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redmarsshit2019-10-24 11:41 pm
modblob) wrote in redmarsshit2019-10-24 11:41 pm
redshift: tdm #5
Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.
▶ Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.
▶ All TDM threads can be considered game canon, and current players are welcome to either top-level on the TDM so prospective players can tag them, or use the prompts for logs or network posts on the communities. All threads on the TDM can be used for Activity Check.
▶ All TDM threads can be considered game canon, and current players are welcome to either top-level on the TDM so prospective players can tag them, or use the prompts for logs or network posts on the communities. All threads on the TDM can be used for Activity Check.
a. don't be a sap.
Good morning, October 25th! Whether you're a confused new arrival or a current resident, you probably had some plans for today, right? Grab breakfast, visit a friend, pick some fruit, explore a new part of the massive city.
Well. Too bad. Because, as every single bot in the city will be telling you the moment you show your face, it's GOOP FESTIVAL DAY! What? You've never heard of it? Preposterous, everyone knows about the Goop Festival, it's one of the most anticipated holidays in Anchor! Haven't you been preparing for this for a week now?
The Goop Festival is a harvest celebration, in particular, a celebration of the sap-producing trees that grow wild in the Park, thick around the edges of the south side of the lake. The bots have been hard at work setting up the festival grounds in the shade of the trees in the balmy fall temperatures. There are spiles tapped into trees with buckets placed underneath that are already half-full of a thick, viscous, amber-colored sap. The bots have also set up troughs of shaved ice with long sticks nearby, with which they will demonstrate for excited residents (you are excited, right?) how to cool the sap in the ice and wrap it around the stick to make it a sort of taffy candy. That's not the only sweet surprise waiting, either.
A long table set up in the grass is loaded down with all sorts of delicious sap-related goodies, ranging from cupcakes with thick globs of sap-flavored frosting to sap-flavored jerky to sap sugar candies, and just about anything else you can imagine. There are a wide variety of offerings that would taste good coated, flavored, or glazed with the sap, which tastes sort of like a caramelized toffee. Another table is laid out that has row upon row of cups, each half-full of the sap, heated lightly to a thinner consistency and served similarly to hot chocolate - at least, if hot chocolate gave you a floaty, happy, hazy sort of feeling. Everything made with this sap does, actually, with the cups of pure sap having a stronger effect and items with less sap content having barely any effect at all.
Does this not sound like your cup of weird tree sap? Too bad. This is the GOOP FESTIVAL, and everything is shut down for this lovely paid vacation day. Spa? Locked down. Kitchens? Locked. Bar? Nope, totally shut down and the server bots are all down at the park. VR Gaming? Too bad, the computers are all shut down. Even roaming the halls and trying to stay out of the way won't help much...be prepared to be dragged down to the park to participate in this mandatory festival! Isn't it exciting?
Well. Too bad. Because, as every single bot in the city will be telling you the moment you show your face, it's GOOP FESTIVAL DAY! What? You've never heard of it? Preposterous, everyone knows about the Goop Festival, it's one of the most anticipated holidays in Anchor! Haven't you been preparing for this for a week now?
The Goop Festival is a harvest celebration, in particular, a celebration of the sap-producing trees that grow wild in the Park, thick around the edges of the south side of the lake. The bots have been hard at work setting up the festival grounds in the shade of the trees in the balmy fall temperatures. There are spiles tapped into trees with buckets placed underneath that are already half-full of a thick, viscous, amber-colored sap. The bots have also set up troughs of shaved ice with long sticks nearby, with which they will demonstrate for excited residents (you are excited, right?) how to cool the sap in the ice and wrap it around the stick to make it a sort of taffy candy. That's not the only sweet surprise waiting, either.
A long table set up in the grass is loaded down with all sorts of delicious sap-related goodies, ranging from cupcakes with thick globs of sap-flavored frosting to sap-flavored jerky to sap sugar candies, and just about anything else you can imagine. There are a wide variety of offerings that would taste good coated, flavored, or glazed with the sap, which tastes sort of like a caramelized toffee. Another table is laid out that has row upon row of cups, each half-full of the sap, heated lightly to a thinner consistency and served similarly to hot chocolate - at least, if hot chocolate gave you a floaty, happy, hazy sort of feeling. Everything made with this sap does, actually, with the cups of pure sap having a stronger effect and items with less sap content having barely any effect at all.
