MINGLE ∞ LOG — June 2025

[thediadem]

Mingle ∞ Log

No Lifeguard on Duty

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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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Comments

[kingsroads]

"They are not," Strange says, with a shake of his head. A brash and smug little smile crosses his face as he points out, "Fortunately, I am not a commonplace man."

Okay captain ego. The idea of 'be a little modest' or 'don't brag about yourself' has never crossed Strange's mind. He's a magician! One of the most powerful magicians there is. Why would he not brag about himself? Besides, this is simply an objective fact!

"There are very few magicians in my realm. Until recently, I was the only magician in hundreds of years to enter the realms of Faerie."

[exarched]

He has every right to be smug. G'raha could easily be put off by this, but...if anything it sounds as if this man has plenty to boast about. Let's just say he is not someone to walk away from an opportunity to learn about or from powerful mages.

Or 'magicians', as the case may be. G'raha notes the specific title so that he can use it appropriately. No reason to not to honor the man's proper title.

"In hundreds of years!" Another revelation, on that makes him all the more excited about this. Though it does bring something to mind. "Then it is an unexpected boon that you would be the denizen of your realm to end up here...not by choice, mind you, but as someone with experience."

[kingsroads]

Oh this is a very familiar feeling. You have experience, you can help, solve this problem and fix this mess, Merlin get over here and help deal with these Portuguese roads. Strange can't help but wonder how much of this situation will parallel that in wartime, where it was expected that he would help and solve problems and help fix the war itself.

(Jonathan Strange does not have enough self-reflection to realize that you're putting these worries on yourself, dingus, nobody here actively believes that only you can solve these problems, stop letting your arrogance and ego drive the metaphorical car.)

He still keeps up that bright expression, though, as he gives G'raha a little nod. "I hope you are right. I must say, this realm so far is very different from those I've traveled—I'm still trying to wrap my head around 'cars.' But give it enough time, and I'm sure I'll understand it all."

[exarched]

That is something Strange will need to get used to, for G'raha is very adept at slinging praises to targets he feels have earned them. No pressure, of course. (Some pressure.)

"You do not seem to be the only one," he says, empathetic to the situation of being thrown thusly into a wholly new pit of technology, having such recent experiences himself. And it does bring them back to what ought to be the real point of interest.

G'raha shifts his gaze back to the androids themselves. "I have encountered varying types of automations, some more humanoid than others, and all with different sources of power." A pause. "Cars and other vehicles as well, but..."

He kneels down now to the closest.

"...there is something about these that unnerves me."

[kingsroads]

Strange wants to ask half a dozen questions. What other types of automations did you encounter? What power source did they use? Could you replicate that power? Could you replicate that power to bring these things to life? But instead, he tamps down on those dozens of questions. There will be plenty of time later to ask them in the conversation. Instead, best to focus on the here and now. Because there's something in G'raha's words that Strange absolutely agrees with.

"They unnerve me as well. I think it is because these mechanical men are playing at humanity. Have you seen some in the other tent? They are frozen brushing nonexistent hair, relaxing on a chaise lounge, sitting down as if to eat. I suspect it would be less unnerving if they acted more like machines."

Which they are. These are machines. Not humans, that much is obviously apparent. But if that's the case, why act like them in the first place?

[exarched]

"I have," he confirms as he nods along with the other man's observations. Had they all been crumpled haphazardly in a pile, one might consider them as discarded failures or some-such.

"Yes...yes, exactly that--the mimicry of life in something that appears to be non-living." He turns his gaze back upwards. "Yet, if these are, indeed, man-made machines, then what purpose would they serve to act as people? Thomas, himself, is fairly convincing despite his mixology skills. And moreover, he seems to believe he is alive. Or at least that he has been once before."

G'raha pushes himself back to his feet again.

"The only instance I have met with a machine truly being alive, their desire was to be anything but human. So I am weighing more heavily on the assumption that these are technically not, little that does to bring us any closer to a conclusion as to why they are here at all."

[kingsroads]

"I wonder..." Strange muses. "This whole situation feels like a child playing with dolls. The dolls do not know they are not human. They only act in the way that the child directs them to. Perhaps there is someone above all this, someone pulling the metaphorical strings, commanding these things to act like humans."

It makes sense. But there's also one big problem with that theory, which Strange admits,

"Though I do not know why Thomas is the only doll still being played with."

[exarched]

It is a valid, if disturbing theory. G'raha does believe that there has to be--or had to be a someone or collective someone's about this place at one point. It is very rare that machines great themselves, after all.

"Indeed. Could it be that he simply has yet to run his course? Or is that he seems to be providing some service, while..."

A glance to another pair of strewn bodies.

"These are not positioned as workers, it seems."

[kingsroads]

"No. If anything, he seems to be the only worker here."

Which, frankly, is odd. Everybody else is relaxing. A body lying on a beach chair, putting on rouge, reading a book. If this affected everybody, surely they would see some androids cooking or cleaning or doing whatever domestic servant type of duties this pool would require (because there's got to be some sort of specific pool work, even if Strange doesn't entirely know what it is).

"The more we prod around, the more questions we receive."

[exarched]

"That does seem to be the way of things," he muses, albeit not without some humor. The more you discover, the more you realize what you do not yet know. They have only just begun to scratch the proverbial surface of this place, he's certain. The downside is that they have such a limited amount of time to study it.

"But I would be interested in what other observations or questions you have."

G'raha extends his hand, as has been offered to him previously as a proper means of introduction in this place.

"It is a pleasure to work alongside such a well-traveled man, Mister...?"

[kingsroads]

"Strange," he says, with a nod. Taking G'raha's hand, he give it a little shake before continuing, "Jonathan Strange. It is a pleasure to work with you as well, Mister...?"

Same thing as G'raha did, just a little pause to receive the man's name—if he's willing to offer up one in the first place. Strange still isn't entirely sure if this man is human or fae or something else entirely.

[exarched]

"G'raha Tia," he says without hesitation. No need for trickery or to guess his name here--truthfully, he would be horribly amused if he realized this Jonathan Strange thought he was of the fae. "At your service."

His ears do a little wiggle at that, which may not help the matter. After a shake of his own, he drops Strange's hand.

"Knowing that these areas are fleeting does give us little time to gather what we can. I am hoping to see if there are any similarities between the zones."