test drive meme: november 2019

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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.

a. the truth hurts.

As though everything happening in the past month wasn't enough, there's been a minor explosion in one of the labs. No one hurt, if you don't count the hapless maintenance bot that caused the explosion in the first place.

But there are gases drifting through the laboratories, some of them making their way into the air vents, invisible to the purifiers in the system thanks to the explosion. And those gases are leaking into the air around Anchor, little pockets of danger waiting to be breathed in.

Those who breathe the gasses in might be the unluckiest Anchorites of all.

They're stuck telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth for the next five hours, give or take. Good luck with that!

b. retromedia.

Oblivious to what's going on inside Anchor, the shift rages outside, bringing shadows of things and places from other worlds, those things flickering into existence and out of it again.

The bad news is that the Whole Foods is gone.

The good news is the shift left something behind in its place.

A long, squat building, with cement walls painted over with stucco and punctuated by big windows. A flat roof with slanted sides, painted a deep blue. In bold yellow letters bolted to the roof, a sign:

BLOCKBUSTER
The sliding doors are broken, bouncing open and shut steadily, but the inside is clean and well-stocked with rack upon rack upon row upon row of VHS tapes, all of them neatly packaged in plastic boxes. Some of them have the movie covers on them, but most bear the Blockbuster logo and tiny labels running down the back, declaring the box's contents. There's a giant, somewhat busted up standee of Tim Allen as The Santa Clause, flickering holiday lights strung unevenly from the ceiling, and symbols of various seasonal holidays stuck up along the walls and windows.

Any movie you could possibly want lies within, or at least any movie you could possibly want that was released on Earth during or before 1994. And don’t worry if you can't find a VHS player in Anchor! There are whole shelves of VCRs tucked into one of the closets, apparently part of an aborted plan to rent out VCRs along with movies.

Poor Blockbuster. They were innovators. And now they're lost to the sands of the red shift.

c. sweet sweet self-care.

While sickness persists inside Anchor's walls, those in recovery seem to be getting better every day. And while the health bots have been working overtime, some of their processes have gotten a little borked up from all the work they've been doing.

Along with medical care, they're now administering lectures to their captive audiences about the value of diet and exercise, the importance of personal hygiene, and the healing properties of massage. Some of them are forcing massages on people just to prove their point, which, y'know, could be a lot worse. At least they're good at massages?

The spa bots are getting in on the action, nagging the healthy to come for relaxation and decontamination in one gloriously bubbly swoop. They've converted several of their spa pools into sweet-smelling antibacterial baths, so you can make extra-sure you got those visiting-a-sick-friend cooties off!

No, seriously, go with them. Before they drag you there and make you take a bath like an unruly two-year-old.

Believe them, it's worth it. If you complete a circuit of the spa, including the antibacterial baths and the fresh and zesty decontamination shower, you get a shiny sparkly holographic sticker that says "YOU ARE FREE OF DISEASE" in little cheerful bubble-letters. They designed them all by themselves, totally from scratch. Are you proud?

d. the network.

Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to ask a friend which 1980s teen movie classic to watch at movie night? 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.

Navigation.

Comments

[arcadedragon]

If he finds "peter wuz here" inside the panel of his foot he's going to be very displeased.

He obediently twists his arm as instructed, he's had years of being poked and prodded by Dr. O'Deorain who had a far worse bedside manner, so he's more than willing to show Peter how his arm works. "It goes up over my shoulder, to here."

Indicating a place on his chest with his other arm, he feels weirdly vulnerable here. Like he's telling someone his weaknesses, even indicating just how much of his arm is machine seems like admitting too much. But he's trusting Peter to not actually try and take him apart.

Synthetic impulses in his arm let his brain know what it's doing and control it, but he can't really feel anything with it. There's a phantom sensation, of touching things or being touched, but it feels subdued, not quite real. Or it's the complete opposite all pins and needles when he's fully aware of every bit of metal in him, every port and wire. Those days are the worst, and he can feel it in his jaw currently. He's been talking too much lately, and the chassis making up his mandible isn't pleased about it.

