redshift: tdm #2

[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. smoke and generators.

It's early morning, and if any of Anchor's residents thought that taking a vacation in an abandoned hellscape would at least be relaxing enough to sleep in, they're about to find out they were wrong.

It's about 5:30 AM when a loud screeching noise of metal scraping against metal rings out and echoes through the entirety of Anchor, quickly followed by a plume of smoke coming from the topmost levels, near the Research & Development area and a loud series of catastrophic banging noises that simply refuse to let up. Once residents converge on the area, they'll discover a previously closed and completely impenetrable metal door that had comprised most of the back wall of a room full of burn damaged and broken down generators slamming open and shut, shrieking on unoiled hinges and sliders, and emitting plumes of smoke with every slam. A bit of technical finagling with the control pad (or a well-placed blow with a hard object or shot from a gun) will make the door creak to a stop at the top of its usual arc, exposing an enticing scene.

A pristine room sits behind a thick pane of violence-proof glass, decorated starkly with the walls white and white LEDs shining coldly on the scene, it's spartan except for a display of about 5 generators in perfect working condition, complete with pulsing blue-glowing power indicators. Sweet. Those would definitely come in handy for rebooting a few of the city's amenities and life support systems, with the main power grid offline as it is. The only trouble is getting inside. A bit of research would find a few ways:

There are a few options for getting into the room: through the air vents around the door, by hacking the door locking mechanism, by blowing through the door in some way. Each has its drawbacks (the vents are full of large mutated and possibly radioactive vermin such as rats and scorpions; hacking the door is incredibly technologically advanced and difficult to do; blowing up the door comes with a risk of any damage reflecting off the door and back at the people trying to blow it up, or damaging the generators inside, or the structural integrity of the area) and its advantages.

Whether residents want to try one of these options, or think of something on their own (feel free to pitch your ideas in the mod questions thread!), this treasure is definitely worth trying to get hold of.

b. it's all fun and games...

Getting the generators out of the hidden room was a trial, but finding places to hook them up is a snap - the only real problem is that there's way more spots to hook up to than there are generators. It's completely up to the residents where said generators get hooked up, but no matter what they choose, one room will power up. The VR Room.

Considered necessary rather than just an amenity by the previous residents of Anchor, the VR Room is a necessary outlet allowing the opportunity to relax and unwind for residents. And it's set up to divert some power from the system no matter where the generators were set up. When the room powers up, an automated message is sent out to all functional sat phones - a pretty little series of bells, and an audio announcement that the VR and Games Room is open and available for use, with an attached GPS map showing the room's location in the city.

Any resident who goes to the indicated place will find the VR Room open and powered up. Everything is dusty, but there are couches to lounge on, vending machines with snacks - some of which are decades past their expiry date and some of which are preserved or shelf-stable enough to still be edible - and a little coffee bar. The most important part, though, is the VR and the games.

One area of the room is set up with various interactive video games that two or more people can play together. They run the gamut from dancing games, racing games, first person shooters, and even some simple sports games and childrens' games. It's like a mini digital arcade and anyone is free to play. Some games function with the use of a handheld sensor, or sensors attached to feet or other body parts; some function via camera to track player movements; some have unique functions specific to the game style (players can use their imaginations for this one).

The VR area is a little more complicated. "VR Room" is something of a misnomer - there's one large room to the left, with a hallway sporting more, smaller rooms off to the right. The large room is an environmental simulation room with artificial sunlight and a default oceanscape that can be programmed to resemble a person's own world. There's a certain degree of automatic cerebral interfacing to make sure it gets the details just right. The smaller rooms have access to a library of VR games, some of which work and some of which will insult you in various languages before crashing. People can meet and socialize in the environmental simulation room, or in any of the smaller rooms through virtual reality. Additionally, there is a completely digital "shared world" that any character accessing the VR Room can enter, which represents the city at its peak of functionality and beauty - this VR shared world is the first place that some new arrivals manifest, as ghosts in the machine that can interact via VR before waking up physically in the arrival room.

Anyone accessing virtual reality will receive a warning spiel before entering their chosen program that states that excessive or long-term use of the VR services can cause users to experience mental and/or physical damage.

