phantasmalrift | INTRO LOG

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:]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Maddie is a little startled - she hadn't realized somebody was right there, oops - but suddenly people being there that you didn't know was there is kind of something you get used to, so she doesn't show much surprise. ]

Oh, yeah. That's Zel. He's my, uh, seeing eye cat. [ On the table, Zel meows in agreement. Then, seeing Mercy pull her hand back, accepts the gesture as a token of surrender and nabs the slice of pizza. He actually takes it over to a plate on the edge of the table, close to where Maddie is.

Under her breath, the girl mutters, ] You didn't need to grab the pizza for me.

[Seeing eye cat. That sounds like an excuse you made up on the spot, Maddie. But sure, you know what, it might as well be a seeing eye cat. She's in another dimension.]

He's very well trained, especially for a cat. Where I'm from, cats are notoriously difficult creatures to tame.

[ That is the excuse she's been using for the last three years, thank you very much. ]

Where are you from? Uh.... northern Europe? [ Maddie can't exactly place the accent. ] Cats aren't usually for blind people in the US either, either, but they've been trained for other service animal roles so I was like, why not?

Close! Switzerland. Though I had been stationed in Iraq before arriving here.

[Ah, someone familiar with the layout of Earth! Angela's shoulders relax a bit, releasing tension she wasn't really aware she was carrying. The first slice of familiarity, really. Aside from the omnics-but-not-omnics that run the station. Of course this girl could be from a different Earth, so she's not jumping for joy yet.]

You may be the first person I've met here to be familiar with Earth.

Geography's probably not my strongest subject, for obvious reasons. But I am from Earth, yes.

[ She's moving a hand over to pizza to make sure Zel put it on the plate properly. ]

My name's Maddie. I'm from, uh, Florida. [ She doesn't know how well people from other countries would know of US states. Florida has Disney World though, so probably a moderately higher recognition factor. ]

[Oh Florida is easy to mentally place - it even sticks out. Like, literally. From the main bulk of the US.]

Angela, pleased to meet you Maddie. [She dips a little to be just above the cat's eye level.] And you, too, Zel.

That's an interesting name for a cat, actually. Does it have any specific significance?

[ Zel doesn't seem terribly interested in Mercy. Although he thinks of himself as Maddie's guardian, he tends to focus more on things that might be a threat, and Mercy neither radiates magical power or seems keen on picking on Maddie. Still, from an outsider's perspective, the fact he doesn't seem at all intimidated by a human getting down on his level - or even wary - might be a little odd. ]

It's short for Zelnothoglys, actually. Which is a mouthful, but it's from an audio book I had been listening to, so it was kind of stuck in my head at the time. [ Maddie, meanwhile, has had to use this excuse often enough. ]

[Cats not being terribly interested in her is part of the reason she likes them, to be honest. Dogs were a bit too needy, birds too noisy, fish too...pointless. But cats are just kind of nice, and there, and then sometimes you can pet them when they're being friendly but most of the time they're just not bothering you.]

[...anyway. Angela straightens up, oblivious to the lie, and laughs softly.]

It's very unique. The book must have been unique as well, to leave such an impression. How long have you had him?

It's been... hmm. Three years, going on four? I was twelve when [ he showed up ] I got him, so something like that.

[ Zel meows, as if to say "Hey, what about your pizza Maddie?" ] Ah... Zel, could you go see if they have any Hawaiian? [ He meows in response and patters off down the buffet table. Normal cat things. ]

You're a bit young to be hopping dimensions, aren't you?

[Honestly she thought you were like. 18, maybe? After a moment of consideration, she decides talking to a seeing eye cat is just as reasonable as anything else. To Zel, she adds:]

To the left.

[ As Zel patters off to find the pizza, Maddie shrugs to Mercy's question. ] It's not like I chose to come here. On my way home from school, turn a corner, and suddenly I'm in a forest.

Well, I don't plan on going to any more fissures, so it's not like it'll be dangerous here. And I'm pretty self-sufficient, so I shouldn't have to bother people around here, either. [ That's a big thing for Maddie! She hates being seen as a burden. She won't get underfoot, young or not.

Not that she considers herself particularly young, considering magical girls (and boys) get recruited in her world in their preteen or early teen years. But that's not something she really needs to bring up. ]

Well of course, none of us did, it seems.

[It had been a little joke, but also yeah, for real, nobody plans for suddenly Elsewhere.]

I had been on duty in Iraq, myself. Thankfully I wasn't with a patient.

[Come to think of it, there would be questions and a search and if she ever got back she may be considered a coward for running away from her duties. Nobody would believe she had spent the time in another realm. The thought sinks to her stomach and while Angela keeps a straight face, she feels real fear at the thought that she might not be strong enough to face the consequences of leaving so suddenly and coming back.]

Self sufficiency is good, but remember that you don't have to do everything alone. If you ever need help, feel free to come to me. I will either be in the medical bay or room 17.

INTRO LOG - APRIL/MAY 18

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