melodiesoflife | Intro Log || This Keeps Happening

Intro Log || This Keeps Happening

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...

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As disappointed as Aya is to hear that, there's also some comfort in knowing that she isn't the only one feeling very out of place here. Though she does squint at Rialynn's latter comment. "Is... the world not round, where you're from?"

Either that or this girl happens to be from the Dark Ages or something. Nothing would surprise her at this point. Sigh.

Indeed the moogle wanted to speak with Aya. "Please don't ignore me, kupo!" it squeaked in a shy voice.

Aya blinks. "Huh, they really do talk."

"Now that's just rude."

"Sorry?"

"Well... I thought it was flat, but now I'm not quite so sure," she admitted. "I haven't done much sailing, if I'm being honest." But she hoped to remedy that someday.

And Kunia could tease her the very basics of astronomy while she was at it.

Rialynn's face lit up at the sight of the little creature protesting to Aya. Awwwwww, she was so cute! Honestly, all of them were adorable. That was another thing that left her mind reeling with amazement, to find little fluffy flying creatures that were helpful and kind. "Do you want me to give you two a minute to get acquainted? I don't mind waiting," she offered, gesturing toward one of the temple benches.

"I'm pretty sure it's impossible for a whole planet to be flat." Aya may be no astronomer herself, but she has a basic enough understanding.

Eventually, the moogle stops tugging at Aya's side. She looks up, gracing Rialynn with an appreciative look but says nothing.

Aya just glances at the moogle, and then back to Rialynn. "Well, I wasn't even sure if I was actually hearing them talk or..." Or if she was just imagining things. She's still feeling pretty groggy from her awakening. This is why she doesn't drink. "But, yeah. Just give us a couple minutes, we should be square."

The creature looks like she really wants to speak, but quietly shies away from interrupting their conversation.

"Sure! I don't mind. We'll just be over here," she pointed at the bench again, then trotted off to sit down with Kuponia, where she received a rudimentary lesson on the basics of astronomy.

While Aya was tutored on the basics of being a prophesied Hero of Light, Rialynn and Kuponia were deeply engaged in conversation. The former was filled with questions, and the little Moogle seemed only too delighted to be of help in answering everything the bard had to query.

Even when Aya was finished, they were still talking about it.

"So the sun is actually a planet of fire?"

"Not quite," Kuponia patted her knee like a kindly grandmother might. "It's a ball of burning gas, so hot that we feel the heat all the way from out here."

"Oh." She glanced up and beamed at Aya, jumping to her feet once she saw that the other was all caught up. "How did it go?"

It's all a little too much to take in within a few minutes. The moogle, who introduces herself as Iva, proves to be a bit too soft-spoken that they'll no doubt need more time together. Aya can't tell whether she did something wrong and the creature is afraid of her, or if Iva was always this way.

Either way, by the time Aya returns to Rialynn and her moogle, she's more or less caught the gist of things.

She shrugs. "Well, I suppose." Iva remains hidden behind the back of Aya's leg, as if in hiding, and she's reminded somewhat of her ~~clone~~ sister.

Aya then pauses and glances between Rialynn and little Kuponia.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."

"It's fine! We were just passing time. You were supposed to interrupt anyway, right?" She gave Iva a little wave, but tried not to pay too much attention to her otherwise. Rialynn knew what it was like to feel shy and insecure around...certain people.

Then she realized that she didn't really have any plans on what she was going to talk about with Aya. She'd just sort of rushed up to her because Kuponia said she was a hero.

"...So..."

Glancing between the two, and sensing Rialynn's awkwardness, Kuponia piped up. "Would the both of you like to visit the airship dock? It seems to be a very popular place for new arrivals."

Rialynn paused, her lips pursed into a small 'o.' "...Did you say 'airship?' As in, a ship? That's in the air?"

"That's correct!" Kuponia beamed, clapping her paws together. "Have you ever seen one?" Rialynn vehemently shook her head. "What about you, Miss Aya? Would you like to see the airships?"

Aya blinks. "I guess so."

She then looks down at the speaking moogle, breaking the ice. It was good to know that some of these things were capable of social norms. Maybe Iva just needed time to warm up to Aya.

"Sorry, but did you just say 'airship'...?" As in an actual boat that can fly in the sky, rather than an airplane? She blinks a few more times, realizing that Kuponia has certainly said it enough times that she wasn't hearing things wrong. "I would love to see one."

Just to see if this 'airship' was exactly what she was thinking of.

"Then you're all in for such a treat!" Kuponia beamed. She used her wings to hover, but remained near the ground to offer a paw to Ava. The Moogle assigned to Aya seemed very young, and in dire need of a friend, and Kuponia was a friend to all.

As they walked down the streets, Rialynn was in danger of receiving multiple counts of whiplash on account of how fast her head was turning at every new sight and point of interest. She seemed interested in everything, and when she spotted people riding giant yellow birds, Kuponia had to give her a helpful nudge from behind to keep her feet moving forward.

"So...if we're all from different worlds, I'm guessing we're used to seeing different things, right?" Rialynn posited as she strolled alongside Aya. "What's your world like?"

Leave it to Aya to get assigned a young, inexperienced moogle. But Iva means well, silent and still for a moment like a deer in the headlights before quietly accepting Kuponia's offer and just nods. Thanks, pal. Friendship is awesome.

Aya isn't that much better when it comes to perceiving her surroundings, albeit a bit more reserved about the whole thing. Maybe it's just shock, in that all of this doesn't feel real and yet it somehow does. This is happening. Of course it's happening. Why not?

