Intro Log || This Keeps Happening

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of January. The new Heroes of Light will awaken early in the morning.
Summary: The new Heroes of Light awaken in Aqures Ixen and are informed by their assigned Moogles of what the situation and what their destinies are. This a log for them to react to the situation, meet each other and be welcomed by the former batches of Heroes of Light.
Warning: Snow. Also some leftover decorations from Christmas.

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Within an instant, the world around you collapses. Reality twists and shatters... Or maybe you are the one who is collapsing and shattering away from reality as you knew it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, your world vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. Even you feel different: all the powers you might once have had, are now gone. It is silent, cold and it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you.

At this moment, when it looks as though nothing but a never-ending void awaits you, a red Crystal forms before you. In this void, its warmth compels you to grab it. Upon doing so, you can hear a soft, soothing voice speaking:


"Wake up."

Soon, the void itself vanishes and is replaced by distant noises of engines. Had it all been nothing more than a dream? The soothing voice repeats its call one more time, but is soon replaced with a much less graceful "Wake up Kupo." Hand clutched on your Crystal, the call of the Moogle may finally wake you up. But you are no longer in your world, nor in the void. You are before the Crystal of Fire, in the third district of a city called Aqures Ixen. At this point, you may realize the engine noise actually originates from an Airship flying low over the city and headed to dock beneath the castle. As if it wasn't strange enough, your clothes have changed as well. They are now a reflection of the Jobs you are wielding. Last but not least, you are surrounded by Moogles, small and fluffy creatures who are more than happy to tell you about everything you want to know, about your 'destiny' as a Hero of Light, about what awaits you.

Or at least, they will tell you everything they do know, which isn't much in the end.

The only people around you are like you-- There are quite a few of them, all clothed in their Job garbs and most likely wondering what is happening. If somehow you do not realize it, the Moogle who woke you up will be more than happy to inform you there are others like you around. In fact, there are other Heroes who have arrived in the course of the past year and they will come soon! Like you, they have Jobs and a Crystal.

If asked, the Moogles will mention that the Heroes of Light - that is to say you - are fighting against time to save Crystallis from the Calamity that is about to awaken to devour the entire world. Sounds terrible? Welcome to Crystallis.


The Other Heroes
— Shortly Thereafter —
Thanks to the efficiency of Mognet, it does not take long for the other Heroes to come around: those who arrived in this world within the past year. You may have imagined heroic and charismatic figures when your Moogle told you that there were other Heroes of Light in this city. You may have imagined persons with fearsome powers when they told you about how they managed to push back the Empire and defeat gigantic beasts in the past. And more importantly, you may have imagined them as people who would have all the answers to your, doubtlessly, numerous questions.

If so, you may be up for a tragic disappointment. Still, for the most part they know more than you on the situation and may be more than happy to fill you in, especially if your Moogle didn't tell you much.


The City of Aqures Ixen
— Anytime —
With Christmas being barely over, there are still Christmas Decoration in the streets, and while the reconstruction are nearly over, there are still traces of the attack the Empire led against the city six months ago. A few buildings are being worked on.

And besides the decorations and reconstructions, there are a lot of things to do in the city for newcomers. A few groups of Triple Triad players are playing before Mognet Office in the ninth district, and a Blitzball Match is set to start at 20:00 in the stadium! Characters are also free to visit the city-- Mognet Office just behind the Triple Triad games is filled with Moogles, most of them discussing about the election for the future director of Mognet. They can also visit Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline.

Or maybe you could visit your new house in the 11th District, and get to know your new neighbors and housemate. Hopefully your neighbors are people you will get along with.


The Laboratory
— Anytime —
A location where a lot of Heroes of Light seem to be gathering is Palitutu's Laboratory. It is a place where employed characters can research into various topics. However, most importantly, characters can see a file with their name...

Should your character decide to go there and peek at their file, there are two possibilities. Either the file is corrupted and they cannot access it: too bad for them, but at least their life will remain a mystery. Or should you decide the file isn't corrupted, they will find a summary of their lives up to their canon point, as if written by a third-person omniscient narrator. On the column left to the text, to the top there is a portrait of them, and beneath it there is a 3D model of them. Said portrait and model can be switched to any year of their life. At the bottom there is a percentage, indicating 0%. On the right column, there are various links, most of which are grayed out. The clickable links lead to their Homeworld History and their future post-canon point history (corrupted file for unfinished canons).

