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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[He had heard the words - 'you can't run away from this', hadn't intended to spend much attention to this argument that apparently was happening. Well, that was until he caught the face and the hair of the person who was just passing by.

He didn't have his dragon sense here to confirm it, but they spend more than enough time with each other by now that there was no way he would mistake this person. Of course, a part of him thinks it might be wishful thinking, especially because things got a bit lonelier at home again, but no... that couldn't just be only his mind playing tricks on him.

So he did what came first to his mind - chasing said person. Which was all too familiar in a weird way, and felt so long ago, too.]

JAEHA!! IS THAT YOU, JAEHA?!!

[He knows that voice. But this can't be right, can it? Jaeha looks back over his shoulder to verify what his ears tell him, and sure enough, his eyes confirm it. And yet, he can't feel the White Dragon's presence at all. An impostor, perhaps? He masks his surprise with a quirked smile.]

Well now, look who it is~

[But he hasn't stopped running. He'll slow a little for Kija to catch up and run beside him, but he doesn't really plan on stopping until he's outside of the city gates.]

[It could be the real deal, though. If the powers of his dragon leg have been sealed, then his other dragon ability must be cut off as well. He'll have to watch Kija carefully to make sure his mannerisms and reactions match the young man he remembers.]

[Jaeha shouldn't have the power of the dragon leg, yet he was still fast, too fast, and he didn't stop running from him, which was typical so it was another confirmation that he was indeed the man he thought he was.

Once he caught up with Jaeha, he was tempted to reach out to him, but he refrained from doing so, considering actions like those were things Jaeha wasn't too comfortable with. Still, all of this begged one question-]

Why do you not stop running so we can talk properly?!

Why? I should think the answer is fairly obvious.

[Who in their right mind wouldn't try to run away from a city that forcefully abducted a dozen people, if not more, and tried to force them into servitude by sweet-talking them into being 'heroes'? The entire situation stank like fishrot.]

We can speak outside of the city walls.

[With that same annoying self-assured smirk he always wore, Jaeha increased his speed again, urging Kija to do the same.]

[In hindsight, that made sense. Of course, Jaeha would only join a cause he believed in - but everything, from the way this was happening, how it was set up, and how he was probably asked to join - it was a thing Jaeha definitely wouldn't want.

Realizing that, Kija slowed down a little, but he did follow him out of the city walls, even if it wasn't at the speed Jaeha probably wanted him to do.

Once they reached said place, Kija tried to catch his breath, hand moving to his chest.]

Then... what is your plan?

Probably to keep moving. Find the others out there.

[Because if Kija is here, then surely Yona, Hak, and everyone else is somewhere in this strange new world as well.]

Either way, I'm not sure it's a good idea to remain here of all places.

[Jaeha doesn't bother asking if Kija is going to join him. Why wouldn't he want to come along? Surely the only reason he was here at all was to watch for anyone else the city decided to abduct.]

I do not think the others are here...

[Considering the time he has spent already here it was safe to assume, even if not very sure. Zeno kept hiding from them for a long time, for different reasons, but he shouldn't have any reason to do so anymore.]

If you wish to escape the influence, I do not think you really can here anyways. It might be best to help them so we can return to the side of the princess as soon as possible.

I'll consider it.

[It's not exactly a lie. But he's already made up his mind on the matter, unfortunately.]

Now, why don't you tell me how long you've been here, and why you've decided to go along with this plan.

[Jaeha does trust Kija, but his younger brother does seem rather naive to him, and if someone's duped and manipulated the White Dragon, they'll face the Green Dragon's wrath.]

[He nods. At least that was something, not outright refusal towards their situation. Or actually, which Jaeha that might be a lot already.]

I think it must be about four months now. At first, it was because I have decided to accept this destiny as well, and to return to the Princess as fast as possible, but now I have also come to care about the other heroes and wish to support them.

[Ah, well, things do change, and he was swayed before. Who knows? It might happen again, but he's not counting on it happening any time soon. Kija's answer seems to please him at least, since it's a decision that he made on his own, and not because he was told it was what he should be doing.]

Perhaps you'll introduce them to me sometime.

[If they're willing to travel. He looks back toward the city and his smile vanishes. He doesn't feel good about any of this]

Are you really so tied to this city? There's a big world out there.

