august 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Second Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of August 2019
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. bright spots in the darkness.

The redout and accompanying power outage has been going on for over a week now - even though someone must have managed to get the generators up and running so things are a little less dismal, that doesn't mean that everything is fun and games. The generators are enough to power the essentials, like lighting, the MedBay, resident sat phones, sanitation facilities...basically just the things that make life livable instead of kicking the whole city back to the dark ages.

Sometime during the second week, though, around the end of July, residents might start to notice bright spots in the darkness, mostly around the Agricultural levels. Little bobbing blobs of bright blue or vibrant green or glowing red that move soundlessly through the night, poignantly noticeable because everything else is so dark. At first, and from a distance, they might look like your typical swamp gas fake ghost, little glowing smudges in the darkness. Could be promising...but it could be dangerous too.

If residents are brave enough to head up to the Agricultural levels in the darkness and investigate the source of the light, a mildly harrowing mission, they will find that the source of the glowing is...animals. Barely differing from the usual animals one might see in a daylight in the Agricultural levels, these animals prove to simply be nocturnal versions of the usual animals that might survive in the wild and who have made their homes in the faux forest and grasslands. And when everything else is dark, these creatures roam the night, letting off a curious and almost radioactive glow.

There are, however, a slightly wider variety of these animals, who are descendants of animals exposed heavily to radiation that mutated but did not kill them. While there are the usual deer and wild horses, foxes and monkeys, rodents and insects, there are also domestic creatures that seem to have thrived in their glow-in-the-dark forms where non-glowing ones were picked off by predators. Anyone investigating may find glowing kittens and puppies, domestic mice and rats, snakes that are open to being touched, and even a few more exotic domesticated pets like ferrets, hedgehogs, turtles and foxes. While these creatures are still wild, they are the descendants of domestic stock, and with a little effort and coddling, they might turn out to be passable pets, once they're scanned in the MedBay and found to not give off dangerous radiation.

It's not all puppies and kittens, though. Some of these seemingly predatorless glow-in-the-dark creatures are mutated, just like their regular counterparts, but to a more extensive degree. Keep a close eye out while you're trying to tame that adorable glowing purple kitten, because you might find yourself as the prey to a huge mutated lizard or spider, or maybe an oversized glowing wild warthog.

Nighttime exploring, after all, is for the brave at heart...and comes with pros and cons!

b. nightmare swarm.

As if the mutated glow-in-the-dark creatures in the Agricultural levels aren't bad enough, there's something new in Anchor to cause problems. A couple of weeks after the generator room was opened, strange apparitions start showing up in various places around the city. At first they're nebulous clouds that gather in places where there's strong evidence of past violence - in the upper levels of the city where there's serious fire damage, near the security station, hovering outside the armory or wherever there are burns and gouges into the stone walls of the city. But as the month wears on, the clouds start to take shape, and some of those shapes might be very familiar.

Starting at around August 8th, whenever a resident passes by one of these ominous clouds, it will start to coalesce into a solid form, the particles coming together into a concrete shape - the shape of fear. Whether the particles coalesce into the shape of a monster or villain from a character's homeworld or previous game setting, the nebulous representation of their worst fear, a person or thing from their past that evokes a terrible memory of trauma, or even just a generic horrific monster that would particularly frighten that particular person, it's something that is guaranteed to terrify. Essentially, they will turn into the worst thing that your character can imagine.

And these representations of fear? They're not ghosts, they're not digital afterimages, they're not apparitions or holos. They're real, or at least they feel real, they can do real damage, and they're almost impossible to kill. The best way to survive an encounter with the nightmare swarm? Run fast. Because they're generally confined to areas where the echoes of old violence linger, and the quicker you leave those areas the better. Get into whatever light you can, get somewhere safe, and the fear creature will dissipate back into a nebulous cloud, lying in wait for the next victim.

c. power up.

