spoofer: (tower)
Xistentia: Mod ([personal profile] spoofer) wrote in [community profile] xistentia2017-05-31 11:00 am

Mingle Log #1: Landmarks of Xistentia

Characters: All characters who opt in
Summary: A party to mark the first wave of incoming characters in Xistentia, punctuated with weird physics and an unexpected trip to the heart (or mind) of F.A.T.E.S.
Date(s): Late May 2017
Warnings/Notes: Sexual content and other potentially offensive or triggering material to be noted in headers.

Mix and Mingle
Landmarks of Xistentia

It starts with the daemons, because of course it does. At sunset, they begin to ring and beep and urge you to follow directions through the city. For those with animate daemons, be they animals or people, the programs are even more intrusive. Pushing and pawing and urging you to get up and go. The destination is not far from the first reclaimed parts of the city— a tall tower covered in overgrown moss and trees, located near the beach, the Westernmost edge of the city. Even with the chaos of vegetation growing over it, it's clear that the building is a miracle of technology and style.

"Connection is essential," the daemon tells you. "However, genital contact is not required."

You have reached the Central Citadel, and it's time to party!

EARLY BIRDS

But F.A.T.E.S. is as susceptible to peer pressure and trendy trends as anyone else! Early birds will find that the atrium lounge is a true mess at first. Birds nesting in the ceiling, thorn plants all across the floors, and the bottles and cups at the white bar are empty. As parties go, this sucks. However, within a few minutes of the first arrivals, changes begin to overcome the club area visibly. It is exactly the same as the way the city has begun to accommodate the visitors, but far more accelerated. Soon, the lights begin to power on, filling the room with ambient illumination. Plants recede, but do not disappear entirely. High above, the ceiling suddenly morphs to display the starry night sky. And most importantly of all, there's booze.


With any luck, someone around here knows how to bartend, because F.A.T.E.S sure does not. Various liquors from across the multiverse are available, along with drink umbrellas, speared olives, mixers and wedges of fruit. However, the cocktails that automatically fill the glasses vary in taste from acceptable to horrific. Luckily, the bar does not keep anyone out.
FASHIONABLY LATE

If you're more than thirty minutes late, the kinks have worked themselves out. The party is now in full swing. F.A.T.E.S. has surrendered drink mixing duty to various refugees[1], resulting in much more palatable alcoholic beverages. Someone even found chicken fingers, which are making the rounds.

However, it appears that the invisible supercomputer is still trying to DJ. Predictably, the music ranges wildly based on the listeners-- one moment, you have 17th century lute music; the next, Trance. Blink 182 may even make a brief auditory appearance. It is not particularly easy to dance to this nightmarishly incoherent soundtrack, but it does provide a cross-section of multiversal experiences, for those of us who care about that kind of thing.

Alternatively, you can explore. The Central Citadel is filled with odd rooms. In the presence of only one or two explorers, the tidying effect doesn't happen nearly as quickly. Characters may find jungle-eaten conference spaces, computer laboratories, or even more sophisticated situation rooms thronged with vines and flowers. Somehow, the screens and monitors seem to work just fine with blossoms poking out of the harddrives. Rooms with beds are available as well, some of them already pre-carpeted with romantic roses. You might also find your way into a gym, where slightly rotted bokken and a dusty boxing ring nonetheless make for an interesting way to meet people who aren't into roses and laptops.
BONUS ADVENTURE: THE TEMPLE

Characters who meet new CR at the Citadel have a special experience. When the two (or more) individuals get to talking, their daemons both abruptly interrupt with a very important, not at all loaded question. "Do you want to see something cool?" If the daemon was too big to come inside, the question is posed via earpiece or whatever other device.

The correct answer is "Yes." And with that, the characters are abruptly transported to The Telexistence Temple, on the Easternmost edge of the city. The sudden quiet seems deafening; the darkness is almost blinding before one's eyes adjust to the lines of light running through the tall stone walls. It is much cooler here than it was at the Central Citadel, but it has its own eerie dignity.


"In the future, this is where you may access information about your worlds. Recovery information, save points, and both passive and active world entry points are located here." A beat. Possibly the daemon is watching you stumble around. "Most of the tools have been disabled in order to prevent damage from inebriated users."

