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
it's easy to forget the rest of it - the odd feeling of these rooms, these androids, the lives they may or may not have lived. karen busies herself instead with the routine, with the new rooms and the terrible clothes they find. with the way they work through the bottle, Karen feeling more drunk that logan is acting, but it's okay. she feels safe. and maybe that's the biggest part.
they haven't found anything worth the amount of effort they've put in, yet. but even so, she's having a good time, and considering the amount of times she's gotten logan to almost loosen up, or at the very least pretend to try on an item or two. he also doesn't pull away when she has a moment of bravery and reaches for his hand, tugging him after her into the next room. somewhere along the way she picked up another coverup, something a little longer, though still thin and loose. it makes her feel less like she's walking around in a bathing suit, even though they haven't actually stopped in the last few hours. she has no idea what time it is, and doesn't really care.
it's nice, to not have to care. to feel like they can just wander through the night and it can just be easy. she's noticed he doesn't take to it nearly as well, that there's still some kind of distance, some kind of tension that he doesn't let go of, but she does see it soften as the night goes on. and that is enough of a reason for her to keep trying, to feed into the feeling she's trying to create.
and maybe, when he steps in next to her as she rifles through another piece of luggage, she does notice that he might step in a little closer than he did before. ]
I don't know, those polka-dotted golf pants might be the best thing we find tonight. [ she moves around some fabric, looking, and pauses as her fingers brush over something. she straightens, pulling the belt out from the back of the suitcase. she looks it over, turning over the leather, before she looks back up to him - without a trace of the playful glint in her eyes. instead, she looks genuinely excited. ]
Here- this is actually really nice.
no subject
(Well. Not that actually wants to—)
Anyway.
His eyebrow lifts. Yeah? He takes the belt from her hands, supple leather, silver buckle, still new enough. You know what? ] I don't mind that.
[ Her eyes are bright. Logan's expression softens. He glances out the door, realizes he's been here a hell of a lot longer than he usually bothers with. Most he's stuck around the past few days was a few hours. Somehow, the day's nearly come and gone while he's been with her, and all they've done is pick through people's abandoned shit.
He doesn't mind that, either.
His thoughts are on the how her cheeks flushed pink earlier when he follows her back to her hut. They're still a bit flushed now from the alcohol or the heat—warm, but not blisteringly hot. Makes her look lighter, her shoulders less tense. He means to just grab his boots before getting out of her hair. She probably wants to sleep or. Something. They've both got things to do. Except he doesn't, really, and—
She asks him to stay. Logan pauses, boots in hand. Then he sets them back down.
Yeah. Alright.
He sinks into a pile of loose cushions strewn in the middle of the floor. The other bourbon sits nearby. Logan uncorks it, and it's that time of night when he drinks straight from the bottle. He's not tense, just. Unsure of what the fuck he's doing. This is usually when he's alone, at a warehouse or a bar or reading in his room. Filling his hours so he doesn't have to think. Being here, Karen, it's...
New. It didn't used to be, but after everything—years on the run, fighting—that's how this feels. New. Like he's waiting for something to burst through the door any second now, for the world to go up in flames again. ]
You do this often at home?
[ Does he mean the resort or the looting? He doesn't specify. ]
no subject
You know- you actually pull it off.
[ he tosses it back a moment later, but she counts it as a win - letting the feeling of it lead her on into the next room, the next find, the next spot.
she watches him look over the belt, approvingly, and the I don't mind that does wonders, and she smiles, proud, excited in a way she would be a little sheepish about if she were any more sober. as it stands, she lets it dance across her face, watching as his own softens a little right before he looks towards the door.
right. yes. it's late, she reminds herself, and she's nodding and stepping around him back to the door. ] Well- it's something. But we might want to head back. It's... I think it's late? It's hard to tell with the moons.
[ the walk back to her hut isn't awkward, exactly, but there is a kind of anticipation in it. because karen knows what she wants to ask once they get there, but she's not entirely sure how it will land. there's also the part of her that doesn't really know what she wants to call this at all, if anything. they had fun, she's been having fun, and she likes the fact he's here, too- a lot more than is really necessary. a lot more than she probably should, knowing her track record. but-
well. maybe she's thinking too hard about all of this. maybe the alcohol, plus the quiet night, the comfortable warmth of the air, and the way she feels relaxed, truly, for the first time since she woke up in that med bay.
( maybe karen just wants to feel like this, for just a little longer. )
the smart thing would probably be for her to go to sleep. and he probably has work, his next shift, people to look into. but as they get back to the hut she's settled into and he hovers, just for a few moments by the door with his boots in hand, she thinks what the hell, bumping his elbow a little as she steps by him into the room. ]
Heading out? [ she asks, a little nervous, feeling her heart race a little as she pulls out the second bottle of bourbon she had left behind. she steps over the cushions where they're piled in the middle of the floor and to grab the bottle from the other side of the room. ]
Or you could stay- if you wanted to. [ the words are a little abrupt, even as she tries to very casually look over to where he's standing. there's a pause, a moment of quiet. and then, in a similar surge of bravery as before, when she'd set that hat atop his head- ] I'd like you to, but I get it if you need to head back. [ another beat. ] Just for a drink? [ she tries to sound playful, a little cheeky, as she holds up the bottle - even if she's quite genuine in the ask.
the pause feels a bit like it takes years off her life, and the words are already in her throat. no pressure and sorry, I'm sure you have your job and don't worry about it, nevermind. but then he sets the boots down, wanders over and takes the bottle she offers to him after pouring herself her own glass, and. well. her smile is bright as he collapses into the cushions. she resettles a little, less like she would drink herself to sleep on the cushions and more turned towards him, feeling... nervous? maybe? but excited. happy, that he's stayed. ]
What- looting? No. [ she laughs, shaking her head. ] And I definitely didn't go to places like this. Read a few brochures, but I never had that kind of money. Wasn't really my scene. [ which feels... oddly open, somehow. it's not like she's self-conscious about her own financial state, or that of her family's either, but somehow through their conversations it doesn't feel like that sort of detail has ever really come up.
she doesn't mind it, but she does notice it, shifting to be a little more comfortable in the cushions as she tilts her glass to him. ] Going through a bottle of bourbon before bed? [ she pauses, a little sheepish. ] More often than I should, probably. [ and then, very distinctly moving right on by whatever reasons for that answer, or even giving logan room to ask, she continues. ]
So. Are you a bourbon drinker by choice? Or do you just not really care that much?
[ the next couple of hours are spent in easy conversation about nothing in particular. they talk about bikes, about cars, about alcohol, about music, but nothing dips too deep. karen laughs, easily, when logan cracks jokes and lights up a cigar. she might even set her hand on his shoulder as she - clumsily - climbs out of the cushions at some point to head to the bathroom. but it's all nice, it's all easy, and it's those few hours later that sleep starts, truly, creeping up on her - causing her to sink a little more into the cushions than she really means to. ]
Sorry for kind of- taking over your night. [ she says, her words a little slurred from the combination of the alcohol and exhaustion. but she feels good, warm, carefree, happy. she's even smiling as her eyes blink, a little too slowly. ] You pro'ly had other plans.
[ karen is going to fall asleep on him here within minutes - if he was looking for his out. and if he does take it, it'll be at the door that she speaks up - groggily, actively falling to sleep. ]
Thanks, Logan. For... [ a sigh, or is it a yawn? ] Tonight.