On August 2nd, the dust storm causing the redout and power outage will subside, and a stiff wind will take its place, washing away about two thirds of the red sand piled up on the dome. This fortuitous change in weather will make it possible to start work on getting the power back up. Residents will be able to exit the city through the usual channels so they can work on clearing the dust out of the various installations outside the city that transform wind and radiation and sunlight into power that keeps the city up and running. After they're cleared off, residents can start to get the power up by making repairs to the dust-damaged computer systems. Thankfully, once the power installations outside the city have been cleared off, an automated computer subroutine will boot up on some of the computer panels in the common areas of the residential quarters, with a user-friendly guide to repairing sand damage to the power system.

Mind you, the user guide assumes that residents have a lot of tools, supplies, and assistant bots that the current population doesn't really have on hand, so user-friendly or not, it's tougher than the system seems to think it is.

Thankfully, there is another option. Anyone with a particularly tech-savvy mind who's encountered the nightmare clouds might have picked up on it already, but the clouds are actually swarms of nanites. Released from the room that held the generators, these nanites were originally intended to conduct repairs on the city (there was a reason that room and those generators were so pristine!) that have been corrupted and are malfunctioning due to the ambient radiation in the city that has only increased since their creation. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of computers (and a very strong spine) could collect a sample of the clouds in one of the containment units from the labs or the R&D area, where the semi-functioning computer can be used to work out what's wrong with the nanites...and fix them.

If characters are able to work this out and deploy repairs to the various swarms around the city, those nanites might be super helpful for fixing some of the malfunctioning tech around the city. Food for thought!

d. the wreckage in the wasteland.

Once the emergency situation with the power is sorted out, residents might become a little curious about what caused all the trouble in the first place. The dust storm was, after all, initiated by a loud crash landing outside the city. With the dust storm abated and the windows in the Observation Area cleared off, residents will be able to see the wreckage of a spacecraft crashed into the ground, several miles out from the city. Far enough away to make it impossible to see any identifying marks, but close enough to be a tantalizing mystery for anyone so inclined.

Adventurous souls will be able to suit up and trek their way out to the site of the crash in the battery Jeeps to see what's going on, risking the rough ever-changing terrain and the possibility of a red shift, to see what might be salvageable from the crashed ship, or just in pursuit of knowledge. Once those characters approach, they will find the hulk of a badly-damaged spacecraft, about as big as a medium-sized cruise ship. The hull is badly burned, with tears in the metal, and it will be obvious to anyone who's got any experience with space travel (or even anyone who's watched enough sci-fi movies) to see that the ship didn't do well on its slow fall through the atmosphere. The metal is melted and punctured, anything that might have extended away from the hull has been burned off and lies in tatters, and the sand around the crash site is littered with metal and plastic debris.

But the one thing that's still possible to tell from the wreckage? It probably came from Anchor.

The ship is pieced together from salvaged materials, the tech will be familiar to anyone who's been in the colony for more than a couple days, and there's even a few corpses of very familiar bots lying in the sand. Approaching a large tear in the side of the hull will reveal a way inside the husk of a ship, giving access to the ship's small crew quarters section. If explorers choose to proceed inside, they'll be able to dig through what few personal items remain and find personal tablet computers and sat phones with their hard drives corrupted but possibly salvageable with the right skillset and the right technology repaired back in Anchor. They will also be able to find a way down further into the ship, though it's dark and clouded with sand and...well, quite menacing.

Because it isn't just the darkness and the danger of the red shift coming while you're trapped down there, or the danger of the ship's hull cracking with the weight of the sand piled up on its shell from the dust storm...but looking into the darkness, there's a flickering bluish glow. Digital and glitchy, it flickers from wall to wall, with the faintest impression of a human form. A face. A hand. The movement of hair or clothing. And then there's the echoing sounds - soft laughter, snippets of childrens' rhymes, unintelligible whispers or mumbles.

Well. Enter at your own risk.

ooc: exploration info.

