phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote in [community profile] phantasmalrift2018-02-12 06:00 am

IC INTRO - FEB

The first thing the new arrivals will see, as the sun sets, is a set of distant lights turning on - the roof of the Station, perched on the cliffs above the beach.

The next thing, probably, will be the exploratory drone, a flying chrome thing about the size of a horse, descending near them, wherever they are.

"I can't believe it spat out people this time," says a voice through the speakers - androgynous, somehow sounding young and old enough to be incredibly tired.

Another voice, almost identical but almost unmistakably that of a different speaker from the cheerful tone, says, "Worry about it later! Hey, do you want a ride?"

And with that, the door of the drone's cargo bay opens.

--> WELCOME, NEW ARRIVALS.


Drones drop characters off on the well-lit lower section of the roof, where a pair of tall, gangly humanoids meet them. The two are clearly artificial, formed of silver metal and white silicone, and perfectly identical... Except for their standing posture, which is very different.

The one on the right, a step further back, looks indisputably excited, and peers at the new arrivals curiously. The one on the left has a bag slung over their shoulder, clearly thrown together at the last moment and not completely closed. They take a step forward and say, in a calm tone, "Hello. My name is Strange. Do you have any injured?"

A few minutes after the characters start to arrive, a third android bursts out of the door into the station, exclaiming (in the same voice as the rest), "Here! Wear these!" before shoving a purple scarf at Strange and a red scarf at the curious one. The new android is already wearing an orange scarf.

Once all characters have been brought up, the remaining three androids arrive on the roof, wearing green, dark blue, and white scarves. The one in white hangs back a little from the others, while the one in blue carries themselves with authority.

"Welcome to Keystone Station," says the one in blue, in a voice that must have the volume enhanced to carry across the entire roof. "You may call me Up. My siblings and I have been maintaining the station in the absence of our creators, and researching the phenomenon that brought you here, which we call Fissures. ...I am sorry to say that we have no way to return you to your worlds at this time, so please accept our hospitality."

They bow, low at the waist, and that seems to be a signal to the rest of the group to break up and join the confused, milling group of new arrivals.

--> INDIVIDUAL NPC TOP-LEVELS

Strange - Charm - Top - Bottom - Up - Down

--> THE REST OF THE STATION

Once explanations have been made as much as they can be, the newly arrived characters are set loose to explore the station itself. The labs are currently closed off, as is the door down to the generator level, but characters are welcome to explore anywhere else they please.

The androids, too, depart the roof, each setting off with a distinct task in mind. Charm and Bottom can be found on the lowest accessible level, the two of them working magic on stored seeds long into the night in order to tempt the infant plants into growing. Up and Strange vanish into the labs, (which open to characters the next day, the biology lab having been converted to a medical bay, along with the generator level).

Top and Down, meanwhile, make their home in the central gathering room of the residential floor for the night. Down is distributing network devices from a case at their side, while Top is noting down character housing arrangements and who is taking which of the station's rooms.

There's also a table set up near them, which is covered in a variety of snack foods that characters can grab and munch on before they head off for the night. Most of the packages have sand or dried salt clinging to them, indicating well enough their origins, and the expiry dates are of course all over the place even on the snacks characters might recognize... But it's certainly something to eat, isn't it?

--> THE NEXT MORNING

When characters come into the common room the next day, there's a set of large boxes on either side of the couch-filled lower area. One side is full of clothes of approximately modern Earth origin, loosely sorted by fit. A note tacked to the boxes says Limit yourself to one outfit, please!

The boxes on the other side of the room are empty. A clip-board set on a white folding table in the middle has a piece of paper and a black pen strung to it;

Trading Post

Found something you don't want? Leave it here in case someone else does.

If you're looking for something specific, scribble it down on this pad with your name!

Finally, those who adventure into either kitchen will find a box of plain donuts left out on the counters.

TRADING POST
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

Commons

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-15 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Anything interesting?

[Jetshard's mostly just passing through the commons at the moment, but there's not really anything to be gained by not reaching out to the others stranded at the station, right? And the girl in the hat quite clearly doesn't have much occupying her attention at the moment. The troll figures she might as well make conversation.]
have_hat_will_travel: (Sigh)

Re: Commons

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-15 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really.

Not much of anything here, honestly. It's as boring as a Hell.
dubiouslychthonic: (Skeptical)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-15 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Interesting turn of phrase. Most people I know would figure "Hell" to be a pretty singular place.

[Also not a boring one, but as with English, Alternian does tend to use "as hell" as a general-use intensifier, so that doesn't stand out as much as the implication that there might be multiples.]
have_hat_will_travel: (Curious)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-16 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
The Nine Hells are kinda a singular place?

