march 2020. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Seventh Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of March 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. escape the dome.

It seems the mysterious, massive plant with its giant bud is not going anywhere. In fact, the bud is starting to bloom, which presents a problem - it's starting to press against the dome that protects Anchor. So far, no harm done, but is this really the best way to test the kind of pressure that the dome can withstand? There's got to be some way to bring the plant down without destroying chunks of Anchor in the process...

And uh, you might want to get on that. The plant has been growing, sending out thorny vines into the various levels, and the flowers growing from those vines are, shall we say, aggressive. In fact, they're liable to bite if you get too close, and these things have razor-sharp petals. More eerily, they can mimic the voices they hear, usually using those borrowed voices to beg for help at the end of long corridors or in the back rooms of abandoned shops and restaurants.

b. planetary fly traps.

Following the voices can get a body in all kinds of trouble, because, well. They want to eat you.

In those dark areas where the voices call out there are larger buds, too, ones that look similar to the one now pressing up against Anchor's dome. They're about twice the size of an average human, and they've just barely opened. The colors inside are brilliant, gorgeous, mesmerizing, kind of exhausting... Get too close, and you could find yourself being slowly dragged in through the mouth of the plant into a bath of liquid that saps your energy while also slowly (very slowly, don't worry) consuming your flesh.

Better hope you snap out of it quickly, or have some backup to get you out of there.

c. misfire mayhem.

In case that wasn't enough, there's something funny going on with the comm system again. Texts being sent to the wrong people. Simple things, small things, yes, but also some things that you might have wanted to keep private or off the network. The misfires start on the morning of the 20th with just a few texts going to the wrong recipients, but slowly amps up throughout the day until voice and video calls are connecting to the wrong people. Recordings of conversations, including the audio and video ones, getting sent to completely unrelated residents, regardless of how private the conversation was.

The reason for the malfunctions becomes... well, clear-ish when Creepy Joe appears on the network. He’s in the agricultural sector, petting a reindire and very much not in that secure quarantine where Qubit et all left him. The angle is odd--not from a communicator, but from one of the security cameras overhead. It blinks from one shot of Joe to another angle. Almost like someone is trying to keep an eye on him.

mod notes.

Misfire texts, voice, and video conversations are on an opt-in basis, it is up to each player if they want their characters tormented with their messages being sent to others or receiving misfires. Misfires can be played on this log, on the network, or in IC inboxes.

The NPC network entry will explain some details on why, but characters who were kind to Creepy Joe or who have put in a lot of effort to contribute to the community will find that their messages are getting misfired much less often and the contents are nowhere near as sensitive. Characters who were cruel to Creepy Joe or who have hurt/stolen from others will find their messages going astray more often, and with more sensitive material.

Messages received by characters can include any message posted in redshiftrp or in IC inboxes, including messages from dropped characters. Have fun with that!

Important but Unrelated: March and April have been designated as check in only for AC. If you have not yet posted your AC, feel free to just put a check-in notice under your character's AC thread. April check-ins can be posted any time on or after April 1st.

Navigation.

Comments

[birdical]

Rey has mentioned not being a human before, but never really elaborated on it, save for saying that she was made rather than born. Elleru only has a passing idea of what that could possibly mean, and it'd be in relation to her world rather than Rey's — when other worlds are brought into the mix, the possibilities are truly endless. Was she created like a construct? Or is she some kind of magical being? Would Elleru's distrust of the latter change how she feels?

Her ears dip; Rey doesn't feel as though she has magic coursing through her, but Elleru can't be sure. The fact that she's uncertain of how she'd handle such a revelation, if true, sits poorly with her.

"Tell me," she murmurs. "Tell me why it is you were made."

[circumitus]

Much as Rey would like to dodge the question, she can't. After what Elleru had decided to share with her just now, it feels fundamentally wrong to dismiss now.

Shoulders sagging, her hands drop into her lap. She doesn't pull away; only finds herself getting lost in her own head as she mulls over the many ways she's supposed to answer such a loaded query.

"Guess it depends on who you talk to." She shrugs. "One party wanted to experiment with creating synthetic life, the other wanted a tool for war -- something that could fight with the strength of a whole battalion while also infiltrate and live among them. Too bad both sides worked together without ever coming to an agreement. Didn't end well for any of them."

Or Rey, for that matter. More importantly, it didn't end well for the only one that was actually worth a damn, as far as she is concerned.

[birdical]

Elleru frowns, genuine sympathy coloring her expression. She has only a limited understanding of constructs, be they clockwork, magical, or otherworldly; she does not know what kind of individual would play the role of a god, making a person just because they could. What she does know, however, is what it's like to be born with a singular purpose, and to have to redefine that purpose herself.

