This is a message for anyone with a Cooltalk. Or a particularly outgoing personality.

I recently put up a post asking people to share stories about anyone they want to celebrate in the aftermath of the Aerie. You can find it here: [ There's a little external link leading out to this cooltalk post. ]

Getting back to life as we know it after the Aerie isn't easy. There are a lot of wounds that are going to take time to heal and not a lot of spaces dedicated to reflection, productive conversation and uplifting the people who need it. I want to see that change. The wider the net, the more conversations are started, the better we can understand and support one another.

I'm asking anybody who wants to to share it around. Create your own post, share mine, share stories or interact with other peoples'. Talk to people at work or while waiting in line for your food order. Whatever works for you.

As a disclaimer, being seen to endorse anything I do may put you in hot water with critics. Be aware that you might get some negative attention online.

If you have any questions, send them my way.

Thanks.

[ God, he really wishes he could post anonymously. Why isn't that a thing? At least it's just text. Anyway, alright. Introductions. ]

Hey everyone. My name's John Dixon. I just came in with the new arrivals, so sorry in advance for the dumb questions. Anyone who's been here a while is probably so used to this, you don't think about it anymore. At least I hope that's how it works. So: superpowers.

That's new to me. That's comic books and movies where I'm from.

The empathy thing, when you touch someone. Is there a way to turn that off? Short of just never touching anyone again, because in the safehouse, that's more complex than you'd think.

[ If it's done deliberately, fine. He still doesn't like it, but it's not terrible if he knows it's coming. He'd like to avoid getting taken by surprise. ]

And the other powers, the [ how does he even... ] blue ones. In our chests.

You all have them. How did you train yourself to use them?

Last thing, unrelated: I'm looking for work. I'm good with computers, building hardware and software engineering. I can fix pretty much anything (as long as I have the tools, which I don't yet). But honestly at this point I don't care if you just need an errand boy, as long as it pays.

Thanks.

I've put some plans together for some safehouse improvement. One of the biggest complaints was a lack of privacy & nowhere secluded to withdraw to, particularly when trying to sleep. Some people mentioned not being able to sleep whatsoever around strangers.

I'm thinking one wall of stacked sleep pods, and then the opposite wall with (fewer) sleep boxes for people who might be more claustrophobic. We should net out to having more beds than we started with thanks to the vertical space sleep pod stacking.

I know this doesn't solve the overall issue for people who don't want to be stuck in the safehouse to begin with, but I think it might make things a little easier.

Does anyone have any issue with me starting construction this week? I'll only be doing one wall at a time, so everyone currently staying there should have minimal disruption to their sleep.

A few features I plan on incorporating, in case anyone's curious about the functionality:
-interior locks & curtains
-exterior emergency release in case of fire etc
-temperature control & vented airflow
-personal lighting
-noise cancellation

I'm open to suggestions, but I may or may not be able to incorporate them in version 1.

( feel free to collaborate with anyone, but please take private threadjacks to personal contact posts for the sake of my inbox, rip. )

i have been thinking


we ought to get ourselves to the northern continent of the americas






[[ooc: HI this is Thor putting out there the idea of getting to North America. This was first raised in an ooc discussion post, but it's good to get characters talking about the idea and figuring out how/if people who want to can help the effort.

Please use this network post for group discussion, I'm not planning to have Thor respond to everyone! Contribute your characters ideas for getting there and how etc. Just because Thor wants to take a boat doesn't mean it's the best idea! (see the plot engagement thread for the mods' thoughts on what might work best)

Basically, if we can get a few of the displaced to the shores of NA, another gate can be set up to allow everyone else to go if they want to explore and find stuff out.

Yay!!!!]]

uhhhh

hey there. hiya? i um

[#killingit with the Social Interaction. Guess who was pulled from his home world at ten and has been living on the Edge without any form of social media for almost a decade? Simon may be handy with gadgets and gizmos, but the whole talking to people thing? Not quite his forte.]

sorry, new here

still combin through the info decks or whatever they're called

was just wondering if anybody had any extra cans of paint lyin around?

[and ofc if things couldn't get any stupider]

ps the paint would be JUST for painting NOT for snIFFING

[who is gonna break his heart and tell him that art supplies are extremely expensive here...
plz... wreck his shit]

Fellow Displaced, while there's certainly quite a lot to divert attentions to, allow me to offer some reprieve.
In my infamy, I've decided to publish a series of novels under a new surname. There's something in there for everyone, of course. If you like what you see, please support my endeavors! R&R, as they say.