As you can probably tell, this final prompt is kind of a doozy! While the first level of the ship is available for anyone to explore with the information provided in the prompt, going further into the ship will require mod guidance, via an NPC.

Any questions can be asked in the mod questions thread below, and if your characters have progressed to the point of wanting to explore deeper in the ship, please hit up the NPC request thread with a link to where the NPC should tag in.

Have fun guys!

Navigation.

Comments

[deadlycurves]

[Ben isn't wrong of his read of his brother: He is confused. And hurt. But Diego's always been good about compartmentalizing when he really needs to. It may show on his face, or in his eyes, but he can put it aside to deal with later when it really counts. He thinks this definitely qualifies as one of those 'when it really counts' kind of moments.] It's- it's okay, Ben. We... we all wanted something he could never give us, once. [And Ben had died before he'd had as many years under his belt to grow further bitter toward the old man. But Diego never feels right pointing to Ben's death for a reason for anything, so he keeps that to himself, even if it's true, and might still somehow hang in the air between them, too. When Dad barks at Ben again about training, Diego sees the instantaneous tension in his brother's shoulders, notices the way he absolutely freezes, rooted to the spot.] You don't have to go, Ben... You don't owe him anything.

[benhargreeves]

[ Before he'd come to this place - before this precise moment - Ben hadn't quite realized how much he's been avoiding dealing with any of this. He had thought, naively, that he'd processed it maturely and put it away, that he was miles ahead of his siblings like that. The only one who got over it and moved on. But really, all he'd done was taken those messy, scared, awful feelings around their father and buried them, intact. Now, running into him like this, it is like the world has taken a shovel to that shallow grave. So much easier to lecture other people about their coping mechanisms. So much easier to be detached and mature and recovered when he was a ghost and everything was numb and separate.

His breaths come in shallow little gasps, and he wants so badly to believe Diego. Turns to Diego only, face pleading, wanting to be rescued. Logically, he could just walk away. Nothing is physically preventing him. But he can't move his legs. And Reginald does not stop. The words are familiar ones, to Ben. Etched into his brain the way water carves a path through stone over time, wearing away at it little by little. ]

You are an abomination, Number Six. We have discussed this. Evil lives inside you. It is a part of you and always shall be. Since it is sadly not possible to change your wretched nature, you must learn to exercise constant, perfect control. I have taken the time to craft a regimen that will teach you to do that. Must I remind you what will happen if you fail?

[ Ben hangs his head and gives it a tiny shake. He doesn't need to be reminded, doesn't want to be. Even with his eyes closed now, he is hyper aware of Diego's presence. That he is hearing this. Hearing the sorts of things their father would say when it was just the two of them alone. He'd only ever told Klaus, about this part. Never the others. Never Diego. And now, all Ben thinks is that he's going to hear it and understand how true all of it is, and always has been. ]

Containing that darkness is your responsibility, Number Six. Weakness is not an excuse. Come with me this instant or I shall have Pogo fetch Number Seven and bring her to the training room. Do you want that?

[ And then Ben isn't thinking about Diego, anymore. Doesn't remember that he is an adult and his father is dead and they are in the Anchor a million miles and a universe away from that old mansion. Ben's face crumples even as he struggles to hold in his tears and he shakes his head, hard. This wasn't a trick Reginald had had to pull very often - threatening to bring one of his siblings in and punish Ben by making him use his powers to hurt them. He'd never had to carry it out, but the mere threat of it had been enough to overcome his objections, to force him into compliance. ]

No.

