redshiftlogs | november 2019. welcome to the void.

november 2019. welcome to the void.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

"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."

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."

"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."

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.

"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?"

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?"

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.

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?"

"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."

"Oh. Okay."

He has more questions, but he can't put them together in ways that will actually come out of his mouth, so he doesn't try. There is something very comforting about this, and Lalli has no reason not to trust Cole, and his thoughts are coming together more slowly with every passing second, so rather than fight the urge, he lets his eyes slide closed and falls into a doze with his cheek still resting against Cole's shoulder.

It's better than in the hallway, at least.

Lalli is carried to a bathroom and laid down in the bath, with his feet by the taps so he can't easily turn them on.

He loosens his clothing, fans his hair out again and settles down to wait. Until Lalli needs more than he can provide, or just until he's confident to leave him and go and tell someone where he is.

It takes a little while, but eventually he decides that someone else probably needs to check on Lalli. He pushes himself up, murmurs that he'll be back and whispers 'Sleep' to reinforce that Lalli should stay comfortably under.

Then he sets off, letting his innate senses take him to the best source of help nearby.

Edited 2019-11-13 03:25 (UTC)

Cho is in her room, just finished with her late morning checks on the various animals there, and about to change one pair of purple scrubs for another and head back to the lab. She is not really prepared to turn around and find Cole standing there, but after her initial flustered jump and squeak of surprise, she settles and accepts it. "Hello. That was-- whoo. You startled me." She chuckles, bleeding off a little of the nervous energy. She's been meaning to find Cole, to ask him about the help he offered her when they first met. She never seems to be able to arrange her words in her mind, though, into something that makes sense, that fits. They scatter from her time and time again. Except now here he is.

"Is that-- Do you do that a lot? Just... appear?" Though she's not sure he did just appear. Maybe he just came in incredibly quickly and quietly? He didn't materialize before her eyes or anything. It's just that, one moment she was definitely alone, and then she turned away, and the next time she looked back at the empty center of the room, there he was.

"Yes."

He does just appear a lot. He isn't sure how to arrive any other way. Isn't that really what all people do, not be somewhere and then go there?

"I'll teach you with a knife, if I can, but I need you to come and help Lalli now. He's sick and he's sicker than I know how to help. Water isn't making him better, his fever is too hot."

Cho very quickly sets aside her comment about it being silly that she was ever worried about how to have the conversation about self defense, about teaching her to use a knife, to weaponize her silence and her size. Someone is sick. That's obviously more important. She doesn't know who Lalli is, or where they are, but if the fever is high, she'll need a way to bring it down. If it's the strange flu that's been going around for a while now, she'll need an anti-inflammatory, an analgesic, maybe a decongestant. She'll have to go to the med-bay, which happens to be in the opposite direction and on another floor, but that can't be helped. She doesn't have what she needs in her room to take care of a sick person.

She's already heading for the door, grabbing her shoulder bag on the way. "I need to get some things from downstairs first."

"Lalli knows Onni. Onni is worrying, but you can message Onni and say that you're with Lalli, looking after him. Lalli's, mm... delirious. It's the same thing as the others, but I can't get it, I don't think, because I'm not living like other living things."

He shifts, her anxiety and concern seeping into him. "Is it... serious? Will he die?"

She can't lie to him. He'd know. She wouldn't lie, anyway, but she might keep quiet for a little while. Most people don't take well to uncertainty, they assume the worst. It's human nature, and a part of it that has always made Cho sad. With Cole, however, she is blunt and honest. "I don't know. Humans can be very fragile. You know that. But they can also be very strong." She's running down the hallway toward the stairwell, taking this seriously, trusting Cole to keep up with her. "The most important factor in a lot of these cases is time. There's a point of no return with every illness that won't run its own course, where help comes too late to do anything. You did the right thing, coming to get help right away." It's the best thing he could have possibly done, and now Cho is going to do the best she can possibly do.

Onni, that will be a concern for later. She'll let him know his friend is safe once she's sure his friend is safe. She'll give him news when she has some, so his mind doesn't do what human minds tend to do, and go to the worst place first.

"Yes. Mortals are fragile and strong. I know when someone is dying, while they're dying. I can feel it, I can help, but I can't tell the future." He can't tell if someone will crash, or rally.

He keeps pace easily. He has long legs and he's used to walking and running everywhere.

