june 2020. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

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.

a. welcome to paradise.

What at first appears to be an odd glint in the sky over Anchor slowly broadens and brightens into a truly enormous...cruise ship? Yes, that's a cruise ship, and it's coming down to rest just outside of Anchor's exit doors. The ground shakes as it lands. A bubble forms over the ship and connects to Anchor's exit, and there's no two ways about it: the ship comes with its own radiation shield.

This sucker puts the Titanic to shame. Nearly as long as Anchor is wide, it's more like a floating city than the cruise ship it resembles. Little satellite ships hover and dart around it, occupied by alien lifeforms with too many arms to quite fit the Hawaiian print shirts that they're wearing.

The Daisy Darling Interdimensional Cruise Barge has come to Anchor.

b. anchors away!

And it's quite accessible to residents of Anchor. In fact, the people (of every shape, size, and coloration that can't be considered human) on board will be delighted to host the creatures they've been watching for the past few months as they orbited the planet. Not only will Anchorites find themselves accosted for photos, but they can also find figurines, keychains, and small novelty items of themselves in almost every knick-knack store on the promenade deck. The souvenir shops will also come heavily stocked with red shift-themed items, including toys and decorations featuring some of the monsters that have appeared from the wastes. You always wanted a slinky sand worm, didn't you?

Anyone who can sing, dance, play music, or otherwise perform will be encouraged to do so and showered with gifts - both useful and useless - by the vacationers. Have an instrument, or a good voice? Go busking! Sell your art, give lectures about your home worlds, teach salsa dancing. The vacationers are just waiting to give you money for helping them have a good time.

There's an alien casino, with machines both familiar and very very not. It's a rollicking place with neon signs, free-flowing drinks, and even more free-flowing money. You might not have any use for alien currency in Anchor itself, but it couldn't hurt to check out the shops with a little extra cash from the poker tables, could it? At one side is an all-you-can-eat buffet of everything under the sun, from alien fruit and vegetable platters to...is that a whole giant squid? I never knew they came in quite that color...

You can sneak around the casino without too much effort, stealing from pockets, tables, and platters, but that could get you caught and thrown in the brig, which. Well. We'll get to that, but you don't really want to go there.

The uppermost level of the ship is a beach and water park. There's sand, palm trees, a wave pool, water slides, and a lazy river with inner tubes big enough to support even the heftiest alien. Oh, and a regular old pool, over there. Where all the old aliens are hanging out and playing hover-shuffle-board. Swimming gear is required in this area, but not to worry! There’s an automated booth that will supply you with just the suit you need.

In addition to these places, there's a whole ship to explore, with all the amenities a weary traveler could want. A spa (manned by real (alien) people!), jacuzzis, restaurants that actually function with food the bold can actually eat, clothing stores (though not much of it is designed with humans in mind), deck chairs on sunny promenades, gardens full of alien flowers, and an enormous library filled with books that are checked out based on the honor system. So, y'know. Be honorable. Or something.

c. the first rule of daisy darling.

For those unentertained by the above-board offerings of the upper decks, there's the ship’s more hidden amenities. A fight club filled with creatures of every shape, size, and level of power. A drug den with everything from euphoria-inducing cigarettes to hallucination-causing body paints. A thriving black market, though the offerings are comparatively innocent - bootlegged episodes of Anchors Away, mostly. What's that? Oh, just the reality show of your lives over the past six months. Let's hope no one comes across any awkward vids showing things you don't want people to know about.

Attached to the fight club is the brig. Can you see where this is going? People who get caught breaking the rules on the Daisy Darling can expect to face the music by being put opposite some of the ships more powerful monsters, or its more powerful and reckless vacationers. Who wouldn't love to test themselves against a giant robot or an honest-to-god cowboy? Don't worry! If you get too badly hurt, there's a repair suite on the medical level that can fix up almost any injury. Just don't die before you get there.

If anyone asks about staying on board, escaping the planet with the ship, or tries to convince an alien to help them stow away, they'll be told it goes against both the prime directive and the Daisy's petting zoo rules. Try to stow away on your own? Well, if you're lucky, you'll get caught by a benevolent guard and booted back to Anchor. If you're unlucky, get those boxing gloves ready, because you're headed for the brig.

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 and tag team in the fight club? 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

brigitte lindholm ⊹ overwatch

[skydda]

⊹ b. Anchors Away

[The contrast is a little startling - first the creepy video and the decontamination showers and this old, ruined, unfamiliar city but so soon after that a luxury cruise liner from outer space. It's alarming and exciting all at once, and once she tentatively makes her way onto the ship, she discovers that it's...a little tacky. Brigitte isn't sure if she likes it or not, but it's certainly interesting.

