modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redshiftlogs2020-01-01 03:38 pm

january 2020. welcome to the void.

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.

theweakhavepurpose: (Considering)

[personal profile] theweakhavepurpose 2020-01-28 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
You showed up with it? With someone else's phone? What the fuck?

[he's not even sure what to do since he can't exactly call her. And searching the whole place would take a while if she's dead in a corner somewhere.]

And there wasn't anyone else around when you showed up? Teenager? Black hair, yellowy eyes?
braidmage: (:) good good tea boy)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-28 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ It is just so strange, seeing Onni, his face and voice the same as ever, but knowing from what he's saying, and something about how he holds himself, that this is a much younger, much different version of the man he knows. Reynir smiles, softly, not even trying to disguise the fondness in his face as he looks at Onni, resting his chin on his hand. ]

I can, but it's not because I'm special or anything. You're right, and it's an Icelandic mage thing. I'm actually not a really great mage at this point. I didn't even know I was one before a few months ago, when I met Lalli and Tuuri on an expedition into the Silent World. It's sort of a long story how I got there, but I don't think it's all that important right now.

[ When Onni asks for more honey and milk, Reynir blinks a moment, confused, but then smiles, bright and broad, and it lights up his whole face. Maybe a tiny bit of him is thinking about when Onni is back to his normal self and he can tease him gently about this. Part of him is also just so charmed by this sweeter version of Onni, who hadn't yet decided that he shouldn't be allowed the little pleasures. ]

Of course! Just say when.

[ And he doctors the tea to Onni's preferences, and then hands it back to him, offering the further information that: ]

I have gone to Finland, though. I followed you there, after the expedition, to Saimaa. That's where I was when the gods brought us- brought me here.
itsnotaonesie: (66)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2020-01-28 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
The color's too dull too. He needs some Naruto spikes or something.

"That's what I'm hoping. He's in the same boat as the rest of us. Except with tentacles. Actually, he's like the guy who's already fallen out of the boat and he's telling us not to jump in with him because there's sharks."

He makes kind of an odd face just, at the weird shit he's just said. It made sense in his head, okay.
itsnotaonesie: (nice sweater dork)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2020-01-28 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
[He briefly glances over his shoulder at the big web mess he's made, and then motions at one of the black devices he has strapped around his wrists.]

Oh, that came from these. I made this synthetic spider web formula that can shoot out of them. I've got this whole spider theme going, it's kind of a thing.
scowlish: (distress)

[personal profile] scowlish 2020-01-28 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
[For a moment, Onni is completely distracted from the conversation and all his questions by the way Reynir is looking at him, with his chin in his hand and smiling like that, looking all warm, like he likes Onni a lot. With all his red hair and green eyes and freckles and being so tall, Onni can't help but feel a little flattered, and he looks away as his cheeks go a bit pink.

Then, abruptly, he realizes what Reynir has said about Lalli and Tuuri and where they met.]


What?! On an expedition into the Silent World? Tuuri went on an expedition into the Silent World? Why?! There's no way mom and dad would've let her, she's going to get herself killed, she has no idea how dangerous it is out there! What do you mean it's not important right now, that's really important! She's my little sister!

[He stops only because he's out of breath, and then he watches as Reynir puts more honey and milk into his tea and pushes it back. Onni stirs it awkwardly and frowns down at the surface of it. Reynir is telling him he's gone into Saimaa, following Onni, and that's where he was before he came here.

After a moment, he glances up again.]


You were following me? Why?
circumitus: There's my chippy! (where's my chippy?)

[personal profile] circumitus 2020-01-28 09:06 am (UTC)(link)
Her brows lift quizzically. Sorry, Peter. This is more pertinent to her interests than taco shitting wizard things.

"Where have you been attempting to crack into their systems? Maybe you're not looking in the right place, or just looking at it the wrong way." Tejinder would have probably figured it out with just his brain... but he isn't here, so trying to think like he would is the best she can do.
benhargreeves: (! oh)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2020-01-28 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sure there are other reasons why I like them...

[ But though Ben searches his mind and remembers the names of a few authors and some books, the general themes of them and what might be appealing, he doesn't remember why any of that matters to him. What kind of person likes depressing books! Is he a depressing person? A depressed person? ]

I would say my life must be really dull to have gotten into big, difficult books in the first place, but you also said I'm from a big family and I was a freaking superhero, which I'm not sure I believe, so maybe not?

[ Before he can pick at that thread any longer, however, Ami mentions that she had a run-in with amnesia before, and that Ben had helped somehow. He turns to her quickly, eyebrows raised. ]

I did that? Seriously? What was- how did you forget? Do you think this is the same thing, now? Is there some... some influence making people forget things and no one has stopped it?

