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

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is super fine with being laughed at by a god so long as it means he's not angry. Honestly that's a best-case scenario at this point and Reynir lets out a shaky sigh of relief. If gods can appear at random like this in this place he is going to have to be a lot more careful. ]

I- I am not sure.

[ The pale fear of a few moments before is overcome now by a blush of embarrassment. It had been a bit self-centered to assume, hadn't it. But he suggests: ]

I am still new here, and I have not met everyone, of course, but those I have spoken to do not seem to know much of my people's gods. So I thought, perhaps-

[ He pulls his legs up, to perch his heels against the underwater shelf he is sitting on and hug his freckly knees to his chest. He's talking to one of the gods right now. This is really happening. It isn't a dream or an omen and it's all real. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ it has been a long time since he's seen reactions like that. loki finds he does not miss it. oh, it was enjoyable then, watching humans grovel and flinch. but there's no joy to be found in it now. perhaps, he muses, this is what some would call growth.

but that voice sounds like thor, so loki puts it out of mind. ]

I am not here for you, unfortunately. I am here for myself and no one else.

[braidmage]

Oh.

[ There's really no mistaking the fact that Reynir sounds relieved, even though he's trying to hide it. Being visited by a god who had something in particular in mind for you seems like an honor in theory and terrifying in practice.

Reynir blinks a few times when a thought occurs to him. It couldn't be. Could it? ]

So are you... stuck here, too?

[ And he gives a general gesture, indicating that by 'here' he doesn't mean the hot springs, but the Anchor itself. ]

[dothelokimotion]

For the time being.

[ he doesn't seem too fussed about it. though after the atroma, this is nothing. ]

In places like this, my world-walking is limited.

[braidmage]

Oh.

[ He keeps saying that, he really has to stop saying that...

Reynir might not have expected that a god could get be contained here in the same way a human could, but how much does he know about the gods, really? Or about this place and the forces that control it? He's open-minded, and a little too trusting for his own good, so he accepts it. ]

Well, um, in that case, if there's anything I can do to help you, while you are here-

[ He catches himself, embarrassed, adds hastily: ]

- not that you need my help, obviously. I meant- I'm making a mess of this, aren't I?

[dothelokimotion]

[ a low chuckle. he supposes this constitutes as a fan. how strange. ]

I think I will manage, but the offer is appreciated.

[braidmage]

Well- well do you mind if I stay here and... sit and talk with you a little?

[ That laugh hadn't sounded negative, exactly, and Reynir supposes he really earned it offering his help as if he could do something a god couldn't.

He's gradually adjusting to the idea that he's speaking to a god and, Reynir being Reynir, the next step seems to be befriending him, obviously. It's just what you do with new people. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ in the hot springs? loki supposes there are more unusual places to foster a conversation. he waves his hand flippantly, unconcerned. ]

If you like. Though I do not know how much I can answer.

[braidmage]

[ Well if Reynir had been planning on asking a whole bunch of big existential questions before, he is definitely changing those plans, now.

Something simpler, then, to start: ]

Are there any other gods here?

[dothelokimotion]

[ his expression flickers but briefly. ]

No. Just me for now. Though I imagine you'll hear Thor before you see him.

[braidmage]

[ Okay, ragging on a sibling for some distinctive trait of theirs? This is something he understands. Reynir smiles, a bright sudden flash of teeth. ]

He's that noisy, huh? My oldest brother Ólafur is the same. Well, not exactly the same, but you know what I mean.

[dothelokimotion]

[ the corner of his lips twitch. ]

Well, he is the God of Thunder. Silence is not in the title.

[braidmage]

[ That surprises a little laugh out of Reynir. He's talking about Thor! With Thor's brother! Teasing him - just a little. ]

I guess I hadn't ever considered that. Does he rattle things off the walls, when he is talking about whatever he did that day?

[dothelokimotion]

Not so much though his volume is certainly loud enough to do so.

