november 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Fifth Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of November 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. outbreak.

There's a plague in the city.

What was an annoyance before, a bug that seemed to be passing, has erupted into a full-scale biomedical hazard. Onset is slow. It’s a near mystery who is infected and who isn't, who is immune and who isn't. Doors lock themselves seemingly at random to prevent people passing through. Is that person with you one of the sick? How do you know? Would they tell you if they were?

The city will do its best to isolate the ill, once again locking them out of communal areas and trying to force them down toward the MedBay for quarantine. All bots will be temporarily shifted to plague protocols, rounding up and caring for the ill as best they can. (Lucky you, you get your cough syrup with a mixer courtesy of the barbot.) But they might not always get things right, and what healthy person wants to be locked away in a ward full of the violently ill? How do the bots even know which is which?

The ill will slowly find themselves dizzy, lightheaded, with chills and fever. They may cough hard enough to spit blood from irritated throats, or sneeze so long and hard they give themselves bloody noses. The symptoms can vary wildly depending on body chemistry, species, and dozens of other factors, making it difficult to pin down a specific set that indicates a person is infected. All bodily fluids are dangerously infectious. Maybe you want to keep your distance from your friends if you start to feel the onset, to keep them safe. But you also want to keep your freedom, not get trapped in a room full of people who seem to be dying. And anyone who was exposed to the first outbreak will find themselves either completely immune to this new one through early exposure...or far more susceptible, their immune systems doing almost nothing to protect them, with extreme symptom sets that hit them much harder than the average infected.

And through all of this, that voice that cheerfully chirped out helpful hints during the item exchange, that giggled and sang songs in the crashed spaceship in the wasteland can be heard again - but this time it's different. This time, there's very little cheer left, and though the commentary is still sing-song, it's much harsher, more monotone and without much energy. 'Go on, hurry up to the MedBay. No breaking quarantine!' it says, or to those moving through the city with friends, 'You must not like those people much, are you sure you want to get them sick?' In the depths of the worst of it, in the third week of the month, people may start hearing more of those 'helpful' suggestions - 'Maybe it would be better if we just left them out in the wastelands, you know? For the greater good and all...'

Mod Note: An NPC post will be going up next weekend on redshiftrp to supplement this prompt. Keep an eye out!

b. gone to shit.

With 90% of the city's bots repurposed to serve the ill (the matchmaking bot being the notable exception), things are starting to go downhill fast elsewhere. Didn’t realize how much work the bots were actually doing? You can't avoid knowing now.

Restaurants, slowly coming back online after the increased activity in the agricultural areas, are promptly shut down again with things starting to go bad in the fridges. The VR rooms have no attendants to help with glitches. The maintenance bots are prowling the halls looking for ill people to assist to the MedBay. The spa bots are all down in the lower levels helping keep people comfortable while they convalesce, leaving the spas to run themselves. Sometimes to overflowing. It's definitely going to be an adventure discovering what else the bots were doing to keep things running smoothly.

There's no bots manning the bar (make your own drinks while you can), but this also means there are no bots cleaning up the messes people leave behind in the bar either. The detritus of people living their lives starts to pile up - which means if you don’t want garbage filling up the most used common rooms, you're going to have to apply some good old elbow grease. Exactly what you wanted to do while everyone is violently ill, right?

c. dance of the moonlight jellies.

In spite of everything going on elsewhere in the colony, something magical is happening in the lakes and ponds of the park. Maybe your healthy or recovering character stumbles across it on their own. Maybe they see the glow from a higher levels and are drawn down to it. Maybe a persistent and super helpful voice, the same voice from the item exchange, the same voice that suggested throwing the sick out into the wasteland, suggests that you should go down and look at what's happening there.

However you ended up in the park, the place is filled with a silvery glow that emanates from the ponds, rivers, and lake. Fish have come up from the bottom, from where they were buried under the sand. They look almost like East Asian dragons, for those familiar with Earth. They're long, muscular, with two sets of fins trailing in the water like legs. Their heads are delicate, beautiful things that trail whiskers in the water along beside them.

And they're dancing.

In loops and whirls, over and under each other, diving deep and then rising up again to create patterns of light and shadow. Anyone who watches for more than a minute can start to feel relief moving through them, calm, the sense that things will be okay. Watching the dance is almost like meditation. Probably, for some, a much-needed break.

Navigation.

