-to-move tension in her shoulders an unspoken 'do you need anything'.

[worthallthis]

"Kidnapping. Two new players. Not probably going to go well. They really don't want to do it." Soldat comes in to claim the other end of the couch, dropping their head into their hands. They sound tired.

Doing the new-people shpiel had been bad enough. But the shock of seeing Daylight... Misty will understand. They look up a little, just turning their head against their hands. "Misty. One of the new ones. It's Daylight. But not our Daylight."

[shadowsran]

Fully sitting up, now. That's indeed the tired tone.

And...that's a hell of a fair reason why. A hand goes to his shoulder, careful and light. "He...doesn't belong here." No one does, but particularly and especially-

"Not our one?"

[worthallthis]

They lean a little into her hand, but don't move their own yet, looking back down and putting their palms to their eyes. "No lantern. Older. Different paint job." (Said "fuck". You are never gonna let that go, are you? Not for a while, anyway.) Then the worst part, said kind of sadly: "Didn't know me."

[shadowsran]

"I'm so sorry." There's no increase of pressure, though she does slide a little closer. Proximity, rather than contact. The illusion of a side hug. "That's...I can't imagine. Didn't know you, or didn't know Beacon at all?"

III

[chalicejoker]

"You could say that." Hajime's relationship with cards is a complicated one. And he's got a full suit of hearts from an entirely different deck in his pocket. But he's not going to look away from a game of cards and, if it looks like that's an invitation, he'll slide into a chair at the table. Just don't mind the foot-tall mantis on his shoulder.

[worthallthis]

Soldat has seen a lot of weird things. Giant bugs sitting on people's shoulders are not among the things they have seen. They don't stare, because that's too much like inviting eye contact, but they do sneak a few glances at Ryo, sidelong. "Answer like that. Either you're only vaguely familiar and humoring me. Or you're going to take all my peanuts and leave me snackless. Yeah?"

Because that's what they've got for betting: a bowl full of peanuts.

[chalicejoker]

"Hajime knows a lot about cards!" Ryo says cheerfully. He hops off Hajime's shoulder and onto the table. "Can I have a peanut, please?"

Thanks, Ryo. Hajime sighs. "Let's just say my chances for a peanut dinner are good if he doesn't hop back onto my shoulder and narrate my hand for you." He can't just go out and say he's a playing card monster who's fought other playing card monsters, now can he?

[worthallthis]

Oh Jesus, the giant bug talks. Okay, now there's a little staring, but eye contact with giant bugs are not quite the same as eye contact with humans. So they'll manage. "Uh. Yes. Yes, you can."

Soldat picks a couple out and offers them to Ryo, not sure yet whether to be charmed or disturbed by giant talking insects.

[chalicejoker]

"Thank you!" For Ryo, being a giant talking bug is the most normal thing in the world. He thinks he's charming. He happily takes the peanuts and begins eating them.

Hajime's taking it in stride as well. "Don't mind him, he's...young."

I.

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara gives the buildings of the approaching frontier town a bit of a dubious look. She doesn't know this place, but she's been to a few places that look like it, and some things might be easier said than done.

"I don't eat meat. I can find my own meal if that's a problem..." She’d made do that time Mal had taken her to a seafood restaurant because he had somehow known her for two years without noticing, and she can make do now if she has to. There is the complication of not really being able to pay for things on her own yet, though.

[worthallthis]

Yeah, Soldat can see that expression. They've seen it on other people before. It's not the best little desert town... but it's not terrible. At least there's sun. (Says the guy who spent two years without one. Well, yeah. Bet people used to having sun would rather not. Then they don't appreciate what they got.)

Shaking out of the little internal conversation, Soldat assures her, "North will make you whatever you'd like. Meat, no meat, allergies, whatever. One guy only drank blood. Don't know how North got it, but he did."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Ah." Extremely disturbing, but convenient. "I've spent some time in frontier towns, and they're not always so accommodating."

Most people on the frontier at home aren't Buddhist and also perform hard physical labour, so she gets it, but it can be problematic for her.

[worthallthis]

"This. Ain't exactly a frontier town. Not like in the books." Soldat shakes their head grimly, looking out across what does look pretty typical for the frontier moons Inara would be familiar with. "It pretends to be, but it's not. There's a house somewhere in the farming lands where you can buy ray guns. They teleport your body away for repairs when you die. And if you have a special diet. They make sure you get it."

[unofficial_ambassador]

Some of that does sound like the kind of frontier towns she's gone to - people with money from the Core tend to enjoy a higher-tech lifestyle right next to the colonists who are struggling - but it's probably not helpful to say so.