[ thor never did things gently. ]

[braidmage]

Ólafur is always knocking things off the walls, but only ever by running into them.

[ Reynir, who is indeed kind of a twig person, explains: ]

He's an awful lot bigger than I am.

[ Then, because he's not really always the most thoughtful boy and doesn't consider the possible consequences of his words ]

Do you wish Thor were here or is it kind of nice to have a break?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki falls silent at that. he chose to part from thor, though he's sure thor wasn't happy about it. thor chose to leave his world behind to stay with loki. but a part of loki still finds that undeserved.

( and a part of him is bitter still, so bitter. thor saved the universe and defeated thanos . . . and left loki in dust. )

clearing his throat, loki finally replies. ]

Sometimes it helps to get away from boorish older siblings.

[braidmage]

[ For a few seconds Reynir thinks he's really fucked up and made Loki sad about being separated from his family, and he's about a second from apologizing when Loki replies. Reynir still feels nervous after that maybe misstep, tugs his long hair onto one shoulder and runs his fingers through it as he speaks: ]

Yeah. It does. I've- been feeling kinda guilty for not being more homesick. Isn't that stupid? I love my family, they just... drive me crazy sometimes.

[ Reynir knows it is like that, for most families. Everyone he's talked to has said something similar at one point or another. ]

You're a lot easier to talk to than I would've thought.

[ At least, he is now that the worst of Reynir's initial panic has faded. ]

Is it weird, talking to mortals when you're a god?

[dothelokimotion]

Not so much. I've interacted with mortals throughout history.

[ though rarely for very long and without much interest on loki's part. the last time was . . . london? back when smog and soot filled his senses. when difference was punishable by law. when theo was alive. new york doesn't count much. loki didn't spend much time "interacting" as he was conquering. ]

And I've spent a few years with mortals in space.

[braidmage]

[ For a moment Reynir just blinks at Loki. He understands Loki being immortal, doesn't bat an eye at the idea that he's existed throughout history. But then: ]

In... space?

[ The level of confusion here is intense. Then, thinking he's solved it: ]

Oh! You mean here?

[ This place is some other kind of realm, right? He had been freaking out pretty badly during that welcome video but he seems to remember something about it being a kind of other place... ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shakes his head. ]

No. On a fleet of ships that traveled through space. There were many humans on it.

[braidmage]

[ There was a lot of knowledge that was lost, when the Old World ended - not for everyone, but for the majority of people, who are not scholars. Reynir is definitely one of those people and so he just stares round-eyed for a few moments at the idea of ships which can fly not only through the sky, but above it! ]

That's... so, so, so cool. I didn't know that was possible.

[ And he just assumes, because that's the way he was raised and sees the word, that gods and magic definitely helped to make that happen. In the world he lives in, people can barely cross small stretches of ocean or land without extreme peril, much less go out into the cosmos.]

Are they all immune?

[ He asks it like it's definitely not a super weird question. Which, in his case, it isn't. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ his brow furrows. ]

Immune to what, exactly?

[braidmage]

To... the Illness.

[ He says it with that capitalization audible, as if there were only one possible illness worth talking about.

Reynir has gone from confused to deeply confused, now. He can't imagine why Loki would pretend not to know about this. Is it some kind of test? He is the god of mischief, among other things, but Reynir doesn't really know what the game might be here. ]

The one that ended the Old World?

[ How could Loki not know? ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ hmm. loki shakes his head. ]

I'm not aware of it.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir just stares. And stares. Waiting for the punchline, the 'just kidding'. But Loki isn't smiling and he isn't taking it back. ]

How is that possible?

[ He remembers now, a little of what that video had said about people from other worlds. He has met such strange foreigners here, strange enough that Reynir had accepted they are from some other place, even if he doesn't understand. But Loki is one of his gods, from his world. How could he not be aware of the thing that had almost ended all life on Earth, except for the twisted monsters that were made by the disease? That still might be the end of everything, if the scales tipped just slightly in one direction or another? ]