redmarsshit | redshift: tdm #3

redshift: tdm #3

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. tfln: anchor edition.

The power returns with a surge throughout the colony, abrupt and powerful. Whether it’s because of an increase in the levels of radiation powering the dome or the unexpected addition of two more suns to the sky, the lights are back on, so to speak.

A surge that powerful has consequences, though. While some (currently unknown) systems have been powered up, others (mostly unknown) have come to life with a vengeance.

In specific, the robo-matchmaker in the intimacy lounge. Ordinarily, it works by taking the information of people who enter the intimacy lounge and pairing them up based on a carefully-tooled algorithm, so people are matched into casual or potentially romantic relationships. Somehow, through the frying of circuits and the machinations of a match-making AI gone rogue, the bot has the information of everyone in the colony - whether collected through the network, CCTV, or by scanning the data of people who passed by close at hand.

It's started making profiles for everyone, filling in bits of overheard conversations or bad pickup lines that it thinks match the personality of its chosen victims. It's also, helpfully, started sending messages at random to other characters, just to get the romantic ball rolling. Profiles and messages are as off the wall as the bot making them. Welcome to TFLN, Anchor Edition.

Robo-Matchmaker (?̵̢̠̀?̷̠͉͍̝̙̕ͅ?̡̢̡̹̩̖̝̞̪̦̘ͅ)

I͎͇̰̺̼͡ ̝̳̼̻͕̩͚á̷̳͍̫͕͞m̱̱̺͍̳̞̖ ̴̥͇̣͎̺̤̩͕̩͜h͖̕͞͠er͉̟͕͈̳̀ḙ͔̼̠̤ ͓̠̰̗̹̘̣͔t͏̸̤̳̙͍͎̮͕̞͢o҉̨̜͖̠̝͙̜̦̜ ̮̠̝̪̩̤̣m̖̻a̤͙̘̲̫̩̗k̮͓̀͜e̶̠͚͞ ̯̯̘̦͜͠you͈̹̟͔͜͠ͅr͈̮̮̗͖̜̠͠ ̮̗̗̹̘̬̠͢d̴̵̯͖̀r̷͇͍̦̗̯͢eaṃ̘͝͞ş̳̺̭̮͜ ̖͚͚͓͙͇͙͓̜c͖͕̰̞̺̟̫ớ͈̖͇̲̗m̶̞̟̣̘͎̘̲̣̕͢é̠̯͞ ̼t͔͢r͢͏̠̙̜̬͖̞̥̜ư̧͈̫͜e̹̮̮̝͝.̗̠̪̭̫͞

Interests: true love, friends with benefits, e͏͇̫m̲̤̬͟ ͉͍͜ǫ̙̟̳̲͘t̬͓i҉̟̼̣͓̯̜̞̼͜ ҉̛̺̪̣͈͖͖̟̥̺o̴̢͔̙̥̠̟̮̮̪̩n̷̗̜s҉̰̖̯͟͠

Assets: I̤̥̙̺̪̪̱͜ ̢̟k̢̰̫ͅn͕̤̳o̤͚͓͓w̲̬ ͠e̸̞̺̳͔̙ve̝̳̭̣̝͠ͅry͏̝̙̠t̲͚̠hi͕̣̯ng̭͓͕̖͈ ̖̣ą̰͖̲ͅbơ̯̥̹̠̱u͉̯̪͟t̜̞̱ yo̹͙ͅu̢̗.̡̪̥̙̱̘̞ ͕̀:̮̩̯̜̗̘)

Ass-ets: a bot never tells

✔ 😏 💀 🍆 ❤ 🔥 ✖

YES (✔)

NO (✖)

SAUCY EMOJI (👾)

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b. bad trip.

Unfortunately (there's always an unfortunately, isn't there?), something in one of the agricultural research facilities went haywire during the power surge, too, and released spores into some of the ventilation shafts, which carried the spores to specific parts of the agricultural areas and also released them into the park at the base of the colony.

