// EVENT: STATION-WARMING PARTY

[aqdidit]

It's like a long, long blink, and then, pop - the uncomfortable feeling of squeezing the very last stubborn little bit of toothpaste out of the tube, but you're the toothpaste.

And then you're sitting in a chair in a strange bar, with several people you've never seen before in your life. The light is low, the sort of comfortable level reserved for comradely conversations around some nachos and beers. The architecture of the bar itself looks industrial - someone might be forgiven for thinking it's located in a reclaimed warehouse or something of the like.

It's not. (Not unless you want to call a repurposed mining space station a warehouse.)

There's food on the tables, and drinks - much of it looks like staple bar food (is that deep-fried mac and cheese???), but some of it is a little unfamiliar (is that a bowl of worms? are they moving???????????).

After you have a moment to look around in sheer bewilderment, a man in what seems to be a uniform stands on the dais in front of a stained-glass mural and raises a glass. "A toast. To the new crew of Deep Space Nine. By which I mean, of course, all of you!" He chuckles. "You hardly look like a crew, though. Why, you're all out of uniform!" He snaps, and you suddenly find yourself wearing a uniform like his. "Where are my manners. You don't even have your marching orders." A handheld tablet appears on the table in front of you, between a glass of something blue and what's definitely a basket of loaded potato skins. And it's definitely yours, because it has your name on it. "There! Now you all have your PADDs. Read them at your leisure."

He takes a sip of what's in his glass and makes a face. "Ugh! Kanar. Terrible stuff, don't know how the Cardassians drink it." There's a small flash of light, and it's replaced with something bright teal. "Much better. Now, the Romulans, they know how to make a spirit."

Then he sits down in the chair up on the dais and leans back so it's only on two legs, looking down his nose at everyone. "Now. I imagine that all of you have some questions for me. So to avoid any blah-blah boring repetition, I am Q, and this is Federation Starbase Deep Space Nine - your home for the foreseeable future. Don't ask me any boring questions like 'ohhh why am I here ohhh', you can find most of what you need to know on your PADD. You're here because the station needed a crew and I thought you'd be a good fit."¹ Q twirls his wrist and a pocketwatch appears in his hand. "Yes, I can dilly-dally long enough to answer some questions. At my discretion." He snaps it shut, an oddly final sound.

Once Q is done holding court, he grins. "Oh, you're going to have such fun, mes amis," he says, and vanishes in a flash of light, leaving everyone to mix and mingle. The bar is unattended if anyone is interested in trying some amateur mixology, and Q has thoughtfully taped up instructions on how to use the replicators.

THIS IS NOT MY SLEEP NUMBER
When the party is starting to wind down, information for your quarters flashes on your PADD - including the location in the Habitat Ring and how to get there. They're spartan and lacking creature comforts, but your original clothes are there, neatly folded on the bed, along with anything else you may have had with you upon arrival. The PADD periodically chimes with information that you need to know, like how to work the sonic shower, or that the station runs on the 26-hour Bajoran day. It's almost like the PADD knows what's going on...? Eh, it's about as creepily invasive as Alexa, anyway. And speaking of Alexa, the PADD also provides a crash course in how to interact with the station's computer! Which is essentially plain-language audio querying. Ask Ms. Majel Barret Roddenberry the computer anything you like and she will help you.

A message appears from Q later on everyone's PADDs, unable to be replied to:

It'll take about a week before they finally figure out how to get transmissions through the chroniton field.

You've got that much time to get a handle on things.

:)

-Q

---

¹ This is a lie. He picked you just for shits and giggles.

Comments

[toughbutsticky]

Peter gives her another look before grabbing the nearest piece. She was right. He... was sad. Or at least, sad would be the easiest way to describe it. Maybe lonely. Or some mixture of things that he was trying to keep shoved down inside because he had to keep doing things, to keep getting up every day. Now trying to figure out what to do now that he was stuck in a weird space station. There was no time to break. But, at this point, it was almost like a constant for him. He hadn't even realized that's how he looked and even with the food in front of him still looked. But, upon grabbing the pizza his expression lightened just slightly.

