september 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Third Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of September 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. turrets.

That power surge kicked off some sh... stuff, all right. It took a while for the systems to cycle back on, but two new areas of Anchor are now accessible and usable. One of them is nice and relaxing and safe, and we'll get to that one in a minute. The other one, addressed first, is not very nice and not very relaxing and definitely not safe.

The internal defense systems on the upper levels have come to life, and have targeted anyone within their range as a hostile entity. Get ready to run the gauntlet if you want to turn them off - you'll have to dodge lasers, bullets, and aggressive defense bots (that can be rewired and/or rebooted to assist characters instead of trying to murder them). The reward? Getting to the heavily protected (think many many murderbots and lasers) security control room. If you can make it, you'll be able to reboot the internal defenses, turning off the aggressive targeting and having access for the first time to surveillance of almost all of Anchor. Those areas your characters didn't know were there? Revealed. Those dense patches of jungle-like growth in the agricultural center? You've got a spotlight into their heart.

Though, huh, not all the cameras seem to be working. What's with those screens that show up from time to time that are nothing but static?

Oh well, doesn't really matter, does it?

b. hot springs episode.

One of the areas adjacent to the bar and intimacy lounge has been sputtering on and off ever since the power surge. One evening, with a loud crack and a humming sound that slowly dissipates, the lights come on and water starts flowing down the artificial waterfall into the fountain out front. The spa is back online!

The lobby is inviting and zen, with holographic walls that depict scenic locations (some of them very unlike Earth), with fountains splashing delicately on either side of the door. The attendants are slightly malfunctioning bots, but the most harm they'll do is bring you six towels when you ask for one, or a bucket of massage oil to work on those knots in your back with.

There are three areas in the spa, each of them fully-outfitted with towels, robes of all sizes, fuzzy slippers, the works. One has all the amenities of a Turkish bath, right down to the fantastically arched roofs and mosaics of Istanbul. One is designed not unlike a Japanese hot spring, though the spring is heated artificially rather than naturally. The springs are large enough to be communal in some areas and small enough to be private in others, varying in depth from deep enough to swim on one end and shallow enough to sit on the bottom on the other. All hot springs have a stone shelf around the edges where those who don't want to swim can sit. The last area is more Western, with steam rooms, saunas, massage tables, and mud baths for the adventurous.

One thing all of these areas have in common: the settings on virtually everything can be adjusted to taste. Not in the traditional way, either. The steams and waters can be tweaked to be soporific, can serve as muscle relaxants, can ease anxiety, and can even bolster moods. None of these effects are involuntary, and none of them are brought on by drugs - it's more an advanced mix of pheromones and harmless compounds that can affect a single person or a given pool or room. Also, the baths and hot springs have adjustable bubble settings. The water colors can change, some of them even allowing characters to dye their hair the color that's been selected for the tub without staining their skin. Bubbles of all kinds can rise up out of the water, from the foamy comfort of childhood bubble baths to hovering golden bubbles that chime when you pop them. Characters can choose from a variety of bath salts, scents, and oils - the spas were designed not just for relaxation, but for pure and simple fun.

c. joe's dirt.

So you've survived the security malfunction. You've washed off the dirt and anxiety at the spa. But the newly reactivated security stations throughout Anchor have revealed something odd. There's a blip in the power systems in one area of the agricultural level, like something is siphoning off power from the main lines. Tracking down the source in the deep tangle of underbrush won't be easy, and there may be a few mutated, fanged, clawed cattle that maneuver shockingly well between the trees, but eventually you'll come to a breach in Anchor's wall. At first it just looks like a crack, but it's large enough to squeeze through and there's the darkness of an open space behind it. A tunnel, leading down into the earth outside, well below surface level and thus largely safe.
Wires run along the roof and floor, though the tunnel itself is dark. Walk long enough and you'll come to a wider space, open enough for two or three people to move around comfortably at the same time. It's still dark, lit only by screens that show the same security feeds that are available at the stations throughout the city. And others. Angles on the surface that show Anchor from a distance, and other visuals that don't show Anchor at all, trained instead on massive structures or formations or lakes out on the surface somewhere. But there's something more disturbing: there are cameras set to record some people's rooms. And the only rooms that are shown are occupied.

Someone has been here, recently enough to track where new people have moved in.

