DAY 00

[thecomputer]

[Good afternoon, Citizens!

Your consciousness blurrily returns as the transport tube your comatose body was stored in opens up, admitting you access to an unfamiliar room. One wall is covered by vertical tubes, one occasionally sliding open to admit another confused person. The wall across from you has a sign saying "PROCEED TO CENTRAL HUB", with an arrow pointing at a red doorway in the corner. The wall to your right contains an unlabeled, dusty, and poorly-lit hallway with blue walls, floor, and ceiling. You can't see the end from here.

Somewhere on your person, you will find a thin, smartphone-sized object that wasn't there before. One side of it is lit up with a red background and a number of disabled menu items. Most of the screen is taken up by another message saying "PROCEED TO CENTRAL HUB".

What is this place, anyway? And who are these people stumbling in through the transport tube array?]

[[Beyond the three prompts below, anyone may start their own prompts to mingle or go off and do their own thing or whatever else they want!]]

Comments

[alchemicals]

[...Okay. So. Primary assessment of the situation: this is going to get really interesting, really fast. And from the look of it, it's a good sort of interesting, and his idea of a good sort of interesting is never a good sort of interesting for anyone else, so this is going to be wonderful and we will all go together when we go.

For the time being, though? Enclosed spaces have never been anything that he's particularly thrilled about, let's put it that way, and he's got to do something with himself lest he get a bit agitated.

He's not bothering with the mundane things (like figuring out how food works around here, claiming a damn bedroom, actually doing things that might be beneficial in any way, shape or form) because as far as he's concerned that's all secondary; for the time being he's pacing the corridors, his hand trailing lightly along the wall next to him. His eyes are half-lidded; he seems pretty lost in thought, all things considered.

Granted, when he's not there he may be making an attempt to socialize, albeit a bit of an awkward one; don't be surprised if he collides with you at some point in time. Literally collides, though the hit is gentle; nothing more than an accident, someone walking into you because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.]

Wow, sorry about that –

[The apology is rushed and seems a bit too flippant for its own good, but at the very least he'll have reached out for your arm to make sure that you're steady on your feet.

His touch lingers for about half a second too long, which is definitely a thing, but hey, maybe he's just an awkward kind of guy.]

[cantarellacookie]

It's all right.

[The dark, purple-haired girl give him a tiny smile, her expression pleasantly blank. Meanwhile, the tiny monkey-shaped mouse (mouse-sized monkey?) on her shoulder gesticulates angrily.

If she's bothered by the prolonged touch, she doesn't seem to show it.]

[alchemicals]

[It good that she's not bothered, because what that touch is telling him actually gives him pause for a bit too long. What the hell - ]

And who might you be?

[cantarellacookie]

[That's certainly a magic sword--or at least sword-in-potentia--stuck inside her chest, yes. Among any other anomalies he might pick up from something not-quite-human manifesting in a human body.]

Anthy Himemiya. And this is Chuchu, my friend.

[The monkey-mouse--which is wearing a tie and a single gold hoop earing, by the way--chuus irritably.]

[alchemicals]

Hey, that's pretty cute. It's a chimera, right?

[Albeit a kind of tiny one.]

[cantarellacookie]

He's a monkey-mouse. Aren't classical chimeras goat, lion, and snake?

[Chuchu stops glaring at this strange bumping man. He seems to appreciate the compliment. Anthy's own mild expression hasn't really changed.]

[alchemicals]

"Classical"...?

[He's smiling, though, a bit of a laugh behind his words. The sort of sound that usually implies an apology, though he's not offering anything of the sort.]

I don't think we're on the same page.

[cantarellacookie]

From Greek mythology. But perhaps we aren't.

[alchemicals]

[...fuck's a greek]

Where I'm from, they're what happens when you take two similar but fundamentally different things and meld them together. "Marrying" them, in what's probably the most inappropriate usage of that term I've ever heard. So as far as I can tell, your friend definitely qualifies.

[cantarellacookie]

[Her small smile gets ever-so-slightly less small. As bride of the roses, she can think of a few odd uses of the marriage metaphor herself.]

I guess he would, then. [She reaches up to scritch the monkey-mouse between his ears.]

[alchemicals]

Did you make him yourself?

[...Kimbley you can't just]

[cantarellacookie]

[Anthy doesn't reply to the question, just keeps scritching the monkey-mouse. Her smile is definitely bigger than that it was a minute ago, though.

(Sorry, Kimbley, but no one outside of maybe the BePapas knows where Chuchu comes from.)]

[alchemicals]

[...ohhhh, that thing is totally illegal, got it.]

...Not like it's any of my business.

[cantarellacookie]

He's a very good friend. Aren't you, Chuchu?

[Chuchu makes a happy "chuu!" of assent.]

[thefaceofjustice]

[Bobby is pretty broad-chested as most AA characters are and barely budges when he's bumped into. But he does gape in exaggerated shock.]

Oh no, I should be the one to apologize! I must not have been looking where I was going. It's pretty dark in here...

[Well, he's wearing sunglasses indoors.]

Uh. [Noticing the hand lingering on his arm.] Do you need help walking somewhere? Can do! Just the other day I helped an old lady cross a street!

[alchemicals]

[...sir...

Granted, that last part gets a laugh out of him, so well done, you; he pulls his hand away, holding it up in a standard "no harm meant" gesture, the circular tattoo on his palm becoming clearly visible as he does so.]

Relax, relax, I'm not even thirty yet. You'll be the first I call when the grey hairs start showing up, though.

[thefaceofjustice]

I believe that would make you younger than me, actually...

[Smiles brightly and salutes.]

The name's Detective Bobby Fulbright. In justice we trust!

[alchemicals]

Zolf J Kimbley, and...if you say so.

[No, really, what...okay then.]

So I don't suppose you remember volunteering for this little exercise either?

[thefaceofjustice]

Nope, I haven't a clue how I wound up in this mess. What do you make of it, Mr. Kimbley?

[alchemicals]

[He just shoves his hands in his pockets at that, shrugging a bit.]

Me? I'm afraid all the technology here's a bit beyond me. So if you're looking for answers, I'm not your guy.