sphererpmod: (Default)
Sphere Mods ([personal profile] sphererpmod) wrote in [community profile] thespherelogs2019-09-02 08:19 pm

Fourth Wall Month!

Who: Everyone and visiting Characters!
What: The Fourth Wall log!
When: The month of September!.
Where: All over.
Notes: If you have any questions about how this all works, please head over here to the Fourth Wall info post!.

Fourth Wall Log!
Company's coming!
So the Sphere is malfunctioning and there’s new arrivals here. In order to give them somewhere to sleep and rest, the Sphere has given them all temporary housing in dorm dome number two! That means sunken beds, three squares a day that are already prepared for you and clothing in the closets that just happen to be to your character’s taste. (And you know if they happen to die then you’ve got a nice space to Rez.) All and all it’s a nice little home base for people to have. There’s several common areas for mingling, and all though there aren’t individual rooms for the characters who are staying there, the domes also provide screens for privacy. Don’t worry, no one’s spying on you or something. Probably.

John (one of our resident NPCs here, who is a doctor and also a ghost but shush) knows the importance of family, and she knows how tough it can be when people arrive in a place they don’t know. The visitors haven’t really had the same experience as people brought in the traditional way, so John has stationed herself in the dorms with a sort of ipad thing, and she’s offering to take people’s information and to show them how things like the network work. She’s also there to hold hands and deal with any medical issues that these new arrivals may just happen to have. If people don’t want to talk to her, that’s totally fine! She won’t push. But she’ll also provide directions to places if people need them. Or at least point them in the general places that they need to go.

Speaking things out into the void.
This is a prompt for visiting characters to be able to put out a network post without actually joining the network community! Upon waking in The Sphere, each character (even temporary ones!) are fitted with a small golden circle behind their right ear. This is how they are connected to the network through a neural link. Touch and hold the button to create a broadcast of one of three types:
  1. Audio. Your character thinks audible words onto the network.
  2. Writing: Your character thinks text into the network.
  3. Video. Your character projects a broadcast of a video of themselves onto the network.
Replies are determined by the player. The network needs to be accessed by choice, so character broadcasts are not automatically beamed directly into people’s heads. The Sphere isn’t that rude.

Private messages are allowed by pressing and holding and pressing and holding again as you picture the person in your mind. This can be an image or a name, err more on the side of things being more accessible than less.

God let people have their pumpkin spice lattes, Karen!
It’s September, and that means that fall has hit the Sphere hard. Well, as hard as any place can be without having actual seasons or sunlight. So, in the artificial sun of the Sphere, what there is instead of colder weather and leaves changing is a new festival. The festival, which if you ask someone who’s been there for a while is in celebration of the most fall thing in the entire world: pumpkin spice. That’s right, there’s an entire festival just centered around pumpkin spice flavored things! Of course, the people of the Sphere do try and make an effort to invoke the spirit of the season, with large garlands of fake brightly colored leaves lining the street. The scents of pumpkin spice fill the air and there are small fire pits near Adirondack chairs that are clustered together with all the things to make s’mores.

For those not pumpkin minded, there are also a fair amount of apples picked from the Sphere orchards, and a few small knives. Some older women promise that if people can peel the apples in a long spiral and throw them behind them, then the peel will form the initial of the person that the thrower is destined to marry. Of course there is also bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving.

In both the merchant dome and the agricultural dome there’s massive tables brimming with enough pumpkin foods to make Harry Potter jealous. There’s all sorts of pumpkin baked goods, pumpkin ravioli, roasted pumpkin and vegetables and there’s even roasted meats with pumpkin sauce! There's also drinks of both the alcoholic and non alcoholic sort: pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice wine, pumpkin spice vodka, apple spiced whiskey and so on! At each place is a coffee cart with a poor overworked barista who is doling out every sort of pumpkin coffee, hot chocolate and tea imaginable including yes pumpkin spice lattes.

We're waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
There’s even a pumpkin carving contest in the agricultural dome! Pumpkins of different sizes ranging from small sugar ones to ones that could comfortably form a children’s fort are stacked around, and there are picnic tables set in newspaper and with things like knives and scoopers and nails and even drills for those people who want to remove the pumpkin guts or use them to do some carving. Everyone who participates receives a ribbon as well as a bag of toasted pumpkin seeds to take home.