[ Not a BAD guess, all in all... ]
benhargreeves: @iconned (! skeptical)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2020-01-28 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ben had been hoping for a reaction that was somewhat different than this, but it's understandable. Qubit had said something about Carlisle having a hard time adjusting to how his healing powers had changed, and that indicated it was a pretty central part of Carlisle's identity. Solemn, Ben listens without interruption, waiting for Carlisle to finish rather than immediately jumping to asking clarifying questions. From the sound of it, aptitude for healing was just something Carlisle had been born with, but his pursuit of it was deliberate.

Deliberate, and fueled by more than just a genuine, happy passion. A way to prove myself worthy of living. That hits very close to home, for Ben. He might never have put it in those exact words, but he had felt that way, when he thought about his mother dying, about his awful powers, how he had to use them for good, or he was just a monster without any purpose. ]


I didn't realize it was a religious thing. Or that... it meant so much to you.

[ That knowledge wouldn't have changed Ben's willingness to try to convince Kieran to let Carlisle heal him, if he didn't want to, and if Carlisle's powers were still compromised. But perhaps... he would have been more delicate about it.

Or perhaps not. It had all been so near, then, and Ben knows he doesn't always react well to stress and perceived danger.

Quietly, he replies: ]


I've never had a calling, I don't think. I'm a little jealous. And that- [ A very brief pause as Ben navigates the difficulty of picking a tense, present or past, and decides to avoid that quagmire entirely. ] -that your powers let you heal. Mine are only good for... well, you saw.

[ Carlisle had been out of it, to say the least, but there's no way he could have entirely missed Ben's powers. Them, and the way they ripped through those abominations. How much agony he and Carlisle had both been in, that whole time. ]

Do they have doctors and hospitals, too, in your world, since it's not very common?
benhargreeves: (! you don't have to do it alone)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2020-01-28 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"Do you... can I ask... how things got so bad, between you two?"

Ben isn't so naive that he thinks there's anything he can do to mediate or solve this. Not of the conflict is at a degree where they are physically attacking one another, with the real intent of doing harm. Not if that has happened before, not just once, but enough that Genji sounds so resigned. But he is curious, and beyond that, he wants to have the knowledge so he can avoid doing or saying anything that will make things worse, or hurt Genji's feelings.

"Will that conversation be easier if you have company?"

Arrows. Genji hadn't been joking, if Hanzo had been firing arrows at him. It seems an odd detail, archaic compared to the advanced technology keeping Genji alive. But that is a small question, and Ben has bigger ones to tackle at the moment.

"You are right, though. You have other people here. If he's saying - you need him, and that nobody else will want to be around you or any crap like that, well, he's dead wrong, okay?"
braidmage: (:( trying to stay positive)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-28 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Reynir's smile dims, when he sees that wave of anxiety come over Onni. Evidently, worrying and imagining catastrophe was something he had done even before his village was lost. Reynir hadn't known that, before. He wonders if there was ever a time when Onni just felt easy. But perhaps it was naive to think there would have been. Onni is still Onni. The place he grew up was still dangerous, in its own way, compared to Iceland.

He swallows, silent for a few moments as he weighs his choices. He isn't going to lie to Onni, but Reynir isn't going to go out of the way to inform him of the terrible things that had happened, between what he remembers and the present. So he merely says: ]


Onni... remember, a lot of time has passed, and a lot's changed, years and years have passed, and things are different to how you remember them. It seems shocking but that's just because you haven't got the context. Okay?

[ None of it untrue, but none of it answering the real questions. Not saying his mother and father hadn't objected because they'd died. Not saying that it was dangerous even in the place Onni had thought was safe. Not saying Tuuri had gotten herself killed, after all.

Reynir reaches out and sets a hand on Onni's wrist, a firm grip even as he rubs it softly with his thumb. ]


This has to be so scary and unfair, I get that. But... but imagine a version of you even younger than now. If... if you when you were only five years old showed up, and you told him about some of things that had happened and the ways you'd changed and the stuff you'd done since then. He would probably be scared too, right? And from where you are, you'd be able to see why he shouldn't be. So... try to imagine that in the opposite direction, but almost twice as much time.

[ And as for that last question, he can answer at least a little: ]

You left on your own to try to track down an enemy. Something... really scary that's been giving everybody a lot of grief. You did this whole: 'Oh, I'm Onni, I'm this big strong badass super-mage and I don't need anybody's help' move and ran off, but we didn't want you to face it all on your own. So we're trying to catch up with you. So we can help. So we can keep each other safe.
Edited 2020-01-28 14:48 (UTC)
borntohurt: (pic#12911994)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-01-28 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He crooks an eyebrow higher, but she seems certain enough. So, he moves to carefully crouch down beside her, slipping quietly down to sit, before extending a hand to resume petting the cats.