Does this not sound like your cup of weird tree sap? Too bad. This is the GOOP FESTIVAL, and everything is shut down for this lovely paid vacation day. Spa? Locked down. Kitchens? Locked. Bar? Nope, totally shut down and the server bots are all down at the park. VR Gaming? Too bad, the computers are all shut down. Even roaming the halls and trying to stay out of the way won't help much...be prepared to be dragged down to the park to participate in this mandatory festival! Isn't it exciting?
b. familiar ground.
Every year in Anchor near the end of October, there's a very strange interaction between the protective dome over the city and seasonal radiation surges that happen in the wastelands. Some complicated combination of refraction and reflection means that for the last few days of the month, residents will experience some of the more benign effects of the red shift inside the city.
Did we say benign? Because while there may not be any dangerous radiation to melt your skin off, there are some mind-bending dangers. Characters experiencing the shift will find the world becomes distorted, warped, impossible to navigate; they are enveloped in auditory and visual hallucinations, and can become so disoriented that they can't even recognize people they've known for years. And characters will find that the citywide shift brings in slivers of other universes, little slices of places characters have never seen before...or places so familiar they make the heart beat hard with joy or fear.
And just like in the wastelands, the things that show up in these shifts are all too real. Characters may find themselves walking through a door into a scene straight from home, or from someone else's home. Whether it's a favorite place to share with a new friend, or the nightmare landscape you almost died in, complete with the monster that almost killed you, be careful. Everything you experience here is real, and if you die in the shift, you die for real.
Of course, the city has its own safety measures in place - residents experiencing the hallucinations and appearances of items and places from other worlds may find themselves locked down in the room they're in, trapped with the otherworldly effects of the shift.
Did we say benign? Because while there may not be any dangerous radiation to melt your skin off, there are some mind-bending dangers. Characters experiencing the shift will find the world becomes distorted, warped, impossible to navigate; they are enveloped in auditory and visual hallucinations, and can become so disoriented that they can't even recognize people they've known for years. And characters will find that the citywide shift brings in slivers of other universes, little slices of places characters have never seen before...or places so familiar they make the heart beat hard with joy or fear.
And just like in the wastelands, the things that show up in these shifts are all too real. Characters may find themselves walking through a door into a scene straight from home, or from someone else's home. Whether it's a favorite place to share with a new friend, or the nightmare landscape you almost died in, complete with the monster that almost killed you, be careful. Everything you experience here is real, and if you die in the shift, you die for real.
Of course, the city has its own safety measures in place - residents experiencing the hallucinations and appearances of items and places from other worlds may find themselves locked down in the room they're in, trapped with the otherworldly effects of the shift.
c. the virus.
A few weeks ago, people in Anchor started getting a case of the sniffles. While some of the earliest cases might be clearing up, there are still a few people suffering, or people freshly infected by those who were sick earlier, including some of the new arrivals who may not even be feeling it yet.
Which may make the cause of some unexpected 'glitches' around the city a little unclear. Residents who are feeling the effects of the illness, or who are infected but not showing symptoms yet (or anymore) will find that their access to certain parts of the city are restricted. Suddenly, automatic doors aren't opening for them, as if they were ghosts, particularly when they try to access anything that may facilitate transmission of the virus. Suddenly, only some of the residents of the city will find they can't get into half of the MedBay, or the spa, the kitchens, the VR or games rooms, the bar...anywhere people gather or eat or sit close together.
Residents may put together that it's related to the illness some of them have been experiencing over the past few weeks, but it might take a while, since these safety and security measures are affecting people who are showing no symptoms yet. Be prepared for a few days of paranoia while seemingly perfectly healthy people are locked out of common areas. What does the computer know that residents don't? Are these people security risks? Is it a system glitch? What could be going on?
