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

[chondriosome]

By then Aya's been hearing a lot of chatter about these attacks, and this war that had supposedly taken place here. It isn't very consoling, having arrived in the wake of all that.

So far, though, the accounts have been similar. Right now Aya is just trying to gather as much information from the locals as she can, learn more about her situation in this place, as well as the place itself.

"I heard that it was a war. What was it about?" She has some ideas, but she'd like to see how much the anecdotes align.

[neverfirstclass]

"Right. Back in August we were invaded by the Heran Empire. We thought they were after the Crystal, but I guess there was more to it. We managed to keep them from doing too much harm and we thought we managed to steal a weapon away from them. It turned out one of our allies was on their side and handed it over to them when all was done." Again with that guilty look. "We were...elsewhere when it happened." Time travel was a bit much to explain.

"There was also a monster that showed up at the end of October that made a mess too." Another guilty flash, "I try to help out with the rebuilding and cleanup when I can. Oh!" He held out his hand, "I'm Cloud. You're one of the new Heroes, right?"

[chondriosome]

That hardly sounds heartening, hearing that they were betrayed by one of their own. Aya herself is quite familiar with that feeling of betrayal.

Her eyes narrow, musing over Cloud's words. A good deal of that she doesn't understand just yet, but she files it all away in her mental folders to research at a later date. Too much information in one go and she may have a meltdown (and she has been holding herself together rather well so far).

Being the observant one that she is, Cloud's demeanor also doesn't skeet past her notice, either. She figures she'll bring it up eventually, when he finally gives her a name, and asks that question she's heard a lot so far. "Yeah, I guess I am. My name's Aya Brea... It's nice to meet you," she says, as she reaches forward to give a polite shake to the hand that's been offered to her. "I take it you've been here a while?

[neverfirstclass]

It wasn't quite one of their own who betrayed them but it was close enough. Still Cloud was the one who took the job of hijacking and piloting the Ultima Weapon to fend off the invasion shortly before their ally stole it. And he was the one who was kidnapped and used as a host body during the summoning of the giant marshmallow moogle that threatened to destroy the city. Even if neither event was directly his fault he still felt guilt for not being able to do more to prevent what had occured.

"Yeah. I've been here for a bit over a year now. It's been a bit odd but this place isn't so bad. Also I think I'm luckier than some of the other Heroes here. This world isn't that different from the one I came from. Or at least there's a lot that it has in common. Magic. Some of the types of monsters...oh, is your world one that has chocobos or horses?"

[chondriosome]

At a later time, Aya may have to probe the matter further, judging by his mannerisms and tones. As it stands, she feels that it may not be the best subject to breach, particularly with someone you just met.

This would be the third person she's spoken to not of this world to have said they've been here for that long. It's peculiar, but it definitely drains the surprise from Aya's response. She opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it at Cloud's question.

"Oh, um. We have horses. I've never ridden one, though. People just tend to drive cars where I'm from."

I'm so sorry, I wound up being tied up for a few days

[neverfirstclass]

"Cars huh? We have those back on Gaia but they're pretty expensive. Nothing I could afford from what I was being paid as a grunt. Anyway, Chocobos are like horses from what I've heard. They're birds big enough that you can ride them. I work at the ranch just outside of the city if you need or want to get one for yourself."

it's all good!

[chondriosome]

"They're pretty expensive where I'm from, too, but they're the most common way of travel."

Not a day goes by in which Aya doesn't lament the loss of Carrie, her old Eldorado.

She nods. It's still hard to believe that people ride giant avians to get around in this world. "I've seen those birds not too long ago. I just might take you up on your offer."

Re: it's all good!

[neverfirstclass]

"Great. There's a lot of other stuff that's been happening here, but Zelda's been good about keeping notes on everything. And if you have any other questions or problems we'll all try to do our best to help you out." He looked around at everyone gathered about. There was confusion in the air on both sides, but it didn't mean that things were hopeless. They all had each other at least.

"Is there anything else you wanted to know?" He could ask where she last saw Chocobos another time perhaps. Like if she visited the ranch.

[chondriosome]

Aya nodded. "You're not the first one to mention Zelda as a possible source to me. Guess I'll have to seek her out sometime. Everyone has been very helpful so far."

It was almost overwhelming. So far she hadn't been met with any annoyance over all the questions she's had, and how little she knows. Even from what she should have been learning from her (rather shy) moogle.

"Where exactly is this ranch you mentioned, outside of the city? I think I'd like to check it out sometime..."

[neverfirstclass]

"Yeah. It's just to the southwest. Not that far out. Just far enough that it has some decent farmland and fields around it. And close enough to the woods where the wild chocobos nest. We've got signs up and people can point you in the right direction."

[chondriosome]

"I see." She brought a hand to her chin, and smiled. Everyone had been more than accommodating thus far. "Thank you. I might be getting a little exhausted from all of this, so I think I'm going to look for my house and see about turning in. I'll have to catch you again once I'm settled in."

[neverfirstclass]

"Sounds good. I'll see you around, and if you ever have a question or anything just have your moogle send me a letter."