Ah, yes- all appropriate warnings for mature content, blah bah blah. Read at work at your own risk.

King of the Scoundrels by Trixie Mistil
Summary:
Marius is torn between three lovers: One rich, one famous and the other dangerous. The biggest catch? They'll do anything for him. Overtaken by the politics of the upper echelon, Marius must maneuver to to keep himself safe while navigating the burning hunger within him. To sate his dangerous desires, he must dig to find the truth behind wicked facades.

[ there's a link to a free copy of the first erotic novel in the series. while it's kinda trashy, it's also fairly well-written, poetic at times, drama intense, and unapologetically sexy. there's even some surprising romance thrown in. whoever ends up reading it will find that it ends in a cliff-hanger.

the next one is under a pay lock. ]

I'm renting a space in New Beijing for a project I'm calling Falcon Works, and I could use some help.

There are a lot of Displaced with good ideas or projects that they don't have the resources to work on — metalwork, electronics, soft crafts, what have you. I want to build a community workshop space where anyone can come in and use the tools as long as you bring your own parts.

I'm looking for volunteers to supervise the space so it can be open while I'm working (I work 9 to 4 New Beijing time on Monday through Thursday), but also people who'd like to teach classes to the community in any of these areas (or related areas that use the same kinds of tools or need a workshop space).

Community members will be able to come in for free in certain hours, or pay for memberships to come in more frequently. But the Displaced can use the workshop whenever you want.

Let me know if you're interested in helping out — supervising, teaching, or funding. I've got some money put away to put towards this, and I'm looking around at grants, but if anyone would like to donate equipment or money to get it running, that'd be welcome too.

[ ooc; further details here. rey can hire a few full-time employees for this who'd probably be able to start within the next IC month, and anyone is free to say they did machining, lasercutting, 3-d printing, sewing, etc. at falconworks once it gets going. i'm slow on getting it up in locations, and i wanted to give people a chance to get on board and collaborate / expand the idea before putting it into locations. ]

Hello.
I may have spoken with some of you previously here on the network, but for those whom I haven't yet, my name is Shinobu and I was part of the last group of arrivals.

As I'm sure you're all aware by now, prior to our drop off to Red Wings (or any other location in the interim), we are under the influence of a compliance drug and are directed to Red Wings first before the safe house to settle in and wait for our IDs.
From what I gathered, El has been our primary contact whenever there is a new group of Displaced; a message is sent to all of us in the hopes that at least a few of us will be able to retrieve them and bring them to the safe house.
Lately, the protocol seems to have changed somewhat.

The purpose of me reaching out to you is to see if any of you would be interested in becoming part of a welcome committee, of sorts. To help meet new Displaced, regardless of where they're dropped off; to explain our situation as best we can and help flush the drug from their systems before shuttling them off to the safe house where they're to be held for the next four days.
I believe having a set group of people to do this will help alleviate the tensions between older and newer Displaced, as well as to ease the transition of newer Displaced being integrated into society.

Some of us have been here for quite some time and have settled into our new lives; I realize not everyone is available at all times to help. But given that I've yet to find my place in this world, I'd like to place my focus in assisting in this way. Of course, I'm but one person, and should I find my way home somewhere down the line, I'd feel better knowing there will be someone taking care of things in my stead.

If you have any suggestions or are interested in becoming a part of this group, please let me know. I intend to message El with our contact information so that we can be notified when the next batch of arrivals show up. Currently, I'm looking into creating an antidote for the compliance drug we've been injected with. This will take time, but if anyone would be able to assist or if you have any information regarding it, please let me know as well.

For the record, I am a doctor for the organization I work for back home and have a background in pharmacology; the antidotes I'd created previously were to counteract poisons found in demons.
While this application isn't exactly the same, given time and through some trial and error, I'm hoping to be able to create something that can be administered to future new arrivals.

Thank you for your time.

[ ooc: tldr, shinobu is looking to gather a permanent group of people to help new arrivals after they're dropped off! here is the plot engagement thread for your reference. feel free to PM me on this journal or on plurk at wooloos if you have any questions; this is mostly to gauge interest as well as to come up with a plan in case the group drops/is swept between arrivals.

i'd like to also ask if you could please keep private threadjacks to character inboxes, thank you! ]