And it's... warm, well hot, but not hot enough to burn the roof of his mouth. Not that he wouldn't have bounced back from something so small. He had definitely dealt with a number of times where he had done that. And it was good. It wasn't, exactly, like the places he had frequented back home but it reminded him enough of those family-owned hole-in-the-wall pizza shops. He took another bite, then another, and before he knew it the slice had disappeared from his hand. That was the funny thing about having both a crazy metabolism and finally having access to all the food after a long period without. It made Peter more of a vacuum than anything else. Unless it was that coffee. That wasn't so good. Even if he was used to drinking the burnt kind. The mug now sat to the side, abandoned.

"It's good," he eventually said after inhaling the slice he had taken and right before he helped himself to another and took a huge bite, "It's good still. Even if it's not quite right."

[flashedglass]

He seemed liker a typical teenage boy, inhaling pizza just like her friends back home. She grabbed her own slice and downed it almost as quickly. Yeah, not as good as the place on Broadway, but still good. She reached for another.

"It's nice to see someone my own age, if we have to be stuck here, at least we aren't alone and can eat pizza, right?"

Clarissa glanced back at the other people scattered around, wondering how Q expected them to run an entire station with so few.

"I'm Clarissa."

[toughbutsticky]

"Yeah, at least. I mean this could be a lot worse, I guess." He started, nodding, thinking about the ship he had almost got beamed up on and then later snuck onto when he was almost forced back down to Earth - that ship was basically empty, dark, and cold. There wasn't, as far as Peter had come to learn, a room like this. Just weird-looking aliens, one of which looked like Squidward, "At least there's pizza and people. And as far as we know it's not like this place seems to be built for anything bad?"

Peter hadn't really seen too many of the people they were in the room with. Clarissa among them. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see someone who was around his age. He was used to dealing with adults, and getting used to living like a less than functional adult, and he supposes he had forgotten how young he was for a moment.

"I'm..." He almost gives his hero name, his fake name, but then he quickly remembers that he is no longer wearing his suit and that this wasn't a situation where he needed to only give that name, he could give his real name at a moment like this, "I'm Peter."

He then tries to think of something to say. He furrows his brow. When did talking get this hard?

"So, um, if you don't mind me asking, you were also taken here without your consent? Like no one asked me what I wanted. It seems like everyone just kind of ended up here... it's because of that Q guy, right?"

[flashedglass]

As far as her research had shown, the station seemed to just be...a station, kind of like the Internation Space Station back home, but much, much bigger and far more advanced. The replicators alone were amazing, and she couldn't wait to find out what other amazing things the station could do. Sure, it was disconcerting to not have her connection to the universe, but maybe it would just take time to connect with her new home. Was it weird to think of it as such? They had essentially been kidnapped after all.

"It's nice to meet you, Peter," she replied, smiling broadly and taking another bite of pizza. She chewed this next bite slowly as she thought about his question.

"I suppose I'm just used to being yanked around and making my own way," she replied finally, "I'm not a fan of the lack of consent to this new adventure, but...Most of my life has been that way."

Up until she fled from the life others wanted her to lead that is.

[toughbutsticky]

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Peter starts, "You mentioned trying to copy pizza from a place you know, right? This is obviously New York pizza, so, um, are you also from New York? I'm from Queens but I live in midtown now."

Peter doesn't expect an answer but he really isn't sure what to talk about. He feels out of practice, but it's hard to sit there and talk to someone who was being nice after being cursed at and worse for so long and then being entirely alone with only memories and knowing that he was the only person who remembered any of that. Then there was all the other bad things in the back of his mind. The losses, the people who he fought alongside and the ones against, the missing five years after turning into dust from the snap of the fingers, the mere seconds it took for his life to be ruined, trying to hide things and stumbling over his lies and screw-ups... you'd think losing out of five years and effectively-being dead as far as anyone was concerned was the big weird thing. Or the magic spell and the multiverse thing. Hell, this felt tame compared to those two and maybe even having superpowers as a whole.

