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MINGLE ∞ LOG — June 2025

Mingle ∞ Log

No Lifeguard on Duty

Jump ⇅ :: Intro — Prompts — NPC Interaction

Summary

What's going on?

An unexpected heat wave in mid-June, coupled with the cycling shutdown of all air conditioning units in motels across the Blocks, has made the summer unbearable. Meanwhile, the ever-eager storm chaser, Felix Bjurstrom, has uncovered a fancy resort with a pool in a diffusion zone only 1 hour out from Panorama. Lucky, right? Well...kind of. It's got some quirks.

When is this happening?

June 10 - 30

What should I know?

This area is one of many diffusion zones that appear throughout the planet.
A storm chaser is someone dedicated to studying the cosmic phenomenon in the Diadem. Felix is a pioneer in his field.
A winding highway filled with old empty barrels will take you to the zone.
Characters can travel with a friend to save on gas! Parking's limited, so it might not be a bad idea.
At any given time, there's max several dozen visitors. Most work long hours, some are traveling through the diffusion zones, and others prefer not to risk the drive or waste precious gas, so it won't draw a huge crowd (but there's still a crowd!).
This is a mingle rather than an event. Plot-heavy elements will be minor. The game's first proper event will be posted in July!

What does my character know?

Having lost his phone, Felix will spread the word using good old-fashioned printed posters that he's put up around Panorama. A young woman is seen helping him. They appear to be close. Some say that's his daughter.
Though the timing is impossible to predict accurately, Felix believes that due to this zone's unusual proximity to an anchor point, it has a high chance of persisting for 2-3 weeks.
Directions are printed on the posters, though characters are also free to stumble across the zone by accident.

∞ Links ∞

Travel — Map — Setting

Introduction

The resort looks like your typical upscale vacation spot: a beautiful pool, lovely cabins, and plenty of pool chairs. The sky is perpetually nighttime and there are two moons. One moon is smaller than its sister and glows purple. The other looks like the Earth's moon. The weather is pleasantly warm. In fact, conditions are almost too perfect.

Other fluxdrifts are here, too, and you might come across them, all of whom are taking advantage of the pool. They'll converse superficially with you and will come and go randomly. You'll want to keep a close eye on your belongings. Other than cooling off, this isn't a bad place to start making connections. Life in the Diadem is better when you've got allies if not friends.

Just outside the resort is a spacious parking lot, designed for visitors. Nobody's following parking rules so put your car anywhere it fits. If you get blocked in, well, that's a problem for when you leave.

At the end of June, the diffusion zone will flicker and morph into an unremarkable overgrown park, long abandoned to the decades.

⇅ Top

Prompts

As you wander around, you discover deactivated androids in many of the poolside huts. These androids cannot be mistaken for any organic species: their chassis is metal, and their heads are shiny. Circuits and wires are visible. But each is dressed distinctly human in a way that borders on disturbing. You spot lipstick drawn on some of the metal faces, as though they're playing dress up...or as if they don't realize they aren't human. One android is frozen in place with a diary clutched in its hands. Another has a hairbrush for its nonexistent hair.

Something seems to have destroyed them—perhaps a powerful EMP wave that knocked them all out. All except one.

The Bartender

The poolside bar is at the eastern end of the resort. There are plenty of seats. A few are occupied by deactivated androids. The bartender is also an android and appears to be the only functional one in this place. He speaks with a modulated voice and has a neutral accent. He exhibits the following behaviors if you sit at his bar:

Icebreaker. Whether you're alone or with a companion, he'll try to get you all to be friends, asking random self-generated icebreaker questions. He'll be visibly disappointed if you don't play along.
Bartending. While cheerful, he can't make the correct drink: it's always too strong, incredibly weak, added salt instead of sugar, messed up the ice. He's obviously doing his best, but it's just not working. The harder he tries, the worse he performs until it becomes a comedy of errors with stuff falling over, ice dumped in your lap, champagne corks flying, and any number of slapstick mishaps. You can help him out by mixing the drink yourself.

If you're nice to him, he'll introduce himself as Thomas Lustras. He's happy to tell you about his son. Strange, you think, but who says androids can't have paternal instincts? Yet, when the android takes out his wallet to show you a photo of his son—named Edward Lustras—the picture is that of a human child, roughly 5 years old, in the arms of his human father.

The driver's license in the same wallet confirms that Thomas is (was?) a real person. The picture on the license matches the human male in the photo. A half-scorched business card states that Thomas was a consultant at Outer Rim Resettlements. Thomas believes he's on a company retreat and wistfully declares he's eager to return home to his son.

Maybe don't look too closely. After all, this place will soon disappear. And so will he.

The Grill

It's not a vacation without a grill! Not a grillable item is in sight, though, so you'll have to rely on what you can bring out of Panorama. Some of the visiting drifters will pitch in to share, unloading hotdogs (some synthetic, others authentic, and some far past expiry), burger patties (same) and buns, and "kebabs" made of blocky frozen vegetable squares. The squares vaguely resemble corn, mushrooms, and pineapple. The texture is passable, like a flavor-infused block of tofu.

Fire up the grill and take turns grilling. You'll also have to manage the propane. The grill's also prone to sputtering out, requiring regular minor repairs to get it back up and going. Any loose bolts or screws can be taken out of the dead androids to replace the rusty ones in the grill. You're unsure if you should feel uncomfortable doing that or what, but it is a solution.

Parking Woes

Like any crowded event, the parking lot can get chaotic, and the lawlessness of the diffusion zones doesn't help. While some are happy to help barbecue, others are more interested in picking fights over who got to the parking space first. It won't take much for a fistfight to break out, and a knife fight isn't out of the question, either, though nobody'll be killed (this time).

You can let the troublemakers beat each other, or you can try to intervene if somebody who doesn't deserve it is getting harassed. Just avoid causing too much of a scene. Breaking noses is acceptable; gutting someone head to toe is not. There are Enforcers visiting the zone, and if you interfere with their nice pool time, they won't hesitate to haul away everybody involved and make you sit in jail for a few days.

Questions? Ask here

Main Navigation ::: ⇅ Top

Threaded | Flat

the heat never bothered me anyway;

a - bartending

[ It's the light that always gets to him. Not just sunlight, but also the overexposed burn of LED signage, the buzz of fluorescents, maybe the wrong kind of moonlight. But here? Here, it's tolerable. The two moons hang over the pool like someone cracked open a snow globe, the one of them just off-kilter enough to make the place feel like more of a fever dream than it already is. Benny's glad for the perpetual evening vibe, means he can relax without worrying about his skin slowly sizzling to a crisp. He’d hate to mar his pretty face, after all.

He sniffs at the air; everything smells like chlorine, fake citrus, and something faintly metallic, almost like the scent old copper pennies leave on your fingertips. He's also trying not to stare, but it's hard not to - the androids scattered around the area look like they've been dressed by someone who’s never met a human but had access to outdated JCPenney’s catalogues and a clearance rack.

It’s off, the entire thing. Makes him uneasy, but he's here anyway because it seems like the smart thing to do, meet people and make small talk, but the mannequins in lipstick? That sure wasn’t in the brochure. Seems like Felix might’ve left that little tidbit off the posters he’d put up all over the city.