[ This version of Reginald reaches out, sets a hand on Ben's shoulder to steer him firmly away from Diego, and he doesn't resist, coming along the way he'd always come along while he was still alive. He'd never rebelled, like Five, like Diego, like Klaus in his own self-destructive way. ]

[deadlycurves]

Ben? [He calls his brother's name when he can feel the internalized panic, see the quick shakiness to his breaths as he stands there, their father looming like a dark cloud over them the same way he had always done in their lives. When Diego speaks again, his words mingle with Reginald's, trying to speak over him, to make Ben pay attention to him instead.] He's wrong, Ben. You are not an abomination, you're my brother. I don't care what he says, you are more than the darkness he saw in you. You're-- [But Ben's turning away, trudging off with Dad the same way he always did back when they were kids. Ever the obedient little solider, seeking father's approval. Weren't they all? Some of them just ended up more rebellious about it later. Diego practically lunges toward Ben, tries to catch his fingers around his brother's wrist and pull him back--] Ben, no! You don't have to go with him, he can't do anything to you or Vanya or any of us any more. He's dead, remember?

[benhargreeves]

[ Diego's grip on his wrist is hard enough to be painful, but that little jolt of pain is enough to snap Ben out of his daze. That, and Diego's harsh words, the look of fierce anger and love on his face. The clouded, confused look in Ben's eyes dissipates somewhat and he takes a step away from Reginald, towards his brother. Then he takes another step, and another, until he is standing close by Diego's side. Closer than he normally would, but there's nothing normal about what's going on right now. ]

I- I think I know what this is.

[ He remembers what he'd seen with Peter, with Pratt. Those had been other nightmares, other fears. But as soon as the idea occurs to him, it makes sense. ]

It's an illusion. They've been popping up, around. Showing people - the things they're most afraid of.

[ And he can say it, because it is Diego, and because he knows Diego will understand. Even if Diego had never heard their father talk to him quite like this, make that particular threat before. Ben is sure there are things he'd said and done, with Diego, that Ben doesn't know about. There isn't much he wouldn't believe Sir Reginald Hargreeves capable of.

At that moment, the nightmare version of Reginald lunges forward, as if to grab Ben and pull him away forcibly this time. Even knowing it's only an illusion, and knowing just how capable he himself is of self-defense, and harming people without too much trouble, Ben freezes up. Hearing that voice again, saying his name, seeing that cold expression, the monocle, all of it, has made Ben feel very small and very helpless. ]

[deadlycurves]

[Diego wouldn't care if Ben climbed on his shoulders right this second. The last thing he wants is for his brother to fall in line with their father like he always did. If he could just keep him away from him... they could get out of here, and away from this asshole.] An illusion? [He frowns a little and before he has much time to consider anything else, Reginald is lunging for Ben, which puts Diego instantly into action. He slams hard into the nightmare thing's side, hoping to knock it enough off balance to let Ben go and give his brother time to get the hell out of here.]

[benhargreeves]

[ It is so jarring to see Diego physically fighting back against their father. There had been tension, ready to bubble over at any moment, screaming and cold remarks, punishments and manipulation and mess. But Diego had never struck like this, never defended him in this way. Of course, Reginald had never tried to grab him in this way. But then, he hadn't needed to. He had had other ways of making Ben do whatever he wanted.

This version of Reginald does stumble, but not get completely off-balance. It's Diego he goes for next, and Ben moves without thinking. His fist arcs out and he absolutely clocks this fake version of Reginald on the jaw. It hurts way way more than Ben had expected, and he's cradling his hand against his chest even as he gasps: ]

C'mon, we should run -

[ He'd seen these things change their mind, their form, to be more deadly, and Ben doesn't want to wait for that to happen. At his brother's side, the two of them make a break for it, tearing down corridors and down stairs until they are a healthy distance away.

There's a stitch in Ben's side as he half-collapses against a wall, throat tight with tears he's trying not to shed as all of it comes crashing in around him. Even knowing it was an illusion, hearing all that again, those familiar long-ago words burned into his brain about what a monster he was, has him reeling badly. ]

Fuck.

[ All he wants is to be strong like Diego. To not be affected by it. Intellectually he knows what a bad person their father was. And yet, the ache is there in his chest, awful and yawning. Wanting to be loved. Hating himself for not being worth loving. Believing that all the work he's done to convince himself his father was wrong about him was just delusional self-flattery, and Reginald was right all this time. That the ugly truth is, even if his siblings were mistreated unfairly, that he deserved everything done to him.

