test drive meme: april 2020

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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.

▶ 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.

Navigation.

Comments

Charles Smith | Red Dead Redemption | In-Game

[borntohurt]

He's never been extroverted enough to enjoy being at a large party, but he's gotten more used to them, the more of them he's been invited to. In this case, invited might not be strong enough of a word for it...

But once the outfits show up for all of them, it's more or less a forgone conclusion that they'll all be attending.

For a majority of the party, he can be seen with Jacob Frye, the two standing close together and one looking much more intrigued by the goings on and the people around them than the other. But Charles does wander off now and again to investigate the available drinks -- whiskey, please -- as well as the available hookah lounge area. His wolf is also nearby, still more politely than one would expect of a wild animal, but staring up at anyone who gets too near with very intent gold eyes.

He's also available for very awkward, unsure dancing that gets a little looser as the evening goes on, and the drinks disappear.

Anyone who approaches is greeting with a warm nod and a greeting, as it is a party and he is here to socialize. More or less. Look, he's still a little rusty when it comes to being included in these sorts of things.

[nothinglikefather]

Jacob is trying to keep that ridiculous little smile off his face, hiding it with his drink more often than not. Instinct tells him that anything could go wrong about now, that it probably will. Everyone here, in one space? Some sort of monster or poisonous gas is likely to be released at any moment but... Charles looks incredibly handsome, Connor and Angel seem to be having a good time, and there is proper alcohol.

It's hard to remain suspicious when the general atmosphere is so relaxed.

Whether the drinks and the food will exist after tonight, he's not sure, but it's a welcome addition. And he has perhaps drunk a little more than is sensible, but only to get to the warm slightly fuzzy stage, stood close to Charles and leaning against him every so often, if only to murmur an observation.

Most of those are along the lines of how handsome Charles himself looks, because he should be told, and the beer relaxes his tongue. And the rest of him, for that matter, and at one point his head is resting on Charles' shoulder, watching the dancers move around the floor.

"You wouldn't get me out there for all the tea in China." He says, but there's a certain note in his voice that says he might be open to persuasion.

[borntohurt]

"I thought you liked parties."

Such is his memory at least. He'd liked them well enough in the City, though...perhaps it was simply that being the middle of the excitement was simply Jacob in his element. Funny. They'd spent that party sitting across the table from one another.

How things change.

Quietly he tilts his head, glancing down at Jacob's head against his shoulder, and the corner of his mouth crooks gently upwards. "Or is this your very indirect way of asking if we can dance?"

[nothinglikefather]

Jacob loves parties. Parties that are casual and relaxed, with friends and people he cares about. He doesn't like formal rubbish, like the sort of parties back in London with fancy clothes and steppy dances.

He's not entirely fond of the suit he's wearing now for that matter, but it's not as bad as some he has had to wear. Besides, Charles looks very handsome in the outfit he was sent over. The dark blue shirt against his skin looks incredible, but blue always looks so good on him.

And of course Charles knows what Jacob wants, even if he won't say it out loud. But the fact Charles knows? That makes him smile a little broader, makes his heart skip a beat.

"Maybe," He murmurs, still watching the other people move with the music. "If you wanted to, that is."

[borntohurt]

"I'm not a very good dancer." Though it's not refusal, just a warning. He's barely had any kind of practice at all, and the last time he had tried it?

Well. It hadn't been an entire disaster. But.

Both eyebrows lift as he studies Jacob's face, the way his eyes had lit up at the idea. With a small shake of his head, he takes hold of his hand in his, and starts towards the dance floor. One dance.

Surely that couldn't hurt anything. Hopefully, Jacob's feet agreed.

[nothinglikefather]

Jacob is expecting that to be the start of a refusal. So when Charles takes his hand and pulls him forward, he's delighted. He can dance. Ethan had seen to it his children could do everything well accomplished members of society could do, never mind the benefits of balance, coordination and timing.

But that sort of dancing was rarely fun and thus Jacob avoided it. But this? He was certain it was going to be fine.

"I don't care." He promised, squeezing Charles' fingers. He really doesn't, all he wants is the opportunity to have some fun with the man he loves, and do something everyone else gets to do with their partner.

[borntohurt]

"Somehow, I had the feeling you'd say that."

It's still a little odd, for him. All these people around, and there's always that half-creeping feeling that someone will throw them a dirty look, or the whispering will start. It's ridiculous, of course. He's been out of his own world for long enough now that he should know it doesn't make a difference to anyone here.

He also knows if anything tried to say anything, particularly pointed Jacob, he might end up tossing them into a nearby table. So it's for the best that nothing of the sort happens, and once their hands are clasped on the dance floor it's just a matter of moving.

