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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.

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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.

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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

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When I first lost my soul, I didn't really see why it would be a problem. Angels don't have souls, why did I need one?

[ They both can guess at the why. Jack isn't an angel. His soul is one of the things that helps stop him from becoming more like the other archangels. They don't have the capacity he has. It also is why he was so dangerous and terrifying without it. At the time he couldn't understand why everything had to change. ]

I am glad I have it back, but it hurts too. It's the only thing really human about me. All of this.[ A wave to his body. ] It's not underneath.

You might be more human than you think if you need your soul to be yourself.

[ castiel tips his glass this way and that, watching the alcohol ripple across its smooth, clear surface. ]

I was... still me, even without the grace.

I think it was like a world full of color became dim. The feelings I had before were muted and I didn't care as much anymore. I could intellectually understand everything was wrong, but it wasn't here.

[ Jack presses a hand to his chest, over his heart. It wasn't that he felt nothing, it was almost worse that he did, they were just echoes of things he used to know. Jack was loving and loyal and kind, and he didn't remember how to be an of those things. There'd never been a Nephilim, so there was no guidebook to follow on what to do if they turned soulless. They learned as they went. ]

How did you lose your grace? How did you get it back?

[ it's interesting. a similar but opposite experience to his own. life without his grace was too bright, too sharp, too loud. too much, and simultaneously dulled without the acuity of his angelic senses, without his ability to see beyond this world into the next. he was a living raw nerve, useless for anything.

but jack asks questions he can answer, and painful as the answers are, that's simple enough. ]

I listened to someone I shouldn't have, and he stole my grace to cast the angels out of Heaven. I... managed to track down the rest of what he'd hidden eventually, but only after stealing other angels' grace to temporarily regain my power.

[ he became an abomination. even now, he still considers himself such. there's no excuse for what he did, no reason good enough. but he did it anyway.

it's like he said: he's never wanted to be anything but an angel. ]

[ This is all new lore to Jack. He knows that obviously his family has a long history before he came into the picture, so many years of experience together and also separate. Castiel more than the Winchesters, given his age, and he's learning so much already. Jack was hesitant to ask so many questions before, or he just didn't think to press. His Castiel was more interested in guiding and taking care of Jack.

He's learning that Castiel's kindness toward him comes from making his own terrible mistakes in the past. Sam once told him he understood where he was coming from too, but didn't give him details, and Jack wonders now if he asked Sam, if he would tell him all of it too. ]

I see.

[ Castiel isn't going to get judgment out of Jack. He processes the information seriously, because it deserves that. ]

Why would he want to cast the angels out of Heaven? That's where you all belong.

[ castiel can only assume that he doesn't understand what it means to take another angel's grace. he won't be elaborating. jack's lack of judgement may in many things be a kindness, but in this it's only a burden— if jack is so permissive, what does it mean for his future? for his potential? will he excuse his own actions as long as they're done with good intentions?

he could burn the world to ashes with good intentions.

castiel shrugs. ]

He wanted to take our Father's place. He wanted to be better than Him, and be loved by Him.

[ Jack's always been kinder to other people than he is to himself. Castiel can do no actual wrong in his eyes, at least not in terms of anything that is unforgivable. He has done wrong, that much is clear, but he still turned into the father that Jack needed. He stepped up. So he will get endless leeway. ]

Billie, the Grim Reaper, wanted to do the same. And from what I know of most people, like my uncle, all they wanted was Chuck's love too. He created all these beings to love him and it somehow wasn't enough for him.

[ Jack would settle for being loved by a handful of people. He thinks the love between God and his creations is toxic, based on what he's seen of his grandfather. ]

It makes me sad. He couldn't always have been bad, right? But that's what I had hoped about Lucifer, and I was wrong.

Chuck isn't like us.

[ castiel continues to stare into his drink, before finally finishing it and picking up the bottle to pour another. he looks to jack, asking silently if he wants a refill. ]

Chuck isn't like anyone. It could be, our love just isn't enough.

[ Jack sips a little more so he could use a refill. It's mostly a gesture because he's glad to be having a drink with his not-father and learning all about him. It feels like an adult conversation, almost! ]

Amara seemed to be the only person to understand him. I guess that's normal of siblings. I know she's still the evil Darkness to you, but ... she didn't seem that way at all when I met her.

[ That was some time later after her grief and rage turned to reconciliation for her and Chuck, and for a time it seemed like genuinely they both were better for it. That is why it was hard for Jack to wrap his mind around it. Could Dean refusing to kill Jack really make him so mad? It seemed so small compared to everything else. ]

She said she wanted to get to know me. No one other than Lucifer said that to me from my family. I have all of you, and I think it was hurtful to you, that I still was interested in my genetic family regardless of being raised with love.

Aren't we still technically related? [ he tops off jack's drink absent-mindedly. not that it matters. he understands what jack is getting at. but, still— ] If we're going by human definitions. Being my brother's son would make you my nephew.

