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.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thediadem) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
diademlogs2025-06-08 10:11 am
no subject
[The faux cheer in Alucard's voice is temporary, and he extends his legs in the water slightly.]
Thankfully, this place is much more pleasant than that city.
no subject
This place, however… ]
‘Tis a rather manufactured sense of serenity, but a reprieve is a reprieve.
[ He glances back down at Alucard. ]
I have a feeling we’ll not be afforded much choice in how we take our leisure.
no subject
[There's a simple shrug before the dhampir continues.]
No, we won't be. But I'll take a little bit of greenery after endless brick work and asphalt.
no subject
[ He shrugs as well. Ultimately what this place is doesn’t matter, as it will vanish in short order. He simply found it odd – an idle curiosity and nothing more. ]
I can but assume that your own world is a far cry from this one, then.
no subject
[The assumption gets a nod at any rate.]
There's far more countryside for one, and it is quite green. Wallachia is forest and mountain heavy, as is the area of the world it sits in.
What of your own?
no subject
Not much like this, either. There are some regions with more mastery over technology than others, but elsewise things are quite… quaint. Chocobo-drawn carriages and the like, plenty of wilderness.
no subject
[Quaint is an interesting word choice though.]
By quaint you mean...?
no subject
[ Sorry for the probably bizarre mental image that imparts. ]
I mean quaint, at least when compared to what we are faced with currently.
no subject
[Chickens can be jerks, let's just put it out there.]
And you'd use what word for this instead, exactly? Quaint to me is abstract, and I'm probably picturing something quite different.
no subject
[ The meteors... the meteors...... ]
As for this place... modern, I suppose. Advanced, mayhap, though not the most advanced I have seen.
no subject
[Giant magic mean chickens sound worse than several night creatures he's encountered, thank you.]
Mmm. Sounds like you've had the luxury of time to build perspective.
no subject
Perhaps. I consider myself well-traveled.
no subject
[But clearly one to elaborate upon in a different way.]
Do you enjoy doing so, or is more a requirement of your life?
no subject
[ He certainly didn’t take much time to stop and enjoy things, too preoccupied with duty to care. ]
I am supposed to be enjoying some well-deserved rest, but here I am instead, dropped on a whole new star quite without my permission.
no subject
[A new star though. That gives the dhampir pause, and he tilts his head as his mind rakes over the statement and the particular phrasing.]
You've had this happen to you before?
no subject
Oh, hm. This one is quite adept at picking apart what he says, and so far he hasn’t managed to be wrong. Emet-Selch’s lips press into a thin line. What good will secrecy do him here? Old habits, he supposes. ]
Not unwillingly. And the stars I had visited were… connected, in a sense. This is new to me for a number of reasons.
no subject
[As someone who usually values his own privacy, asking what the connections were seems an overstep. So he opts for humor instead.]
You mean those past stars didn't have strange novelty themed bars?
no subject
That depends on the star. Still, nothing quite like this. The defunct robots are new.
no subject
[Look, old is starting to smell old. That means being polite about secret pasts.]
no subject
[ There is definitely some vibe checking going on here. ]
'Tis at least giving me a better idea of just how much of this star is new to you.
no subject
Truth be told? All of it excluding the basics like electricity and plumbing. And I had those a very long time before the rest of the general populace did.
no subject
[ Well, that's interesting. Keeping a couple of niceties to himself? ]
And just how long is a very long time?
[ The conversation is practically going there, anyway. Might as well ask. ]
no subject
Three hundred years and change.
no subject
You are immortal, then? Or merely long-lived?
no subject
[Alucard's grin is a little toothier. Fangier. And with that, he raises an eyebrow right back.]
How old are you then, if you didn't blink at that number?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)