As long as it's been since the VR rooms were used, however, there's bound to be some glitches, and a few of the programs seem to load up fine only to glitch out partway into the scenario - whether it's an escape room, an in-depth virtual reality murder mystery, a dance party, visual novel, or any other program, there's a chance it might stall, freeze, glitch, and trap players inside until they can figure out how to unfreeze the program, or until they're rescued by someone on the outside recognizing their plight. Good luck!

c. the crash.

A few days after the Generator Room opening up, residents of Anchor will experience another rude awakening, this time in the middle of the night. While they were sleeping, a red shift has occurred outside the city, and while they were shielded from the radiation and the chaos that comes with it, there are things outside the city that are affected.

Just after midnight, there is an extremely loud noise - it starts as ground-shaking crash, like something massive has hit the ground a few miles outside the city, and is followed by an ominous rumbling. Residents will feel the ground shaking, enough that items may fall off tables, anyone walking might lose their balance, and people might even fall out of bed. After a few minutes, however, it will die down and after a short, almost deafening silence, wind will start to whistle around the dome protecting Anchor from the outside elements. The impact of...whatever crashed in the wastelands...has triggered a massive dust storm.

Anyone who makes it up to the Observation Room near the Decontamination area and look out the wide glass windows (treated carefully to withstand the elements) over the desert will see the vague outline of a massive hulking form in the desert. With some observation, before the dust piles up too high outside the windows, they will get the impression that it's something artificial, created by people and not a natural formation or monster, though any details will be hard to make out. It could be anything from a building to a ship to something else completely alien.

As the day carries on, the dust storm rages outside the city with no signs of letting up, and with every passing hour more red sand builds up against the Observation Room's windows...and on top of the dome. By evening, what should've been a bright sunset is filtered through a layer of red dust thick enough to tint what little light makes it through a vibrant red, painting the city in psychologically jarring shades of crimson.

d. red-out (& network prompt).

The lack of light isn't the only problem going on in the city because of the dust storm - there are consequences much worse than a lack of Vitamin D for residents. Dust storms were a common problem when the city was created and inhabited by its previous residents, and there are failsafes in effect. As the dust clogs up the power generation apparatuses on the exterior of the city, power starts to fade. By the early afternoon, the backup generators kick in, but the power from the backup generators only lasts a few hours before technical problems from decades without maintenance cause them to power down almost completely, leaving the city dark and cloaked in red.

Good thing those generators showed up, huh?

During the red-out, power will be completely diverted to life support, and the Exit Area will be completely locked down, preventing anyone from leaving the city or re-entering it, apart from new arrivals. All amenities, entertainment, and anything non-essential has been completely shut down. This may result in residents stranded in strange places with or without company, and many other awkward situations, at least until someone can jury-rig the new generators into place to make the not-necessary-but-super-convenient parts of the city work.

The one thing that's completely unaffected is the network, and the city's failsafe includes another way of trying to keep residents from going insane during the red-out: a network game.

Every device in the city will pop up with an prompt:

Please input two truths and one lie about yourself. These will be posted to the network so other residents can guess which is the lie!

Well. It's. Something alright.

Mod Note: This red-out is set to last from July 22nd until August 1st, when the intro log goes up at the start of the app cycle.

Navigation.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[modblob]

Please ask any mod questions here!

[barfed]

Would someone be able to open up a wall or panel in one of the smaller VR rooms to see what makes it tick?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Is what's happening in the TDM also happening in game? Is the red-out also occuring in game from 7/22-8/01 as well?

[itsnotaonesie]

why hello there modzilla a quick Q for you

So the door to the generators right, do you think Peter would be able to just yank that door off with his weird sticky power and spider-muscles? If not I think he could hack it, but sometimes you just wanna break shit y'know?

vanya hargreeves ( the umbrella academy )

[repente]

i. one mistake in a subtle way

[What Vanya sees when she opens her eyes is not a city in ruin. It is a city full of life, lush greenery and more advanced technology than perhaps could even be found hiding in her father's mysterious hiding places. Though Reginald always seemed millennia ahead of the rest of the world, this is far beyond the scope of anything Vanya could even imagine outside of some kind of fantastical space opera fiction.