The one thing she doesn't have any mixed feelings about is the all-you-can-eat buffet they've set out. No one seems to mind her walking along the tables and picking out every pastry she can find, until the plate she's holding is piled precariously high with sweets. She should be eating healthily, of course, with vegetables and protein and all that, but she's been living moments away from penniless with Reinhardt for so long she can't resist some sweet baked delicacies.

She's shoving what looks like an alien custard donut into her mouth when she sees someone walk by who doesn't look like they belong on an alien cruise ship.]

Hello!

[A pause, and a slightly sheepish look as she chews enthusiastically, swallows, and then rubs the back of her hand across her mouth to catch any stray crumbs.]

Are you from the city down below?

⊹ d. The Network

@ brigitte

Hello?

Does anyone know if there's some kind of map or guidebook for how this place really works? That video was a little misleading to say the least.

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Brigitte Lindholm!

⊹ x. Wildcard: Mechanic

[After enough wandering, one is bound to find something that strikes a chord. Brigitte has finally found it, and it was surprisingly close to the entry room where she first arrived. A large, airy garage and mechanics area, complete with a couple of vehicles in need of repair.

Perfect to get her mind off the strangeness of this place and hold the mild panic that's lingering around behind every thought since she arrived. It's easier not to think of how far she is from home, or how much unknown danger might be here, or, even worse, what kind of trouble Reinhardt might be getting up to without her.

When anyone else enters the garage, all they'll see of her at first is a pair of legs clad in slightly-oversized denim, and heavily-booted feet. The sound of her humming a folk song, occasionally punctuated with the banging of metal on metal or the scrape of a ratchet as she tightens or loosens a screw fills the air. The moment she hears something, though, she'll slide out from under the jeep and sit up, shaking her hair out of her face, which has a thick smudge of oil on the cheek. Her eyes brighten a little when she sees she has company.]

Oh, hello! Is this vehicle yours?

⊹ xx. Wildcard: No Limits

[Hit her up with pretty much anything. She's going to be exploring the city pretty extensively, armed with a large energy shield and rocket flail (though she won't use them unless she's attacked). Leave me a starter if you have any cool ideas, or hit me up on discord at coffee #6251 or by PM.

Mechanic

[arcadedragon]

[Genji has been pacing around, checking on things, doing some semblance of a patrol because it feels sort of helpful and like he's contributing. There's the sound of metal on metal and a clattering of a tool and he turns to investigate, padding silently into the garage.

It's not like he's trying to be stealthy, he just can't be any other way, so it's likely he accidentally snuck up on whoever's here. Which appears to be a pair of legs sticking out from under a jeep, but then whoever it is reaches to grab another tool and.. well that sure is a sprocket tattoo.]

Brigitte?

[Definitely not who he was expecting and he wonders if he's in a hallucination right now.]

[skydda]

[When she hears her name clearly said in the relative silence of the garage, Brigitte goes completely still for a moment, surprised. The voice isn't one she knows well, but there is a hint of something familiar about it, and that's more than she's had yet in the short time since her arrival.

Sliding out all the way from under the vehicle, she sits up, eyes wide and face smudged with machine oil, looking at the helmeted man across the room from her. After a moment of staring, her face breaks into a grin, and she pushes herself up, wiping her hands on a rag she pulls from the back pocket of her overalls, and takes a few steps toward him.]

Genji! You're here too? Are any of the others?

[For all that she greets him like an old friend, she doesn't really know him very well. They've worked together, but not closely (she'd been too busy watching Reinhardt's back) and he isn't one of the old guard that Reinhardt or her father have told her so many stories about.

Still, she knows him, knows something about his alliances, and that's more than she's had here so far.]

How long have you been here?

[arcadedragon]

My brother, Hanzo. But no others from Overwatch.

[Nor anyone from Talon, it's been just him and his brother for months, and he'd been alone prior to Hanzo's arrival. It's odd now to see someone he recognizes from home - he's not even sure how to react. Should he be glad? Because that feels wrong, being happy that someone was dragged from home to this place.]

For almost a year. Is Reinhardt with you?

[He probably would have heard him by now if he was, the man wasn't exactly subtle.]

[skydda]

A year?

[That's startling. It isn't as if she keeps in touch with Genji or anything, she doesn't think she would notice if he were to disappear for a year, but it's still a little strange to think he's been in a whole different world for nearly a year.

Is she going to be here for a year or more?

The thought is terrible, honestly. To miss Christmas at home, Midsummer celebrations, semlor. And to leave Reinhardt to his own devices that long is practically to give him permission to die. Glorious or not, she doesn't want him to die. Lifting a hand, she chews idly at a thumbnail, and shakes her head in response to Genji's question.]