"I had to wait until he was settled. Calm. I didn't want him to panic. I would like to get Onni, we might be able to heal, but Lalli doesn't want Onni. He was very adamant about that."

Well, that's good, right? If he knows when someone is dying, then Lalli is not dying. That's definitely something. Cho is running down the stairs three at a time now, at full speed, the full extension of her little legs, with the confidence of someone who is very certain of exactly where her feet are going to fall.

"That's good. You don't want to agitate someone with a high fever. When I've looked him over, we can call Onni, but if he doesn't want to see him, I think that it's best to listen to him."

She grabs the edge of the railing at the bottom of the flight of stairs and uses it as a pivot to throw herself around the corner and slam into the wall next to the med bay, her hand slapping the access panel and her whole body vibrating with anxious energy in the second it takes to open and admit her.

She moves around the space with utter certainty, no wasted movements or hesitation, gathering up what she knows she needs, what she thinks might be useful, and placing it in a large empty container. Once she has everything, she pushes it into Cole's hands. "Try to keep it as steady as you can." She has utter faith that he will be more adept at transporting it safely than she will. "You said water. Is he in the bathroom?" Cold bath. That's what she would have started with, and Cole is intuitive. Either way, she's running for the stairs again, because Cole didn't correct her when she said that she needed something from downstairs first, so she assumes the are headed back up.

"He was lying in the hallway, which seemed like a bad idea because a hallway is for moving, not lying. I picked him up and took him to a bathroom, because you can lie in a bath and be cool in a bath and I kept his head away from the taps so he shouldn't be able to drown himself. He was rubbing his face on the bath when I left."

He takes what he's given, holds it level and steady with very firm hands. "I didn't give him a cold bath because I knew I would have to leave him and he could drown. I used water on him, but not a bath."

Cole moves to lead her to the right place. He take three steps for every step, flickering forward in curls of smoke and hints of colour outside the human range. "Follow."

Rubbing his face on the bath, trying to cool off. Once she and Cole are there together, and they can watch him, a proper bath might be best. He's aware enough to move, at least. "Good. That was good."

When Cole tells her to follow, she does. There's no point in talking, because she needs to see Lalli first before she knows the best course to take. First thing's first - the fever. Then they'll worry about the rest. Watching Cole flicker like smoke is surreal, and kind of amazing, and a little bit unsettling, but that's not what's important right now. Getting there quickly is important. So she just keeps up with him, heads to where he says she's needed.

Cole leads Cho and keeps the box as stable as he can. He takes her back to the bathroom, up to the door anyway, and waits for her to get there because he generally doesn't move through doors. Except when he does.

Cho is right on Cole's heels the entire way, trusting him to not run her through something that would be dangerous for her, like uneven ground, or a wall. He's not human, but he knows that she is.

When they reach the door, and he stops, she slows, but she doesn't have to be told to walk through it, to head right for the tub and the little bit of colour she can see emerging just over the edge, which ends up being the bright edge of a heavy tunic. "Lalli? My name is Cho. Can you hear me? Cole brought me to help. You're very hot right now, and we really need to cool you down. I'm going to take your temperature, all right?" She looks back, and motions for Cole to give her the container full of supplies.

Great. More people here to talk to him when he's just trying to sleep. He has an awful headache and absolutely nobody here is respecting that, he's been up all night and he doesn't want to go outside where it's freezing. They can manage for a few hours without him. Tuuri needs to leave him alone.

He lets out a miserable little whine and tries to turn over, only to realize that he's lying in water and can't remember how he got there. Then he finally cracks open an eye and realizes the face swimming in front of him isn't Tuuri at all, but a stranger.

Tuuri couldn't be there anyway. Tuuri is dead.

He doesn't know why this suddenly hits him as fresh as if it had happened yesterday, but his breath catches and tears leak out of his eyes before he can stop himself.

What she's saying doesn't even parse.

Cole hands over the supplies and moves to near Lalli's head, fingers resuming their soft stroking and soothing. "Shh, she's gone, but she still lives while you remember her, carry her in your heart. She is always with you so long as you remember. Lalli, I need you to think about how you feel for her, how she makes you feel better. I think I can make you feel better if you can do that for me."

Cole isn't sure. He can't do magic. But Lalli can, and Cole can fuel that magic if Lalli calls on his power to make himself a little better.

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