IC INTRO - MARCH

[phantasmods]

Sometime after the showdown, those with communication devices from the station will all get a collective message -

Okay, everyone come back! We might need to do a final sweep or two of the beach, but it looks like most of the Fissure is stabilized! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

Everybody go ahead and come back up - and bring anyone else you found with you! I know I saw a couple new faces on the drone cameras. (*･▽･*)

Also, if you get a chance, check out the new door leading out of the residential area! It's a surprise for all your hard work. (´◕ ◡ ◕｀) There's also food in the kitchens if you're hungry and want something warm!

With that in mind, grab your new friends and go ahead and come on back.

STATION EXTERIOR

Upon returning to the station, the first thing most will probably see is Up, standing on the rooftop to congratulate everyone on a mission accomplished and also handle any questions the new arrivals might have that haven't gotten answered yet. They stand tall and graceful beside the ramp... Most of the time. Occasionally, one might catch them trying not to fidget with the belt that now hangs fashionably askew on their hips.

For those who want to seek out the surprise Charm promised, there's a second ramp leading down off the far side of the roof, as well as the door he mentioned on the network. Both lead to the shiny new viewing deck, with its mismatched furniture, half-roof, and view of the beach.

Charm himself is here, long android limbs spread across one of the lounge chairs as he fiddles with one of the wind element crystals in his lap. It occasionally reacts and blasts the tails of his red scarf in random directions, but he doesn't seem to mind.

STATION INTERIOR

Those adventuring to the kitchens will find that there are four large pots arranged in a line beneath a set of heat lamps on the stove. Three contain curry - labeled "mild," "spicy," and "the fire of a thousand suns" in neat handwriting - while the last contains plain rice. An assortment of mismatched bowls and utensils sit on the counter nearest the pots. (Welcome to Keystone Station, you'll have an easier time finding matching cutlery at your local Goodwill.)

In the common room, meanwhile, the boxes of clothes and trading post are set up again. Those who investigate something fluffy in a particular box on the end of the couch may discover a girl and friend taking a nap...

Comments

[dubiouslychthonic]

[In the immediate aftermath of the mission, Jetshard stops by her room to drop off the stuff she found in the fissure and throw on a fresh change of clothes, and then heads up to the med bay. She can be found there for a few hours, if anyone needs some help after pulling a stupid stunt fighting the giant seagull. God knows, people pulled some stupid stunts fighting that seagull.

After a few hours, though, she decides that probably most people with the sense to seek out medical attention have already (and that Strange is more than capable of handling any stragglers) and disappears back into her room for the rest of the day.

The next evening, she stops by the kitchen and... spends a long moment contemplating the curry, or at least what's left of it after everyone else has had all day to get at it. Mostly she's kept to her own cooking over the past month, but she's pretty sure there's no major biochemical incompatibilities that should prevent her from safely digesting most human dishes. In the end, the lure of pre-made hot food overcomes her caution, and she takes a modest portion of rice and the mild curry.]

[photoshooter]

Jetshard! Good mornevening!

[Prompto bounds over like an excitable young barkbeast, missing only cute pawpads and a furiously wagging tail.]

You'll never guess what I found on the mission the other day!

[dubiouslychthonic]

Hey, Prompto.

[Jetshard smiles at him as he approaches, although she continues to ladle food into her bowl as she speaks to him. She's a good deal more chipper than she's been in a few weeks; better rested. Apparently the secret to a good day's sleep without sopor is to run herself ragged on a mission first.

Honestly, she suspects she has an idea what his news is; she hasn't formally met his friend, yet, but on the way back up the the station she'd seen him hanging around the dark-haired human boy. If they'd been trolls, she'd have suspected a pale relationship... but she's spent enough time now around humans in general and Prompto in particular that she's a bit less inclined to read too much into casual physical affection.

Anyway, she doesn't have any particular desire to quash his obvious excitement at telling her, so...]

I figure I probably won't. What'd you find?

[photoshooter]

Oh, just my best friend in the universe.

[He doesn't have Akechi's cognitive powers, but somehow, he's practically sparkling anyway.]

You gotta meet him! His name is Noctis, he's really great. Don't waste a second thinking he's cool, though. I know he looks it, but he's a huge dork. You wouldn't believe how much I missed him.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Yeah, that's pretty much 100% what she expected to hear.

She laughs, and shakes her head a little.] I think I can make a pretty good guess, kid, you aren't exactly subtle about your emotions. But yeah, of course, I'll definitely have to meet him.

[photoshooter]

[He laughs, bright and easy.]

I can't help it! It's just, I'm so glad he's here. [He sobers a little--which means, he dials down from THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN to normal megawatt brightness.] It'd be better if Ignis and Gladio'd shown up, too, so I could introduce all the guys to you at once, but can't be too greedy, right? It's enough of a relief just to have Noct.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm sure. I'm glad for you.

[She grins at him, and then, after a moment's consideration of the curry, adds half a scoop of the spicy to her bowl of mild.

Not gonna touch the thousand suns, though.]

At least this way if the others show up later, you'll both be able to show them around?

[photoshooter]

[Learn from his mistakes, Jetshard. Don't be a fool. The sun is not to be trifled with.]

Yeah. You'd like them, I'm sure. You and Iggy'd get along like a house on fire. ...He's the mom friend I was telling you about.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Oh, don't worry. She may be jadeblooded, but she's still got a healthy Alternian caution of the sun.

She nods.]

Well, someday, perhaps, if the androids don't figure out how to send us all home first.

[photoshooter]

[Prompto stops in his tracks.]

...Wow. I, uh. Really don't want to go home at all anymore. Huh.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She pauses, looking at him - a little concerned, a little curious.]

You ok?

[photoshooter]

Yeah, yeah, I just... if we don't go home, then Noct doesn't have to go back to...

[He trails off, then shakes his head.]

Well, the longer our vacation is here, the better.

[Remember how beat up Prompto was when he got here, Jetshard? Maybe he's got a point.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She remembers. She also remembers some of the things Izunia has told her about the geopolitics of their homeworld, which while she's aware she doesn't have the full picture, had sounded pretty dire.]

Well, as strategies for skipping town go, stumbling through a crack in reality and ending up in a separate universe is an extraordinarily effective one. Certainly better than any I've managed in the past. Best I've pulled off was fleeing the planet.

[photoshooter]

I wish we could flee the planet. Maybe go to the moon. It seems peaceful there.

[Maybe Lady Lunafreya will be waiting for them there.]

Where'd you go when you left your planet?

[dubiouslychthonic]

Alternia's got more colony planets than the empire can really keep track of, and more outlaw vessels than the empire would like to admit to. It's easy enough for a medic to find work, if she doesn't care too much what kind of work the ship itself is involved in.

[photoshooter]

Ohhh, so you're like an outlaw? Cool! We are, too. Kinda.