melodiesoflife | Intro Log || The Night of the Thirteen Moogles

Intro Log || The Night of the Thirteen Moogles

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of October. 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. New Heroes of Light will not have their Crystal.
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," the call of the Moogle finally waking 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 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-- Wait, you don't have a Crystal...? That's weird.

Your Moogle will be puzzled by this fact, as all Heroes of Light are supposed to have a crystal with them. Well, maybe you are not a Hero of Light after all?

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 one or two 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 worthy of being revered as heroes. 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.

The Night of the Thirteen Moogles
— Anytime —
Something that may be obvious, is that the city has a spooky feel to it. There are various decorations, it clearly looks like a work in progress but it seems the idea is to make the city looks as scary as possible. Characters familiar with Halloween may recognize the decoration as being strikingly similar. The Moogles will be more than pleased to explain these are all preparations for the upcoming Night of the Thirteen Moogles on the 31st, and they will explain the legends to characters if they ask.

Hopefully all this talk of curse and King Moggle Mog is nothing more than legend.

The City of Aqures Ixen
— Anytime —
There are a lot of things left to do in the city, especially with everyone excited for the upcoming celebration. Starting from 18:00, a series of BLitzball games will take place at the stadium located in the tenth district, opposing amateur teams in a friendly competition. At the same time, a small group of Triple Triad players are playing before Mognet Office in the ninth district, and 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-- Be it Mognet Office just behind the Triple Triad games is filled with very busy Moogles, or the Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline, knowing the next airship departing from Aqures Ixen will do so on the 9th. Still, characters can board an exposition Airship should they like and visit it.

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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"Dead." Caius simply stated without giving much of an explanation. It was the truth and it wasn't exactly the entirety of the story either. At the very least, if the kid turned and ran or simply quieted from his questions, Caius wouldn't feel the least bit surprised. It was a sadistic twist of his terrible humor that also betrayed the kind of man that Caius really was.

The terms of black and white were not so easily defined when one saw the timeline from beginning to end, returned to the starting point and erased his own past. The only thing he couldn't change were memories passed down from generation to generation. Once a celebrated hero, he had tasted the tainted waters and the rancid decay of humanity's best and worst.

He knew the consequences he would face and that regret carried through in all aspects of his life, living or as an immortal. His response carried so much meaning in not only tone but through definition as well. He was...dead.

Kairi couldn't help but be amazed at what decorations were around, they seemed so much like another holiday she knew but yet.... the tale as so different. It was quite an interesting tale she had to admit.

As she happily greeted a passerby, making sure to step to the side to let them pass she spotted the other who appeared to be staring at the decorations. She wondered if she knew what they were for. So making her way over she gave a warm smile.

"Aren't the decoration spooky?"

Mogamut flew by Lightning and stopped to regard her. He had lost Caius more than once when the warrior had sent him off to check on Yeul. The light grey moogle bobbed in the air nearby and turned around. "Did you see a tall human with purple hair and dressed as a dark knight come by, kupo?"

Somehow, he had a feeling that the answer was yes. Many people were staring in the direction that Caius had left and this area was just as eerily quiet as the last place he recalled the warrior to be.

How could he lose something so damn big and obvious for that matter? The moogle could tell that she was no slouch with a weapon either and that was a good sign. So far, he had seen a lot of potential in a lot of heroes this round but it still didn't answer the question about the crystals. Something was definitely wrong. Maybe, they just didn't have enough of them. Something made him doubt that too.

"I'm Mogamut. Sorry if he caused you any trouble, kupo." And he had a feeling that he needed to keep a close watch over his master.

His kneejerk reaction was to hug her, though for once in his life, the rational thinking side of his brain kicked in and held him back. Hugging Lightning was probably always going to be a bad idea, unless she did it first. It was just such a huge damn relief to see her here; whenever she was around, it always felt like things were more in control.

"I knew you'd find your way here one way or another," he said.

She looked younger than he remembered her being. No, maybe "younger" wasn't the right word, but it was something. Less weary, maybe; less stressed. Maybe he was just tired. After all, in comparison to himself, everyone seemed like they were less stressed out.

"So, they really shacked you up with us, huh?" he asked. "I can't wait to see the look on Serah's face when she finds out."

There was a slight grin on his face as he spoke. He didn't want to come out and say just how excited he was to have something resembling a full family unit in this world, in this house, but the sentiment was probably clear in his expression.

Kairi had kept her companion moogle close to her as she had explored, amazed with everything this city had to offer. When she thought about it, she was pretty sure this was the biggest world she had ever been on.... and she hadn't really been to that many, maybe three give or take one. But never the less being in such a big city didn't stop the young woman from running around and seeing what was out there.

