january 2020. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Seventh Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of January 2020
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. champagne supernova.

Normally, the changes in the sky are subtle, happening between glances or over the course of days.

That's not the case now, when the bright sky with its three suns is wiped away in an explosion of blue light, right at sunrise on the morning of January 1st. The light pulses across the sky in uneven blazes, sending out lattices of what might be lightning or something worse. There's no moon. No brightness. Just this lightning-storm brilliance in space, shedding little light on the world below.

And the suns don't come back on. As the day wears on, the supernova brightness in the sky starts to fade out and no new light appears. The sky is static and black, with no stars, no moons, no suns. The mild rolling blackouts that started with the opening of the relaxation room intensify with the sudden loss of solar power, as the backup systems try to compensate for the increased use of power.

For a moment, power goes out in Anchor entirely, leaving the place plunged into darkness.

The darkness doesn't last. Thanks to those generators everyone worked so hard to sort out, the backup systems struggle back to life, keeping the lights on and the bar, kitchen, and agricultural supports open, but there are some things that the limited power just can't cover.

b. tower of babelfish.

The first, and perhaps the most noticeable system to start failing, are the auto-translation programs. While not affecting every area in Anchor equally, communication between those who speak different languages is going to be a lot more difficult. The effects are spotty, coming and going, sometimes completely failing, leaving only people's naturally-spoken languages available. Sometimes it just struggles, making conversations sound a lot more like babelfish translations than recognizable speech. People themselves seem to be affected differently by the translation struggles, depending on who and where they are. There's no rhyme or reason to when and how it fails. But the problem persists through most of the month.

c. the hidden passage.

The second system failure is harder to spot.

At the end of what seemed to be a maintenance hallway, a set of doors have appeared from behind what used to be a shielded hologram of a dead end. The doors stick out from their surroundings: thick metal, barred heavily from the outside. A clear attempt to keep something locked away inside, not to keep people from entering.

For those adventurous enough, or foolish enough, to wrestle the locks open, a problem will reveal itself. A short flight of stairs, leading down into an area flooded by murky water. It's hard to see more than branching halls down below.

Those who choose to brave the water will find a hallway lined with bulkheads and sealed doorways, all guarding rooms that could be accessed with the right combination of smarts and brute force. It's the question of what would be ruined by the water if the doors are opened that might give people pause. What kind of secrets could be wiped out or destroyed if the doors are forced and the water passes through the bulkheads? Can the water be drained? How?

But there is one room open, or mostly open, where the bulkhead doors didn't quite manage to seal when the area flooded. It'll be a squeeze, for bigger characters, but the flooded room beyond contains artifacts preserved behind glass - strange medallions, strings of glowing beads, broken sceptres, arrows fletched with feathers from creatures no one has ever seen before.

Only one object isn't sealed away. It's a handful of small orbs, with shifting colors, held in place by a shield array that still seems to function, for the most part. They can be touched, can even be removed from the stand with the right know-how or a willingness to smash stuff.

But once an orb is touched, the colors start to spin more rapidly. The more it's handled, the brighter and faster the colors shift. Whether it takes hold immediately or not is up to you, but those who handled the orb will find the bright colors start to glow under the surface of their skin, in the shape of veins, glowing bright for a few minutes before fading. And those people bring a different kind of contagion back with them to the surface. Memory loss, communicated from one person to the next via contact. It can be partial or complete, or not happen to your character at all - they can be an unwitting "carrier" of the effects, passing it on without experiencing the losses themselves. The loss can last from hours to weeks, with carriers being "infected" for the duration of that time.

It also leaves behind magical traces, ones that don't fade after memories return. The cleverest might start to wonder if it wasn't a kind of inoculation, though against what, it remains to be seen.

Navigation.

Comments

QUESTIONS.

[modblob]

Ask the mod team questions here!

[redwinekindofgirl]

Is it possible to get any of the artifacts out from behind the glass?

And can the water be drained? 👀

[superposition]

OKAY, SO. This is more related to the network post, but.

If someone were to respond to that post by collecting a couple of friends and heading down to the Hole to confront Creepy Joe, would it be possible to run into him in person? I don't know how it would go from there, but Qubit's goal would be to capture him, and he'd be prepared for a fight.

[hyperthermic]

If someone got pissed and/or scared by the orb doing its thing and tried to smash it, would they be able to? Would anything happen?

Jacob Frye: drinking, language, probable violence

[nothinglikefather]

A: IPA supernova

The light show is pretty, very pretty, and stepping out of the bar with a beer in hand, Jacob takes a few moments to appreciate it. Before he went to London he'd lived out in the countryside, and you could see the stars on any clear night. London, and after that the City, had robbed him of those views. Not that he stops to look at the sky often, mostly it's the things on the ground that occupies him.

Still, it's a gorgeous sight, and he finds somewhere to lean back and watch, taking a slow swallow from the beer.

And then, suddenly, the lights go out, and from the people in the bar, there are a few screams of surprise or pain as people crash into each other.

A few moments more, and emergency lighting seems to turn on, wane and patchy, but it's enough to stop people tumbling over.

"Does that happen often?"

C: Rite of passage

Jacob likes exploring. He'd been down the sewers in London and in the City of Sin, mapped a lot of them, and taken whatever useful bits and pieces had been left down there by unknown predecessors. Now he's exploring wet, rancid tunnels again.

And he couldn't be happier about it.

The water laps at the bottom of the stairs and he perches there, thinking. He swam in the Thames all the time, back home, and the idea of it doesn't bother him. But he doesn't think it's a good idea to go alone, and he knows that this is potentially more dangerous than a few quick laps to Southbank. More importantly, where did this water come from, and why was this passage hidden? Who hid it, and why?

C;

[hypothermic]

Jacob isn't alone. There's a rattling sound. A man drops out of the ventilation system above his head. Tall, dark, and problematic. An oversized gun strapped to one thigh, and a coil of rope hanging from the other.

Someone's been exploring. Or burglarizing. Really, it's always some combination of the two. Leonard likes to multi-task.

He holds both hands up in the universal language for 'I ain't starting nothing'. Long fingers gloved in leather. Part-fashion, part-fingerprints.

"They always say to take the high road, but it never goes where you want it to."

Chronos || mentions of self-harm in prompt w1. alsopyromaniacough, likely mentions of torture in w3

[hyperthermic]

|| w1. turn up the heat ||

[ Chronos hasn't given up his love of fire. On his ship, when he was particularly lonely, he would light matches and watch them burn all the way down to his fingertips, or hover his palm above the flame until it scorched him. Until he could focus on nothing but that white-hot searing satisfaction.