"Similar to what you have in your world?"

[itsnotaonesie]

Don't worry, Peter's too classy for that. He'd leave a smiley.

Peter is absolutely fascinated by all this. He's all up in Genji's grill while also trying to be polite and not get too far up in his personal bubble. It's probably a little awkward looking but that's Peter Parker for you. The good news is he does not try to take Genji apart, but he sure is formulating in his head just how he'd be able to safely do that. Y'know, for future medical repair purposes.

"Dude, you are incredible. I've never seen anything this extensive before. Like, I've seen fully mechanical prosthetic limbs, but to my knowledge that's about the extent of our cybernetic prosthetic development."

[arcadedragon]

That's probably a compliment. That feels like it's supposed to be a compliment, but Genji is undeniably awkward about it.

"Thank you? I did not do it to myself however, it took several teams of doctors and scientists many years to get to this point." He flexes his fingers, watching as the plates in his arm twist and bend, a robot approximation of what skin would do.

It's a little hard to truly be impressed with the mechanical bits that keep him alive and mobile when he spends a lot of time wishing it had never happened to begin with. "It takes forever to clean."

[itsnotaonesie]

"I-- yeah, sorry, that came out weird."

It's totally a compliment. He likes your body, Genji, but not in an eyebrow waggle sort of way.

"Would soaking at the spa help or can you uh... can you be submerged?"

[arcadedragon]

"It's not waterproof, but it is water resistant. I've already been in the spa, and now I'm going to take all day to dry." Granted he could just take his armor off or sit in a bowl of rice, but he's not going to do either of those things so instead he's going to whine about it.

"The inside cannot though, where the wiring is." He's never actually gotten any of that wet but he assumes he'd short circuit and die. Not going to tempt that.

[itsnotaonesie]

"I think we might have a blow dryer in our bathroom, if you think that might help?" That could probably help with drying all those awkward joints and stuff? Maybe? Peter's not a robot, he doesn't know.

"Makes sense, though. What exactly is it that powers your body's cybernetics? Is there a... a battery of some sort, or does it all run on your body's natural electrical currents?"

[arcadedragon]

"No, it is fine. It will dry eventually, I am simply complaining." He actually laughs. It's very rare, so cherish it Peter.

"Sixteen double-A batteries." Oh he likes you, which is why he's still here explaining this instead of retreating into ninja secrecy. "No, it uses my body. That is why I am always eating."

Which probably no one knows since he does it in his room.

[itsnotaonesie]

Dude the cyborg guy is allowed to complain about his cyborg problems as much as he wants, he's earned it.

"Oh, good. I was about to say, I don't think I've seen too many actual batteries laying around. That's good to know, though. Do you think it would help to have some kind of back up power supply for you just in case we have some kinda food shortage, or would that help?"

[arcadedragon]

"I ... actually do not know. I've not been without food, it was never a concern before." Other than the fact that Genji could probably bankrupt the entire Overwatch organization if left to himself.

He touches the light in the center of his chest, "I think it would most likely electrocute the rest of me."

[itsnotaonesie]

"I know car batteries can't actually electrocute someone, but then most people don't have as much going on in the cybernetic augmentation department."

He is 100% brainstorming how to make cyborg batteries now, because he totally needs more side projects (he doesn't).

[arcadedragon]

Now Genji is envisioning having to walk around holding a car battery that's hooked up to him somehow. That's almost worse than when he had to be plugged into the wall.

"No I mean the cybernetics would. They have before if there's a surge of power." His own body betraying him seems to be a constant theme. "I think it will be okay. If there is not enough food we have more problems than if my legs will keep working."

[itsnotaonesie]

It's not that bad, they could always toss the car battery into a backpack or something!

"That sounds really dangerous." Note to self, keep this guy away from everything electronic just in case. "I'm hoping by now we've got enough in reserve that food shortages won't be a problem."

[arcadedragon]

As long as it lights up and doesn't mess with his aesthetic he's all for it.