Or, more accurately, allowing them to rub their faces along the back of his burn-scarred hand. ]
borntohurt: (Default)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-01-28 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry.

[ It seems a little hollow. What do you say when someone says their world ended, that one of their family was responsible, and that they carry part of that guilt with them? That's not a burden any stranger's platitudes can ease.

But his sympathy is genuine. For what it's worth. ]
borntohurt: (pic#13333850)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-01-28 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmhm.

[ She's not wrong. But he's started learning to take all this in stride, after a while. Why not also this impossible thing, on top of so many others?

She doesn't seem all that distressed. Given what little he's gleaned, that's not a surprise. Charles tilts his head thoughtfully. ]


What sort of world did you come from? Earth, or somewhere else?

[ Time is a factor too, of course. But he'd set down money she's not from his time, or any time before it. ]
borntohurt: (Default)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-01-28 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His ears catch when Ben's footfalls cease, and Charles halts. Turns to see the young man staring at his own reflection, eyes fixed and frozen. He looks like a man settling into the throes of shock, and shock can be a dangerous thing. Best avoided if possible. ]

Hey. It's alright.

[ Brow creasing, he starts closing that distance again, hovering just within reach but hesitating. Not sure how he'll react, given the state he's in. Finally, he decides to risk it, reaching out to rest a warm hand on the outer curve of his shoulder. ]

I don't know too much about this stuff. But I'm willing to bet we can find someone who knows what's going on. There's a lot of smart people here, a lot smarter than me. So. We'll get you something to eat, then we'll go see who we can find to help you out.

You're gonna be alright.

[ No room for doubt in his tone. There's a gentle but firm pat before his hand slips away again. ]
itsnotaonesie: (this is fiiiine)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2020-01-28 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"The security station, and whatever I can access from R&D, which isn't much. If these were the same sorts of systems that we had back home, I'd have been able to get into this stuff no problem."

All this wacky alien stuff? Not so much.
braidmage: (! in dreams)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-28 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Reynir can't help but wonder whether Jacob is telling the exact truth - but in which direction? It's possible he is someone perfectly law-abiding trying to play up his edginess and danger as a self-image thing. Reynir had known a boy like that in the village he was from: always pretending to be much more disreputable than he really was. Or, it's possible, Jacob really is an outlaw of some kind (maybe a vigilante? Cho had explained what those were...) and is downplaying it.

Still, since he has no way of knowing for sure, Reynir just... tucks that question away for now. People always showed you who they were, in the end. The truth came out sooner or later. Reynir knows that.

Right now, the thing that strikes him most about Jacob is that he takes the news about an apocalypse, even if it was one on another Earth and in the past, very calmly. Much moreso than most Reynir has told since he came here. Usually they are so distressed at the idea of all that death... the end of the world as they knew it, or closer to it. But Jacob just treats it like a part of a life cycle. A natural process, almost.

"Yeah... hopefully. Gods willing."

He lets that hang a moment before asking.

"What do you mean by that though? Getting it wrong?"

Is he implying - the way plenty of people do in Reynir's world - that the Illness was some kind of judgment, divinely handed down, for a world that had abandoned its gods? Or is he saying, as still others do, that it was all that technology and the way people had treated the planet that had caused the Illness? Or has he perhaps heard of another world that had gone through an upheaval as intense as Reynir's...?
nockturnal: (20)

[personal profile] nockturnal 2020-01-28 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
It is not often that Hanzo feels regret after hurting someone's feelings. He doesn't much care about other people, to begin with. Not as individuals, anyway.

This is different, and he knows he's done something to invoke her ire, even as he moves to try and push himself a little further upright. "Your legs have nothing to do with it. You are...more than you seemed to be. There is a difference between petting an animal and a..."

Person? He still has no real clue what she is, does he.
braidmage: (! curious)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-28 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Reynir doesn't seem at all as if having his magic drawn on is unpleasant. In the faint golden glow coming from the glyph, he is smiling softly, his green eyes large and shining bright. He can feel it, that strange pulling - it is not entirely unfamiliar, but he isn't used to feeling it so directly, so acutely. He exhales a soft, wordless huff of surprise, smile curling wider, and says, in tones so expressive of contented surprise that Carlisle might understand, even if he doesn't know the word itself: ]

Wow.

[ He leans over to look at the water being suspended inside the mug, kept away as if by magnetic or other invisible forces. For a moment or two, all Reynir can do is look, awed and imagining all the uses for such a glyph. It might be useful in so many scenarios, could be adapted in so many ways.

Once he can tear his eyes away, he grabs another, blank sheet of paper and draws a little representation of that mug, with its suspended sphere or water. Then he draws an arrow, and the same mug, with the water filling it normally once more, and then a little clock, and then a question mark.