When that Santa Claus ship went down, he found himself with a present from his past, ironically enough.

It's his heat gun. The tool he used when he was still Mick Rory, some two hundred years ago. The weapon that Leonard Snart and the rest stole away from him before they left him marooned in time.

It still fits his hand. The weight of it still feels good, right. Even the smell of its fuel cells is a comfort.

He's in the park, in one of the open areas that's nothing but grass and one small tree. He's out of his armor, for once. It felt wrong to wear it while he tried his old weapon out. He's carefully not going to analyze why.

Chronos hates that he's nervous. Another feeling he's not going to examine too closely. After all, he knows this weapon, no matter how long it's been. It's a simple case of point and shoot--

He squeezes the trigger and a column of fire spews outward, enveloping the little tree. Chronos watches the flames, eyes wide and fascinated as the tree itself starts to burn. He lets up on the trigger, a feeling of rightness filling him. Like a piece of himself that got taken away just got returned.

Another couple blasts of flame ensure the tree is going up nicely, sending a column of dark smoke into the air. Chronos runs his hands over the gun lovingly, hypnotized by the flames.

Yes. It's good to be back. ]


|| w2. turn... down?? the heat??? ||

[ There is a little blue dragon thing thing. Chronos found it in the bar, eating ice chips out of the cooler next to the taps, and he's now sitting at one of the booths, chin almost on the table as he watches it go at the bowl of ice cubes he dished out from the cooler.

He's tried feeding it other things. Bits of jerky. Some of the maraschino cherries that the stupid bar bot keeps putting in everything. It only seems interested in ice, though, which for some reason hurts. But he can forgive the little thing for bad taste. ]

Where'd you come from anyway, Frostbite?


|| c. going for a dip ||

[ Chronos has claimed one of the radiation suits for this. Airtight, with external oxygen supply? Seems like the perfect thing to go diving in. Maybe not what it was made for, but eh. Beggars and choosers.

He's carefully fitting the helmet over his head when he hears someone approach and turns. ]

I got dibs on whatever I find down there.


|| w3. CHRONOS SMASH ||

[ He found something down there. He didn't handle it with bare hands until he was out of the water and could take off his radiation suit. He's now out on the breezeway near the flooded area.

When it started to glow he got wary. When it made his veins glow he threw the thing against a wall, hard. It didn't break. He slammed his heel down on it, and it still didn't break.

He tried blasting it with his laser rifle, and that didn't work, so he's now got his heat gun trained on it, roasting the thing until it either cracks or melts. He doesn't care which. ]

Come on, you little bastard. [ He lets up on the trigger of the heat gun, and the column of fire spitting from its muzzle evaporates. The little orb is still intact, for the most part, but now there's a great big crack running down the middle.

When he brings his heel down on it this time, it shatters, sending a misty, glowing cloud into the air. He backs off fast, waving his hands through it, trying to knock it away, dissipate it, something. But it's like it's coming for him, and before he knows it he's inhaling the mist. ]

2.

[arcadedragon]

Here. They like these as well.

[That sure is a metal light-up ninja offering a frozen orange slice to the little dragon. He's been freezing fruit and bringing them to the dragons as treats because who doesn't love a little frozen sugar as part of a balanced diet?]

There was a small colony of them that appeared when it snowed.

Ben Hargreeves | mostly ota

[benhargreeves]

A. SUPERNOVA [closed to Carlisle]

[ It's just incredibly, incredibly bad luck and poor timing. Ben hasn't seen Carlisle, apart from a distant glance now and then, since the events that followed Kieran's blinding. He hadn't been all that surprised, not to hear from Carlisle, despite Qubit's insistence that he would encourage the man to reach out to him. Ben knows better than most that you can lead a man to help, but you can't make him accept it until he's ready. He battered his head against that truth for long enough with his brother's addiction that he knows better, now. He is going to give Carlisle space. And if Carlisle seeks him out, Ben will be there. At least, that was the plan.

So it is poor timing, that just at the moment when he is quite near Carlisle for the first time in such a long time, the power in the Anchor flickers, and then totally gives out. And it is bad luck, that the both of them happened to be passing through some kind of safety corridor, one with lockdown protocols built in. Probably, Ben knows, he should be grateful. It's doubtless protecting them from radiation or who knows what. But the end result is that he ends up stuck, in a tiny narrow room, in the dark, with someone he has been trying to give plenty of space to.

Ben doesn't just accept it. As soon as the doors slam shut, he tries prying one open, tries punching in numbers on the de-powered keypad by it. But of course, none of it works. Of course! Because that's just his life, isn't it? ]

...I can't get it open. Not with the power out.

B. BABELFISH

[ Ben doesn't notice, at first, that anything is wrong with the auto-translation protocols. He speaks English, and so do many of the other people in this place. It's a good long while before he finds himself speaking to somebody and realizing, after a moment of complete confusion in which he thinks he misheard, that he has no idea what they just said. ]

Sorry, what? Say that again?

[ Maybe it's just something misfiring between his ears and his brain, maybe he just needs to hear the sentence again in order to get it... ]

C. MEMORY LOSS

[ Ben doesn't go exploring. He doesn't ever lay eyes on any kind of a mysterious orb. He knows better than to mess with that shit! But the effects are transferred via contact, and he must have touched someone who touched someone who didn't know better.

He doesn't even really notice it happening at first, as the memories drain away from him. He is walking his way towards the library, and then, gradually, he doesn't recognize which way he should be going. Then, he doesn't remember where he was headed in the first place. Then, he doesn't even know who he is that might be trying to go somewhere. It is, to say the least, fairly distressing.

But even without his memory, Ben is still Ben. All his instincts are still there. And his response to feeling overwhelmed and terrified is to be quiet, be still, fade into the background. So he finds a quiet spot to sit and just... sits. Waits. Tries to grope around in the empty nothing of his mind for anything he can latch onto.

He won't recognize anyone who comes to help. But that doesn't mean it will be unappreciated. ]

\o/

[abheirrant]

[While Ben immediately goes to work trying to pry one of the doors open, Carlisle reacts to the encroaching darkness as the lights flicker again, then once more while Ben tries the keypad, and finally dying completely as they flicker and remain off. Carlisle conjures an orb of light, the ball tangible in his palm, its illumination bright for its size. Save for the vibrant magic behind his eyes, that orb is all they have lighting the corridor.

He backs himself against the wall, as though it'd help him ignore the awkward situation they're now in; it doesn't.]