He'll find himself at the bar eventually, taking a seat on a sticky stool. He tries to order something easy, whiskey neat, then staresat the glass placed in front of him. It’s half full of something turquoise, the rim salted...maybe. It might also be sugared, but he isn’t sure and he doesn’t really want to taste it. He pushes it back.

Benny learns the reason his stool is sticky fast enough; when he tries to order something else he ends up with an assortment of five different horrifically flavored margaritas and mai tai’s that taste like shit. He’s shaking his head, pushing them back one after another, until the damn bartender spills one all over his floral patterned board shorts. That's it. ]

Give me the damn bottle, [ he finally growls, getting up and shoving his way behind the bar. He'll make his own damn drink - maybe he'll make yours too, if you happen to be having a similar problem. ]

b - icebreaker

[ Benny's never been a fan of small talk, and he's even more out of practice after being in Purgatory for fifty years. He was never a cultured man, not like Andrea, and he isn't the best at keeping a conversation going unless it's about boat engines, blood, or regret - possibly all three. Probably the reason for all these icebreaker questions, people just like him. Takes the pressure off, eases some of the weight most of them seem to be under, especially when it’s asking stupid shit like what color was your rubber duck as a kid?

Yellow, obviously.

What's your favorite comfort food?

Gumbo.

What's your favorite thing you own?

My knife.

What's your biggest pet peeve?

This conversation.

The android - Thomas - doesn’t shut up. It keeps asking, keeps Benny relatively engaged, keeps him talking about the most meaningless crap. Benny will still be giving three word answers should anyone want to come up and join this extremely uninteresting party. ]

poolside;

[ Now, Benny can't rightly recall the last time he's been able to actually sit down and relax. Purgatory didn’t exactly leave a guy with a lot of time to sunbathe and sip on little drinks with umbrellas in them, and before he'd died, well. That's another story. Point is, as eerie as all this is, there's a tension that's eased in his shoulders, and he's currently draped across one of the pool chairs with said little umbrella drink, clad in a black button down and a pair of violently floral board shorts he’s rather come to like.

The pool chairs on either side of him are empty, and he reclines, sunglasses in place, hat pulled low. The two moons hang heavy overhead, their reflection rippling softly across the surface of the pool. Somewhere nearby, someone laughs too loud and for the first time in fifty years, Benny Lafitte doesn't feel hunted, doesn't feel watched. There's no Leviathans, no old debts calling his name. It’s just him under a strange, strange sky with a half-decent breeze over his skin and a drink that tastes like melted candy and rum.

He'll take it. ]

(( ooc; ota of course, feel free to go for any prompt and run wild! Add your own icebreaker questions, choose your own adventure and wildcard, go nuts. I’m easy peasy and can go with the flow! if you wanna plot something specific feel free to pm me or hmu on plurk

virtuously! ))

Edited 2025-06-09 00:41 (UTC)

➤ OOC: HOUSEKEEPING

[ vash's plotting/intro is here, i am happy to work out any handwave/initial CR to start things off with! happy to come up with a closed starter, or hit me with a thing. reachable for chats either by sdat or by pm! :') ]

➤ EN ROUTE

[ whether by accident or design, vash has decided to go down this stretch of the road ... except there are way too many obstructions blocking a smooth progress. he is still at the stage of his driving where he has to drive like a senior citizen who lost his glasses, or else keep stalling with a rubber chicken wail as he mixes up his gears. the barrels scattered around the highway is really not the sort of obstacle course he'd like to be dealing with even on a good day, let alone driving a beat up old pickup truck that looks like one bad day away from leaving him stranded, thank you!

so, here he is, the truck parked haphazard on the side of the road (judging by the heavily dented drums scattered all in front of it, maybe he's come to an unintentional stop?), the sleeves of his faded red jacket rolled up to his sleeves, hauling the barrels away from the road. just doing a bit of public service, don't mind him!!!! or maybe lend a hand? there are a lot of barrels to move after all ... ]

➤ ANDROIDS

[ vash is staying far from the water, not really knowing what to do with it (he doesn't know how to swim, or even deal with that much water in general), so he's obviously wandered his way around to the huts - not with any particular idea of scavenging in mind but just because he's curious.

the silent humanoid figures standing around motionless might be eerie for some, especially as the night approaches and they are only lit by the moon/s (vash finds some odd sort of comfort in the multitude of them, even though they look nothing like the ones on noman's land) and the odd flickering of torches around the distant poolside.

is it just him, or do they look a little .... sad?

reaching out with his right hand (the left, a rough looking metal appendage held together with electrical tape and wires), vash carefully nudges an android, the one with a glass held halfway to their face as though it was about to take a sip. it was a tiny little poke, but the android's arm will detach at the shoulder socket, clattering to the ground in front of them and smashing the glass to bits.

jumping backwards, vash knocks into another android, sending THAT one crashing to the floor as well. ]

Sorry!!! I'm so sorry!!!! [ he frantically scrabbles on the ground, picking up all the pieces of all these androids, clutching them to his chest. ]

➤ WILDCARD-ISH

[ the below are some ideas for starters! happy to write them, or hit me with one!

➤ icebreaker question - if you were a vegetable, which vegetable would you like to be???
➤ the bar - okay, vash might be a little broke. if you get a badly made drink, can he have that instead?
➤ parking lot - vash is definitely going to try to break up the fights that's happening ... and make it even worse. save him from getting his nose broken? or getting stabbed? HELP!
➤ literally anything else! ]

1. GOTHIC SURF-A-RAMA.

It's largely curiosity that has driven Laszlo to visiting the diffusion zone, as he has yet to experience one and it's a poor man of science who turns down a novel experience such as this. He is very pleasantly surprised to find the resort cloaked in perpetual night—and well-lit by the twin moons for that matter—and makes a mental note to ask Bjurstrom to mention that sort of thing in future advertisements. For reasons. Not suspicious ones.

This is also Laszlo's first experience with a 'pool party,' and he is absolutely neither dressed for it nor the stifling weather, wearing his customary Victorian three-piece suit, though he doesn't seem very bothered by the heat. His cravat is covered in sequins, though, because it's a party.

The smell of cooking meat is positively revolting, so Laszlo keeps a fair distance from the grill, though it would be much easier to ignore if he were drunk. There are enough humans here indulging in alcohol, though he cannot work out a way to drain any without leaving a very conspicuous corpse somewhere, so that idea is unfortunately right out.

That leaves him with not much to do beyond people watch (or people ogle, depending on the person's choice in swimwear), as he is certainly not getting in the water. He appears as approachable as anyone wearing a suit at a pool party does, though if someone carrying a plate of food comes too close, he immediately goes somewhere else. Which probably seems very rude but he can't be fucked about it.

2. ANDROIDS.

Laszlo's attention eventually drifts to the frozen automatons standing eerily around, silent as statues. If statues were painted with garish makeup. He would dearly like to take one back to Panorama with him, but he doesn't exactly have anywhere to put it, so he instead settles on stealing a hand.

He didn't think to bring any kind of tools with him, so he looks around to make sure no one is watching, then just kind of cracks a metal hand off at the wrist with his bare hands.