On the floor in one corner, there's a crumpled photograph of a man some might recognize as Creepy Joe, happy and whole, with a little girl sitting on his shoulder. It looks like it's been stamped into the dirt.

Navigation.

Comments

Rey | OTA.

[circumitus]

everyone hates a prologue;

You are welcome.

When the last thing she distinctly recalls is a deranged synthetic running her through with a rebar after announcing that they wanted her beating heart, those words were the last thing Rey expected to wake up to. In fact, she didn't expect to wake up at all, let alone in a room devoid of restraints. Her mind attempts to catch up to everything while simultaneously listening to the message coming from the screen. She's only half-paying attention when she scrambles, looking down at her body, her hands finding her chest where the metal had pierced her ribs.

Nothing. Even after lifting the hem of her tanktop, all that's revealed underneath is a nasty scar, two inches in diameter. She glances around the room she's in, recognizing medical equipment and automatons that appear to be finishing up whatever work they were performing on her however long ago.

...how to navigate your new home.

Her head darts back to the screen, wild-eyed and heavy breathed as she absorbs only bits and pieces of what that guy was saying.

"No. No no no no no. Fuck you, IV -- am not doing that!" She seethes at the now-blank monitor, tempted to add one more crack into that glass at the risk of drawing attention from the robots. Was that bitch serious? Her new home? Rey catches herself against the wall, clutching her chest. Sweat beads down her bruised face, still feeling the fresh cuts and contusions from her recent scuffle.

As if sensing her panic, a robot turns to her. Whether it intends on tending to those injuries or not, Rey doesn't give it that chance -- before opting to punch a dent into the machine before hurrying out of the room as fast as her legs could bother to carry her.

i. entrance and surface level; [note: one reply only]

Whatever game IV was playing at was unclear. Of all the fucked up things Rey had seen the synthetics do to their numbers at the sky prison, they were not above mind games and forced simulations to see how one would react under a stressful situation.

And this situation? Definitely stressful. Even a hot shower, no matter how pleasant, did very little to settle her nerves. Her shoulders tensed until her neck ached by the time she got back to her clothes and sorted through her belongings, as instructed, dreading what insane nonsense came next.

That was when she found her things. All of them. From her pack including her Exurosuit and clothes to Schuyler goddamned dogtags. She picks up the chains, shaking, teeth gritting, as memories of the last thing she saw before unconsciousness took her -- those unmistakable tangerine eyes belonging to that sociopath of a machine woman who wanted her heart... and not in the symbolic, romantic sense, but to take her literal beating goddamn heart right out of her chest.

"All right," Rey growls under her breath, her thoughts zeroing in on a single goal. She pulls the dogtags around her neck, her throat tight and the back of her lids burning with fury. "Have danced to your crazy tune long enough..."

Storming out of the decontamination area after playing along with what seemed like a routine arrival, her immediate aim is to stop the first person she sees. Be they looking like they belong here or just coming to the same as she, it doesn't matter. If she has to halt them by force, she's more than capable of doing just that. She'll make anything a weapon -- hell, use herself as a weapon if she has to. Whatever it takes.

Puffs of smoke and sparks spit from her mouth, her low voice dark and threatening when she speaks. "Where the fuck is IV?"

To her, no one could have possibly pulled off anything else like this. Maybe the bitch thought she could get into Rey's head and make her march with the other synthetic worker bees. No matter what the plan might be, Rey figures she'll make IV regret letting her walk out of that damned room.

ii. hot springs episode;

Rest and relaxation are not common words in Rey's vocabulary. In fact, she can count on one hand the number of times she allowed herself to properly take the time for self care, if one could even count 'drink so much you forget who you are' as treating yourself.

After familiarizing herself with the schematics and weak points of the sky prison, the only thing that pisses her off more about learning that Concord is not the place she ended up back at is the fact that she now has to re-discover her surroundings all over again. Not exactly her idea of a fun time, but at least now she doesn't have to worry about synthetic experiments coming to try and rip her limbs off like before.

That doesn't mean Rey isn't on her guard. Even when she finds the calming sound of running water and soothing steam that thickens the air, every fiber of her being still bristles at the sight of the spa as she waits for the other shoe to drop. For this place to reveal itself to not be what it appears to.

For a sign that none of this is real. That she still can't close her eyes and not expect something dangerous and hungry lurking beneath the waters.

