september 2019. welcome to the void.

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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

[writtendestiny]

[Oh, no, he's cute.

But she knew that already, and it's a small proportion of why she likes him. Which... you know, she's been trying to tell him for months without actually saying it, and had just about given up on the idea that he might feel the same.]

That's okay. [The slight flush around the tops of her cheekbones is definitely the warmth of the water, and nothing else.] Close your eyes.

[itsnotaonesie]

[HAH you were trying to use SUBTLE HINTS on this fool? God no wonder he never picked up on it, he's as dense as a brick wall sometimes.

He gives her a quizzical look, but does as he's told. Now he's standing there with his eyes closed, fully clothed in a friggen pool.]

[writtendestiny]

[A dumbass. A sweet, well-meaning, nerdy dumbass. And... hers? Perhaps. Maybe that's what this is all going to lead to.

Good thing one of them knows how this works.

Poison smiles before she kisses him, pressing that gentle curve of amusement into it. One hand falls on his shoulder, the other around the back of his neck. It's soft and warm and linger and not quick, but it is interrupted by a thought that comes out when she moves back.]

You should probably get out of the water now.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter, being Peter, unconsciously holds his breath the entire time. She is so much better at this than he is, he's equal parts impressed and terrified that he's somehow going to goof this up too. So he just. Stands perfectly still.

When she pulls back he exhales a shaky breath and opens his eyes, just staring at her in awe for a moment before he registers what she's saying to him.]

O-oh. Right. I'm... yeah, I'm gonna do that.

[And he does, he wades over to the edge of the pool and hops out, looks down at his soggyass self, and peels his wet shirt off so he can wring it out.]

Y'know, is it bad that this all went way better than I expected it to?

[writtendestiny]

[When he's out of the pool (and Poison is sure he isn't going to fall in again), she pulls herself out and sits on the edge. When he says that, she smirks.]

If that was better than you expected, I'd hate to think what your actual expectations were.

[If she's being honest, she can take a guess just knowing what she does of Peter. He expected her to say no, at the very best.]

How does this usually go for you?

[itsnotaonesie]

Usually? Uh... well I only ever asked one girl out back home, and it got real complicated real fast. Not in a good way.

[He finishes wringing his shirt out and holds it up, debating whether or not he wants so put this soggy mess back on. It's cold, he doesn't really want to. Uuuughhh.]

This is better, though. This is a lot better.

[writtendestiny]

Yeah. Yeah, it is.

[She leans back on her hands, watching him examining his shirt, and allows herself a small smile. It's a risk - it's always a risk in places like this - but it's not the first time she's taken it and she'll be damned if she's going to let the uncertainty of permanence here ruin anything for her.]

... You can go and get a towel or something, if you want to.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter looks between Poison and his shirt, and kind of chews on his lip like he's trying to decide what he even wants to do right now. This is the first time pretty much since he got here that he's thinking he might want to take a break from working his ass off and hop into the water, BUT he doesn't have any swimming trunks. I mean he has his boxers but that would be RUDE.]

Yeah, I think I saw some on my way in. Man, I'm actually going to have to find something to go swimming in now. Where'd you find that swim suit?

[writtendestiny]

Oh, one of the shops. [She looks down at the item of clothing, giving the smallest little shrug.]

There isn't very much outside of what we need to survive, but I found this.

[Not that Poison minds the fact that they get what they need to survive. It's a nice change, if she's thinking about it. Things seem to be getting progressively easier for her in each new 'world' she ends up in, and maybe the next one will just be like a holiday.]

Were you thinking about joining me?

[itsnotaonesie]

Yeah, if you don't mind. I figure there's plenty of time to check the rest of the area later, y'know?

[Turns out all Peter needed to convince him to relax for once holy shit was a pretty girl to spend time with, who knew. Don't let anyone else know about his one weakness.]

[writtendestiny]

Why would I mind?

[Once again, the warmth on her face is definitely because it's hot in here, and not because of anything else.]