Virtually overnight, red algae (water) and fungus (other structures) grows to cover the better part of the park and chunks of the agricultural level. There's plenty of room to avoid the algae or fungus if characters don't want to go near it (or if players don't want the effects). In fact, avoiding it is probably the smarter thing to do - except it keeps spreading, and it needs to be stopped before it infects the whole park or makes parts of the agricultural level unusable. The algae makes foliage and vegetation toxic to eat, but going in to get samples may be kind of tricky.

Those who come in contact with the algae and its spores will feel a variety of effects. The mildest among them are headaches, headiness, and mild highs; the sort of thing that would come from pot use or tipsiness. Progressing from there, depending on levels of exposure, the intoxication effects are heightened. Hallucinations, extreme highs, loss of coordination, slurred language, loss of inhibition, and an addiction that begins as a mild desire to stay near the algae and rapidly progresses into something worse.

Prolonged or extreme exposure will lead to the beginnings of vine-like plants growing under the skin, following characters' arteries and veins. The exposed will begin to exhibit plant-like behaviors - craving light, warmth, water. Particularly water. Worse, the infected will start to function as part of a collective with the algae/fungus growth, working in its interests. They will try to bring other creatures to the growth to attempt to infect them, they'll fight those who intend to destroy the growth, and they'll struggle against anyone who tries to remove them from its company or cure them.

While the growth can be destroyed with fire, the smoke still poses a hazard and can be accompanied by the mild/moderate effects of the algae itself. There are other ways to solve the algae problem, but most of them lie in the depths of the research station that accidentally released the spores in the first place, and the growth there is worse than anywhere else in the colony. Characters can be cured, too - by way of the medbay, by keeping them away from the growth until the infection dies, or by player-skill based means.

c. whole foods double-tap.

When all that algae business gets itself sorted out, characters will find some good news at last: the red shift rose up around the colony while everyone was busy and left a very large Whole Foods grocery store behind, just outside of the colony's exit doors.

Going inside reveals that the place isn't in perfect condition. Stuff has been knocked off the shelves and a lot of basic staples are missing, but the luxury items and hygiene basics are all there. Everything from (free range organic and/or vegan) chocolate to that particular kind of shampoo your earth-based character loves so much.

Deeper in the aisles, though, characters will come across more dramatic signs that something is wrong with this place. A smear of blood on the floor, leading toward the back of the building. Should characters choose to investigate, they'll find themselves following a widening smear of gore, with bits of cloth and tissue in the mix. At the very back (in the dairy section - and look! that yogurt is still good!), the source: a dismembered corpse.

Also, zombies.

These aren't the running hordes of 28 Days Later or the clickers of The Last of Us: they're standard Walking Dead shamblers, slow-moving and stupid but relentless, and very capable of coming from unexpected places or surrounding characters during a moment of inattention. Like most standard zombies, a shot to the head will take them out of commission--or you could go full Evil Dead and take that chainsaw from the inexplicable home goods department and go to town.

Those who get bitten will be decontaminated upon arrival back at the colony, but characters won't know that until they get there. Trauma abounds when death seems imminent. Even after decontamination, any injuries will remain until treated in the medbay.

Mod Note: The algae/fungus growth is set to last from August 24th until September 1st, when the intro log goes up at the start of the app cycle; or until someone finds a solution and informs the modteam.

Navigation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Normally, Ben is very observant and even hyper-aware of other people's tension, body language, their tone of voice. He'd learned the hard way how to pick up on all those tiny clues that would tell him when a fight was brewing between Luther and Diego or when Allison was in a mean mood or when his father's patience was even shorter than the usual.

But right now he's feeling floaty and warm and high-speed and part of why it's all so wonderful is that he isn't even watching for those things automatically. All his safeguards are on OFF and that means he totally doesn't notice any discomfort coming from Ami. He waves a hand messily in the air and explains: ]

Only children think it's all hugging and sunshine and happiness all the time no matter what. Not getting along doesn't even come into the equation. Picture? Whatever the thing is that stuff comes into.

[ These crackers are good but they would be even better with something on them, Ben thinks. He twists and starts searching the cabinets again, finding a half-empty jar of peanut butter and letting out a little gasp of delight. As he is digging into that, he says something that he has thought pretty much every time he has met someone new in the Anchor, but never said aloud before because, well, inhibitions: ]

It's so cool being here. You didn't even know who I was or how many siblings I had or anything about me. Like I'm just a normal person or something. That's so cool.