At least, they can lock this file away if they don't want anyone to see it.

The Hospital
— Anytime —
Characters who have already been in Crystallis before do not wake up by the Crystal of Fire like everyone else. Instead, they will wake up in the Hospital of Aqures Ixen, in a room where there are over a hundred of other Heroes of Light like them-- Maybe even some familiar faces... Except they're all in Crystal Stasis.

A couple Moogles and a few nurses will be waiting by the room, and they will welcome all characters waking up. Upon exiting the room, they will also meet a lot of guards, and they all have for order to shoot anyone that comes out of this room without a Moogle. Hopefully you won't try running out without waiting for your Moogle. As for why the guards are so on edge, it might be a good idea to ask the other Heroes of Light about what happened a couple months ago.


Close Encounters of the Third(?) Kind
— 15:00 —
Characters venturing by between the city's outskirts and the Chocobo Farm at this specific time will be able to see a most peculiar sight: a flying saucer seemingly abducting a Chocobo before flying away and disappearing into the sky without leaving any traces of its presence. If your character do see it, hopefully there will be someone with them. Otherwise, nobody will believe their story.

Was it an UFO or just a hallucination? Previous sightings of such a thing have happened. It might be a good idea to investigate this sometimes...

Comments

[dancingbaronet]

Waking Up

When reality breaks in Rider World, someone was usually responsible for it. This is why Zack wasn't too surprised that the world had changed, or he had woken up with a crystal in his hands.

Getting up, he looked around and examined his surroundings. A city, some kind of temple and a weird floating thing?

"You're awake? Ah, you're awake!" Exclaimed the moogle and Zack blinked.

"... Asami?"

The Moogle tilted her furry head to the side in confusion. "Sorry, I'm Moogla. Not Asami. Welcome to our world kupo!"


The City

The lack of Hellheim fruits told him as such that this wasn't Hellheim World, or any other worlds that Riders might know. In fact, even if he did wake up with his belt and lockseeds, a quick test had proven that they were harmless trinkets right now.

With no funds in his possession and no way to access his bank, Zack found a corner of the street and began to dance. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight--!"

Fortunately one of his powers was the Dancer, and he began dancing to music that was played from nowhere. His moves were slick, professional, and he was incredibly good. Too good. The Dancer job gave rudimentary powers, but this... this was a professional dancer. Soon, people were throwing gil into the hat.


The Laboratory

"I see... so it's like that."

Zack leaned back in his chair after reading his file and a few others he could still access. He had been told some of the Heroes had locked their files, but at the same time, it was still jarring to find out someone knew everything about him. Even your last name. People called him Zack anyhow.

Though... "Custom Jobs... Not that I'm not appreciative to fight, I'll get something more familiar later..."

The Laboratory

[unalive_them]

Deadpool couldn't help but notice the new face entering the Laboratory and followed him. With all of the stealth of... well... his Ninja job can offer without his brand-spanking new Magitek Knight job clashing and killing that stealth, he looked over Zack's shoulder, blinked, then remarked...

"Hey, are you the guy with the Furby?"

Re: The Laboratory

[dancingbaronet]

Zack jumped for a moment, and looked up at Deadpool with a puzzled expression. He was confused and asked, "Furby? No I don't think so..."

Was there a Kamen Rider with a furby?

[unalive_them]

"Hmm... I guess you're right. Not enough green and black." Deadpool said, leaning back and shrugging. "Ah, well, can't get 'em all right!"

The City

[nomorecowbell]

Nanami wasn't used to seeing street performers in the winter, especially not ones who might be Heroes of Light. In between sets, she asked, "What are you doing?"

Re: The City

[dancingbaronet]

"Busking," replied Zack as he nodded at Nanami. Taking up a bottle of water, he sipped at it. "I don't have anything to spend right now."

Re: The City

[nomorecowbell]

"You could get a real job, you know," Nanami said. Could she tell an adult that?

city

[charming_jerk]

Someone else had been busking not too far off, playing guitar and doing a little singing. Johnny was out there nearly every day, even when it was too cold to feel his fingers. It's not hard to notice someone new moving in, especially when the usually flow of tips (or hecklers) suddenly seem to dry up.