All things considered. It would be strange if I minded.

[itsnotaonesie]

I just mean like, I don't know if you're planning to get out soon? But yeah, I mean, good point. Uh. I'm gonna run out real quick and grab some stuff and I'll be back.

[He stares at his cold, soggy shirt for a second before just sucking it up and pulling it back over his head UUUUGH.]

Okay, brb.

...And I just said that out loud. Just-- I'm gonna--

[He just points at the exit like I'M GOING NOW, and goes now.

It's about 30ish minutes before he returns again, sporting a dry set of clothes and his backpack]

[writtendestiny]

I wasn't planning on it.

[She gives him the slightest of puzzled looks when he comes out with 'brb'. Poison has picked up a lot of things in the last couple of years but things like that still elude her at times.

But she doesn't ask, and she gets back into the water while she waits.

It takes a few minutes of quiet solitude for her to realise that her heart is racing, and that she can barely believe that she's doing this again. How many times does a person need to be hurt before they stop trying to do the very thing that hurt them? She likes Peter. She likes Peter a lot, and...

And he likes her back, and that's wonderful.

She smiles immediately when he reappears, and straightens up from where she'd sunk into the water almost up to her chin.]

[itsnotaonesie]

[The whole time Peter was gone his brain was just screaming FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at him. He's half still just blown away that she hadn't turned him down, half terrified that he's gonna fuck it up somehow, and half just so excited right now you guys. That's three halves I don't care.

So anyway, he's back, and after he sheds the dry clothes he'd put on over his new swimming trunks and tosses them into his bag, he joins Poison in the water.]

This is way better without having wet jeans clinging to my legs.

[writtendestiny]

[With as well as Poison now knows Peter, she is reasonably sure that he's already thought of at least a dozen ways in which all of this can go horribly wrong, even though she's already said 'yes' to him. Or, kissed him, in any case.]

I did wonder why you thought jumping into the pool was a good idea. [She muses, her voice entirely serious but her violet eyes lit up slightly with amusement.]

[itsnotaonesie]

[YUUUUUP, THAT'S PETER.]

Yeaaaah, that uh, that first one was an accident. Definitely not what I was going for, but uh, I guess it worked out, huh?

[writtendestiny]

That's one way to put it. [She grins at him, an expression that's entirely unabashed, and sinks down a little lower in the water.]

So, do I need to ask you if you want to be my boyfriend?

[itsnotaonesie]

[YYyyyeah that is one way to put it. He nods kind of sheepishly and sinks down into the water next to her.]

You don't need to ask at this point, I think, but I would like that very much, yes. And how do you feel about being my girlfriend? I'm probably gonna make you roll your eyes at least once a week, just a heads up.

[writtendestiny]

I think I'd like that.

[Let's just ignore the way her heart is fluttering in her chest, the way she feels like her face is on fire... This actually worked out better than she expected, even if Peter got soaked.]

And only once a week? You're going to have to work really hard to make that target.

[itsnotaonesie]

Did I say once a week? I meant once every thirty minutes.

[God he has just the dopiest grin on his face. He's not blushing YOU'RE BLUSHING. He kind of wants to smooch again but he also has no idea if this would be the right time or how any of that works, so he'll settle for reaching over and taking her hand instead.]

[writtendestiny]

[Poison looks down at their joined hands and laces their fingers together with a smile. This is good, and her face warms, but she's better with just going for what she wants than Peter is and when she decides she wants to kiss him again...]

I can handle it.

[She leans in and kisses him again.]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Well damn, he doesn't even have time to crack a joke. But yes, she is much better at a lot of things than Peter is, this is just one of them.

He's a little less awkward this time, if only because he's already past the initial panic stage of smoochin'. He's still maybe a little too cautious when he reaches up to cup the back of her neck, but he's definitely more relaxed than he was before. He just isn't sure when the right time to cease smooching is, so he'll let her take the lead. Not that he wasn't already. He's still learning give him a break.]