From the games to the stores, Kairi looked and seemed interested in a few of them, even staring for quite a while at Blitzball; something she knew of back home. She didn't think it would be a thing anywhere else, so it had surprised her that the game existed here. Maybe her friends had somehow come here without her knowing and set it up or something... but she highly doubted that.

Finally moving on from the beautiful game, Kairi nearly bumped into someone. "Ah, sorry. I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as I thought I was." She said apologetically, giving a small bow.

The Other Heroes/ Anywhere

Bloom had woken up and to the confusion of her bonded moogle didn't come with a crystal. Bloom didn't find that particularly odd because she knew she never came with one in the first place and even with an... unusual change of clothes she wouldn't question anything quite like that. But she knew it meant something to these creatures, which meant the young woman was going to do her best to find out something that might explain it.

So for now, she simply walked around and whenever she came across someone she walked up to them. "Excuse me, would you mind if I asked a question?"

What is Blitzball?

Bloom had found herself unable to look away as she spotted a friendly game of Blitzball. She couldn't help it simply because she didn't understand how the game worked. How were they able to stay underwater like that for more than a minute without magic? It was simply impossible, but yet... Here they were.

"Do you suppose they use some kind of magic to stay under that long?"

While she is definitely not in the hugging sort of mood (at least not with Snow), Light will move closer and try not to immediately just because she's never felt so small in comparison to him. Reminder to self: never stand in front of Snow in a hallway. Even though she doesn't hug him, she will give him a faint smile. Okay, it's more like a playful smirk.

"I couldn't leave it to you, now could I?" She teased.

He would be right that she's less weary; less stressed. Though there is some. Right now all she wanted to do was go home to fight Orphan and get rid of him for good. Lightning doesn't have time to worry about another world's problems when she's got her own to deal with.

"Unfortunately. It means I have to look at your ugly mu-" the words die because he just said the one thing that's more important than bantering with him. "Serah?"

That wasn't possible - her sister was crystal and back home. It's too much to hope that Serah might be here and like she was meant to be: all flesh and warmth and moving. Snow had been tricked before but the way he spoke wasn't out shock, he was certain that it was really Serah.

Bloom had opened her eyes not ten minutes ago and had been explained the whole situation. Although the situation was still rather confusing to say the least, but never the less she at least accepted it for now. If people needed her help, she wasn't one to say no at the end of the day.

It didn't take her long to notice there had been others around and much like her had been in the same situation. So thought it would be a good idea to walk on over and at least greet them.

"Hello, are you looking for something?"

"Yeah," he said casually, like it's the most normal thing in the world. For him, it kind of is. "She's been here since the last group showed up. We both thought you'd be the first one in, but..."

He didn't really have a follow-up for that. Snow had been here longer than anyone, which was both frustrating and unsurprising at the same time. There was a lot that he needed to fill Lightning in on, but he wasn't entirely sure where to start. At the very least, though, he would assuage her concern for Serah.

"Don't worry, Sis," he went on. "I've been--"

And that's where he stopped himself. No, that wasn't the right line anymore. I've been taking care of her. He had to snap himself out of that line of thinking. He wasn't her handler, or her provider, or her guardian; he was her boyfriend. They were partners. It bothered him that he had to actively remind himself of that.

"We've been looking out for each other." Yeah. That sounded better.

Now that she didn't have to worry about where the large man was, Lightning was turning to go. At least she'd planned to until a moogle asked her a question. She blinked a few times at it. "Yeah, he went that way."

She jerked her thumb in the direction she'd watched him go in. The man made people stare in his wake like Snow did.

Maybe that's why she didn't like him very much. It had taken her a while to even warm up to Snow and he still sometimes got on her nerves. A punch or two to the face might make her feel better about him eventually but she honestly doubted that.

"Lightning. What's his deal anyway?" She didn't know how much these moogles knew about the people they stuck to but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Right now all she wanted to do was push around him and find her sister. To be able to see her with her own eyes, to hug Serah close and never let go. Okay, maybe not that exactly but hugging would definitely happen. "I'm here now."

That was the important part, right? It didn't matter what order they came in because they were here together now. And since he had been here longer, Light had a lot questions for him but those could wait for later. She'd trust his word more than of a bunch of strangers.

Light waited as he corrected himself. A good correction that she approved of. Relationships work both ways and her sister could take care of people when she wanted to. She nodded a few times to acknowledge that she heard.

"Where is she?" There, that was better than shoving herself around him.

"Out right now," he said, "but she should be back soon."