However, two pieces of technology continue to cooperate. First, a huge slab of glossy black stone the height of a desk, emitting holographic Head Up Display upward, the Chronological Cartographer. Your character must touch the device. Immediately then, a bright flowing diagram of data begins to spin through the air, whirling with lines and circles and familiar names. It is a chart of the worlds your characters have lived in before and the people they have met in the past timeline. The splitting point to Xistentia is clearly marked, and your future here is a red line wavering in darkness. Toy with it a little, and you'll even be able to pull up significant dates, friendships, enemies. Moments of transformation. F.A.T.E.S. remembers it all, and it is only a quick teleport from the Citadel. (Fortunately, it is also a quick teleport back.)

Second, there is a monitor with another HUD. It displays a HUD with a single prompt: Amenities needed?[2]

Starting the next day, the Temple will be accessible to all characters at all hours. Those granted access the night before will be able to find their way back with companions.



Footnotes
  1. Some may be NPCs! Please avoid killing or maiming them without mod discussion first.

  2. Go here and fill out the form, reply to that comment, if your character is going to take F.A.TE.S. up on the amenities request.
amplifyings: (❃ into the light)

[personal profile] amplifyings 2017-06-03 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Blue's daemon is as unhelpful as ever, repeating the same sentence over to her as though it's meaning was self-explanatory -- and she supposes it was, but that was kind of a big assumption to go making. Especially coming from such a small plant. -- leaving the girl increasingly frustrated and after around the third time of being led in circles by it, Blue resorts to giving it the cold shoulder.

Declan's voice startles Blue in all her pointedly annoyed silence and she whips her head to look at him, annoyance quickly morphing into genuine surprise. Declan Lynch -- whom Blue knows in the same way that anyone knows someone on the very fringes of their social circle. A combination of brief interactions and hearsay from others.

It's definitely surprising to see him, but if she's here then why couldn't anyone else in the world be? ]
Early for what?
miss_brilliant: (chug)

[personal profile] miss_brilliant 2017-06-03 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Amanda smiles, although it might look a bit like a grimace as she's still trying to get the taste of that drink off her tongue]

It's not quite that simple. We're not...exactly programming it so much as teaching it. It's been given...ideas about what we like? It's been told humans like these individual drinks [she waves the bottles] But not what combinations we find palatable. It will inevitably stumble on a few decent ones on its own eventually, but it will take awhile for it to figure out what works a majority of the time.

[she bites her lip, chuckling] I've got half a mind to try to figure out how to tweak its algorithm myself, though, to speed up the process a bit. But that might be more effort than it's worth at the moment.
amplifyings: (❃ there will be an answer)

[personal profile] amplifyings 2017-06-03 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Technology and Blue don't have a very good -- or extensive -- history with one another. The computers back at her school were ancient, her encounters with smartphones were few and far between, and she honestly thinks the most advanced piece of technology that she actually knows how to use well is a graphing calculator she'd used back in Algebra.

A little embarrassing to admit, but Blue also didn't have the surplus of money to go spend on silly hi-tech toys.

She continues her grumbling and investigating right up until a tiny siren and flashing lights not only nearly scare the life right out of her, but they send her daemon skittering around the room in a panic.

(And Blue makes a mental note never to rely on it to protect her in the future.)

Following behind the small transforming car is Adam and Blue looks briefly between the two before offering Adam a smile in greeting. ]
Does it always announce your arrival like that?

[ Her attention returns to the computer, skepticism obvious in her voice. ] Just touch it?
aberth: (( fifty - nine. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-03 04:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He watches Ronan for a moment, tries to resist the urge to reach out and touch him, thread their fingers together. He doesn't know if it will be welcome, if it's something Ronan needs, or if it's just Adam's terror and need driving him. So he curls his hands into fists for a second and then lets out a breath. ]

Okay, we need a plan.

[ Except, the end of the world feels a little out of his league. ]

Or we need to lie down and pretend it's not happening, I don't know.
fiachdubh: (Default)

[personal profile] fiachdubh 2017-06-03 05:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Do you need to lie down?

[ Inaction has never been much of a thing for either of them. They've always been running around, following Gansey's hints and jumping into new adventure after new adventure. And right now, it feels like they should be doing some research, drill the daemons, find somewhere to start to either go home, or save it.