Comments

lalli hotakainen | ota + closed

[lallipop]

[ 01 | outbreak | ota ]

[It doesn't actually occur to him that he could get sick. Onni and Reynir did and he didn't, so his immunity must have extended to other things as well. It only makes sense. He doesn't think much of it that he wakes up one day feeling a little dizzier than normal, that his skin is more sensitive than usual, that he keeps coughing. He hasn't been properly sick since he was a child and he's forgotten what it's like.

So he doesn't understand why doors suddenly start locking after he walks through them, or what it could mean--he can be found standing perplexed at several doorways, trying to get them to open. The spa bots, too, keep trying to herd him into the medbay, and he seems to have some difficulty fending them off. Help a twig in distress?

Or maybe you're in the vicinity when he straight up keels over while in the kitchen, or the VR room, or really anywhere. It hits fast, and he definitely has a fever.]

[ 02 | closed to onni + reynir ]

[He's definitely sick, and it sucks.

This may be the sickest he's ever been in his life. Rather than submit to quarantine, which certainly would have been the smart decision, he decides to be self-indulgent and slink back to the apartment he shares with Onni and Reynir instead. It's not actually the rash, so it's not as important, right? Just a flu or something. And he does not feel like being around of strange loud people in a bright white environment when he feels this shitty.

He doesn't bother checking to see who is home, he just grabs the nearest blanket he can find and curls up in the nearest bed, regardless of whose it is. For once the space underneath sounds more uncomfortable than anything, so he just bundles himself in a bunch of sheets and tries to sleep, hoping it will cure his pounding headache.]

[ 03 | closed to cole ]

[It had made sense at the time, at least. Lalli can tell that he's very, very sick, and honestly at this point he's delirious more often than he's lucid. But he remembers waking up and seeing Onni's stressed, worn face and feeling horribly guilty, knowing he's the one who's putting this pressure on him.

He doesn't remember a lot, really--only feeling like he doesn't want to be Onni's obligation, doesn't want to be a burden to him, and the next thing he's aware of he's in the middle of a corridor, huddled on the ground, the metal wall blissfully cold against his fever-hot cheek.

This is fine. It's... comfortable. He can stay here, and Onni doesn't have to worry about him, and everything works out.]

[ 04 | wildcard ]

[Plot with me via PM or the game discord!]

c.

[killedwithlove]

Cole appears moments later, feet silent and moving over to Onni. He crouches down and feels his brow, not to check his temperature, but to check what he's feeling, how sick he is, if it's safe to leave him here or if he needs somewhere else.

He doesn't like what he can feel. "It's okay, Onni's not here, but he's going to worry about you going missing as well. I'll let him know you're safe, but you can't stay here. This is a corridor. It's for walking through, not sleeping in."

[lallipop]

It takes Lalli a bit to register that someone is speaking to him, and at first he can only groan at the intrusion. He's just fine where he is, thanks, and he doesn't appreciate people making sounds at him when he's trying to sleep off a headache.

He's also feverish enough that it doesn't really click how strange it is that this new person seems to know what he's thinking, or really what it is Cole is saying at all. He just parses telling Onni, and his response is to curl up more tightly and whine in distress.

Why yes, he does act like a toddler when he's sick.

[killedwithlove]

"All right." Cole strokes Lalli's hair back and fans it out to let the air circulate a bit better over his scalp. "I am going to pick you up soon, you shouldn't be lying here. The robots might try to tidy you up and you aren't well enough to resist them."

He undoes a flask from somewhere on his person and dips a finger, letting a drop or two fall to Lalli's cheek. "You should have a drink too."

[lallipop]

This is getting irritating. Why won't this guy stop talking at him and leave him alone? If Cole tries to pick him up, he will throw a fit, though with how drained he's feeling right now he'll be lucky if he manages to flail uselessly for longer than a second.

"Don't wanna go." It's mumbled and most people would probably not be able to make it out, but Cole is not most people. "Leave me alone."

[killedwithlove]

"I can't. You're sick and suffering and this is a corridor. Once you're moved and have some water, I'll stop talking to you. Maybe we can find a bath for you to lie in, they're usually nice and cool until you put hot water in them."

Cole strokes his face softly, trying to get him to focus for a few moments. "Lalli, I'm Compassion, a spirit. I'm trying to help you, please let me."

[lallipop]

Later, when he's more coherent, Lalli will realize how strange this encounter is. Right now, though, all he can focus on is the sensation of Cole brushing his hair back, and how nice it feels, and so does the sound of a cold bath right about now.