As he slips it in his pocket, he finally notices that someone was, in fact, watching. He screws up his face like you're the weird one here. "What?"

3. PARKING LOT. OPTIONAL: HYPNOSIS PERMISSIONS.

Although he is a man of leisure, Laszlo quickly gets bored of food he can't eat, drinks he can't drink, and water he has no interest in splashing around in. It doesn't take long before he's thinking about fucking off back to Panorama where he can grab a quick meal and a quicker wank, but the main problem with this objective is he can't remember where the hell he's parked.

He spends a little while wandering around but this is also very boring, so he decides to get a better vantage point. With no visible effort, he leaps from the ground to the roof of a car. This time, he immediately notices that someone is looking at him. "What?"

4. NOTES & WILDCARD.

[ i will enthusiastically match format! you may also wildcard me with whatever; i'm easy. here's my plotting comment if you want to chat or you can hmu on plurk/disco. ]

Edited 2025-06-09 05:38 (UTC)

The Bartender

She's quick to get out of the motel when the heat wave hits. Rogue loves hot weather -- she's a Mississippi girl at heart -- but considering that she dresses in long sleeves, pants, and gloves, the heat's quickly stifling.

That doesn't mean she's going to sit by the pool in a bathing suit, but it does mean that she spends a lot of time at the bar in the most shaded spot she can find.

She doesn't look particularly put out by how strange the robots are; they're not Sentinels, which is good enough for her.

Though she's not all that chatty unless someone approaches her first (mostly, she's watching people with an almost strange intensity, like she's wary of everyone around her) she'll play along if the bartender tries to drag her into a conversation with anyone else at the bar by asking icebreaker questions. Stuff like:

What's your favorite candy?
What's one of your favorite comfort foods?
Would you rather be stuck on a broken ski lift or a broken elevator?
What bends your mind every time you think about it?
What's the story behind one of your scars?

Well. She'll play along unless the question is the last one. That one'll make her shut down and refuse to continue playing.

If the bartender starts glitching, she'll look amused by it more than anything else and eventually gets up to give him a hand... or to at least get a drink for herself and anyone else who needs one.

Wildcard

[ Wildcards are more than welcome! If you'd like to plot something else out, feel free to contact me on Plurk (

mississippis). ]

Bartender

[Where does one head immediately at a resort like this? The bar, obviously. Certainly Kaine felt more comfortable here than mingling at a pool party like some kind of… person who did things. Like meet other people. That’d be weird.

Except this damn robot won’t stop trying to talk to him! Giving him a gruff attitude and the cold shoulder wasn’t working at all - it’s not like a half-broken robot could pick up hints like a person - so now he’s forced to sit through a modulated voice periodically making smalltalk.]

[How many languages do you speak?]

Can you shut up and get me a whiskey already?

[Certainly. …What is your earliest memory?]

It’s mind your own fucking business— did you water this down?

[Eugh. That’s close enough at least. Enough to nurse, in his usual way - which is to say, slow as hell. He was content enough to settle into a cool loner brooding over a single drink vibes, until…]

[Pancakes or waffles?]

…Pancakes. [Ugh! Why did he bother replying! Okay fuck it— he is climbing over the bar to grab this robot by the head, trying in vain to figure out if there was a voicebox he could rip out or something. Totally normal things.]

There are no spiders

[considering how many opportunist ne’er do wells are scoping out the parking lot, Kaine was hoping to get some eyes to watch his ride for him. It’s not something he actively sought out before, but now that he was searching for them… hey…

Why aren’t there any spiders? Like, anywhere?

That can’t be natural, right. Spiders are about as normal to see in any environment as flies, ants, moths - all the little endemic life people forget about unless they’re actively bothering them. And he wasn’t some kind of smart brained biologist about it or anything, but didn’t no spiders mean no ecosystem?

There’s something very wrong about this place. He can’t entirely chalk it up to this being a zone out of place, out of time… it was clearly still modelled after Earth.

There was only one faint spark of arthropod he could detect, and out of some unspeakable sense of curiosity (common sense fled to where all the other spiders went I guess), he feels compelled to hunt it down.]

What the hell…

The Grill (r.i.p.)

[ The Knave asks for very little from her food... in the sense that she wants very little from her food. She believes in the purity of taste, and that means very little embellishment by way of sauces and spices. In a way, it rounds out to her actually being somewhat picky.

So barbecue perfectly suits her, and she's graciously volunteered to cook to ensure its flawless execution. Whole cuts of meat and vegetables on a grill, with only a smattering of salt and pepper to accentuate their natural flavors. Perfection. Or... it should be. The selection of "meat" now at her disposal thanks to the contributions of other generous fluxdrifts is regrettably more mysterious than she would prefer. Still, she's making do; the more reasonably colored meats and kebabs are now sizzling away almost pleasantly on a portable grill someone has bothered to transport and set up. The Knave's meticulous nature has arranged the food into perfect lines that utilize the heat distribution of the grill most efficiently.

Soon, she and the other fluxdrifts shall feast. Her tongs are ready in one patient hand. The grill marks are just reaching a perfect brown......

And then suddenly, chaos.

A body flies into the grill, hurling food, propane, and flames in every direction. A fight spilled over from the nearby parking lot, where the parking situation is reaching a head. A couple of angry fluxdrifts fall upon the thrown fellow, and the scene becomes a cacophony of thrown hands, stray meat, and burgeoning fire.

Where are you in the middle of all this? The Knave, for her part, is just standing there in the same place with her tongs. Her disappointment, immeasurable. ]

Wildcard

(( ooc: I'm keeping it simple with my prompt, but feel free to wildcard me! I also have an intro/plotting comment. ))

Poolside Huts

[Well this is bloody brilliant!

Arthur hasn't been swimming since he was a child. He hasn't felt natural heat like this since...well...ever. He's never felt heat like this. He knows that, arguably, these diffused zones or whatever they're called are potentially dangerous. But what isn't? Stepping out your doors in the morning was potentially dangerous. Besides, he could use the deviation from daily life. Which is...fine, but....

Well. He and Sally are in close quarters. It's a miracle they found each other, of course, but it can be awkward. For a variety of reasons. He hasn't shared a home with anyone since he was young, let alone essentially a room. And the city is so big and there are tall buildings and it all feels so much more closed in than he's used to. And of course there's the simple fact that Arthur finds himself constantly on edge, out of his depth in this new place that functions nothing like Wellington.

A holiday - a real one - sounds like just the treat! And there's supposed to be useful things to be found in these zones.

Arguably, there are useful things. The robots are interesting, much more human-like than the robots back home, and also much less actively trying to kill him. He likes that in a robot. And they all seem to be broken, so there's no harm in just having a little looksie at how they're put together. He's sure he won't understand all the inner bits that make them go, but the joints and plating could give him some ideas. He's been studying automobile maintenance. So for the moment he's ignoring the pool, stripped down to his sleeveless white undershirt in a hut with his trusty wrench and screwdriver and one of the broken robots.]

Er...sorry about this...but I don't think you'll mind....

The Grill

[It's one of the greatest things about this place. Food! Edible, unspoiled food that was intended to be eaten as food! Bread that wasn't mostly sawdust, actual vegetables instead of random flower bulbs, meat that wouldn't damn your immortal soul if you eat it! Half of what's in the grocer's are things Arthur has never seen or even heard of, but it doesn't matter. Years of slow starvation makes a fellow very generous in what he considers food.