Clear protective domes, beyond which twinkle a billion stars and a billion grains of brilliant red sand. Gardens that grow beautiful, as if the flowers and trees could not care less that their existence is an impossibility. Miles of farmland, lights displaying all kinds of businesses and amenities around, anything any person anywhere could possibly want to do.

What Vanya sees when she opens her eyes is not real. Or perhaps the one that doesn't exist is Vanya herself.

A couple walks right through her, not stopping for a second, stuttering slightly on impact with their joined hands but not tangible. As panic starts to grow in her chest, Vanya trips over what she thinks is a curb, but Vanya herself does not impact with... anything. She feels nothing, not even a floor. She just picks herself back up numbly.

Eventually, she's reduced to approaching random people, trying not to look like she's shaking as she asks.]

I'm sorry. Please tell me you can see me. I need you to tell me you can see me.

ii. step slowly, you know that you fall between

[Vanya wishes the ground shaking beneath her feet were not an all too familiar feeling by now. She wishes, deeply, that the reminders in her head, the feeling that one misstep and she could tear apart someone she loves, or loved, or hated, or didn't—

She wishes they were not playing out in her mind as what seems like an earthquake shakes the Anchor, testing her (temporary) new home's attachment to the ground, and objects fall out of place around her as she can only cover her head and take shelter beneath the table she was at in the Mess Hall.

She's gone to therapy, okay. She knows the techniques for situations like this. It's harder and harder without the meds, sure, but as she tries to focus her breathing and concentrate on one thing, anything, a sound isolates itself in her eardrum. The rumbling seems to be all she can hear, but it doesn't scare her any longer. It focuses her attention. A constant, not the ring of a tuning fork, but a metronome beating out a tempo.]

Sand. It's... the sand.

[She seems unaffected, suddenly, her eyes closed but her expression calm, interested even.]

I hear it against the dome. Just... percussion.

iii. dark places, what a simple web we weave

[Hiding in a dark, dark corner and distracting herself with this game seems like a far better alternative than stumbling through the dark to find someone to cling to in person.

Vanya wonders why they haven't thought of small phones like these yet, back home. The best part is that the low glow keeps her from staring into pitch black and seeing it stare back.]

1. My twin sister has achieved the "triple crown" in acting.
2. I've been the first chair violinist of my orchestra for five years straight.
3. I was a #1 New York Times bestselling author for seven sequential weeks.

iv. know myself, know myself

[Wildcard option! I'm open to come up with other prompts if none of these grab you at erlking or javid#6941.

As a warning, Vanya comes with major spoilers for her canon's first season, and you might want to check her permissions post if necessary. Some of her past and current mental state may deal with elements of past abuse and trauma.]

iii.

[substances]

2 is the lie
the true #2 is u shouldve been

i.

[sensualarchergod]

[So, neat trick: Clint's hearing aids don't work here. The advanced tech doesn't phase him, because when you have his sort of world experience, what is there to still be surprised by? Spaceships, power armor and robot suits, alien shapeshifters, gods and supersoldiers, young women with the power to warp worlds-- and he's the guy with a bow and arrows. But he owns that, more or less. One disaster after another.

He's always been good at reading lips, and it doesn't take too much effort to see her distress, not with the shiver, the panic that she's bottling down as she approaches people, and all of them seem to pass through her. He can see how it upsets her, even if he doesn't quite understand why.

It still takes that attention to how she speaks to know the right words to offer, what to say in an attempt to try and ease what he can. Not that anyone would accuse Clint of knowing the right things to say, but he's a superhero, he knows how to offer that veneer of comfort, even if he's a spectacularly shitty boyfriend.]

I can see you. Easy, it's okay. You're alright.

[His voice is just a little bit off-pitch, slight enough that it's easy to miss if you're not attentive. He can mask it well enough; Clint had been speaking long enough to know how to modulate his words. So it's almost right, even when he can't really hear himself talk. In this place they stand in together, people walk through him, too. And Clint tries to not think too hard about that. About being a disappointment. About dying.

The Hellscape had seemed almost fitting. A strange sort of comfort in that at least he couldn't fuck this up.]

ii

[youngestmentor]

[ K also knows the safety procedures for an earthquake—or an attack, if this is an attack. That unknown more than anything is what has her gripping one of the chair legs as she huddles under the table. She just wanted some tea. Summer made her tea once when they were both up late, anxious after a tough day.

