midpointsaloon | Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

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.

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Her eyes widen almost comically. Something almost giddy skirts beneath it, this is clearly a pleasant kind of surprise. Clearly a more worldly sort, this woman.

"Louisiana. Down in the swamps, not by anything anybody'd have heard of. Alligators around ain't much to write home about - probably not anybody's friend if they've got free-roaming livestock or something, but other than that it can't be much different than having...I don't know, bears in the area?" There is, of course, bias. "They're fascinating to watch, really. Underrated. Loads smarter than people give them credit for, and not much for bothering you unless you're where you shouldn't be."

Which she often was, but. Latent magic has perks.

Inara can't help but laugh a bit at that expression. She’s been living in Poseidon for over a year now and sometimes it's easy to forget that there was a time where being invited to Thor the god of thunder’s dinosaur burger grilling party had seemed unbelievable.

"Louisiana -" the way she says it makes it clear that it's not a name with which she’s familiar - "isn't a place I've heard of, I'm sorry to say. Isn't it humid, living around a swamp?" Terraforming means that she doesn't have much experience with the kind of biomes that rich people don't like.

It's good natured, Misty trusts, and takes no offense.

"Incredibly. Not for everyone! But I had my whole life to be accustomed, and it really does grow on you after awhile. Air's richer, everything's lush, so much more to it than muck." Not that she doesn't have a fine appreciation of muck as well; it's proven to be an invaluable tool on more than one occasion. "Louisiana's a state, southern United States. There might be a map in the library? I've never looked for one, but I'd be surprised otherwise."

"Ah, " Inara says. She should have guessed. "Earth. Of course." She still isn't certain that she believes in the ice continent, despite Christine's assurances, but the planet had clearly hosted many different environments at one time.

"Not Earth in your case, then-?" The real question asks itself; in the meantime Misty merely cocks her head.

"Earth in a general sense, I suppose. It's where my ancestors were from but they left it behind long enough ago that all that remains are myths and the Cultural Preservation Enclaves."

Inara generally tries to be delicate about it; it turns out that people don't take well to the implication that their home planet winds up destroyed eventually.

"You are far far future, then, wow. We're not even on Mars yet, last I heard." Fortunately, Misty's got quite a bit else to be preoccupied with. The issue will cross her mind during later contemplation of the day's chats, but in the moment it's more of a bizarre misstep in a choose your own adventure book. "Kudos to you and yours, I guess. That's some accomplishment."

"We’ve built something beautiful out there, but all the same I think I'm happy to have left it behind." It's not that things on her new homeworld aren't complicated, but it's the sort of complication that she's willing to accept. "I admit I might be missing it a bit now, though."

"Wish I had any recommendations for that," she mumbles, souring somewhat. Homesickness doesn't quite apply for her, but she can respect it. Longing in all forms makes perfect sense. "Maybe something in the library you'd recognize, or the theater. Not...likely, but maybe something. Mementos are important, if we can find them."

"I wonder." Maybe she can find a story there about a sentimental idiot who walked away from her privileged life and fell in love with a pirate.

It's not fair to be sarcastic, though, even in her head. Misty is trying to help her, and it's not really her fault that Inara’s got her feelings wrapped around her throat. "It would have been nice to have been able to bring something like that. My friend just had a baby. I'm going to miss everything."

"Oh-- oh, I'm so sorry." Tremendous sort of occasion. Midpoint is worse than most anyone there deserves without question, but there's another layer of sympathy for individuals taken from something happy. Nothing in town to help with that. She scrambles for any worthy reply, ultimately coming up with a meager, "There's the point bailout, I guess? I've had weird sucked-into-places trouble before, and the time in compared to the time out might be a lot less than it feels like."

There had been some strange time dilation things going on back where she’d come from because of damage to the crashed ship. Strange to think that might be happening here, too. Of course, in the end, it might not matter anyway. If they're copies or something like it her friends are happy back there without her - with her but not this one - and she'll never be able to return.

"Thank you. It's all right." She might cry later, but certainly not here in front of a relative stranger. "How long was it last time? For you."

"Easier than most. Helps that I've never been leaving much behind." No family, friends, or mission, but if a non-depressing way of stating as much exists she hasn't yet found it. Simple answer does just fine. "Confused, more than anything. I'd been worse places, and I guess that's still the case? I'm not alone here, and in some ways it's been an upgrade every time."

She shrugs. "I'm a glass half full type. So. Biased."

"Don't worry about that. It's good to have someone like that around." Sure, people talked big sometimes about wanting to duct tape Kaylee so she'd stop being cheerful, but no one ever did, did they? Everyone needs their spirits buoyed a bit now and then.

"Reviews are pretty historically mixed," she replies, though not without a laugh. This has been plenty of time to get horses settled; even her own, easily agitated soul the he is, is focusing at least semicontentedly on his feed. There's meals to eat, teammates to continue touching base with, and she's eaten enough of this woman's time. "I should probably put in a meal order before North's swamped, but I'll be around the saloon awhile. Be seeing you?"

"Yes, I'll see you. Hopefully not on opposing teams, this time around." Or any time, but it's inevitable if either of them stick around.

Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

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