[ Yeaaaah, her sibling situation is... complicated? Of course siblings aren't going to get along all the time, but Dani is... something else. Dani has Problems.

But hey, if Ben doesn't have the attention span to press the issue, who is she to argue? The less breath wasted on that subject, the better.

The microwave beeps at about the same time, and Ami opens it up to stir her soup. ]

Oh, yeah? Are you famous back home?

Yeah...

[ Said with such a heavy sigh and obvious, almost childlike unhappiness, that there really is no mistaking that this is not some kind of humble brag, but he really does, in fact, hate having been famous. ]

All of us were. The Umbrella Academy. Kid superheroes, saving the day. They made comic books and action figures and people would send us letters and try to take pictures of us through the windows and hang out outside our door...

[ He breaks a cracker with half of it still buried in the peanut butter and has to go digging around for it with his fingers. It is not exactly very dignified. But even as he's working on that he asks: ]

Did they have superheroes in your world? Or- people with powers at all?

[ Ami shakes her head, fascinated. ] No, nothing like that! Just seven or eight billion normies. [ ~~She believes.~~ ]

[ Another version of Earth with superheroes... (Or maybe the same one? She doesn't actually know.) She can't picture herself genuinely believing this stuff back home - maybe treating it like a fun, harmless game, like she did with the paranormal. For all her enthusiasm about the spooky, it was always more like a fandom to her - she would of course embrace it wholeheartedly if it did turn out to be real, but she didn't actually believe it was.

But in Anchor, a lot of strange things have turned out to be real. Superheroes, in particular. She was never really into the comic book scene, but seeing a dude walk on the ceiling for real? That was dope as shit. In her excitement, she fails to consider the whole "but it would really suck to have to do that as a kid and also be a child celebrity" thing. ]

So you've all got powers? What's yours, can I see?

[ For Ben, of course, the opposite is true. To him, powers, the whole superhero thing - it's completely mundane. It had been the all-consuming thing when he was growing up, and all the things everyone else considers normal - school, friends, family, jobs, travel, dating, hobbies - are far more unrealistic and hard to wrap his head around. He has seen enough of the world since he died that he gets now how unconventional and extreme his upbringing was, but it's still just... his life. ]

The seven of us did. Not everybody on the planet.

[ Good thing to make that clear, even though probably she guessed that or else why would they have been famous or worth making action figures of?

When she asks what his powers are and if she can see them, Ben shakes his head. ]

No.

[ There's no hesitation in the answer and no leeway for argument. ]

Trust me, okay. You don't want to. You really, really, really don't.

[ He knows he probably should explain what his powers are and that they are extremely dangerous and also very off-putting to most and that he's doing her a favor by refusing. But that seems like so much effort and instead he says, a little petulant: ]

My powers suck I don't wanna talk about them. Tell me about your world? I love hearing about other people's worlds. That's the other really great thing about being here.

[ The sudden vehemence of that no surprises her. Is it really that bad...? She debates pressing the issue, but ultimately that Unspoken Taboo of hers wins out - don't dredge up bad memories. Nobody likes a Nosy Nancy. ]

Umm, okay? There's not much to tell, though. It's Earth, but with no superheroes.

[ Way to put her on the spot, dude. Like, where does she even start? ]

Edited 2019-09-05 01:30 (UTC)

But there could be a ton of other stuff that's different, too. Like... movies, and history, and food.

[ Ben is more than happy to provide any enthusiasm she might be lacking, his mood almost visibly perking up when he stops talking about his siblings, and his powers: ]

Do you have, um-

[ He fumbles for the word, frowning and rubbing at his chin. ]

What were they called...?

[ And he snaps a moment later, remembering, and points at her, smiling, pleased with himself for recalling: ]

Computers! Do you have computers, on your Earth?

Wh- yeah, of course! Do you not??

[ THAT'S A PRETTY IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE, YEAH. ]

[ See! This is fun, after all! It had been daunting to come here and have almost everyone else way more comfortable with the devices they were given than he had been, but Ben is actually quite a fast learner. He thinks he's made great progress, all things considered. Maybe it doesn't all come naturally to him the way it does to someone like Peter but he's worked hard. ]

Nope. Just typewriters and telephones.

