modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redmarsshit2020-04-27 08:43 pm
Entry tags:

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.



arcadedragon: (Defiant)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-05-06 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
Honestly Genji is surprised that Hanzo came, it seems like the kind of thing he would hate. Parties are traditionally more Genji's thing anyway.

How the tables have turned.

Party-boy here is feeling self conscious and awkward and hasn't been to an event in years other than the small celebrations after a Blackwatch mission which were more competitions in getting blackout drunk. He's nowhere near that yet, but he's definitely not on his first drink. Or even his third.

Sitting nearby on one of the cushions around the hookah, he crosses his legs and cradles his current glass between metal fingers. "Have you tried any of these?"

He nods to the glass, whatever he's drinking is bright green.
nockturnal: (pic#13784361)

[personal profile] nockturnal 2020-05-08 01:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have a drink," he points out, lifting his own glass -- clear, and sparkling -- before lifting the hookah's hose and taking a contemplative draw.

It is somewhat amusing, his blob-dragon watching as the smoke issues from his nose, almost dragon-like himself, before it attempts to snag the puffs of smoke with a tiny claw. It seems to have a mischievous side quite unlike Hanzo's own demeanor, and Genji will have noticed the creature rifling through his things while they were both asleep, or getting into places it shouldn't.

Perhaps more like what Hanzo might have been like, if all that hadn't been studiously trained out of him, long ago.
arcadedragon: (Daydream)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-05-11 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Is it sake?" Because that certainly looks like filtered sake Hanzo. Genji is less than impressed. "You should try something new! It is a party, that is what they are for."

He folds his metal legs beneath him, sipping his drink and making sure to hold it in his left hand. There's a good chance he may accidentally crush the glass in his other.

"It is nice that this happened, it was kind of getting depressing here. Everyone stressed and unhappy." He's probably talking about himself more than the rest of the residents.

nockturnal: (Default)

[personal profile] nockturnal 2020-05-13 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Is that what it is for?" he remarks dryly, staring deadpan at his little brother as he takes another sip of sake. He does as he pleases, thank you very much.

"...is there a reason you did not do this before, then? If it makes you so happy." His brow furrows slightly as he looks around. It's a handful of people in a familiar place. There's no reason they couldn't have come together and drank as much as they pleased any time they wished to do so.

Of course, he knows little of what happens here on a general basis, so. Maybe don't listen to his advice, this once.
arcadedragon: (Overthinking)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-05-25 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Parties should be fun, where you can do as you wish with .. with reckless abandon!" He is the expert on parties and you should trust his judgement here Hanzo.

He shrugs as he takes a sip of his drink. Actually make that several sips. "No one would come if I put it together. But if it's part of the towns doing, then they will. And I could not have gathered so much food."

nockturnal: (Default)

[personal profile] nockturnal 2020-05-30 12:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"You do everything with reckless abandon. You hardly needed a party to excuse yourself."

And some part of him wants to point out that people would come. That Genji has never had a problem making friends, charming people into doing things for him. That he succeeds in a way that Hanzo never will.

Instead, his eyes cut sideways towards the rest of the house, as he takes another drink of his own, unadulterated drink.
arcadedragon: (Glasses)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-06-01 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I used to. I would like to think I have tempered some of that, but it is a work in progress." He sets down his now empty glass, slightly more tipsy than he would like because being out here like this, without his helmet and exposed, is doing a number on his nerves.

"Maybe now is your turn to be the careless one. Your honor hardly matters here." He says the word as if it's a curse. At this point, it almost is. "You need to learn to have fun."