xistentia | Mingle Log #1: Landmarks of Xistentia

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

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a. yeah, draw the line up.

[ When Ronan heads to the bar, Adam doesn't follow.

Instead he makes his way slowly around the empty space of the Atrium Lounge, hands in his pockets and a small toy striped like a police car speeding along behind him. Every time he pauses it's to stare at something, be it the birds nesting in the rafters, or the vines that poke their thorns through everything. It's a strange sight, as was the place that apparently belonged to the two Raven Boys. Nature claiming everything for itself, nature being unrelenting. Adam touches the tip of his finger to one vine while he holds his breath, half hoping for a spark of something. All it gives him is a prick of a sting and he shoves his hands in his pockets to stop him pressing them against anything else.

( Every so often he looks across the space for Ronan, unwilling to keep him out of sight for too long. The relief that he's feeling is tinged with sadness and uncertainty and he thinks if his daemon hadn't all but demanded they come here, then he'd have had a harder time letting go of his hand. )

Barricaded doesn't seem to have much grace about him though, and as Adam turns he hears the police siren shriek, mechanical wheels skidding as he bumps into a foot. Almost shamefaced, he lifts his gaze to the victim. ] Sorry, he keeps doing that. [ There's a sound like grating metal and it shifts from a car to a humanoid figure to apologise, or more likely, to shout and whoever got in his way. ] He's based on a Decepticon. They're kind of assholes.

b. don't take no more time up, yeah.

[ The music seems to relax most of the refugees, though it doesn't do much for Adam but set him on edge. It's always harder to concentrate on what he can hear when there's too much of it. Which means he's commandeered a table and is curiously tapping away at the hologram screen Barricaded displays for him. Whether it's for his own benefit, or to just keep the damn thing busy he won't tell.

He sends Ronan a smiley face just because he can, and then glances back around the bar. It's much cleaner now, the only traces of wildness from the small shoots of green along the walls. He's strangely pleased the vines haven't faded entirely even though they make something in his chest twinge. It's hopeful, and kind of stupid.

At one point, when the music changes to something angry and heavy, a deep bass and familiar lyrics, Adam has to hide his laugh in the palm of his hand. He catches someone's eye and grins, shrugs his shoulders. ]

It's a classic.

c. make your mind up.

[ Of course he goes to the Temple. Of course he does, because he is Adam Parrish and he's never been one to back down from something that terrifies him. He knows, realistically, that it could be a dangerous place. He also knows that if he's going to come up with a way to save his friends ( not his world, it hasn't even occurred to him ) then he needs to take those risks. Barricaded zips in circles around his feet, offering up information and factoids even as he steps closer to the Cartographer.

Adam makes a sound, when the data blooms into life, craning his neck to try and see everything. ]

Okay, so I'm in a science fiction movie, awesome.

[ It's dry, and it dies away immediately when he finds the list of people he knows. Adam's gaze skips over the name of his mother and father to land on the last couple. Richard Campbell Gansey III. He reaches up to try and touch it, hand moving through the light easily. ]

Fucking shit.

[ He wants to kick something, he wants to break something. He can't though. ]

d. i need you to make your mind up, yeah.

[ Wildcard. I'm at athosing if you need anything. ]

Edited 2017-06-01 17:51 (UTC)

[It's not that he didn't expect to see Adam Parrish; it's that Adam Parrish almost doesn't belong in this setting. Not for the money of it, which is, incidentally, also not why he looks weird in Aglionby, but because he's a little like an alien - strange and surreal no matter what the setting is. Looking like he belongs is almost not in the playbook when it comes to him. He always looks a little off.

Declan watches the daemon a moment and thinks that from behind, he must not have recognized him, because he's pretty sure that he wouldn't apologize.]

Parrish.

[He says it just this side of cool.]

I didn't think you were into this sort of thing.

[ For a brief, hysterical moment, Adam feels like laughing. He doesn't know why the reality of Declan fucking Lynch being here is so hilarious to him, but it claws up his throat anyway and he has to swallow it down, fight against losing control. ]

Staying alive?

[ Adam raises an eyebrow, holds the elder brother's gaze. It had occurred to him to ask Ronan if his family were here, but he'd been unwilling to press on that wound if it turned out he'd lost them too.

Maybe he should be thankful, but they're a complicated thing. He's expecting fireworks soon enough. ]

Or do you mean the party? Because I'm here for Ronan.

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?]

It's a cartoon.

[ Would Declan, child of a fairytale and protege of a warning story, know of cartoons? Adam's not sure. He's not the authority on it either, but the mornings when his dad had been too hungover to get out of bed he'd been able to watch the television, up close so he could hear it without the volume disturbing anyone. ]

Transformers. I liked it when I was a kid.

[ He lifts his chin a little, defiant. The daemon still seems to be causing havoc by spinning under tables and around people's feet, but he hasn't got it in him to care right now. Instead he looks at the creature on the other boy's shoulder. ]

I take it yours isn't because of a love of Winnie the Pooh.

[Declan just looks at him, eyebrows climbing up his forehead a bit. He looks like Ronan, and now he's going to sound like Ronan, too.]

Yes, Parrish, we had televisions at the Barns when we were kids, too.

[Jesus Christ.]

It keeps an eye out. And doesn't destroy the tables.

[This might be an asshole thing to say, but he doesn't mean it in an asshole way and yes, in fact, there is a difference. He considers asking Adam - are you and my brother actually fucking - but then decides no. That's unnecessary.]

[ He rolls his eyes. He won't be made to feel bad about this, he won't let Declan feel better than him. ]

It's cool.

[ It's a toy car, but whatever. ]

Has Chainsaw'd seen it yet?

[ Even though they probably don't act like real birds. ]

Yes.

[He saw Ronan first, after all. Remaind looks at Adam with that same unfathomable gaze. Declan's daemon possesses no friendly demeanor, even though that's the entirety of who Declan pretends to be.]

How long have you been together?

[There is no judgement in that question. He just wants to know.]

[ The only clue that Declan has caught him unawares is the tightening of his shoulders, the way they draw together and up in a defensive motion. He doesn't respond straight away, instead watches Barricaded, and then looks up towards the bar to where Ronan is. ]

Not long enough.

[ They haven't had the chance, really, to put the thing that's happening into words. Life keeps moving too fast, and they've lost too much. Part of him wants to tell Declan it's none of his business, that he can't control his brother like he wants. Part of him is trying not to make things worse. ]

I don't care if you have a problem with it. It won't change things.

[ Well, that second part is losing apparently. He doesn't necessarily consider himself someone brave, but. He wants to be there for Ronan, nothing's going to stop that. ]

[Declan's mouth twitches a little, almost like a smile, and he shrugs.]

I thought you were smarter than to assume that.

[Because Declan certainly doesn't have a problem with it. Not the way Adam thinks, at least. He shrugs a little, and the owl at his shoulder turns his moon face upside down to look at Adam.]

Stand down, soldier.

adam parrish ( the raven cycle | ota )

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