@reign-over-the-frosted-heavens
Outside the research station Mayuri could hear the wind howling. He sat in the commons area at one of the tables, a cup of coffee resting untouched on the table in front of him. The only light came from the soft glow of the nightlights that ran along the walls, effectively leaving the only scientist awake in shadow. Everyone else slept peacefully in their bunks down the halls. Otherwise the world was quiet, all sound muffled by the snow.
Mayuri liked it like this. It was after everyone retired for the day that he felt he could stretch his legs and breathe. He’d need to grab any solace he could for the upcoming months. His research on archaea in the coastal waters of the Antarctic required he winter over. The boredom over those seven, long dark months cooped up in this environment would kill him quicker than anything else, he knew.
He pulled out his tablet and walked to one of the few windows in the building–a large triangular shaped viewing port of thick reinforced glass. The glow of his tablet lighting his face from below he stared, his mind wandering as he watched the flurries of snow dance in the dark.
Quite a few large warm-bloods had been intruding upon Toshiro’s home as of late… For what purpose he didn’t yet know nor their intentions or why they were building these strange structures upon the ice. They were a disturbance in the natural balance of the icy plane, yet… he was curious all the same.
For a good while, he hadn’t dared approach any of the constructs that had been erected by the warm-bloods, tempered by a healthy sense of wariness for the unknown. His curiosity, however, was strong, and as the days went by he ventured ever closer. Bit-by-bit, just a little every day, spying from within the clouds of snow kicked up by the swirling wind. He had yet to have any direct contact with these creatures, not yet sure of their intentions.
Today was like any other, only this time he had dared to slink right up to the buildings created by the warm-bloods. It was dark about mid-winter so he had deemed it safe enough to come this close. He just couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore, he had to know.
“What is this stuff?” Toshiro whispered to himself, touching the side of the building with hesitancy in his fingertips. How was he ever going to discover what these warm-bloods wanted when they holed themselves up in such strange structures?