I suppose Anchor itself would have us talk, wouldn't it?

ANGEL THE SIREN | BORDERLANDS | OTA

[circumspector]

i. when the lights go out.

Angel isn't hard to find for anyone that knows how she can change. The five or six reindire she had brought back with her from the ship had become her herd. The sort of feeling she didn't quite understand but knew she really couldn't quite question, it simply was. She spent her time with them, warning off anyone who tried to hunt them with her sheer bulky presence, though if they approached with only the intention to pat, there isn't much of a problem.

The problem is when the lights go out. People are banging into each other, and comfortable as her animal form is, she has to find out what is going on. There is the snap in the dark of her body shifting, she changes back to two legs instead of four.

It isn't obvious though, until in a building ebb, Angel forces her markings on her body come to life. Turning from the flat blue to a brilliant white. Lighting up around her like a beacon.

Sitting up on her haunches, bobbing on her hooves as she braves a hand flat in front of her, looking around her.

Which reveals the other thing: apart from the fur, she is completely naked.

"What's happening?"

ii. Don't look a gift tunnel in the mouth


The items are beautiful.

But she hovers, leaning over them. She wasn't a fool, not like that, she watches vault hunters, saw Connor wake up a God from the deep, and had nearly woken up her own out of the depths of a cave.

She wasn't about to go shove a hand in there.

Knows she's not alone in the cave, nor is she able to get lost like others might. When you could hear in all directions down a heart beat, she was hard to sneak up on.

Angel peers over the items. "Hey, do you have a stick on you?"

ii. the bits of us we leave behind.

It's not a surprise ultimately that she touches a sphere, strange confusing space magic had been what had dictated her life, for the most part. There was a certain inevitability to it all.

So the rest follows as well, as she forgets. Angel, without the weight of memory, agony, that she has so many reasons to be afraid, is a infinitely content thing. She seeks things out, not by determination based on her fears, but to her simple wants. What is hers, and what is not.

She hasn't had their food and drink yet, and she is always hungry. So she eats. The little robots offer her drinks, so she drinks them in deep mouthfuls as each one produces a warm, numbing bliss in her mind, desire begets impulse easier with each one that follows. She wants Reindire with her, so she takes them to a comfortable spot she pleases. Her clothes itchy and ruffle her fur and stop her from being groomed by her herd, so they are shed until she is bare all over again.

Which is how she is to be found. If being naked before was no more than a matter of transformation. Now she is pure hedonistic indulgence. Her thick black mane of fur that runs from neck to tail is ruffled along with the white fur that covers her modesty barely at all. Her markings pulsing in and out as slow as a heart beat. Empty glasses of tequila sunrise everywhere around her, plates of food she had eaten down the last morsel. One leg draped over one reindire, and another she lays over with her face turned into its side. Her tail swooping back and forth, in a lazy arc as she dozes. Stars hang in full bloom between her horns as she at times shifts forms to suit her comfort at the time being. You couldn't move her for the world, as she spends her daze in the warm haze of her faded memories, a happier person that her life had ever let her be.

When, if, someone approaches, they aren't greeted with much of a word. Her head lifts, black animal eyes blinking. Instead take a hand that might be near by, and tilting it so she could press her nose against a wrist, fingers. Taking scent over words, words took effort and she didn't feel a need to try, this far sunk into her own senses.

I

[0thingsonmymind]

The power outage isn't that bad, but he doubes his tablet will last too long if he needs to rely on it for light. So when Angel's lights switch on he heads over towards it. He did not expect it to be coming from a person, though, so once he gets close enough to make her out he stops.
He's seen soft glow from people/robots before but nothing so bright.

Words appear in the air before the hooded, masked man. It just says
how

Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor) // OTA

[mustact]

a. Champagne supernova

The first thing Ratonhnhaké:ton thinks when blue light surges across the sky is: This can't be normal.

Perhaps he's wrong. Perhaps, out there in the universe, there are places where the sky turns to bright and brilliant colours in a way that looks unnatural, and there's nothing strange about it. But there's an unease settling in his stomach, as he stares at the display from the edge of the water in the park.

"Does this usually happen?" he mutters to himself.

c. Hidden passage

Ratonhnhaké:ton has taken time, since his arrival, to navigate and explore every corner of the colony. When he notices the door that he swears wasn't there before, he has to wonder if this is where that man on the network didn't want them to go.

So, of course, that is precisely what he does. He makes his way past the doors, through the water, till the only doorway that is open, if only slightly. But, he only takes a peek inside it, and as soon as he sees what the room holds, immediately turns to go back. He should go get the others. Jacob, at least. He's not so certain it has any connection to the Isu, but regardless, he doesn't think it's wise to go alone.

You can either run into him before he's gone in, in the water, or when he resurfaces on his way back. However, he's on a mission and not likely to be very chatty.

Wildcard

[ Feel free to hmu for any plotting. ]

C

[0thingsonmymind]

The hooded, masked man was debating going into the water when the other man came out of it. The water had been too murky for him to really notice anyone in it, so Connor's resurfacing is quite a surprise. He jumps back with a start, an exclamation mark appearing in the air before him.

Deputy Pratt || OTA

[theweakhavepurpose]

A. A Feast He Will Not Eat
Pratt has returned from exploring the crash, and just in time for the power to go out. Fantastic. Beside him Princess Thugg is looking a little worse for wear. She's wet from the decontamination showers, and just spent a few hours wearing a doggy gas mask so she's not a happy wolf.

Currently she's wearing a harness with a makeshift cart attached to it, dragging a slightly bloody bundle of fur.

Pratt has killed one of the reindire and has the meat neatly dressed and trussed up in the skin. He's heading towards the kitchen to store the meat for whoever wants it (not him), and now he's wishing he brought a flashlight.

B. Being a coward has advantages - Network Post - Video

[Pratt has been down to see the orbs, but you know what he's not going to touch? Weird shiny orbs. Not until he gets more information, he knows just enough about magic to be wary of something that might vaporize him.

The video feed opens on one of the orbs, swirling with some unknown magic.]

Anyone know what these things are? They look kinda important.

B

[citharede]

[ Athena leans in toward her screen like that will give her a better look and not just give Pratt a clear shot up her nose. ]

No idea. Poke it.

Brian Thomas | ota

[0thingsonmymind]

A

Near the park is a confused young man in a tanish hoodie and black mask (with a red :( on it). He's got a mail bag with him and is carrying a tablet. He's yet to get his bearings so he's really just wandering aimlessly. Or he was. He stops when the lights go off and looks up.

