february 2020. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Seventh Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of February 2020
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. the maze.

The sun is back. Only one this time! It is very very large.
But never mind that! Anchorites have a whole new area to explore. With the sun's return and the power surging through Anchor again, the water in the underground area has drained off, revealing a door that leads down to another level. There's only two doors. One that leads to some kind of observation room, the technology waterlogged and largely destroyed. The other leads to a blank hallway, short, with what looks like an open airlock hatch with a door that can be winched shut with a handle on both the inside and outside, leading into a room beyond.

That room beyond is empty, and the door will remain open until it reads more than one life sign inside the room. Then, it slams the hatch shut and starts to turn, rolling clockwise until what was the roof is now the floor. Then doors open. One straight ahead. One to the left. One to the right. One pointed downward. Even odds whether you walk through into another empty room or walk in and find yourself having a no good very bad day. If you do end up in a blank room, you may be sent in an endless zig-zag of empty spaces that either lead you to the door you came in at long last, or, well. End up ruining your day. Regardless of where you go or how you get there, you're aware that every hour on the hour, the rooms move abruptly forward, backward, up, down, without any rhyme or reason. The place is in motion, reshuffling itself, and the only way back out is through.

There are several types of rooms, scattered seemingly at random among the various rooms you can exit through.

ROOM A

The door opens and lets out a billow of cold air. Not just cold, it's freezing. You could take one of the other doors, but at least this one is different, isn't it? It feels like progress. But when you enter, the way back slams shut, leaving you in the dark and the cold with no one but your fellow trapped soul for company. This room won't open again for at least an hour. If you want to live, you're going to have to get nice and cozy.

ROOM B

This room, like the first, closes once you get inside. Crackling beams of energy flash across the room at seemingly random intervals and angles, blocking the way to any of the exits. Put a foot wrong, and you're liable to end up with a hole through it...or your torso. Watch long enough, however, and you might start to see a pattern in the way the energy travels. It still won't be easy to reach the other doorways, but at least now you have a fighting chance.

ROOM C

This room is a puzzle box. Immediately after you enter, the walls start moving, giant tiles sliding into place over the doors. It lurches, turns, spills you against one wall and the next in a dizzying, bruising circle. When it stops, the doors are hidden behind tiles of different sizes, and the only way to escape is to puzzle out how to move the tiles away from one of the doorways. Be quick about it - the longer it takes, the more layers of tiles creep in to make things harder, layer by layer, until the room starts to get pretty small....

ROOM D

Step inside, and the room lurches, dropping downward, then shifting left, then moving upward again. The doors in this room point in all directions except down. There are colored tiles all over the floor and walls. But that floor and those walls are moving, the tiles shifting in nebulous patterns, like some exterior hand is treating the space like a Rubik's cube.

Careful where you step. It's not an obvious puzzle to crack, but once you step on a tile of one color, you can only step on tiles of that color. Step elsewhere and who knows what will happen. The room could fill with toxic gas. It could start playing ear-splitting screams and the lights could start flashing. Or, one of the tiles could simply explode with a small enough charge to take off the leg that stepped there. The consequences vary, but they're never pleasant, and they never leave their victim unscathed.

ROOM E

There are monsters behind the glass walls. Rather, there is one very familiar looking monster. Ropy, plantlike tentacles weave in and out of one another, forming shapes and intricate designs with their tiny flowerlike mouths. They could almost be pretty, if you hadn't seen them for the first time protruding from Creepy Joe's eye.

Holes punctuate the roof and floor, and through those holes, sensing body heat, the tentacles start to crawl. Hunting for bare skin. Hunting for a host.

There's only one door out of here, and it's across the room from where you came in - and the way back is closed. Crossing the room poses the very real risk of infection from the creatures in the walls, but doing nothing is almost a guarantee of ending up with a nasty parasite.

Good luck.

b. matchmaker, matchmaker.

Those who don't venture down into the newly opened lab will suffer a very different kind of torture. The robo-matchmaker is at it again. Even odds as to whether or not it's malfunctioning or it's just bored because of how few people use the intimacy lounge. Either way, it's setting up dating profiles for residents of anchor and broadcasting them over the network to be seen by all and sundry. They might not be accurate, they might not even make sense, but what the 'bot lacks in prose style it makes up with enthusiasm. It's so enthusiastic, in fact, that it's messaging people on behalf of those too shy to do it themselves. The texts it sends are as off the wall as the profiles it creates, so seriously. Go nuts.

