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

STRANGE

[personalityquarks]

[With their bag of medical supplies, Strange is quick to move into the group of new arrivals, looking for anyone who may be injured. Those in the group who are not human, however, seem to draw almost as much of the android's attention.]

[stormkingofshepherds]

[Well, Nathaniel's got some pretty bad burn scars all over his body, although they all look old. He does have a giant flytrap Pokemon floating next to him, though, peering curiously at the androids.]

...look after the younger ones first.

[personalityquarks]

[Strange pauses to look him over anyway.]

If nothing is troubling you, then I have no reason to be concerned.

[But the way he says that, it almost sounds like something is.]

But if the scars are causing you pain, that's still a problem.

[stormkingofshepherds]

...I'm used to it. [As he speaks, he starts lilting to the side a bit, and Macy immediately moves to support him, making him groan slightly.] ...I'm fine. I just need to lie down.

[personalityquarks]

That's hardly fine.

[Strange comes over without a moment's hesitation to support him as well. As might be expected of an android, they're quite a bit stronger than a human.]

I'm afraid we don't have any kind of infirmary set up yet, but there are apartments on one of the levels below if you need a more quiet environment.

[stormkingofshepherds]

[Well, that's kind of odd to experience. While he's grateful, all Strange gets is a slight relieved sigh from his mouth.]

...just tell me how to get there, then.

[personalityquarks]

There's an elevator through the main doors.

[Strange nods in that direction.]

The apartments are on level three. ...And don't think I won't be checking up on you and your friend there once I've looked over any wounded here. I'm quite curious about an ambulatory plant species that doesn't originate in the Fissures themselves.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Here's one who isn't human, Strange. He's taller than most of the humans here, lanky and a little stretched-looking, and his skin is a dull, ashy gray, matching his shaggy hair. His face is weathered, from experience as much as age, but he moves easily for someone who is probably pretty old. When he thinks he's not being looked at, he keeps sticking out the tip of his tongue-- it's longer and thinner than any human tongue would be-- as if tasting the air, like a lizard.

One eye is cloudy, like it's blind. That might make a way to initiate a conversation, unless Strange is happy to just march up and start asking him questions about his species.

[personalityquarks]

Please, that is exactly what they're going to do.

"Excuse me." Strange is, at least, polite enough to very definitely not come up on the possibly-blind side. "You don't appear to be human. May I ask what, exactly...?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I'm a Raksura," Stone answers readily enough, looking Strange up and down with some interest of his own. He's never seen anything like them before. "That's a shapeshifting aerial hunter, from the Three Worlds. Not actually three worlds as you people would understand them. I'd show you my other form, but it's pretty big, and I don't want to scare anybody."

[personalityquarks]

"Ah, yes, of course." That's not the face of someone who is definitely disappointed, no sir. "Do you have any particular dietary needs, allergies, or anything else that we should be aware of? I'm afraid the station is largely set up for humans."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I haven't found anything I can't eat yet," Stone says, fairly sure that they won't have the one flower here that can poison a Raksura, and even if they did, they probably won't boil it half a dozen times and serve it to him. They aren't really considered edible by most species.

He considers, then adds, "Though I'm not fond of pasted insects. Too grainy. The only thing I think that's different is I eat more than most human-types." He's glad he picked up that word the last place he got kidnapped to, to be honest, or he'd be more annoyed than he already is by the whole thing.

[personalityquarks]

"Quantity shouldn't be an issue, at least. We have a decent amount of garden space and quite a bit of food stored that was discovered on Fissure expeditions." At least this one will be easy, it looks like.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Hi hello guess who isn't human and also, despite being in apparently perfectly good health, is making a beeline for the android with the medkit.]

Pardon me - Strange, wasn't it?

[personalityquarks]

Yes.

[Strange glances Jetshard over briefly, and then slower and in more detail - clearly trying to pin down what, exactly, the differences are.]

What is it?

[dubiouslychthonic]

My name's Sawbones Jetshard, and I've served as ship's doctor on several independent vessels, most recently the Fortuitous.

[Not that that necessarily means anything to them, but it's better than giving no credentials at all, and honestly, standing on an unknown world surrounded by aliens, it makes Jetshard feel a little better to restate her recent qualifications.]

I don't have any particular knowledge of alien physiology, but I'm well experienced in field medicine among my own kind. If I can be of help, I would like to be.

[personalityquarks]

Oh! That would be most helpful. There don't seem to be many wounded here for the time being, but far be it from me to turn down experienced help.

[Or, really, even inexperienced help. They can teach as they go.]

Perhaps we could exchange notes? I'm primarily familiar with the physiology of humans and similar species, which you don't appear to be.

[Your horns are like right in their face, Jetshard, given the height difference.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She grins. Her teeth are not particularly pronounced by troll standards, but still, there's little chance of mistaking them for human dentition.] Not particularly similar, from what I've gathered, no. I'm a troll. We're insectoid pseudo-chordates native to the planet Alternia.

I believe I've got some reference materials saved on my tablet. Might be a little short on the basics, since it's mostly things from continuing education schoolfeeds [- and, at that, continuing education schoolfeeds she mostly downloaded off file-sharing hubs on the Troll Dark Web, thank the Mother for legitimate mediliquidators with a disregard for literature confidentiality legislation -] but I'd be happy to share. And I'd appreciate the opportunity to study up on humans.

[personalityquarks]

I know a little about insects, at least. It's no more piecemeal than some of the rest of what I have. We've always been a bit at the mercy of whatever the Fissures give us in that regard.

[Internet piracy, the collection of whatever falls into the cracks between worlds... Really, what's the difference?]

For all I know, I've got something on your species and I'm just not recognizing it offhand. For humans, I know for sure I have a collegiate level anatomy and physiology book, a reasonably complete list of substance interactions, and an anatomy diagram coloring book to start you out?

[foolishjustice]

[Well, he looks human enough, despite being absurdly magical. He's not injured, but he does look a bit tired.]

I just have a headache, I'm sure I'll be fine after a little bit of time outside of that...Fissure, was it?

[personalityquarks]

Fissures, yes. Any particular kind of headache - tension, sinus, so on?

[YOUR DOCTOR HAS PAIN MEDS.]

[foolishjustice]

I'm...not quite sure how to categorize it. It's a result of how reality is warped inside the Fissure. It was quite grating on some of my senses, somewhat similar to listening to several different radio stations at once.

[Aspirin would be greatly appreciated!]

[personalityquarks]

Hmm. Magical strain, maybe.

[Strange turns and shuffles and their bag, pulling out a case of pills.]

Are you on any other forms of medication?

[You should also maybe mention your HORRIBLE CAFFEINE ADDICTION.]

[foolishjustice]

Not unless you count caffeine.

[Hush, he is perfectly capable of managing his own horrible caffeine addiction.]

[personalityquarks]

[Well hey it can interfere with medication.]

No, that should be fine. Here, these should help. Take two now and the rest if it persists in an hour.

[No reason to be miserable, kid, take your pills.]