They suck, regardless.
dubiouslychthonic: (you did not just say that)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-16 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
That's not a cosmology I'm familiar with, I'm afraid.

[Not that she's ever been particularly religious anyway.]
have_hat_will_travel: (Au)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-16 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
... Yeah, I've been getting things like that a lot lately.

Comes with the weird-worlds situation.
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-17 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Jetshard chuckles, and rakes a hand through the cropped hair just below the base of one horn.]

I keep tripping over things I think I can take for granted, myself. I'd like to think that everyone's having a hard time with that sort of thing, but... [She shrugs.] I think it's likely that some of us are outliers even in such a motley group.
have_hat_will_travel: (Down and sad)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-17 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
Tell me about it. I'm ageless, so... Gettign close to anyone is kinda.
dubiouslychthonic: (go on)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-17 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Wildly disparate lifespans are a bitch.

[It's said matter of factly, a truism in Alternian society. Most of the upper classes learn to stop getting attached to their much-shorter-lived subordinates sooner or later.]
have_hat_will_travel: (Wistful)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-18 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
Exactly.

[And Pidonus doesn't dare mention the solution she has...]
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-18 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
Well, to tackle the more immediate issue... [...because wow that got heavy, didn't it?] I think I have a few books in my sylladex I'd be happy to loan you, if overwrought swashbuckling stories would be something you're interested in.
have_hat_will_travel: (Curious)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-18 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Your... Sylladex?

[She pronounced it right at least.]
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-19 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
Modular personal inventory system. [The troll makes a small gesture and an array of blue-bordered cards half-materializes in midair, most bearing pictures and labels of her various belongings - changes of clothes, protective eyewear, med kit, a small circular device with a large knife taped to the top which is, for some reason, labeled "Martinet Wishgore the Motorized Scourcontraption."

She makes a grasping gesture through a card bearing the image of a short stack of paperback books, and the books materialize in her hand as the rows of cards flicker out of sight. Jetshard turns the books over in her hands, inspecting them, and grins.]
Ah, yes, I finished one of these a couple of nights ago.
have_hat_will_travel: (Huhwhat?)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-19 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
... Some kind of. Belt of Many Pockets like routine?

That's... Whoa.
dubiouslychthonic: (Skeptical)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-20 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Her smile takes a distinctly sheepish turn.] I won't pretend I understand how the technology works. I'm just glad it does.
have_hat_will_travel: (Chill out and relax!)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-20 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm. Fair enough. I certainly couldn't explain a Bag of Holding properly, that's not the kind of magic I learned after all.
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-20 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
And I was always more interested in medical science than in quantumspacial engineering.

[There's a brief flurry of captchalogue cards as she stashes the other two books - when she's not showing off, Jetshard can navigate her sylladex more or less by muscle memory. She holds onto the one she's already determined she's finished with.]
have_hat_will_travel: (Huhwhat?)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-21 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm. I guess; I'm a Bard, so I don't get 9th-level spells. Or not as many as a Wizard, at least. So the comparison seems apt.
dubiouslychthonic: (Skeptical)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-02-27 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the rating system for - ah - spells.

At any rate, if you'd like to borrow a book [And she holds up the paperback; the front cover bears the image of a young troll man with conveniently risque battle damage to his tight-fitting uniform, and an awful lot of text.] I'd be happy to lend it. Might fill a few hours.
have_hat_will_travel: (Chibi Smile)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-02-28 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm. That style of cover... Very interesting.

No leather on the binding, either. That's different.

[Yes, the bookbinding technique interests her more than the dude on the cover. Then again, she's probably seen people like that in her story, so...]
dubiouslychthonic: (Laugh)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-03-02 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
Leather-bound books tend to be more of art objects where I'm from. This kind of thing isn't as sturdy but it's a lot cheaper to produce. And it's not like anyone expects a trashy space-drama to be passed down as some kind of heirloom.
have_hat_will_travel: (Au)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-03-03 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
... The fact that your world can literally have different grades of book, as opposed to everything being a religious text or for some government or academic purpose, is... Wow.
dubiouslychthonic: (sorry were you still talking)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-03-04 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Really? What does your world use for... storytelling, I guess? Recording or transmitting narratives for entertainment? Do you not go in for that sort of thing?
have_hat_will_travel: (Chibi Smile)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-03-05 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I'm a Bard. So storytelling like that is my job. Mostly through song and my memory.
dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-03-06 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
A primarily oral tradition then. Fascinating. Are books expensive to produce, or are they just not the done thing?

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