The sky is...different. It had stars or suns or light up there before, right? He's pretty sure it did. Now, even after the backup lights return, the sky is just black. If it was gray, or static, he'd think of Norfinbury but instead its just...weird. But maybe it was normal here?

Should someone pass by he coughs once to get their attention, then text appears in the air before him. It reads
isit
sup po sed to do
that
?


C - Fancy a dip?

Eventually he finds himself far enough down to find the flooded area. He's not sure he wants to go in. The water in the Meadous had been fine, but it was all in natural areas. Norfinbury had water in a few unnatural areas, however, and it was NOT fine. Though that was mostly because it was cold and it wasn't as cold here. Though there could still be fish spiders or something in there.

The temperature is the first concern, though, so he crouches down by the water, carefully removes a glove and sticks a finger in it.

[kaballin]

Kabal is probably the last person who should be down in a potentially critical area of Anchor when his only intention is to greedily loot everything. But no one stopped him, so here he is.

He's noticed the weird kid in the hood, and instead of saying something snarky he opts to walk up behind him and raise a leg to boot him into the water.

"Lemme know if the water's deadly." Brian better move fast or he's about to be real soggy and unhappy.

Poison | OTA

[writtendestiny]

i. a champagne supernova

[Her first reaction to those flashes of light, as she walks through one of the upper levels of Anchor, is to flinch and put her arm up to shield her eyes. It looks like lightning, but not like lightning, and she quickly fumbles her sketchpad out of her coat to sketch out what she saw before it fades from behind her eyelids.

Then, she looks up again with a sharp exhale of breath and blinks the spots out of her eyes.]

Oh... spirits. [She whispers.

But the day goes on, with wary looks cast upwards now and then when the suns refuse to reappear and the sky just keeps getting darker. Then, when the lights finally go out, Poison is near the medibay as she lets out a startled little scream.]

ii. tower of babelfish.

[She's in the park with the cats, and doesn't notice when the words coming out of her mouth are no longer able to be understood by the people around her.

The language of the people of the Realm of Man is a slightly harsh-sounding thing weighted a little too heavily with glottal stops and not enough vowels, and she talks to the cat with four legs as she bobs a hand-made toy in front of him while the one sporting eight bunches up in her lap and purrs.]

Go on, jump higher, you can get it. [She teases with a chuckle. The cats pay little mind to the change, if they hear it at all.]

If you catch it, you can have a treat.

iii. the hidden passage.

[Poison stands at the end of the hallway with her heart in her throat, Joe's warnings echoing in her head. Don't go down there, don't go, and one might think that someone so foolhardy as to approach Joe himself entirely alone would have no issue with a flooded hallway.

They would be incorrect in that assumption.]

I need some better shoes, first. [She mutters to herself. A weak excuse, but it pulls her away from the doors in time to pass the next person going to check on the new addition to their environment.]

-- Be careful. [The words fall out quickly from behind a curtain of dark hair.]

Some doors are locked for a good reason.

iii

[0thingsonmymind]

*He's been back and forth between the doorway and elsewhere a few times, uncertain if he really wants to go down there. This time someone else is there, so he hesitates. At her words he nods, then words appear in the air before the strange masked man.*

but some times itis
best
to know that
rea son

arya stark | open

[enumerator]

lost in translation.

[ arya has never truly been to a bar. she’s been to a tavern, and an inn, and has had ale before. she’s never encountered anything quite like the redshift bar, however, and for a moment, the whole thing is confusing and exciting all at once.

that is, until she tries to order. then, it becomes frustrating.

arya is perched at a stool by the counter, her feet swinging, not touching the ground. she’s leaning close to the bar-bot, surrounded by four tequila sunrises, none of them consumed. she does have one of the tiny umbrellas tucked behind her ear, though. ]

I don’t want this! This is a strange, fruity drink, and all I asked for was ale. Are you stupid? Are you even a person? What is wrong with you?

[ what arya doesn’t realize, however, is that the translation program has failed, and that she’s just yelling at the bar-bot in the common tongue of westeros, which a lot less like english and, suspiciously, a lot more like tolkien’s elvish. ]

secret passages.

[ arya loves to explore. she’s been doing that practically nonstop since she’s arrived, and now with the partial power outage, the stakes are even higher. so she’s downright excited to find a new set of doors. even better, it looks like someone’s already pried them open. arya heads down the stairs, finding herself up to the chest in disgusting water. ]

Seven hells!

[ she’s annoyed, but not deterred. arya wades through the water slowly, trying all the doors, disappointed that they’re all locked, save one. she enters, examining all the strange artifacts, but not touching. not yet. ]

What is this?

forgetting.

[ arya does, eventually, touch an orb. the memories fade slowly, and at first, it’s barely noticeable. but after a few hours, the damage has been done, if it’s even right to call it damage: arya has forgotten her brother and mother’s death. she’s forgotten the red wedding.

arya now walks through anchor with almost a spring in her step, no longer weighed down by that horrible grief. she can be found actually playing with nymeria, telling the comically tiny wolf to go fetch, or sit, or flop over for a belly rub. and if your character approaches, she’ll be friendly for once, actually greeting them instead of offering little more than a solemn stare. ]

network: remembering. un: mercy.

[ that is, until a couple days later, when she remembers everything again. arya isn’t sure what’s worse: feeling the pain of losing her mother and brother all over again and knowing she failed to save them, or learning that this place can mess with her memory. and that if her family were to arrive, it could alter their’s, too, and perhaps even make them forget about her. ]

why does this place want to play with our heads I do not understand

network, @totheark

[0thingsonmymind]

ithink thatis
what theyare
for

*He's new here but he's still pretty sure Norfinbury enjoyed messing with people.*

[kaballin]

A. Supernova
The pulse across the sky is actually enough to catch Kabal's attention, looking up through the dome at what he assumes is this planet's weird ass version of the Northern Lights. Great it's probably going to turn them all into radioactive mutants or melt the dome or...

Or the power could go out.

Though the lights in the eyeholes of his mask glow, they don't actually cast enough light to see and he freezes for a moment, not wanting to inadvertently walk off a catwalk and die in a fairly embarrassing way. Fortunately it's only a few minutes.

But only some of the power is back on, so he's heading out to check on the most important places to make sure the generator is reaching them: the bar. And then the kitchen. Lastly the spa.

Network - @ KaballsDeep
There's a bunch of locked doors down here if anyone wants to try their hand at lockpicking. Might be some good shit in there.