They hope you really like pumpkin seeds. There’s a ton of them.

When the dark comes, people hunker down between the false stars above, with blankets all around them, the scent of pumpkin in the air. Flashlights and small lanterns are distributed by people, and when asked what’s going on, they’ll say that they’re waiting for The Great Pumpkin. Children whisper the name excitedly, and even some of the more inebriated adults do the same. Either way, at midnight the largest pumpkin rises above the crowd to gasps of shock and awe before it just magically changes into the types of candy and small toys that one would expect to come from an excellently stocked pinata.

The color of magical bounty.
In the rec dome, some magically gifted people have conjured up massive piles of dried leaves for people to frolic in. And when I say massive, I mean massive. It’s almost like an entire forest of leaves that’s thankfully free of all of the problems that come with jumping in leaves. With no animals in the Sphere, there’s not any of their presents hiding in the leaves and anything sharp hasn’t been created! Which means that it’s great for things like jumping in, burying things in and of course leaf fights.

If your character is missing nature, the area smells exactly how one would expect a late September walk in the woods to smell: it’s almost as if you’re there! The sunlight in the dome has also been altered a bit where the leaves are located, so it’s cooler, and a slight wind seems to be in the air, stirring the leaves every so often. It’s enough to encourage sweaters and scarves, that have been provided by people if they’d like them. The scarves and sweaters all seem to be of the handmade variety, and just the tiniest bit irregular, with one sleeve longer than the other, or the fringe on a scarf being slightly askew, that sort of thing. But they’re still lovely and soft and warm and smell of dryer sheets and leaves.

And we're flying, flying far beyond...
So the Sphere saw that everyone just loved the fireflies last month so this month it decided that what the city needs is to fly for real! So in the Rec dome, there’s a marked pad that people can step on that lets people fly around this particular dome for 30 minutes at a go using the same sort of controls that the communications behind your ear has! Press quickly once to go up and twice to go down. The clearance in the dome clocks in somewhere around 400 feet so there’s plenty of room for flying and even going up and touching the top of the dome and staring out into the abyss of water.

Be careful though because sometimes if you stare too long into the abyss, things just happen to stare back at you and then there are things in the deep water that you may not expect. Or that you might. Giant fish and squid may just find all this unusual activity quite interesting. But don’t worry the dome won’t crack. Guess what! You are now the fish in the aquarium for them! Or you know the bird flying past the cat in the window.

Wanna go to a real party? (CW: Mentions of drugs and alcohol.)
If people are looking for more illicit entertainment, and discreet inquiries are made, a passcode to the Black Market hidden behind some of the stalls is offered. The entrance is hidden enough that someone needs to be looking for it, and there is a rather large bouncer guarding the door and asking for the proper passcode. The passcode of the day happens to be I hate pumpkin.

Inside the black market is large, but much more dimly lit than the regular market dome. There are various pockets of people clustered under bright neon lights. The lights, someone confides to you, are code for what they’re offering. And nearly everything is on offer if a person has the ability to make a trade. Things from home, character skills and even favors tend to be the currency here, but watch out: the hawkers within are shrewd and sharp. If they make a deal with someone, it’s nearly always going to favor them. Eventually.

There’s also a large and loud party happening inside. Think of a rave with a large amount of people who happened to be a bit out of their minds. Drugs aren’t given freely here, they’re too valuable, but should someone want to figure out what they’re rolling on, eventually someone will ask or offer. The drug that they are currently using is called ‘self’ and it’s something that affects your character in an intensely personal way. For some, it’s an experience like your favorite cocktail mixed with vicodin, and for others it’s just like being drunk. For still more people, it’s like ecstasy without the side effects.

The drug has no physically addictive properties. It does however cause a hangover. The Sphere doesn't want to take all the fun out of imbibing too much.

photo inspiration

eldritchmagic: (pic#13182161)

Video, un: Witch

[personal profile] eldritchmagic 2019-09-20 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
It is good to see you again, under better circumstances this time around.
gristle: (Default)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-09-20 01:34 am (UTC)(link)

"I don't really think I've got a choice considering the only thing that this damned pumpkin is good for now is cabbage night smashing, and that's like almost two months away." Beverly just scoffs quietly, and cuts off another piece of her pumpkin, as if to prove that this whole damned thing is stupid. Too early for pumpkins anyway.

