december 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Sixth Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of December 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. the generic holiday cheer prompt.

It's a dark, quiet, uneventful night. Only those up and about in the wee hours will notice something odd starting in the park.

It's snowing.

The phenomenon seems to be coming from a small bank of unmoving clouds hanging suspended above the trees and lake. A cloud that, upon closer inspection by any scientists in the room, appears to be made of harmless nanites whose sole purpose is to unleash a cheery, blustery kind of weather that remains mostly contained to the park.

Some bots are out serving hot chocolate, cider, flavored snow cones, and other small baked treats. Others are building a solid-looking bit of scaffolding that the snow is rapidly turning into a sledding ramp. In fact, there are sleds ready and waiting at the foot of the slide. The smaller ponds have frozen over in a sharp cold snap that came with the nanites' release, and there are other bots handing out ice skates - careful, though, because one of them is a chef bot and he's made the blades of the skates ridiculously sharp. At least they'll glide well?

Around the middle of the day, the intercoms squeal loudly, crackle, and start pouring generic seasonal music out into the air. Is it for Hanukkah? Christmas? Kwanzaa? Some strange holiday no one has heard of? Who knows, since half of it is in alien languages, but man, it sure is peppy! And kind of annoying after a while! Maybe someone should hack the system and change the music up?

b. the body heat trope prompt.

As the day wears on toward evening, the nanite winter storm starts to gather a little more force, sending cold seeping through the halls of Anchor. There are pockets of warmth here and there - notably, for once, the agricultural areas are largely unaffected thanks to their temperature regulators--but most of Anchor has a wintery chill, and snow is starting to bluster across the levels from bottom to top. Temperatures continue to drop when the suns go down.

The bots are out being helpful, though they can't stop the storm. They're rolling around handing out blankets and thermoses of warm drinks. Unfortunately, it's one blanket and one thermos per two people. Better get cosy - it's going to be a long, cold night!

c. the terrifying monster attack prompt.

The cold has woken up some creatures that have been slumbering away in one of the sealed-off areas of the labs. They couldn't get through the door that kept them caged, but they sure could freeze the windows and escape that way when they got cold enough to break. The little critters make a beeline for the park, prepared to wreak havoc-

If eating snow and ice and rolling snow into tiny balls for meal stockpiles is havoc.

These little creatures look conspicuously like the western dragons of Earth, though most are no bigger than a person's forearm. Their wings - some strange shade of white that sparkles when they move - seem largely decorative. They use them to communicate, to posture, and to keep themselves balanced when they rear up on their hind legs, but none of them appear able to fly. They're a mix of colors, blue and silver and white, some of them with a variety of shades swirling down their bodies, others with one color on their bellies and contrasting colors on their back and head. Some have splotches, or speckles, or tiger stripes of blue. They breathe steam and can freeze things with their clawed forepaws.

Also, if you feed them a flavored snow cone, they will follow you forever. No, really. You'll have yourself an undyingly loyal new pet.

Navigation.

Comments

[arcadedragon]

"No this will keep for a while. They will actually eat until they explode if I keep feeding them." He hadn't experienced that but several fish keepers have told him horror stories and he was always careful to make sure they had enough food, but not so much they'd get fat and sickly.

"Would you like to try it?" He holds a cricket out to her, the poor creature kicking its legs in a feeble attempt to escape. "Hold it a little bit above the water and they will come to you. I do not really need to feed them by hand, they would be fine if I tossed these in the water, but I enjoy it. I used to go out to the pond after training in order to relax. All fish need is food and a place to swim and they are content. I always wanted life to be so simple."

[birdical]

If the way her ears wiggle just a bit in quiet delight says anything, it's that yes, Elleru absolutely does want to try feeding them. She takes the cricket carefully, its legs flailing as she holds it above the water. Just as Genji said, the fish come right to her, practically sucking the poor insect right out of her fingers. She plucks a pill bug from the container, wanting to give a little something to each one.

"Life is... complicated, yes? More than I would have believed a short time ago."

[arcadedragon]

"Indeed it is. It was far easier when I was younger, when I did not have the weight of so many responsibilities nor the knowledge of what my actions would do." If nothing else, at least he's matured a lot since being cut to pieces. Probably the only true benefit to come of that.

"I'm not sure if it is easier or worse here, each thing we do is less far reaching, but then again there are so few of us that everything matters." It's a lot of pressure knowing that one wrong move by someone could throw them all out an airlock or poison the water. More than anything he wants to fix it, and this isn't something with an easy fix at the edge of his blade.

Belatedly he realizes that he has no idea who this other person is. He's obviously seen her around, it would be hard to miss someone that tall with such vibrant hair, but he's never actually introduced himself.

"We have not met before, my name is Genji."

[birdical]

"You may call me Elleru," she returns, her cheeks darkening as she realizes that in her excitement, she completely forgot to introduce herself.

She tosses the pill bug into the water and offers her hand for him to shake. She'll ask him about those responsibilities and that bit of wisdom about their actions in Anchor in a moment, but for now, she needs to have that proper introduction. First impressions matter, especially in a place where there are so few of them around --

Oh, perhaps that's just a little of what he meant by 'there are so few of us that everything matters.'

[arcadedragon]

He reaches out with his metal hand to shake hers, his armor cold to the touch and his grip light. He's accidentally crushed enough things that he makes it a point to not do it to people's hands when they're introducing themselves.