Though born to be an experiment or a weapon, it's clear that's not all Rey wants to be, even if she hasn't figured out just what it is she does want yet. It's a cruel, frightening position to be in, and Elleru can't help how her heart aches at the thought. Rey's insisted before that it's just how things are, and that there's not much better out there for her. She never had the freedom to be anything other than what she was made for. She doesn't know how to live, isn't sure she can learn how, and doesn't know if she deserves that life anyway.

Elleru refuses to believe that. Moreover, she refuses to let Rey believe that, shouldering her burdens all alone.

"I... know what it is like, Rrey," she admits tentatively. "I have told you before that some of my kind are born with gifts. I was born a shifter; I have known all my life what I would do. We use our ability to walk among uprights, and to learn more about them. We learn how we may survive them. It is our purpose, and to want otherwise is discouraged."

It may not be infiltrating their enemies to be used as a tool of war, but the basic premise is the same: they were born to walk among a people to whom they do not belong.

[circumitus]

Coming from most people, Rey would take any attempt at finding common ground in their experiences with a grain of salt. From what she knows about Elleru, however, it doesn't sound too far off. Sure, she probably wasn't utilized as a tool, but far be it from Rey to argue over specifics. Points to anyone for trying, though...

Her hands fold over her lap, her body unmoving as she picks at the back of her palms with the tips of her fingernails. She doesn't look Elleru in the eye right away. Can't bring herself to. Rey just nods absentmindedly as she takes in the implications of the other woman's lifestyle and how that would affect someone's way of thinking, should they be nurtured in that kind of environment.

It occurs to her then that she hadn't cleaned her hands since her last outing. There's dirt still clinging under her nails...

"Said your people were hunted. Can't blame you for being cautious," Rey finally says, her thoughts dragging back to the present conversation. "Didn't really have that sense of... responsibility that came with that. Just how our lives always was. Helped, not remembering every time, though. Head was messed with. Memories buried, given new ones. Lived a lot of different lives. Been different people. Most didn't know. Thought we were human. How we lived was usually out of ignorance, not to protect a people. Was a punishment, not duty."

It's hard to talk about her past selves as they are Rey herself -- even though they are her. They're a part of her. She is all of them and none of them. One and the same and nothing at all.

Remembering oftentimes makes it more difficult to talk. Her mind has a tendency to wander.

[birdical]

Rey may not be looking her way, but that doesn't stop Elleru from searching for her eyes. She puts a hand on top of Rey's, keeping her from picking at her skin. Maybe it's not a harmful habit, but she wants Rey's attention all the same.

"I do not know what it is like to be many people. To be reborn in so many different ways. I... cannot imagine what how it is to be someone other than myself. But they are not here, are they? Those who made you?"

[circumitus]

Elleru's hand does stop Rey from making her condition any worse. It doesn't take her long to respond this time.

"No, not here." She shakes her head. "They weren't all bad, but they're not alive anymore."

The good ones involved in the project that helped to create Rey and her many different bodies were so few and far between, she could only count them on one hand.

[birdical]

"Then they have no control over you," she insists. "They are not here. My elders are not here. We can be anyone we want to be."

And while she may feel guilty for that — for thinking of herself as somehow free from the duty to her people, if only for a time — she has to admit the prospect of truly having a life for herself makes her heart race. It's an adventure, the kind she's read about so often in her books, but she's the protagonist rather than some werebear looking for love.

She reddens, smiling as she looks keeps her eyes trained on Rey, determined to help show her the way, inwardly promising her friend that she'll never be alone again. "I have many forms, and you have many lives. We can decide which of them are truly us, together. Is that not exciting?"

[circumitus]

With a low sound, Rey does make an effort to meet Elleru's eyes this time. Slowly, she nods, drawing her fingers through that magenta hair.

Bit by bit, she allows her muscles to relax, only to linger on this moment rather than the many lives and deaths she had endured.

"Guess so," Rey says with a quiet exhale whistling between her lips. "The uncertainty and freedom is... new. But nice."

She can't say she hates having the opportunity, anymore.

[birdical]

"It will be nicer once you have learned how to live. I have promised to show you how, remember?"

As reluctant as she may be to forgo Rey's hand in her hair, Elleru gets to her feet, keeping Rey's hand with her. Not the least bit shy about her bare form, she cocks her head toward the steaming waters.

"But for now, let us enjoy the bath. We should not let it go to waste."