Which may make the cause of some unexpected 'glitches' around the city a little unclear. Residents who are feeling the effects of the illness, or who are infected but not showing symptoms yet (or anymore) will find that their access to certain parts of the city are restricted. Suddenly, automatic doors aren't opening for them, as if they were ghosts, particularly when they try to access anything that may facilitate transmission of the virus. Suddenly, only some of the residents of the city will find they can't get into half of the MedBay, or the spa, the kitchens, the VR or games rooms, the bar...anywhere people gather or eat or sit close together.
Residents may put together that it's related to the illness some of them have been experiencing over the past few weeks, but it might take a while, since these safety and security measures are affecting people who are showing no symptoms yet. Be prepared for a few days of paranoia while seemingly perfectly healthy people are locked out of common areas. What does the computer know that residents don't? Are these people security risks? Is it a system glitch? What could be going on?
c. the network.
Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to warn a friend not to leave their apartment unless they want to be forcibly press-ganged into the Goop Festival? Maybe you need to hold your sat phone up to whatever crazy thing you're seeing and send out a recording to double-check if your eyes are deceiving you and what you're looking at is real?
Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.
Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.
Mod Note: The "familiar ground" prompt will be active between October 29th and October 31st; "the virus" prompt will be active until the next introductory mingle, which will be kicking off the second part of the illness plot.
i'm so ready
then, she hears another voice she thought was long gone. ben. it couldn't be. allison isn't klaus -- she doesn't hear or see dead people.
it's ironic, of course, that allison thinks that the real voice is an illusion, and the illusory voice is real.
nevertheless, allison turns towards the sound. she gasps, albeit faintly. it can't be.
but anything can happen, right? if claire is here, why not ben? allison wishes she could call out to him. she wishes she could talk to ben again. ben, who was sweet and kind in ways she never could be. ben, who deserved (deserves?) better. certainly deserves better than a smile and wave.
but that's all she can do. slowly, and then more assuredly, allison smiles softly and waves at ben, beckoning closer.
come here. i've missed you. come meet my daughter.
no subject
But the bandage is stark white against her throat and Ben remembers how she'd looked on the floor of that cabin, so much blood, how sure he had been that she was going to die, from a danger he'd never even seen coming enough to worry about it.
He inches closer and she doesn't disappear, or shift into a nightmare, or do anything un-Allison-ish. And so he tentatively sits on the bench, unable to tear his eyes away from his sister. But he fumbles around in the pockets of his hoodie, pulls out a little pocket-sized paperback he'd had tucked into the pouch, and a ballpoint pen that had been in the pocket of his jeans all day. Hands shaky, he offers them out to her. Moment of truth: is she substantial enough to take them, or will they go right through her, the way he had gone right through everything solid in the world for so many years?
(Not once in this process does Ben glance at the place where, to Allison's mind, Claire is sitting, because, of course, she isn't really there.) ]
I missed you.
no subject
see him? that's your uncle ben!
allison is so overcome that she doesn't realize that claire doesn't do any of the substantial things that ben does. she's not visibly breathing, and when she swings her legs back and forth on the bench, the bench doesn't creak or respond in any way.
but who can blame allison for not noticing? allison never thought about how much she wanted this -- how much she wanted to introduce claire to her family. she's glad that claire gets to meet ben first. claire has heard stories about luther, sure -- but it's ben she trusts to be kind to her daughter.
so when ben offers her the notebook, she doesn't take it right away. how could she possibly respond to ben's words? just writing "i missed you too" is pathetic, a pale replicate of what she really feels. so instead, allison hugs ben, praying that she won't pass through.
she doesn't.
allison pulls back and takes the notebook and pen, eyes glassy. she notices ben doesn't look at claire, and claire doesn't know entirely what to make of ben. so she gestures to where claire's sitting and writes: ]
This is Claire
My daughter
[ she smiles sadly, expectantly. it doesn't occur to her that ben doesn't see anyone else at all. ]
no subject
The more he watches her the clearer it becomes she is seeing something he isn't. It's... disturbing. Way more disturbing than he would have thought. Growing up, he'd been used to Klaus talking to people he couldn't see. Then, when he was a ghost, he could see them, too, for the first time. He's seen people hallucinate in this place... but this is Allison. Always so composed. So on top of her shit. And she's grabbing at thin air, looking at it, smiling at it.