But he's shown up with a large package of what appear to be sausages. The meat is unknown. It looks very, very dark. The label on the package is a thundercloud with horns, which offers very little information.]

Lovely day for it!

[The greeting is automatic, not even aimed directly at anyone, just offered in general to the whole grill area. He ambles up in a black and white striped bowling shirt unbuttoned over his sleeveless undershirt, a pair of black slacks, and old fashioned trainers, holding up his package of mysterious sausages like a prize.]

I think they're blood sausages...of some sort. Haven't had a blood sausage in forever and a day! Happy to share!

[He's cooking them whether anyone else wants some or not.]

Icebreakers at the Bar

[Arthur is fascinated by the android bartender. It's not the first talking robot he's encountered. He was used to talking robots, Wellington Wells had all different sorts all over. They just looked a great deal different. The robots back home weren't so human looking. Even the ones that had human-like faces. Nor were they as useful as a bartending robot, even if this one perhaps needed its programming fixed.

He understands that robots are programmed, but there ends his knowledge. He'd never gotten into robotics, he'd abandoned any ambitions for an engineering or mechanical career by the time robots were common. He mostly could unplug them or scramble them with a spike. And they most definitely did not make conversation. Or claim to have family members. Fascinating! Someone had to have programmed the robot to think like that...he'd wonder 'why', but after meeting Dr. Faraday, he assumes the answer was simply 'because someone could'. Scientists were always doing things just because they discovered they could.]

You know, you're much more pleasant to chat with than a compliment bot. You'd be a smash at parties. Ah, sorry, what was that question? Ah, yes, what talent would I show off in a talent show...oh, well, I'll have to think about that....you can go ahead and answer, if you'd like.

[He gestures to whoever is sitting beside him at the bar.]

i. parking lot

[Viktor arrives in the back of a pickup truck, in the company of a bearded man. They seem close, or at the very least familiar with each other, exchanging a few words as they temporarily part ways. One might find it foolish of them, to leave their vehicle unattended, the bed of the truck filled with interesting scrap, but it turns out Viktor hasn't gone far, something you'll quickly discover if and when you attempt to peek at what they might be hauling.]

Please don’t touch.

[He is, very suddenly, looming. Viktor has taken to wearing a hooded cloak so as not to surprise or disturb anyone with his appearance—though that doesn’t chance the fact that he towers above most grown adults.]

If you’re looking for supplies, we can trade.

[Or, perhaps you’re navigating a particularly difficult parking situation—this is a bit of a game of Tetris, after all. Luckily, Viktor is here to help. He’s making room for someone to fit their vehicle into a tight squeeze next to his (and Jayce’s) truck. The way he does this is with the clawed hand that arches over his shoulder. Lightning fast, it illuminates a halo of runes behind his head, rotating through a sequence, each one carefully selected to adjust the gravity of a nearby object.

And then, the car is floating, which is certainly one way to get it into a parking spot.]

ii. the resort (poolside/the grill)

[One might imagine that an entity such as Viktor would be entirely out of place at a resort pool One would be correct.

He lingers in Jayce’s vicinity, perhaps saving his lounge chair while he takes to the pool by perching on it like a weird gargoyle. Viktor doesn’t enter it himself, seemingly having no use for it (also, it’s very likely he’ll simply sink to the bottom). Like his impromptu guarding of their vehicle, Viktor will be quick to interject should anyone try to commandeer Jayce’s chair while he’s elsewhere.

From the depths of the cabana—]

This one is occupied.

[He might emerge if he detects a disturbance at the grill, noticing its proclivity to fail. That, at least, is something productive to work on, and something he can materially do. He takes note of the way it sputters, the misplaced wires, the propane supply. Once again, he looms.]

I’m able to fix that, if you’ll allow it.

[At least he’s polite.]

iii. robot friends

[It doesn't matter that they're all defunct--and it doesn't matter that most of them appear to be dressed as humans, frozen in place. Viktor is thrilled to see any technology of this level, automatons included. He can imagine what they might be like, functional, and he'll take it upon himself to see if he can't accomplish such a thing. Viktor is still not convinced this is a sort of cosmic punishment, for his transgressions back in Piltover, but despite that (and his appearance), he's still an engineer, and this is a problem to solve. He's nothing less than enthralled, and he takes it upon himself to talk to the robot, caring very little that it's inert.]

You are—astonishing.

[He reaches out, touching his fingers to the chassis, tilting his head slightly to get a better look. His face is, naturally, expressionless, but from the tone of his voice (as he talks to himself, hunched over and gingerly untangling some of the android's wires), one might imagine he could be smiling.]

I wonder what happened to you--

[There seems to be no need to ask permission. Viktor invites himself into the access panel, seemingly oblivious to anything else.]

iv. wildcard

[Hello I will do whatever you want. Here is my little intro/CR meme for a bit about him and here is an opt-in for his abilties, if you're interested in playing around with that. For everything else, I'm on plurk at whitticus.]

Edited 2025-06-10 02:14 (UTC)

» The way into her heart

[ Samus is not very picky when it comes to food, stomach as iron-clad as her suit of armor. While she'll offer to grill or even repair the grill if needed, she's more inclined to not interrupt someone if they're already at the helm. She patiently waits nearby with her arms crossed, stoic as a statue and about as quiet as one... until her stomach audibly growls. ]

...

[ It's impressive how stony-faced she remains in spite of that, though her ice blue eyes narrow on the grill-er as if daring them to comment or more humbly (after subconsciously wetting her lips and looking away) to... hurry up! She's hungry. ]

» Bar Questions

[ Stomach full, Samus otherwise spends most of her time at the bar. It's only after a couple of drinks she even entertains a few of the ice breaker questions, answering them very dryly and with decreasing patience; ]
Do you have any nicknames?
Ask my enemies.

What's your go-to dance move?
I don't dance.

Have you ever saved someone's life?
Sure.

What's the best thing you got from one of your parents?
My own life.

In your group of friends, what role do you play?
[ She gives the android a displeased confused frown, one that says a lot in so few words. ]

What dumb accomplishment are you most proud of?
Not this conversation.

» Happy Hour

[ Samus has less patience for botched drinks. She doesn't even want anything fancy and trying to convince him to simply let her have a bottle of whisky goes poorly. It shatters to the ground, a wet mess. Whatever second-hand embarrassment she feels manifests in a slight frown of her lips. It is however around now she notices a replacement whisky bottle manifesting on the shelf, popping into thin air. She blinks, confused. Is she seeing things? Is that why the drinks here seemed never-ending...?

She's not had a lot to drink but even the little she has had is enough to lower her inhibitions and not feel bad about this. She gets up from her stool while Thomas is distracted cleaning, goes to the opposite open end of the bar and throws her legs over it, quick and quiet. Samus is tall enough to reach high shelves for nice liquors and helps herself to one bottle. Indeed, it reappears... after a bit. She shrugs and shoves it in her leather jacket's inner pockets. She glances at Thomas over her shoulder (still cleaning, muttering something about not wanting to get fired) and then looks to whoever else at the bar might be equally as Done with all this. ]

You want one? [ Ideally before Thomas notices. ]

» Extra Cargo

[ As far as she's concerned this is much more productive as a looting and scavenging mission, not even looking at the pool once with any desire to relax. She can be seen rather conspicuously going from the resort back to the parking lot; jacket pockets full of clattering glasses and then returning with them empty.

