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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.



writtendestiny: (075)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-05-16 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
You look different.

[In a good way, she thinks, and Poison has never looked stranger to herself as she does right now. She'd barely recognised herself in the mirror.

The young woman steps up and slides her fingers around Carlisle's forearm, just below the crook of his elbow.
]

Do you need me to lead the way?
abheirrant: (♛ felt nothing but bitterness)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-05-20 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Though Carlisle stiffens reflexively, he doesn't draw his arm away, allowing her to rest her hand at the crook of his elbow. His gloved fingers curl as he rubs them against his palm, catering to old, nervous habits in any way possible.]

How is it you seem less nervous to be here than I am?
writtendestiny: (079)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-05-24 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
... I'm used to having attention on me. [She admits after a grudging pause.]

It doesn't mean that I like it.

[But she can deal with it, not flinching as the cameras flash and the cheering starts up.]

I looked for another way in. There isn't one.
abheirrant: (❧ he felt that (how unusual))

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-06-03 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose going through the front it is, then.

[He finally takes a step forward, hoping she will lead the rest.]

You look radiant, by the way.
writtendestiny: (010)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-06-14 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[Poison immediately flushes at the compliment, turning her head away and pointedly clearing her throat. How dare he.]

I don't know if the dress really suits me.

[People don't compliment Poison. She took long enough to get used to hearing it from Peter.]

But-- thank you. They insisted on 'fixing' my hair...
abheirrant: (❧ it only hid so much)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-06-16 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Carlisle hadn't thought much of the compliment, but he feels just a pinch guilty when he sees just how Poison reacts. He, too, doesn't get many compliments, and has never really learned how to take them. They might compliment the Longinmouth name, but Carlisle himself? No. Not at all.

He doesn't even believe he looks all that good for this event. Just different, as Poison said. Presentable, at best — keeping well hidden what he truly is beneath his skin.]


My hair is the one thing the constructs felt was acceptable. They almost wouldn't let me wear the scarf.
writtendestiny: (057)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-06-25 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
It looks sufficient to me.

[She shoots him a sly, amused smile and pats his arm. Not so much a compliment as a statement of fact, as far as she's concerned. Poison thinks that Carlisle looks just fine, and given the struggles he's been dealing with since he got here she's glad to see that he came at all.]

I don't think that anyone back home would recognise me, looking like this.
abheirrant: (❧ of course,of course)

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-06 08:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Carlisle would blush at that smile were he capable of it; as it is, he attempts to return it with one of his own, even if it is hidden by his scarf.]

Is the Hierophant not allowed to dress up on occasion?

[He's trying to follow her lead and keep his tone lighter than he feels.]
writtendestiny: (057)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-09 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
The Hierophant is far too busy for such trivial concerns. [Poison replies archly, but she smirks sidelong at him the moment after her jaw snaps smartly shut.

Then she relaxes, snickers, and shakes her head.
]

I'm a bit of a shut-in. If Lord Aelthar ever invited me to anything, I didn't notice.
abheirrant: (❧ he felt that (how unusual))

[personal profile] abheirrant 2020-07-09 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a plight to which I can relate. It was rare when I strayed far from my home, and even rarer I left my town at all.

[Which he's sure Poison probably knows. There's always going to be that unknown where area what what he's saying may be something the previous Carlisle she knew told her already.]
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.
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?
writtendestiny: (079)

[personal profile] writtendestiny 2020-07-25 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yes... but reading something in a book and actually experiencing it are completely different. I always expected that we were below the level of the ground around us, or else how would it always be so wet?

[She loiters idly at the edge of the entire affair inside the tent with Carlisle once they're inside, still with one hand lightly curled around his arm.]

I had a friend there - Fleet. He left the marsh often, and would tell me stories when he returned. But that's all they were, and the marsh was all I knew, so... it could be hard to believe him.