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Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redmarsshit2020-04-27 08:43 pm
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test drive meme: april 2020

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.

▶ SPECIAL NOTE: We're only a month off from the 1 year anniversary of the first TDM, and we received this request for a fancy dress ball, so we thought it would be funny fun to run with it! This TDM will only have one prompt/event, as the monthly log with a bit more plot-related stuff will be going up on Friday May 1st.

a. an invitation.

There are ears everywhere in Anchor. A maintenance bot here, a surveillance AI there. SINI, restlessly pacing the dark digital hallways as she watches over the things that still matter to her. It doesn't take long for word to get out about Starscream's expedition plans. It takes an even shorter time for that news to circulate amongst Anchor's robo-population.

They know when you're unhappy. They always know.

It's why residents will start waking up one fine day to find gorgeous clothes laid out for them to wear and an invitation to a formal dinner taking place down at the plaza at Anchor’s base. The clothes aren't particularly specific to a character's gender, species, or culture - it's all about what the bots think your character would like best. Even if they're wildly off the mark, the clothes are still made to fit and fashioned beautifully. The invitations are marked "TOMORROW, STARTING AT 6PM LOCAL TIME." A smaller note underneath instructs attendees to see the tailor bot adjacent to the spa if they are unsatisfied with their assigned clothing, and also that the spa bots are on high alert, prepared to beautify anyone who wants some extra pampering and a dash of makeup.

Just be careful. Some of the makeover bots are really fond of glitter.


b. quite the spread.

True to the word of the invitation, the plaza is closed off under large white tents and guarded by bots who encouragingly steer you elsewhere should you try to get inside. They're nice, polite, all the things they've been programmed to be whether they like it or not, but there will be no sneaking by them into the party area.

At 6pm on the dot the day after the clothes arrive, characters will find music playing on all levels of Anchor, broadcast from the musical robots who have been practicing ever since that first tiny party almost a year ago.

Invitations will be taken by a bot in an impeccably tailored suit, and characters will be welcomed onto the red carpet that curves around the edge of the park and into the area cordoned off for festivities. The flashbulbs and cheering of bots that line the carpet echo through Anchor, broadcast along with the music until it sounds like the entire place is full of faintly electronic cheering. Each arrival is greeted with a fresh wave of enthusiasm, their image projected larger than life against the interior of Anchor's dome.

The sides of the tents have been rolled up, revealing the absolutely decadent set-up within.

Rows upon rows of buffet tables laid out with the most extravagant and strange dishes for residents to try. All of it delicious, though not all of it will appeal to every palate. There are sweet dishes, savory, spicy, whatever you can imagine. Appetizers of a hundred different kinds. Fruit plates formed into works of art, showing places and events from around Anchor. There are spun sugar reindire. Tiny plates of hors d'oeuvres that depict the faces of residents, both current and former. One particularly large dish is sculpted in the shape of what looks like an explosion emanating from Anchor's base, near where the locked and flooded rooms were found.

There's a cake near the middle of it all, frosting painting an image of a young, smiling man. Anyone who's seen him will, after a moment, recognize the whole and handsome features of a much younger Creepy Joe - the words on the cake say LET'S CELEBRATE OUR OLDEST LIVING RESIDENT!

While most of the food is at least recognizably from the general stores and from the agricultural level, there are other plants and garnishes that look entirely foreign. If asked where they came from, the bots will simply insist they're part of Anchor’s available resources.

There is also a full-service bar, but...not manned by the usual bartender (for anyone who might ask, the other bots will kindly inform them that the usual bartender is on sabbatical for stress). Instead there's a freshly-built bot serving drinks of all kinds, taking requests for old favorites and mixing up new cocktails based on guests' stated tastes.

The only thing not on the menu is a tequila sunrise.

There's a table full of hookahs and little treats that have various light, pleasant effects. These range from simple mood lifts to treats that will leave characters blissed out and relaxed.


c. dance, our residents, dance!

After people have finished arriving, the band picks up and guests' attention is directed upward toward Anchor's dome, where there's a truly magnificent light show being projected with musical accompaniment. It's spectacular, haunting and beautiful...and it shows more than just lights. It also shows celestial bodies in motion across the planet's dusk-red sky, meteor showers, strange northern lights. The show itself is almost an hour long, and ends with words unfurling across the apex of the dome.


HAPPY +1 ANNIVERSARY ANCHOR #3, THE LONGEST RUNNING COLONY.

STAY HERE, STAY HAPPY!



The show fades away and the music picks up again, encouraging guests to dance.

Go on, dance.

It’s a party after all.


d. the network.

Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to ask a friend to back you up to take out the toothy voids? 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.



abheirrant: (❧ they weighed upon him,so heavy)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-11 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
"I do have hobbies," Carlisle cuts back with a snort. "Perhaps you would know that if you cared to know me at all, save for what I can do for you."

Not that he enjoys theft, and that he hasn't been coerced against his will every time he's dealt with Kabal. Well... save for tonight. They both just happened to be here, that's all.
kaballin: (Default)

[personal profile] kaballin 2020-07-11 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Doesn't mean you enjoy them. Just means there's things you do." Granted he doesn't know what those things are because he never cared to acknowledge that Carlisle existed when he wasn't actively being useful to him.

"What are these hobbies?"
abheirrant: (❧ he had some (many) concerns)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-11 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
"I have my glyphcrafting," Carlisle answers, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that Kabal has a point, and that some of his hobbies are less enjoyable and more routine to help him keep his sanity. Being awake all the time means he has a lot of hours to fill. "Reading. Gardening. Mastering the Snake Bert."

He says that name like someone who only sort of understands what it is.
numerouno: (LXIII)

[personal profile] numerouno 2020-07-11 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
He's leaning even closer now, knees bending. His fingertips glide over her neck before coming to rest on her bare shoulder; his other hand lifts hers to his strange mechanical mouth for a soft kiss.

"Anything for you, sweet thing."

Looking as proud as a peacock, Scaramouche draws back and straightens to his complete seven-and-a-half-foot height, his gaze never leaving her. The heat of her hand begins to warm up his own, her shoulder is given an affirming squeeze, and away they go, swaying to and fro, finding rhythm in no time at all.

But his attempts at fancy footwork--guiding them left and right, then back and forth to mix it up a bit--are clumsy at best. When he moves too fast, there's too much pull, and when he moves too slow, too much give. It becomes a stop-and-start slow dance. His attention falls to the space between them while he takes care not to step on or trip up his partner.

Who knew dancing with someone could be harder than dueling them?

His round and inquisitive optics slide to her face again. The smile that immediately pulls the corners of his mouth up is genuine.
writtendestiny: (106)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-12 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Poison immediately makes a face, snorts softly, and mentally digs in her heels against Elleru's efforts.

"I don't have a habit of listening to people when they tell me I can't do something," she replies tartly. Fleet and Bram would no doubt agree with that without a moment of hesitation. If anyone had ever told her she couldn't dance, well, she would have made sure she could.

"I've never had to learn."
writtendestiny: (012)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-12 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[She smirks slightly at him.]

I didn't think the robots would have any kind of fashion sense.

[What she doesn't know is how unlucky she could have been, because the robot's sense of fashion is really not that great.]

Do you think they'll let us keep the clothes?
redwinekindofgirl: (048)

[personal profile] redwinekindofgirl 2020-07-12 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't go that far. I'm just interested."

Does she care? Not really, but there's precious little to keep her interest in this place and wondering about where bots go and what the whole place is about gives her something to think about that isn't a slowly whirling vortex of crippling despair--

Whoops.

"At least this one knows what he's doing."
writtendestiny: (019)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-12 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, not really. My birth name didn't suit me."

'Poison', though? Poison suits her right down to the ground. She purses her lips and loosely folds her arms, finally shifting her attention away from the spread in front of them.

"What about 'Arthur'. Does it mean something to you, or is it just what you answer to?"
itsnotaonesie: (the fuck is THAT)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2020-07-13 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
If they try to take them back, they're gonna have to fight me for them. Just sayin'. I look pretty slick in a vest.

[Not that he wants to fight the robots, but he kind of wants to fight the robots.]
kaballin: (Crossed Blades)

[personal profile] kaballin 2020-07-13 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Snake bert?" He knows that video games exist and that's about it.

"Right you're some kinda mage or something." He'd almost forgotten that. "Or healer or whatever."

He'd been kind of paying attention during Carlisle's tirade in the flooded hallway. But considering the aftermath of that had gone very, very poorly for Kabal, the memory was a little fuzzy.

"What are you glyphcrafting?"
writtendestiny: (026)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-13 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm, me too. There was a whole world outside my village that I didn't know about until I left.

[She isn't sure if he ever told her that, but Poison never minds hearing things from him again. It's like the petals of a tightly closed flower opening as he trusts her with little snippets of information about him.]

I grew up in a marsh, and the whole place was in this... massive bowl in the ground. I never knew.
writtendestiny: (003)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-13 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, yeah... that.

She bluffs.
]

You don't give off the impression of 'not picky', you know.
towhatmatters: (→05)

[personal profile] towhatmatters 2020-07-14 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
He laughs quietly, breathy, and idly scratches his chin with his thumb. Now that's a question he's never been asked before.