[ and him jack's uncle.

castiel shrugs again. he may be approaching a slight buzz. perhaps because, a few years ago, he only recovered part of his grace from metatron, as the rest had been used. at the very least, he knows he's been weakening, slowly, over time. little by little by little. it usually makes no discernible difference. and, at least in this case, is an advantage. ]

I was probably jealous. It's very convenient to have a child that loves you unconditionally.

[ even if you absolutely don't deserve it. ]

That's true. You've never called Lucifer your brother, I don't think.

[ Probably because no one wants to claim him. Jack feels disconnected from that side of the family outside of Castiel, for the obvious reason of he's not supposed to exist and they wanted him dead. Until Duma, and then that turned out even worse. He is not buzzed at all. He can drink and drink and it's really nothing more than a soda to him.

His eyes widen at that possibility and he considers it. He's always put Castiel on a pedestal, and that didn't give him much opportunity to be a person with Jack. While he misses his father greatly, he is appreciating meeting a version of him who will speak to everything else. ]

There's nothing Lucifer could say or do to make me love you less. But he did fool me. I almost ran away with him. I wasn't thinking clearly. I felt out of control and lost, and that it was inevitable I would hurt you. He was convincing, that he was the only one who could help me.

[ Jack feels very stupid over all of that. Obviously he learned better and Lucifer showed who he was, but he wonders how long it would have taken him to see that, if they had left. ]

[ he doesn't want to claim him. but it's stupid to deny the truth, isn't it? lucifer is inside him, puppeting his body right now, and he can't even take the moral high ground, because he stole jimmy's life first.

it's probably for the best that jack can't get drunk. ]

I can't judge you. I ran away, too.

He didn't even have to convince me— It was my idea.

I always thought we were a lot alike. I just didn't expect us to be alike in our flaws too.

[ It's not a bad thing, in Jack's eyes. Maybe it should be, but it makes him feel closer to Castiel too. Even if this one doesn't want to be family to him, he still feels like he's learned a lot. They both run, they both make mistakes, they both did stupid things because of Lucifer. He'll cling to anything that makes him feel less alone and close to someone else. ]

But you said it was to help deal with Amara, right? And you needed an archangel. I guess you could have asked Michael ... Gabriel probably would have been the best choice.

[ Jack only met his uncle briefly but he seemed like the easiest of the brothers to handle. And the family seemed to like him the best, although that's not asking for much compared to Michael and Lucifer. The point is that Castiel didn't have many choices. There were only three of them left at the time. ]

[ it makes him feel odd, knowing jack is looking for things to tie them together. he isn't wrong in the conclusions he draws, but castiel can't help but want to reject it. he doesn't want a child. he doesn't want the responsibility. he doesn't want something else to fail— especially knowing that he has, unequivocally, failed him, whatever he might say to absolve his actions. there's no forgiving the mistakes he's made.

maybe that's why he goes on to elaborate, rather than moving the conversation along or ending it altogether. ]

I spoke to Amara before I said yes to Lucifer.

She told me I wasn't even worth killing. That was was weak, expendable, afraid to die— And she was right about all of it.

[ Jack frowns at that. He doesn't like that Amara said that to his father. Maybe she was as bad as Chuck after all, and she was only nice to him that one time because they all needed each other. It is not uncommon for Jack to mistake people's brief kindness for a mark of them as people. ]

I don't like that mindset. If people are seen as expendable, it just gives someone the justification that they can kill anyone they want. No one should be seen as expendable.

[ Especially not Castiel who is a special and important person to Jack, but that's not the angle he's coming from, because Castiel already knows what he means to Jack. He hasn't been subtle. That should go without saying he can't see his father in such a callous way. But it's more than that to Jack, it's the way some superpowerful people see everyone. ]

Most people are afraid to die. Everyone can be weak. And she was all of those things too.

I'm not a person. I'm an angel.

[ jack's sentiment isn't wrong, but...

it just doesn't apply to him.

he stares at his hands where they're curled around his cocktail glass. his thumb taps the side. ]

If I have no use, what good am I to anyone? What point is there to being here?

Angels can be afraid and weak too. God created you just as he did humans and everyone's a reflection of their creator.

[ To Jack, blasphemy isn't even a thing. He's never been faithful, he's not an angel, he's not religious because he is religion. He can create angels, he's the closest thing to God there is in existence. He feels that he can see his grandfather more closely because of that. He was afraid of Jack. He should be. He thinks that Chuck created truly beautiful people and things, even if he made many of them flawed, and for that, he should be respected. But that doesn't mean revered for him.

Those two questions though, those make him fall quiet. ]

That's what I want to know too. I think killing God is my entire point. I'm in his Death Book for a reason. And once I do, it'll be over. So until then, I'm just ... not fulfilling my purpose? I'm here. It's strange.

But He created us for different reasons.

[ still, there's not much heat to the words. it's not meant to be an argument, just another observation. unfortunately, most of castiel's tend to be miserable, his words reflecting his mood.

another drink is knocked back, another poured. castiel watches thomas as he talks animatedly to a couple of fluxdrifts down the bar, rattling off more icebreaker questions. castiel still doesn't really understand the custom. ]

Do you really think that? There's nothing else?