He also registers that Cole is probably not going to stop talking until he moves, so he attempts to lurch to his feet with a groan, one hand on the wall to steady him. He's sweaty enough that it impedes his progress, but give him a hand for trying.

"Weird name." So there, Cole.

[killedwithlove]

"You can call me Cole. That's also my name." Cole is there, helping Lalli to get upright and holding him in place with surprising strength for such a lanky frame. "If I carry you, I can get you to a bathroom quicker. Would you let me, Lalli?"

[lallipop]

Despite his earlier indignation at the idea, now it's sounding like a pretty good one. His limbs aren't working right, and being upright is making him dizzy and like he might need to vomit. His head flops contemplatively against Cole's shoulder.

"'Kay."

Cole is an easier name to remember, at least; it has Lalli's approval. Though the introduction makes something click sluggishly into place in Lalli's mind.

"How come you know my name?"

[killedwithlove]

Cole scoops Lalli up bridal style, helping him rest his head into his shoulder. When it's for someone else, Compassion is capable of some extraordinary things.

"Because I'm Compassion. I know people when I meet them, so I can help them." He starts walking, smooth and even to not jostle Lalli.

[lallipop]

Lalli supposes that makes sense. This isn't so bad, actually; he nearly drifts off to sleep very quickly, but then the surreality of the situation starts to sink in to his fever-addled brain.

This kind of thing doesn't... happen, he's sure, and something is keeping him from piecing it all together. Spirits named compassion don't just come and scoop you up normally when you're having a bad day, so there must be something...

Is he dying? Maybe he's dying. It's not like the other time, but that doesn't mean anything. Nothing makes sense here, and what does he know about the metaphysics of the spiritual plane anyway. Maybe it's different once you're actually going.

"Are you the swan?"

[killedwithlove]

"You're not dying," Cole whispers. "I'm not the swan, I'm just Compassion. You're sick, but you're not dying. Just fevered."

Cole has been with many dying people. He was born into this shape by death, so he knows it intimately. "I think you're too sick to invoke my power to heal, though."

02.

[scowlish]

[Onni notices the onset of the illness before Lalli does. It makes sense, when he thinks about it, because he's spent so much of his life being paranoid about any sign of illness, watching Tuuri for it, watching everyone around himself for it. Though in Lalli's case it takes a little longer, partly because he's seen Lalli sick so rarely that it's difficult to recognize and partly because he's not used to being that same level of paranoid about Lalli.

This time, though, he notices the coughing and the waver in Lalli's step and the fact that he's lost what little appetite he had. To be honest, he wouldn't have allowed Lalli to go into quarantine even if he wanted to - their apartment is close enough, it's been obvious enough to Onni that he and Reynir have already had whatever this thing is, and that it's left them immune.

He feels fine, as he comes home from the kitchen with a covered pot containing the evening meal for the three of them under his arm, puts it on the counter, and sets about tidying up a little. Then he pokes his head into the room he shares (occasionally) with Lalli to see if his cousin is home and sees nothing. When he pokes his head into Reynir's room to see if the Icelander is home, he sees a little lump curled up in his bed that's far too small to be Reynir, who is all limbs and length and whose braid would certainly be dangling over the edge of the bed.

So it must be-]

Lalli?

[While his voice is concerned, and he goes into the room to double-check that it really is his cousin, there's no panic, not just yet. This is a thing that he and Reynir had both easily made it through. There had been fevers and discomfort, but Lalli has dealt with far worse than that before, and Onni hasn't seen anyone else get sicker than Reynir had been. Not yet.

Sitting down beside his cousin, he waits to see any signs of life, and when he does he leans over to press his knuckles against Lalli's forehead and test his temperature.]

You're burning up.

[lallipop]

'M sick.

[He manages to muster enough energy to make it pointed. No shit he's burning up, Onni.

Part of him feels bad; if Onni and Reynir had felt this awful then he might have done a bit more to help them out. He'd just figured it was a normal bout of flu that seems to come around every autumn. This feels like dying.

He's maybe being a bit dramatic. Still, the brush of Onni's knuckles is enough to send a shiver through him, and he curls up further so that he looks more like a ball of blankets than a person.]

[scowlish]

Yes. I'd realized that a few days ago.

[He says it with a hint of teasing, since obviously Lalli is feeling well enough to be sassy. But he's obviously not feeling well enough to do much else. Onni's touch makes Lalli shiver and curl up into a tighter ball, so he pulls his hand back and sighs. It's no surprise, but he can tell that Lalli is going to be a much bigger pain about this than Reynir was.]