"How are you, Simon?"

cannoned: (4)

[personal profile] cannoned 2019-09-20 01:37 am (UTC)(link)

"It's stupid." The declaration comes quickly, and without any fanfare other than that. Of course, Val does in fact drink it, because she's not going to not drink it, even if it doesn't live up to it's name. " Midgardians definitely have some weird naming conventions, I think. Almost like they're fulfillment or something like it." And then she takes another one and drains it too, without stopping for breath.

Edited (icon!) 2019-09-20 21:15 (UTC)
minus1twin: (Okay Scott)

Video, un: Witch

[personal profile] minus1twin 2019-09-20 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Wanda smiles.]

That doesn't say much but it is good to see you.
gristle: (Default)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-09-20 01:52 am (UTC)(link)

Bev doesn't scream, but she does squeal a little bit when she's airborne, because you know, she's definitely all airborne and that's fun. She's really gonna have to go try that flight thing. "I bet I could kick your ass if I had like superpowers."

11calls: Walking in mist is a bad idea, Alex. (Default)

[personal profile] 11calls 2019-09-20 01:54 am (UTC)(link)

Well, Master of the Mystic Arts definitely does sound better than wizard, you've got me there!

[Because really, Harry Potter or Dumbledore themselves couldn't really deny it.]

But it's a mouthful.

[And then more compassionately:]

What happened to your hands?

doubled_speed: (The Fashionable Twin)

[personal profile] doubled_speed 2019-09-20 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Kick his ass? Tommy laughs. Kate can't even kick his ass.

"I mean, you'd have to be really fast or have powers to keep me still."
eldritchmagic: (pic#13182159)

[personal profile] eldritchmagic 2019-09-20 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
I was in a car accident and both of my hands were shattered. I spent every penny on surgeries, procedures, physical therapy..

Turns out, my cure was more magically-oriented than I'd ever have considered.

[ Still, he wiggles his fingers to show all is well. ]
blindpuppet: (What are you talking about)

[personal profile] blindpuppet 2019-09-20 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Enis listened to the story in silence but, by the end of it, she didn't understand what Rhys had been so worried about. "So let me get this straight. You did everything you could to help and survive, using what information you had available to you, and it didn't turn out well."

She gestured with a hand.

"Why would I be upset about that?" That was life. You did the best you could and it usually ended poorly. "This is on a grand scale but it isn't like you were trying to kill everyone Rhys."

Enis has seen evil and she knew that Rhys wasn't like that. "And the fact that you feel guilty about it. Means that you're a good person." He had a conscience.
blindpuppet: (Default)

Dancing's Not a Crime

[personal profile] blindpuppet 2019-09-20 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Enis wasn't surprised to see Tommy at the dance party. She was surprised to feel the tug at her arm as he tried and succeeded in dragging her onto the dance floor. "I thought you already showed me all your moves?" She had to shout above the thundering music but she followed him, careful not to step on anything in the process.

The crowd was packed tight together and Enis was silently thankful she didn't trip.

She waited until they had found a spot on the dance floor before rising up to the tips of her toes to speak in his ear. "So you like parties like this?" She liked the music.
doubled_speed: (Confidence Is My Middle Name)

[personal profile] doubled_speed 2019-09-20 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Haven't taught you bump and grind, or dipped you yet, so definitely not all my moves," he calls back as he moves them easily through the crowd.

Once they're settled he pauses just long enough for her to speak to him, and then nods, with a wild grin on his face.

"Used to go every night. Didn't always come home with all my clothes."
blindpuppet: (Waking up)

[personal profile] blindpuppet 2019-09-20 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Which clothes do you expect to be missing tonight?"

She placed her arms around his neck and took the familiar close position they'd developed during their last dance. "Or do you never know?"

