melodiesoflife | Intro Log || Third Time's the Charm

Intro Log || Third Time's the Charm

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of November. 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. For the first time since it all began, it seems they are the first batch not to have any sort of problems: small miracles?
Warning: N/A

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 arrived these past months too and they will come soon! Like you, they had Jobs and a Crystal-- And you do have your Crystal too, great news!

If asked, the Moogles will mention some "disastrophic" event that happened last month and involved disappearing crystals, heroes of light falling sick and killing each other. Sure sounds like a lovely place to be in! Thankfully it's all over now. Right?

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 months ago. 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 fiercely battled each other past month. 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 minor 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.

Celebrations
— Anytime —
The 'Halloween' decorations are long gone now, but given the impending death threat that floated over the city a couple days ago, the celebrations for the Night of the Thirteen Moogles were all cancelled. Fear not, for people have decided to hold mini-celebrations over the city today to compensate for what's been missed. It's not that much, but there are stands and banquets, especially by the 9nth and 11th District where you can find all sort of food and especially candies: tons of candies that were, unfortunately, not used on the 31st of October. But at least it's a paradise for children who come and go with their hands full of candies.

Oh, and there are a lot of Kupo Nuts as well. Though, most Moogles do not seem to be in particularly high spirits, so they're pretty neglected, for the first and probably last time.

The City of Aqures Ixen
— Anytime —
There are a lot of things left to do in the city, especially for newcomers. A 20:00, a BLitzball game will take place at the stadium located in the tenth district, opposing the Teams of Esdham and Aqures. Earlier at 16:00, a few groups of Triple Triad players are playing: one before Mognet Office in the ninth district next to the celebrations, another near the Blitzball Stadium in the 10th District. And of course, they are more than happy to teach the rule to anyone passing by. Characters are free to enter and play games of Triple Triad, and if they do so they will be given very basic cards and explained the rules. This may be the start of a promising career!

Characters are also free to visit the city-- Mognet Office just behind the Triple Triad games is filled with very busy Moogles, especially now that Mognet just started again after a closed down period. They can also visit Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline. It's in the process of re-opening after having been closed for most of past month, and the next airship departing from Aqures Ixen will do so on the 9th.

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.

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Any other time than now, and Jack might have a very different reaction to the woman standing before him. He does give her a very slow once-over, but whatever he sees, he doesn't comment on. Instead, he steps all the way inside, and respectfully offers a hand over to shake. "Captain Jack Harkness. I've just arrived today, and, apparently that isn't uncommon? They said I'd be living here, if that's all right?" Even though there is definitely room enough for the both of them, he'll give her the option to boot him out.

"Yes. I am Yeul." She has only been there for a month but she was happy to know that she wouldn't be living alone anymore. It has been several days since the summoning and she was still feeling lost and confused. She should be dead right now and she wasn't.

Yeul kept her expression composed as Hibiscus flew up next to her. "I'm Hibiscus! Welcome. This house has room for three so make yourself at home, kupo."

A little tension leaves Jack when he sees that he will be welcomed here. A gentle smile spreads across his face at both Yeul and Hibiscus. Jack's own moogle, Mogwen, flutters forwards to introduce himself. "Mogwen. And oh boy, are you in for a handful with this one."

"He-ey! You get taken out of your home world and see how well you do." Jack rolls his eyes. "Anyway, nice to meet you both, Yeul, Hibiscus." He slowly walks over to the kitchen table, sets the bow and quiver that he had appeared with aside. He still holds them like he doesn't quite now what to do with them.

"Thank you for letting me stay. Everything's a little- off, in the city, so I wasn't able to get the best information. Were you also brought here, from another time and place?" Let's get a few basics out of the way first.

The table is littered with Yeuls artwork, drawing of things she has seen in her vision or things she missed from home. A lot of them were flowers while other drawings looked darker.

"Yes. Time does not hold power here as it should. This world is a paradox, cutting us off from our worlds." She walked over and quickly set to collecting her papers to a single pile. She didn't mind him seeing but she wasn't ready to explain. She handed the papers to Hibi who quickly flew them up to her room. "I don't know much more than that."

Jack's eyebrows shoot right up, and he leans in to listen, because he seems to have found the one person who is speaking his language. "Whoa, whoa, back it up a second. Time doesn't hold power here as it should?"

"I've-" Jack waves his head back and forth a little, "Short version is that I've traveled time before. A lot. So I know a little more about this sort of thing than the normal person on the street. I thought I'd just jumped dimensions coming here, changed timelines, but everything else should be the same. But is there something else going on with time here?" His mind is already running through possible time distortions that he's encountered that might be affecting this place.

She nodded before taking a deep breath. "That's right. If time was correct I would be dead." She has seen those who travel through time and have helped them in the past to correct the paradox she had started. In her own world she would see the change in the timeline whenever someone changed it and it slowly ate away at her life.

"Here we are not bound by the laws of time. I'm not sure how the worlds are connected." Yeul wasn't sure if she was making sense but she could only explain it as she understood it and while she understood her own world this one was an enigma.