"It is nice to meet you. Thank you for the assistance." And for not judging him as he walked around with a bucket full of fish.

He is a little curious how she got so many bugs in such a short amount of time and doesn't look like she's been digging in the frozen ground. But there's no good way to ask that question without it coming off weird.

[birdical]

If there's one thing that'll make Elleru smile brightly, it's acknowledging that she helped. She's still finding out what good she can do around Anchor, so she's utterly delighted with Genji's praise. She's so pleased that she doesn't even think too hard on how cold his armor is against her skin.

"I was happy to help!" she insists. "It is not each day I meet someone caring for fish. I could not help myself, so thank you for... indulging me."

[arcadedragon]

"No, I suppose it's not." Because most people aren't running around with buckets of fish trying to preserve pieces of their past. Like if he can freeze a moment in time from his childhood, he can live it again.

"A few months ago my home showed up here. The building, not the people, it was exactly as I remembered it from my youth. These fish I won at festivals and dug them a pond on the grounds, and that was here too. But it was some sort of ... illusion I suppose, so I pulled the fish from there to the pond upstairs. And Reynir brought one of the trees. A little piece of Hanamura lives on, even in this place."

[birdical]

"Illusions are only as real as you wish them to be," Elleru notes. For someone so out-of-place in most situations, she feels she knows a bit about illusions, or at least how they worked back in her colony. The shapers were the ones who protected their colony through using the surrounding woods, changing the paths and making traps with the illusions they crafted; however, she's never heard of any of something like a part of those illusions remaining, as though separate from the rest. Then again, this is another world, and perhaps this is another kind of illusion.

Either way, it is sweet that he so cared for these fish that he took them in, now housing them in his bathtub. Uprights can be so funny like that.

"Perhaps you wished so much for your home that it came to you."

[arcadedragon]

"Is that how they work? I am unfamiliar with such things." He believes her though, he knows nothing of illusions. Maybe it was real because he wanted it to be real. That does make a certain amount of sense.

"Perhaps. That explains why it was empty. What I wish for, no longer exists. It is only a memory."

[birdical]

Elleru's ears dip as she glances Genji's way, her brow furrowing.

"What is it you wish for, Genji?"

She says his name a little closer to Gain-ji, but she'll get the pronunciation eventually.

[arcadedragon]

He hesitates, concentrating on the fish instead. They're a welcome distraction, their splashing swimming mirroring the tumultuous emotions playing out in his mind.

"People who don't exist anymore. Memories from the past."

One person specifically, but not the way he is now, the way he was long, long ago.

[birdical]

"Oh." She looks to the fish as well, truly saddened. Not everyone left home of their own volition like she did. "I am sorry to hear that."

She turns a bit more to him, her eyes wide with earnest enthusiasm as she reaches for his hand, hoping to give it a comforting squeeze. "But you will make new memories here, you and your fish and your tree. As you have said, a piece of your home lives on in all of you. That is beautiful."

[arcadedragon]

He grins at her, not that she can see it, but it might be audible in his words, "I will won't I? New memories in a new place with new people. It has been nice here. There is no fighting, and the people are not killing each other, or the robots."

Actually it's been sort of relaxing. But it has brought to light that he doesn't have a lot of skills that don't involve swords or fighting. He's making the best of it, but maybe he should learn some new things. Maybe after he sorts out this fish situation and doesn't freeze to death.

Though he can't really feel the squeeze on his hand through the armor, the gesture is appreciated nontheless. "Thank you, you're very kind."

[birdical]

Sorry Genji, she's squeezing your armored hand anyway. It's just how she rolls. She can hear the smile through his tone and returns it with one of her own.

"Thank you for letting me help. May I ask you another question, if it would not trouble you?"

And she hopes it doesn't, because she actually stops and considers for half a second that it might be invasive before asking anyway:

"Why is it you do not remove your armor? Are there dangers in the bedrooms?"

[arcadedragon]

"Oh." He considers that, it isn't really dangerous, but he's so used to needing to roll out of bed and be ready to fight that he usually sleeps in it. The only time it's all off is when he's bathing.

"I am just used to wearing it. Would it be better if I removed it? I can if you'd like."

[birdical]

Elleru considers his offer with a thoughtful hm to herself, but eventually shakes her head.

"No. I believe I like the mystery." She leans in a little closer, her eyes sharp on him. "You could be anyone under there."

[arcadedragon]

"Hm, you make it sound far more interesting than I thought it was. But very well, I will continue to be mysterious." The mystery man with a bunch of fish.

"Makes me feel important."

[birdical]

Her head tilts, her brow knitting.

"Do you not feel important all the time, Genji?"

[arcadedragon]

"No?" That actually catches him a little by surprise. He has to think about it. "I am simply another person here in Anchor. No more important than another."

[birdical]

"Everyone is important in some way," she insists. "It is difficult to know where your importance may be, but that does not mean you are not important to someone. You should feel that."

[arcadedragon]

There's a pause as he's been put a little off guard by all this. He was always assured of his importance when he was growing up - merely by his position by right of birth. But upon leaving his old life behind he'd come to realize it had all been artificial.

"I .. have never thought about it in such a way." He stares down into the water. Important to someone. Hm.

"I think there are those who would notice if I were gone, but is that the same as being important?"