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.

abheirrant: (❧ he had some (many) concerns)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-02-13 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Carlisle looks over the pictures. There's the mug Reynir just enchanted, sphere of water and all; that's followed by another mug with water in it as normal, and... some kind of a circle with some lines. Another glyph? No, it's too simple to be a glyph. Maybe it's a pie. It does look like a pie if a piece were cut out of it. Does he... want to turn the mug into food? Conjure food instead of water? Maybe he wants a meal.

Given the world he's from and that most of the ones that are working in Anchor are digital, Carlisle, unfortunately, does not know what a clock looks like.

Carlisle shrugs and shakes his head, giving Reynir a worried look. He doesn't understand.]
Edited 2020-02-13 09:19 (UTC)
numerouno: (LXX)

[personal profile] numerouno 2020-02-14 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Scaramouche catches the first part, but not the second; he's long gone before then. He returns after a few minutes to find Mister No-Name right where he left him and the bartender hard at work as always, wiping the same corner of the counter over and over.

"There's nothing to see out there," comes his voice from behind the man. Nothing but darkness. "Looks like the show's over."
writtendestiny: (030)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-15 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh-- right.

[Don't touch. She shoves her hands into her pockets.]

What's in there..?
0thingsonmymind: (Default)

[personal profile] 0thingsonmymind 2020-02-15 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
itis room for
sur veil lance

itook vid eo
will show
net work
writtendestiny: (028)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-15 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[Poison watches with her chin resting on her hand while the octocat immediately reacts to the toy. Three arms stretch out towards it, the tips curling and grasping out for the bunch of feathers.

Bat, on the other hand, sits down and stares with large green eyes, as if he's forgotten how to be a cat.
]
writtendestiny: (021)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-15 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Another surveillance room?

[Poison frowns, looking off in the direction Brian came from.]

Why does Joe want to keep us out?
0thingsonmymind: (Default)

[personal profile] 0thingsonmymind 2020-02-15 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
hesaid wasnot
safe


He'll completely believe that. Nothing is safe.
writtendestiny: (026)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-16 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[She hesitates.]

... Did he say why?
0thingsonmymind: (Default)

[personal profile] 0thingsonmymind 2020-02-16 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
hesaid
e y e s
watch ing

but didnot re mem ber
didnot
w a n t
to re mem ber
borntohurt: (pic#12911993)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-02-17 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His only real experience with cats -- the smaller sort, not the cougars and panthers that stalked men in the wilderness -- has been the strays in a few of the towns he's visited. Most run from people, and for good reason. They have no need to interact with people when they can hunt their own mice and keep well enough on their own.

Not so different from him, really.

It's nice, that these ones seem so well acclimated to people. Even the tentacled cat seems very used to being handled, being loved and played with. His eyes dart back up to Poison while she watches him play, and he offers her a smile. ]
kaballin: (Ready to fight)

[personal profile] kaballin 2020-02-19 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"Too bad for you. Guess you're gonna die never seeing whatever the hell blew up." He still has his mask on but the empty glass nearby indicates he's already downed one. Maybe time for another.

"I'm sure there'll be a fun encore right before it hits the dome and we all suffocate."
arcadedragon: (Shine)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-02-19 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Were it the whole thing it would not extinguish in time to be sheathed. The form of the blade holds the conduit for the plasma." He tilts it to catch the light even though it's glowing with its own self-illumination. With a practiced spin he sheathes it again.

"Yes, though it is adapted from a sword passed down to me. The modifications are my own, however." And his ancestors would weep at how he bastardized a family heirloom.

Good.

"What prevents yours from extending beyond the length of the blade? How does it keep to the shape you desire?" He'd been wary of this person before, who was clearly violent and enraged. But now his voice only holds curiosity. How does this function without shooting off into the distance much like a laser?
nothinglikefather: made by peaked (Default)

[personal profile] nothinglikefather 2020-02-20 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
"That's what I used to think." Jacob replies, "I thought if I get hurt, or killed my sister might be a little bit put out about it, but no one else is likely to suffer. As it turns out, I caused several riots when I almost ruined the economy."