And yet, the thoughts are so overwhelming right now that Ronan feels like he would follow Adam and just lie by his side, more awkward than he wants to be. ]


I don't want to pretend nothing's happening.

[ He doesn't mean about the world breaking apart, either, and he's pretty sure that much is obvious. ]
aberth: (( fifty. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-03 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
No.

[ Because he is still Adam Parrish and he can't escape that. He has to be forever moving forward. So he rubs his face and moves away from where he's leaning to glance back down the length of the apartment. ] No, I don't.

[ Because they need to sort this out, they need to figure out what to do. That's who they are. But he feels like he's all over the place and trying to find the right thread to get back to himself is almost impossible. ] Can I just -- ? [ Exhaling loudly. ] Can I touch you again? [ Helplessly. ] I know it's stupid, I know, but I thought you were dead and now I just want --.

[ His hands fall beside his thighs. ] I don't know. Are we hand holders?
fiachdubh: (Default)

[personal profile] fiachdubh 2017-06-03 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ronan laughs, sharp and a little mean. ] No, we're not.

[ He isn't, anyway. But he also knows just how hungry Adam has been by how urgent, almost violent his touches had been, and Ronan - he wants that again, his fingers against Adam's ribs feeling breaths and noises, Adam's hand to his mouth, Adam fitting his body against Ronan's, finding the ways they fit together.

He breathes out, slow and steady, then levels Adam with a clear, hopefully devastating look. ]


You can touch me again. [ He doesn't say please, but it's lodged in his throat, stuck there with how much he wants to feel Adam's hands on him again. ]
aberth: (( three. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-03 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Adam knows he should be upset by that, by the lack of softness they have between them. He thinks he should hold Ronan's hand in times like this, when the world around them is falling apart. That's what people in relationships do. But maybe they'll get there, maybe they need time, maybe it's not something he should worry about.

Instead of worrying more on it, Adam steps forward, puts his hands on either side of his cheeks, thumb sliding over the sharpness of the other boy's cheekbone.
]

Okay.

[ Because Ronan's given him permission to touch, but Adam wants more than that. ]

Can I kiss you?
fiachdubh: (Default)

[personal profile] fiachdubh 2017-06-03 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He let's out a whistling breath, stuck between his tongue and his teeth. The last time, Adam hadn't asked. Circumstances were different by Ronan wishes he hadn't asked now, either. Adam is still learning how to take, like he thinks he hasn't earned Ronan's kisses yet.

Ronan wraps his fingers around one of Adam's wrists and tugs, pulling him in, and kisses him, just as urgent as it's been before, just as hungry. Circumstances are different, but Ronan wants him just as much as he did back home, groaning against Adam's lips. Ronan's not good at talking, so he doesn't say yes. He just kisses Adam, his hand moving down along Adam's arm, from wrist to shoulder, and down to his hip, digging his fingers in like he wants to take root. ]
pillz: (another icon with tongue stuff in it)

@ the bar;

[personal profile] pillz 2017-06-04 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
[kavinsky cleans up all right. privilege of past privilege, or just something to do with elegant bone structure and having a tiny waist. he'd been a cantankerous bitch last they saw each other, frustrated and gritty and unappreciative of the unsalted barbecue that aric had caught for them, bitter about the bugs in the woods, and how loud the dark, even though he slept against aric's shoulder with a hand inside his jacket. they'd split up to pick homes, once it became about picking homes rather than finding shelter. communication sporadic since, though kavinsky had let him know that a few familiar faces had made it from home.]

This shit will kill you, you know.

[kavinsky's the one on the other side of the bar. the light limns his gaunt cheeks and eyebrows, and his face looks clean and sharp now, properly washed up. jeans and a t-shirt are what he used to favor on saturdays back home, looser fitting-- nothing he would've worn to work at the clubs.] Maybe your spirit if all your meat is fucking immortal. [but he slides the drink across the bar anyway. liquor with ice cubes in it.]
mordacita: (s i d e s)

Rafaello d'Este | OC (Eudio CRAU) | OTA

[personal profile] mordacita 2017-06-04 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
A. Early Bird
[ By the bar there is a vampire, with a cocktail in his hand. He samples it, then makes a face, and rolls his eyes at the unicorn beside him. A moment later, he is sliding behind there himself, taking hold of the bottles waiting to be used, and mixing his own drinks. ]

I will take care of this.