As soon as he said it, he realized that it wasn't exactly the best answer. There was more to this whole story than just that. Sure, Serah was out of the house, and sure she'd be back soon, but she might not be the same age that Lightning remembered her, and her memories might be different entirely. So far, none of them had matched up. Snow, Serah, Fang, Vanille... all of them had different stories to tell, and Snow's was always the furthest along in the timeline. Was that why Light looked different to him now?

Snow crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly growing serious as he studied her. It probably would've been best to wait until Serah was home to bring this up, but, well, they had a minute now.

"Hey, Light," he said. "What's the last thing you remember? I mean, before coming here."

If Light didn't know how big the city was, she'd go out and search for her sister. Tactically it would better to stay here and wait because Serah would come back here.

It doesn't the fact that she wanted to go though. And it takes everything she has to stay there in the hallway with Snow instead of rushing out. They both knew that she would find Serah if she put herself to it.

His question is disturbing. As disturbing as the man from before that set her on edge and she doesn't quite know why. Something told her that she wouldn't like the answer. Defensively, Light's arms come up to mirror his.

"We were fighting Orphan."

He nearly balked at her answer, shocked at just how far behind things she really was. It'd been bad enough when Serah and Fang hadn't remembered the new world or what exactly had happened in the old one, but this was on a new level entirely. Cocoon hadn't even fallen yet, in Lightning's timeline. Hell, Serah was still in crystal stasis for her.

Snow's head was spinning. Lightning didn't know the worst of it. Didn't know what happened next. Nothing about Etro, nothing about Caius. She didn't know about Serah's death, and Snow was the last person on earth equipped to tell her that tale. Just thinking about talking about it -- especially to a Lightning who didn't already know -- made his chest feel tight.

"I was afraid you'd say something like that," he said. "Things are, uh... Different. Here."

To say the very least. Snow sort of trailed off after that, unsure of how to proceed. There were a thousand things he needed to tell her, but every single one felt like an undertaking too massive to even attempt.

"Maybe we should sit down."

Now he gets why she was so surprised to hear that Serah was here. Why she's desperate to see her sister again - okay that probably didn't change in the future. Light knew that she wasn't going to like the answer. It wasn't exactly an answer but the fact that he's suggesting for her to sit down meant that whatever he had to say was big.

Without questioning, she moved back towards the living area to sit down there. One leg crossed the other, resting comfortably on the knee but Light was straight as a rod in the chair. There was bad news coming; she could sense that. Things she didn't want to hear but would anyway because she'd hate not knowing.

She'll wait for him to sit down before saying anything. "Start talking."

The sooner they get started, the sooner they'll be done.

Kobato had heard about more people arriving in the same place she had only a month ago today, so with her curiosity pinged and she wanted to be of some help around here, she headed on off to see what she could do.

It didn't take her long before she spotted someone she didn't recognize right away. So maybe they were knew. She hoped that they were new anyway as she made her way over with her moogle companion trying to keep up. But it wasn't that long and once inches away from her when she trips up on seemingly nothing and falls flat on her face. After a small laugh she slowly sits up rubbing her nose before quickly getting back to what she wanted to do.

"Did you just arrive like the others? Do you need help?"

Snow took the seat across from Lightning, resting his forearms on his knees. This was going to suck.

"Alright," he sighed. "Here goes. You're not gonna like this."

He licked his lips and shook his head, wracking his brain for some kind of explanation that didn't sound completely unbelievable, and one that wasn't too shocking. It was harder than he even thought it would be, and he struggled visibly for a few seconds before forcing the words out.

"It wasn't always just me and Serah here," he said. "Fang and Vanille... they were here too. They're still here, I guess. But the thing is... our memories are all mixed up. We weren't pulled in from the same place. And you? You're about a thousand years behind me. I know that sounds crazy, but... I don't know how else to say it."

There was a lot there for her to unpack already, and it didn't even begin to scratch the surface, but it was a start. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Snow was actually kind of grateful that he'd come from the place that he did. His old self probably wouldn't have been able to ease Lightning into this -- if what he said could even be considered "easing." He probably would've just blurted out the worst parts first and left her to sort through it all at once. Even now, though, he still didn't exactly feel great about his approach.

Just about to move away from the rest of the crowd, Lightning stops when someone was so obviously coming towards her. And then the girl trips. On nothing. Next she laughs about it so she's clearly fine but Light almost wishes she could use magic again to heal the girl.

Instead she crouches down next to Kobato. "I should be asking if you need help."

She sticks out her hand, offering to help the girl back on to her feet. If this girl was supposed to be a Hero of Light then she needed a lot of training. Especially if they were expected to fight. Otherwise she should just stay back and let people like her deal with it.

They were both on the same page about her not going to like this. Something she already suspected so Light let it go.