Now this, and a woman making a statement and looking so calm that K can't even stop to realize she's envious. ]

You can hear the sand on this level?

[ So she settles for asking a question instead. ]

ii

[deadlycurves]

[This place seems to always have something going on and Diego isn't sure if that's better or worse than the mundane drudgery of how he'd been forced to live in Nonah. At least there's not any time to be numbed with boredom, right? He hears a familiar voice, even through the din of the rumbling and clattering and frowns, calling out--] Vanya? [Something tight in his chest clenches and he hates the thought that crosses his mind-- is this her?]

i.

[o_murderer_mine]

Do you wish that I see you?

[There is a peculiar thing in the way the woman says it. Vanya will know immediately that this woman is not entirely human, blue glowing skin and blue glowing eyes standing out from the simulated crowds. She smiles at Vanya, too perfect teeth flashing between her lips.]

iii. un: a.z.fell

[oldbookshop]

Oh. Oh, it's unfortunate that those can't all be true if you're playing this game, isn't it? They sound lovely.

[ Not pictured: a few minutes of waffling between audio and text. On one hand, Aziraphale's never had a mobile phone and never planned on having one, so he kind of doesn't want to text on principle. On the other hand, turning it into a verbal phone conversation with a stranger means he doesn't have the freedom to just, like.

Ghost on it for a while if he wants to stop doing a conversation?

Anyway he figured out he can dictate instead of pretending he wants to learn to use the keypad and everything was a little better. (That's my novel backstory for how a dude who deliberately uses an antique rotary phone in 2019 starts texting on the network thnx.) ]

iii.

[spins]

okay first: what's an orchestra and what's a New York Times?
need to have all the information before i decide

iii. un: Odair65

[fishermansweater]

I don't think I know what any of those things mean.

Bestselling books for seven weeks straight sounds like it could be true, though.

[ which is probably an indication that like Vanya, Finnick doesn't have what most people would consider a usual understanding of what's believable. ]

Quentin Beck || Spooderman: Fly Away Home || SPOILERS INHERENT IN HIS EXISTENCE

[barfed]

arrival.

[ Quentin--Mysterio--arrives in full regalia, his suit lit up as he exits the decontamination area.

He feels like he's in the middle of one of his own simulations. Like his people have made up a new lie, but they're telling it to him instead of Fury. But he's stood in the middle of his drones' projections. He's helped tailor the illusions that millions have seen now. He's a master of lies. He knows what real is when he feels it.

Quentin walks to the nearest edge of a breezeway and looks up, then down, whistling softly at the drop. The scale of this place, the foreign suns in the sky.

For all his plans, he never for a moment thought he'd have the chance to leave earth. ]

And now I've been kidnapped to another planet. [ A small bark of a laugh. ] Moving up in the universe, Beck.


b.

[ Walking into the VR simulator is like coming home, and like a betrayal at the same time. This is his technology. It's his technology, being used in some of the ways it should have been from the start. Also for games, but he foresaw that. The point is it's his technology, pushed farther toward the limits of its potential.

He's in one of the VR rooms, but he's not there to play games, no. He's there to try and open up one of the walls and see what kind of guts he can get his hands into.

He's proud, sure. But he's also curious. ]


red out network alterna-d

Did anyone else pack a flashlight?

network | un: commander

[queenofthegirlscouts]

Never leave home without it. Where are you?

ARRIVAL also i yelled "DUDE" very loud when I saw this hello

[itsnotaonesie]

[Sooo. The last thing that had happened to Peter back home was the whole disintegrating into dust thing. He's spent the past year, between here and the last place he was stuck, thinking he was 100% dead forever back home. Needless to say, he doesn't know this flashy dude with the fantastic facial hair on the breezeway at all. Upon seeing him, he's a little startled by the fact that there are apparently new people popping up, but there's no recognition on his face whatsoever when he addresses him.]

Intergalactic kidnapping is kind of the norm around here, sorry man. Did you just get here? Can't say I've seen you around before.

network / un: spin

[spins]

i have a light line
it's close enough.
it gets the job done.

network, un: Odair65

[fishermansweater]

There's a flashlight on my rifle.

