Mingle ∞ Log
No Lifeguard on Duty
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 ∞
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.
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.
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thediadem) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
diademlogs2025-06-08 10:11 am
no subject
Yeah, I'm really not much of a bar person, either. More of a stay in with a book and tea kind of person.
[Or trashy reality TV and pizza, but the point was the same. She hadn't been to a bar since she was in college. Even besides all her personal reasons, it was the sort of thing that her morality clause strongly implied was frowned upon. It wasn't worth parents sending concerned emails or giving her Looks.]
I'm actually at my drink limit. Uh...I know it's kind of silly, but...do you know how to make a Shirley Temple?
[She can't just assume he does. But she'd always liked them as a kid, and it's a pretty easy drink to explain if he doesn't.]
no subject
Nothing silly about a drink that tastes good. [And is made by someone who isn't going to grab tabasco instead of grenadine or something. When he rummages around for soda, all he can go off of is vibes--he's pretty sure what he ends up grabbing is ginger ale, but the label has long since worn away, and that's if he even would've been able to read it in the first place. It looks right, is the thing. Smells it, too, when he gives it a whiff.]
What are you doing out here instead of curled up cozy at whatever passes for home with some whatever passes for tea, anyway?
no subject
[The bar is, at the moment, a welcome respite. Mostly. It's prettier here, and cooler, and it's really not that crowded. Not like a real resort would be. Nadine can deal with it for the relief from heat and monotony of city life.
And she has a decent chance at a good drink, thanks to this guy.]
I got off work and just thought...why not, you know? Besides, I figured I should probably check out one of these zones. I haven't, yet.
no subject
[He does not actually know the 'correct' amount of mix, but he knows you don't go overboard with grenadine unless you have the world's biggest sweet tooth, so. Ice, soda, drizzle of the syrup, stir it up. He even manages to find a still-wrapped straw. He slides it all over.]
Don't forget to tip your bartender. [He thinks he's funny.] Or maybe tip over a particular bartender. This is a pretty nice enough incursion. Nothing seems to be trying to kill anyone so far.
no subject
[And she's more than willing to part with it, for an actual well made drink that she enjoys. Which it seems this guy has provided. She lifts it in thanks.
It's frustrating, really, her financial situation. Nadine has never been what one would call well off, but the private school she'd taught out paid perfectly comfortably. And then money hadn't really mattered, after the world ended. Now, though, she's just scraping by in a way she's never experienced before.
At least most of them are in the same position.]
It turns out a janitor's salary in the inter-dimensional apocalypse doesn't really leave much after car payments, rent, and microwave dinners.
no subject
[Which, if she's offering, he's going to assume not. They're all going to have to get used to weird alien foods from whatever happens to show up. He's finding it's usually better not to look too closely or ask too many questions about the food in the city.]
Wow, gosh, whoda thunk janitorial duty sucks no matter where you go. [He rolls his shoulders.] Other ways of getting some spare change. You thinking of nabbing anything here to try and pawn off?
no subject
[She pulls out the plastic(ish) bag and shakes a few of the lumpy, glass looking balls into a napkin on the bar.]
It's like if glass were cotton candy, but not as horribly sweet.
[It still melted in the mouth the same way. If nothing else, Nadine has certainly been expanding her taste boundaries in this world.]
Uh...I thought about it, but I don't know. I've read too many scifi books, I don't want to accidentally incur the wrath of the Robo Pharoah or something like that.