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

[nockturnal]

At the synthesized sound of his brother's voice, Hanzo glances swiftly over his shoulder, tensing at once. But it appears Genji is not here to attack him, after all. He can't decide in the moment if that's disappointing or not.

"If you possess the capability, I will not stop you." Which amounts to a 'yes, please' with tinges of 'I'm still angry with you', if one happens to be fluent in Hanzo-speak. He does want a closer look at those arrows, after all.

Their currently unresolved issues can wait, for now.

[arcadedragon]

Genji nimbly hops down from where he's perched, splashing into the water and heading for the rack of arrows. There's less flooding in here, only a few inches so he doesn't have to wade, but it's still ruining his silent ninja footsteps.

Placing a metal hand flat against the glass he tries to determine how thick it is, if there's any weak spots. It seems thin enough. So in one swift motion he pulls his arm back and punches it.

Nothing happens, other than a resounding thudding sound of metal hitting glass, and his arm recoils back and sends him off balance, stumbling and nearly falling down into the water. Genji cradles his hand to his chest, flexing his fingers and making sure everything still works. It doesn't really hurt, not the way it should, but it's a strange, uncomfortable feeling, as if he put his arm in really cold water and it both burns and twinges at the same time.

So much for that bright idea.

Glaring behind the visor he walks around the case slowly, trying to figure out a better way to get at those arrows. Now this thing has personally offended him and he's going to make it pay.

[nockturnal]

Oh, the look that gets from Hanzo. Well, it is at least an expression that he should be used to by now.

"Are you done?"

Shaking his head, Hanzo draws one of the arrows from his quiver, adjusting the metallic tip. Any fool could smash against the glass. Perhaps there was a more elegant way of seizing the treasure within.

Setting the sonic arrow to a higher frequency, Hanzo takes careful aim at the base of the glass, where it meets stone, and fires. The arrow lodges itself there, before humming sharper, faster than usual, and the glass begins to spiderweb upwards before--

CRACK!

It falls away in a thousand shards, into the water around them. Thankfully, the arrows themselves appear to be high and dry, as Hanzo bends to retrieve the sonic arrow and nock it once more.

"That one." He nods towards the case holding the dark-colored beads. "It appears to be built much the same. Stand back."

[arcadedragon]

Hopefully the glare Genji sends his way can be felt even if it's not seen.

The arrow meets its mark but Genji misses the case shattering, looking down at himself instead. Holding his hands out palms up he stares at them before turning his hands over again. Somehow he can feel the sonic pulse of the arrow, a soft thrumming sensation in his cybernetics. As quickly as it starts, it suddenly stops and Genji takes a few steps backwards before Hanzo shoots the next case, wanting to be well out of range.

That was odd. And uncomfortable.

"If you do not need me here, perhaps I should leave. I thought maybe I could retrieve this for you, but it seems you do not require my assistance." He reaches towards the arrow, running a finger along the strange feather fletching.

[nockturnal]

THWACK!

The second shot strikes true, and again the sonic vibration fills the air, with the glass cracking upwards before shattering to pieces. But this time Hanzo curses, moving forward to collect the arrow...

Only to see the arrow head smoking, malfunctioning and likely useless now. That's another arrow down.

"I require nothing from you," he replies shortly, turning to glare back at his brother, before sliding the arrow back into the quiver to be looked over later. He will risk no more of them on the treasures here. Someone else can attempt to pry them loose. He reaches to collect the string of black, glinting beads within this case, examining them with a frown before storing them in a bag at his side for later.

"But if you insist on attempting to help, you could see what can be done about that." And he nods towards the field holding the orbs.

[arcadedragon]

"Very well." He turns towards the orbs, extremely glad to be concentrating on anything other than talking to Hanzo. They seem doomed to have awkward, strained encounters where neither of them leave satisfied.

At least Hanzo will have the arrows.

The shield array is softly pulsating, keeping the orbs in place, reaching out he can touch it, but it won't move when prodded. Small sockets above and below each orb seem to be the source of the shield, and Genji moves to the shiniest one, and the greenest, putting some distance between it and standing up straighter. The panel along his forearm slides back, a hidden mechanism dispensing three shurikens into his waiting fingers and he lets fly. One embeds into the top socket and the other into the bottom, causing the shield to crackle and then fade out.