She waited patiently for him to think about what to say considering a few seconds ago she was telling him to get on with it. When he does, she listened quietly - not interrupting him until he got through it. The only indication that Light heard him is an eyebrow raising curiously. Obviously she has questions.

If Snow was expecting her to freak out being a thousand years behind him time-wise, he'll be sorely disappointed. Vanille and Fang kind of ruined the whole 'we're actually more like 500 years old' a while ago.

As for her questions, she'll start where he did. "What do you mean, they still are?" And moving on, "Were you crystallized?"

It took him a second to realize what it was that she was really asking him. Of course he'd been crystallized, but only for that brief moment along with the others -- but she couldn't have known about that yet, and that wasn't the cause of his longevity.

"No," he said, trying to make this as simple as possible. "But you were."

Snow settled back in his seat, taking a deep breath before he continued. There was too much to go through; he couldn't get to it all at once. He'd just have to come back to the issue of Fang and Vanille, hopefully sooner rather than later.

"It didn't end there, you know," he explained. "With Dysley and Orphan. The worst part is, he actually got his way in the end. Everything he wanted, from the fall of Cocoon to the return of the Maker. He got it. Serah will be able to tell you more about this than I can, but to make a long story short, the goddess Etro was killed, and time stopped. The world ended.

"--But, Light, that isn't what I need to tell you."

That isn't what I need to tell you. He just told her that they didn't prevent everything and the world ended and that isn't what he needed to tell her. Why can't anything ever be simple? Why couldn't it have just ended there after Orphan's destruction and let people get on with their lives?

There was no doubt that Lightning would be asking Serah to fill in all those things that Snow barely skimmed over but seem terribly important. Snow couldn't just drop all of that on her and not tell her about it, even if her sister did know more. And she wanted to ask about it but clearly there's something even more important than the world ending.

She doesn't want to think about it because really, there are only a few things that could be worse than that and all of them involve Serah.

"What is it?" A frown had settled on her face.

"Hey, all sorts end up here." Not that she knew where here was. Yuffie stretched her arms out to the side before resting them behind her head. Her happy grin was still in place as she looked up at the intimidating man, he wasn't so scary up close.

When he mentioned an entourage she thought of her moogle, her father and then all the SOLDIERS who were also in the city. "I ditched them."

Her eyes finally moved towards Mogamut. "Looks like your moogle is more fun then mine."

"A little." Zelda smiled warmly at the new hero. "My name is Zelda and this is Kupola."

She gestured to the moogle behind her, who then proceeded to give her a happy wave. "Welcome, kupo."

"Are you getting around okay?" It felt like a silly question but she couldn't help but worry about those new to the city. This place only seemed to get stranger.

The touch alone, even though he couldn't feel it through his armor, was enough. His gauntlet covered hand reached up to touch her face. His smile was warm and only meant for her. This was the Yeul he let go to allow her to live her own life without his constant supervision. This was the Yeul that saw the new future and followed him through her visions. This was the Yeul that saw the cold, dark side of Caius and still loved him for it. She was also the second Yeul he saw shortly after her birth and knew exactly what to say.

He watched her from afar, even back then, and watched her grow. She thrived and flourished without his care and she made friends without his interference to disrupt her social life. She learned to love another and he came to respect the man she chose. It was fine with him. She needed that chance, those experiences and not once regretted his decision.

He interpreted her visions and read into the future so distant that she couldn't see into and felt the presence of Etro both times. His eyes glazed over, his smile had faded as he recalled every single instance in a flash of memory that it seemed as if the inside of his mind was replaying them in super speed motion. There was something he needed to say but couldn't.

He refocused after the jumbled recollection, and shook his head quickly with his eyes shut tight. He couldn't think properly. "Yeul."

Just saying her name was filled with heartbreak, joy and pain. She was here in this place but for what reason? Were they needed here? This wasn't Valhalla, or some unknown place that he hadn't seen yet come to pass. "Is this the future you saw?" His voice broke in those words.

He never saw her last vision where she told Noel that they would meet again.

Pangs of sympathy wrenched at Snow's heart at the look on Lightning's face. He hated having to dump all of this on her -- the abbreviated footnoted version of it, no less -- but the sooner he got her up to speed, the better. If anyone could make heads or tails of this and figure a way out of this shitty situation they'd all been dragged into, it was Lightning. It didn't matter where on the timeline she was from.

"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked. "In the square? The Crystal of Fire."

Not for the first time, he wished Serah was with him for this.

Edited (HTML fail) 2014-10-06 12:36 (UTC)

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Page 3 of 39

Intro Log || The Night of the Thirteen Moogles

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Any time

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Waking Up

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Other Heroes and Elsewhere

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RAWR

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Waking up

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