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.
locoparentis: (Declan - get it ladies)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-20 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
[He lifts his chin a little.]

Sure. But this is going to be an interesting challenge, you know.

[He winces at the Blink 182, though.]

What if you don't like my taste in music?
hasitsthorns: (Eᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ sʜᴇ ᴅᴏ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-20 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
You don't like a challenge? I do, [ she says, punctuated with an almost mischievous smile. Challenges are what made things interesting. Honestly, the quickest way to get Rose to do anything was tell her she couldn't. ]

Well, I think you're cute enough that I can be a little lenient with poor music taste. Just this once.
locoparentis: (Declan - keep stripping)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-22 12:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[He laughs.[

That's not what I said.

[He's up for a challenge, sure. Of course he is. He tilts his head a little, and wishes for an instant he still played the violin. But then he remembers what that cost him, what it means to play the violin (Niall, Niall, Niall) and he immediately dismisses that thought.

It's not worth it, not for any girl.]


Okay, lead on.
hasitsthorns: (Eᴀᴄʜ ʜᴏᴜʀ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-23 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She's oblivious to his thoughts. While she'd love to hear him play the violin (or any instrument, really) she'd likely be just as happy to play for him someday. Her guitar did manage to make the trip here, after all. ]

You got it, dude! [ she'll exclaims, punctuating it with a grab of his hand before dragging him off towards the back rooms of the atrium. Hopefully he doesn't mind. It's a residual habit from Eudio - from her constant handholding with Vanyel - more than anything. ]

The source of the music has got to be here somewhere. Wonder where F.A.T.E.S. is hiding it...
locoparentis: (Declan - get it ladies)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-27 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
[His head snaps up just a little]

Too much Full House when you were a kid?

[Just a guess. He starts looking around, but he doesn't see anything. He turns to his daemon, who flaps up, and makes a soft hooting noise.]
hasitsthorns: (Eᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ sʜᴇ ᴅᴏ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-06-28 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A bark of laughter at that. ]

Full House was great, what can I say? But nah, it was actually spending all that time in California in the 90s.

[ Her daemon, meanwhile, isn't anywhere to be found. Until he is. Suddenly, a Golden Retriever comes trotting up. ]

Hello, [ he greets in a synthesized voice. ] I am Apollod. [ With that introduction out of the way, he heads over to Rose and sniff snoofs her in greeting. ]
locoparentis: (Declan - his father's son)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-06-30 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Declan looks down.]

Hi.

[It's still really weird; even for a boy who grew up watching his father dig magic out of his dreams.]

What year is it, in your world?

[Declan, for instance, was a little boy in the 90s.]
hasitsthorns: (Tʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ғɪɴᴅ ᴍᴇ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-07-02 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
It was 2018 when I- [ died - left.

I was in Eudio for about a year, but... I don't think time moved back home, so. It was probably still 2018.

What about yours?
locoparentis: (Declan - not spear nor warrior)

[personal profile] locoparentis 2017-07-04 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
This isn't the first time this happened to you?

[He shrugs.]

Not 2018. A few years earlier.
hasitsthorns: (Tʜᴀᴛ I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2017-07-05 11:49 am (UTC)(link)
No. It's actually the third. And there'll be a fourth, if everything goes according to plan.

[ Hopefully Tamriel would be the last place she visits for a while though. ]

Oh, yeah? Aw, man, all the music you haven't heard yet...