"I suppose that if we're the entertainment they can't have us starving to death."

ii - just like old times, all my threads belong to you XD

[notabirdcostume]

Sam had just finished getting some water -- not for a bath cause that would take way too long -- to fill a basin and splash his face, just something to freshen up a bit. Sweat and dirt were apparently impossible to keep off entirely and Sam was having one too many flashbacks to his tours in the Middle East. He was going to have to accept that eventually, but that didn't mean he couldn't cool off a bit and try to feel a little better about things as they stood now.

He grabbed a towel when he heard the knock, wiping the water from his face and walking over to the door. He had a pretty good guess who it was, unless his new teammates were coming to talk a bit more.

Sam opens the door and, sure enough, sees the familiar face. He almost makes a joke about dusty spies showing up on his doorstep looking for help, but knows that this Bucky won't get that reference. Instead he says, "Yeah, long enough to wash some of the dirt off. Figured you might be stopping by," he tilts his head in, a silent invitation if Bucky wants to step inside the room so they don't have to have this conversation in the middle of the hall, "Everything okay?"

no complaints here :D

[worthallthis]

"As okay as it ever gets," Soldat says with a sour little shrug, stepping inside when invited. They've already complained to Misty about Daylight's reappearance, so at least they're not going to get into that much. "Made an idiot of myself in front of both my teammates. What's new, there."

Considering last round they cried in front of Sam within half an hour of meeting him, and they shot their whole team the round before that... it's starting to become a habit.

"With you?"

meanwhile, meeting threads are still happening so gonna be vague

[notabirdcostume]

That was also about the answer he suspected. There really had to be a better way to ask about things like that, but Sam was hard pressed to think of one at the moment. He shuts the door behind them, figuring this was as secure as they were going to get. As long as they kept their voices down they probably wouldn't be herd by any new neighbors.

"That bad, huh? You wanna talk about it?" Sam was curious, but he wouldn't pry either -- he knew that wasn't necessarily the way to go most of the time. Still, he was the one to bring it up, which told Sam he might want to vent a little bit.

"Not much to tell, really. Misty and I found two women in the cells. They took it pretty well, all things considered, which tells me they've probably seen some things prior to this." To what extent and what kind of "things" was yet to be determined, but both had seemed very familiar with weapons if nothing else.

[worthallthis]

"Very nice lady called me her handler and I freaked out," Soldat says, a little irritably, waving a hand as if trying to wave it off. They prowl the suite, checking Sam's window and the empty room opposite his. They've done it before. Security sweeps are still a thing even if the room hasn't changed since the last time they've been in it, sorry, Sam. "That's what people in HYDRA used to call themselves. My handlers. She was very kind about it, but it was still. Not great."

Coming back into the main room, they look around one more time from by the couch, then add, "They've all seen things, I think. Seem like nobody comes here totally innocent." Not even Daylight, not anymore. Poor kid. Who isn't even a kid anymore.

[notabirdcostume]

Sam lets Bucky do his thing, watching him when he's in the main lounge area, but not necessarily getting up to follow him into the adjacent bedrooms. He could sit -- but he'd been riding most of the day and it felt better to do a little stretching to work out his muscles as opposed to just collapsing into a chair. He'd learned pretty quickly that he'd have an easier night if he stretched now as opposed to just giving into the urge to be a couch potato for the evening.

"Not a great start...but it sounds like you were able to smooth things over a bit." He hasn't met this person, but if it's a woman Sam has an idea, "You could probably buy her a nice drink to make it up to her if you're overly concerned about your first impression." For his disheveled appearance, Bucky was still a good looking guy -- the nice lady probably appreciated that as much as anything else. Sam doesn't say this out loud though, instead amusing himself with the image.

He looks back over when Bucky rejoins him. He seems to go through a mental roster of the veteran players he knows vs some of the people he'd noticed down stairs. "You may have a point...could be that's something the people in charge look for before bringing people here." The closest approximation for all of this is reality television back home. There's an audition process to that and usually people are WILLING, but the point is people are vetted before they're allowed on. This is a game and, when all is said and done, they're being made to do this for entertainment. You wouldn't want to bring someone in who would just die without a fight.

III

[givemyrightarm]

"No." And even if she did, she'd be incredibly rusty by now.

[worthallthis]

That would make an easy out. But they're trying to be social. Trying. It's hard, they're out pf practice with it.

So making an attempt: "Could show you, if you're bored. Or solitaire. Don't need two people for that."

[givemyrightarm]

She considers for a moment, then shrugs and sits down. It will pass the time, if nothing else.

[worthallthis]

Okay. Now what. After a beat of staring in... her general direction-- Soldat does not do eye contact unless startled into it, or it's for something important-- and trying to guess which of the two options she wanted, they shake themselves a little. "Right. Poker is for more than one person. There's betting. Solitaire is just for one. Solitary. It's easier. Have you used cards before at all?"