Are you cold?

[lallipop]

Mm-hmm.

[He's miserable and he wants the entire world to know it, Onni. Nobody's ever been as miserable as him.]

Just leave me here. Gon' die.

[It comes out muffled due to how he's currently cocooned himself, but he makes sure Onni can hear it.]

[scowlish]

[At Lalli's declaration that he's going to die, Onni rolls his eyes a little. It's fond enough, though, and he squats beside the bed so he's eye level with Lalli. His cousin looks sweaty and red-faced and miserable, and Onni's expression softens a little.]

I'll be right back.

[Standing up, he turns and heads back to his room, gathers up the thick fur cloak he'd been wearing when he came from home, and pours a glass of water to take back into Reynir's room. Setting the cup on the side table, he drapes the cloak over his cousin. It's warm and familiar and comforting, and it smells like home. Hopefully, it will do something for Lalli.]

I brought water.

[lallipop]

[The cloak immediately gets assimilated into Lalli's growing tangle of blankets. He's starting to resemble a fluffy hedgehog. At least it's a sign he appreciates it, as much as Lalli appreciates anything.]

Mmnh.

[Water would be nice, but it would also require sitting up, which is absolutely not appealing right now. After a few moments of shifting around, though, he manages it, his head finally popping out of his impromptu nest. His hair is a mess and his eyes are bloodshot, but at least he's feeling well enough to be grumpy.

And at least he takes the water, though he mostly just sips at it petulantly.]

[scowlish]

[There is, at least, some signs of movement and something resembling coherence from his cousin. He seems to appreciate the cloak, considering how he curls up underneath it with the sort of purring grumble that's so familiar from Lalli. A distress noise, but at least a noise, which means he's conscious and reacting.

A little of the worry settles, as much as it ever does, and Onni carefully helps support the weight of the cup while Lalli sips from it, ignoring any glares he might get for it. He's endured his fair share of Lalli's glares, and so he's mostly immune to their effect. While Lalli drinks, he tucks his other hand underneath the hem of his own shirt to warm it up so that when Lalli finishes his sulky drinking, it's less likely to make him shiver again.

His cousin's forehead is sticky with sweat, and so Onni carefully slides his fingers under Lalli's hair where it's stuck to it, pulling the lank strands away from his skin and tucking it back, watching for any signs of discomfort at the touch. Lalli, as he knows, isn't the biggest fan of touch, particularly not when he's overwhelmed and feeling miserable, so it's a difficult line to walk, trying to comfort him this way. It's a careful test to see if it's going to help Lalli right now, or just make him worse.]

[lallipop]

[Lalli doesn't tense or pull back like Onni fears; in fact, he lets him do it. Part of it is simply because he's sick, but part of him does take comfort in the sensation of Onni's cool fingers combing through his hair. It stirs a distant memory of his mother doing the same thing when Lalli was ill as a child.

There's a lot about his mother he's forgotten over the years; he's been without her far longer than he'd been with her, at this point. But that, at least, he can remember.

Things go fuzzy after that. He sleeps most of the time. He's dimly aware of being carried somewhere at some point, but he doesn't know when or why and doesn't really care, either. He's mostly aware of sensation, and shifts in and out of consciousness and lucidity.

But he knows he's getting worse. Every time he comes to he can see Onni's face getting more and more haggard, more worried, more tired. It gets harder to keep down food, harder to swallow, harder to talk, harder to think. He has less and less energy to do anything but sit up occasionally. He feels like he's being cooked alive, and part of him wishes that if he's going to die--the stupidest death, but that's how it goes, sometimes--that it would just happen already. The hard truth is that someone who is this sick is just a drain on resources, and if he dies anyway then all of that just went to waste.

And Onni deserves better than to have to take care of a dead weight.]

[scowlish]

[It's something of a relief, when Lalli doesn't cringe away from his touch, and so he keeps brushing his hair back, pulling it away from his face and pressing his hand against his forehead. It's easy to feel that his temperature is alarmingly high. What's even more worrying is that Lalli falls asleep while he's touching his hair. While Lalli sleeps, Onni drapes a cloth soaked in cool water across his forehead to try to draw some of the heat out of him, and goes about gathering a few things he'll need to start treating it.

