modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redshiftlogs2019-11-01 09:49 pm

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 [community profile] 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.

livingdeadgirl: (smile 12)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-11-22 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
hmm how about
a tale of derring do and high adventure!
with bonus points for a supernatural twist
normally im big into ghost stories too but
i dont really feel like those right now
birdical: (💋 (that looks so unique))

[personal profile] birdical 2019-11-23 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
I would bring you one of mine, but I am afraid some might object to you reading such a book.

[Translation: there's sex in it.]

But I will find you something good, and then I will arrive.
Edited 2019-11-27 03:40 (UTC)
livingdeadgirl: (mischief 4)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-11-27 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ She somehow fails to catch that implication! WHEE ]

pfft some like who
there are no banned books in anchor!
seriously though i trust your recommendations
see you soon elleru
birdical: (💋 (i know i've got some magic))

[text] → [action]

[personal profile] birdical 2019-11-27 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
[And soon she does, as Elleru makes her way to Ami's room within the hour with a few selections she made from the library. There's one with a unicorn, one with a mermaid, and one she assumes is about a dragon, based on the cover. She knocks when she gets there, as is upright protocol.]

I have chosen some books for you, Ami! The covers were very convincing.
livingdeadgirl: (smile 3)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-12-04 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Come in! [ Ami's voice is hoarse, but it's enough to make the door slide open. She doesn't sit up, because she doesn't want to move from the nest of blankets she's wrapped around herself, but she extends her arms out of it to accept the books when offered. ]

Ahhh, thank you so much, Elleru. [ She wheezes a little, but looks the books over with an eager eye nonetheless. ] "The Last Unicorn," I've heard of this one! There's a movie of it.

[ Maybe they'll find a copy of it sometime! Although I dunno how that would happen, short of a Blockbuster Video randomly appearing in the wasteland, but what are the odds of that? ]
Edited 2019-12-04 03:08 (UTC)
birdical: (💋 (to find the way to crash on through))

[personal profile] birdical 2019-12-05 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Elleru smiles, glad her choices seem to have been good.]

A movie? What is a movie? Do they have them here?
livingdeadgirl: (smile 7)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-12-14 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
I dunno? I haven't seen any here, but - it's like a video post on the network, but longer and better produced and more entertaining.

[ beat ]

... Usually. I mean, there are plenty of bad movies out there, too, just as there are plenty of bad books.
birdical: (💋 (feel out the summer breeze))

[personal profile] birdical 2019-12-16 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
So... it is a play, but recorded. [Or at least that's how she's picturing it in her mind. Do uprights have such wonderful novelties? What haven't her books told her?]

If they are like the videos on the network, perhaps we could make one someday?

[Ami and Elleru: The Movie.]
livingdeadgirl: (grin 1)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-12-16 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, she could get into the distinction between a recorded play and an actual movie, but, eh! Close enough. She does brighten at that suggestion. ]

Yeah! W- [ cough cough ] We could totally do that! I mean, the video editor on the walkie-talkies sort of sucks, but - [ cough ] - some of the coolest stuff you see in old movies is from them finding creative workarounds for their technical limita-

[ cough cough cough cough cough cough cough ]
birdical: (💋 (am i a poison))

[personal profile] birdical 2019-12-17 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Excited as she may have been at the idea of making one of these 'movies,' she's immediately concerned when Ami starts hacking up a lung. Her ears dip, her worry apparent as she leans down by Ami's bedside.]

Oh no no, this will not do!

[She stills her hand before it makes it to Ami's hair -- the temptation to brush through it with her fingers to calm her down is hard to stifle, but she manages -- and sets a hand atop her friend's arm instead, hoping her comforting intent will be clear.]

You can tell me of movies when you are well. Let me help you now. Perhaps I should talk so you may rest?
Edited 2019-12-17 07:38 (UTC)
livingdeadgirl: (unsure 1)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2019-12-29 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ami does recognize the intent, and doesn't seem to mind Elleru's hand being there. Fortunately, she doesn't hack up any blood this time around, but it's still a good minute or so before it lets up, leaving her sort of deflated and worn out from the effort. She tries to reply, but all she gets on the first attempt is a dry croak; clearing her throat helps a little, but yeah, the laryngitis is real. ]

Yeeeeah, maybe you talking would be better. [ She clears her throat again. It does not help any further. ]

... What about a story? Like, from your world?
birdical: (💋 (that looks so unique))

[personal profile] birdical 2019-12-29 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
A story from my world? [Elleru hms to herself, putting a hand on her cheek as she thinks for a moment.] Ah yes, I believe I have one.

[She has herself a seat on the bed, careful not to disturb the blankets too much.]

I will tell you how my world came to be. Make yourself comfortable.
livingdeadgirl: (smile 8)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2020-02-04 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ami is already about as comfortable as she's going to get, as she's still cozily enveloped in her little blanket cocoon, but she pulls her arms back inside and wriggles to make herself snug as a bug in a rug. (Someday she wil be able to do that literally.)

She pays close attention to the story, and saves whatever questions she has for the end. A creation myth! This is gonna be cool! ]
birdical: (💋 (i don't need the weight of words))

[personal profile] birdical 2020-02-04 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[She waits patiently for Ami to get comfortable before starting, giving a dramatic flourish with her hands.]

My world was shapeless once. It existed, but was without life and character. That is when the three gods came. The first was Ulbrech.

[She stands, her back hunched, her hands splayed before her like huge claws.]

A great and lumbering beast, he rose from the ground, his back the highest of mountains. As he walked the world, he would shake off pieces of himself to become the hills and mountains, eventually making the valleys and the highlands. The fur that fell from his back buried into the ground, and became the trees. As he walked, the second appeared: Ulneft.

[She wriggles her arms like snakes, darting between the imaginary hills and valleys.]

Not at all like Ulbrech, Ulneft was fast. Their many feet cut into the ground, their tail becoming the rivers. When tired, they would curl for a nap, and form the ocean. And then they would sprint again, weaving across the plains. Their speed made the canyons, and where they have not yet been, the deserts. As the world below was made, so was the sky above by the third to appear: Ulfrith.

[She brings her hands above her, and with another flourish, she brings them together and moves her fingers like wings.]

Her wings became the clouds, each beat of them the wind. She gave us the light in her eyes, and the night when they are closed.

[She pauses there for effect.]
livingdeadgirl: (smile 13)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2020-05-07 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ami listens quietly, picturing each of the god-beasts as Elleru describes them. A furred, rocky colossus, taller than the mountains. A lithe, nimble shape, fluid in form and too quick to see. A shining bird with the sun and stars in her eyes. (They most resemble a bear, a deer, and an Altaria, respectively.) ]

Kind of an earth, water, and wind thing, huh? [ - she muses absently. ] What about fire?
birdical: (💋 (am i a poison))

[personal profile] birdical 2020-05-09 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Elleru's ears dip.]

What about fire?

[She seems legitimately confused, as though she might have missed some crucial part of the tale. Apparently, this isn't a story about elements.]
livingdeadgirl: (smile 7)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2020-05-10 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Oh - it's the other classical element. I thought you might be building up to a - [ cough cough ] - a fire god. Sorry.

[ For interrupting, that is. Please continue! ]