Well. Kind of uncertain shuffling, in his case.

tips all the tags into u

[seaboard]

She meets the nod of his head with a more pointed gesture. Without his hand between hers, she opts instead to place her palms to her chest, and lower her head in a sweeping bow that pools her skirts around her feet as she knows to greet others.

"It is an honour, sir." She means nothing but politeness by it. Her smile timid but there, her own fair share taking some of her unsurety and anxiousness away. Not that it makes her less reserved, but at least - she's not quite so terrified.

[borntohurt]

It's quite formal, as greetings go. Like the sort of reverence once might expect in a palace. Not that he knows what actually goes on in such places, it just...seems correct.

"Ah...likewise." There's a brief, thin thread of discomfort in his smile as he shifts on his feet, unsure what the proper response is. Returning the greeting seems the safest bet, and this woman doesn't look like the sort that's going to chide him for getting it wrong.

[seaboard]

She is not at all - and that he does, it only endears her to him. She is not very good at it either, and she was supposed to be. Had people counting on her to be.

So her smile may be timid, but it is there and it is an honest one.

"Are you enjoying yourself this evening?"

[borntohurt]

"Well enough. I'm still not really used to this sort of thing," he murmurs, gesturing at himself and the party as a whole. It's not the most grand affair he's been to, but it's the first he's been outfitted for.

And he feels a little out of place, though that's not enough to stop him from trying to enjoy watching everyone having their fun. He's perfectly content to watch from the sidelines. It's nice and quiet, there.

[seaboard]

Her fingers lift to cover her smile as she almost laughs. Which isn't proper, at all, so she does her best to stiffle it with her head bowing to make sure it is hidden before she continues. "Yes. I have to say it is... it is not my usual... usual... circumstance."

Nothing has been, she hasn't known how to talk or behave or do anything since she arrived. "Which is not to say I am ungrateful, I am very much so, to be invited. It is very kind that they thought of me and were so happy to see each of us. That is nice, don't you think?"

even moar

[circumspector]

Eyes as gold as her dress that she has no regard for as she drops down onto the ground in front of his big bad wolf like it was her best friend in all the world. Which frankly, it was part of someone who was, so who even cared?

Angel is - to a word - very happily drunk. It was her perfect kind of evening, there were all sorts of new and interesting things to try, she was here with the people she cared about, and she had something different to wear that she would never have picked, and for that, it was met with gleeful excitement when it had first arrived and she had bounding around their shared quarters as much as she was now.

"Hello, Charles." Her smile is impossibly wide and her marks bright white as she sinks her fingers into the wolf's thick coat then lowers the rest of herself down to rub her face against its side. "Hello, Little Wolf, are you keeping Charles safe?"

And with giddy laughter, she wraps her arms around its warm body and takes a happy, drunken sigh. Looking up at Charles from where she is half lying on the floor with a grin. "You look handsome tonight. Like you always do." As she would insist about it to him, ever since the first time he tried to squirm out of the compliment by insisting otherwise.

Re: even moar

[borntohurt]

The wolf leans in to the petting, eyes closing for a moment to appreciate The Good Scritches before giving Angel's cheek a gentle lick. It seems perfectly content to let her stay there and give her affections all night long, if she cares to.

In stark contrast to Charles, who does of course immediately cast his gaze aside with a soft cough. "Um. Thank you." No point in saying anything else, or she'll promptly put him in his place. Just accept the compliment and go on, Charles.

"Having fun?" he observes then, raising an eyebrow at Angel's loose and happy demeanor. Not that she doesn't normally just do as she pleases, in whatever space she's free to occupy, but he's seen that look on her before.

[circumspector]

As long as she is wanted for scritching, there she will stay - like many a drunk girl before her, she is all in awe. 'Ohhh, you're so soft, aren't you? So, so, soft. I'm going to nom on your ear! Yes I am!'

But Charles distracts her out of her petting. "Yes. Everyone looks so pretty. I let the robots do what they want, so they covered me in glitter. It's so nice."

[borntohurt]

She is, in fact, very sparkly. Like some elegant bauble or treasure, decked and jeweled to the tips of her horns. The effect is striking. But then, he's found her beautiful since he saw her in the woods on an alien wood, shining in the dark, just as she is.

Still, she appears to be enjoying the froofery, and he smiles gently and nods. "You look incredible," he replies, as though it should be obvious to anyone that of course she does, and the wolf gives a lick of approval to the underside of her chin.

[circumspector]

"Thank you. I feel like a lightbulb someone strung up. But I guess that can be fun too."