Where'd my little lackey go? Get down here. Got a job for you.

[audio; un: longinmouth]

[abheirrant]

[Oh hey, he calls back rather than texting.]

I'm fairly certain that the fellow on the network said not to go down anywhere. That seemed like fairly solid advice.

reynir árnason | ota

[braidmage]

A. SUPERNOVA

[ Reynir is completely captivated by what is going on in the sky. He can be found staring up at that display, torn between wonder and fear. He's seen beautiful and terrible things, but this is a new one, for him. If anyone approaches, Reynir will ask them softly: ]

Have you ever seen anything like it?

B. BABELFISH

[ Reynir is a gregarious and talkative person. He has made so many friends in this place, thanks to the help of those auto-translation programs. When they start to fail, however, it becomes immediately apparent to Reynir. There may be moments when he can still understand, but most of the time, everyone is just speaking in completely foreign tongues. The only one here he can understand consistently anymore is Onni, and even with him, Reynir had forgotten how strongly accented his Icelandic is.

But still, he doesn't let that stop him. Sometimes the issue is only that people's words come out slightly to the left of what they mean, which can lead to some hilarious misunderstandings. And otherwise? Well, Reynir has found himself a handy little whiteboard and marker, and he has body language and facial expressions, and he is going to keep communicating with people, dammit! One way or another! ]

C. WILDCARD

[ Surprise me! Or come discuss another alternative, platoapproved#9602 on discord ]

B

[0thingsonmymind]

*The strange braided person wandering around with a whiteboard interests him. Should Can they also not talk? He hasn't really noticed the translation errors, or if he has he already forgot them, so he doesn't guess that's the reason.

He moves around so he's directly in front of Reynir but too close to touch. Assuming anyone would want to touch this strange hooded, masked, mail bag carrying figure. He raises a hand in greeting, though, then points to the whiteboard and cants his head.*

Julie Grigio | OTA

[redwinekindofgirl]

i. champagne supernova

[Julie is in the agriculture area when the sky above Anchor begins to brighten. The explosion of light makes her jump, drop the secateurs in her hand and swear as she has to hop out of the way to avoid having them hit her foot. She curses again, loudly and for good measure, but leaves them down there as she watches the light show overhead with her eyes squinted almost entirely shut and her hand pressed just over her eyebrows.]

Oh my god what the fuck is going on. [She says, the words leaving her in a rush and not much quieter than the cursing.]

Reynir?! Rey-- Agh. [Not here. She's grown too used to having him around while she's up here.

The light starts to dim and while at first she gets back to work, as the hours pass she notices that it's only getting darker. When she heads out of the place, she puts a quick message out onto the network.]

-- Maybe don't go into the agriculture area until the sky stops being fucked up. It can be dangerous when it's dark.

ii. the hidden passage - NETWORK; un: cabernet

Sooooo who is going down to check out the creepy mysterious passageway that the guy we can totally trust told us not to look at?

[She might sound blasé about it, but something still niggles at her, warning her that maybe it would be a good idea to listen to the person saying he's been here for long enough to see the disaster that wiped out the last inhabitants. Julie grimaces to herself as she sends the message, following it with another.]

I'm going in in ten. Meet me down here if you want to come along.

ii

[hyperthermic]

went down once already

planned on going again

use a radiation suit and u wont have to hold ur breath

allison hargreeves | open + closed

[hersay]

supernova.

[ allison has never been to space. she’s had plenty of experience observing it from the ground though, looking up at the night sky, thinking about the man on the moon. back on earth, looking at the night sky often made her think of luther, and by association, the rest of her family. but here in anchor, the sky is different — the suns and the moons are not the same, and allison can look up at them and almost feel a sense of peace.

that is, until the suns literally explode, obliterated into light and then nothingness. the last time she’d seen such a cataclysmic, cosmic event was when vanya blew up the moon, and for a moment, she’s full of fear and can’t help whispering, to the nearest person: ]

Do you think the world is ending?


memories.

[ allison didn’t explore the murky, underground passage, and certainly didn’t touch one of those idiot orbs. she’s not stupid! but she must have come in contact with someone who did, because by the end of the day, allison has forgotten almost everything about her life except one key, crucial thing: that she’s an award-winning, blockbuster-making movie star. and now that she’s forgotten about her horrific upbringing, family, and daughter, she’s acting like an asshole celebrity.

right now, she’s in the spa, utterly frustrated that it seems to be down. who’s in charge of this place? allison needs to speak to a manager, right away! she huffs, sighs, and rolls her eyes. ]

This is so unprofessional. Who do I call to get this fixed?

[ allison’s voice is painfully hoarse and still a little too quiet, but her irritation and exasperation ring clear. ]


girl talk. (closed to julie)

[ after that embarrassing stint as a hollywood asshole, allison has been doing her best to piece back together her returned memories, and also just totally forget the past few days. the tequila sunrises at the bar are helping, a little. allison is sipping one, contentedly staring off into space, when she sees julie out of the corner of her eye and smiles, waving her over. drinks are always better with company! ]


wildcard.

( feel free to write your own starter or hit me up for some plotting!! )

girl talk

[redwinekindofgirl]

Oh, hey!

[Julie hasn't been hit by the memory loss - yet - and she brightens slightly when she spies Allison waving to her from the other end of the bar.

She scoops up the tequila sunrise that the bartender bot places in front of her and sidles down the length of the bar to drop into a chair beside the other woman.]

What's up. Shit's really starting to go down around here.

Peter Parker | OTA

[itsnotaonesie]

C. In ur hidden passage being a giant killjoy

Peter'd probably been too busy with Joe to stop people from DOING A DUMB THING before he got here, but he's here now, and he has closed and webbed up the set of doors and is standing guard in front of them. Like a tiny guard dog. Well, more like a nervous guard puppy. He's taking Creepy Joe's warning seriously and fully intends to keep people out of the spooky secret passage way okay.

Of course, some people have probably already made it inside, and he might have just locked you in. His bad, just knock on the door and he'll let you out. Or try to argue/fist fight your way in! Fun times either way, am I right?


wildcard

[SURPRISE ME i love surprises]

[hersay]

Allison has no intention of exploring mysterious underground tunnels that are, in all probability, probably full of death and darkness and sadness, anyway. She's had enough of that with her sister's underground prison, thanks. Which is why Allison would have walked straight past those mystery doors, if there hadn't been a literal teenage (??) or young adult (??) person standing there, keeping watch. It's Peter's presence that makes Allison concerned, more than anything.

