INTRO LOG - APRIL/MAY 18

[phantasmods]

Eventually, Charm starts herding people towards the parked exploratory drone, a few at a time, mostly people who have finished their noodles or other business. "It's almost nightfall at the Station," he says, "and with this many new arrivals, we're going to have to make multiple trips."

(For those who might ask, he also explains that they've chosen not to stabilize the noodle shop for the time being, as the other androids will almost certainly want to speak to Viella, and have no other way of doing so, due to the fact that they don't dream. Aside from that small region, the Fissure is largely stable.)

It in fact takes four trips total to get everyone to the Station. Those of you who don't fall asleep on the way there - the minute you hit stable reality, the inability to sleep vanishes, and most will be hit with a wave of exhaustion - will find that the Station Annex, a building off to the side of the main station, has been finished, at least outwardly.

By the time the first group arrives, the sun is dipping towards the horizon; by the time the last gets there, it's set, leaving a few pink-tinted clouds in the sky. The drones drop everyone off (and that is everyone, even though of you who have fallen asleep) on the observation deck, where those of you who didn't get your fill of noodles will find several buffet-style tables set up with...

...Pizza? Yeah, pizza, in damn near every variety you can think of, including a few things that only loosely fall under the heading of "pizza." Half a table is full of calzones of various varieties; another significant chunk is things that are just desserts in the general shape of pizza, including a couple of iced cinnamon pastries, a pair of brightly-colored "pizzas" made of canned fruit over cream cheese, and a two-layer cake that's just decorated to look like a pizza, with strawberry jam and round slices of strawberry 'pepperoni' sandwiching yellow icing. Finally, the last third of the third table is just three baskets of breadsticks with varying amounts of cheese and garlic, accompanied by two turrens of dipping sauce (one white, one red) and a tower of little plastic dipping cups.

(Those who opt to head directly to bed will find that the banquet gets packed up and moved back to the kitchens around midnight, though it stays warm under a stasis enchantment for roughly the next day before someone packs the remainder into the fridge.)

In the common room, meanwhile, the usual boxes of clothes and trading post sign are set up. Unclaimed rooms can be claimed by writing your name in on a list set up next to the boxes, on what seems to be a broken music stand with a large ROOMS AVAILABLE sign hanging from it. There is also a rather hastily assembled, hand-poked Braille version of the sheet (with the paper punched through in one or two places).

Those who go looking will find that the androids are somewhat more absent than they usually are after an expedition; save obviously for Charm, and Strange who arrives on the deck as usual not long after, you'll have to go looking. Considering the amount of the station you have available, they could be just about anywhere... But perhaps it'd be worth checking over in that new building...?

[Mod note: Strange is the only NPC with a top-level this round, but others may respond to your top-levels, especially in the Annex areas! Consider it a fun surprise. c:]

Comments

[personalityquarks]

Yes, there's a man a few years older than you with some rather terrible eye scarring. I'm sorry, the station wasn't really designed with that in mind, we've been rather furiously running around trying to make accommodations, but if there's anything specific we can do to help, please don't be afraid to ask.

1/2

[blackestwitch]

That's interesting. I rarely get to meet other people like me. [ She actually looks a little pleased? Even though horrible eye scarring sounds horrible. But hey, gotta look on the bright side of things even if ur blind. ]

But actually, I did have a question. Or, request rather. I need a little help setting up the, uh, computer? In the room that I hope I signed up for right. I can't exactly set up text-to-speech or speech-to-text.... without having those set up first, ironically.

[blackestwitch]

...Actually, does it even have a microphone for speech-to-text? I could make do with a keyboard, maybe, but it seemed like a touchscreen.

[personalityquarks]

It does! We have that much prepared, at least. We also have portable devices hooked to the Station's network with the same, and Down is already working on coding together something that can read text aloud for you if you point the phone's camera at it.

[blackestwitch]

"Portable devices"? Like a phone?

Oh. I, ah, have an app like that on mine. One that identifies things by using the phone's camera? It's a little unreliable, but.... Actually, come to think of it, I think it needs to be connected to the internet to work.

[personalityquarks]

We can connect you to the station's network, but there isn't really an 'internet' here beyond that. The application Down's working on is similar to the translation magic around here - it should serve you without even that connection.

[blackestwitch]

You have translation magic? That's interesting... huh.

I think I'd like to have my phone connected to the local network. And, uh, if 'Down' can get that app working, that'd be useful, too. [ She honestly didn't get much use out of her own camera-identifying app, except in distinguishing currency, but if it worked better, she might. ] That seems like a lot of work, though. Tell them not to rush it on my account.

[personalityquarks]

If we didn't, we probably wouldn't be able to communicate with you at all. There's a wide variety of languages spoken around here - you can tell the difference if you listen closely.

And please, don't be concerned about it. I think most of us feel bad for not having considered the idea beforehand.

[blackestwitch]

[ Translation magic is... a lot closer to the kind of thing Maddie is used to dealing with. That's fine, that's fine.

And really, Maddie doesn't like having to be a burden to people. Or androids. Are androids considered people? Questions for another time. ] It's fine, really. Most places I've been to are less accessible than this place already is. Just having that room sign-in sheet in braille is more than most places do.

But, uh, thanks. For the consideration. [ She also doesn't want to seem ungrateful, though. ]

[personalityquarks]

That doesn't mean that it's something you should have to deal with when you don't have to. It will probably take a day or two for us to get everything set up, but it's hardly your fault.

[blackestwitch]

[ Maddie is very not comfortable with people going out of their way for her, but she's also smart enough to know that, most of the time, it'll only make things more awkward to fight it if they've already started. ] I feel bad enough asking for help to get my computer set up. But I mean.... all right. Thank you.

[ And to avoid making things more awkward, have a quick subject change! ] My name is Maddie, by the way. Maddie Curie.

[personalityquarks]

I'm Strange - I serve as the head of the Station's medical staff, now that it seems that there's more than two of us. It's nice to meet you, Maddie.