Next trip she has half-disassembled androids; one on her shoulder like a rucksack and another hooked under it like a football. In the moonlight it could easily be mistaken for her hauling off bodies. She's packing her motorcycle tight with whatever she can reasonably carry. Anyone would have to be particularly daring or foolish to tamper with her trophies. ]

» wildcard

[[ Open to wildcarding anything! My ooc intro/cr meme is right here c:]]

Edited 2025-06-10 03:45 (UTC)

A. Falling From Cloud Nine (Bar)

[Wade's reason for being in a diffusion zone, specifically one that has a vacation resort theme going on, is pretty simple: if he goes home to an empty motel room one more time, he's gonna go absolutely fuckin' nuts. In a bad way.

(Also, bonus if he gets to catch Cable in some swim trunks, but that's also a sort of potentially horrifying thought, which makes it even better.)

So here he is. And those who have met him before might not even recognize him this time: there's no Deadpool suit, not even a sword on his back. Sitting at the bar is just a bald, avocado-skinned man wearing a shirt with super neon pink pineapples and hibiscus on it and khaki dad pants. It's for the same reason he came all the way out here on a whim that Wade also entertains Thomas's increasingly more vague and somewhat invasive questions for longer than the average man, seemingly unbothered, and as long as fruity cocktail after fruity cocktail appear (all with way too much tajin settled at the bottom of each glass), Wade's got no complaints.

Especially because he's starting to get a little drunk. It took a while, but now he's drank so many he's kind of digging how they're tasting vaguely like toilet water.

Until Thomas goes too far.

It isn't entirely fair he follows up pirates or ninjas? (easy, ninjas) with who inspires you to be better? Wade's tapping foot goes still, and he stops twirling the little umbrella between his scarred fingers. Once it's asked, you know, it's easy. It's easy to go into it.]

Ness. Easy. She's -- was my -- she's the greatest. [And in a very apt and condensed recounting of the plot details of Deadpool 1, Wade tells Thomas exactly who Vanessa is. How she could inspire anyone to do better. How it didn't even take a single beer to convince her to sit on his face again, even after all the, you know. All while he stares at one of his hands, remembering the warmth of her fingers squeezing his, and feeling this tiny spark of hope that something could happen, that maybe he could fix things, because the sliding scale of "fixing the multiverse" and "saving his relationship" isn't a flat plane. It has a slope. Slightly downward. Right?

But, seriously. Record scratch. Wade? Fixing something? When's that ever happened? Don't think too hard of any examples, because you won't, and if he did, it's because the plot called for it out of sheer necessity. Or lazy writing.

He wants to think -- yeah,, maybe, maybe that was going to be enough -- but let's be real, he's stuck here now in Mad Max land and that was only a desperate plot thread to sucker romantics into thinking there was a fighting chance. Almost worked on him, too.

At some point, he's just started mumble-singing to himself, his thoughts a sort of heady, vicious mix of longing and a sad montage of memories. Set to music.]

♫ In another life, I would be your girl...

[Wade sort of loses the plot on whether Thomas is still listening or not, because around the twelfth empty cocktail glass, Wade's leaning over two raw hotdogs, each with faces cut into the ends, that he's pushing together at the tips like two Barbies making out.] ♫ We'd keep all our promises, be us against the world. [One of the wieners, inexplicably, has a wig of licorice crowning the top.] ♫ In another life, I would make you stay, [The hotdogs made an incredibly disturbing squishing noise as he smooshes them together,] So I don't have to say you were the one that got away --

[Thomas looks like maybe he really wishes he wasn't on this retreat anymore, quite suddenly. Wade does not read that discomfort and keeps mumble-singing, because no one can stop him now he's in his feels at the moment.

Turns out being alone for a few weeks (and unresolved plot threads) is doing a number on him.

Please. Save Thomas from the deadly trappings of being polite.]

B. Crashing From The High (Wildcards)

While Wade is riding down the toxic cocktail that Thomas has unknowingly fed to him because even a nice android doesn't know how to approach cutting off a guy who has the texture of stepping in a very large pool of gum with clogs on, he can also be found:

Stabbing a hotdog into the bartop that has the name "Dermot" cut into it;
Grilling kebobs of the squares and an additional cubed meat that doesn't seem to be included in the supplies anywhere;
Standing at the grill continuing to grill while his arm is a little bit on fire;
Physically ramming his body in a car to move someone else's out of the way, like why are you blocking the ENTIRE LANE, asshole?
Physically blocking the entire lane later on by laying in the middle of the parking lot while singing E.T., from a similarly mentioned discography, pouring beer into his mouth in an effort that might be closer to waterboarding than actually consuming beer.

Edited 2025-06-10 04:04 (UTC)

i. the pool

[ When first hearing of this diffusion zone, Fern had seen no reason to avoid it. It's close to the city and the mention of a pool had brought to mind Tser Pool, where the Vistani camped. That place had given them clues in Barovia, so could the same not be said here? Without much time spent discussing it at all, she and Adrian take his car and park a safe distance away from the spot. They're more than willing to walk a little further to avoid the pointless squabbling over the closer spaces.

This "pool" is... not at all what she had been picturing, however. Instead of some tranquil spot nestled among the trees, it feels much more manufactured. People seem to come here to relax and enjoy themselves, but it's an entirely different feeling compared to a babbling brook in the wood.

She investigates the pool itself first, frowning at how it's so small and also not connected to any natural source of water. No stream, no waterfall, nothing of the sort is nearby. Instead, it's enclosed by this stone that isn't stone. And the closer she gets to it, the more her nose wrinkles and the more her frown deepens. Her ears twitch lower in displeasure. ]

What is that smell?

[ It's chlorine. ]

ii. androids

[ That disappointment aside, Fern still wishes to explore the place, and it isn't long before she comes across one of the lifeless androids. Her first thought is that they're some strange sort of warforged, but warforged don't need to sleep, and these ones are not responding at all.

a. She crouches down next to one, taking care with how she interacts with it, but once it's clear that it isn't booby-trapped in some way, she's more bold, her fingers drawing through a nest of wires. They're almost like firmer, thicker veins.

If someone comes over while she's inspecting it, she turns to them and asks the clear question here. ] What are they?

[ b. Once she understands what they are, however, she realizes that they must be made of materials that could be hoarded or sold. It takes some doing, but when she's relatively alone, she drags one of the androids to a dark out-of-the-way corner and leans it against the wall so she can get to work with her lockpick kit to start taking a piece of it apart. The arm seems like it might have the most individual parts, and so she focuses on that first, unscrewing and prying panels up as needed to get to the materials hidden within.

Someone could happen upon her, and while what she's doing may not exactly be stealing given that most things in the diffusion zones are fair game, she'll still take a moment to acknowledge that she's been caught redhanded. She leans back from the android and half-turns toward the other fluxdrift, hesitating for just a moment before she makes an offer. ] I'll give you some of the pieces, if you tell me what's valuable. I can hardly take all of this myself.