She approaches him warily, not scared of Peter, but apprehensive about what's behind those doors.

"What are you doing?"

Allison has to get up close to speak -- she can talk again, finally, but her voice is hoarse and quiet. She's still getting used to using it, but she's glad it's back at all.

Ami Aihara (Aradia Megido) | Homestuck (Recollé CRAU)

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Prose or brackets welcome! First impressions post is here. ]

> Ami: Be Aradia.

[ You cannot be Aradia because you are already Aradia!

Anyway, yeah. Ami has loads of experience with lost memories, but she has currently forgotten all of that experience. In fact, she's forgotten everything about her life as a human.

Of course, this does not mean she's suddenly remembered the rest of her life as a troll, either. Nor has she physically become a troll, apart from her eyes and mouth and blood. But it does mean she's forgotten all that stuff she knows about, say, human culture and social norms. So pardon her if she comes off, er... weirder than usual.

She'll start by exploring Anchor, poking her head into any room or situation that catches her interest (which is most of them). Kitchens, bedrooms, the spa... come at me, bros. She can see in the dark, too, so it's not like she announces her presence with a flashlight - you might just look up and see one (1) tiny goth standing around, with her bright yellow eyes and a wide, wide grin. Watching. ]

> Aradia: Go do what you're best at.

[ Sooner or later, though, she's bound to find out there's a mystery afoot, and hidden treasures to unearth. And that inevitably leads her to the mystery doors, either alone or with whatever weirdo she's managed to rope into her grand adventure. The first layer's already been breached at this point, and the orbs might or might not still be present - but "Aradia" is just as interested in the room's other attractions, if not more. ]

What a find! I wonder where they came from?

[enumerator]

[ arya is heating up some soup in the kitchen's microwave, one of the few earth appliances she knows how to use. it's her favorite! the little mug spins round and round, and arya loves watching it go. tonight is no exception, as arya stands in the drak, staring at the microwave as she waits for her soup to cook. she's having a good time, until she notices a pair of yellow eyes reflected in the microwave's glass.

startled, arya spins around and draws her sword. arya can't see in the dark, but she can fight well in the dark, and she'll do that if she needs to. ]

Who's there?

[arcadedragon]

A. Supernova
Okay that's actually... really pretty. Genji is perched on one of the catwalk railings on the upper floors, staring up out of the glass dome at the atmospheric wonder. Of course there's the possibility that they might be hit by some wave of radiation that hasn't hit the dome yet - similar to seeing the concussive blast of a bomb long before it reaches them.

But there's not much they can do about it if that's the case, so for now he's going to stay up here and enjoy it. He's never seen the Aurora Borealis, this is the closest he may get.

B. Tomb Raider
Genji's armor is water resistant, not waterproof, so normally he wouldn't go wading into bodies of water without good reason. It takes forever to dry, there's always the possibility some water may somehow get into the inner workings of his legs and cause them to short out. But from images and video on the network he's seen the strange museum of sorts with the glowing orbs and swirly necklaces.

And most importantly there's arrows down there. Different than the ones Hanzo uses, but still arrows.

Since he hasn't the faintest idea how to solve the emotional quandary he and his brother are in, he's determined to focus on the tangible thing he can do. Namely replace the arrow he broke. Which is somehow worth risking potential short circuiting in a flooded hallway to get to.

B

[nockturnal]

Less danger of the other, much less robotic brother encountering such trouble. And where there are secret passages that mysterious figures tell them not to go, there is a desire to investigate. So here Hanzo is, wading through the water to find the one door that still seems accessible without a great deal of force.

It's cold, and damp, but these are trifling matters. And he's doing his best to see through the gloom. There are the arrows, but so far no visible way to break the glass. Frowning, Hanzo glances towards the orbs, held behind the shield array.

Which to attempt for. With a little meddling, it's possible the shield array could be taken apart. Perhaps an arrow striking the right point would be enough to disable it. The glass, from the feel of it? He is less certain of.

Athena Parker || OTA

[citharede]

w1. Troubled Teen (TM)

[ For a kid who's been living on the street for a year and a half, the sudden availability of just about anything has Athena both riding high and intensely suspicious. She can be found raiding the kitchen and stealing anything nonperishable while stuffing her face, taking way more clothes than she needs from general supplies, and perhaps most conspicuously, climbing behind the bar to steal booze from the stock on display. Mostly sweet stuff. She has priorities.

If she's not called out on her theft, she can be followed back (at a distance) to her squat, which is an unused meat locker in an abandoned restaurant. It has a mattress on the floor and her stash carefully organized against the opposite wall. She's not an animal. ]


w2. all in good fun

[ Yeah, there's important plot stuff happening, sure, whatever. Athena is busy exploring, and by exploring, I mean she's running from elevator to elevator putting them on the slowest travel setting and then pushing all the buttons on the panels. She also found some glue and goes to the bar in the wee hours to glue the bottles she doesn't like shut.

She may have soaped the toilets in the barracks area too.

She can also be found in the agriculture section, trying to entice the farm animals over to her with a giant palm full of sugar cubes.]


w3. sometimes she is not a menace, sometimes she's a pianist

[ In her explorations, Athena's found a piano. Where? We're gonna say in an abandoned fancy restaurant. She hovers around it uncertainly for a day, stops back several times the next, and in the wee hours she returns to play.

It's been nearly a year since she was able to play. Pianos aren't exactly easy to haul around when you're homeless. She starts by playing scales, hesitant at first, then faster, faster, faster. By the time she finishes she's grinning. ] Still got it.

[ Athena clears her throat and starts to play again, and this time she starts playing Rachmaninoff without intent to stop until her fingers get tired. ]


MEMORIES REDACTED

[ So yeah, Athena totally touched one of the idiot balls.

Weird glowing thing in weird alien base, was she supposed to not poke it? Sure, the fact that it outlines her veins in light is freaky as fuck, and yes, she bolts back to her squat as soon as it happens, but it isn't too long before she can't remember why she's hiding. It's not much longer until she wanders out of her hiding place and into the expanse of Anchor, where she goes to sit on the edge of one breezeway with her legs dangling into the open air at Anchor's center. ]

This place is wild. [ Or at least she thinks it is? It might not be. No, it's totally not, she just can't... seem to recall... where else she's ever been. ]

w1

[borntohurt]

[ Taking what you need is one thing. Ransacking a shared resource is another.

No mistake, Charles remembers what it's like to steal when you're hungry, and don't know where the next meal is coming from. If it comes. But from what he can tell everyone's working together to make sure that everyone eats, and one person making off with more than their share of the goods? Yeah. Not gonna fly.

