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

[itsnotaonesie]

[YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM

Peter's quiet for a moment while he surveys the scene, eventually nodding and turning back to Qubit.]

Yeah. Yeah, I can do that, but I think I should at least immobilize the robots on the way for you. Just to be safe, y'know? They're less predictable than the turrets.

[superposition]

[ He considers that, then nods again. ] Good idea. But only if you can do it without slowing down.

[ Out of the two of them, Peter is the one wearing armor. Qubit's trenchcoat is reinforced to a degree, but, uh... that only helps if he's wearing it. Which he's not, he left it back where he was working. I guess he could go back and get it, but that would throw off their whole momentum, it's probably fine, it's fine, he never has bad ideas and is certainly not any sort of adrenaline junkie.

It'll be fine. He just takes a second to limber up his shoulders, crack his knuckles, etc. ]

All right. You ready? On my mark.

[ He squares up to run, and holds up his fingers, watching for an opening. ]

One... two... mark!

[itsnotaonesie]

It won't slow me down.


[He sounds very confident about this. He reactivates his mask (which I guess he took off at some point and I forgot to mention OOOOPS) and gets into position.

As soon as Qubit gives the go ahead, Peter's off, this time focusing largely on dodging laser fire and trusting that Qubit knows what hes doing. Peter seems to have gotten his groove back, and manages to web some robots up without missing a beat. So far so good, how you doing back there Qbs?]

[superposition]

[ All right! A second wind, excellent! We're off to a strong start.

Qubit follows a few meters behind, hugging the wall below the turrets and shutting them off as he goes. Webbing the robots, it turns out, was an excellent idea - fewer for him to try and disconnect.

He keeps pace initially, more or less, but as the seconds go on, that starts leaning toward "less." He was thinking as long as he kept his power use to a minimum, he'd be all right, but this is starting to wear on him. And just as they're approaching the critical juncture - the heavily guarded final stretch - Qubit starts lagging behind. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[The lasers and robots won't slow Peter down, but realizing that his buddy is losing steam definitely will. He's going to have to slow down so that Qubit can keep pace with him, but if he slows down he's not only going to have to start webbing the turrets up again, he's also going to have to be even more on top of dodging laser fire. Oooooh boy he's starting to not feel super great about this.]

H-hey, are you okay? Do you wanna turn back?

[superposition]

[ Qubit's not feeling great about this, either - nor in general, for that matter. He's getting winded, he can't keep up this pace, and if Peter stops to help him, or worse, to discuss this - ]

I said don't slow down!

[ But he's slowing down himself, and he knows damn well that Peter can't and shouldn't keep up that pace without support. There are too many guns up ahead, too much coverage - one pause, one misstep, and he'll be eating all that fire.

They could turn back, but even then, the five or six robots currently rolling up on their position would pursue. That'd put them on defense while still in range of the turrets. Neither option is good.

They shouldn't have pushed on, he concludes, dread tying knots in his stomach. He can't give Peter the support he promised. He's not pulling his weight. He made a bad call.

He skids to a stop. ]

Actually, no! Yes! Fall ba-

[itsnotaonesie]

[OOOOOOH this is why Peter should have just done this by himself, he's gonna get someone else killed by robots and lasers oh god oh god oh god.

He's doing a fairly good job of dodging laser blasts, but by now he's fully webbing everything directly ahead of them while dodging, and with the robots trundling towards them on top of the turrets, it's a little too much to split his focus between. He's about to insist they fall back, but thankfully, Qubit has the same idea and beats him to it. Great minds think alike, and all that.]

Okay! I'll cover y-Ngah!

[So far his armor's been doing a good job of deflecting the laser fire, but he's caught very much off guard when one manages to penetrate through to his side, blasting a chunk of the armor off. It's more than enough to stagger him. Needless to say, he is now eating all that fire, trying to protect his face with one arm while trying to protect his exposed side with the other. OOOOH it's looking bad for Spider-Man, my dude.]

1/2

[superposition]

[ It happens so fast. But then, it always does.

Suddenly, they're in the worst-case scenario. Peter's pinned, taking fire, his armor's compromised, he's wounded, and it's not stopping, he'll die, they have only seconds, yet one feels like an hour

he can't move

no no no no no never again

It's been a long time.
More than a year now
since he made a bad call
that got a friend killed

but it's right there
in the foreground of his mind
clear as if it happened
yesterday
Scylla
Volt
Samsara
blood and
graves and the
smell of
burning
flesh

]

2/2

[superposition]

PARKER!