[ Though she had considered the logistics of that. ]

iii. wildcard

[ Fern can also be found trying and failing to interrogate Thomas because she isn't very charismatic and doesn't want to play along with his icebreaker, sidling up to the grill and current grillmaster to investigate the food options, or watching as a fight is about to break out in the parking lot and trying to determine whether or not to intervene. Any questions, grab me at demonology or demonology @ Discord! ]

🎸 Parking Woes, Parking Foes

[ Eddie doesn’t get blocked in. Eddie is the one who blocks other people in. He’s squeezed his van perpendicular in the non-existent pathway between two other vehicles, the tightest fit possible without scraping the bumpers. It’s a miraculous parking job, really, and it would be impressive if the owner of one of those two cars didn’t come back early and angry, shouting at Eddie for his false parking spot. ]

What do you mean it’s not a parking spot? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but uh—

[ He makes a wide, sweeping gesture to the lot: it’s a free for all, vehicles jam packed like sardines, and he’s not the only one who’s made a questionable parking choice. ]

There aren’t exactly any clear guidelines here. But, hey, maybe you just didn’t notice—Jesus Christ.

[ His fellow motorist cuts him off by pulling a very large knife from the lining of his jacket and making a comment about a free haircut. That gets Eddie scrambling, climbing up onto the top of his van, motorist in persuit. ]

Hey! Can someone get Jason Voorhees down here to back off? Anyone?

🎸 Bartender

[ Eddie isn’t a swimmer, nor is he a sit-by-the-pool kind o guy. What he is, however, is a natural born bar-goer, and this is his favorite type of bar: the kind where no one is hassling him for an ID, and there’s a fascinating android bartender. Eddie is kind enough to him, speaking to him as if he’s a real person, but he doesn’t seem particularly happy with any of his icebreakers.

”If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be?”

Eddie’s eyebrows knit together and his nose scrunches, a clear indicator that he’s absolutely baffled by this question in particular. ]

Dude, how many vegetables could there possibly be?

[ “Dozens. Perhaps you should ask your fellow bar patrons what they think.” ]

Alright. Well?

[ He wheels around to face one of the new friends the bartender has gathered to join him. ]

Don’t hold back, man. What vegetable would I be?

[ He holds his arms out and the answer is probably crystal clear: a string bean… ]

🎸 Propane (and Propane Accessories)

[ In typical teenage boy fashion (though he is just beyond his teenage years now), Edide isn’t doing any grilling. He hasn’t brought any food along, he isn’t offering to man a grill, and he has nothing to share. But what he does do is approach someone else’s grill unannounced and carefully pushes right past them. ]

Excuuuse me--

[ He pops a cigarette into his mouth and crouches to leans in to the open flame, quite a bit like this. With a head of hair like that, it’s a dangerous position to be in, but he pops back up unscathed, takes a step back, and dips right back into a low, dramatic bow. ]

My deepest thanks you for your patronage.

[ He pauses, eying the food on the grill and listening to the grumbling of his own stomach. ]

Actually, uh—room for one more?

🎸 Wildcard

[ Do your worst, or catch me at

muttonchops for plotting. ]

001: PARKING

[Parking’s hell.

It’s bad enough Henry has to drive this car around, even if he’s improving little by little with each day that passes, but having to fight for his life for a single space of parking is not a trial he’d ever wanted to experience. His patience thins twice as fast when behind the wheel of his car.

But when he sees a vehicle double park?

Oh. Absolutely unacceptable.

Here’s a strange sight you might see: the double-parking vehicle being pushed by some invisible force, off to the side. Tires skid across the pavement as it settles into its one space, the way it should’ve parked in the first place.

A teal Oldsmobile, with Henry behind the wheel, takes the space next to it. Problem solved. No violence necessary. Right?

(The windshield of the offending car suddenly shatters, with no warning whatsoever.)

It’s fine.]

002: ICEBREAKERS

[What are the chances that he’d get roped into a round of icebreaker questions with this baffling android bartender, when all he wanted was-]

I just want a glass of water. I don’t need small talk.

[I’ll get you your glass of water, friend, don’t you worry. But I just want to know: What's the best thing you got from one of your parents?

The bartender—who calls himself Thomas, apparently—reaches for a glass. But that’s about where his helpfulness starts and stops, because instead of filling it up with water, his mechanical arm reaches, instead, for the neck of a tequila bottle.

Henry frowns, at both the question and this appalling lack of service, and turns to the person next to him.]

You answer. Maybe something’s wrong with its programming. [And it needs idle chatter to function? But Henry ain’t playin’ that game with those types of questions.]

003: HANGING OUT

[Henry can be found here and there, but is notably trying to quell the heat. He's just a pasty white guy, okay, let him live. You can find him hanging next to the pool, with his pant legs rolled up and dipping his legs into the water, trying to figure out how to text with this fangdangled phone. It's going... interestingly.

Or, maybe you find him in one of the fancy cabins, crouched beneath a table and looking for... something?]

icebreaker.

[it's not as if there'd been a burning a desire in her to travel to a diffusion zone, specifically, but jyn had already started to get restless; never staying in one place too long had been the key to her survival for so long that the muscle memory is just something she can't shake. so, not long after seeing the poster, she'd started up the truck that had been forced on her (that she doesn't like, thank you very much) and headed out on the road.

by the time she arrives, she isn't alone.

she doesn't leave the parking lot without incident, but, eventually, she finds a spot for the truck and leaves the idiots behind. and, eventually, she comes across the bar.

to say that the droid who introduces himself as thomas is talkative would be an understatement, but he's clearly desperate for someone to talk to, so she humors him, mostly by nodding without paying attention to the majority of what he says and sipping at the too-sweet concoction of a drink that he's made. unfortunately, though, humoring him proves to be a mistake — because that's what gets her involved in the icebreaker.

on her turn, she gets what's the best piece of advice you've ever received? to which she only responds, dryly:]

Not to answer questions.

androids.

[the other droids scattered around apparently hadn't been so lucky.

jyn tries a few things to rouse some of them — waving her hand, reaching out and shaking them — but every attempt ends in the same result: silence. stillness. her mouth flattens into a thin line, something heavy and foreboding settling onto her shoulders; it takes a lot to completely kill a droid's power source, so something had happened here. and whatever that had been? it couldn't have been good.

even if these droids will never be operational again, it seems, to her, like disrespecting the dead to strip them for parts, so she leaves them be. anything that's fallen to the ground is fair game, like spare bolts and screws that she bends over to pocket, but past that, she turns on her heel and walks elsewhere.]

wildcard.

[open for anything here! jyn will for sure be fighting people in the parking lot, so i'm open to setting up a thread for that scenario, or for her pilfering some food off the grill, or anything else we can think of! just hit me up c: if you have any questions or want to hash anything out, you can find me at

lensflares or at lensflares on discord!]

