IC INTRO - FEB

[phantasmods]

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

Comments

[founderinglight]

[...Okay yeah the squinting is getting a bit odd, here.]

Is something the matter?

[foolishjustice]

Not quite, but...your soul and your body look different from one another. It's a little disorienting to someone who can see both.

[founderinglight]

...Do they, now? Hmm.

[Clearly someone didn't know that about himself.]

[foolishjustice]

Your soul looks...rather heavily armored. It really doesn't look much like your physical body at all.

[founderinglight]

-Ah. That's... unusual, but explicable, at least. Concerning that the ring would have such an effect, but not wholly out of the blue, so to speak.

[foolishjustice]

I don't suppose there's a way to undo it?

[founderinglight]

I can't even tell, myself. Wouldn't have the first idea, and I don't relish the thought of messing around with my very soul.

[This is a perfectly understandable reaction to the idea.]

But as the effect is likely older even than that paramour you mentioned, I doubt there's much of anything to be done.

[foolishjustice]

Well, I can probably get used to it. It just makes it a little difficult to make out details of what you actually look like.

[founderinglight]

I suppose it would, at that. I can probably sketch a decent reference, if you think it would help. Though I haven't done any self-portraits in a very long time...

[foolishjustice]

I do remember what you look like from the Fissure. It compressed the layers of reality in a way that compromised my extra senses.

[founderinglight]

Really? Hmm. Is there anything you can do for it on your end, then?

[foolishjustice]

I could shift my vibe so that I can only see the RG...I haven't been entirely on the physical plane since I got these powers, though.

[founderinglight]

Could be worth touching your feet to the ground anyway, then, so to speak. Keep in touch with the mortals and so on.

[foolishjustice]

It doesn't normally interfere with dealing with people on either side, but...

[There's no real visual indicator as he adjusts his vibe, but he does seem to have an easier time finding Izunia's face.]

There. At least I know I can still use my powers on this frequency, I trained with one of them with my vibe even lower than this.

[founderinglight]

[Ah, yes, and now you have a view of a tall man in his thirties still holding up a pair of black skinny jeans.]

That's good, at least. Everything I'd expect to be able to do has worked normally so far, but I'm not familiar with... 'frequency' in the sense you're using it.

[foolishjustice]

It's a term we use to refer to the different layers of reality. Shifting between them is a little like tuning a radio. Under normal circumstances, it's easier to use the powers I gained after dying on higher frequencies, where normally only ghosts can exist.

After what I felt in the Fissure, though, I'm not entirely sure how much that will be true here.

[founderinglight]

Hmm. Might be worth giving it a dry run, so to speak.

[Yeah you know what he's keeping these. Izunia folds the jeans in half and drops them into the Armiger.]

Though probably not anything too destructive indoors.

[foolishjustice]

[He glances around, making sure a certain specific someone isn't nearby, before manifesting his wings. He looks a little surprised when it actually works.]

I...didn't expect that to actually work. My wings shouldn't be visible on this frequency at all.

[founderinglight]

Stranger things, as they say.

[Are there any black shirts in this box...]

...Regarding the matter we were discussing before - I shouldn't by rights have a body at all.

[foolishjustice]

[He stretches his wings experimentally before making them vanish again. Better to not risk Makoto seeing them...]

That's quite strange. I was left with my soul and body being the same, but...were you ordinarily capable of interacting with the living?

[founderinglight]

...Only anyone who risked putting on the Ring of the Lucii.

[Hey, yeah, remember that whole judgement by the ancestors thing they were talking about back in the Fissure?]

[foolishjustice]

That's still...odd. I would understand it more if the frequency compression of the Fissure had shifted you to the RG, but in that case you wouldn't have a body, simply a tangible soul...

[founderinglight]

This body is also significantly younger than my last one, considering that I died a natural death at the age of seventy-four. Not that I'm about to complain.

[Oh hey that looks like a promising chunk of black fabric.]

[foolishjustice]

Is this how you would have appeared to anyone wearing that ring?

[founderinglight]

This?

[He gestures at himself.]

No. What you saw earlier is what most would have seen - the Kings of Old, clad in armor of light, and so forth. The only thing significant about me being this age is...

[...He trails off and does not start again, instead looking troubled.]