Thankfully, this time it's had the foresight to make a version for anyone underage, but where it draws that distinction can vary wildly, and is up to the player.

Robo-Matchmaker (?̵̢̠̀?̷̠͉͍̝̙̕ͅ?̡̢̡̹̩̖̝̞̪̦̘ͅ)

I͎͇̰̺̼͡ ̝̳̼̻͕̩͚á̷̳͍̫͕͞m̱̱̺͍̳̞̖ ̴̥͇̣͎̺̤̩͕̩͜h͖̕͞͠er͉̟͕͈̳̀ḙ͔̼̠̤ ͓̠̰̗̹̘̣͔t͏̸̤̳̙͍͎̮͕̞͢o҉̨̜͖̠̝͙̜̦̜ ̮̠̝̪̩̤̣m̖̻a̤͙̘̲̫̩̗k̮͓̀͜e̶̠͚͞ ̯̯̘̦͜͠you͈̹̟͔͜͠ͅr͈̮̮̗͖̜̠͠ ̮̗̗̹̘̬̠͢d̴̵̯͖̀r̷͇͍̦̗̯͢eaṃ̘͝͞ş̳̺̭̮͜ ̖͚͚͓͙͇͙͓̜c͖͕̰̞̺̟̫ớ͈̖͇̲̗m̶̞̟̣̘͎̘̲̣̕͢é̠̯͞ ̼t͔͢r͢͏̠̙̜̬͖̞̥̜ư̧͈̫͜e̹̮̮̝͝.̗̠̪̭̫͞

Interests: true love, friends with benefits, e͏͇̫m̲̤̬͟ ͉͍͜ǫ̙̟̳̲͘t̬͓i҉̟̼̣͓̯̜̞̼͜ ҉̛̺̪̣͈͖͖̟̥̺o̴̢͔̙̥̠̟̮̮̪̩n̷̗̜s҉̰̖̯͟͠

Assets: I̤̥̙̺̪̪̱͜ ̢̟k̢̰̫ͅn͕̤̳o̤͚͓͓w̲̬ ͠e̸̞̺̳͔̙ve̝̳̭̣̝͠ͅry͏̝̙̠t̲͚̠hi͕̣̯ng̭͓͕̖͈ ̖̣ą̰͖̲ͅbơ̯̥̹̠̱u͉̯̪͟t̜̞̱ yo̹͙ͅu̢̗.̡̪̥̙̱̘̞ ͕̀:̮̩̯̜̗̘)

Ass-ets: a bot never tells

✔ 😏 💀 🍆 ❤ 🔥 ✖

YES (✔)

NO (✖)

SAUCY EMOJI (👾)

<span style="font-size: 25px;">✔</span>

<span style="font-size: 25px;">✖</span>

<span style="font-size: 25px;">INSERTEMOJIHERE</span>

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Comments

[nockturnal]

This is ridiculous. Is it not enough that we are trapped here, that they must mock us as well?

Hn. It is a long story.

[circumspector]

I mean, it could be worse. I'm personally just grateful that my boyfriend I guess you'd call him comes from far enough back in the past that he doesn't know what a furry is to feel bad for the robot teasing us.

Well, as you mentioned, we are trapped here. I'm all ears.

[nockturnal]

Ah. You are spoken for.

[ Here's hoping whoever it is doesn't take offense to Angel having gotten so...comfortable with him, not so long ago. He'd taken no liberties with the situation, after all. ]

...it would be easier to show you. If you truly wish to know.

[circumspector]

Huh? [ Wait, Earth Guy.] Oh, right. No, not like that. We're not married or anything.

[ she picks up at that. ] I'd love to know.

[nockturnal]

Hrm. If you say so.

Where would you wish to meet?

[circumspector]

Is it dangerous? Because otherwise, my room is fine?

[nockturnal]

...will the Reindire be present?

[circumspector]

No? They don't all fit. I tend to leave them on the Ag level for the afternoon.

[nockturnal]

Hm. Very well.

Tell me where to find you.

[circumspector]

[ And she just texts him through the address to her shared rooms. ]

See you soon.

[nockturnal]

[ True enough, he makes his way there. It's not particularly hard to navigate the areas meant for them to reside in.