Something about the angle of her movements and attention makes his stomach do an unhappy little flip, and his suspicions are confirmed when she writes out her message to him. Ben rubs a hand over his mouth, heart breaking. Because he wants so badly to meet Claire - the real one. And Ben is only too aware that, most likely, that's never ever going to happen for him. Klaus or Allison or Diego could come and go but if he returns to their world from here by some miracle... will he be dead? Again?
He had just gotten used to having a body again. He doesn't want to give it up. But isn't giving up everything for his family kind of his schtick?
Carefully, Ben sets his hand down, balling it into a fist and sticking it in the pocket of his coat. ]
Allison... no one is there. It's just... thin air. Claire's... Claire isn't here.
[ Will she believe him? It would be a bizarre and pointless lie to tell; maybe she'll realize that and give him a chance. Is it nanites again? Should he call Peter? All at once Ben is a kid again, waiting for leadership, paralyzed between different options. ]
Listen, this place - it plays tricks on people. So many tricks. There are drugs and spores and tiny robots and all kinds of influences to make you hallucinate. I've seen it happen to people here, before. You just - have to focus. Is she acting like the real Claire? Is anything... off, even just a little? How'd she get here? Is she acting the way Claire would act if she showed up in a place like this, all alone at first, for who knows how long?
no subject
but then ben says that claire isn't here, and distress sets in. allison backs away from ben and pulls claire close, her arm around her daughter's shoulder. why would ben say that? allison hasn't seen her daughter, her child, since the divorce, and the separation, the loss, has been among the hardest things that allison has had to endure. she thought she lost her child, but now her child is back, and ben has the -- the nerve to say it's not real? that claire isn't here, that none of this is happening?
it can't be.
allison can't think clearly -- all she can think about is how much she misses claire, how much she needs to be with claire, how this has to be real. allison's face is stricken, her hands trembling. claire looks like she might cry -- why is uncle ben being so mean? ]
No, no, no, no...
[ allison whispers, her voice hoarse and weak. and ben continues talking, saying things that shouldn't be true, that can't be true. allison can't hear it. everything ben says after that has a dull, ringing quality, and all allison wants to do is make him stop, make him stop talking, can't he see how happy they could be? as a whole, reunited family? can't he see?
slowly, shakily, allison writes:]
youre lying
no subject
[ There's love and a hint of desperation in his voice. Allison looks so hurt, and all at once he hates this place. Hates it for returning him and Allison to each other only to force him into a situation where he is frightening and hurting her. What kind of sick joke is that? But he can't just play along and pretend to see someone who isn't there. That would only be more cruel, in the end.
If only he had some way to break the illusion, make Allison see the truth right away. Then he could at least start comforting her without her doubting him and clinging to the hope her kid is here with her again. Because once she realizes the truth, it will still hurt. She'll still be separated from her daughter. ]
When have I ever lied to you? And - why would I lie, about something like this? Anyone could come by and tell you what I was doing. There would be no point.
[ And, heart still breaking, he moves his hand through the place where she must be seeing Claire, the small absent figure she's cradling in her arms. He reaches through, to her hand on the other side, and takes it gently. Showing her with touch. I am real. I am solid. She isn't. ]
The real Claire is out there somewhere and she needs for you to stay strong, okay? I know - it must hurt so much, being away from her. I know it's lonely. But you'll get back to her. I believe that.
no subject
but then ben does the unthinkable, the impossible, and puts his hand through claire. that's when it finally gets through. claire doesn't seem to notice that ben's arm is stuck straight in her. seeing ben's arm stuck through her daughter is at first a horrifying sight, and allison recoils a little, but stops when the vision of claire starts to become fuzzy. claire stops talking and starts blurring around the edges until she dissipates. the specter of claire doesn't even say goodbye, doesn't say "i love you."
and the worst part is, allison doesn't get to say it either.
allison squeezes ben's hand, determined not to lose him too. but she doesn't look at him, either, torn between missing her brother and the shame of him seeing her this vulnerable. allison takes a few deep breaths, steadying herself, and when ben says she needs to stay strong, she slowly nods, building back up her resolve.
after a few moments, she gently lets go of ben's hands to write. ]
I miss her but I also missed you
I'm glad you're back
no subject
Allison is here and she can see him and hear him, and Ben flings his arms around her for another hug, this one tight and more than a touch desperate. He buries his face against her shoulder and holds her without any sign he is going to let go any time soon. Ben had never been really big on hugs, or touch in general, back when he was alive. But that was a long time ago, and he'd spent a decade and a half unable to touch anything or anyone. And he had missed his sister terribly. ]
I'm sorry, Allison. I'm sorry I had to do that.
