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

[mindofathief]

"A job? Wasn't being a Hero a job?" The residents of this world seemed grateful enough that there was a group of people fighting...whatever threatened their lives.

Hopefully lying on the bare mattress will help him deal with everything. First the world ends, then he wakes up in a new one without his friends, then he's asked to save this world - and not mess that up - and now he needs a job on top of all that. As of now, all he can do was steal things, but...

That's not a good way to start his life here.

"Mm hm. Mostly. I might go take a look around the countryside after all this." The city itself is interesting, but actual green pastures take priority.

[red_planet_blues]

"No, I mean like, the employment kind. The kind that gives ya money. I mean, no one's gonna make you, but..." He shrugs indifferently. People are free to be bums if they wanted. It was a free country. "I'm gone on work a lot, so you'll probably have the house to yerself a lot."

"Go for it. Kinda snowy out there though. And there's monsters if ya go too far. So, uh. Rent a chocobo 'n wear yer armor, I guess."

[mindofathief]

"I'd prefer not to stay inside all day." If there's one thing he'd prefer not to be referred to, it's bum-like. That, and having limited contact with most of society was kind of dull. "I...think I'll find something. Eventually."

He's a Bard, after all. He could always start up a new band.

"I don't mind. The snow will take some getting used to, but I know how to defend myself. My limp never stopped me." The latter bit of information was unnecessary, but Duster makes it a habit to point that out before someone else does. He's a capable man who knows what he's doing. Unless he isn't. Which is some of the time.

[red_planet_blues]

"Well, the good news is, Heroes get free transportation too. So ya can go sow yer wild oats or whatever while out on an airship to Esdham or Balicea, or somethin'. And the Heroes got a big new airship at their disposal, too. Not for personal stuff, for group missions 'n stuff. It's pretty sweet though."

Sparks never thought he'd like an airship, after living around starships all his life. But the Enterprise was kind of cool.

[mindofathief]

Just at that moment, a cargo airship sails by the window that entrances Duster. He'd seen blimps and flying limos, but the concept of flight is still a magical thing to him. Most of the time, flights end with him and his friends plummeting to their apparent deaths. Hopefully it isn't the case here.

"Other cities in this world. Right," he states more as a way to confirm that yes, this is real and there are more cities of this size out there. "Just how big is this world?"

[red_planet_blues]

That's a hard thing to quantify. "I dunno. Too big? Not big enough? Depends on the day. Airship'll get ya to Flence in about 9 hours, and it's pretty far from here."

Someone dawns on Sparks that he figures is a good thing to tell a new roommate.

"Right. If ya didn't see it on yer way in, 'round back there's a stable for my horse. Rocket steed, technically. Mercury. He's... harmless." Which is a nice way of saying dumb, in Mercury's case. "A little girl comes around to feed him a lot. Ib. Also a Hero. Also harmless."

[mindofathief]

"Nine...hours." That's slightly less that the time it takes to get to Tazmily to Snowcap Mountain on foot, and those airships are fast. "...So this is what Leder meant by 'an incredibly big world'."

The possibility that there were more people living here than grains of sand in the Nowhere Islands seemed much more plausible now.

"I need to see it for myself!"

Sparks catches him just as he's about to go back out of his room, draining his good cheer. "It's a horse with rocket parts?" That is horrifying.

[red_planet_blues]

"Uh, yeah? One of a kind on this planet, considerin' it don't got horse. Had him brought in from home." Sparks raises an eyebrow, considering Duster's reaction.

[mindofathief]

"No, I mean..." Half-mechanical chimeras aren't a thing on Crystallis, that's good, but that doesn't make this better. "What kind of people would do such a thing?!"

[red_planet_blues]

"Uh, cybernetic manufacturers?" Most people were either confused or impressed with the idea of a rocket steed. Not upset.

"I mean, ya can go 'round back and meet him. And see that he's totally fine. And happy. And dumb. Though that part ain't got anythin' to do with his rocket parts."