The more prepared the better, right?

Newt | The Maze Runner (books)

[sobloodyinspired]

{What is this shuck place? - Network - video - un: shuckitall [Waking up in a strange place with no memory of how he got there is... oddly, not a new thing for Newt. He hasn't done it in a good three or so years, but... it's still fresh enough that he recalls it as familiar. Some bloke in a suit that kept flickering in and out had given a basic run-down to his Greenie arse and Newt had mostly just been glad for the welcome spiel, it was better than the Glades. Newt had found the agriculture area and hid out around one of the barns for a day or two so he could get himself acclimated, which he did quickly enough. This sprawling world is something he doesn't yet understand, but at least he's sorted out how to use the talk-box, as he's come to call it, though he hasn't actually used it, just sort of looked it over thus far. A lanky, but athletic blonde boy who looks to be about high school aged sits perched on a small stack of broken fencing in front of a dilapidated barn in the agriculture area of the colony. This is the part of the place that feels the most right and familiar to his time in the Glade. He's got a small bit of bark stuck between his teeth, almost like a toothpick except for the bark being wider.] Oi-- [He taps a finger on the screen of the device. His voice is heavily accented, distinctly British, though he couldn't tell you that himself if you asked.] Do these shuck things actually work? Is there anybody out there? You shanks figured out much of what's actually edible around here yet?

Video; UN: Spides

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter doesn't actually like the idea of other kids being stuck here, but part of him is kind of glad to see someone who looks to be around his age. It was kinda starting to feel weird being surrounded by nothing but adults and robots.]

We're currently working on the food situation, but the fruits and vegetables seem safe so far. Just maybe don't eat anything the robots cook, some of them are kind of, um. Glitchy.

Riven of a Thousand Voices (Destiny 2)

[o_murderer_mine]

I. Reality is but Flesh

How... peculiarly simple.

A woman stands in a field of static, white hair edged silver by the simulated light as she peers over the white noise. Here and there, buildings flicker in and out of existence, shadows of people fading fading in and shattering into nonexistence once again.

Does she need rescuing? She doesn't look it, peering out over the rippling faux existence like it's a mildly entertaining toy of sorts.

Is it you that needs rescuing? How long have you been here, oh wanderer mine?

[kellofkells]

Maybe he does need rescuing, things here are wrong. She shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be here. It's wrong and it's not real but some of it feels like it should be. That if they could reach out and touch it, this hologram would be solid.

The Vex are getting clever? Maybe. Maybe there's more.

"You are here? You shouldn't be." Who is he to presume to tell her anything...

alejandro "alex" flores ⚕️ original character

[incising]

⚕️ stargazing

Alejandro has been here for all of half a day and he already feels right at home. Chaos and shitty high-tech stuff that looks cool but is all broken down and half-useless. Just like home.

What does throw him off is that first night, when it gets dark and he barely notices because there are no sirens and nothing changes except the sky and the light level. When he first realizes he's not holed up inside and it's dark out, there's a moment of panic. He's caught out on the concrete breezeway near where the residences are, and it's pitch dark, there's a breeze blowing, and nothing is trying to kill him. Heart pounding in his throat, he walks over to the edge of the breezeway and looks up to see the sky.

There are two moons in different stages of the moon cycle, there are a billion stars twinkling. There's no existential horror, no monsters, no creeping decay. Just darkness and moons and stars.

"Holy shit." he murmurs, heading out to the very edge of the breezway so he can see it more clearly, eyes wide. For a few minutes, he completely forgets where he is, and that's really, really nice.

⚕️ the crash

Alejandro's stargazing is interrupted rudely somewhere in the middle of the night by a loud slamming crash and an accompanying earthquake that sends him scrambling away from the edge of the breezeway before he can fall off the edge. One hand rises to his chest, and he swears softly under his breath, standing up once the last of the aftershocks finish rumbling around.

He can hear shouting in the distance, voices calling out and lights turn on. Almost immediately, he's shouldering his pack and pulling up his jeans so they don't slide down his hip, heading toward the voices. When he gets close to anyone, he lifts his hands to show he's unarmed, approaches cautiously, looking a little bedraggled in his well-worn tank top, with most of his hair tied back and the rest blowing around his face.