[ Regret is thick in the words, and they come out halting, staccato. After all those years of wanting to help, and the first thing he does when he's reunited with Allison is tell her she's seeing things and make her realize her daughter isn't here... ]
I don't know how I'm back. I just... showed up here after Five tried to take us all back in time, and I was alive and looked like this. I can't explain it, but- but it's good to see you again.
no subject
and then ben apologizes, and allison's gentle hug turns firm as she pulls ben closer, shaking her head. he's not the reason why she's separated from her daughter. that's allison's fault, and allison's alone, and there's nothing ben could do to convince her otherwise. allison blames herself for losing her daughter, that guilt and grief mixed deep in her heart. what happened with the hallucination is but a shadow, a reminder of what her loss really feels like. in this moment, allison is just trying to be thankful for seeing clearly, and thankful that ben is back. that's enough of a miracle.
in this moment, allison is acutely aware of her inability to tell ben any of this, to put him at ease with her words. and that's a loss too, one that allison can't and won't yet mourn. to her, it's only been a day or so since the injury, too soon to conclude anything yet.
allison doesn't want to let go of ben to write, though. the contact is too important to her, and to him. allison can't remember the last time ben -- or maybe even anybody -- hugged her like this, with this kind of need. she can only imagine what it must have been like for ben, to be cut off from so many people he loved for so long, that she doesn't want to cut him off now.
so instead of talking, she does what she might have done for claire -- rub his back in small, gentle circles, trying to assure him that she'll be okay, that she doesn't need to apologize, and that she is so, so happy to see, hear, and touch him.
only after ben loosens up will allison slowly pull away, wearing a smile that's finally truly happy, perhaps tinged with a little sadness. ]
How long have you been here?
no subject
Eventually, though, he pulls away, and then reads Allison's question, a little furrow settling between his brows. ]
Five months. Klaus is here, too.
[ He opens his mouth, about to tell her that Diego and Vanya had been around briefly as well, but then holds back. He can't really give her any answers where they had gone, and he doesn't want her to worry. Not when, as far as he's aware, there's no way for them to choose to leave here. He's not going to keep it a secret, he'll just... wait until he knows what to say.
Instead he asks the question she hasn't had a chance to ask, yet: ]
It's okay here. Weird stuff happens and some of it is dangerous but it's an okay place. We're - doing good here, actually. I'm alive, and Klaus's been sober for a while now- [ Well, mostly, but again, that's a detail Allison doesn't need to know ] - and there are people here from all kinds of crazy parallel worlds and other planets and places with like, legit actual magic, and demons. I'm friends with a cowboy. Like an actual cowboy from ye olde whenever.
[ Ben smiles at Allison, a little wry at the corners. ]
Being here is better than the end of the world, anyway.
no subject
allison listens closely, still wrapping her head around the sight and sound of ben. the real, actual, non-hallucination ben. so when ben opens his mouth to say one thing but then looks like, for a second, that he's changed his mind, allison doesn't pry -- but she does register it. she'll ask ben about that later, maybe. it's probably not important.
but then continues to tell allison these crazy, fantastic, and even good things, and finally, allison grins unreservedly. cowboys? magic?? demons??? klaus, sober? allison is happy for both her brothers, who sound like they're both getting a second shot at life. ]
A COWBOY
Does he have a cool hat?
That's so great about Klaus <3
no subject
[ Because these good things aren't just his, now. They can be Allison's, too. Ben doesn't want her only thinking about the things and people she's separated from, the world that neither of them can get back to at the moment. He wants her to understand that there is a good life to be lived here, while she is in this place. ]
It is. I've been... trying to give him a bit of a longer leash, I guess. I think it wasn't helping all that much, me hovering around and watching him all these years.