Once he's done that, he carefully digs Lalli out from under the blankets and slides his arms under him, one under his shoulders and the other under his knees, lifting him easily and shifting his weight so Lalli's head falls against his shoulder. It's a movement that's as familiar as breathing, he knows Lalli's weight and how his limbs fall. Cradling him against his chest, humming softly to try to soothe any distress that being moved will cause, he carries him into the room they share so he can keep an eye on him even if he needs to nap later. Once he has him on the bed, he changes the cool cloth on his head and gets him changed into lighter clothing, one of Onni's T-shirts and a pair of soft light pajama pants, puts him under a light blanket and massages warmth into his feet, does a wet sock treatment and gets ginger tea with honey into him so he can sweat some of it out, makes sure he's drinking broth and water as often as he can.

It goes on that way, with Onni trying to break the fever, trying to keep Lalli hydrated and comfortable and as cool as he can be. Stroking his hair and singing him old, familiar lullabies while he cools his face and head and torso with wet cloths. He doesn't sleep much, and when he does it's with his head on the edge of Lalli's bed, for only an hour or two at a time, and he worries.

He worries more than he's worried since he'd first gone to Mora to contact Tuuri on the radio, worries that he's going to lose the last person in his family to another illness, the one person in his family he'd never had to worry about when it came to illness. But he can't let himself think too much about that, can't even let himself formulate the words that form the worry in his mind. He couldn't take it.]

[lallipop]

[Maybe it's the lullabies, maybe it's the way Onni keeps stroking his hair, maybe it's just the sensation of falling in and out of dreams that causes the confusion. Onni's constant presence certainly creates a certain routine, and any disruption of it quickly becomes disturbing.

At some point he wakes up and he's alone. Maybe Onni had left to get a glass of water, or food, or who knows what--Lalli had been asleep, it was safe to do--but all Lalli knows is the comforting presence is gone and he doesn't know why. He shifts himself up so he can see around the room, but it's hard to focus and the movement makes him dizzy, so he has to hunker over until he gets his bearings, his hair in his face.]

Mom?

[He's hoarse, to the point he can barely hear himself. But he needs to know where she went; the idea of being alone right now is terrifying.]

02

[braidmage]

[ Reynir has been working hard all day, picking up the slack as the robots all tend to the ill. For him, today, that had meant a great deal of mopping, and hauling heavy bags of laundry and trash around the place, and even some landscaping as he tended to some of the plants in the park. All this, on top of the regular work he has tending to the crops he's planted up in the Agricultural area, and helping out on the ranch now that Kieran is not doing so great, has left him bone-tired.

Which is maybe why he doesn't notice at first when he comes into his room that there is someone in his bed. He flicks on the light, notices Kisa curled up on the bed, sees Anne the lamb in her little enclosure, snoozing away. Reynir sighs, louder than he would if he knew he weren't alone, kicking off his boots and starting to unwind his hair from its braid. He is too tired for any of his usual winding-down rituals; he's just going to collapse into bed in his clothes and deal with the rest tomorrow.

He comes very close to actually sitting on Lalli, but just as he knees are buckling, he sees movement from under the covers, notices there is someone or something under them, and freezes in place.

Only then does he notice the pale hair poking out from under the covers. He knows that hair. Reynir sees now that Kisa is curled up on top of the lump in the blankets, fully loafed and purring steadily. There are other signs of disturbance in his room like people have been in here. His chair is in a different spot and he sees Onni's gloves sitting on his desk. ]

Lalli...?

[ Honestly, finding someone in his bed unexpectedly is not nearly as surprising as seeing Lalli actually in a bed. ]

Are you okay?

[lallipop]

[Great, now Reynir is here to talk at him. Somehow, this eventuality did not occur to Lalli when he was deciding whose bed to steal.

He peers balefully at Reynir from below the blankets but doesn't make any movement. It's a testament to how much he feels like crap that he's even letting Kisa sit on him, so he doesn't have the energy to properly sass Reynir right now.

As much as he wants to.]

Go away.

[It's hoarse and difficult to hear with the fever in his throat, but there it is anyway. Said to the guy whose room it is in the first place. This is Lalli's bed now, Reynir, deal with it.]

[braidmage]

[ If it weren't abundantly clear that Lalli is sick right now, Reynir would've already yanked the blankets off him. He'd dumped Lalli out of his bed once before and he will do it again. Reynir's sweet, but he's not that sweet.

... but Lalli's voice sounds pretty bad and the little of his face that Reynir can see is flushed like he has a fever. So Reynir's patience is fractionally more flexible. For now. ]

Do you know what room you're in?

[ If Lalli acts like a child, Reynir will treat him like one. ]