But Peter can't bring himself to talk about it. It... people got hurt because of him. He couldn't be sure if that might somehow still apply even in this weird space station with the guy who played with human lives like toys.

He then nods, "Yeah, I'm the same. Life likes to yank me around a lot. Especially in the last few years. I don't even know if I could call this the weirdest - I guess it's the weirdest." Then in an attempt to move away from his blunder, "I guess I could say my life took that kind of turn, I mean, being yanked around or pushed in a direction I didn't want to go in. At least once."

He doesn't elaborate but he can at least admit that much.

[flashedglass]

If there was one thing she could do, it was listen, and this boy had a lot to unload. She could feel him tipping into territory he seemed uncomfortable discussing, so she wouldn't press, but she hoped he would trust her eventually. Really though, she was a stranger to him. But she'd been a stranger before and had found friends. She smiled when he mentioned Queens.

"I'm from Queens too! My favorite pizza place is in Brooklyn though. Bit of a trek from my apartment, but worth it."

She was honestly happy to get away from his past, and by extension, her own. Because her own wasn't important here and being 'The Chosen One' didn't matter either. Whatever it had meant, whatever the sisters had believed, she didn't want that title.

[toughbutsticky]

"Wait, what? No way! You're from Queens too?" His mood seems to brighten a bit, by a bit - it's actually a lot - a grin coming over his face, "Ever have sandwiches from Delmars'? Or are you more of a fan of-" His words then started to go a mile a minute, "A lot of people like that place, you always hear about it online and it's good and all, but they use too much bread? It's good but not nearly as good. I can't believe someone else here is from Queens too."

Then he turns a slight shade of pink and settles down just as quickly and then quickly goes, "There are some good places in Brooklyn too. What's the name of the one you like? I wonder if I've had it. I mean, I might have. I kind of end up going nearly everywhere at one point or another and Brooklyn has a lot of good pizza places."

[flashedglass]

Clarissa enjoys it when other people smile, especially when she has been a part of it. She listens, continuing to snack at the pizza as he goes on and on about his favorite places in Queens. She has heard of several of them, eaten at most. For someone who had been so deprived of pizza and sandwiches most of her life she had made eating at restaurants and exploring food one of her hobbies.

She laughs when he settled down, his cheeks tinged with pink. "I like Giuseppina's, there's just something about a brick oven fired pizza that makes me sooooo happy."

[toughbutsticky]

"Oh!" Peter's eyes light up at the name and he grins. His voice grows steadily more excited as he goes on, "Oh, I know that place! The guy who runs it is really nice. He's given me some free slices before when it's late and they are closing up. The crust is amazing."

It was true. He had stopped a robbery or two nearby around closing time. The owner had always been unapologetically pro-spiderman and Peter had started to frequent the area after a while out of his suit. Being broke and hungry and being short a few quarters for a slice of pizza was how the next part of his story happened. Though, he has the feeling that he would always like the place a lot more than most without the experiences he had.

Then he looks a bit sheepish and then adds, "And, um, he kind of gave me a part-time job delivering pizzas too. I have a couple of jobs back home but I can come in and do it at any time I need to. So I'm kinda partial to them when it comes to places over there... oh, by the way, I totally recommend putting a little hot sauce on the plain cheese pizzas there."

[flashedglass]

Apparently it was the right answer, not that there was any other answer in her opinion, she wasn't about to lie about pizza. She nods, it sounds about right for the owner, though, if Peter were there that frequently, wouldn't she recognize him?

Perhaps he was from another time period. No, that didn't make sense. Life wasn't like those weird romance novels where two people from different time periods fall in love. Not that this was 'love', just friendship, but...maybe am alternate or parallel universe to her own. Interesting concept for sure.

"Oh! Hot sauce? Oh that sounds amazing, I'll definitely have to try that when I get home."

If they got home.

"Or, once I perfect my wood fired pizza from a machine, we can try it here!"

There, that's a better way to phrase it.