In a rare change, Enis was wearing a skirt tonight with a black top that looked as if it had been torn across her chest and down its sides. There were small knotted ties in parts of it and it didn't really match the silky black material of her short skirt. Enis wasn't really into fashion but she'd dressed for a club.

"I want to play music at a place like this." It was similar to the music she made.
customplates: (🛑 052)

[personal profile] customplates 2019-09-20 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods.] Yeah, I do. [And then motions toward the walls of glass, and beyond, the swimming fish.] And I know that's out there, too.
doubled_speed: (Default)

[personal profile] doubled_speed 2019-09-20 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
"As many as you want to acquire," Tommy grins, his hands curling at her hips, his body swaying with hers, loving the music and his eyes absolutely devouring what she's wearing. "But usually I don't know. The stories are amazing though."

The best stories. Like the one time he was dancing in a cage and lost a mesh shirt. Oh well. At least the tight green shirt and fighter jeans accent his body.

"You should play at a place like this. Make everyone dance. Make everyone's hearts race, their bodies move. Get the hormones pumping."
gristle: (Default)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-09-20 06:09 am (UTC)(link)

"Or..." Bev just says with a grin before she throws leaves on him again. "The element of surprise!"

11calls: Walking in mist is a bad idea, Alex. (Default)

[personal profile] 11calls 2019-09-20 06:18 am (UTC)(link)

[There's a small smile that Alex can't help on her lips when she asks:]

:Let me guess, you were a skeptic and a man of science before?

lepidopterans: (pic#2722165)

[personal profile] lepidopterans 2019-09-20 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, Charles isn't here to argue so I think we can say you're faster." She would give him this. Besides... "He never really cares much for being the best at anything. That's more Wolverine's thing." Wolverine had a strange tendency to let people know he was the best. Personally, she just thought it was him attempting to compensate for something.
fromthelevee: (Default)

[personal profile] fromthelevee 2019-09-20 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
So you're about fifteen now? If I'm guessing right.

[25 years. Wow.

And you know what? Fuck Derry. Fuck that town and IT for making them forget. Stan didn't deserve to be forgotten. He deserved to be loved and remembered and maybe if they'd all reached out...

Fuck everything.

She takes a drink of her cider and reaches into her pocket for her cigarettes and casually starts to light up, same as she always has.]


What other place?
fromthelevee: (smirky)

[personal profile] fromthelevee 2019-09-20 03:15 pm (UTC)(link)
He mentioned it. [She smiles. So this her is about fifteen now. Oh and she is every bit a fifteen-year-old. Honestly, she's probably getting into less trouble in these worlds than she was back at home.]

Sure- I think that'd be fun.

[She doesn't doubt that she'll be good at it, either. Just like she had been with the slingshot, with rocks.]

It's easier. Especially when you don't have time to cook. You can order just about anything now, too. I've had McDonalds delivered at 3 AM.
fromthelevee: (green)

[personal profile] fromthelevee 2019-09-20 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello, Ubbe.

Another friend, I presume?
toivory: (arua sucks forever)

[personal profile] toivory 2019-09-20 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[She sniffs, nose in the air. If Sansa Stark lived in Roswell, New Mexico, you know she'd be the queen bee.]

They're hardly old-fashioned when that's how it currently is in my home!
Edited (words? clarification) 2019-09-20 15:21 (UTC)
doubled_speed: (Confidence Is My Middle Name)

[personal profile] doubled_speed 2019-09-20 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Tommy laughs and lets her do it. No reason to dodge when this is pure fun. In fact, he grabs a single handful and throws them back.

"Where is that on the periodic table?"
doubled_speed: (It's All Fun and Games Until This)

[personal profile] doubled_speed 2019-09-20 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Faster! Tommy pumps a fist in victory. Score. And then she says the OTHER name and it makes him glower.

"Who the fuck cares what Wolverine thinks?"
eldritchmagic: (pic#13182174)

[personal profile] eldritchmagic 2019-09-20 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I am still a man of science. However, I cannot deny the existence of multiple universes or dimensions beyond our understanding, having experienced them firsthand.

Not everything in this world or any other can be explained away by science.
eldritchmagic: (pic#13182157)

[personal profile] eldritchmagic 2019-09-20 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps not, but positive all the same.