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

A - Awakening

[provenworth]

There are not enough words in the Gaian language to fully express her powerful, deep-down disgust with the cold. And there were never enough layers to keep the bitter chill from reaching her bones. But Elena had to make do with what she had - a skill long perfected from past experiences - without looking like a five-year-old overly padded up with coats by an overly anxious mother.

She had been out on an information expedition when she came across the area where the newest set of Heroes had appeared. The group got an initial look over with the intent to continue, however a familiar blonde hairstyle and voice caused her to stop and narrow her vision to its owner.

Rufus. Yet another face she hadn't seen in years. One she still had mixed feelings about.

But there was no ignoring her duties as a Turk and she was quick to cut through the crowd towards the President.

"Rufus! Sir!" Hands go to remove her hat with one hand, letting longer blonde hair fall to her shoulders, and the other unwrapping her scarf. She she reaches him, both items are offered to him without a word. "Elena present and reporting for duty."

[ruinedempire]

Elena.

Rufus turned at her call, facing the young Turk with his full attention. He heard from Reno that she was here and he was honestly glad to see her. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was something Rufus was sincere about. Hopefully there weren't going to be any more weird complications to deal with, but Rufus doubted that things could get any more bizarre.

Reno telling him about their... relationship was a bit hard to swallow.

"Elena." Her hair was longer, but she otherwise looked fine. Good. He took the scarf and wrapped it around his neck, but he declined the hat she was offering. "Reno debriefed me earlier. But report on your own status and condition." He heard that she was staying with Sephiroth... and the whole hero of light business as well.

[provenworth]

Rufus was not the only one to complete a quick once-over, her focus going to areas in which he had been stricken by Geostigma. The lack thereof narrowing the time periods that he could have potentially been taken from.

Not that it meant that he'd remember anything from the City. Which was mostly a good thing. She didn't want to dig up those old memories unnecessarily.

Returning the hat to her head, she gave a quick nod. It was no surprise to her that Reno had already contacted Rufus - the man moved like a cat and somehow was always a step ahead of her. Nevertheless, she would provide the requested information.

"I arrived a little over a month ago with limited information about the city and role as an alleged 'Hero'. I'm guessing that Reno told you that this isn't my first time in a world besides Gaia. Based on my calculations, I have been absent from Gaia for roughly 4 years before awakening here."

Though now that seemed irrelevant, considering that her world shattered around her upon coming here.

"My class appears to be a Gunner with a Red Mage as my secondary. I live in building B-09 with a woman named Terra and a pre-Nibiehlehim incident Sephiroth. Physically I have no major injuries to speak of, just some after-effects of previous altercations and illness. Otherwise, I am fit for duty."

She's kept her answers simple and straight to the point. Void of any unnecessary facts or details. Professional. And so she stops, giving the man a second to absorb the information she's provided. But only for a moment. She's seen him too many times come into her life in a way she would never want to see him come back in.

"You appear to be 'stigma free, sir."

Its both a statement and a question, though the latter is hinted subtly.

[ruinedempire]

Four years away from their world. That wasn't an insignificant amount of time and Rufus briefly wondered where Elena was at before arriving in this city. He planned on asking her more about those details at a later point, but he was fine with moving onto the situation they needed to address right now.

Even though he heard about Sephiroth from a couple different sources at this point, Rufus still found it odd to hear him be talked about so casually. Well, he was more of his hero self in this place, so it made sense. But it didn't erase the fact that the general almost destroyed Gaia a couple of times now.

Regardless, he nodded as she finished her report, mostly satisfied by what she said.

"The healing rain cured me just not too long ago. A month at most. Before you left Gaia, was I still afflicted with the disease?"

[provenworth]

Hands buried deep into pockets to fight the cold, and to feel the firearm on her side. With Rufus present, her awareness of those around her had shifted from casual curiosity to full-blown protective mode.

It was going to be a hell of a lot easier keeping an eye on him this time around, seeing that she had Reno at her disposal. Not that he'd been that much of a handful last time around. There hadn't any buildings tall enough for him to make a dramatic leap from.

At his question, she gave a little shake of the head. "No. When I left, you had been free of the illness for at least two months."

Not that it meant that he was entirely healthy enough to be standing in the frigid cold.

"Ru-Sir, might I suggest we take this conversation somewhere warmer?"