[ Qubit runs like a thing possessed, arms outstretched, his eyes burning with eerie light. Maybe just burning. His power pours freely through the robots' circuitry, his nerves are on fire, his vision blurs, and he knows immediately he's overdone it, but all he needs is a split second more, a single clock cycle, to clench his fist and command everything he's touching to

BREAK.

The nearest four robots grind to a halt, sparking and popping and stuttering as circuits short and joints separate and rotors collide. A thin trail of smoke rises from an exhaust port. They clatter to pieces, their insides mangled beyond recognition or repair.

"I want you to save a child! Can you do that?!"

Qubit collapses, unconscious. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter's head whips around in Qubit's direction, and sure enough that crazy bastard is just charging right into the middle of this shit. This is not ideal, it's kind of hard to draw fire away from someone when they're diving right into the deep end. Peter stops short of reaching out to grab him though, because as soon as Peter realizes that the guy is there, all the goddamn robots and turrets start breaking. Which is very good, because now Peter isn't taking anymore fire, but it's also not good because Qubit's on the damn floor. Welp.

Ignoring his injury, Peter tries his very best not to outright panic as he rushes over to Qubit's side and grips his shoulder.]

Qubit! Oh my God dude, are you okay? You're not okay, you're unconscious. Oh my God. Oh my God, okay uh. Shit. Shit.

[He's totally got this.]

[superposition]

[ I hope he does! Cause, uh, there are still another dozen robots a little ways down the hall, who noticed that ruckus, and Qubit is not responding. He is still breathing, but... yeah, it'll be upwards of an hour before you get anything out of him.

Sorry Pete he tried. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Oh no oh god ugh fuck okay. Peter will come back for that sweet sweet security room later. For now he's going to scoop Qubit up in his arms and rush his unconscious ass to the medbay, hopefully without jarring him around too much. There will definitely be some web swinging involved.

Once they get there, he gets Qubit situated on one of the probably not too horribly uncomfortable medbay beds and wheels one of the machines over to check his vitals and junk. It's a good thing this medbay was just designed to do everything for them because shit. He'll just sit here and stare at Qubit until he wakes up, his own injuries can wait.]

[superposition]

[ It's a restless sort of unconsciousness. He'll be still for a few minutes, but then his hands will twitch, or his mouth will move, or his eyes will almost open. Each time it's a false start, though. Until it's not.

After an hour and change, Qubit awakes with a start and a short, frightened yell. ] Gyah-!

[ It seems to be for real this time! He glances around, wild-eyed and disoriented. Where is he? What happened? Where's - ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Ya boi Peter is right here. As soon as Qubit wakes up all dramatic like, Peter reaches over and gently grips his shoulder, looking extremely relieved. Woo damn is he ever relieved.]

Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm right here, we're in the Medbay.

[superposition]

[ The grip pulls him back into reality, and finally he finds Peter's eyes. For a second he looks like he's seen a ghost. ]

Peter?

[ He's alive. He's alive. Qubit is too relieved for words.

It's also at about this point that he realizes he's experiencing the single worst migraine of his life.

He lets himself slump back onto the bed with one of those long, half-dead groans from the back of his throat, pressing on his eyes with the heels of his hands. Everything hurts and he regrets all his life choices. ]

Guhhhh. How long was I out?

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter lets Qubit's shoulder go as he flops back into the bed and gives him a sympathetic smile.]

About an hour, maybe a little longer. Whatever that thing you did was just knocked you out cold, man.

[Now that he knows that Qubit hadn't completely fried his brain earlier, Peter finally gets up to get out of his armor. It only takes a few seconds, the whole thing retracts with the push of a button. Unfortunately Peter's half webbed the shirt he had on under the armor to his skin so he wouldn't bleed everywhere so now he's just got a bloodshirt and ugh. That hadn't worked out as well as he'd hoped. Ah well.

Actually that laser had gouged his side pretty deep, that's probably not okay, but peter is going to continue to ignore it because obviously Qubit is in worse shape than he is and he has to make sure he's okay 8(]

Thanks, by the way. You really saved my ass back there, that was starting to get a little dicey.

[A LITTLE he says]

[superposition]

[ An hour. Damn... it's lucky Peter was there to save his ass. There's a lot to unpack about this incident, and he's trying to keep things logical in his head, but it's hard to focus with a splitting headache. The things he can focus on aren't data.

Why? Why did this happen?

... Well, he already knows the answer to that one.

Hearing the noise from Peter's suit, he hazards a glance over to watch it retract. It's tough getting his vision to focus, either, but ... that's a neat trick. Guess that explains how Stark "slapped it on him." He squeezes his eyes shut again, with a short scoff through his teeth. ]

Don't thank me, I'm the one who put you in that mess to begin with.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter turns to face him, his expression one that basically translates to "dude SERIOUSLY???". Because dude. Seriously.]

