june 2020. welcome to the void.

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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.

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

a cop and a hit-man walk into a casino....

[tsuyoi_ame]

For a fresh arrival, the youth seems surprisingly comfortable, unruffled by aliens, new worlds, and the like. Of course, he would catch the attention of a cop, one he is clearly a teenager, two, that sure looks like a weapon under the cloth strapped to his shoulder. Add in some bandages and bruises, despite the smile he flashes it is clear he is not too far out of some battle.


He rubs the side of his head, only making the hair stand up more oddly for a second as he waves off the bucket with a sheepish gesture. " Thanks, but I think that's illegal." He does not tag Pratt for a cop, he is just an honest kid. It's in his DNA.

Then again what was the legal age in a strange world on an alien casino ship? He has no idea. He has not attempted to partake in anything that is above his age bracket so far, then again, he may be lucky at gambling. He is gifted with better than average instincts and luck.

[theweakhavepurpose]

He laughs a little, because that kind of honesty is pretty endearing. It's not like Pratt was even trying to entrap him. For all he knows the legal age to gamble in space is eleven. He's a bit out of his jurisdiction here.

"I don't think there's a legal limit in space. Also they're kinda like.. excited we're here. In a really creepy way." He hasn't been able to escape being followed around for more than a few minutes. "Or is that just me? It's creepy right?"

He glances over his shoulder at the various aliens with the air of a man who's used to being followed and stalked.

[tsuyoi_ame]

If he finds that endearing then Pratt is probably going to find himself fond of this young hitman. He is one of the purest people to ever exist if honesty is used. A hitman who does everything he can to never kill anyone. Who fights only when he has to, never for fun, never for a job but because his loved ones are in danger.


"I don't want to end up in the brig." He had been down and saw what happened to people who went there, sure he could hold his own in the Fight Club but he would like to not if he can avoid it. Being a skilled swordsman does not mean he has to fight every chance he gets. He laughs at the second part "They are kind of creepy, I'm pretty sure one touched my butt and asked about my baseball uniform but I'm not sure because it didn't have hands." Way too relaxed about all this, even if there are random aliens who think they set the moon.

Then he follows Pratt's gaze, his own taking on alertness, sharpness all of sudden from the happy gleam they had. Is there something coming he wonders by the man's behavior and prepares himself for it.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Snerk. Okay that's kind of amusing. Unless the alien was checking him out for future probing, that's what Zip was always going on about. That martians were listening in on people and waiting for them to be alone so they could swoop in and start experimenting on them. He'd dismissed it as dumb conspiracy theories, since Zip was also a firm believer in chemtrails and a flat earther. But now that he's actually in space who knows.

Maybe he should try and contact Zip and mess with him.

He squints at the aliens around, trying to assess if they're a threat, always on edge, forever nervous. But they seem to be milling about doing whatever it is these creatures do for fun.

"Don't worry, I'd break you out if you got tossed down there. Apparently prison breaks are my specialty." Not by any choice of his own but still...

"You don't look familiar. Did I miss seeing you at the party? I'm Deputy Pratt."

[tsuyoi_ame]

It was probably more moving through a crowded area, either way Yamamoto was sure they got full of a cup of his butt. But, that is not the strangest thing to happen in his life or even today for that matter so, he'll roll with it.

"Really? Thanks, Mister. Do you break a lot of people out of prison?" He is honestly curious, not that he ever intends to attempt a prison break. But when one is a hitman at his age, it may not be a bad skill set to have.

He shakes his head and continues to smile, it's his default expression "I just got here today. Yamamoto, nice to meet you"

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Unfortunately. Alien prisons might be a little different, but I could probably figure it out. Cop intuition or something." That's almost a joke, which for Pratt is a lot. If panic was a person, it would be Pratt.

"Oof. First day and there's a cruise ship. I dunno if that's lucky or cursed. Probably cursed." He frowns, his pessimism getting the best of him. "In good news none of the food seems to be poisoned. I uh, took one for the team there."

He ate an entire vegetable platter is what he means. Though somehow he always seems to look like he hasn't eaten or slept in two weeks.