[Sometime. It already sounded as if Jaeha was going far away. Not that he couldn't live with that, but it was a little unsettling that he wouldn't be able to sense his presence at all if he was away.

But he keeps this part of his thoughts to himself.]

I will. I believe Ace would be interested in your music, I talked a bit about it to him.

[Kija contemplates this for a moment. 'Tied' to it wasn't really the right word, not like he had been to the Hakuryuu village, where he wasn't allowed to go outside, but...]

I do have work around here, though exploring the world here might be interesting.

[It would be a lie to say that he wasn't interested.]

My music? Well now, seems I'm a popular topic of conversation!

[Even if he's not supposed to be flattered, he's going to be anyway. His ego pretty much demands it. It's nice to know he's been talked about, even when he's not here.]

What kind of work would that be? Finish it up.

[He gestures as if this shouldn't be a difficult thing to do.]

I want to see some of these other cities. You can show me around.

[More like Jaeha will just take off and explore at his own leisure, making Kija chase after him constantly.]

He had started to play an instrument, so I ended up bringing you up.

[It wasn't even his intention to flatter Jaeha, it was just a matter of fact.]

It's not anything I can finish just up like that. I work as a waiter to earn some money for living here.

[Certainly not anything he was used to, but right now he couldn't rely too much on others for daily necessities.]

Is that what you did when you first left your village? Sightseeing?

[He frowns, just a little.]

Naturally.

[He lays his fingertips on his chest, his other arm held open to the side.]

I wandered through mysterious caverns and across enchanting plains and valleys...

[He slept on the cold ground under the shelter of trees while the rain poured and soaked him to the skin.]

...I met interesting and exotic people...

[He dodged arrows and rocks being flung at him as he leaped to safety.]

...I tasted fruits from far-away places...

[He dug through trash cans for scraps.]

Of course, I had to settle down once I met the fair Captain. But I'll never forget my sightseeing days.

[He'd been starving, cold, and miserable, but the experience had made him stronger, and better equipped to survive in a harsh world that wanted him dead. It was nothing he could regret.]

[Well, considering Jaeha lived in Awa, getting things from faraway countries might not have been difficult. He, on the other hand, could only rely on the knowledge the various people of the Hakuryuu village, who had taken the task upon them to live in other places. He had been a bit naive, thinking that theory and reality would be the same in the end.

There was no denying that Jaeha was far more skilled when it came to practical things than he was. So that he chose to settle down...]

What made you settle down with the Captain?

What can I say? It was a good fit for both of us.

[He smiles simply. Maybe someday he'll be more open about his past. But there's so much of it that's dreadfully personal, and still painful even to this day. For Jaeha, he hasn't really known Kija all that long. Long enough that he'll stick around to talk with him, and offer a chance to go exploring as a duo. But for now, the past will remain in the past.]

Someday you'll learn the appeal of older, experienced women~

[Gigan would surely have his head if she heard him say that.]

[A part of Kija wonders why he was expecting some kind of serious answer from Jaeha. He had thought that there was maybe something about her personality drawing him in, or the way he had met her - or really something along those lines, but of course he had to make a comment like this.]

I do not think I need to learn about that. Granny is a good and responsible leader herself.

[And even if she kept him away from his father, she was still very important to him and his primary parental figure, in a way.]

...Not quite the appeal I was talking about, but to each their own, right?

[At least Jaeha looks like he's enjoying himself. That's a marked improvement over his determined flight from the city. Ah, Kija, how innocent you are! Someday that will all change, but no need to rush it. Jaeha will just be there to let things happen naturally.]

In any case, we've probably stood around and chatted long enough. I need to look into hiring a ship. I don't suppose you're feeling spontaneously adventurous?

[Kija frowns. Jaeha kept talking in questions. Though what was more important is the invitation - if he wanted to call it that way - that came with it. He didn't mind going on adventures, far from that, no matter what his upbringing might indicate, aside from the bug-problem, but there was one thing he had to keep in mind before he could agree to the idea.]

With spontaneously adventurous, I suppose you mean you want to leave for somewhere? How long is that going to be?

Who knows? Probably quite a while.

[Longer than Kija would like, most likely, since Jaeha has no desire to return to this city if he can help it. Still, he'll wait for Kija's answer, as he's not about to strongarm his 'little brother' into making a decision he'll regret.]

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Intro Log || This Keeps Happening

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