Okay, I would have been in that mess regardless of whether or not you had been there. I was literally in the middle of it when you showed up, and I would have absolutely still been in the middle of it even if you'd told me not to. I was there because I wanted to be there, so don't start pulling that crap, okay?

[Peter is basically an adult and he is fully capable of making his own poor choices.]

[superposition]

[ Oh. We're arguing now? Yeah, okay, that's exactly what this headache needs. Qubit pushes himself upright, which turns out to be a bad idea and makes it worse, but he literally isn't going to take this lying down. ]

That doesn't make it better, Peter! In that case I should have stopped you, not -

[ And that's when he sees the bloodshirt. His eyes go wide. ]

What is - good God, did you just field-dress that with your webbing? You've been sat in the medbay for an hour and you just left it like that? What the hell's wrong with you?!

[itsnotaonesie]

[That wasn't an argument, Peter's just tellin' it like it is. Qubit's making it an argument!!! Totally, that's totally whats happening for sure.

Peter wants to say "PSH like your old, slow ass could have stopped me", but he refrains, because he is too polite. Despite that though, he is straight up having a teenager moment right now.]

It's sterile! And I was a little more concerned over you cooking your own brain. I know I'm gonna heal, I have no idea what to expect from you, y'know? You just swoop in all yo, check out my crazy machine breakin' magic, and then you just drop like a sack of middle aged bricks!

[superposition]

It's not magic!

[ Yes, that's the part that offended him most. He points to whatever closet the medi-gel is kept in - there's a bandaging robot, right? That's probably a thing. ]

You get that mess cleaned up now. That's an order.

[itsnotaonesie]

[you come to MY HOUSE

Peter just looks astounded for a moment, like did this fool just roll up in here and try to tell Peter what to do???? Peter, who's been running this shit on his own without adult supervision since the day he got here, and this absolute disaster of a human being with the worst hair in the universe trundles on in and tries to give him an order??? Bitch please.

Peter really does need to address his open, bleeding wound situation, but instead of doing that, he's going to cross his arms and fix Qubit with the most rebellious "I dare you to come over here and say that to my face" look he can manage.

Bring it on.]

[superposition]

[ For a few seconds Qubit just... stares at him (squints, more accurately), genuinely baffled as to why Peter isn't going. Then he stops to think about it more than not at all.

He has no authority to order Peter around. The only possible basis for it lies in the age difference, the tacit premise that children should obey their elders. But that premise doesn't hold water, especially in a situation like this. The child was the one who kept his head, while the adult panicked and did something stupid.

Qubit squeezes his eyes shut and rubs his forehead. ]

Fine. Fine. Just... promise me you will get it looked at before you leave.

[ Wait no, that was still bossy, wasn't it. Uh. ]

Please.

[itsnotaonesie]

[damn right "please". Good manners will get you a lot further than being a big bossy weenie. Peter visibly relaxes, even giving Qubit a little nod before moving over to a table to take care of his injury.]

On it.

[He peels the webbing away and yanks his shirt off, immediately regrets doing that because now the bleeding's started again, and just presses his bundled up shirt to his side while he digs around for supplies. While he gets ready to patch himself up, he decides that it's time for some idle chit chat. Some suspicious idle chit chat.]

Y'know, I never actually told you my last name.

[But apparently, Qubit already knows it. INTERESTING.]

[superposition]

[ Qubit breathes a sigh of relief. Whatever, good. As long as he's actually doing it. It's not the first time he's had to swallow his pride like this, and it won't be the last. If they ever run out of food, at least he'll have humble pie to fall back on.

That relief only lasts until Peter peels off his field dressing. The wound's worse than he thought, and he thought it was terrible. And yet... the kid powered through it to drag around some sack of middle-aged bricks, left it untreated to stay with him, and in the end just got yelled at for his trouble. That's hardly fair.

But before he can cobble together an apology, the subject has changed.

Qubit freezes for a second, mentally backtracking through the incident. Did he-? Oh. Yeah. He sure did yell "Parker" at the top of his lungs. No getting around that. ]

That... that's true.

[ He sounds calm, mostly, but his mind is racing. If he'd been thinking, he'd never have let on that he knew. Secrets are his armor, and Peter's just found a chink in it. But... wait, no, he realizes, that's not an essential secret. He can safely give it up, if he's careful. Though it will require some context. ]

... This is ... not the first time I've been Ported to another world.