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

KITCHENS

[personalityquarks]

[There's the sound of hurried footsteps and wooden beads hitting something as they swing freely, before a voice - the same as Strange's and yet not, the tone different and a little panicked - speaks up.]

Ah - I'm sorry, I was just coming to label those for you!

[This is in fact a flustered-seeming android carrying a Braille labelmaker.]

[blackestwitch]

[ Maddie pauses what she's doing - an open jar of peanuts easily larger than her head in her hands. That voice was... the android's, right? She could have sworn they had a bell, though. ]

Label? [ On the counter, her cat meows something. A look of recognition comes over her features, but she phrases what Zel told her as a question. ] Do you actually have a braille label-maker?

[personalityquarks]

It's a multipurpose one. It does regular labels, Braille, and a number of symbols.

[Being an android means that you don't calm down by taking deep breaths, but the voice seems to be settling down, at least.]

But we only have the one, and I was upstairs labelling the labs first...

[blackestwitch]

You have labs, too?

....I'll probably be staying away from those. I'd probably kill myself, even if everything is labelled with "Don't touch, stupid."

Kitchen is marginally safer, and also marginally more necessary for, you know. Me, personally.

[personalityquarks]

Of course we do, this was originally intended as a research station... One of them serves as the infirmary and medical bay if you need anything, but Strange said you've already met them, so.

[The android takes a step towards the cupboards and there's a clatter at they set the label-maker on the counter and start pulling things out to label.]

We actually spend most of our time in there, so it's not as though they'd be unoccupied.

[blackestwitch]

[ That's well and good, but she focuses on the most important thing like a laser. ] ...You're not Strange? [ Oh. Huh. ] That explains the... bead sound. [ She guesses it makes sense that androids might sound alike. ]

[personalityquarks]

Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm Up; there's six of us in total. We all tried to find things to wear that sound different - we were already wearing different colored scarves, but obviously that won't help you.

[blackestwitch]

[ It sounds like she's really giving these androids a lot of trouble. Cool. ] Thanks. That'll be helpful, now that I know to listen for that.

[ Quick, subject change! ] What do you guys do up in the labs?

[personalityquarks]

Well, I mostly do research on the Fissure effects in mine, but it varies quite a bit. Charm does all sorts of magical experiments in his, and Top's is full of all sorts of mechanical projects.

[blackestwitch]

The.... Fissure? [ Somebody has neglected to explain some things to Maddie. ] Is that something to do with that dream forest?

[personalityquarks]

Yes, that's correct. They're areas of distorted reality - that one had a bent towards dream magic, but the one closest to the Station had a number of light-related effects, and the one out on the reef is mostly water related, as you might imagine.

[blackestwitch]

Distorted reality... [ That sounds! Really familiar!!! But she didn't do this okay! ] Huh. That sounds like, ah, what one of the magical girls back home could do. Probably not as large, though.

[ And a quick subject change, so she doesn't get questioned about that too much- ] About how many of these Fissures are there around here?

[personalityquarks]

In all honesty? We've lost count - there's a good number of minor ones that are much smaller than the forest or even the shoreline. Within a day's foottravel, there's two more major ones that we know of - the reef north of the station, and the city across the lake from the forest.

[blackestwitch]

And even more beyond that, huh? [ Huh.

Maddie's mulling this over in her head. She might be able to help out as Black Witch -- but how could she do that while maintaining a secret identity? She'd have to mull it over more. ]

[personalityquarks]

Quite a few more, yes. I'm hopeful about our progress, but I don't expect that we'll be able to stabilize everything before we're able to find a way for you all to return home.