As it is, she's showing no signs of wanting to dive in, let alone removing her clothes.

ii. hot springs episode;

[abheirrant]

While the spa itself may show no signs of impending calamity, the sound of footsteps running down the hall, into her room, and the door to said room being slammed shut might... or maybe that's just the norm for the masked, panicked fellow who enters the room behind Rey, not even realizing she's in there with him until he's already closed the door. He turns and leans against it, noticing belatedly that he's not alone.

"Ah! Sorry!" He covers his eyes with one gloved hand, knocking his glasses askew. Was she still wearing clothes? He didn't look long enough to notice, but given the obvious purpose of a place filled with baths, he'd rather just play it safe. His voice picks up, his panic bleeding into his every word. "Sorry sorry. Didn't mean to barge in here -- I mean, I did, but it wasn't for- for for for lecherous purposes, but that there are- there are constructs outside and I would rather avoid them if possible. Forever. Or until they leave, but probably forever."

[circumitus]

Head snapping in the direction of the hurried footfalls, Rey already recognizes the shape storming in -- probably before he even does, with how quickly and modestly he withholds his gaze.

Pointless, really, since she's not any more undressed now than the last time they met at the abandoned, zombie-infested grocery store. She just blinks, brows furrowed as it finally dawns on her what he's saying. What he's assuming.

"Constructs, huh?" The rest of her turns to him, arms folded tight over her chest. "We should probably stop meeting like this -- unless you're always a manic shitshow."

Which, knowing her luck, is likely the case.

[abheirrant]

Recognizing her voice -- and her tone as she calls him a 'manic shitshow' -- Carlisle peeks from between his fingers. Yes indeed, that is the pyromancer before him, or the one who claimed what she did was just how she was made rather than magical talent. It was a conundrum that Carlisle didn't have time to question, as he was too horrified by the ease with which she dispatched the undead with said not-magic.

In good news, there are no undead around this time (other than the one exception), and she isn't naked, as he'd anticipated. His relief is immediate, his apologies replaced by mild aggravation.

"I have more composure on most days," he insists. "You have only managed to see me at times where I was ill-prepared to deal with the stresses placed upon me."

Given said stress is currently a machine following him around with a stack of towels, there isn't much to be said on whether or not her description of him was painfully on-point.

[circumitus]

Given their circumstances, both back then and present, Rey can't say she blames anyone for being a jittery mess. Whether this is real or a simulation that she's been made to believe is real, it would be foolish to take unnecessary risks.

For now, it's been baby steps.

"If you say so," she says, pokerfaced and wary.

Just because he looks harmless doesn't mean he actually is.

Hooking a hand behind her neck and dropping her other arm to her side, she sighs. "So. What were you running from just before?" And does she need to kill it?

[abheirrant]

"Constructs," he answers immediately, mimicking her movement as he rubs at the back of his own neck, careful not to push his veil to far to the side and reveal what lies beneath. What flesh he has left that used to be his ears is unfortunately telling of what he is, the soft tissues having long ago decayed. "They are- they are unfeeling, and more... advanced than what I am used to. I cannot bring myself to trust them. It's hard to trust any of this."

He gestures to the room, a perfect picture of safety. The man-in-the-glass said they were welcome, and those he's met so far have been accommodating, but he cannot help his old habits.

[circumitus]

It takes Rey a moment to piece together what he means by 'constructs', but she's pretty quick to put two and two together. Not the word she would use, but if that portal bullshit that guy on the screen talked about was true... maybe, maybe not everyone here comes from the same place. Or maybe it's what IV would want her to think. There's no real way of knowing unless she looks deeper into things. Her surroundings, the people she's stuck here with, the works.

"You mean the robots, right?" Rey eyes him warily. Just because he's just as distrustful of the things here as she is doesn't mean shit until proven that he, too, can be trusted. "At least not all of them seem keen on attacking or getting into your business."

Not unlike those turrets or the overly invasive medbots where Rey woke up at. Fuck those guys.

[abheirrant]

Carlisle shifts uncomfortably, murmuring robots beneath his breath as he attempts to fully commit the term to memory. "I would consider them following my every step to be 'getting into my business,' if I am completely honest. Though the way you say 'not all of them' isn't very reassuring, either."