"Is what I always been called. Never gave it much thought, truth be told. Don't even know what it means.
livingdeadgirl: (mischief 6)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2020-07-15 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ami grins and claps her hands together. ]

Okay! Don't move, I'll be right down.

[ And she yoinks off to the stairs. Honestly, she's a little surprised he accepted right away - normally guys take some convincing to admit they need help - but then again, he's a giant robot, so maybe the usual tropes don't apply here. Or maybe he's just been struggling with it for a while.

Either way, she comes Lass Scampering up to him within a couple minutes, slowing as she gets closer. Up close, the height difference between them is even more glaring. I mean, his heels are the length of her femur. (Also, this is the first time she's noticed the heels, and they are amazing.) It's a little intimidating, so obviously the correct thing to do is joke about it. ]


Hello! How's the weather up there?
abheirrant: (❧ i looked once in the mirror)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-19 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Though he lived in the valley his whole life, he at least knew there was a world beyond the mountains, even if he was too afraid to see much of it.]

Were there no books to tell you of what was outside the marsh?
abheirrant: (❧ oh.  oooooh.)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-19 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
Fuzzy memory or not, Carlisle seems genuinely impressed that Kabal actually remembered his mentioning he's specifically a healer. He tries not to let his surprise show, but there's only so much the mask can hide, and there's no disguising how his eyebrows rise in momentary awe.

"Er, right. My glyphcrafting. I'm not- not working on anything in particular. Just practicing for what I may need to do in the future. Such knowledge comes in handy should I suddenly find the need to seal away a room to keep a terrifying presence from escaping."
numerouno: (XVII)

[personal profile] numerouno 2020-07-19 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
Scaramouche shifts the paper umbrella in his drink, giving it a plain smile before taking a small sip.

Then, without prompting: "Let me tell you what I do during an intermission."
writtendestiny: (028)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-19 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hmm. Me neither. I've never heard the name before."

Men, Phaeries, all beings in all Realms can be called all kinds of things, but she's never met somebody called 'Arthur'. It feels nice when it's spoken, though.

"In the swamp, girls are usually named after flowers and herbs. Boys are named after trees and features of the land."
writtendestiny: (104)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-19 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
You do.

[She gives the vest a gentle tweak with two fingers as she says that, and then looks up at Peter fondly.]

But I think that you could handle them, you know. If they tried.
towhatmatters: (→21)

[personal profile] towhatmatters 2020-07-20 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
She'll have to forgive the slight grimace he makes at 'the swamp'. Not that all swamps were a problem, most were just swamps (Not All Swamps), but he's had enough of them and the one outside Saint Denis was particularly nasty and dangerous for so many reasons.

"We got a few names like that. Daisy, Lily, Basil." He paused for a moment. "You had another name before 'Poison'?"

Since she said they were named. They'd have to be called something before a ceremony at fourteen, wouldn't they?
numerouno: (VII)

[personal profile] numerouno 2020-07-21 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Make the band play louder or something," he flings back dismissively. "Go find a dance partner and take a load off."
mustact: (→40)

[personal profile] mustact 2020-07-21 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
She likes using her teeth, and he keeps thinking that he'll be used to it, that it won't make his skin tickle this time. But it always does without fail, from the nape of his neck to spread along his spine. Warmth follows it, and he leans forward when she pulls back to steal just a moment longer, and her words don't register immediately.

"Err."

Talking isn't really his strong suit, not when it comes to this. He's a man of action more than anything else. Not that he has no ideas at all. He could take her back to their quarters right now, maybe tease her a little bit more, but then he certainly would make it up to her.

How exactly he would do that? He'd take it one thing at a time, according to what struck his fancy. Unlike Angel, he's not one to plan ahead, not when it comes to this.

"Do you want to stay longer?"
vosseeker: (twenty-two.)

[personal profile] vosseeker 2020-07-21 10:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ hm ]

And what impression do I give off, then?
vosseeker: (seventeen.)

[personal profile] vosseeker 2020-07-21 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Starscream is definitely stubborn, but pride is often a great motivator. He feels excluded from such a portion of Anchor's happenings for logistical reasons that he does not want to miss the party over something so trivial as not being able to get his adornments correct.

Ami's weather remark gets an optic-roll and a long-suffering sigh. ]


Hilarious, truly. You're a pinnacle of wit.
itsnotaonesie: (110)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2020-07-22 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[She does that and he wiggles his eyebrows just a bit. This is probably the thickest he's ever laid on the ham like, ever. Leave him alone he's in a ham mood.]

Oh, for sure. Unless they discover my weakness, anyway. Whatever that is, I actually have no idea.

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