[mindofathief]

Cyber--alright, that's a phrase he's unfamiliar with, but the same thing!

"I'm going. This...I have to be sure."

The limping thief slips past Sparks effortlessly and quickly gets out the door. Mechanical chimeras are tougher and more aggressive, but he's sure he'll be fine on his own. Yeah. Of course.

The best thing to do if Mercury isn't violent is to pet it until it feels better about its horrible situation.

[red_planet_blues]

Sparks huffs and follows after Duster around to the stable. Mercury is indeed there, in all his mechanical glory, and seems happy to see them both.

"There. There he is. If you were expecting... Actually, I have no idea what you were expecting."

[mindofathief]

He looks...alright. As if he doesn't mind that half of his body has been replaced by a machine.

Um.

He hesitantly reaches out to pet it like it as a normal horse, but stops a few inches from its head.

"...Does it bite?" Just to be sure. There's no one around to heal him if he gets hurt.

[red_planet_blues]

"Not unless yer made of sugar cubes 'r somethin'."

Sparks will let Duster discover for himself that Mercury is completely harmless, even with strangers. Mercury is totally fine getting some pats from the new guy.

"There, ya satisfied now? He's happy 'n healthy as, well, a horse, I guess."

[mindofathief]

"What's...going on?" With that out of the way, he commences the patting. "Chimeras usually aren't this calm."

[red_planet_blues]

Sparks gave him a shrug. "Maybe if I knew what a chimera was, I could tell ya. I mean, not ever horse has a demeanor like Mercury, but reckon it's got nothin' to do with whether he's got rocket parts or not."

[mindofathief]

Still suspicious, Duster stops petting Mercury and rests his hand on its side. "They're experiments where two different animals are put together to make a new one, or sometimes one animal and a machine. They're really aggressive. The opposite of what your horse is."

He stares into its eyes. Calm, happy, enjoying the petting and not a hint of murderous spirit in it. Those were the eyes of a gentle creature. "You must have treated him very well."

[red_planet_blues]

"Oh. So like, mad scientist stuff. Yeah, okay. I getcha. Luckily, Mercury is the result of some very not mad scientists. I mean, I assume anyway. Guess I can't really know for sure."

He straightens up a bit at the compliment. "'Course I do. A marshall's steed's important. Besides, he's one of a kind here, so uh, there ain't really many mechanics here I can take him to."

[mindofathief]

"Ah..." He looks unsure. "Then why did they turn him into a half-robot, other than because they thought regular horses were boring?"

What even was the point of rocket horses?

Actually... "Did you ask Cid to bring him here?"

[red_planet_blues]

"Cuz... Dangit, I dunno. They just do. And he's mine. That's the long 'n short of it." He really never put that much thought into it. It was normal where we was from.

"Jessie. Er, Palitutu. Awhile ago. And if yer follow-up question is about how she managed that, I uh, I never got 'round to askin'."

[mindofathief]

Duster stops the petting to give Sparks a long look like he's expecting more to that answer. Normal means something very different to him. At least Mercury is nice, which he can't say the same for whoever did this to him.

"Palitutu's the one who stole a giant weapon, right?" That much he remembered from Tamekichi's lecture. "I was thinking of asking Cid about that. I have some tools I could use and a very important item I have to keep safe."

And back to the petting. When he really thinks about it, this is a great way to cope with living in a large city that doesn't look like a fake, technological utopia.

[red_planet_blues]

Sparks grumbles. "Yeah, that's her. Cid'll do it for ya, he'll just ask a favor in return. And uh, sometimes they mess up and bring ya the wrong thing. So. Head's up."

He didn't want to get into any more detail than that.

[mindofathief]

"Wrong thing..." His mind drifts off into the realm of possibilities. There's a lot that could refer to. His suit. His wig. Rope Snake. Food. "That doesn't sound too bad," he says with a shrug.