He looks at the steaming bath, and then to her, still feeling he's interrupting a private moment, but too rattled to go back into the hallway. "Have you dealt with them the same way you deal with undeads?"

[circumitus]

Well, that checks out. Rey had been fairly elusive when it comes to any robots coming near her again, but she's not surprised to hear that they're a feature of this place.

Doesn't help with her concerned, however.

She grinds her teeth at his question before reluctantly answering.

"Have much more experience with them than walking dead people, yeah. The latter isn't actually a thing on the home front." Just had to kill some really sick people with worms in their brain before, Rey would add, but this guy already looks like he's wigging out. No need to set him off any further.

[abheirrant]

"Oh. Okay. Good. That's good. That is good."

Carlisle nods, as though trying to convince himself that this strange pyromancer having experience with dispatching robots is, indeed, a good thing. Yes, he decides, it's good that she can deal with them so he doesn't have to, assuming she doesn't light him on fire in the process... or before, given he's still standing awkwardly in the room where she was, presumably, going to take a bath.

His sensibilities butt against his fears, and the latter wins. "Could you... deal with them now, do you think?"

[circumitus]

The flat, blank expression on Rey's face makes it difficult for the undiscerning type to read her properly. Even her rather harsh words end up delivered in a muted and confusing tone...

"Wow, you've got some nerve to just barge in here, asking something like that pro bono." It's not like Rey expects payment from him or anything, but it's the principal of the matter. If Rey starts taking requests and charities now, what is he going to ask of her next? Despite his jittery demeanor, he's still a suspicious person.

Hell, at the moment? Everyone is suspicious to Rey. What if he was playing up the pathetic act only to lure her into a trap? Maybe he's playing coy to get information out of her.

Shit. She needs to keep her mouth shut more. Interaction with others is admittedly nice after being holed up in secret passages of the sky prison in relative isolation for nearly a month, but observing people has only given her more cause to play it safe.

[abheirrant]

Carlisle averts his eyes, embarrassment lacing into his brow. "I ask because the other option is that I stay in here until they leave, and I assumed I was interrupting something."

Like taking a bath, as one does in a bathhouse. Room. Area of the Anchor. Whichever.

"We do not have robots like those where I come from," he explains again. "We- we don't have any thing like any of this. Bathhouses, yes, but- but not portals to other worlds, or communication devices, or desolate colonies built in barren wastelands. I- I did not mean to assume you would help me. I am merely trying to cope with these changes as they come."

And if his visibly rattled nerves are any indication, he's not coping well at all.

[circumitus]

This guy sure is hopeless, isn't he? She'd suspected it from the start that he isn't the fighting type, but that's hardly been much of an excuse in her book.

"It's not a good idea to become indebted to others," Rey points out. Then, she raises a brow. "Besides, you look like you could be a badass if you put your mind to it, what with the whole..."

She makes wavy hands at Carlisle's getup, which looks so intricately put together that it totally betrays the everyman impression.

1. dibs

[superposition]

Wouldn't you know it, Qubit's that lucky first person. He's spent much of the morning establishing a perimeter around the arrival room, so that the security bots can't get in and spawn camp the newbies (not that he'd put it in those terms). When Rey comes out and joins him, he's got one of the bots partially disassembled, with half his forearm buried in the chassis.

He glances up at this woman, furious, battle-scarred and literally spitting fire... then irritably holds up one index finger and goes back to what he's doing. "One second."

See, it's bad timing - he's trying to wrench a really fiddly component into place, and he's almost got it. Could she roast him alive? Probably. Will she? Maybe. Does he care? Not as much as he cares about this stupid tiny widget.

[circumitus]

Even luckier is Rey finding Qubit doing one of the few things that gives her pause. Since disassembling and studying the parts of various synthetic bodies in order to learn how to best avoid them in the sky prison, familiarizing herself with the makeup of these new machines was inevitably on the agenda, given the chance.

While swallowing the next righteous burst of smoke huffing from the depths of her throat, Rey covers her mouth and releases what sounds like an airy burp of sulfur-scent into the palm of her hand. Her hackles are raised, but once she recognizes that this guy is taking that robot apart rather than putting it back together? Well, that changes the line of questioning a little.

"Learn anything from that?" There's no way in hell she's going to pal it up with the first person she sees, but the least she can do is figure out if he's doing what she thinks he's doing.

Getting intel, that is.

