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The Diadem ([personal profile] thediadem) wrote in [community profile] diademlogs2025-06-08 10:11 am
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MINGLE ∞ LOG — June 2025

Mingle ∞ Log
No Lifeguard on Duty
©
Jump ⇅ :: IntroPromptsNPC 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.
∞ Links ∞
TravelMapSetting
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
vecna: (pic#15832401)

you're right and you should say it

[personal profile] vecna 2025-06-17 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Henry feels the need to either sigh or possibly crush this android with a thought, but he has enough patience (performative or otherwise) to avoid both outcomes. Instead, he finds himself met with another question, and this one is far less offensive than one about parents.

And so, he offers, without further prompting this time. It does revolve around his favorite subject, after all.]


I don't remember, Thomas. I've kept many spiders in my time, and I don't always give them names.
decussate: (004)

1/2

[personal profile] decussate 2025-06-17 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
decussate: (004)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-06-17 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
As it so happens, my first pet was also a spider. Her name was Bambi.

[ She shakes her head mildly, arms coming to cross. ]

The spiders I've come to know since then have been less pet and more... neighbor. Either way, I do find them to be fascinating creatures.

[ Has she ever played cool so hard in her life. We may never know. ]
vecna: (pic#15832379)

[personal profile] vecna 2025-06-23 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[AJDFA PLAY IT COOL, GIRL

Henry stares for a moment, suddenly uninterested in Thomas, and far more tuned-in to this person who apparently once kept a spider as a pet?

Someone else who finds them fascinating creatures?

PLAY IT COOL, HENRY]


...Oh? What's your favorite spider?
decussate: (098)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-06-23 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She stares back at him. What a beautiful question. ]

One could hardly choose. Every spider presents a unique charm and set of adaptations.

[ Like choosing a favorite among children. But by the Tsaritsa, she will attempt it. She continues, raising a thoughtful, sharp-nailed finger to her chin as if she hasn't pondered such things for too many hours already. ]

But I do find particular inspiration in orb-weavers, as well as the tenacious species that have adapated to the harsh blizzards of my motherland. And you?

[ Thomas finally delivers her drink, which is the wrong color for iced tea. It goes ignored. ]
vecna: (pic#15832316)

[personal profile] vecna 2025-06-23 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[And Henry is presented with nothing more than a glass of ice. In theory, it's close enough to his request, and will melt with ease in this heat into a proper glass of not-frozen water, but. He, too, has his attention pulled elsewhere.

To this discussion about spiders, which is quickly evolving into the realization that this woman is someone who actually knows what she's talking about. How funny — he had not had the chance to speak to his fondness for arachnids at all until this mingle in another prompt too, and to be given the opportunity now, it's as though he wishes to say a hundred things at once, but his own sense of self-control merely has him responding with:]


I'm jealous if you've gotten to see one recently.

[Sincerity is rarely earned from Henry Creel, but this is a truly sincere statement.]

When I was... much younger, I used to live in Nevada. [This probably means nothing to her, but he continues.] It was arid and so hot... but you could find an orb weaver if you knew where to look; or if you were lucky, you'd find one in your home.

[Only Henry would call the potential of walking face-first into an orb weaver web "lucky."]

I think my favorites are still black widows, though. They have such a painful bite to match their appearance, but are generally misunderstood because of their reputations.
decussate: (016)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-06-24 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ She doesn't know of Nevada, but she's accepted that she'll know very little of other people's homeworlds here. Regardless, it seems that spiders have managed to transcend space and time. A very slight smile touches The Knave's lips. ]

A fine choice. Spiders are largely misunderstood as a whole, but few like the black widow enjoy so fearsome a reputation for having done so little.

[ Something she admires and aspires to in a most serious way. She gestures vaguely with her hand, conversational. ]

Imagine if you were to encounter a giant the size of a building, only for that giant to lay eyes on you and recoil in fear. Only the most mythical heroes could boast of such a thing. Yet here is the humble spider, making it a daily accomplishment.

[ Good job, spiders. But remembering something, her gaze drifts slightly. ]

Well. I have yet to see any spiders at all within this zone, which is a great shame.
vecna: (pic#15832379)

[personal profile] vecna 2025-06-26 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[He chuckles a little, light and airy as usual.]

I hesitate to call that an impressive feat when humans are so easy to scare in general, but.. I get what you mean.

[Yet he's the type to not give humanity much credit for anything at all, so that's neither here nor there.

At that last comment, Henry finally does reach for his glass — only to find that, indeed, it is nothing more than ice. Huffing a little, unsurprised, he places it back down for now.]


You looked, too? I spent a good hour prying into dark corners, looking for even a trace of one.
decussate: (012)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-06-28 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her head tilts a degree. It would seem his dedication to spiders trumps her own, if he spent that much time on his search. Certainly worthy of admiration. ]

It doesn't bode well for the state of the world this resort hails from. A land without spiders can only be dead or dying.

[ That's just scientific fact. She shakes her head with a small yet exaggerated sigh. ]

C'est la vie. If I cannot have them, I can at least have a fellow enthusiast.

[ Truly, the real treasure was the friend(s) she made along the way. She offers a hand to shake, sharp nails on pitch black skin. ]

I am The Knave. Or if you prefer, you may call me Arlecchino.
vecna: (pic#15896847)

[personal profile] vecna 2025-07-01 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[He thinks, very briefly, if one were to only think in stereotypes and pastiche, that her nails seem quintessentially those of a woman who might enjoy spiders as much as he.

But this is no detriment to a man like Henry Creel. He extends his own hand to shake.]


That was my thought, too.

[Society ruined the natural environment. Humans are a plague like that!

Anyway.]


"The Knave" is definitely a striking title. [But not very? Flattering???] Arlecchino, though, is that... [a beat] Italian?
decussate: (011)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-07-02 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her nails are edgy as hell, but she at least watches herself and only gives him the most gentle of little pinpricks from them as she squeezes his hand. ]

I've heard the name bandied about, but I'm unfamiliar with the place. I was raised in Fontaine, resided in Snezhnaya, and was given this name and title by Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa. You can make of that what you will.

[ From fantasy France, moved to fantasy Russia... ]
vecna: (pic#15832384)

[personal profile] vecna 2025-07-08 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[Dangerous yet careful. He can appreciate that!]

Ha, I'm sorry, but... I can't really make anything of that. Other than it's impressive to be granted a title by royalty itself.

[Does he really beleive that? It's hard to say, but it's the polite notion to offer.]

Like... knighthood?
decussate: (036)

[personal profile] decussate 2025-07-08 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ No recognition, but she's come to expect as much. The anonymity is an interesting change of pace. Infamy can be handy... but in this case, there's no harm in existing as simply a spider aficionado drinking(?) with another spider aficionado. ]

Hmm. Nothing quite so noble, I'm afraid. I happen to be a diplomat.

[ A touch of pleasantry in her voice that verges on dry humor. In fact, she was appointed this illustrious honor straight from her prison shackles. Hers is a funny god. ]

Nothing to be overawed by now, at any rate. I could hardly even put it on a Panorama résumé.