Ben's face is crumpling even as he fights tears, and he wipes them away with the hand he had not used to punch. He tries to play off all his catastrophic emotional turmoil and distress as mere physical pain, choking out: ]

I think I sprained my hand.

[ Can a person even do that? Who cares. He's sure Diego won't believe a word of it. ]

[deadlycurves]

[There was a wild sort of satisfaction to actually physically attacking his father. The kind of thing he may have thought of and dreamed up doing a million times, but he never dared actually make a move on the man when he was alive. How could he? Between every single move any of them made being monitored and all the ways Reginald had to make Diego kowtow to him. But he's still caught off-guard when the nightmare-Dad reaches for him and instead, it meets Ben's fist. It's seconds as it happens, even though it all feels like it's happening in slow-motion, and then the boys are on the run. Diego didn't take the time to question it when Ben said to, he just booked it right on his brother's heels, as quickly as he could. He slows to a stop as Ben leans heavily against a wall, hands on his hips and he mutters a quiet:] Jesus. [For a moment, he's focused more on just trying to catch his breath-- he may be in shape, but there's something about fear, adrenaline, and running all added together that really takes a toll. He looks over at Ben and sees the way his features are cracking across the surface; it's a sight that tugs at something in his chest.] Anything feel broken? [He asks, reaching for Ben's hand, but not actually taking it in case he doesn't want Diego to check it out. There's a moment or two before he quietly, carefully asks:] Are you okay?

[benhargreeves]

I don't know.

[ The real answer is no. It's been a long time, but Ben had had broken bones, and he remembers how badly it had hurt, and this isn't the same. But he lets Diego take his hand and look it over, just in case. Besides, it's something like comfort, or adjacent to it, and Ben will take any measure of that he can get right now. ]

I'm okay.

[ It's such an obvious lie that Ben doesn't know why he bothers. His voice is stretched taut over tears he doesn't want to shed and he lets his head fall back against the wall, eyes screwed shut. Their father's words are reverberating over and over again in his head, now overlaid with a wash of shame, that Diego had heard all that. Swallowing, Ben chokes out: ]

Thank you. If you hadn't come by-

[ His voice breaks off, and he heaves a sharp sigh that doesn't quite hide the sob behind it, and he is not doing this. He is not going to shed tears over the past, over the fact that his asshole of a dad had thought he was a monster. But Ben can't seem to find the switch to shut it all off. He is shaking all over and it feels just as bad as it had felt all those years ago, when he was a teenager and still living, still in that house, still under his thumb. Diego had had time, to grow and process and find a way to live with it. All that process had been put on hold, for Ben. He'd thought he was past it, but turned out he'd just been dead. ]

[deadlycurves]

Definitely bruised. [He mumbles, carefully running his thumb across the knuckles of his brother's hand.] I don't know about fractures, but maybe we can check the medbay equipment for something to check for that? [His words are almost idle, just something else to focus on as he tries to push down anything that might have come up in the back of his mind from seeing his father again. But that doesn't mean he doesn't see it in Ben, that cracked mask of stoicism, only exacerbated and made more obvious since he can't hide the thin sound of his voice.] Hey... [He keeps his voice soft and even, puts a hand on Ben's shoulder.] Look at me. Listen... It's not true, okay? None of it. I don't care what he said, I don't care if he'd have had us all believe that in you. I know you. You're not a monster, Ben... You never have been.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben only shrugs at Diego's suggestion that he swing by the Medbay. If it were him, and one of his brothers had maybe hurt his hand, he would be lecturing up and down for them to act like a responsible adult and take care of it. Ben's a lot better at giving advice sometimes than he is at taking it.