The dress was - to a point - ridiculous. Huge and unruly, and where was she even going to put it? "I don't think there is enough space in our Quad for me to put it afterward. Seriously, it's going to take up the entire floor at this rate - " and then she is licked, and she bursts into more laughter and light, pulsing brillaintly. "Maybe it can be a nest for our new roommates?" She doesn't consider grand things like this particularly precious - why would she, money was pointless to her. So was material wealth. Living proof that you couldn't take it with you, after all, but when you moved literal billions of dollars around with your mind - who cared about any of it?

And she fell on the wolf to scritch him all over, again. "Sorry, the makeup probably tastes gross to him." Her Murder Princess of a bird had certainly sulked about it, that was for sure.

[mustact]

It's a similar enough situation for both of them: Sticking quietly to the edges or next to their far more lively and extroverted partners. That said, Ratonhnhaké:ton may look a bit more comfortable than Charles, because he's always enjoyed celebrations, watching others be happy and lively. Especially people he loves, like Angel and Jacob.

Charles looks like he could use some familiar company, however. Ratonhnhaké:ton nods in turn, and offers a smile as he falls up beside his brother.

"Sudden invitations to parties appear to be a theme."

First the City, and now Anchor. With clothes provided.

[borntohurt]

The corner of Charles's mouth creases upwards. "So does fighting strange creatures. Which do you prefer?" he replies, glancing towards the other man. Though, he has a feeling he knows.

It's not so bad to take it easy once in a while. It's not easy. He feels strange being left idle. But it's a feeling he can learn to get over, with enough practice. Perhaps.

"They're certainly having a good time," he adds after a moment, nodding in the direction he'd last seen those two darting off in. God only knew what sort of shenanigans they'd find for themselves, but it's a party. Some shenanigans are perhaps due.

[mustact]

Which he prefers? That's a difficult question to answer. His first thought is that fighting monsters is better, easier to understand, but there is also something to be said for the relative peacefulness of a party. As much as there might be some hidden less than peaceful agenda.

When Charles doesn't wait for an answer, however, Ratonhnhaké:ton decides that perhaps one isn't needed.

"They are," he agrees, with a fond smile on his face. "I'm glad."

Angel, especially, deserves things that make her happy, that make her relax. Having someone like Jacob with her can only help.

As much as he worries a little about what they might get up to.

[borntohurt]

A worry not unfounded. They've certainly gotten up to mischief before, though he doubts they'll leave the party to get up to anything too adventurous.

"As am I. Though I'm sure they'd like it if we had a good time as well." He lifts an eyebrow faintly. "I'm not that great at dancing, but I did see a place to sit over there by the hookahs. If you'd join me."

Much as he loves Jacob and Angel, Connor was the first person he encountered outside of his own world that made him feel...well. Not alone. He treasures that time with him as much as any other. Now seems as good a time as any to observe the party and maybe, if they got really wild with it, relax.

[mustact]

Dancing is pretty enjoyable to Ratonhnhaké:ton, and he has every intention of giving Angel one, but it doesn't surprise him that Charles is much less eager. People might consider him to be something of a loner, content to stay at the edges of celebrations and listen to others rather than participate himself, but when compared to Charles he might just be the life of the party.

Well. Maybe not that bad. And, even so, he's happy to find somewhere quiet and simply appreciate good company. He lowers his chin in agreement, and starts making his way over to the hookah table.

"Does Jacob want to dance?"

[writtendestiny]

The wolf doesn't draw Poison's attention immediately, but it does attract the attention of the curious blue jay that has taken to following her around since those strange blob-like creatures appeared in Anchor. The bird perches on the back of a chair and watches the wolf with its head cocked to one side and one beady eye turned towards the large animal.

"Don't stare," Poison scolds softly from nearby. The blue jay croaks pointedly and turns away, but continues to surreptitiously side-eye the wolf.

"He's curious."

[borntohurt]

Likely it recognizes a kindred spirit. The wolf used to be one of those blob-like creatures, after all, and it watches the jay right back with big, unblinking yellow eyes. Perhaps they can communicate, as they can with the people they've bonded with. Who knew what they were saying, in that case.

"Sure."

Charles just shakes his head. He's not worried, and the wolf isn't about to go hunting its own kind any time soon.

[writtendestiny]

Charles doesn't look worried, and Poison knows that the bluejay can look after himself, but she still keeps her eye on him. He's not above mischief.

"What's her name?"

She asks the question with genuine curiosity after a couple of minutes go by. These creatures are strange and unusual even to her, but the bird had insisted on a name... and she wonders if they're all the same.