Pleased with himself he retrieves his ninja stars, carefully loading them back into his arm. There's something else in there too, a folded scrap of paper wedged between the mechanical bits and the shell of his armor, but he merely pokes it back down so it won't get caught as he slides the panel closed with a flick of his wrist.

"What do you think these are?" He pulls the orb free, holding it between his palms and looking at it from different angles. Other than being very pretty he's not sure what they're for.

[nockturnal]

There is but a quiet hum of satisfaction as Genji disables whatever had been holding them back from the orbs. There. Now he's gotten to be useful, as he so desired.

If only he could do what was actually needed of him. But nevermind that now.

"I am certain of none of this. But it could prove useful," he grumbles, moving to acquire the arrows for later study before turning towards his brother, and the orb he carried. Nothing appeared to be happening, other than the orb presenting a rather pretty display.

Silently, he extends a hand. Give it over. He wants a look at it.

[arcadedragon]

Shrugging he offers it to Hanzo. It's pretty and Sōmen would likely want to play with it, but he's not feeling any attachment to the thing.

"The warning on the network seems overblown, though maybe he was not speaking of this room. There are some that are sealed." He muses to himself, not sure why they need to stay away from what seems to be an exhibit of various artifacts.

Once Hanzo has the orb Genji returns to examining his hand. Between punching the glass and the twinge of the sonic arrow something in there feels off. Not that he's going to go prodding around in his cybernetics while standing in water, but maybe he can work the odd feeling out by repeated flexing of his fingers.

"Do you want more than one? I can grab another."

[nockturnal]

He turns the object over in his hand. Once in his hand, the colors seem to swirl, and intensify. Blue into green, into yellow and red, spilling over and over, faster and faster, and Hanzo frowns deeper as he peers into the orb.

"What is..."

But then those colors surge outward, digging under his skin, slipping upwards through his arm, and he suddenly feels a wave of dizziness. The orb drops from his hand, into the water, as that surge of color travels up his arms, seemingly carried through his very veins.

"Nngh..."

[arcadedragon]

"Hanzo!!" Genji is at his side immediately, kicking the orb even further away.

Panic causes his voice to crackle as his mechanical voicebox tries to keep working properly while his breath starts coming quick and shallow, "Hanzo can you hear me? What's happening?"

The colors are swirling beneath Hanzo's skin, distorting the tattoo, becoming a strange pattern within his veins. He wraps an arm around him, trying to get Hanzo leaned against his shoulder to support him should he collapse.

Maybe he'll shove him off, but even after all they've been through that protective instinct is still there.

Is this something the Medbay could fix? Should he carry him out of here? What about Cole? Hadn't he said he could heal people? Especially since this seems to be magical. But no, he wouldn't help Genji. Yet another thing he'd somehow ruined and now another was suffering for it.

All thoughts frantically pinging around his mind as he stands there in indecision, worried that he's about to lose his brother. Again.

[nockturnal]

Hanzo!!

Genji's panicked cry falls away for a moment as a fog sweeps through his mind. Why is it so hard to suddenly recall...anything? It's as if the chain of memories in his head has broken apart, and is trying in vain to link itself back together again.

But some pieces appear to be harder to recollect than others.

Hanzo's hand lifts to his forehead, as the world slowly begins to right himself. Why are his legs wet? The room is flooded, there are strange objects everywhere, glass glinting in the darkness, and a presence at his side. "Where...am I?" He blinks slowly, before turning his head to narrow his eyes at the cyborg beside him.

"Who are you?"

[arcadedragon]

There's a sigh of relief as Hanzo starts speaking. He seems to be relatively okay even if he suddenly can't remember what's happening. Really what Genji wants to do is get him to a place he can sit down, but with the room flooded and the only flat space the plinth that used to hold the beads that's covered in broken glass, that's not happening.

In any case he wants to get out of here. Quickly.

"We are at the end of a flooded maintenance shaft. I would guess we're beneath the courtyard by the fountain." His eyes fall to the orb he'd kicked. Maybe he should put it back where he found it? Would that fix this? Whatever this is anyway. It seemed like holding the orb gave him a concussion somehow.

"It's Genji. I am with you. Can you stand? Walk? We should get away from here." Some of the panic has edged away from his voice, but he still sounds very concerned.

[nockturnal]

"Genji...?"

No. That's not right. It can't be Genji. Something happened to him, long ago, though the details are hazy at best. The clan was angry with him. Father was dead, and Genji wasn't falling in line to take his place alongside them, they wanted to--

He died. They'd sent someone to...kill him? Why can't he remember.