[ And then, as if it is at all comparable, he insists: ]

We have got TV!

[ He sets down the (now empty) jar of peanut butter and hops down from the counter. His landing involves a lot more wobbling than he'd meant it to but he gets his balance and makes his way to the sink. ]

Computers are a really big deal, huh?

[ She laughs, belatedly remembering her soup and moving it to a table to sit down properly. ]

Yeah, you could say that! They only revolutionized how we do practically everything. [ But before she gets into all the examples- ] What year was it for you? Just wondering.

[ Ben listens and tries to be engaged but he is high and revolutionizing everything is so huge and so abstract and he just can't really imagine that a fancy combination of a typewriter and a phone and a camera is really all that important...

But she certainly seems to care a lot so he shrugs and says: ]

Okay, guess so.

[ Then she asks when he's from and that's an easy one: ]

2019. What about for you?

[ It amuses him, the way the years don't quite match up in some cases, and in others they are hundreds of years off... ]

2018 here. That's really interesting! I thought it might just be a history thing, like - do you know Kieran? He's from before airplanes were invented.

[ A sudden afterthought- ]

You do have airplanes, right?

Kieran! Yesssssss! He's so nice, too! I mean, everybody here is like, super nice, but he was... I just wanted so bad to be his friend like the second I met him.

[ It would seem that Ben just has a completely glowing opinion of everyone he has met in the Anchor thus far. What she tells him about Kieran's place in the timeline doesn't seem to surprise Ben at all, so it's reasonable to guess that he already knew. Neither does he seem surprised that Ami is from a similar year, despite the differing technology. ]

No, there are planes. Not that I ever went much of anywhere.

[ He gives a big shrug at that, like 'what are you gonna do'. ]

What's your favorite thing about computers? Like - not historically or stuff, I mean, for you? 'Cause I think I don't get it, yet.

I know, right? He may not smell great, but he's really sweet.

[ They stole some orange juice, she taught him how to play Fruit Ninja, it was a great time. - Oh my god she should totally teach Ben how to play Fruit Ninja! Mental note: taken. ]

Uhh, for me personally? I guess it's the whole social aspect. Being able to keep in touch with your friends even if you can't meet up... I guess that's technically true with phones, too, but computers turn it up to eleven. I mean, you can't share memes on a landline!

[ DO YOU DARE ASK ABOUT MEMES, BEN? Do you dare open this floodgate? Some things, once learned, cannot be unlearned! Some secrets are best left unknown! You, as a summoner of horrorterrors, should know this.

Do you dare ask about memes? ]

Edited 2019-09-08 01:15 (UTC)

[ Ben giggles helplessly when she says Kieran doesn't smell great because that's just where his sense of humor is at right now. ]

Oh, okay. That makes sense. Wouldn't've mattered really 'cause I never had any friends before I came here.

[ There were his siblings, of course, and Ben loves them, but that is a different sort of relationship. He hadn't known anyone who liked him enough to spend time with him just because. Then again, it wasn't that everyone had rejected him, but that he'd never had a chance to form a bond with anyone outside his home. He and his brothers and sisters weren't allowed out. They were monitored at all times, kept busy with training. When would he have made a friend, even with a computer? ]

What's a meme?

[ Right on the landmine. ]

[ Aw, poor Ben. Never got to travel, never had any friends? Why the heck not? He's so nice.

Well, that's a topic for another time ~~or maybe never~~, because the million dollar question has just been asked. ]

Oh, man. What's a meme...

[ Now, that's the true tragedy of Ben's world. It's a world without memes. A dry, memeless wasteland, too terrible to imagine. I mean, how do you even start to explain them? She goes quiet for a few seconds, folding her arms as she thinks. ]

It's like... hm. A meme is... [ Finally, she shakes her head. ] Hang on. Some things need to be seen.