A strange-looking man watched him for a few moments, and internally, Johnny can't deny he's not good. Especially since he can't dance to save his life, musician or not. He's a little jealous since Zack seems to be getting more tips and less harassment than he did, even though Johnny played very well. He doesn't recognize the dancer, and has a feeling he's not one of the citizens.

"Huh. Good job, man. You oughta be workin' a theater, not out here on the streets."

Re: city

[dancingbaronet]

"I would, if a troupe would have me," said Zack, giving him a wave. "I just got into town, woke up at that Crystal."

"He's new, so he doesn't have money on him, nor a job," said Moogla, the moogle definitely feminine with a nice voice. "I wanted him to go and audition but he wanted to do it his way kupo."

"Ah... sort of. Still getting used to this. I'm Zack by the way."

[charming_jerk]

"So ya are one of the new Heroes. Thought so. I'm Johnny. I'm usually out here tryin' to make a buck, too." He nods a head to indicate the guitar case on his back.

"I ain't much of an expert, but I bet they someone could use ya. I play with some theaters from time to time, 'n all I did was go in and ask. Once ya get settled, definitely go 'n ask about it. Good news is that they give us free room 'n board, so you don't gotta rush it or worry about sleeping in the streets."

The City

[whereishe]

Yuna stopped to watch the young man dance. She couldn't help but smile and a small part of her wanted to join in. He was very good and she could tell that this was something he had done before.

She clapped along with others watching smiling brightly. Unlike others who simply gave him some gil and then pasted she stopped and lingered on his performance. It wasn't often she got to watch someone dance like this. When he had paused she took a small step forward.

"You're a very good dancer."

Re: The City

[dancingbaronet]

"Thank you," said Zack honestly as he stopped after a set. He grinned, stepping towards her and bowing politely. "I'm Zack."

He grinned a little. "Strange place this town, isn't it? It's almost like a story."

The City

[whereishe]

Yuna inclined her head slightly feeling her smile widened. She wasn't used to anyone bowing to her, at least not anymore. It felt very formal while bringing up memories she had thought she had forgotten.

"I'm Yuna. It's nice to meet you Zack." His name made her smile too. "I don't suppose you're a Hero of Light also?"

This is my story. It almost feels ironic to be reminded of those words.

[rialynn]

"And over here," Kuponia gestured, "is the best kupo nut stand in the city! You really must try one, they're delicious. Oh, but we should fetch your stipend first, it should be in your room."

"So we should head there next?" Rialynn suggested.

Kuponia didn't answer. Her attention was fixated on something else entirely off to the left. Or someone else. Rialynn turned her head to follow the Moogle's stare, and to her surprise, she saw a young man dancing energetically. It was easy to discover why Kuponia was so captivated. This sort of dancing was wholly unfamiliar to Rialynn. There was so much energy, the movements so precise and lively. No, no one she'd ever known had demonstrated those kinds of steps.

Slowly she moved forward, gravitating toward the performer as her eyes darted from his arms to his legs, trying to study his motions so she might imitate them later.

"He's very good," Kuponia whispered, hovering next to Rialynn. "Maybe you should join him, or play an instrument, yes?"

She shook her head. "It might be seen as an attempt to upstage his performance," she whispered back, her gaze still locked on Zack. "Unless invited, it would be extremely rude. Bards don't have a lot of strict protocol, but that's definitely something no one oversteps where I come from."

But she gave Kuponia a light pat just the same, to make sure the Moogle's feelings weren't hurt by declining the suggestion. Would that she had a coin to toss into the hat, she would, but the stipend was still waiting at her future home.

Kuponia, however, very politely placed three kupo nuts into Zack's hut. A very generous offering indeed! To a Moogle anyway.

[dancingbaronet]

Coming to a crashing finish, Zack posed before nodding at the others assembled. He noticed several other people coming to the dance performance and he smiled at them.

Noticing Rialynn there, he nodded politely. "Hi, did you enjoy the performance?"

He was curious to what kind of thought she had about his dancing.

'The City'

[2hell_weride]

MarKus was hauling weapons, as per the usual, as it was about that time new people showed up. However, en-route, he's distracted by no-standard Aquares Ixen music, hell... electronic music, something he could've heard back home.