[ nephilims aren't even meant to exist. what should jack's destiny look like? ]

You know more than I do about the creation of things, so ... I believe you.

[ Castiel is very old, he's been around forever, and he is wiser than Jack. He knows so much. It would take Jack millions of years to reach his experience and knowledge. He'll have those years ahead of him, but he acknowledges when Castiel simply outclasses him, like now. Even if in his heart he disagrees and thinks his father's being too hard on himself.

It's an important question and one that Jack takes seriously as he considers. ]

Yes. I think that is what I exist for. It's destiny.

[ Which does mean that Jack was supposed to exist, which is better than thinking he has no reason to be here. It gives him some sense of purpose rather than wondering like many humans do about what the point of life is. Technically this means that Castiel was pre-ordained to let Lucifer out of the Cage so the Nephilim could be born. Depending on what he believes.]

I know my family believes in free will, but this has been in Chuck's Death Book. I will finish my purpose and then I assume go back to the Empty where I belong. This is bigger than me as an individual.

[ there's a reason why angels aren't meant to have free will and weren't created with it in mind. castiel's spent the last half of a decade learning this all over again the hard way. but it's something they all know— something they're all made knowing. they were each, in turn, created to carry out their father's tasks.

castiel makes a soft sound. ]

Destiny.

[ is that it, then? does it all come back to that? castiel stares at his glass for a protracted moment, eyes empty, before pouring himself another drink. draining the last of his bottle dry in the process.

it's a harrowing realization. ]

I see.

Yes. But ... Chuck didn't plan me. I wasn't ... in his plan. I was in the Death Book, but it wasn't written by him.

[ Jack doesn't know how it really happened, only that Death could see it. It's strange to think about considering God created everything, but there are some forces of nature that existed before him and also outside of him. Jack doesn't understand all of it, honestly. These big picture questions are outside of his knowledge level, and he tends to believe in what he's told. Billie was bad but she was also probably right about some things. ]

He wouldn't write his own death so I'm not sure what that means, and who it is that created my destiny.

[ Jack narrows his eyes slightly at Castiel draining all the bottle. It occurs to him then that possibly his father is able to get drunk. It doesn't seem likely but something is different about him. He's not the same angel. ]

I'm sorry, Castiel. I think I've done nothing but give you a headache.

[ castiel cradles his cheek against his palm, watching jack from the corner of a heavy lidded eye. thomas comes around to refresh their drinks again, and castiel lets himself wonder who might be above god. it's not a thought he would have entertained ten years ago— nothing would have been a greater blasphemy. he tilts his head down, hiding another humorless laugh. ]

I've had a headache since I got here.

[ he shakes his head once more and lifts his eyes to look at jack, arms crossed over each other on the bar. ]

Maybe you created your own.

Or... maybe there's something greater than all this. Than God, too. I wouldn't have believed it, but...

[ he's been proven wrong so many times. how can he trust what he knows about the universe? the only thing he has faith in any longer is that the winchesters are good. ]

Edited 2025-06-18 00:58 (UTC)

Billie said the books write themselves, somehow? I don't really understand, and she lied about a lot, so maybe she did know.

[ General picture, Billie lied about her intentions, but she did tell them a lot of truth in the middle. Jack still has some misplaced loyalty to her because the plan was so important to them, but she's the reason Castiel - his Castiel - is dead and he'll never forget that. If he survives, he'll have to decide if he'll go and get his father out again. The Shadow does like Jack but it seems iffy.

The one he has in front of him is different but Jack loves him all the same. That's how he feels when he looks at him, and it makes him sad to see that he's struggling. And possibly drunk. ]

If there is one thing I have learned about my grandfather, it is that he's a liar. I doubt he told any of you the truth all that time. He calls himself a storyteller, though. A writer. It's just that what he writes is our lives. He tried to make Dean kill me for his fun.

Even if she didn't...

[ castiel shrugs, loose and easy. who's billie, anyway? it seems castiel isn't interested enough to ask. at the end of the day, he still doesn't believe any of this information is relevant to him, except if there is something greater than god. perhaps being here is evidence of that as well, though it's too soon to say.

his head rests a little heavier on his hand as he meets jack's eyes. ]

I still love Him, you know.

[ he means his Father, but possibly jack could take that a different way. it would also be true. ]

I understand. He is your father. I love mine and there is not much they could do to change that.

[ Jack hopes they never give him a reason to. Castiel being so different here doesn't change that in Jack's point of view. He's an earlier version and he's been through a great deal, it doesn't make him less Castiel. Eventually he will be Jack's father, of that he feels confident. His family would have to stop being themselves and start killing on a grand scale, like Chuck did. ]

I don't know if you stopped loving him. I don't think it's that simple. The other angels didn't.

[ Duma made Jack feel like he could be the replacement God for them, and for a short time he almost was, but that doesn't mean they stopped loving Chuck. He thinks they probably all still did, despite him being who he was, and killing all of them. ]

But I think love like that should go both ways. I'm not sure he has any love left in him. Maybe it's just been too long.

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