With a pained grunt he starts to pull away, staggering in the water and nearly putting a hand down on the edge of broken glass in an effort to hold himself upright and steady. "That's not possible," he murmurs, though he sounds almost uncertain. After a moment, he attempts to focus in on the figure in front of him. Metal and green lights, and no scrap of humanity to be seen.

"My brother is dead."

[arcadedragon]

Genji's heart sinks as he watches Hanzo stumble away, staring back at him as if he'd never seen him before. Were they doomed to do this for eternity? Never getting closure, always recalling the worst moments of their lives and then getting angry and leaving before anything could be said or done about it.

Silently he moves to retrieve the orb, hesitating before picking it up. But it doesn't respond to his touch, staying dormant as he carefully slots it back into the stand. Instead of being glad that whatever happened to Hanzo doesn't happen to him he's almost... upset. Not even human enough for this magic to effect.

"After our last meeting, I think you would prefer that to be the case."

How many times would he have to do this? Reaching up he pushes at the release on his helmet, pulling the visor free and pushing the panels of the helmet back.

"Let us do this not here please. I think you are injured?" He sounds entirely unsure, moving back to Hanzo's side to help him. "You can be mad at me upstairs."

[nockturnal]

Hanzo doesn't answer.

Instead, he's staring dumbfounded at a ghost. Though older, scarred, pieced together like some broken piece of pottery, he knows his brother's face just the same. But this time there is no whelming sense of guilt that accompanies the realization.

The memories of that night, the accusations, the fury followed by despair and heartbreak, those are all lost to the mist that's claimed hold of his mind. All that's left is--

He takes a step closer, the water sloshing with each step, and one hand tentatively reaches up. Fingertips brush the very edge of Genji's face, as if trying to reassure himself that what he's seeing is real and solid.

"...Genji."

It's really him. Impossible as it seems. And Hanzo stares numbly for a moment or two before stiffly lifting his arms and pulling his brother in. Tightly. A little awkwardly, in truth. He'd never hugged anyone or been hugged before in his life, he doesn't really know how, but what else can he do?

[arcadedragon]

He freezes as soon as Hanzo approaches him. Something seems different, almost wrong, about this. His eyes go wide as Hanzo's fingertips graze along the seam between where his metal jaw connects at his temples and the rest of his face. There's a moment where he nearly recoils, needing to move away from this gesture that's so foreign he can't even process it.

And then he's being pulled into a hug.

This isn't his brother. It can't be. Hanzo hates him. And this.. this doesn't feel like hate.

Very shakily his hands come up to return the hug, unsure where exactly his arms are supposed to go. He'd seen people embrace before and it seemed simple enough. Now that he's attempting it he's finding it more difficult than expected, especially ever cognizant that being pressed against metal must be cold and uncomfortable.

This is not real. It can't be. But more than anything, he wants it to be.

"Hanzo... Are...What?" Questioning softly, afraid if he speaks too loudly he may scare him off and they'll go back to fighting each other.

[nockturnal]

"You're alive."

As if that explains everything. And for him, it surely does. He's only discovering it again for the first time, and without the burden of guilt and self-loathing attached to it. There's no sense of honor compelling him to keep his distance, to remind himself that he does not deserve reconciliation with his brother, after what he had done.

All that remains then is the release of long-held grief, over what they had lost for so many years.

Neither of them are very good at this. The hug is stiff and uncomfortable, and they're still in a cold, wet room full of broken glass. Hanzo still isn't sure why. And yet for the moment none of that matters. He stares ahead over Genji's shoulder, lost, relieved, confused.

He does not let go.

[arcadedragon]

Hanzo is acting as if he's discovering Genji being alive for the first time, but he's not pushing him away, not being angry the way their previous reunion had gone.

"I'm still alive. I'm still here." Stubbornly clinging to survival because he was determined to prove everyone in the clan wrong. Not that any of them but Hanzo were alive anymore, but the principal remained.

"I'm glad you are as well." The sheer panic of seeing the orb transfer those swirling colors to Hanzo, the icy drop of his stomach that Hanzo was about to die, all seemed suddenly far away.

Tears start to prick at his eyes and he clenches them closed as he holds Hanzo even tighter.

"I thought... I had lost my brother. I don't want that." He takes a deep shuddery breath on the verge of actually crying. "I don't want you to hate me anymore."