He feels Diego putting a hand on his shoulder, a firm and heavy anchor. Ben makes himself look up at his brother, even though he knows he won't be able to hide any of the pain on his face. It's so hard, seeing that ferocious conviction on Diego's face. Ben can't help thinking how much stronger his brother is. How much further he's come.

And then Diego is telling him he isn't a monster, that he knows him better than Reginald ever did. There's a vein standing out slightly on Ben's forehead as he fights off tears, shaking his head and trying to make himself believe that Diego is right. He is at war with himself internally; his rational mind knowing that Reggie was manipulative, cruel, abusive, utterly unworth listening to or believing. But there is another part of his thoughts that will, he worries, always believe it was true. That he is unnatural, evil, and deserving of cruelty in ways his siblings never were.

With another shaky sigh, Ben says: ]

Why does it still hurt so much?

[ The question isn't one that is meant to be answered. He thinks Diego will understand. How did their father still have so much power over him, to reduce him so quickly to a pathetic mess like this? He doesn't want to be vulnerable like this. But apparently, he is. ]

[deadlycurves]

[That look on Ben's face is so much deeper than the surface of pain. Those fractures go bone deep and straight into his heart, and it's written so plainly on his face. Diego can feel an echo of it cracking across his own face, knowing there really isn't much if anything at all that he can do in this case. He wants to fix it, mend the broken pieces, but no number of assurances will be more than tape over a wound. Ben has had these things drilled into him for far too long, from far too young, to not still believe it at least a little. The thing is, even though Diego absolutely holds himself to certain, toxic sort of standards about perceived weakness or failures, it never doubles for other people. Other people are allowed to show those things. To cry. To be emotive in ways that aren't solely anger. So Ben being this close to the edge of falling apart doesn't change anything. It doesn't make him feel sorry for him, or pity him, he doesn't see it as weakness. He just wants to fix it, and he knows there's no way to.] Because some scars never heal. [It's the only thing he can think to say, and it somehow only manages to make the whole thing all the more depressing to say it. He doesn't bother trying to say anything else profound or comforting either way. He just tugs Ben over to him into a tight hug.]

[benhargreeves]

[ It's not exactly an optimistic answer, but it is, nonetheless, a comforting one. It is Diego, giving him permission to still be a little bit broken on the inside. Ben hadn't realized how much he might need that. He's always tended towards trying to make everything the best it can be, wanting his siblings to live up to their full potential, holding himself to an even stricter standard than any of them. But maybe... it's okay he isn't healed, yet. Maybe he's never going to get all the way there.

So he hugs Diego back, fiercely, clinging to him as tight as he can. And more than anything Diego could say, the hug helps. All those years of being insubstantial, incorporeal, had left more of a mark on Ben than he'd anticipated at first. When he'd been alive the first time, he hadn't really been all that big on physical contact, on touch in general. Now, Diego hugging him makes him let out a shaky exhalation, and he shuts his eyes tightly. It doesn't fix anything, but a few of the broken pieces inside him don't feel quite so fragmented.

Without loosening his grip or pulling away, Ben murmurs: ]

I can't believe you shoved him for me.

[ Then, with a bubbling incredulity: ]

I can't believe I punched him...

[ Yes, it had been an illusion. But it had been a hell of a convincing one. ]

[deadlycurves]

[He will hold onto him as long as Ben wants and allows for it, so he doesn't pull away until his brother does. The impossible heaviness of the moment eases a little with that first little murmur from Ben.] I know, right? [He chuckles a little, still grinning as he adds:] That must have felt amazing.

[benhargreeves]

It totally did.

[ It's easier to be alright with Diego here. With the memory of Diego's righteous fury, and his brother supporting him, making him solid and alive and something close to okay.

Eventually, Ben loosens his grip. He gives Diego a small smile, chagrined and wry and with sadness still there underneath it. But he's smiling. They're getting through it. The same way they always did - messily, and with one another as backup. ]

I'd say that calls for some ice cream.