[superposition]

Qubit gives the part a little elbow grease, and it finally clicks into place. "There we go!" He straightens and dusts off his hands, then presses on the base of his thumb to work out the stiffness. Geez, his powers have really spoiled him over the years.

"I've learned," he says, "that they have circuit-level security on the IFF. Pretty standard stuff. I could code around it, but a direct bypass is much quicker." He stands up and stretches his back. (Doesn't pop. That's a shame.) "So now, once I put it back together, it'll answer to me."

She has his full attention now, though. He's curious how she'll react.

[circumitus]

If nothing else, it seems like he knows his way around machines. Then again, so did the synthetics, obviously. And the second he mentions it answering to him, Rey's back on the defensive and seeing everything as though it might also stab her in the chest again and take her heart. It happens.

"And altering its permissions accomplishes... what, exactly?"

Just what are you planning? is basically the more pertinent question now.

[superposition]

"Well, it means it'll stop shooting at us, for a start." He gestures at the general area they're in. "The defense systems on the top levels went haywire this morning. I figured it'd be best to establish a safe zone here, prevent any new arrivals from getting killed."

He nods toward said new arrival. "Evidently, that was the right move. Qubit, by the way. And you are?"

[circumitus]

Okay, that's not... overly suspicious. Her gaze falls to the machine he had been working on. "So those things are equipped for combat, then?"

Good thing Rey got out of that room fast as she did after punching that robot... It didn't look like it was going to attack her, but she'd rather not take her chances when it comes to machines. Even more so when she isn't yet familiar with the purpose and programmers that made them. For all she knew, Rey was never intended to wake up and the robot would have done something about that.

She brings a hand to her chin, her face still sore from the beating and rough trip that occurred before she woke up in that solitary room.

"Rey," she replies, not providing any more than what she's been given.

[superposition]

"Charmed." He doesn't attempt a handshake, and doubts she'd be receptive to one anyway. "They are. Although more specifically, they appear to be custom-designed intrusion response platforms tailored to Anchor in particular. It'd take some doing to adapt them for general combat... if we had any reason to do that," he adds, shrugging his shoulders.

[circumitus]

Oh thank fuck this guy isn't looking for physical gestures and the usual niceties that come with first greetings. Already Rey had left that decontamination area expecting that she might have to snap a few necks before she could get any answers; she's still trying to ride down that edge without letting down her guard too much.

"Right," Rey says through her teeth. "Those things'd probably be better off as scraps, honestly. If they can be rewired and hacked, just means someone else can do the same. Make it worse."

Then again, the same thing could be said for Rey and her synthetic brain, herself. It's not like fake memories haven't been planted into her head to manipulate her towards a specific goal before.

[superposition]

Qubit shakes his head thoughtfully, eyeing his project. "Hmm... I disagree. All they are is machines, you know. Tools. You wouldn't throw out all your kitchen knives just because someone could attack you with them."

... It's not a perfect analogy, since kitchen knives don't normally get up and attack you on their own, but her hypothetical did involve a hostile third party, and he is nothing if not insufferably pedantic.

"The risks can be mitigated. Believe me, I've got a few upgrades in mind already," he continues. "They're far more useful intact - and I have a hunch we're going to need them."

[circumitus]

How infuriatingly reasonable this guy is being. Not that it's a bad thing, but when you're looking to take some of that pent up panic and anger on something, anything...

Well, Rey is having a sudden itch to go back and punch that medbot again.

"This place crawling with much more of those things or something?"

She hates the idea of running into multiple machines in the future. She hates not knowing which ones will be controlled by someone else or be running on its 'factory settings' and what that could mean for survival. She hates literally everything about this.

[superposition]

"Er - well, at the moment, yes. I'm still working on that." He waves his hand dismissively, but also seems mildly embarrassed. It's a work in progress! It'll get better...!

"But I'm talking about after we've reestablished control," he adds quickly. "Think about it. The people who built this station put them here for a reason. Whatever trouble they were expecting, we'll need to be prepared for as well."

[circumitus]

"Or maybe they played a role in whatever happened here." She glances around. "Place like this should be bustling like clockwork. Where the fuck are the people?"

And maybe Rey should be counting her luck that she isn't somewhere on the brink of the stratosphere, about to have her chest cavity ripped open. But she'll work on that gratitude part somewhere much later down the line.