Jack looks at Yeul sharply at that first pronouncement, and his voice gets very gentle. "Dead? You- know this for a fact? How? I mean, I'm sorry." Or maybe not sorry, because she escaped some time-locked fate set for her?

But there's another troubling thought starting in the back of Jack's mind. "Which laws of time are you referring to, specifically? In my travels, there were certain rules that we had to follow to prevent paradoxes, or risk the timeline correcting itself to undo our actions. But, time is flowing here, there has to be some sort of Time Vortex acting on this land...right?"

"I am a seeress. I see each change to the timeline and the cost is my life. When I die I am reborn into a new body. Since arriving here that power was taken. After dying here I awoke as I am now." She walked in a slow circle as Hibiscus came flying down the stairs towards her hero. After Yeul's death the little moogle hated leaving Yeul alone for any measurable amount of time.

"I don't know what is happening here, it might be a vortex but it could also be more than that. We were brought here to prevent a calamity. That calamity might have the power to create the time distortion and bring us here." She has had a lot of time to think about it but has only confused herself more. She didn't like working with uncertainties when she is used to knowing more.

Jack listens quietly, respectfully, and the look on his face gets very sympathetic as he tries to put this into a context that he can understand. "You can see time- but, the cost. It's like you have to reset your own timeline, any time there is a change." He is stricken hard with this knowledge, it's like all the worst parts of being a Time Lord, none of the benefits. He isn't horrified, but looks with more understanding than most people would be able to bring to a concept like that. And it's depressing that there's someone who can understand even a part of this existence.

He nods slowly at her idea that the distortion of time might be what is bringing the heroes here. "Time. You can't see the flow of it any more, because time is wrong here, or because..." His brow furrows deeply. "The power, to see time, it was taken from you? How?"

"It is a trade. To see time, I give up what time I would have had. So each vision takes a little away." She rarely made is past the age of 17. Yeul didn't chose to carry this curse but she tried her best.

"I'm afraid I can't answer all of your questions. I had my final vision in this life but instead of death I woke up here."

She paused thinking it over carefully. "I had a vision here but I haven't seen anything since. When that happened I felt a connection to the chaos. The energy that all life posses but that connection is gone again."

She wanted it all to make sense but she knew that it didn't. She should be dead and being alive gave her mixed feelings. Yeul was ready to face her death but she knew that she would miss the person she was. Every Yeul was different, which meant even when she is reborn, part of her stays dead.

Jack nods sadly, because he completely understands, when she puts it that way. The comparison to the Doctor is actually incredibly apt, in the worst way possible. "And yet, you are still there, in each timeline. A version of you is still a constant. Even if that version is a little different than the last. I'm sorry." Because, it is still how the Doctor described his regenerations. The person that Yeul was still dies, in order to get the person that she becomes.

"But that isn't true here? You aren't-" Dead pause. "Aren't...connected to time, anymore? Your powers, is anything you had from your own world gone?" No no, Jack, don't jump to conclusions.

"There is no need to be sorry." She smiled up at him with her chin held high. She would be strong just like Caius had taught her.

"I am not connected, no. The powers that I once possessed are out of reach." Her powers were limited in their abilities without the contact with Etro.

There is a very long pause, while Jack is staring, not quite at Yeul, as if his thoughts are organizing themselves, and he is coming to come kind of important conclusion. His eyes search back and forth for a second, his shoulders tighten and stiffen, as he considers the implications of what she is saying.

Well, one way to test it.

Jack's jaw sets, and he abruptly gets up from his chair. He moves to the quiver that he had set aside, and draws out a single arrow. Closest thing at hand, and something that wouldn't do too much damage if he happens to be right.

He isn't even thinking of how this must look, as he grabs the arrow by the arrowhead, slides his left sleeve up, just a touch, and then drags the point of the arrowhead across the back of his wrist, just enough to make a small, shallow cut.

Yeul watched him curiously but doesn't make any move to stop him. "What are you doing?" She assumed he had a reason but his actions made no sense to her. She kept her shiver internal she thought about the pain of the arrow's tip.

It's only a quick flash of pain, he tries to hide the bite to the inside of his lip, but then his other arm just goes limp, as he stares hard at the back of his left wrist. Blood wells up, just a trickle, only the tiniest wound, but the minor ones are supposed to heal the quickest. The more Jack stares, it's as if he's trying to will the wound closed by force of determination.

And yet the cut remains.

Jack huffs out a breath, looks at the ceiling, and lets his arm drop. This isn't good. This is really really not good. He numbly puts the arrow back into the quiver, and staggers back to the chair to slump back down. He puts his arm on the table, so Yeul can see what he's done.

"This isn't supposed to happen." The words come out shaky, and Jack can't quite figure out how to follow them up, just yet. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. He can be hurt. He can die here. Fixed point in time? Wrong time.