"Hey, is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?"

⚕️ network

un: flores

Blackout + earthquake. Two truths and a lie seems like kind of a waste. Does anyone need medical assistance?

[Quick OC Rundown: Alex is a doctor with the ability of biokinesis - he can manipulate animal flesh by touch, in limited ways. The short of it is that he can essentially do surgery/stitches/etc. without tools; he can't heal people or generate tissue, and his ability still hurts. He's from a gritty urban fantasy type setting where anyone with superhuman abilities/mythical creatures/mutants/any non-humans are drawn to cities where they are held. For a longer write-up, please see the Siren's Pull world write-up (I was one of the founding mods of that game), and for reference, he's with SERO.

Feel free to hit me up with any questions by PM, on discord at coffee #6251, or on plurk at caffemisto! I'm also open to total wildcard tags, Alex doesn't mind approaching others.]

stargazing

[repente]

Vanya has been in cities all her life. She has no idea where she was born, but for as long as she can remember, she's been urban and homebound. She's pondered the idea of moving elsewhere like Allison did, but it's not as if she had anything to move for. So she stayed put because it was easier.

As a result, though, this means she's never seen stars like these.

The fact that there are two moons unsettles her at first, mostly because it really hammers home that this is so far from anywhere like what she's always known, but after a few moments she just gets caught up in the beauty of it, herself. Even if she wasn't a fan of art and beautiful things, she would be able to appreciate this view.

Her ears notice the other person out here before her eyes do. Not because of her power, probably, but... just because of how quiet it is. Not like the neverending noise of city traffic. And it's a good thing, too, or she'd worry that the figure wandering around the edge of this place in the dark was in trouble or something.

"I've only seen stuff like this in paintings," she ventures to say. Strike up conversation. Can't hide in your room forever. "Now I kind of understand why so many people felt the need to paint it."

Starry Night wasn't van Gogh's only attempt at it, after all. In his time, light pollution wouldn't have obscured the stars the way it did for Vanya, but even though it was probably common to him, he still had a fascination with the sky.

sally malik | being human (us)

[unmakes]

█ (B) FUN AND GAMES

❰ sally was out of the virtual reality for less than an hour in total - the precise time it takes to go through the introductory measures and make your way back to the vr room.

maybe you didn't realize this vr rig is in use until after you climbed in. maybe you picked an entirely different one and, through some glitch, you've shown up in her simulation instead. or maybe you're nosy and curious and followed her in on purpose.

if it's the latter, you're almost certainly disappointed. the virtual world she's chosen is downright ordinary: modern-day boston circa early-2010s, a waterfront park specifically. the sun is shining down to gleam across the water's surface. around you are the ambient sounds of pedestrians and the gentle slosh of waves against the shore.

sally sits cross-legged on a park bench, gazing out over the water, arms crossed under her chest almost but not quite defensively. she doesn't seem defensive. she seems... resigned, if anything. maybe a little wistful.

if you approach her, you have about five seconds to say something or she'll speak instead. ❱

You'd think this would be the freaking worst, right? It's fake. I know it's fake. ❰ and yet here she is, soaking it in. ❱

█ (C) THE CRASH

❰ sally likes to think that she's pretty good at rolling with the punches. at adapting to whatever the hell is thrown her way, without letting it fuck with her. but even after the better part of a week here in this station, the quake wakes her from a dead sleep and all she can think (in a truly embarrassing level of panic) is they found me. it's stupid - even if the ~ancient gods~ were after her specifically rather than the generalized concept of blood and suffering, there's literally no way they could've followed her here - but the fifteen seconds that it takes her to steady her breathing have nonetheless left her entirely too awake to do anything but investigate what the hell is going on.

which takes a truly frustrating amount of time. did you know there are, like, zero windows in this place? neither did sally until right this minute, though there's a distinct chance she just totally failed to locate the few windows that actually exist. either way, she's rolling up to the observation windows at a jog shortly after the rumbling stops, slowing to a stop just a few feet from the glass to scrutinize the dust storm with slightly narrowed eyes. what is that? is something... moving?

