phantasmalrift | IC INTRO

After the fight with the siren has settled, those characters with phones hooked to the KEystone network will get a text -

Okay, everyone, you had better come back in. There's a storm brewing just off the coast.

Even given Up's usual professionalism, it seems rather... subdued?

----

For once, there are no androids at all to greet you upon your return, or arrival, as the case may be. A shelter has been set up for the boats on the shoreline of Glitterstone, however. By the time you tromp up the lighthouse stairs to the level of the Station itself, the sky is beginning to grey with the promised storm.

There's not the typical feast outside, but there is a fairly extensive taco bar set up in the common room, left unattended as well. The room sign-up sheet and boxes of freebies are also there, complete with the Braille versions, and a note at the bottom of both room sheets reads "If all rooms are full, space has been made in the meeting rooms on the top floor. We'll have additional rooms available as soon as possible."

It does appear that someone has updated the murder counter while you were away, however, for the turning of the week. It now reads 15 weeks without murder.

Other than that, you're free to explore, including in the newly finished sections of the Annex (should you be willing to brave the storm to get between buildings). However, wherever you go, the androids are almost conspicuously absent - even in the medical bay and Down's workstation in the command center.

The meeting room they have for their own private use is securely closed and locked.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They usually call me a robot! Is there a big difference?

Specifically though I'm a Buster Machine.

[ perhaps notably, she doesn't appear to have any metal, plastic, or artificial bits. Other than her eyes, with pupils shaped like a four pointed star, she appears totally human and fleshy. ]

Eh, not big enough for me to think it's important. You look way more human than robot? Were you like...put into a human body?

Mmm, nope! This is just how I look.

Onee-sama was really impressed, too! She said she wouldn't have even been able to tell I was a robot if I hadn't survived getting shot into space.

[ Yes, that was a gratuitous Japanese "onee-sama." That's. That's what you're getting into. ]

[What's nice is, thanks to those nanites in his system, he actually understands the meaning of onee-sama. Sssssort of. Sister-sama? He still doesn't Get honorifics.]

Man, I sure as fuck can't do that anymore, not without my suit. You're really advanced, though, I'm impressed. Were you supposed to blend in, or did someone have a fetish?