Yuel walked over to the counter and silently opened the far drawer. She pulled medical wrapping from it and moved to sit next to Jack. She carefully tided up his wrist and stopped the bleeding. She had wrapped some of Caius's wounds in the past and was able to neatly tie of the bandages end with little difficulty. "What is suppose to happen then?" Her expression remained static but she was worried by his words.

She didn't know and she really didn't want to guess. There were things going on that he might want to know about but Yeul wanted to know what he was thinking before she told him more.

Jack doesn't look back up until Yeul is suddenly taking his wrist. It's a minor cut, but okay, he keeps still as she wraps it up. Yeul's calm is a very good force to start to diminish some of Jack's panic. "It's a long story," Jack's voice shakes again, and then he clears his throat.

"Time. It always comes back to time. Short version is that I'm," Jack taps his chest, "my life is tied into the time flow of my home universe. But, well, my friend called me a 'fixed point.' I get hurt, I die, I just come right back to life. The Time Energy of my world got fed into me at a specific point. Unintentionally. And so time keeps bringing me back to that point. It turned me into what I am." Jack frowns. "Or what I was. Even I don't understand it all."

"How is it even possible for this place to take away something like that?"

"There are many ways." Not that Yeul knew them but she could think of a few. "Things that are created can be destroyed with the same amount of effort." Which included the connections they had to their timelines.

Yeul sat back and looked over at the blank wall. "I was told that heroes can't die here. They go into a crystal stasis, allowing the body to regenerate and then wake up after a few days." Hibi had told her that after her disappearance.

Edited 2014-11-05 21:17 (UTC)

Jack nods solemnly. On a philosophical level he can understand what Yeul is getting at. It would take a tremendous amount of energy in order to undo Jack's connection alone. But maybe this place has that sort of energy.

"Again with the crystals," Jack muttered. He pulled his own crystal out of his pocket. The red stone looked like it had been cut into a lot of tiny facets, almost rounded to fit easily in Jack's palm. "These things have power. Even in my world, certain types of dimensional energy can be stored in stones, if they're being constantly exposed to it for long enough. I just-" Jack swallows hard and looks down.

"Just last night, I sealed up a hole between dimensions using things almost similar to this. They been carrying rift energy on the right wavelength for centuries. Putting a bunch of that energy right in the center of the rift and then- blowing it up was the only way to close it." A flinch. "It was the only way." But Jack should have been the one at the center of it.

Yeul nodded and silently pulled her crystal from her pocket. It was shaped like the seal of Etro but unlike his the crystal was blue. Her crystal had changed colors after her death. "They might be a key."

She didn't comment on his exploits because she didn't know what to say. It sounded as if he did what needed to be done and she thought that would give some condolence of its own.

Jack wants to forget about it, the entire reason he was leaving Earth was to shove it all down, so he is able to move on quickly. Just- don't think about it.

He cautiously looks back up, focuses on Yeul's crystal. "Has anyone else figured anything out about them so far?" He nods at hers. "Do the different colors mean anything? And these look very different than that massive one in the middle of the city."

"It changed its color after I died." She knew that it held a lot of power, allowing them to change jobs and use skills that would otherwise be foreign to them. The power was even more evident when the crystals had been stolen and used for a ritual.

Yeul shifted in her seat slightly before places the crystal back into her pocket. "They hold a lot of power and only the heroes of light carry them."

There was some really important information in there; an idea in the back of Jack's mind that maybe crystals are the things which are tying them to this world. But the other thing that Yeul said gives Jack pause. Everyone will still die and come back. Sort of. But not like him. And he wont heal like normal.

"...Do you remember it? How you died, what it was like this time?" It's an extremely personal question, and not one that Jack really wants to ask. But that itch of curiosity in the back of his mind wont let it go.

"It was like before... except..." Her usual calm voice faltered slightly and she turned to look away from Jack. "I felt the chaos returning, slowly my awareness grew. I didn't notice until I saw the vision but... I knew I was suppose to die. It wasn't suppose to be here." It sounded like she was trying to explain something to herself and then stopped.

"Everything got cold but it felt more like falling sleep than like death. Hibi said that my body vanished but didn't turn into a crystal." It was hard for her to explain. She has seen her death over and over again but it was the first time she remembered how it felt.

Her sentences answer all of Jack's questions. She remembers her past lives, dying before, and dying here, it felt different. "Keeps coming back to those crystals," Jack mutters.

"Normally, I remember, I feel it. And it's almost like I'm- still aware, but there's nothing to be aware of." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry again. This is all impossible, and probably the strangest conversation I've ever had." He shoots Yeul a half-smile. "And I've had to discuss cross-shape-shifting alien race fertility habits. Long story."

He's trying. This isn't the nicest conversation, and he has to recognize how odd this all is. "I guess what I'm trying to say is- I get it. Time, destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it, it can be changed. The future, even if we've seen it, or experienced it, it's never really set in stone."

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enduringflower - 2014-11-12 15:18 (UTC) - Expand

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Intro Log || Third Time's the Charm

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