a second later, her eyes manage to parse the silhouette of what can only be described as a big fat no-thanks. but wait, there's more! it's heading this way.

she backs away from the glass, lips pressing together as she nods a little like 'cool, cool'. then she's turning to head for the door again at a much more casual pace than she showed up, calling: ❱ Not it. ❰ as if they're figuring out who's 'it' for a game of tag, except instead of catching running kids, you have to go fight the fuck-off monster. ❱

█ (D) TWO TRUTHS & A LIE

❰ so putting aside that this is literally the most awkwardly anyone has ever explained this game... ❱

1. i've used a nail gun like 300% too much for someone who isn't a carpenter
2. in an average year there's blood inside me at least half the time
3. i'm like 50% sure none of this is even real anyway

go nuts

❰ ooc | cr au from the box, very rusty since i need to canonreview but the app round is now so here i am. if you want to wild card or have any questions, feel free to pm me or pp me at watchtower! ❱

C

[livingdeadgirl]

[ ooc: First impressions o/ ]

[ Curiosity killed the cat... fortunately, Ami is a human.

That's what brings her up to the observation deck just as Sally is leaving, almost running into her. She stops - are we passing on the left or right? which way we going here? - trying to get a look over Sally's shoulder. ]

What is it? Is something out there?

[sleepyhollowed]

[C]

[Kieran's still regaining his bearings, every single one of his senses disoriented even though it's been days since his initial arrival in Anchor. Thankfully, that first wave of shock's mostly subsided, his heart racing only once in a while now when he considers the overall weirdness of this entire situation instead of threatening to pound out of his chest. The urge to vomit's also almost gone completely, too. So, you know, that's a win.]

[It's a decent late-night walk around the station as Kieran tries to figure out his surroundings, leading Branwen by his reins. He's used to country. Open skies. Green grass. Not metal and red sand that threatens to engulf everything. The imagery alone is enough to make his shoulders shudder and his skin crawl. In fact, he can feel a chill running up his spine right now.]

[...Wait.]

[That's not a chill.]

[The entire floor is rumbling.]

[Uh oh.]

[Branwen whinnies and rears up on his hind legs before bolting off and Kieran stumbles, tumbling to the ground and covering his head.]

W-What the hell is going on?!

[He rises up on his arms and glances around once the shaking stops, although he can't trust himself to get up just yet. Not when his legs feel like jelly.]

Branwen? Branwen, where'd ya go?

[Kieran sits up a little more.]

Branwen!

-

[WILDCARD]

[Come up with whatever, or get in touch with me at Sheepi! I'm happy to plan some stuff out real quick!]

[itsnotaonesie]

[So Peter's all up on one of those really high walls right, just hanging out near the ceiling like a goddamn spider, because of course he is. Beats riding the earthquake or whatever out on the ground. And also he was probably fixing some faulty wiring or whatever, like do you need a reason to climb walls??]

...Sure. This might as well happen.

[Why not toss in an earthquake on top of all the other bullshit going on, right? But anyway, another good thing about being up on the wall is that he can easily spot this straight up cowboy and his runaway pony.]

Hey man, you lose a... Is that a pony? Your pony's gettin' away!

Ami Aihara (Aradia Megido) | Homestuck | Recollé CRAU

[livingdeadgirl]

[ ooc: First impressions here! TL;DR Ami is just Aradia after being reincarnated as a human and slowly remembering her past life (and then forgetting it again after I dropped her). Currently she is fully human. ]

> Ami: Descend.

[ This doesn't feel like a dream.

It should. Suddenly finding yourself transported to another planet? She's pretty sure there's a Syfy original series like that, only this is actually atmospheric and scary. No amount of Idris Elba's soothing British baritone can make this okay.

With the humiliation of the decontamination room behind her, Ami carefully makes her way into Anchor proper, alone for at least a few minutes. No sign of another living human. Where's the bustling city Idris Elba showed her? Why are the plants so overgrown? Are those bullet holes? Oh god please don't let her be all alone here.

There's not much she can do on this uppermost level, and leaving the dome is out of the fucking question. She doesn't even know if there's air out there. That just leaves ... down. She has no choice, she has to start descending into the dizzying depths of the city.

