diademlogs | MINGLE ∞ LOG

Entry tags:

MINGLE ∞ LOG — June 2025

Mingle ∞ Log

No Lifeguard on Duty

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.

∞ Links ∞

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.

⇅ Top

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

Main Navigation ::: ⇅ Top

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( feel free to ping me in chat @ hayyot if you'd like to plot, or pp me at

chayot. info can be found here. )
consider this a blanket warning for suicidal ideation, as cas comes from a canon point in which he's in a rather negative mental state

[ if the heatwave has led to anything for castiel, it's that he sticks out like even more of a sore thumb than before— the heat doesn't bother him. even as the fellow residents of panorama shed their clothes, he remains in his shirtsleeves-suit-and-coat combo, looking distinctly unruffled except for the veneer of malcontent that hovers over him at all times.

eventually, castiel will also venture into the diffusion zone.

with connor in tow, two freaks on a mission to find a giant termite up for adoption. they might have missed the part about where those broadcasts are actually coming from, but it won't stop them from trying, at least not until cas stops for gas and connor disappears like a heat-seeking missile on a mission to lick everything in sight. after a brief and futile search, castiel simply shrugs his shoulders in defeat and continues the journey without him. they'll meet up later, he suspects. ]

Edited 2025-06-08 20:38 (UTC)

[ the parking lot is packed by the time castiel arrives, but there are still a few makeshift spaces left if your car is small enough to fit them.

castiel's might not be, but it doesn't seem to stop him. with the right application of metaphysical force, it's a simple thing to budge the gas guzzlers on either side out of the way and give himself a few more inches wiggle room— an act he becomes so absorbed in that he backs into the car behind him instead.

oops.

was that your car that castiel just fender bended into? well, he doesn't seem to care much about getting caught, anyway, because he remains in his 2001 impala for a long while after, people watching like hunter in a hunting blind. he isn't hunting, though. he's not looking for anything at all.

(except for connor. like, maybe he should try to find him.) ]

[ Luckily for Castiel — or perhaps unluckily — Connor is here. He stands outside the driver’s side door for approximately five seconds before knocking: three short raps against the glass. ]

Hello, Castiel. Are you in need of assistance? How are the slugs?

[ Connor hasn’t checked on the gastropods since late last night, when he had his face pressed to Castiel’s window. Alas, the fungus wall still obscures his vision inside. But soon, Connor predicts. Soon it will fall. ]

[ it actually startles castiel.

he stares owl-eyed out the window, wondering how connor presumably got here before him, his imagination filling with visions of booster jets growing from connor's feet and hands, or, more straightforwardly, connor running very very fast, like the roadrunner in those cartoons.

castiel rolls the window down. ]

Do you have booster jets?

[ oh yes. the gastropods. ]

They're all right. I've been keeping them watered, so I won't be able to stay here too long.

I don’t have booster jets, no. But I could.

[ With that cryptic note aside: ]

I got a ride. I stood in the road and waited for someone to stop. Many people did not, in fact, stop.

[ Many horns were honked. Much yelling was heard. ]

I understand.

[ A nod, then: ]

This hinders our search for the oversized termites.

[ castiel thinks: note to self: could have booster jets and stores that information away for later like there's anything he could actually do with it. ]

I hope no one tried to trample you.

[ humans have this tendency to try to run over things they see in the street, he's found. a strange compulsion, and one he doesn't share. if anything, he'd be more likely to take connor's place.

castiel taps his fingers on the steering wheel, brow furrowing. ]

There's someone I could ask to look in on them.

They did. Some people even sped up as they approached me.

[ Connor could have stood off to the side of the road, but he wasn’t sure most humans would see him with the perpetual darkness. He also did not think most people would stop even if they did see him — which was the case when he stood in the road, anyway. ]

Are they knowledgeable about termites?

does cas even know what a watering can is

messenger - 2025-06-08 19:04 (UTC) - Expand

castiel | spn

meet hot local angels in your area now!

counting blue cars

arrival of freak

FREAK 2 FREAK COMMUNICATION

the slugs having their own pool party huh

he definitely filled up the tub for them

when you first mentioned watering I imagined Cas with a literal watering can

ice ice breaker

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject