Intro Log || The Deep Breath Before The Plunge

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of July. 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: 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 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. Well, that is if you don't die or crystallize first.


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 the Festival of Light nearing, there are a lot of folks working hard to set up the upcoming event! And besides this, there are a lot of things to do in the city for newcomers. Moogles are working hard in Mognet Office of the ninth district! Characters are also free to visit the city-- They can visit Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline. There is however the impression that everyone is on edge, and a lot more officers from the law enforcement in the streets. Why could it be...?

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. It seems all the computer shut down recently, but the people working in the lab are restarting everything. The screens seem to indicate the "summoning process" is over and that the Crystal of Fire's energy level are dangerously. 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 last year.


Very Close Encounters of the Thirteenth Kind
— 14:00 —
Characters venturing by the Ninth District at this time will be able to see a most peculiar and unexpected sight. They will see a strange blue creature running after a Moogle, with the later looking particularly distressed. Before anyone could have a chance to react, the two of them entered a building... And a few minutes later, the blue creature could be seen emerging from the building, running away with a Kupo Nut in hand. In a surprising reversal, this time the Moogle is the one pursuing the blue creature. Needless to say, the Moogle looks furious at this turn of event.

Trying to pursue the blue creature will result in failure and it will disappear. What could it mean...?

Comments

[partofthecycle]

The Other Heroes
Aang is disoriented. It was late winter when he had arrived in Aquares Ixen, but now it was summer and he's not entirely sure how he had lost so many months. And the Moogle assigned to help him, Mogya, was a bit confused about this as well. Something about Crystal Stasis, except as far as Aang knew, people normally just died. So now he was looking for people he recognized, especially those that had been woken by Kalki last summer.

The City (Shopping, B-06)
Well, okay, so he had a house. And roommates. Aang stopped first to pick up some dinner (vegetarian, so he could eat it too) and flowers for the house... which meant borrowing money from Mogya with an embarrassed look. But he wanted to make a good impression on people he'd be sharing space with for some months.

"Hi!" Aang did enter without knocking, but it is his house too. "Who wants vegetable dumplings?"

The Lab
Someone is learning how to use the computers. Right now, Aang is playing with his own file, checking out his past appearance.

"So this button shows what I looked like as a kid... what about this one?"

So far he hasn't broken anything, but you might want to keep it this way.

[acceptedoblivion]

The Hospital → The Other Heroes
When he'd first awoken, Ira was... irate. Panicked, in his own way. He never truly liked hospitals. Hated the thought of others watching him, even after all this time. He'd been lucky that Moglin had been there as he awoke, visiting in hopes that he'd awaken with the new arrivals. She'd apparently been visiting often, even though she'd returned to her previous duties. Yet as he stood there for the first time in months, all he could do for a few minutes was look into Sora's still-frozen face. In a way, this place was not unlike the tower's cemetery floor... despite being in the hospital.

"...still can't believe of those of us from our worlds, it..." he muttered, rubbing the tip of his nose with a gloved finger; moogle hanging off his shoulder as though she didn't want him to leave her sights just in case. Hearing he soft-but-sad kupo from her, he shook his head. "Guess it falls to a fake, then."

With that, he turned on his heel to leave.

The City
The city didn't seem to change much, if you discounted how everyone seemed to be a bit... on edge, lately. With how many that had died the last month though, Ira couldn't be surprised. Death was a constant companion to him back in that dark world, but such cruelty wasn't something he'd find the everyday citizens so accustomed to. Hopefully they never would be again, but with how other "heroes" had been used as puppets, though...

It didn't sit right with him. Thus he probably isn't looking too happy as he scans the crowd, hoping to find a familiar face before he goes to his new housing assignment. Maybe someone was kind enough to keep his belongings, however few they were.

The Lab
Of course, he had to come back here when he found out his file had been conveniently unlocked once again. He knew how to use a computer, fortunately, but someone was likely to notice the metaphorical storm cloud attempting once again to just delete the darn thing before locking it once more. Especially when, instead of leaving, he approached one of the employees in the calmest manner he could despite himself.

"I was told there'd been secret reports deciphered while I was in stasis... Could I see a copy?"

[shear_trigger]

[ The Other Heroes ]

Squall had woken up confused and with a painful migraine. It didn’t help that people were bustling around him noisely and the little moogle “assigned” to him was trying to chatter in his ear about important things. It hurt too much to listen to her right now and he kept trying to swat her away.

Not now, Blizzara.

He would much rather talk to someone a little more calm and coherent than the fuzzy creature.

He had to get answers about this entire situation. What this red crystal in his hand was, more about this Hero of Light crap, were his friends were, why he’s in a strange outfit... more importantly… where his damn gunblade was.

Squall didn’t like being this confused.

[ The City of Aqures Ixen: 14th District ]

Alright. So he had been given a residence. That so much as clear. Establishing a place to sleep, eat and think was a good thing. But his first worry was where his place was...

Okay, so maybe Squall was a tiny bit lost. It’s not his fault, this is his first time here. He wont seek out help though, he will try to find this place on his own first.]

...B-02...

[lostwisdom]

5th, The Other Heroes/The City of Aqures Ixen
When she'd heard what she could only assume was the crystal itself speaking, she jolted awake, nearly hitting the poor moogle that had been hovering over her in concern as it appeared she was sweating a bullet or a dozen. Red crystals talking to you typically was not good news, after all. Fortunately, she seemed to have calmed herself relatively quickly after a few shouts in a tongue that was deliberately foreign and likely held quite the plethora of elven curses.

Though, that didn't exactly put her confusion to ease. There was much to learn about this world and its plight, and until she learned exactly who she had to blame for this, she would hold back the anger that followed. She'd just solved a similar situation back home, damn it. Now this? She'd so been looking forward to the pastries Josephine had ordered from Val Royeaux, too...

For now, she needed to familiarize herself with the town. With her moogle companion having gone off to see if there were any more letters to deliver, she began wandering aimlessly, watching the crowds carefully. Both alert, and clearly disappointed in the lack of pastries (or even a small part of the celebratory food and wine, for that matter). The sheer number of those in uniform was rather cause for concern, though she could see why if the tale Falon shared of the recent murders was true.

Though if she found someone who didn't seem so busy, she approached them. "Pardon me, but could you point me in the direction of the 11th District?"

5th, The City (B-08)
Sharing a house wasn't too much of a change for Ellana, as she had grown accustomed to lodging with others in something other than a tent over the past few months. However, she wasn't exactly certain what the tastes of her new housemates would be--or even how old they were. So, after purchasing a bottle of wine, she was certain to purchase a small variety of baked goods. If none of them were old enough to drink, at least she'd have something for later.

"Hello?" She called, knocking on the front door before letting herself in. "Is anyone here?"

If not, she would at least leave the box of pastries on the table with a note:

Help yourself to the pastries! -Ellana Lavellan

6th, The Laboratory
"Fehendis." Came a quiet slur as the elven woman placed her partly-glowing, marked left hand to her temple as she gazed upon the screen of a machine that was all too foreign to her. Pen and ink she could handle, but computers were beyond her. Something that was likely made all the more obvious as she was typing with a single finger, trying to figure out exactly how it worked. Barkeep had told her to come here and see about reading the files, but she didn't want to impose on anyone.

"How does this function...?" It may as well be an ancient Dwarven dialect to her at this point.

[murimurimuri]

Crystal of Fire
For Simon, finding himself in this utterly surreal situation was a 'just when you think things can't get worse' moment. Frankly he didn't take it so well, breaking down into ugly, hysterical laughter while his poor moogle tried first to explain what was happening, then simply to calm him. It took some time for him to quiet down, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes and tugging at his new outfit in bewildered frustration.

The moogle seemed rather at a loss. "A-are you okay?"

"Fine," he replied, not making eye contact. "Can you go over that again?"

And so the diligent creature began its spiel once more...

Laboratory
Being of a curious nature, as one might so diplomatically put it, Simon naturally found his way to the lab. He'd formed something of a friendship with the moogle by that point, and it was no difficult matter to convince Kulaun to stand guard while he perused his file ("I can't let anyone see my original hair color! Nowaynowaynoway, I'd die of embarrassment!").

He fully intended to delete it, of course, but became immediately engrossed, fascinated and horrified at seeing his personal history so plainly laid out. Of course, the second someone came too close to the screen that he was so fixedly hovering over, his moogle valiantly cried, "Stand back, kupo! Simon is erasing his embarrassing secrets!"

14th District
Simon wandered around the area, carrying his moogle on his head and looking rather lost (after all, it's better to be caught lost rather than snooping). Kulaun would occasionally attempt to give him directions, but he'd misinterpret or pretend not to hear them, heading wherever he intended to head in the first place. He was very interested in his fellow 'Heroes'.

[brandnewday]

[Arrival]

[Hibiki thinks she's finally going home. There's that gun, that gun that sends people to other dimensions. She's found hers. Seconds ago, she'd been rubbing her right eye, right over the scar that had been left there after running through the revival machine. Everything had been awful, but with Dorika in hand, she was finally going home, and—

This isn't right at all. She'd heard voices, a really timid voice, and when she's awake she's wearing something completely different, some sort of dance outfit with blue highlights. After scrambling to her feet in a bit of a panic, she looks down at the crystal in her hand. She looks down at the small Moogle who seems excited to see her. She looks at the airships, the nonhumans walking by, the...the everything.

And she knows she's in another world again.]

What the heck?!?!

[Elsewhere]

[This is weird. This is really weird. How is this so weird? She's been killed, she's been revived, and now she feels sort of like she's stuck in a fantasy manga. This isn't what being an idol is all about. This isn't the life she signed up for, but here she is. With her chicken in her arm, she makes her way to a few places.

First up, she stops by the laboratory at her Moogle's suggestion. Hibiki is not interested at all in reading her file, she's been through the whole "everyone is watching you" crap before. Anyone is welcome to notice her locking her file before she even reads it. Next, she heads to try and eat, and she can be found with her Moogle paying for some vegetables or in an alley giving some feed to her feathered friend. Her last stop is her new place in B-12. She unlocks the door, not sure what she's going to find or who she's apparently living with.]

[Chase: Closed to Sparks Nevada]

[Something weird is right in front of her.

Hibiki and Dorika duck behind a well-placed barrel, Kathy floating behind them. They've been following the blue creature for a few minutes now, determined only because Hibiki is convinced that blue creature is harassing that poor Moogle. Sure enough, the Moogle ducks into a building and the creature follows, leaving Hibiki to run a bit closer, ducking behind a cart.

When she hears footsteps behind her, she doesn't even both to turn.]

Shhhh! Just get down, something suspicious is goin' on!