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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Jayce gives a grim nod to Lucina, still brandishing the hammer. He has half a mind to shout for the Enforcers, only - what proof does he even have that this is his truck?
'Break his other leg!' the ringleader with the dagger jeers, but his companion lunges at Lucina first, aiming to try to snatch the sword from her belt, and the third guy jumps in to help try to pin her down.
Jayce tries to get in between them and finds himself barely getting out of the way of a dagger slashing toward him. But it leaves an opening - he reaches for his attacker's wrist, twisting it around his back and the weapon with it, wrenching his arm hard trying to get him to drop the dagger while the guy yelps for his companions. ]
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( A few things hit her in that moment; these men are aggressive, but they're not fighters. Some part of them are terrified that it's come to this. Scrappy, yes. Violent, almost certainly so. But they haven't fought to kill, and the thought makes her stomach lurch in a way that she hasn't felt in years. )
Stupid on her part to hesitate, after all that. The shorter of the two men — one that barely managed to dodge out the way of his friend — sees the opening and lunges for her immediately, tackling her to the ground, her head inches from the dagger. The second one pushes off of the hood of the truck, shaking his head to reorient himself. The yelp has him snarling at Jayce as he aims a punch straight towards him. ]
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Jayce shoves the guy he'd been holding into his shocked companion, hard, knocking them both to the ground.
It's then that he sees the third guy's got Lucina on the ground, and by now he's seeing red, his heart pounding in his ears as he moves to try to grab him by the back of the shirt and wrench him off of her. ]
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Lucina feels the weight being lifted off her torso before anything else. But once it's gone, it's second nature to snatch the dagger, using the momentum to roll into a crouch. Re-assess. There's the thug being pulled away, then the two on the ground trying to untangle their limbs. She goes for one of the latter — yanks the scruff his neckline towards her, her knee hitting the ground to steady herself as she wraps her forearm against the front of his chest, the crook of her elbow against the lower half of his neck in a loose ( but firm ) choke-hold. She brings her other arm around, the tip of the dagger inches from where his jaw meets his throat. ]
Stop! [ There's a dull throbbing at the back of her head, a tightness in her chest. She inhales. Quieter— ] Leave us, and go. We will not follow, but this is not a fight you can win.
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J-just do what she says! the one Lucina has grappled manages to choke out, voice shaking as he gives up fighting.
Jayce eyes the pair as they do the same. The one who originally wanted to run grabs his friend's arm and tugs on it. For the first time, Jayce notices that despite his scraggly beard and the dark circles under his eyes, this one looks fairly young. Both men take a step back.
Fine - the other man yanks his arm from his companion's grip and spits on the asphalt. - let him go. The younger guy nods with a nervous energy, his teeth chattering - n-no hard feelings, right?
Neither seem willing to move until she releases their friend. ]
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None whatsoever. [ As her grip loosens, and she lets him go. He scrambles away from her grip — shooting one last glance to make sure she really isn't going to move from her spot — taking the offered hand of one of his companions to stand. All of them make a point not to look back as they leave, muttering amongst themselves low enough that she can't hear.
Eventually, they disappear into the crowd ( and said crowd, realizing that that there's nothing to watch, begins to disperse just as quickly ). Lucina finally releases the breath she was holding. Shakes her head before she pushes herself up from the ground, using the daggerless hand to dust herself off. It could have been worse, she supposes. Her head is barely ringing now.
Speaking of. ] — Ah, are you alright? [ First thing's first. ]
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Too late does he realize he left his companion to get back on her feet alone, and he winces, looking slightly ashamed. ]
I'm fine. [ He quickly brushes off the concern, brow pinching. ]
Are you alright?
[ She didn't have to jump in like that. He really shouldn't have let himself get distracted. Up close, he doesn't really see the resemblance to Caitlyn either, only the color of her hair. ]
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I am. [ Ashamed, maybe, for ending up on her back. It's not everyday she's caught off-guard like that. In another world, another time, that would have meant certain death.
She can only hope she's not getting soft; for now, she shakes her head. ] Thank you for pulling him off of me. [ A pause. ] I saw the weapon they were hiding, and I thought I could convince them to stand down.
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There's... a lot of desperate people out here.
[ A lot of them not really thinking straight. He runs a hand through his hair, his grip loosening slightly on the hammer. He glances off toward the resort again, then back to her: ]
Were you on your way in or out?
[ They can walk together, in case anyone else gets a stupid idea. ]
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But they're both unscathed, and the rest of their immediate area seems to be watching them warily more than anything else. It could be worse, for now. ]
In. [ But before that ... her eyes flit down to the hammer in his hand for a moment. ] Would you like this? [ She offers him the dagger, the hilt pointed towards him. ]
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Better in your hands than mine, I think.
[ A slight nod to the sword at her side. ]
Don't see those around too often.
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Not here, no. They were more common where I'm from. [ Well, swords in general. She gives a small shrug of her shoulders. ] But it's served me well so far, if for no other reason than to dissuade ... escalation. [ Not that it works every time — case in point being this very parking lot — but apparently having a big sword is intimidating. Who would've thought. ]
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She should see his other hammer.He nods. Swords aren't common in Piltover either, at least none like the one she has - they're a more common type of weapon around the rest of Runeterra, though. His home is more the exception in most cases than the rule, in their world.
Jayce gives her a wry almost-smile, and manages to sound earnest when he says: ]
I wouldn't want to mess with you.
[ Well, they can start walking toward the resort, then. Another glance over at her. ]
Thanks, by the way. For stepping in. I'm Jayce.
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It was the least I could do. [ By her standards, anyway. Besides — it didn't stop the fight from breaking out, so it really could have gone better in the grand scheme of things.
Before that ends up showing up on her face though, she adds a: ] I'm glad you're not hurt, Jayce. My name is Lucina. [ And the smile that comes next feels a little more natural. ]
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It's good to meet you, Lucina.
[ Jayce's own smile becomes a little more open and natural in return, taking a handful of years from his weathered features. He won't try to fill up the rest of the walk with small talk, but as they catch the scent of meat cooking on the grill he will steer them that way... ]