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redmarsshit2019-11-21 09:50 pm
modblob) wrote in redmarsshit2019-11-21 09:50 pm
Entry tags:
test drive meme: november 2019
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. 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!
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.
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:
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?
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.
Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.
no subject
I will wait here for you.
no subject
[ And with that, Jacob's gone, the communication cut so he can focus on getting down to the park. The lifts don't work, and he doesn't like the look of them anyway, but those rails down the sides of the open central shaft are too inviting. One day, he'll dive all the way down, but not today. He can't break his neck on the way to see Charles again.
But the joy filling his heart spills over into less than cautious behaviour. He doesn't care what this place is, where is it, how he got there or anything right now, other than Charles. It's been too long, and while he knows that in London his memories of Charles and the City of Sin were kept from him, somehow, he has them all back now. His heart is so full of happiness it might just burst.
He doesn't slow down as he leaves the grubby path. His hand catches the safety rail and his body sails over it, landing on the narrow ledge. Beyond is nothing but air, and below, a hundred feet or so down, is the park. He can even see Charles now, when he blinks and the world turns monochrome- a beautiful golden figure.
He can't wait any longer, and pushes himself off the ledge. The rush of air is exhilarating, and a whoop of pure elation is ripped out of his lungs as he falls, arms spread. The ground grows closer, closer, before the grapple shoots free and catches on one of the rails of the evacuation pods. He swings, enjoying the freedom of so much space without chimneys or signs to get in his way, and when he's low enough, the rope cuts and he lands on the grass at a run.
There's Charles.
Charles.
He didn't think he'd see him again. He thought the universe was laughing at him, showing him happiness and then snatching it away, forcing him to forget everything and now giving it to him again. He doesn't think he's ever felt this churning wonderful mass of emotions, but they power him forward now.
He slows, but doesn't stop, throwing himself into the other's arms. His hands find Charles' jaw, cupping his face, and he kisses him, hard. For all he cares, they're alone, not in a public space in a strange alien colony. There is nothing else he care about more in that moment than the man in front of him.]
no subject
He'd had hope, for a little while. And even as short a time as it was, he wouldn't have traded it for anything. The kinship he'd found with Connor, who reminded him so of Eagle Flies, with whom he'd found some semblance of the belonging he'd missed all his life. Angel, for whom his condition was not monstrous but liberating, who saw the worst of him and embraced him anyway. Others in the city as well.
And then Jacob. Reckless and bombastic, emotions so quick to boil to the surface, never anything done by halves. A thief and a street thug, an assassin and criminal, who cared so wholly and deeply about everything, always. Including him.
It's no wonder that he comes crashing in, pouncing like a wildcat, and Charles laughs against his mouth. Grabs him and pulls him in tight, glad to have him back again. What a balm to the soul, to lose so much, only to get something back in the end. ]
no subject
But that's okay. There's Charles right there in front of him, solid and real and safe and here, with him. It feels impossible and miraculous all at once.
He doesn't let go. He can't and won't, in case something rips Charles away from him again.]
Good god I missed you. I missed you so bloody much. I got here and I remembered everything and I thought I'd lost you.
no subject
Instead, he's able to just take in Jacob standing there, beaming bright as the sun, and feeling the stretch of smiling when he hasn't had cause to in so long. ]
Thought I lost you, first.
no subject
[ Jacob realises then what Charles means. That he had disappeared from the City and dropped back in his own world, leaving Charles there.
Not alone, he hopes. But he had never meant for that to happen. He'd never wanted to go back to London and everything that London stood for.
His smile fades a little with the realisation and he just holds tighter to Charles' shoulders. Nothing is prying him away.]
How long were you there? After I left?
[ He's almost scared of the answer. Days? Weeks? A year? He doesn't want Charles to have been there, thinking he'd been abandoned. He had friends, good friends and Jacob knows that but... but that isn't the same.]
I'm not leaving you again. I'm not going anywhere.
no subject
[ Time doesn't function the same way in these worlds. Trying to figure out the actuality of it is a headache he doesn't need. However much time had passed, or seemed to pass, didn't matter.
They're here now. He'll take that, and whatever comes with it. For whatever price is asked of him. ]
It's alright. I know it wasn't your choice.
[ That heavy brow furrows slightly, one hand lifting to clasp him by the shoulder. If he knows Jacob Frye, he'll have already worked to internalize all that guilt and have been stewing on it for some time. There's no need for that. ]
no subject
He can only hope that Charles wasn't hurt. It's too much to hope he wasn't caught up in it, or didn't go in guns blazing. He'll look him over as soon as he can, make sure there are no nee unexplained scars. Charles has a lot, same as Jacob, but over time he's mapped out Charles' and he's sure he can figure out if any are new.
Of course, as Charles is a werewolf there's probably not physical lasting damage but he can't help but feel he should have been there.]
How long have you been here then? This place is even stranger than the City.
no subject
[ The tech is both foreign and familiar. He'd had the chance in the City of Sin to grow accustomed to these sorts of communication, and got a little better with his typing as a result. But a lot of this place seems a ruin, falling apart at the seams. And further up?
It makes his hair stand up on the back of his neck. It's bad. No place they need to be, that's for sure. ]
no subject
[ But mostly annoy those already here and beat a man up who almost certainly didn't deserve it, looking back on it now. He'll have to... think on that. Work out a way to apologiss. Or just avoid the man forever more. That could work.]
This place is weird. Like people upped and disappeared without planning it. I don't like it. But I've heard that outside this facility the planet is toxic so we don't really have any options.
Aside from making the best of it. Again.
no subject
[ It's not good news. And the situation seems substantially worse. But it doesn't matter. They could find a way to make it work. There were others here who seemed to have survived for quite a while, so it wasn't a completely hopeless prospect.
The idea of being trapped in here when...certain things came time? That's a less encouraging thought. ]
no subject
[ But Jacob is still grinning. He doesn't care, for the moment, that this place is a prison, more so than the City was. He has Charles and until that euphoria wears off, it will be hard to really see any problems with anything else.]
No Magistrates though. No demons that I've spotted. Maybe there's something else. But we can handle it.
[ Still, Charles looks less than pleased and Jacob's smile does slip a little. Charles worries too much about ifs and whats and maybes. About a future they haven't reached yet and Jacob doesn't know how to reassure him about that.]
What is it?
no subject
Then again, they were supposed to be getting better about sharing the burdens, all around. It still takes reminding himself of that for him to finally speak up, glancing back towards Jacob. ]
Not gonna have the privacy we did in the city. When the time comes.