[ His unicorn daemon, currently trying to find a space to stand where Rafa's umbreon will stop trying to tackle it, looks up with wide-eyed interest. ]

Drinking is an important social connection. Please beware that large quantites are likely to cause inebriation -

They are not all fo rme. [ Rafa interrupts, with a flourish of his hand. The umbreon chooses that moment to pounce on it again, and Rafa lets them play while turning to meet his new customers. ]

What can I get you? Bear in mind, almost none of this is anything I recognise. These two make something purple and faintly glowing, if you are game to try.

B. Citadel
[ Rafa has gotten used to following the daemon by this point. He's taken to calling it Kyd, since his first attempt was summarily rejected by Shane. Kyd, like kid, for a little goat. The unicorn is not a little goat, but Rafa perhaps feels better about its existence by talking to it that way. It seems unoffended - in fact, Rafa isn't sure it's capable of taking offence, anyway. What it can very ably do is guide him around the city, so when it says it has something to show him, he goes.

Once he sees what it is, he wonders why he was ever anywhere else. His hands move rapidly over the device, trying to get to grips with it and understand how it works. He's taking in as much of the information as he can - names that he knows, a timeline laid out for him. It's all here, and here is the proof of where it's all dying.
]

Hunter, show me Hunter...I must know he's safe. Show me.

[ He moves from one screen to another, pulling up different information until at last, at last, he finds evidence that Hunter is in his world. ]

Now, show me that he left Eudio. Tell me that he did, tell me he's where he should be. Come on, it is not much to ask!

[ He has roundly forgotten who else might be in the room with him. ]

Where is it, just show me...

C. Wildcard
[ Choose your own adventure! I'm [plurk.com profile] halfbloodly on plurk if you want to plot. ]

hasitsthorns: (Tʜᴏᴜɢʜ I'ᴠᴇ ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
It's not even a theme! It's a mishmash of musical shame.

[ Someone has very strong feelings about this, it seems. Though she's trying to... calm down, maybe. Just a little. Breathe in, breathe out. Etc. ]

I mean, there's probably worse but... This is pretty bad.

[ Huff. ]

My name's Rose, by the way. Sorry you're having to meet me in such a sour state, dude.
hasitsthorns: (Tʜᴏᴜɢʜ I'ᴠᴇ ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ Axel, are you secretly a mean-spirited person... No. She can't even think he might be with a straight face. ]

Alright, alright. One more. But if it's just as terrible, I'm marching to wherever the DJ booth is and taking the helm.
hasitsthorns: (Cᴀᴜsᴇ sʜᴇ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ sᴜɴʟɪɢʜᴛ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... Okay, now she's. Pretty sure he's bullshitting. ]

I might! I guess there would really only be one way to find out and that's to listen to it.
hasitsthorns: (Sʜᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇs ɪɴ ᴀ ᴅᴀʏᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ) (Sʜᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇs ɪɴ ᴀ ᴅᴀʏᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rose would argue that their enjoyment of music is being damaged, but... She just has a lot of feelings about it, so. She'll refrain. ]

Pretty good, actually. We found a little house to live in for now with enough space for all my furry sons. [ Speaking of them, ] The dogs are as rambunctious as ever. Apollod is around here somewhere, actually... Probably trying to give puppy dog eyes to anyone that looks like they'll pet him.

[ As for Vanyel, well, ]

Vanyel's doing good too. I think he... misses his family from back home a lot, but. We're gonna' get him back to them, definitely, so. [ 'We're going to get him back to them.' Not 'us.' It's certainly subtle but there's doubts in the way Rose speaks about her future with Vanyel lately.

Not that she's expressed any of these doubts to him.
]
hasitsthorns: (Aᴡᴀʏ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴇᴀʀs)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 09:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ Axel, their love of music may be tainted forever. That's so depressing. She just wants to save them. ]

Well, I'm glad Mulder is settling in okay at least. Hopefully Andrew and Aaron are doing alright?

[ So, she knows him. ]

And home-home. I'm supposed to go with him when all is said and done. [ Supposed to. ]
hasitsthorns: (ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴄᴋ ᴍʏ ᴇᴀʀs)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ It only takes one terrible playlist, Axel. Just one. ]

Fair enough. 'Okay' isn't really a bad thing to shoot for right now, all things considered. [ Losing Eudio, end of the multiverse and whatnot. So, yeah, she gets it. ]

We met, briefly. He's... Yeah. Easier to get on with than Andrew for me. [ Nice and cute, too, but those are things she hasn't admitted to even herself yet so. Y'know. ]

Yeah. Vanyel's got a whole life and family back in his world and I got jack all in mine, so. Kind of easy choice for us, I guess.

