modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redshiftlogs2019-09-04 09:06 pm

september 2019. welcome to the void.

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.

abheirrant: (❧ he hesitated,as usual)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2019-09-12 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Skills. Oh. Oh.

Carlisle hasn't yet put a great deal of thought into what he can do now. It's only been a few days since he awakened to find himself suddenly undead, and he spent little of that time stretching his energies to see what he was still capable of. Healing, he assumes, though given what he knows about restorative energies and how they counteract the necrotic magic that keeps undeads animated, he's almost certain that even if he can heal someone, he probably shouldn't for his own safety... unless he's animated in some other way. He can't say one way or the other until he really delves into himself, and he has been avoiding that thus far. He's just not ready to face the truth, no matter how obvious it is and how much it weighs on him.

One day. For now, he has other issues, ones he would much rather focus on than the fact he is an abomination whose existence goes against every moral stance he has ever had.]

I, er... I know a little alchemy. And glyphcrafting. [Neither of which are his primary skills, and the longer he tries to think on what talents he has other than healing, the more uncomfortable he becomes.] I did have a sizable garden back home.
itsnotaonesie: movieconnoisseur (mmm whatchu say)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-12 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Alchemy sounds like weirdo magic science and Peter is already interested. He'll come back around to that in a minute, though.

"Gardening, okay. We've got some people working on getting some crops going and stuff like that, I'm sure they'd love to have another pair of hands around to help out. I've uh, never heard of glyphcrafting before? And I'm not really familiar with alchemy. Uh, we do have lab space available, if you'd need that for it."
abheirrant: (❧ it only hid so much)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2019-09-15 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I would prefer to work alone," Carlisle insists, fiddling with the communicator. "It's- it's not that I am incapable of working with others. I just... have reasons for my solitude." It was necessity before that isolated him, as his affliction was said to bring misfortune to those around him; now, he would prefer to work alone to avoid anyone getting too close and realizing what he truly is beneath all the layers.

"Speaking of privacy, where is it that the people here live? What constitutes as their homes? Or are they merely rooms?"
itsnotaonesie: (nice sweater dork)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-15 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh that's fine, we can probably find you something to do where you'd have more privacy."

He's not going to prod into this guy's personal situation or whatever. He doesn't want to be a RUDE boy. "Housing is on the lower level. They're like, dorm style rooms? I'm sure we have some that are totally unoccupied right now."
abheirrant: (❧ i looked once in the mirror)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2019-09-18 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Unoccupied is good," Carlisle remarks, wondering what a "dorm-style room" is supposed to be, ultimately deciding he'll figure it out for himself so as to spare Peter even more questions. He has so many already.

However, given the way the lad words it, he gets the feeling it's something about cohabitation. He'd prefer to avoid that at all costs, if possible.

"I suppose I should find my way there and see if I can secure lodging before the, er. Evening."

Other worlds have night, right?
itsnotaonesie: movieconnoisseur (what i was totally listening)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-18 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
SUUURE there's night. I mean there's like four suns so the NIGHT is probably as bright as the rest of the day? Maybe? I have no idea.

"Sure, sure. The stairs are right over there. Eventually someone'll get the lifts working again. Uh, want me to show you how you can contact me on that thing? That way if you have any questions, you can just ask any time you need to."
abheirrant: (❧ they weighed upon him,so heavy)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2019-09-19 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
Carlisle may say nothing to Peter's mention of stairs, but the grimace he wears behind his mask as he glances in the mentioned direction is practically palpable, his eyes wrinkling as it stretches across his face. Maybe it won't be a long walk, but given how many levels this place seems to have, he's not optimistic. He can barely bring himself to leave the comfort of the nice, safe wall.

He sighs quietly to himself, looking back at his communicator. "If you don't mind sparing me another moment, I would appreciate that. I am sure I will have more questions, ones the man-in-the-glass did not answer." And could not answer, apparently, given he was some kind of visual record.
itsnotaonesie: (turned upside down)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-19 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a bit of a hike, that's why Peter never takes the stairs. But then flinging yourself off the walkways and getting around with webs isn't really in the cards for everybody. Sorry, bud.

"Nah, I don't mind at all. Here, you wanna open this app right here and scroll through the names. Mine's under 'Spides'."

He kind of has a thing for spiders. It's not weird, you're weird.

"You'll be able to send me a text or video or whatever whenever you want."