No. It's just me. It's a little strange, I'll admit.

[arcadedragon]

Almost. I haven't been counting the days, perhaps I should have. It seemed.. depressing, to do so.

[Having hash marks in his walls would be a constant reminder of being stuck here. And he didn't need that.]

From what others tell me, no time is passing back home? Someone I met here was in another world with Doctor Ziegler some time ago, and I had seen her during that time. I don't really understand how it all works.

[skydda]

[When Genji says that he maybe should have been counting the days, Brigitte immediately shakes her head enthusiastically.]

No, no. That is pretty depressing, and there's no point. It's just surprising, that's all.

[Very surprising. And maybe more than a little difficult to wrap her mind around. She's much better at straightforward mechanical problems, things she can solve with a hammer or a rocket flail or a shield. All of the complexities of interdimensional travel and the passage of time is something she'll happily leave up to the scientists.]

Oh. Well, that's a relief. I was really worried about Reinhardt. He might want a glorious death, but I'd rather have him alive.

[A pause, during which she wipes off her hands on a scrap of already-stained rag she tugs from her belt.]

Wait...there's more than one other world?

[arcadedragon]

He needs someone watching out for him or he will charge headfirst into the entirety of Null Sector at a moment's notice.

[Which admittedly would look pretty impressive at first, until he was ground into paste by thousands of robots.]

I guess so? Some have said they were from other places before this, or have been to multiples. A couple were using the people as a power source, or they had to solve puzzles? I don't understand any of it. We have a few scientists who are trying to work it all out. I hope they do, I do not want to stay here any longer than I must.

[He has dramatic flips to be doing and an Omnic master to be visiting.]

B

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera stops at the abrupt greeting. He has his own food, an assortment really of mostly carbohydrates and what looks like a grilled fish on his plate. For a moment he studies her, eyes narrowed, until deciding that maybe he should see what she knows.]

The city in Anchor?

[The silver-haired boy looks thin, like he might not be able to eat all of the food he’s gathered. He approaches and offers her a napkin so she won’t have to use her hand to wipe her mouth again. Gokudera motions beside her, wondering if he can take a seat by Brigitte for the conversation.]

Only recently. [With one hand he adjusts the strange choke collar that’s snuggly fitted and glowing in some spots around his neck. It’s been feeling odd, probably because it came from a different planet or maybe the technology in it is acting up. If he’s allowed to sit by Brigitte, he’ll be stuck staring for a moment. Wow... do all women like sweets?]

What about you?

[skydda]

[When the pale-haired young man (is that silver? or just very pale blond?) hands her a napkin, she beams at him and accepts, dabbing it delicately against her mouth. Considering she's dressed in a tank top that looks like it was modified from a t-shirt by ripping the arms off, a pair of overalls with one strap undone, and is built like a brick house, it's a bit of a contrast.]

Yeah! That one. Anchor.

[A shrug, and when he motions to the spot beside her, she nods and pushes the chair out with a little nudge of her boot against the leg of it.]

Me too. I just arrived maybe...a day ago?

[Her eyes track almost immediately to his collar thing when he adjusts it, and she cocks her head to the side, brow furrowing a little bit in concentration.]

What is that?

[She gestures vaguely toward it.]

Is it giving you trouble?

[bakudan_bambino]

[She definitely doesn't seem like a delicate kind of woman. Still, Gokudera has enough manners to not point out anything in regards to how she appears, or the contrast between that and the way she uses a napkin.]

I don't know very much about it yet.

[He takes the seat then and merely picks at his food. It's almost like he didn't know what he wanted to get, and clearly his eyes are too big for his small stomach. Gokudera moves a roll to his mouth and takes a bite, then thinks to introduce himself when she brings up his collar. The boy coughs and drums a fist to his chest before he's able to speak, cheeks lighting up.]

This? [He points to the collar around his neck. Gokudera heard her, but he seems uncomfortable.]

It's uh... a Pet Ring. [No more explanation than that because it's awkward.]

A little trouble. I think because the tech in it isn't meant for a place like this...

Mechanic

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream is usually in and out of the Garage area on a regular basis — it's one of Anchor's areas that's sized well enough that he doesn't feel cramped to him. At 25' tall, he doesn't fit into a lot of habitat areas of the colony. He's been aboard the Daisy Darling for several hours, but has decided to swing through the Garage and pick up some things before heading back to the R&D Level.

He is probably not what she is expecting to see when she rolls out from under the jeep. He tilts his head to study her, not recognizing her. Her question gets an arrogant sniff, his wings flicking in response. ]

Please. I am more than set with my own transportation.