[ Well. Sort of. There was the issue of Farraige, but that's... something they're all probably going to have to discuss eventually. ]
aberth: (( twenty - six. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-04 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Guilty pleasures? Could be a theme.

[ He doesn't get the concept of a guilty pleasure anyway. If you like something, you like it. Why be weird and hide it? But she's right, it's undeniably an awful, incoherent mix of weirdness. Even Adam, with only one hearing ear, feels like he would be better off fully deaf. ]

It's okay, I know some people who are weird about music.

[ Except, weird about weird music is more the case. ]

And I'm Adam.
aberth: (( sixty - nine. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-04 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ronan kisses him and it's like suddenly he's found his footing again. He surges forward, fingers once more grasping the loose fabric of the other boy's shirt, mouth hard and demanding at first. He wants to feel it, he wants to know this is real and he hasn't conjured him up out of sheer loss and hysteria. So he isn't gentle, maybe it should be. But Adam kisses him deeply regardless, kisses him like he's never kissed anyone, tongues and teeth and the harsh ragged sound of his breath. He pushes, without meaning to and they stumble a little, but the adjacent wall is there to catch Ronan's back and Adam brackets him there with his body.

The kiss softens, the thrum of his pulse still speeding along a highway, but it softens regardless. Adam's hands untangle to cup against Ronan's jaw, calloused thumb against his pulsepoint. When his lungs start to protest, he pulls back, but only far enough to catch his gaze, his own smile crooked.
]

Sorry. Adrenaline.

[ Or love, you know. ]
aberth: (( thirty - four. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-04 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
it's cute you think i know any spice girls songs.
the only lyrics i'm familiar with are about daisy dukes and murdering your cheating husband and stealing his pick-up.
aberth: (( thirty - two. ))

[personal profile] aberth 2017-06-04 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I really hope not.

[ How is he ever going to be sneaky if his daemon likes to shriek loudly every so often? ]

I think it's just mad that I called it an asshole. [ He glances at her own, a small smile on his face. It's not fierce, like Blue, but it still fits her well. ] I just tried explaining it was actually a Decepticon but whatever.

[ It grinds its gears in response, shifting to its robot form. Touch activates the interface. Adam raises his eyebrows in response. ] Yeah. It kind of unlocks like, I don't know, the Wikipedia page of our life. Who we've known, where we've been. It's got all this data on us.
hasitsthorns: (ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴄᴋ ᴍʏ ᴇᴀʀs)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-04 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Nah, dude, guilty pleasures are like... unironically liking Backstreet Boys or Wonderwall being your favorite tune ever. You might get judged a little for it but, hey, we all like different music!

This is just. Ugh.

[ It offends her. ]

Glad to know I'm not the only one weird about music though. And nice to meet you, Adam. [ A beat. ] You aren't from Eudio, are you?

[ She might not have met him there, but it's possible. There's a whole handful of them here, after all. ]
locoparentis: (Declan - keep stripping)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-04 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
You'll let me listen sometime, I hope.

[His smile turns a little softer, but no less charming.]

Since it looks like we're stuck here for the foreseeable future.
locoparentis: (Declan - not spear nor warrior)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-04 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that what we call it?

Unmade?

[Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all the saints. Declan breathes a fucking sigh of exasperation, but not at Ronan.]

Is he fine?

[That's the important part, now that Ronan is out of the way. Ronan Lynch is fine, and so Declan's job is half done. He was going for help - somewhere there had to be something that could help them - but.]

Fuck, Ronan, do you know?
locoparentis: (Declan - long gaze)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-04 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Obviously.

[Obviously, he's there for Ronan. But Declan doesn't care. He points to daemon, instead; follow his train of thought, Parrish, Declan knows he's not an idiot.]

I meant that.

I didn't think you were into robots.

[Although, cars that turn into robots, why not. He knows that Adam is a mechanic, that he loves cars as much as Declan and Ronan do, so why wouldn't he be into robots?]

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