It's also a force of habit that she remains vigilant. She's a stranger in a strange land, where people are apparently riding giant birds. (At least they seem real enough not to be another guy in a chicken suit. Just thinking about that case makes her eyes roll.)

When Rialynn speaks again, Aya's attention swivels back to the girl. "What?" Oh. Her world. She thinks for a moment, trying to figure out how best to describe where she came from. "Well, people drove cars instead of those bird things, for one. We don't have anything like this... magic."

But mystical mitochondrial powers do exist. Go figure.

Bird...things?

Seeing Rialynn's confusion, Kuponia chimed in. "Those are called chocobos," she supplied helpfully. Rialynn made a silent 'ah' and nodded.

But she still had no idea what a car was. "Cars...is that short for 'carriage?'" she hazarded a guess. They'd already covered ships, so she couldn't think of anything else that would require some sort of 'driving.'

Aya glanced over to the moogle, catching the bit of information.

Chocobos, right. One more thing to file away into the mental folders.

She blinks at Rialynn. "I... guess?" It would make sense, wouldn't it? Carriage? "Only they're usually made out of plastic or metal, and run without needing any horse or animal to pull it."

Iva is silently following close behind Aya, soaking in the knowledge as well as learning more about her new Hero.

The two continued to walk along, with Rialynn asking more and more questions about Aya's fantastic world of the future, and growing more and more excited by what the woman had to say. It was a shame that such a world was now lacking in horses, but she supposed if the population really was that high, that would be an awful lot of horse manure to clean up, so it was probably a good thing that they'd found a way to make a poopless vehicle for traveling.

Halfway to the airships, Rialynn was reminded that she needed to get her stipend from home so she wasn't wandering around completely penniless. She asked to meet up with Aya later that evening, then took off, anticipating their future rendezvous with great eagerness. Airships and cars, muskets that could fire several shots without reloading... How marvelous!

After nearly being knocked unconscious by Kuponia's doom food, Rialynn arrived at the docks a little later than she intended.

"Sorry," she apologized, still looking a little on the green side as she smiled. "Ran into a little bit of a, um....a hiccup." Kuponia just smiled obliviously, unaware that it was her cookies that nearly killed her hero on the first day in town. For all she knew, Rialynn was just one of those ladies who fainted easily. "Ready to board if you are! ...The tours are allowed, aren't they?" she asked her companion.

"Oh, absolutely! Travel is free for Heroes of Light as well. You have but to ask! Shall we?"

Rialynn grinned, glancing at Aya, then boldly ascending the gangplank with heavy echoing thumps from her hard-heeled leather boots. Her head turned left and right and up and down, trying to drink in all of the sights at once.

The time spent waiting on Rialynn by the airships offered more than enough time for Aya to get acquainted with the city as well. After a while, Iva even started opening up to her a little more, speaking a little more than a peep at a time. Aya's guilt for the initial impression she had made on the creature soon became a thing of the past.

She even had the chance to swing by her place of residence (she still had a hard time considering it her "home"). Upon finding that no one was there, she was swift to return to where she and Rialynn had agreed to meet at the airship docks.

"Don't worry about it. I think I can understand," she said upon Rialynn's apology. She had seen that look before when trying her own cooking. Judging by the blissfully ignorant look on the moogle, she figured that it was something she could bring up later.

Aya climbed the steps alongside the girl, with Iva hanging closer behind her now than she had been before. She rubbed the side of her neck as they reached the top.

"I'm glad to hear that it's free. My wallet isn't exactly... big." Which just meant that employment was next on her agenda.

"Well, we did just only arrive, so that's understandable," Rialynn nodded. She understood the perils of an empty wallet all too well. At least she could sing for her supper if she needed to, but it was nice to know they had something in reserve to cover their expenses.

Once they stood on the deck, Rialynn gazed up at the propeller stems in open awe. Wow! She had no idea what those even did! They sure looked nifty, though. The young bard ran across the deck to peer over the railing, her pack rattling and clanging with her rapid steps. If she hadn't caught a glimpse of one of these vessels sailing the skies when she first awoke, she might never have believed that something this huge could manage to get itself off of the ground, let alone cover great distances.

"I wonder what causes it to fly?" she mused. "Does it have some of those...those horseless devices used in your cars, do you think?" Because she didn't see any animals around, nor did she smell anything but wood and fresh air.

"Fair point. I guess I shouldn't complain about the size of my wallet, since I'm technically unemployed."

She blinked.

"I'm... unemployed," she realized out loud, a look of horror flickering across her visage.

Iva gave her a little tug at the hem of her pants. "Um, kupo. You can... you can always check the job boards... for work. I'm sure there's, um..." The moogle made a timid little sound.

She just nodded, catching the creature's drift enough that she didn't have to have a mental breakdown right then and there. Not yet, anyway.

Sighing, she looked to Rialynn, only just noticing that she'd said something. "I'm pretty sure this ship uses an engine of some kind, just like cars do in my world." She paused. "Do they have engines where you're from?"

Whoa. That was, um...an unusual reaction. Rialynn's gaze was more than a little concerned as she started to draw away from the railing. She was about to ask if Aya was all right, but it seemed the Moogle had already managed to snap her out of it. Wow, she must have really liked her job! ...Whatever it was.

"I'm not sure what an engine is, so probably not," she answered, her brow furrowed. "Unless it's just something bearing a different name. That's possible. Let's take a look at the 'engine' on this ship and find out?" She was curious to see what it was in any case, and how it managed to propel a vessel of this size through the sky.

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Intro Log || This Keeps Happening

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