And killed an innocent man because Pearl Attaway had told him a bunch of lies he hadn't bothered to fact check.

"So while you think your actions won't have a wider effect, you might well be wrong. Ripples in a pond, and all that."

He takes a deeper breath. There's not much he can do about that now, but the mistake still weighs on him, and Pearl's death can't restore the innocent life he'd taken.

But he won't dwell on that now. He puts an effort into sounding his usual up-beat self.

"That's the spirit! We have to see if there's something we can do. And if not, we report back to someone who might know how to fix it." He says, glancing over his shoulder with a grin.
citharede: (bh01)

[personal profile] citharede 2020-02-22 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That's still so weird. Earth, or somewhere else. ]

Earth, yeah. Like. My Earth, anyway. We sure as shit don't have people like Spider-Man around.

[ A pause, marveling again. She shakes her head. ]

What about you?
citharede: (bh55)

[personal profile] citharede 2020-02-22 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She follows his gesture, and then starts toward the orchards immediately, apparently assuming he's going to keep up. ]

I can't believe there's a whole fuckin' farm here. That's not the first thing I think of when I think of alien cities on other planets.
citharede: (pic#12394248)

[personal profile] citharede 2020-02-22 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Um.

[ How does one say 'I'm taking whatever looks nonperishable'. ]

Not really. I was just kind of. Y'know. I was...

[ She clears her throat. ]

I was kind of stocking up on stuff just. In case.
citharede: (pic#12394353)

[personal profile] citharede 2020-02-22 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Athena can't resist preening a little at the compliment. Yeah, she's good, she knows it, but it's always nice to get that good good external reinforcement.

At the man of your dreams bit, she wrinkles her nose. ]


I'm Athena, the super gay. Nice to meet you.
citharede: (pic#12394248)

[personal profile] citharede 2020-02-22 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She compromises by leaning against the fancy display case, trying to remain calm. ]

No. I think I'm okay. I've got to be okay, right?

[ Please tell her she's okay, Mister-- wait. ]

What's your name anyway?
hyperthermic: (B8F940b)

[personal profile] hyperthermic 2020-02-22 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He rumbles a growl, waving her off before he heads on toward the water. ]
hyperthermic: (Default)

[personal profile] hyperthermic 2020-02-22 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He grunts, glaring now. ]

I like watching things burn.
mustact: (→55)

[personal profile] mustact 2020-02-22 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She assumes right, because that is precisely what he will do. ]

I had no expectations, myself. But people must eat somehow.
borntohurt: (pic#12911985)

[personal profile] borntohurt 2020-02-23 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
Earth. But a little before some folks. A little after others.

[ Because that's a thing too. Not everyone is from the same time, even if they're all from the same place. ]

It was 1899, when I left. Just coming on winter.
writtendestiny: (013)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-23 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
He mentioned eyes to me too...

[But what are the eyes. Poison is getting the feeling that he doesn't mean it literally.]

Did he tell you what they are?
writtendestiny: (012)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-02-23 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[Anderson is far more affectionate than Bat is, shown off very well by their differing attitudes towards this new person. While he doesn't object to being stroked and fussed, Bat is not the one to offer the contact. Anderson, on the other hand, is more than happy to use people as climbing frames.

True to form, he's slowly working his way up to the top of Charles' head. Poison smiles back at him, then points to her mischievous pet.

He'll go all the way up if he's allowed to.
]
theweakhavepurpose: (Storage)

[personal profile] theweakhavepurpose 2020-02-24 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
Pratt. Deputy Pratt.

[That is definitely the sound of someone who is not okay and pretending otherwise. He's heard that a whole lot.]

We should probably get you to the med bay in case that electrocuted you and you don't know it. Or .. well anything else. Pretty sure random orbs that send colors shooting up your arms aren't something to ignore.

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