Let's partyyyyyyy! [open]

[livingdeadgirl]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: A meet-and-greet party for everybody in Anchor!
When: early October
Where: the VR room lobby
Warnings: none yet
Format: go wild!

[ The day before, a wild network post appears, from the username @aa : ]

hi everyone!
i just wanted to let you all know
the meet and greet party previously discussed in this space
will be held tomorrow afternoon!

it will take place in the vr room lobby
and of course everyone is invited
refreshments and games will be provided
but if you would like a little extra challenge
please feel free to bring something to share!

attendance is mandatory!
(lol just kidding)
seriously though i do hope to see all of you there ;)

[ She's also posted handwritten signs to that effect in the mess hall and several of the staircases. Just in case! ]

---

The day of, a party appears in the VR Room lobby area, as promised!

Though it's not brightly lit, the lights there are are brightly colored, creating a chilled-out evening atmosphere like you'd find at a club. Plush chairs and couches are interspersed throughout the room, and there's been a solid attempt to clean the place up, or at least do something about all the dust.

A shortage of conventional party supplies has forced Ami and Cho to get creative, so the tables and parts of the wall are decorated with paper flowers, and the buffet table is presided over by a number of ... weird, pink, glitter-covered, vaguely animal-shaped sculptures made out of spare plastic pipes and stuff. With googly eyes. If nothing else they're a conversation piece.

FOOD: The main offering is barbecue! There's a pretty wide assortment of meats, all of which Cho has certified safe for human consumption, and also certified delicious. Chips, dried fruit, and a few different desserts are available, including homemade chocolate chip cookies that Ami made herself (wich Cho's help). All the trays are helpfully labeled, including allergy information.

Any and all potluck submissions are welcome as well! Just set it down over here and make a little card of your own.

DRINKS: Sadly, the coffee machine is still out of order. But there is a cooler stocked with ice and a few different choices of juice and soda. Alcoholic selections are limited to two types of pre-mixed drinks, which are intentionally weak on the alcohol, but at least they're not tequila sunrises. If guests want anything stronger, they'll need to bring it themselves.

ENTERTAINMENT: In fiddling with the controls, Ami got the overhead speakers to play some music, but couldn't figure out how to modify the playlist, so it's just one song on loop. Maybe if she keeps the volume kind of low, no one will notice. No live music is scheduled, but if anyone wants to bring a guitar and jam for a while, they will be more than welcome to.

And most of the arcade games are online! Anyone for Fruit Ninja? Air hockey? Dance Dance Retribution? Virtual Billiards? Or perhaps you'd like to try out a full-simulation game in the VR Rooms proper? Now's as good a time as any!

Oh, and don't forget to enter the raffle! The winner will be chosen randomly and announced a few hours into the party.

Comments

[abheirrant]

You can fall off the edge!?

[And that's something he is desperately going to avoid now that he knows about it. He places his hand on the joystick and tries again, doing better at dodging the elephantine man this time. He may have just been acquainted with the very concept of a video game, but he is very good at quickly formulating which path he needs to take to light up the blocks in an efficient manner. Around the orange menace he goes, bounce bounce bouncing along, even using one of the discs as mentioned in the instructions, until they are all illuminated. A jingle plays, the colors flash, and the snake ends up back at the top as the machine chirps out a garbled message through the speakers.]

Another pyramid? [Back to moving the snake around he goes.] Why is his snake on these pyramids anyway?

[arcadedragon]

I.. I am unsure. These older games tend to not have stories.

It will get more complicated as you go, with additional enemies and holes in the level you can fall through. I am sure these characters are named as well, but I don't know what they are either.

[abheirrant]

[And indeed, here comes a green enemy onto the screen to torment the poor snake. Carlisle dodges him, irritated he has to reroute around the snouted fellow.]

One would think they would be farmers, chasing a snake. Or kitten-kind.

[arcadedragon]

Maybe they're aliens?

Kittens would be adorable. They should add that in.

[abheirrant]

Not kittens. Kitten-kind. They are Forest Folk -- little- little people kittens that desth!

[The elephantine man got him again.]

[arcadedragon]

Kitten folk? Like cat people? With ears?

Oh. Sorry. I'm distracting you.

[He quiets down, backing away and turning all the lights off in his suit. Nice and non distracting.]

[abheirrant]

You're not distracting me. [He is. Carlisle starts the game again.] The kitten-kind are a cat people of sorts, but wait wait wait, what is happening? What are you doing?

[And now he's distracted again by the fact all the lights in Genji's armor went off. Not helping the "not a construct" argument there, frankly.]

[arcadedragon]

What?

[He looks down at himself and back at Carlisle, not understanding.]

I don't know. What'd I do?

[abheirrant]

It's dark. You were—

[This is apparently way more important than the game to him. With one hand still on the console of the machine, he removes his other from the joystick and conjures an orb of light into it, turning to face Genji. Oh good, he's right where Carlisle left him.

He winces suddenly, dropping the orb with a barely stifled yep as he shakes his hand, trying to dissipate the sudden sting he'd felt from his own magic; it pops the second it hits the floor, leaving the light of the game screens as their primary illumination.]

