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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.

itsnotaonesie: (what do they do exactly)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-30 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Sorry Ben, Peter's too good at this to accidentally delete something. He's decided to just pull the hard drive, it's faster and kind of just easier, so when he emerges he's carrying part of the computer. And wooo buddy is he ever glad to be out of that hole. Ben doesnt give him a chance to talk, but it looks like he'd had the same thing in mind that Peter had. Great minds think alike, my dude.]

Yeah, absolutely. [Peter is wasting no time there, already heading into the trees to get the hell out of this shit forest.] Maybe we should hop on the network and at least just warn them that there are hidden cameras in their rooms? Then we can take care of the whole recording thing and figure it out from there.
benhargreeves: (! that went well)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2019-09-30 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ben is glad for Peter's urgency; he wants to be the hell out of here, too. They don't bother trying not to make much noise this time, and Ben is keeping alert for any potential attacks. He doesn't stop wanting some mutated horrible creature to freaking try it, so he'll have an excuse to rip something apart. Smashing stuff has always really been more Diego and Luther's thing. But it had sure always looked cathartic.

But maybe mutant cows can sense that energy off them because none of them come close.

It feels so much better to be out here where he can breathe, moving, planning. Not just giving up. How had he ever thought Peter was telling him to just give up? He's not that kind of person, and Ben admires that. ]


Yeah... we gotta. Even though it's gonna suck. Maybe - we can go to one of our rooms first, find the thing, rip it out of the wall so we can show people on the network, and they'll know what they're looking for?

[ It would also, Ben thinks but does not say, go some distance in proving that what they're saying is true. The last thing they need right now is for some argumentative person saying they are paranoid and they're not gonna bother searching for a supposed hidden camera that probably doesn't exist. ]

Do you want me to make the announcement?

[ If, on the off chance that the people who set up the surveillance don't know who has broken into their little hidey-hole lair, they'll for sure know whoever appears on the network talking about it will be behind it. Could that make that person a target? On the slim off-chance it does, Ben absolutely isn't going to let that happen to Peter. No fucking way. ]
Edited 2019-09-30 07:24 (UTC)
itsnotaonesie: (probably not actually listening)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-30 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Honestly Peter wouldn't blame him for cow murder at this point. Peter would probably be taking his aggression out on a tree or something right now if his mind wasn't so preoccupied with figuring out all this other shit.]

That sounds like a good plan. We can hit your room first, get the camera. If you wanna do the announcement I'll be able to get this hard drive installed right away.

[He's not even thinking of the idea that whoever makes the announcement might be in danger, he's just trying to think of the best way to make efficient use of their time. He's a little hyper focused on the whole problem solving thing right now, sorry bro.]
benhargreeves: (>:| or what)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2019-10-01 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Hyper focused is fine right now. Hyper focused means Peter isn't asking him any questions about why he's been handling this so poorly, or trying to get him to talk about shit he really would rather not talk about. Ben wants to fight back and Peter's helping to make that happen and that means Peter is golden right now.

Sometime in the walk back to his own room, Ben's emotions have shifted, the panic and helplessness from earlier maturing into a fine vintage of quiet, seething rage. Anger feels so much better than despair and fear and powerlessness. When they get to he room itself, Ben knows where to look. He climbs up onto he desk without delay and tries to get at the inside of the lighting fixture high on the wall. Unfortunately, it is sealed pretty damn securely, and after a minute of scrabbling with fingers and fingernails, he looks at Peter and asks: ]


Can you-?
itsnotaonesie: movieconnoisseur (lemmie stop you right there)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-10-01 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Can he hop up onto the wall and use his sticky fingers to pry open that light fixture? You bet your ASS, he can, Ben. Peter does just that, and sure enough, there's a tiny little recording device just inside the light fixture. Obviously he'd already been aware that it was a thing, but physically finding it still manages to make his heart sink a bit.

He yanks it out and passes it to Ben. Mission accomplished.]


One creepy spy camera, coming up. I'm gonna go yank what ever I can find in my room and Poison's and then head over to the lab. You good for now?
benhargreeves: @malagraphic (! observing)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2019-10-01 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ For just one moment, Ben's confused why Poison is on the immediate action list, then he remembers that she and Peter are roommates. Okay, that makes sense. Peter's not gonna take the one in his own room out but leave hers, that would just be a dick move. And so he says: ]

I'll get the one in Klaus's room. I'll find a crowbar or something, it's fine, I got it. I'm good. I'll let the network know, and just - text me from the lab when you got something.

[ Ben's not really good but nobody's good, it's not a day for being good. He catches Peter's wrist before he goes and says, voice tight: ]

Peter? Be careful. Please.

[ Continued here. ]
Edited 2019-10-01 14:12 (UTC)