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
She's also not comfortable fighting people, so she's shrinking and laughing that stiff way she does when she doesn't want to be in her body. HA HA accompanied with a scratch to her arm.
Lottie's close to crawling into the drivers seat when the man (that one, white on orange by the little bike) approaches, and all goes still. The air is thick with needless tension when he joins, three piece suit and all to stick up for her. And.. He's not wrong— Lottie's gaze sweeps out to the rest of the lot and realizes maybe this is all for nothing, but she's too nervous to find out what might happen if she does pursue that. Let this random (kinda fashionably scary?) man intervene to save her the trouble of using her rear view mirror.
(But it's hard for her to deny, either, the way her stiff shoulders slack from taut tension, relieved she's not alone anymore.) ]
Um.. No, it's okay!! [ An unsure glance between the stranger and the aggravated few she's gathered — seemingly all besties, seemingly all taking their own vehicles. ] I can just, um, move it.. It's no big deal.
can't believe clint gets described as hot and marc's just 'kind of fashionable'
lottie's response, then, earns a lingering glance, sceptical and unimpressed all at once. he hadn't made his way over here to interject, only for lottie to acquiesce anyway — not, he imagines, that it'll do much good, not unless lottie's planning on finding an entirely different parking spot much further away, as her new-found not-friends have almost definitely arrived in more than one vehicle. )
You were here first, ( he points out, gaze shifting back to the three men whose attention lottie, and now he's, earned. he's taller and broader, neither attributes that guarantee him the advantage if push comes to shove, but they at least play in his favour as far as appearances go.
he takes a step forward, while one of the three — ringleader, maybe, or at least the one with the most unwarranted confidence — mutters something about jumped up fucking new fluxdrifts seguing into something indiscernible but might be about 'respect'. it earns the barest ghost of a thin smile and a deliberate, minute glance away towards movement elsewhere. (enforcers? maybe. hmm—.)
plausible deniability, then, and he offers a dry, surprisingly level— )
Respect's earned. ( (possibly) sorry, lottie. ) So earn it.
listen 'kind of fashionable' is like four pegs AWAY from hot he is almost there
All awe and gaping at the interloper seemingly melts away as she— tries to piece together what is happening.. If this exchange is some dude-code for something she, simply, will never understand. She's so keen on staring at that wry turn of that not-friend's lips, that Lottie becomes woefully lost— just turns to helplessly look at Marc when he says (in a way that very much isn't in her favor) respect's earned.
What is he, her dad? She's just trying to park? Can't he like.. Do something better?! ]
...
[ Vaguely, she feels bile at the back of her throat. Like her skin is itching, but she refrains from scratching. Just crosses her arms all awkward, like if she stands stiff she can mirror an ounce of whatever the man next to her has (she is, also, still trying to figure this out). The not-friends in front of them wait, the one-sided tension made up in her mind only growing before she offers a weak: ]
... Nevermind?
[ She might? Not?? Move her car after all???? If that's what this guy wants??? ]
fkslgk; four pegs is so! far!
between them hangs the unasked question of does she want him to jump straight into fighting? because for as much as it's how marc tends towards dealing with PROBLEMS, he tries to offer up non-violence as a valid, if admittedly very, very fleeting option. still, given the company, he doesn't think that neither jake nor steven would be able to talk their way out of this, and so—.
marc shifts his weight, loose and ready, onto the balls of his feet, as one of the — younger? smaller — men exclaims something about how it's just some girl and an old man. marc has no intentions of swinging first — for him, that gives up an advantage. it's only when the one to his left moves, leans back then forwards, that marc moves. he ducks with the sort of precision and practice that comes with dealing with thugs better than this on a daily basis, comes with training and expectation.
a thin, cold smile; a sharp swing of his own and a knee, accompanied by a rough pulling of the kid (some twenty-odd-whatever—) towards him, and— )
That's not earning it. ( it's low, testing and challenging, lottie not forgotten, but his intention is to ensure he's the focus. )
now he is three!! LESS FAR
(Note: he calls Lottie a girl. A vague compliment in the mess of all this, she figures. But she also winces for him— he doesn't look that old. Just.. Normal.)
Luckily for them the two deciding to cause VIOLENCE AGAINST CARS wander off towards a particularly well kept Chevy, ignoring the sound of Marc's knee hitting the gut of the semi-smaller man. Who groans, exclaims a wheezy what the hell as a passerby whoops and hollers. Lottie shares none of this enthusiasm, just feels her hands get clammy and her heart speeding up. Oh god! Her first fight. Oh god, this is her first fight.
This is what determines the trajectory or her life forever— ]
Wh— ugh, I—
[ She immediately reaches for her keys to try and unlock her door. Unfortunately, she is also missing the key hole every time she tries to get it in. And by the time she does, she's decided she doesn't even want to be in her car anymore. That does not save the groupie (who tried charging at her out of her peripheral— pointless as she is kind of blind right now) from a face full of car door, the impact loud and audibly biting as he crumples down to the ground. ]
I— [ A pathetic look Marc's way, ] am trying my best here! Seriously!
fksdgh
the momentary silence that hangs between them is uncertain, like marc's near enough ready to turn around and be done with the entire situation now that the guy's on the floor, rethinking his life choices. he doesn't offer her a 'you did good', doesn't give her anything that might be comforting — he's not convinced lottie intended to hurt the guy at all, thinks the whole car door to the face was mostly the result of lottie trying to shelter (or something) in the car. instead— )
Are you okay?
no subject
Where's her good job? Her mouth opens, then closes. She didn't hurt him on purpose, but all this has to count for something, right?
Her door weakly swings closed, bouncing off the body and into Lottie's jittery hand as stares. Her lips wobble. Why the heck did he have to ask her that? When was the last time anyone asked her that?? God, she can't cry right now, not when a man is probably bleeding over her shoes and her car. Crying isn't cool— ]
Uh..
[ Crying is going to happen, judging by the way her eyes get misty. ]
No.. But, yeah?
no subject
he rephrases, then— ) You're okay. ( in the tone and manner of someone that seems to think that if they brute-force it, if they're insistent enough, it'll make it true.
for a second, he looks as if he's about to step towards her, perhaps place a hand on her shoulder, but then he stops. he bends down, grabs the front of crumpled-and-embarrassing's t-shirt and hauls him up. there's a breath of a pause as marc crouches, tone near enough a growl as he shoves the guy away from the car and lottie with a— ) Go.
( it's only when the guy's stumbling away, dazed, disorientated, blood staining the front of his shirt, that marc turns back towards lottie and offers a softer, ) He won't bother you again.