[ Since he had, in fact, been there. Been there all those times that Allison, and the rest of them, hadn't listened to Klaus when he said it. Of course, Ben understands why. He knows all the reasons none of them would listen to Klaus's words. It wasn't ever ideal, but he always got it.
He looks up at Allison, eyes flicking to that stark white bandage, and Ben's smile falters slightly. He asks, concern creeping into his tone of voice: ]
Are you... in any pain? I know where the medbay is if you... if you need anything.
no subject
allison squeezes ben's hand when he talks about klaus. she's not sure how exactly she should get herself across. she wants to tell ben that what happened to klaus isn't his fault, that he was at least there for klaus. that counts for something -- probably a lot, allison would wager.
as much as allison hates to admit it, ben is right to be concerned. whatever painkiller mom gave allison is going to wear off soon, and that cut is going to hurt. allison's trying to take shallower breaths, trying to keep it from stretching or becoming irritated. she nods again. ]
Show me
👀 soooo have you had any thoughts about apping to the game jw?
Did you come straight here? From... when Five tried to send us back in time?
[ There is so much more that he wants to talk about than just the logistics of her arrival, though. He has years worth of things to say, and as they make their way to the corridor that leads to the Medbay (thank goodness it's on the same floor and they aren't going to have to trek up a few dozen staircases), he turns to her and says: ]
I saw all your movies with Klaus, by the way. I mean, all of them. Even that horse one.
[ And he gives a grin that is just the tiniest bit sassy. He hasn't had the chance to gently tease Allison in a long time, and he doesn't think anybody will disagree that the horse movie was not only awards-bait of the most shameless kind, but also, really dreadful. Not Allison's fault, of course. She'd acted her heart out. But the soppy script and the melodramatic score and the three hours of horse-related overwrought conflict... never stood a chance. ]
just did!!! :D
allison nods in response to ben's question. straight from time travel to idris elba, baby! lots happening!
and then ben brings up, of all things, that unholy horse movie. three cheers for the hoof hearted: a kentucky derby journey of the heart. it's heartwarming, of course, to hear that ben and klaus cared about her enough to see her movies, but that one?? they had to see that one?
allison visibly cringes. ]
Not a day goes by where I dont wish they just used CGI horses
but thank you
[ and then, because allison is trying to be a good and open sibling, she adds: ]
That means a lot
:D :D :D YAY
Was it as awful as I'm imagining? I mean, did the whole set smell like horse shit, or only like 80% of it? Gimme the scoop.
[ He is joking, bright and lively, just like the way he was on his best days back when they were kids. A little seriousness comes back, however, when he adds: ]
I want to know all your stories. About the acting, and getting married, and getting divorced, and Claire. All of them.
[ The good ones and the bad; for so long, Ben had only been able to look in on her life, on all his sibling's lives except Klaus's. But Ben isn't so naive that he thinks he can really know what Allison's life was like, without hearing it from her. He so desperately wants to hear it from her.
And he wants to hear it. Hadn't Grace said the damage might only be temporary? That in a few weeks, a few months, Allison might speak again? Ben can only hope. She'd always had a flair for storytelling, and it's just not the same with pen and paper.
He turns down a branching hallway and points her to the door of the med-bay. ]
There's a doctor who was brought to this place. Or, I think maybe she's like, a space marine, but she had some medical training? Anyway, we should call her in to check out how you're healing in a day or two.
[ For now, though, the med-bay bots, one of whom comes gliding towards them when they enter, will have to do. ]
no subject
allison looks ben in the eyes before writing: ]
You will
[ she's going to heal. allison is sure of it. it's not like she can't make sounds right now -- it just hurts to much to really try. if she just rests her throat long enough then maybe, maybe...
it's what ben deserves, if not her.
allison nods, glad that there's someone with some kind of medical training in this crazy place. she lets the robots examine her and tries not to think of mom, crushed in a crumbling house. they give her some kind of cooling gel to apply to the wound and some pills, one of which she takes with a small glass of water, the others she refuses. she'll come back later if she needs more painkillers. she wants to see her brother, and if klaus is sober, really doing that work, then she doesn't want to make it harder on him. it's easy enough to come back here. ]