I ⚔️ PARKING WOES

[ troublemakers in the parking lot?? couldn't possibly be anne. ]

[ except it is. ]

[ she's barely parked her truck before some other fluxdrift pulls up in the space beside her, only they drive in way too close. anne opens her car door without thinking, except it goes about two inches before slamming into the neighbor's car. she looks up with a glare, but the driver barely looks at her, music blaring from their vehicle. ]

[ she rolls down the window - figured that out, thank you! - and because her truck is higher and bigger than the tiny car blocking her exit, she hauls herself out the window and sits herself atop the small car with a purposely loud thunk. sliding across the roof of it, she drops on the ground on the other side, blocking the driver's door with her own body. ]

Are you fucking joking? [ she gestures at her truck over yonder. ] Move your fucking car or I do it for you.

[ their response is to pull out a small knife on her from inside the vehicle, which means the only logical way to react is to swing her cutlass out and plant it firmly at the window's ledge. ]

Mine's bigger.

[ perhaps some interference is necessary... ]

II ⚔️ BARTENDER

[ anne slides into a seat at the bar with a bit of a grimace, but it's not an unusual expression on her face. she waves off the strange mechanical bartender at first, preferring to watch how it interacts with other patrons first and not feeling very confident by her observations. it knocks over a bottle that drains across the counter as it's mixing a drink, and the chaos persuades her to just order a simple glass of rum. it manages to pour that one out successfully, so maybe it won't be too bad. ]

[ until she's asked a question: what is your theme song? ]

[ she stares at him and turns up her lip. ]

The fuck is a theme song?

[ well, she really was trying not to seem like too much a fish out of water. she takes a sip of her drink post not!answering the bartender's question, then immediately spits it back out with disgust. the bar's already sticky, she doesn't care, because what, my good robot, the fuck! it mostly just hits the automaton, but she's not exactly aiming, and there could be some alcoholic crossfire. ]

III ⚔️ POOLSIDE & GRILL

[ anne brought no food of her own, but she has zero qualms about taking when it's offered, which is how she finds herself double fisting two hot dogs. or perhaps she was glowering enough that one of the fluxdrift offered it to get her to go away - either way, she wins free food. she's never had a hot dog before and her only sense is that it's some kind of sausage. a weird meat tube. ]

[ she sits down with a hard flop onto one of the chairs she'd previously commandeered near the pool - under an umbrella, out of the sun - she'd left her coat laying over it, mimicking what she'd seen some others do to lay claim, and shedding the layer in the heat, though her hat remains on. shoving both hot dogs in one hand, she dips her hand under the coat and pulls out a whole bottle of rum. ]

[ she may have commandeered that too, exhausted of a shitty bartender. ]

[ sprawling out in what can only be described by modern connotations as "manspreading," anne studies the hot dog with an almost suspicious interest before she chomps down. she makes a face, trying to... figure out how she feels about it. if only she'd been told about hot dog condiments. ]

IV ⚔️ WILDCARD

[ feel free to springboard off a thing or we can plot @ communism / romanitas @ disco / pms! re: parking lot woes i intended the bad parker to be npc/local, but feel free to tweak it if you want it to be your character lmao. ]

The Resort and Bar

Charles is used to a life of luxury and the change here has been difficult, albeit with him understanding all the privilege that struggle comes from. Yet it's still been something he's adapted to thanks to the help of his dear students and others. But when he hears 'luxury resort,' he is already headed toward his van. He doubts there will be many opportunities for brief vacations of a kind, so he is going to take advantage. Charles even picks his own cabin, shooing off anyone who might try to fight him for it (with words or Other), and declares he will be staying. Just a few days. Any longer and he'll get attached. It's a break.

He can be found over the course of those days at the resort, whether it's sitting by the pool, swimming in it enjoying the weightlessness it affords him temporarily, or perched in his wheelchair by the bar with a bottle of whiskey. Despite that, he is never tipsy or boozy, simply comfortable and making the most of it. He's found in his cabin colorful shirts and nice slacks, along with a pair of sunglasses that are hooked in the shirt but not needing to be used.

He has gathered diaries or little journals he's found from the androids to curiously look into their stories, if there is anything worth finding. Also to keep his mind occupied. He can be found here morning, afternoon, and night, although he never manages to grill successfully but he makes an excellent sous-chef to someone else.

He chats amiably with Thomas the android, answering his questions with acerbic or warm responses, not treating him any differently than he would anyone else. Charles did try to question the android back but that didn't go well for long.

"If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?"

"Oh I think we should all appreciate the gifts we already have, Thomas."

"What is one of the great values that guides your life?"

"An excellent question." Charles pours himself a little more whiskey, having spent perhaps too long in the bar area for one day. "That barring some rare exceptions, everyone has the capacity to be the best versions of themselves."

Wildcard-ish

Charles is there for several days.

Are you staying there too? Have cube vegetables for breakfast with him or eat yet another strange hot dog. Float in the pool with him, let him help you grill, or share the whiskey, he'll offer people a glass if they want to join. He can be seen going in and out of a cabin so if someone who knows him wishes to stop by, they can!

I. Heat Waves (hotel)

A. Open to All

Oooouugh...

[The misery in the sound is not unlike a rooster trying to crow while battling a mean case of sea sickness. Since the hotel air conditioners had gone out all at once like a defeated breath, Usopp had been slowly sweating through his overalls — and now he's here, lying on the edge of one of the lower sections of the hotel roof and sickly fanning himself with a magazine. It is so hot. Any concept of buying something to cool off with is quickly shot down by the jingle of loose change — and only loose change — in his pocket.

He is a personification of an egg on sidewalk. Talking to himself, he laments:]

Maybe I could just... take apart the air box thingy and make it a hand-cranked fan...

[There are worse ideas! When he's finally done moping about how stifling the outside and inside of the hotel rooms are, he's up on his feet and seeking any kind of way to cool down... when his eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. He rushes over to the nearest utility poll and rips the poster off to stare deeply at it.]

No way...! A resort?! A real —

B. Closed to Sanji and Zoro

— real resort! Like the kind fancy rich people go to, you think?!

[He holds up the poster in front of Sanji and Zoro with desperate optimism on his shiny face.]

What's the worst that'll happen? We get some wind on our face during a car ride? Maybe there's better food to prepare there. [His eyes shift from Sanji to Zoro.] And what kind of place like this wouldn't have booze, right? Riiight?

II. Late Nights in the Middle of June (resort)

[And so, to the resort Usopp goes, with his fearless and (probably irritable) crew. Of course, Usopp is second most oblivious in the crew, so he just looks absolutely tickled to be anywhere that isn't a burning hot void of June hellfire. But the pleased look does inevitably drop a little when they get there. For one thing:]

Uh. [He motions with a frown, all around him.]

Who turned the sun off? [Shake it off, Usopp. It's totally no biggy. Just need to get into some swim trunks, enjoy the area, and not mind the slight off-putting aura of some of this. A little weirdness is gonna be the norm anyway, right? Right. He makes for one of the pool huts, ] Y'know what? Don't tell me. I'm gonna just enjoy me a littleeeaaaah!

[He jumps back away from one of the deactivated androids sitting in the dark of the hut.

Phew. Okay. Um. He waves nervously, trying to get its attention. Dressed like an older lady, it has one of those flowy bathing suit gowns and a big, floppy sunhat. And sunglasses... for a place... with no sun.]

Hey. Don't suppose you have a spare towel?

... Hello?