There's a rap at the door. ]

[circumspector]

[ Angel opens the door, and thankfully, this time, Angel is dressed. Maybe not dressed a lot, tiny shorts and a loose top, but distinctly, this time: clothed.

And keeping her distance as she waves him in to join her. ]

Tequila Sunrise?

[nockturnal]

[ Her newfound sense of decorum is noted. And appreciated.

With a cautious nod, he lets himself inside. He looks a little different than he did the last time, owing to a trip out of the complex with his brother. Distinctly less a man clinging to tradition, in appearance at the very least.

He does still bow his head, very slightly. ]

Yes, thank you.

[circumspector]

[ She nods, clipping her way over to the counter to mix them both a drink, the way the robot had shown her, tailing swishing behind her in wispy strikes at the ground, the long strands for fur there curling in loops. ]

So, dragons, huh? The only thing I've ever seen close to a dragon was this big hulking skag that had eaten a thresher but a tentacle had gotten stuck when it tried to throw up the leftovers and a bandit got confused about what it was seeing and through it was a dragon.

[nockturnal]

They are sacred to my family.

[ With quiet footfalls, he moves to join her at the counter. ]

My father once told tales of a pair of dragon brothers that we were descended from. The Shimada crest has always borne them as their sigil.

[circumspector]

[ She looks across to him briefly as she walks, the absent movements of animals that keeps her animated. Shaking her mane out, tail still slithering. ]

How did they become human then? For you to be a - well, not scaley?

[nockturnal]

[ But her animal-like qualities are such that he has gotten used to them, to a degree. They are simply a part of her. He is far less animate, movement even now measured and reserved, as he finds a seat to take. ]

According to the tale, they took human form in order to better understand the world they ruled over.

[circumspector]

[ The drinks poured, she follows to join him, balancing the cool glasses in her black claws, stark in the bright colours of the drink. ]

Must have been strange. You know, for a little while, I got turned back into a human by this... Cat-witch? She was the most gold person I ever met to not be made out of living crystal.

Anyway.

Let me tell you, going back to feet from hooves made for the slowest ten minute walk you can ever imagine. So the brother's must have had a time getting used to it.

[nockturnal]

The legends do not speak much of their difficulties in their day-to-day lives, after that. I imagine it was not as impressive.

But it was part of gaining humility and perspective. To learn the difficulties and simple joys of life on earth, rather than ruling the heavens without concern for those below.

[circumspector]

[ Is it wrong to want to embrace a mythical being and tell them it was alright to find it hard to adjust. Or rather, was that the usual response someone was meant to have to what he said? Because she thinks of that first.

Though she says nothing about it, just keeping her eyes down as she finishes off the last of the drinks, measuring out the tequila with a splash of the liquid against the soda drink already in there. ]

It is what makes it most worth it. The little things, I mean. The sunlight on leaves in the first moments of dawn, the smell of rain, the feel of ocean air.

[nockturnal]

Yes. So I have always been taught. There is beauty in simplicity.

But this is not the reason I came here.

[ He hesitates a moment before peeling back his jacket, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt. Beneath, the tattoo she's already seen lies inked into his skin, stark and richly pigmented and beautiful. ]

And there is more to the story than mere words.

[circumspector]

There is. That's just not the stories people ever remember.

[ Stepping back, she sits across from him. Settling the drink in front of him, curling her fingers around her own as she arranges her skirts to sit nicely with said tail. Tricky things. ]

Apparently. So what's the next chapter for these brothers, then?

[nockturnal]

This.

[ And when Hanzo closes his eyes, calls for them, a shimmering blue light emerges from the tattoo. From it unfurl a small pair of dragons, sinuous and serpentine, who both stare up at Angel with fierce little eyes.

They seem coiled to strike, but held in check, long enough for Angel to witness them. Then, a moment later they sink back into his skin, and the glow vanishes. ]

[circumspector]

[ Her eyes go wide, big and staring as she watches them emerge from him. The light on his skin. She has no question it's possible. Something had lived inside of her once if different in form and purpose and history. ]

So now the Dragon brothers live in you?

[nockturnal]

[ He manages to hold back a smile at the awe in her eyes, but only just. Even a creature such as she may still find surprises in the world. Something about that is...comforting. ]

That is perhaps a more simplified explanation, but...yes. Essentially so.

My family has been able to wield the dragons since that time. Or so the legend says. Such things seem to collect a somewhat romantic veneer over time.