Is it undone by time? Or is the mug permanently like this? Maybe there is a glyph to reverse the effects? But Reynir doesn't know if casting magic multiple times on an object degrades it, and he doesn't want to ruin Carlisle's mug. Though he has kind of done that already, in a different way.... ]
0thingsonmymind: (Default)

[personal profile] 0thingsonmymind 2020-01-28 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
*He nods.*

a bout
here


*He's been shown the kitchen but maybe she knows more places for food, so he nods again.*
0thingsonmymind: (Glitches)

[personal profile] 0thingsonmymind 2020-01-28 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
a n s w e r s

toshow
oth ers


*He told Joe he'd take video, but he was totally gonna film everything and post it to the network anyway.*
braidmage: (:( not depressed at all)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-28 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't just a drawing.

[ Reynir is accustomed to people not taking his magic seriously - between Lalli's scoffing and Mikkel's pragmatic condescending and Sigrun rejecting anything she doesn't understand immediately, it's honestly the reverse that surprises him. So he isn't offended when Rey calls it a bunch of drawings. He merely says, with as much conviction as he can, considering how worried he is about what might happen: ]

The lines themselves don't have any power. They're a way of- of calling on the gods, to look out for us. To answer our prayers and grant us safety.

[ Rey seems so certain that everything is going wrong, and Reynir asks, tentatively: ]

Has this happened to you before?
livingdeadgirl: (smile 10)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2020-01-28 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Yeeeah, Ami can't really answer that one for him. They haven't really gotten into his reasons for liking it, since she hasn't openly admitted to him that it's not her thing. (Well, until now, anyway. Whoops.) She tried reading Anna Karenina at his recommendation, but she only got a third of the way through before she needed a break from it, and then she just... hasn't picked it up again. Maybe it's one of those things she'll appreciate when she's older.

It's not too surprising that he doesn't quite believe her on the superhero thing. After all, if someone had told her about Aradia before she remembered, she would have had a hard time believing them, too. BUT ANYWAY... ]


[ She shakes her head apologetically. ] Well, no, I know it's not the same thing. Mine didn't have anything to do with Anchor, it was already - I'm kind of a special case, I guess? It's a long story. I just meant, you know, there's a precedent! I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, you'll see.
benhargreeves: (! bracing)

[personal profile] benhargreeves 2020-01-29 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ben makes notes of Anchor as something to do with his amnesia, not hers. Is it a place? A company? A program?

She seems to really mean it, when she says that there must be an explanation. Ben wants her to be right. He wants to just believe it will all be okay. But he can't seem to force himself to relax, to trust that things will go well. ]


I wouldn't mind hearing it. Even if it's a long story.

[ Ben gives a laugh that doesn't quite hide the anxiety underneath it, adds: ]

Give me a bit of hope, you know.

[ Even he can hear the unease there, and he winces at it. Is he going to be like this the whole time until he remembers everything? Or will he stay this way even then? What if he's a terrible person and just doesn't remember it? Obviously, Ami is nice and seems to like him, but she might have awful taste, he doesn't know. He doesn't know any of it.

It occurs to him that this might not be something solved in an hour, or even a day, and that possibly there are real dangers he ought to be keeping in mind. ]


Also um. Do you happen to know, I don't - have any deathly allergies or - medicine I ought to be taking regularly so I don't... keel over and die or anything? I don't want to like, eat a PB&J and then kick the bucket. That would be a pretty stupid way to go.
braidmage: (! LIFT the doggo)

[personal profile] braidmage 2020-01-29 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well, he understands the smile at least, as well as her tone of voice. It's easy enough to guess that the question she asks is her returning the question to him, so Reynir gives a series of small nods, giving a thumbs up. That, at least, is a gesture that they seem to share.

The whole situation is pretty frustrating, and Reynir really hates not being able to talk. He can't imagine how Lalli had put up with this for so long; he can't even take it for five minutes.

But perhaps there is a way to turn this whole thing to their advantage. Make at least a little fun out of it. So, glancing over at Julie, he holds up a finger, indicating she should wait, and then bends down to scoop up the plants he'd been harvesting. He has a rather nice little bundle of beets, and he holds them up, raising his eyebrows and then nodding over to them. Then, in Icelandic, he says: ]


Rófur.

[ You know, because that's what 'beet' is in his language. He gives Julie a look, nods over at them again, and then waits. He can maybe at least learn a little something, out of this inconvenience. ]
hersay: (side eye)

[personal profile] hersay 2020-01-29 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ how do i know, allison wants to shout. how do i know no one's being taken advantage of? but even if she could physically raise her voice, she still wouldn't, because deep down, allison is convinced she knows the answer. she'll never be sure. after patrick, and then after harold, she'll always worry. allison does not return julie's smile. ]

Prove it to me.

[ allison says at last, her voice low, hoarse, and steely. ]

And I'll make sure Klaus does the same.

Page 32 of 45