[arcadedragon]

Oh I turned the lights in my armor off.

[he's about to ask if Carlisle wants them back on when he just summons a ball of light in his hand. That's not too alarming for someone who's used to seeing all kinds of crazy tech, but when he drops it there's a moment where Genji almost tries to catch it instinctively and then jumps back out of range in case it's dangerous. Far further than any human should be able to dodge. ]

What was that?!

[abheirrant]

I couldn't see. I conjured some light for myself, but I didn't anticipate it would sting like that.

[He probably shouldn't be musing to himself so openly, but he's still processing the fact the orb reacted to him like that. It was not that it injured him, but more that holding the orb of light came with a sharp, prickling sensation, much like holding a pincushion with a few needles sticking through it. It surprised him more than anything. He conjures another, and the sensation returns; however, he's ready for it this time, letting the orb sit in his palm rather than gripping it as it lights up the space between them.]

What are you doing over there?

[arcadedragon]

Oh.

[He stands up from his crouched defensive position, staring at the orb in Carlisle's hand. He must be manipulating Hard Light somehow like Symmetra.]

I didn't know what you were doing, I thought it was going to explode. What do you mean it stings? Is the mechanism malfunctioning?

[For someone who's afraid of technology and robots he must have one hell of a setup to conjure light like that.]

[abheirrant]

Mechanism?

[He's almost so confused by that question that he misses the first one. Almost.]

Oh, um. It just, ah. The act of conjuring it, er... stung a bit is all. Nothing to be worried about. [He hopes.] What ah, what were you saying just now? About a mechanism?

[arcadedragon]

That makes the light? On your hand? Or is it attached to your arm?

[Great now they're both confused. He turns the lights in his suit back on, not because they really illuminate too much around him but because it feels weird with them off.]

[abheirrant]

Is what attached to my arm? You're not making any—

[The machine behind Carlisle lets out a series of garbled, unintelligible swears as the snake is slain for the last time by the elephantine man. The clergyman seems slightly disappointed.]

Cisth, and I was doing so well.

[arcadedragon]

The...

[He squints at Carlisle's hand not immediately spotting whatever apparatus he's using.]

How are you conjuring light?

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle misses the squint -- it is behind a helmet, after all -- but he also looks at his own hand, as if there's something odd about what he's doing. There's not.]

I'm... conjuring. It's magic.

[arcadedragon]

No its not.

[Why you lying?]

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle looks completely incredulous.]

I'm sorry?

[arcadedragon]

Do it again.

[So he can watch and see how it's being accomplished.]

[abheirrant]

[Still giving him a flat look of disbelief, Carlisle curls his fingers, closing them into a loose fist. A second later, a fraction of light appears between his digits, and as it pushes outward, it manifests, becoming a tangible. His fingers move in tandem, keeping a delicate grasp on the orb until it reaches the size of a pomegranate. Its surface is opaque, glassy, though the energy within is sharp to Carlisle's touch. He remembers it being cooler to hold before, and is certain the change is because of him, not the magic itself.

He offers the orb to Genji.]

[arcadedragon]

[The mask hides his look of delight as Carlisle does it again. And it's not coming from some sort of machine, it's not hard light, it's a true conjuration. How wonderful!]

Sugoi! Is it energy from inside you?

[That would make the most sense. Like an omnic channeling their innate energy. He carefully slides his hands beneath the orb, trying to be as delicate as possible so as not to shatter it or make it disappear. He is absolutely delighted with this thing.]

You can do this whenever you want?

[abheirrant]

Eksth'alva, not, ah. Sugoi. [Which he does not realize is not a type of magical energy.

He conjures another one, offering it over, as well.] It is fairly common magic where I am from. Do you- do you not have magic at all in your world?

[arcadedragon]

I don't know what language that is.

[He holds it up to his visor trying to see through it. It doesn't feel how he'd expected either, the sensors in his armor picking up cold. He'd never thought of light as being cold before.]

No, there's science. Technology. Things that appear to be magic but they are not. Well. That is true for the most part.

[He hesitates, considering there truly is something magical in his world, and only he and his brother Hanzo have access to it. He takes the other orb, gracefully sinking into a kneeling position on the ground, the lights on his armor go out briefly and a translucent green dragon emerges from his chest. It solidifies when it touches the ground, about the size of a cat and far longer than its little stubby legs should be able to hold up.

He offers one of the orbs to the little dragon who takes it in his mouth, scampering off to go hide it somewhere, unaware that it's lighting the way as it tries to dig through the carpeting to bury it.]

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle looks completely and utterly unimpressed at the thought of another world so laden in technology that the concept of magic doesn't even exist; his disappointment gives way to confusion as Genji kneels before him, and then to outright shock and awe when a dragon emerges from him. A DRAGON. It's small and adorable and not quite what he was expecting from a dragon, but given this is the first time he's ever seen one outside of a book, he cannot complain. In fact, he's completely and utterly delighted.]

W- what! Wait wait wait what is that!? Is that a dragon? Did you just summon a dragon here? Oh no, come back! Come back come back come back!

[With Genji seemingly forgotten, Carlisle takes after the diminutive beast, digging into his satchel for his journal and pen.]