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
android :')
Three things happen in rapid succession:
Laszlo says something along the lines of 'you fucking shit-brained lobcock.'
Laszlo swings at the automaton's face.
The automaton's head pops clean off and goes flying into the distance.]
no subject
Jayce's wide gaze had followed its path, the decapitated android's body having fallen in his lap
cradled like a headless, robotic Jesus in the pieta, which does not exist in Runeterra, probably. As the alarm in the distance sounds, he turns to the culprit-victim, vague concern coloring what is mostly shock and confusion at what just happened. ]- are you alright?
[ ... he did get punched. ]
no subject
He glances down. Right. There was a man there.]
Just a bit startled. My apologies.
[Despite having just been cold-cocked in the face by a metal fist, there is no evidence of injury whatsoever. Also totally normal!]
no subject
He gently shifts the android's body off of his lap and onto the cement patio he's crouched on, eyeing the frayed wires poking out of its neck. ]
I should be the one apologizing - I think. I was, uh, [ a dismissive wave of his hand and self-deprecating look as he pushes his hair out of his face ] - trying to power it up.
[ In case that wasn't immediately obvious. He frowns at the headless metal corpse, beginning the process of removing the cell phone battery he'd used to try to jumpstart the power source. Beside the phone, there's a toolbelt laying next to him. ]
no subject
You reckon it's electromagnetic?
[He would very much like to rip the machine open with his bare hands—definitely not because he's still feeling traces of aggression from being hit in the face—to check if the inner workings are clockwork or otherwise, but the fellow is already rattled enough, so perhaps a more delicate hand is appropriate. He crouches down to get a closer look, spots the battery, and makes a derisive sound.]
You need a larger capacitor, man. How much charge could that possibly hold?
no subject
I don't think it would've mattered one way or another - look...
[ He'll turn the android over and lift its brightly colored, flower patterned shirt to show his new companion the access panel to the power source. Something very clearly catastrophically fried it. His brow furrows. ]
I'm not familiar with this technology, but I would guess its other systems were damaged by whatever did... [ motioning at the damaged power source ] - that.
no subject
He grabs something out of the tool belt at random—it's a screwdriver—so he can poke around inside it with finer dexterity; because there's no power, there's no chance of getting an electrical shock, though it wouldn't make a difference either way to him.]
Curious that it moved at all in this state.
[There is a pause, then Laszlo gets up without a word and moves to the nearest automaton that hasn't been decapitated, zips down the back of its dress, and checks out its access panel.] The same.
no subject
Could be a side effect of whatever force transported them here... [ Admittedly, he's learned little about how diffusion zones work so far. Most of the people he's spoken to who have lived in this world for an extended amount of time have been more focused on survival than mystery solving.
He glances over in the direction of the single anomaly amongst the androids, currently serving drinks. ]
Although, that doesn't explain the bartender. [ Back to Laszlo, curious: ] Engineer?
no subject
Brow furrowed, he glances over.] More of a hobby. I'm foremost a scientist.
no subject
His thick eyebrows raise. ]
Field?
[ He's only met one other so far, a geneticist. ]
no subject
Broadly, biology and chemistry, though one must have an interest in all the natural sciences if one intends to make progress. [It also helps when one can spend hundreds of years studying.]
I take it you have similar interests.
no subject
Jayce nods, ignoring the once over, a light huff passing from his lips at the talk of progress, and a wistful look toward the android. ]
Engineering, some theoretical physics, metallurgy.
[ Broadly speaking. For now he leaves out the part about rune magic. It's still strange, not knowing anymore how to talk about the one thing that consumed so much of his life.
A wry look. ]
Some of that must be useful here.
no subject
Laughing, Laszlo flips the screwdriver over with a practiced hand, then holds it out to Jayce, handle first. Lab safety is important, even when the lab is makeshift and poolside.]
Well, if nothing else, you can work out what sort of alloy these fellows are made of.