So he's just going to quietly wait by the door, with folded arms, for whenever she finishes stuffing her face and turns around. And for a big guy? He can be damn quiet when he wants to be. ]

Kylo Ren | OTA

[killthepast]

I. ROLLING THE DICE
After exploring the strange crash site (and running into a few reindire in the process), Kylo Ren returns to Anchor with a nicely wrapped present. It's his, and it isn't. The gift's for Ben Solo, not Kylo Ren, and he knows he ought to destroy it. Burn it, before it can tempt him anymore.

But he doesn't. Instead, he tucks it away somewhere, ignoring it for a few days as he explores the colony. And eventually, he can't resist the temptation anymore.

When he opens the box, he isn't sure what to expect. Nothing good, no doubt. Nothing useful. He looks inside, reaches in and clasps a gloved hand around the trinket.

The last time he held these dice in his hand (it was only days ago, and the hurt's still so raw), they weren't really there. Just a projection. A trick. These are different, solid and so very real.

He ought to throw the dice away. Destroy them. Leave them in the past where they belong. He ought to. But he can't. Instead, against his better judgment (such as it is), he pockets the dice. He's fine. They can't affect him. He won't allow it.

He's fine. Totally not raging beneath the surface. In fact, he's just going to go about his business as if he's never opened the box at all.

Just.

Don't mind Kylo when he suddenly snaps, turning his rage on a hapless, glitchy droid in an abandoned shop.

(It tried to recommend a new outfit to him. In return, he ran his lightsaber through its chest. It appears Kylo Ren's not open to fashion advice.)

II. KYLO WHO?
Though he may be (at times) prone to his own brand of idiocy, Kylo isn't foolish enough to put his hands on one of the Idiot Balls^TM. If he came face to face with any, during some offscreen/as-yet-unwritten adventure, he would've gotten too much of a Bad Feeling^TM about them to allow an orb to come into contact with him.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for everybody else in Anchor. Somebody's infected him with forgetfulness, and the fog that choked out his memories left him with little more than three facts:

1. His name is (was?) Ben Solo.
2. His mother is (was?) a princess.
3. He has severe issues with father figures.

Anything beyond that is too hazy to latch onto. He may feel vague snippets, and feelings unmoored from any context, but there's nothing solid. As soon as he tries to chase a stray sentiment back to a memory, it scampers away like startled prey.

What's even more troubling is there's something else. A presence that's always with him, invisible, undetectable to others. This extra sense that he knows, on some level, few others possess. It both anchors him and lifts him up, connects him to all that surrounds him.

Sometimes, this sense may give him a vision, if he touches an object or enters a place still haunted by recent trauma. He may also read surface thoughts or emotions from others, unintentionally, and it can be so awkward. At one point, he even manages to stop a tequila sunrise, mid-air, after the bartender bot hurls it at him. Even Ben seems surprised when it happens, looking from his outstretched hand, to the frozen drink, with a dumbfounded look.

As for where he is, you can find him in the park (where, at one point, he manages to ignite his lightsaber, let out a startled yelp, and instinctively toss it into a tree), in the baths (maybe an awkward place to run into others when he can sort of read minds and doesn't know how to control it...), in the bar (see the aforementioned Force shenanigan), and... honestly, anywhere else. It's all good. Things are flexible.

III. WILDCARD
[ Choose your own adventure! Kylo will be out and about around Anchor, exploring, looking for tech and information (particularly with regards to their galactic coordinates). He's most likely to be found in the garage/mechanic shop, security control room, and library. He's also using FORCE WOO MAGIC to try to glean whatever info he can from blaster marks and bullet holes around the colony.

OR HE CAN WANDER TO WHEREVER YOUR CHARACTER IS. I can roll with just about anything. ]

EXTRA: TDM CONTINUATION
[ You can also use any of his TDM prompts/continue TDM threads here! ]

I

[itsnotaonesie]

See the problem with robot murder is that Peter's usually the one that ends up having to fix them, so when he hears the telltale sounds of robo-death while he's out doing whatever it is that he does, he stops in his tracks, rolls his eyes, and barges into the abandoned shop.

"Ooookay, can we not with the robot killing? Do you have any idea how long it takes to--" and then he promptly shuts up, because he knows this guy and oh yeah, that Athena chick said that she'd seen Adam Driver Kylo fucking Ren and wow Peter's suddenly wishing he was better at thinking before opening his mouth.

"Uh. Actually, you know what, I bet he deserved it. Keep on keepin' on, my dude." He's just going to start backing towards the door, nothing to see here.

onni hotakainen ❄ ota

[scowlish]

❄ Tower of Babelfish

Onni isn't much of a conversationalist on a good day, so it actually takes him a while to notice that whatever is translating for everyone is no longer doing so. And he doesn't notice because he's trying to talk to anyone - it's actually when someone is trying to talk to him.

Suddenly, whatever language they're speaking isn't making sense in his head, and he blinks slightly, head tilted.

"What are you talking about? I can't understand you."

It comes out in Finnish, even though he hadn't made any effort specifically to speak Finnish. Blinking, he tries again in Icelandic.

"Do you understand this one?"

❄ Lost Child (MemLoss)

When he touches someone who'd touched someone who'd touched one of the orbs, Onni hadn't even realized that it had happened. In fact, he hasn't even really run into anyone experiencing the memory loss that's going around, so there's really nothing that could have prepared him to find himself coming down with it.

It happens when he's napping against a tree in the Agricultural Level, near some of the crops. Arms and legs crossed, eyes closed, he's not quite deep enough asleep to enter the dream realm, so a noise wakes him up abruptly. Blinking, he looks around blearily, trying to understand what he's seeing, because the last thing he remembers is flopping down on the couch in his family home after coming back from helping with the harvest. When he was fifteen.

And this is not his house, he's not on his couch, there's no porch for Tuuri to be reading on, and he has no idea where he is. He doesn't recognize this place, doesn't recognize the crops, doesn't recognize the buildings - and that's frankly terrifying for someone who's lived in the same place his whole life and knows every corner of that place.

"Tuuri?"

The voice that comes out of him is deeper than he expects, and that just makes the fear amp up again, he lifts a hand and rubs at his throat, eyes wide, and there's...sort of stubble?

"WHAT is going ON?!"

At that, he takes off at a run toward the only place that looks like an exit from wherever he is, only to stumble onto the breezeway and look out over Anchor, a place he can't remember ever being, his eyes wide and heart pounding, tense and kind of terrified. Turning, he looks around himself, sees a door and some stairs, and walks over to them, carefully descends, starts calling out for anyone he might know while he continues wandering around, eyes wide and his hand over his mouth as if it could block out the Rash if he were to run into it - not that he hears any beasts or trolls right now, which is also weird.

"Mom? Dad? Tuuri? Grandma? Lalli? Laaalli, Tuuuuri are you here? What's going on?"

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is returning from visiting Anne, humming faintly to himself as he walks, when he sees Onni. They run into each other all the time, in this place, and he raises his hand in a little friendly, customary hello. But Onni glances right past him. He is holding his hand in front of his face and his eyes, Reynir just spots, are wide with what looks like fear.

It's like the bottom of his stomach has dropped out, when he notices that. Had something happened to Lalli? To Onni? Is he hurt?

Reynir wastes no time in rushing over, his freckled face full of concern as he calls out: ]

Onni! Onni, what is it, are you okay, you look - where's Lalli, what happened?

Marian Tenebris | OTA

[einselective]

0) Out and about after arrival

Marian has been a very physical ghost during her first few days in Anchor. Deeply worried by both circumstances and reading messages left by certain individuals on the network, she explores the facility, at least as much is accessible. But at the (infrequent) sight of another person, she turns and heads the other way, or around a corner, or into another room. In the case of more 'unusual' looking sorts, the walk away might be rather brisk - she's trying not to be too rude about it but also there are some obvious murderers and crazies out there, judging by the network!

Two notable exceptions, however:

0a) Having gone back through to the arrival area, listening to the greeting message drone away on repeat, Marian looks completely lost in her own thoughts, staring at the portal in a sort of very serious contemplation. It would be very easy to catch her off-guard here, and really, there's only one way out.

0b) When Marian finds the R&D area, this warrants a more in-depth investigation. Of course it's not all accessible, but she can be found going through rooms and, after an initial scan for other living creatures, doing a not-quite-silent inventory, muttering under her breath. "3D printer... yes of course but where's the... ah, hmm... needs a new cable here... but what about..."



1) Calm-ish before the storm

But when the full darkness finally settles in, a different, almost familiar kind of unease settles on Marian. Keying up a reasonable time before now on her watch...

Some hours earlier... it's easier to catch up with Marian, because she's got a more-or-less time sensitive task at hand. Point the first: to dig up a few backup flashlights and other emergency-type supplies and leave them in strategic places that will be dark later. Point the second: to try to figure out where backup power is and see if there's anything more that can be done that hasn't been already. Marian isn't willing to advance far enough to find out the ramifications of the event in the skies, but she's at least going to be prepared for it. Of course this could look vaguely suspicious in the future when the power cuts out, but that's a bridge to be crossed later.

If someone seems about to bother her, she in fact preemptively gives a sharp, "Yes? What do you want?"

0b

[abheirrant]

In good news, Marian finds no other living creatures in R&D; in bad news, one who isn't quite living stumbles upon her anyway. As she's inventorying the various machines and materials of one of the labs, the door suddenly opens without so much as a knock, revealing a fellow wearing an inordinate amount of layers and carrying what appears to be a long screw, its blunt end wrapped in tape to make a crude handle. He glances her way, his glowing eyes widening as he's clearly surprised to see her -- or anyone other than Qubit, frankly -- there.

"Oh! Oh, my apologies, I- I didn't expect there to be anyone else here. Is this- is this lab yours?"

Noctis Lucis Caelum | newbie with some otas!

[fessus]

[ a-1. Champagne Supernova ]

[ Noctis is struggling to decide if this is the strangest thing to have ever happened to him.

Oh, it's pretty indisputable that it's in the top five and the fact that he's stranded away from Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto bumps it up a few notches in severity, but still he maintains a very impressive level of cool right up until the moment he's told to prepare himself for decontamination. Removal of his coat is one thing, but removing more? That requires a hell of a lot more internal convincing – and attempted external convincing, as if the prerecorded message can genuinely be swayed to his side – before he's reluctantly willing to shed his clothes and head into the showers. He turns the water on. He starts to rinse.

And then the lights go out. Naked and afraid. ]

Oi–! H... hey, what the hell's going on? [ Anyone in the vicinity, SEND AID ]

[ a-2. Champagne Supernova ]

[ He's far more prepared to deal with the fluctuating power when he's clothed, and even if his explorations are turning up far more locked or blocked doors than he might've liked he keeps his complaints to himself. Mostly because there's no one immediately nearby for him to complain to, which he can only hope to change quickly upon relocating his companions. After all, why the hell would he have been brought here without them?

One of his first stops is the garage and it doesn't take him long to single out the vehicles, attention torn away from the variety of tools and half-finished projects. ]

Ah, cool... [ A mutter under his breath before he's quickly crossing to the driver's side, wasting no time in hoisting himself up into the vehicle with a test-squeeze of the wheel. Nothing like playing with oversized cars now that the lights are back on. ]

Now to actually turn it on– [ Hope anyone heading into the area doesn't mind being suddenly and overwhelmingly blinded by headlights, an unintended side effect of Noctis abruptly gunning the engine. ]

[ b. Babelfish ]

[ Settling into the dormitories seems easy enough, but for a royal trying to blend into his new surroundings it's a hell of a lot harder than he wants to admit. The food situation in the mess hall is quickly proven to be grim and he doesn't even know how to approach laundry or obtaining extra supplies.

Asking for help is turning out to be unavoidable.

So he decides to work up to it during a visit to the park, scoping out what he thinks might be a solution to at least one problem... the only issue being that when he opens his mouth to ask "hey, do you know if it's cool to fish here" in reference to the nearby pond, what comes out courtesy of the jumbled translators is: ]

Hey, do you know if it's fishy cold?

[ Wildcard ]

[ I'm super open to plotting via pm, discord: pyrrhicbattles#0508, or at pyrrhic! Feel free to give me a shout! ]

a-1 noctis should've worn his cut-offs

[floozie]

–oh. Great. (a sigh from the front of the decontamination chamber.

the whole facility goes lights out and he's still expected to lather up with this stranger lurking around? what a welcome. hell, he barely managed to place his equipment into the processor before its glass screen shut him out with a hydraulic hiss. it could've cut his fingers off; then where would they be?

remembering his own tip for navigating in the dark, a right hand slaps out to find the wall.)

Hey, man, you there? Just stay where you are, alright? I don't know what's going on, but we don't want any unfortunate collisions.