"It happens. Hopefully EMPs or magnetic pulses aren't common here? Nothing has happened as of yet, so I think I should be okay." But now he's thinking about it Peter. Thanks for making him fret about if all his limbs are going to just stop working one day and he won't even have Sombra to blame.

"I saw that there is a small farm going upstairs, and people have been cooking a lot. Do we need to stockpile things? I've never done that before."

[itsnotaonesie]

Peter will make it light up it will look dope as hell.


"They're not common as far as I know, but I'll keep my eyes open for anything that seems weird." He's pretty sure he would have noticed something like that by now, with as much time as he spends with the machines. So far so good, anyway.

"I... don't actually now how to do all that either, but I bet Cho would. She and the rest of the people who deal with agriculture seem to be really smart about that kinda stuff."

[arcadedragon]

He'll be the thunking sound of metal hitting pavement when he falls off a roof somehow.

"My skills are far more fighting based. I think I would like to learn other things, more .. helpful things." Less based on death things. Stuff he can be proud of that isn't murdering a bunch of people. Maybe he should plant more trees or cook more food or learn how to sew or something. Anything really.

[itsnotaonesie]

But Genji I thought you had dope wall climbing skillz.

"I'd be happy to teach you how to do some of the maintenance and repair stuff. Honestly I think anyone you asked would be happy to teach you things. The more hands we have on deck, the easier basic survival is, after all."

[arcadedragon]

Not if an EMP takes out his cybernetics he doesn't. Legs are a critical component of the whole wall running thing.

"I would appreciate that. Anything that I can do to help. That is what I do in my world, but with a lot more fighting." He's kind of a hero and all. No big.

[itsnotaonesie]

Hey Genji how bout you git good.

"Yeah, yeah, I know how that goes. Except also throw in high school. I am so far behind right now." Which is probably fine because he's dead? Not that being dead is fine but man it's complicated.

[arcadedragon]

Forever a disappointment.

"I think you will be excused. It is hard to get to classes when you're in a different dimension." But also high school? He hadn't realized just how young Peter is. A bitty scientist.

"Who is fighting in your world?"

[itsnotaonesie]

Unacceptable.

"Yeah, that's true. Plus all my teachers liked me, so I think I'd be fine." He is the bittiest scientist and the biggest nerd all at the same time.

"I haven't been home for like a year and a half, so I couldn't say for sure. The last thing we were fighting was this alien dude who wanted to wipe out half the life in the universe, and he won."

[arcadedragon]

Favorite son and teacher's pet. They're gonna be a winning combination.

"Half of everything? What for?" That is so highly specific, half the trees too? Half of the bacteria? Half of the endangered condors? "Does that mean he succeeded in destroying half of everything?"

[itsnotaonesie]

Go team dork.

"Half the like, people and animals, I guess? he said something about resources being limited and it was his way of 'saving' the universe. But yeah, pretty sure he succeeded. I watched some of the dudes I'd been fighting him with turn into dust and blow away before I also did, and I'm pretty sure that was because of him."

[arcadedragon]

"You turned to dust?" Well that's awful. Looking pretty good and solid for being dust tho.

"I am sorry. That sounds... Terrible."

WHY ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT SCHOOL WHEN PEOPLE TURNED TO DUST PETER?

[itsnotaonesie]

BECAUSE THINKING ABOUT THE PEOPLE TURNING TO DUST PART IS HORRIBLE AND HE'S TRAUMATIZED AND SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANNA THINK ABOUT SOMETHING NORMAL LIKE SCHOOL???

"Yeah, it uh, wasn't a good time. Fun fact for you, though. Sometimes these weird places that kidnap people from other universes can bring people back from the dead. That's a thing I found out." Shrug, after a year and a half it isn't even weird for Peter anymore.

[arcadedragon]

"Well that is... good? I think? Better than being dead." Probably. He's been close enough to death that he doesn't wanna revisit that again any time soon.

Well what does he say now? Ask what it was like to turn to dust? Awwwwwkward.

"That means you should stay here correct? And not return home?"