[tsuyoi_ame]

"You're a cop?" Makes sense to Yamamoto, it explains the constant awareness of his surroundings. Pegging the teenage hitman as quickly as he did, a lot of the adults he has come across haven't bothered to approach him. Not that it bothers him, back home he and his friends are the ones saving the day, not the adults so.

"It's not so bad; they even have a water park, which is cool." Yamamoto meets that pessimism with a huge smile. He is optimistic about Anchor, alien ship, and all. Also, completely unfazed by being here.

"Do they have milk?" Because the kid would kill for a glass of milk, it's his favorite.

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Deputy. But I don't have jurisdiction in space so feel free to gamble and drink. Now, if we end up back in Montana there might be a problem." But he smiles, because he's not really gonna arrest anyone for much of anything.

"Milk? I .. have no idea. If they do it's probably some weird alien milk that glows green. I dunno how much you wanna drink that." It might be the gross blue milk from Star Wars for all he knows.

[tsuyoi_ame]

Yamamoto laughs, rubbing at the back of his head again, it's a habit of his, he has trouble ever being completely still after all "Thanks, I guess. You're from America then?"

"What?! Why would it glow green?" Well, that is just rude, why would someone messes with perfectly good milk this way.

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Yeah. Montana." He'd elaborate, but he's well aware no one has ever heard of Hope County outside of Hope County. Not even in the rest of Montana. Being a secluded area in a valley was nice, until it very abruptly wasn't.

"I dunno, but haven't you seen any sci-fi movies where all the alien stuff glows for no reason? Probably like that."

[tsuyoi_ame]

"I've never been, I know some people who are from Italy though." He has never been outside of Japan; technically till today. But he has traveled through time and knows other dimensions exist to hear of a town he does not know of in America especially would not surprise him.


"That's creepy, I think I'll wait till I go back to Anchor." He can definitely hold out because drinking something that is glowing does not sound like a good idea.

"Do you think it would turn your body glow in the dark?"

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Okay Italy is .. pretty far from Montana." On a whole different continent even. But he's getting the sense this kid is pretty sheltered. Kind of endearing in a way.

"I dunno. Probably. I'm suspicious of everything. Kinda my job." He's underselling his paranoia by just a little. "Plus I don't trust aliens to know what's poisonous to a whole other species. So probably best to wait til you get back. The games though.. Don't really see the harm there."

[tsuyoi_ame]

He is probably the most sheltered hitman ever. That he has seen bad things, had to fight to protect his home and his friends are certain but he has never other than traveling back and forth from the future he has never left Namimori.

Yamamoto listens, his chuckle and smile earnest "That's a good warning! I'm glad we met, but could you show me how?" He gestures towards the machine, he wouldn't mind trying once though he is more a sports-type it's nice to have another person to talk to. And for the young hitman who doesn't often have adult supervision except at home where his dad is the best of the best it's nice to be around one who gives advice like Pratt is doing.

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Sure," He gives a smile because the eagerness and youthful jubilance is something that Pratt hasn't seen in years. It seems a lifetime ago when he could last be carefree, so it's nice to see it in other people. Not everyone had given up on the world like he had.

"Slot machines are pretty easy, you just pull the handle and hope you get the right pictures. No skill necessary." He pops a coin into the machine and gives it a pull, rewarded with a 7, a picture of a cow and a strange rune. Apparently that's some sort of a win because the machine makes a fanfare sound and deposits a few coins in the tray. "It's all luck, and if this is anything like the ones back where I'm from they're rigged. But hey, apparently cows are good. Maybe all the stories of aliens beaming up cows were true."

[tsuyoi_ame]

He ever needs to see it again he can come to this guy, even after a big battle he finds a way to smile, laugh, and try to lift everyone around him up by the bootstraps so to speak. He made a promise that he would keep his smile, no matter what happened so he fights with that big bring, open heart, and thanks to his boss/ best friend being the guy he is, he is allowed to not kill, which helps save his good nature for sure.

The swordsman can't help but laugh, that seems so silly to him that a cow would be lucky "They must really like hamburg" Of course he means Salisbury steak, at least he does not call it brown meat patty in sauce anymore as he did as a kid. He had an interesting upbringing this one. It looks really easy and the symbols are interesting, part of him still feels bad for him to gamble not just because of his age but because in his country during his time frame it is not even legal to gamble as an adult.