[ Idk where she was keeping her smartphone, but she takes it out to show him. Yes, that is a gaggle of cute smiling ghosts on the cover. She's kept it powered off most of the time since she's been here - there's no reception anyway, and she doesn't have a charger. But this is an emergency, clearly. Some offbrand cell network jingle plays as she boots it up. ]

[ Ben waits as she searches for the words, thinking that memes must be some quite fundamental and integral part of her culture for a basic definition to be so difficult. When she pulls out her phone he gaps, beaming and pointing. ]

Hey, look at that!

[ And in his high state he forgets she wouldn't know why that case is so amusing to him, so it just seems like he really likes cute little ghosties.

He just watches her using the small blocky device, transfixed and curious. ]

[ For her part, she assumes Ben's referring to the phone itself. Yeah, come to think of it, it must be pretty different from the ones he's used to! She tilts it to give him a better view of the screen. ]

Yeah! Oh, this is gonna blow your mind, actually. You see, this? [ She points to it - ] This is what phones look like now!

[ Ben leans in, completely fascinated. The screen reminds him of the screens of computers he's seen here, and a little like a less clunky version of the devices they all picked up when they arrived here. But a phone? ]

Where are the buttons?

[ Yes, he really just asked that. This sweet summer child. ]

There aren't any! You just touch the screen.

[ She swipes the screen a few times, trying to unlock it, but uh... it's still booting. ]

Uhh, once it wakes up.

[ ... OKAY NOW IT'S AWAKE. Ami unlocks the phone and voila: APPS! She shows off a few of its key functions- ]

See, so if you want to make a call, you hit Phone and dial their number. And then here's your Contacts, your saved numbers... And on this screen, you can play your music!

[ The technology would be impressive to Ben at any time but honestly he's so high right now. He is off his gourd and the way the screen shifts from one thing to another, responding to a mere brush of Ami's finger like it's some kind of living thing, without any audible or visible mechanical action behind it? It's blowing his mind. ]

Okay, yeah, I see why this is way better.

[ When she's on a home screen with the various icons for apps, Ben points and asks (bless his heart) ]

So which one of these is a meme?

[ Laughs ] I'm getting there! Patience, grasshoppa.

[ She opens up her Gallery and starts scrolling through the Downloads folder. There is no organization or naming convention to this, it's a god damn mess. ]

Most of what I've got in here are memes. So they're images a lot of the time, but not always. Sometimes it'll be a word or phrase, or even a 500-word copypasta. It depends.

[ Finally, she finds and opens up a good one for him. ]

Here we go! As with most memes, presented without context!

[ What... in the name of everything holy is a copy pasta? Ben almost asks but he is too distracted by all the images she is scrolling through, and so he decides to ask in a minute, and then promptly forgets all about it. Oops.

But he doesn't see how a category can be so loose that memes can be images or words or phrases or huge blocks of text. What is the unifying factor?

He squints at that image she pulls up, and he's not sure context would help all that much. Is there a hidden image? Some code that will help him get what makes this image worth sharing. ]

I don't understand. Why does this cartoon man not ... know what a pigeon looks like?

[ Ben looks up at Ami, totally bewildered. Help him. ]

I dunno. I think it's because he's a robot or something? But that's not the point.

You have to sort of deconstruct the joke a little bit. It's funny because he's saying, "Is this a pigeon?" about something that is clearly not a pigeon. Then you can plug other things into the formula, and use the same structure to make your own jokes. So like...

[ Ami thinks for a second, then brightens. ]

Okay. This is sort of a gross example, but... Let's say this guy is a dog, and the butterfly is dog poop. Then the dog would be saying, "Is this a food?" [ She points to each element as she goes, and gives the dog a stupid-sounding voice at the end.

IS THIS COMEDY? ]

[ Memes are not exactly the easiest things to explain to people who are unfamiliar with the language, anyway - much less if the examples are spoken rather than actual images. Add onto that the fact that Ben is high as a kite, and his face is just one big crinkle of confusion right now. He points to the phone screen: ]

So there's a similar picture to this with a picture of a dog... looking at poop?

[ There are so many steps to this process which Ami must take for granted - photo editing software and viral jokes and the actual language of internet humor - that Ben is just not grasping. ]

Like a parody of this?

[ He's...... getting there? ]

redshift: tdm #3

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can't remember if anyone has shown ben a smartphone sooo

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