And a brief memory made him think of a certain DJ that drew people in with music, which, well, he's already watching so the memory was justified.

"Well that's a first... Dancing for money... Must be new."

"You don't get out much. It's not that uncommon for entertainers to perform for their daily needs. You need to get out more." his Moogle retorts.

"Yeah, I do. But, looks like I probably won't get much business from him, dancer and all." MarKus sighs, before leaving a generous pouch of gil into the hat. "At least it's good music." he speaks up, even if he was only addressing Kugami.

Re: 'The City'

[dancingbaronet]

Zack was very good, his moves professional and his attitude excited. When he came to a crashing end, he posed and held it for a moment, his arm upright in the air and pointing to the skies before bowing to the crowd. "Thank you," he said, as a few more tips went into the hat.

He noticed MarKus there and nodded. "Hey, come to watch?"

Waking up

[neverfirstclass]

A few of the Heroes who had been in the city for a while had come to help welcome the newcomers. One of them, a blonde teen trying to hide his Christmas belly with a leather jacket had heard something that had gotten his hopes into high gear. He hadn't had a chance to check in with the crystalized Heroes yet so hearing a particular name listed off by Mako had him off and looking around before he could be corrected otherwise.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for a new Hero named Zack. Have you seen him?" The blonde had a hopeful smile on his face. Maybe this person knew something.

Re: Waking up

[dancingbaronet]

For a moment, Zack wondered if he was actually being expected by someone, but the young blonde in front of him was unfamiliar at best. He tilted his head for a moment, wondering if he had seen him in Zawame once before. "I'm Zack, were you looking for me?"

Sorry Cloud, wrong Zack. This one doesn't even have a last name, as far as people are aware.

The City

[zodiac_brave]

The newest Hero's dance moves were like none that Ramza had ever seen before. But it was obvious he was performing for pay, and from the job abilities, Ramza could gather he was a Hero. Dancer was not a normal job class for citizens of Aqures Ixen.

Ramza dropped a few gil coins into the hat and gave the Hero a nod. He'd arrived with his gil, but most Heroes had very little when they were brought here. No reason not to show a little kindness.

Re: The City

[dancingbaronet]

That might be, but at least Zack wasn't even using the skills of the job he was offered, only the music accompanying his motions. He danced freely, earning his coin as he came to a close.

In between a set, he nodded at Ramza. "Hello."

The City

[cantante]

Like so many others, Tear had stopped in the middle of her errands to check out what all the fuss was about, brow furrowed faintly when she stepped closer to take a look. After several minutes of watching the spectacle, it was safe to say she was... impressed, from the look of surprise on her face. Though she had already surmised that this was another Hero, the melodist would like to think she'd have already heard of him by now if he had been here for some time.

Therefore she approaches him between one of his dances, stopping only to place gil into the hat placed strategically on the ground. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but where did you learn such choreography?"

Re: The City

[dancingbaronet]

Looking up from where he was resting, Zack smiled at Tear as he nodded at her. "Well I was first taught by a friend named Asami. Since then, I've made things up as much as I could, working with a team to polish our dancing."

He held out his hand. "I'm Zack, by the way. I'm new here if you couldn't guess."

Waking up. (Hope you don't mind this being so late.)

[ninjainviolet]

Sheena always tried to help the new Heroes whenever she could--and today was no exception. It was a frightening thing to be in your world one moment, be in darkness the next, then in a new world after.

Seeing Zack stand, Sheena immediately went over, her own Moogle, Corrine perched on her shoulder. She arrived just in time to hear the exchange between the two and she looked from one to the other, her expression concerned.

"Is everything okay?"

Re: Waking up. (Not at all, I enjoy backtagging)

[dancingbaronet]

"Ah, just a case of momentary mistaken identity, kupo," said Moogla. "He's the newcomer I'm assigned to."

"Which is weird, because Moogla here sounds exactly like Asami, a friend from my world." Added Zack. "It's just disorienting to hear her voice coming from such a small creature."

As Moogla pouted, Zack chuckled. "Though it's not a small comfort to have a familiar voice around. Oh I'm Zack." He added, holding out his hand in greeting to Sheena.