[nockturnal]

"Never."

Oh, Genji could make him angry. Furious at times. They had fought often and loudly, but hate him? No. Never that. And his absence had felt like a physical loss, like a limb he had to learn to live without.

Perhaps not the kindness metaphor to use, given the circumstances. He can feel the whir and hum of the mechanics under his arms, that still managed to fit the frame of his younger brother, and he feels his brow knitting tightly. "Did they do this to you? I...I cannot recall what happened clearly. I think something is..."

Wrong. It's wrong, but he can't quite grasp what it is that's missing. Only the sense that something is.

[arcadedragon]

Oh he's crying for real now, pulling back to wipe at his eyes.

Hanzo doesn't remember. He doesn't know.

Genji shakes his head, eyes shut before looking up at his brother, not sure how to explain, "After..." He swallows hard, not wanting to talk about it. But Hanzo needed some explination as he stood there looking so confused and concerned. Concerned about Genji.

"I passed out. When I woke up Overwatch had found me, gotten me somewhat stable but.." he gestures down to himself. "I wasn't going to be able to walk or hold my sword. Without this."

A necessary but not welcome change to his entire being. No longer human, but not entirely a robot either.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore." He manages a small smile. Not physically painful anyway.

[nockturnal]

There are no tears on Hanzo's face. But he'd learned long ago to hold such things in check. Genji had always been the more emotional of the two, more prone to laughter or tears. It doesn't mean his chest isn't trying to turn itself inside out at the twist of emotions rising to the surface.

Comfort is not something he is well-versed in. Putting into words what seeing Genji alive means to him, or what he feels about what has become of him, that's not something he's prepared for. What he latches onto, what is easiest to take hold of, is anger. Slowly, his eyes narrow.

"Who did this? Name them. If they yet live, I will ensure their days drawing breath are numbered." And there is such venom in those words, such intense fury.

[arcadedragon]

Oh no.

"No. No no. That is not what I want. I have forgiven them, and you will do nothing to harm them." He's drawing Hanzo back into that hug, burying his face in his shoulder. "Promise me. Promise me that."

He won't deny there are times he wants revenge, that he wants to beat his brother bloody if only to prove he can. That he won't lose a second time. But if this was truly the way he felt then ultimately Hanzo has punished himself far worse than anything physical that Genji could do to him.

He's still not sure if this is even real. It seems wrong, like maybe the orb had turned him into a different person.

The person that Genji had silently hoped he would be. The one that cared. And didn't think of him as an obstacle to overcome. A duty to preform.

[nockturnal]

"How can you say that? I will promise no such thing."

He draws back again, this time confusion resurfacing. One hand shifts to rest on Genji's shoulder, or at least the cold metal that served in its place. "This...cannot be forgiven. Perhaps by you, but I will not."

Because he does care, but he can't put that to words. The words won't come. This is as close as it could come, the anger born of a desire to see this wrong righted, and his brother avenged. So why then is he stopping him? Who is he protecting?

He should know this. It feels like he should know this. That light flickers under his veins once more, and that hand slips away, reaching up to rub at his aching temple. "Something is wrong...where are we? How did we get here?" he murmurs, casting his gaze around the room.

[arcadedragon]

What does he say to that? Hanzo doesn't remember what he's done and now he's full of anger and seeking revenge. If he'd always felt like this then why did he....

"We came down here to obtain more arrows. You have them now and we should leave, I'm not sure what's wrong with you but we should get you medical attention." He moves again to help Hanzo should he need it. Meanwhile he's silently wondering what anyone in the Medbay would even do about this. Hello, yes, my brother touched a weird orb and now he loves me again, can you fix it?

"You touched that," He points at the orb now innocently back in place, "and it did something. There were lights under your skin. I picked it up but it didn't seem to do anything to me, it probably can't get through the armor."

Or the more unsettling answer: he wasn't human enough for it to work.

"Come, let us leave. I can take you somewhere to rest, have you picked out a room?"

[nockturnal]

Why did he. A question Hanzo has an answer for, but likely none that would ever satisfy the real question behind it: why choose his duty over his brother?

Perhaps one day that question would come to light. But in this moment, Hanzo doesn't remember making the choice at all. He doesn't remember arriving in Anchor at all, much less whether or not he has a room. His narrow features pinch in frustration as Genji speaks, before he shakes his head again.

"I do not know. My mind is clouded..."

Perhaps he simply needs to rest.