You may find her on the stairs, or anywhere else, really - a small, teenage human girl, all in black, her hair in pigtails. She can hear distant sounds every so often, but hasn't been calling out - in a place like this, who knows what might answer? ]

> Chill.

[ It's been several days now. Enough of them that the permanence of the situation is starting to sink in. She's really trapped here. What if she never makes it back to Recollé? What if she never sees her mom and dad again? If she dies here, no one will ever know.

She's been trying to put on a brave face, but it's incredibly depressing. Moreover, she wasn't much use when it came to fixing the generators earlier. She's never been a computer whiz, even by 2018 standards... Anchor's technology is way beyond her.

As such, she's expecting something quite different when she hears the term "VR Room." Maybe some kind of futuristic Oculus? She has been wanting to try that. But when she enters the large beach room, she finds herself gobsmacked, to the point where she doesn't even notice someone else is already there. ]

Whoa... we have a holodeck?

> Get stuck.

[ Ami's wound up in the orchard procuring food. Luckily, there are plenty of apples on the trees that are still alive! But it's just as she plucks one that the red-out begins. All the grow lights go out, leaving the orchard in near-total darkness, with only a faint red glow indicating which way is "out." Behind her, she hears the door she came through creak shut. ]

Aah! Sorry! [ As if plucking an apple caused this somehow? Wait no that's ridiculous. ] Uh, could somebody get the lights?

[ There is somebody else here, right? She's been hearing movement, after all... or was that just stray livestock? ]

> Shitpost.

[ username: AA ]

ok well this strikes me as a silly use of network resources during an emergency, but what do i know
two truths and a lie then, hmmmm

1. my birthday is in september
2. i see dead people
3. i own a first edition ouija board

> get stuck

[writtendestiny]

It's a red-out.

[Poison's voice comes, disembodied in the darkness, from somewhere to Ami's left. She can't see in the dark, but as someone who grew up in a place without electric lighting, she can find her way through it well enough when she needs to.

Still, she's treading carefully, feeling her way between the trees towards the red glow over the exit when she hears the other girl's voice. She alters track, working her way towards it.]

Keep talking. Quietly. There's something else here with us.

Scaramouche | Samurai Jack

[numerouno]

A. Smoke & Generators

[The screeches and bangs and the smoke that accompanies them all point to the fact that something is happening. Nothing shows off the acoustics of a compound like this better than the sounds of finely delivered property damage.

Scaramouche calmly arrives on the scene in a matter of minutes. Instead of chaos, he sees a small crowd forming around an open door like they're waiting to be let in or something. This was the source of the commotion?]

Oh-kay, babe! Make way, coming through.

[He leans down to place a hand on the shoulder of whoever's in his way, ready to give them a light push to the side if they don't shimmy over and let him pass. His full attention is on the white room beyond the smouldering door. He doesn't need to get closer--someone of his height can look over the sea of heads without any trouble--but he wants a better look at what has them worked up.]

C. The Crash

[Every night since he got here, Scaramouche has hit the halls of Anchor. His priority since the day he arrived has been to find a way back to Earth and split. Right now, the way he sees it, he can't afford to take five. If anything about this situation changes, he's gotta know about it!

This makes him one among the few who are already up and at 'em before the crash shakes things up.

He reaches the observation deck in time to see the silhouette of a giant mass in the distance.]

Oh, what do we have here? Hmm, is it a shuttle? A part of a fleet? It doesn't look like a Guard ship...

[Before long, dust begins to sweep toward the city in an unrelenting wave. Scaramouche plans to keep watch until the storm makes it impossible. He's waiting for signs of movement. Once the storm is over, he'll be off to greet any newcomers.]

C

[kaballin]

What that is, is lucrative.

[The man behind Scaramouche would normally be huge and imposing being six foot four and built like a linebacker. But someone had to be taller than him at some point, might as well be this... robot....grey... whatever this is. Who cares, not important.

Kabal's only wearing his half mask, sharp teeth adorning the respirator buckled across the lower half of his face. It makes it a lot easier to see his eyes light up with dollar signs as he watches the ship out there sunken into the sand.]

Could be anything on that ship. Food. Weapons. Money.

[He's itching to go out there and look, but that is a whole lot of red sand swirling about.]