[When he's not poking at the weird, creepily immobile 'people', he has decided to float belly-up in the pool. He stares at the glowing, purple moon with a pensive look on his face. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was trying to relax and failing miserably because of his propensity to stress out.]

III. Road Shimmer Wigglin' the Vision (bar)

A. Before the Liquor

[Luckily, the bar is what helps loosen him up; he's just doing what a good pirate should do and liquor up for liquid courage! All the cool kids do it. Thomas the Bartender seems really cool, and Usopp strains not to make faces at everything he says about a family and his life as a person; it's much easier to drink the guy's offers and answer his small talk questions.]

Favorite food? That's a hard one, but I'll tell you this — anything that isn't a mushroom.

Those things are slimy, and you never know when they're gonna try to kill you!

[He takes a hardy drink from the glass Thomas slides him —

And then immediately chokes on the concentration of what must surely be straight gasoline. He doesn't even have a chance to try and play it off coolly. Instead, he does the worst option: involuntarily sprays a mouthful of hard liquor on the nearest person.]

B. After the Liquor

Maaaan, I'm kinda worried about that Thomas guy. Like, it feels like something bad's happening to him, or something bad did happen to him, but he just doesn't know it yet. Or something.

[He's not totally wasted yet, but he's definitely getting there. Standing over by the grill and nursing a much more digestible drink, he shoves a packet of hotdog-shaped blobs to whoever is manning the food.]

I brought these! Some nice lady in Panorama gave me half-off.

I ate some yesterday, so they're totally legit.

And hey! You should call Sanji over here. You know, he's a member of my crew. Our chef, actually! I totally convinced him to join once he saw me stand up to one of the nastiest bounties in the East Blue. I got that kinda pull, you get me? But anyway, he is one of the best chefs I've ever seen cook. He could make you anything out of nothing! [He wags a hand, holding his fingers into a loose V-shape.] Even, like, two ingredients. Even Zoro's gotta admit, he totally gets excited when it's dinnertime.

[He will keep drinking and swimming and eating until he can't no more, guys.

... Please keep a bucket handy for him again come morning.]

(Something you wanna wildcard, or a particular starter? PM me or hit me up at

simpledog!)

Edited 2025-06-11 01:37 (UTC)

🧬 androids

[Even if not for the potential promise of time spent at a resort, Raven decides that a chance to see and interact with a known diffusion zone up close is too good an opportunity to pass up if she wants to learn more about this place— though the resort definitely doesn't hurt.

Promising as the pool is, it's the androids in the various huts that grab her attention during her initial wandering as she tries to get a feel for the place. Catching a glimpse of a deactivated android wearing an oversized sun hat through a window, she pauses before ducking through the door and leaving it open behind her, wanting to get a closer look. The android itself is in disrepair, the attempt at makeup on its face somehow ghoulish in how out of place it feels, and she frowns slightly before carefully reaching out to touch the surface of its arm, testing for any reaction.

Nothing, not a single spark.]

That's not unsettling in the least.

[She glances through the doorway to the next room, where another android dressed in brightly colored beachwear is seated, as though it had simply settled into its chair and gone to sleep. After another beat, she lifts the sun hat from the first android's head and puts it on her own.]

You have nice taste. It would be a shame to let it go to waste.

[She thinks she's funny, at least.]

🧬 icebreaker

[The bartender himself is nothing like she'd expected, but in this place, she's pretty sure that expected is an idea that can immediately be dismissed. The drink she gets is entirely different from the one she'd actually ordered, but rather than complain, she decides that beggars can't be choosers and decides to make do with what she has.

The bartender is trying his best— but he's also trying a little too hard to spark conversation between patrons. He's so earnest, she can't help but feel a little guilty for having resisted his first few attempts to get her to engage.

"Pancakes or waffles?" the android asks cheerfully, fixing a drink for the person who happens to be seated two stools down.]

Pancakes, but I don't think I'd ever say no to waffles.

["Very good! And you—" Here the bartender cheerfully sets a glass of just ice in front of the nearest person at the bar. "Would you rather be stuck on a broken ski lift or a broken elevator?"

Raven can't help smiling just the tiniest bit, glancing towards the patron in question.]

You might as well answer him— he'll just keep asking if you don't.

🧬 poolside

[Eventually, Raven heads to the pool with a drink in hand— this one entirely too strong and almost managing to taste like paint thinner, but it does have two little umbrellas sticking out of it. She notes that a few of the chairs are also occupied by androids, but picks her way to a chair without any android neighbors and proceeds to make herself comfortable, stretching out and adjusting her sunglasses as she crosses her legs in front of her.

Maybe it's not your typical resort, but following recent events, it's an incredibly welcome break.

She takes a sip of her drink and closes her eyes, musing aloud to no one in particular.]

If you close your eyes, this place almost feels normal.

[More than a decade ago, coming some place like this might have been. It's been years since anything like a vacation has even crossed her mind.]

🧬 wildcard

[Anything else that might suit you! Raven will be lingering at the resort for several days and will spend part of her time snooping around for potential resources to be liberated. If you want to work out something specific, hit me up via PM or at necrofancy, or necrofancies on discord.]

Jinx hasn't been seen in the pool once, but her short hair is constantly wet and slicked back.

I. The Bartender
She's not near the bar itself anymore. The temptation was there, briefly, just to lean her head against the surface, but it isn't the same. Can't be the same. She lingered in the background when it was busy enough to catch some of the androids chatter though.

If someone were to express worry about the odd details about Thomas and his son and maybe being human, maybe not, she speaks up from where she's sitting on the ground with her legs sprawled, sketching a large grinning face with sharp teeth through dust and dirt and whatever else is left on the ground.

"Let him believe what he wants; maybe he was human once, maybe he's an imposter, what's it matter? You gonna break his spirits?" Before this place slips away?

II. Androids
[It's been seen all over numerous times before: someone inconspicuously working on an android for its scraps. What can she say? She came to the diffusion zone for the scavenging, not the people, or the pool.

How she got into it is anyone's guess, but by the time anyone finds her, the android is about a foot away from her on its stomach and Jinx is holding up an outer shoulder piece of the figure, almost like she's inspecting herself in it, but her eyes are narrowed in thought, her mind elsewhere.] Maybe your forearm will be better. You don't mind, do you? [Is she talking to the android, or whoever's nearby?]

III. Parking Lot Market

What a mess. Later in their stay, she recognizes that her and Vi aren't leaving anytime soon, that's for sure. On occasion Jinx has taken to weaving in and out between vehicles as though she were smoke, fitting through impossibly narrow spaces or jumping up onto roofs and skipping across before reconnecting with the ground.

So many are beat-to-shit worse-for-wear that surely she can find something to snag on her way by. Wire, broken glass, twisted metal, fabric. Scrap. (She's avoiding whatever she thinks may be the car of an Enforcer, tempting as it is).

Jinx may be quick, but she's also easily distractable, so it's not impossible to catch her in the act. If she sees eyes on her she'll laugh it off, feigning innocence, both her hands up, voice too sweet, "Sorry, is this your car?"

[ Prompts Below are all OTA~
CR/Plotting Comment Here!
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mjmagpie1312
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Edited 2025-06-14 03:37 (UTC)

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