melodiesoflife | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If there was one person who could startle Zack thoroughly, it was Tifa. Mostly since the last time he saw her was in Nibelheim's reactor core with her back turned towards him while saying she hated ShinRa. He'd known Cloud had seen her after that, checked to make sure she was alive but he didn't know what had happened to her in the four years that followed. So her voice has him standing fast enough to knock his chair over.

He almost expected her to walk away. Not stand there and come closer.

"Tifa? Is that you?"

The girl he knew, their guide looked older. Of course she did. It's been four years since Sephiroth burned down her and Cloud's village and he hardly expected her to stay the same. Right up until he'd gotten Aerith's letter he hadn't known how much time had passed while they were Hojo's experiments. But somehow reading it and seeing it felt like two different things.

Zack gave her a small, unsure smile. He didn't know if she was still upset with ShinRa, or more importantly -- if she included him in that too anymore. "It's been a while."

There's no real warning when the hug takes hold of the lost friend. She'd only known him for a few short days, but that time had been some of the most significant hours of her life, considering the aftermath of his visit. Arms cling tightly to him, almost threatening to choke the air from his lungs as her face buries into his chest. Tifa gets caught up in the well of loss and the assumption that the man had been dead, taking a few moments before she lifts her eyes up to look at him once more.

With her orbs going wide, hands release from around him and clutch at his clothing, shaking him as if she were holding him for ransom.

"What's the last thing that happened before you got here?!"

Woah, not what he was expecting from Tifa. Honestly Zack thought that she would ignore him considering their last encounter wasn't exactly pleasant. Memorable but definitely not pleasant. But out of everyone he's met so far, Tifa is the one he can really tell is from maybe the same time as him or maybe even further in the future. Either way he's glad that she survived the injuries that Sephiroth had given her.

So he laid his hands on her shoulder gently, as if to prove to her that he wasn't going anyway.

"It's been four years since Nibelheim..." burned to the ground. "I was taking Cloud back to Midgar."

He couldn't stay in that fake facade, the ghost town that had nothing but ShinRa troops roaming around.

"Back to..?"

Just before.. Tifa gives a shake of her head, bringing her hands up to wipe the tears from her eyes now that she knows her behavior is far too suspicious. She pats his shoulders, brushes off his top now that she's hugged him so tightly.

"It's been closer to five for me. Seems a few other people from Gaia are here in the city, all from different points in time. Though.."

It is anything but a "good idea" for Tifa to divulge any sort of information about the future of her friends and the state of their planet, regardless of their being dead or alive at the point she was brought in. What good would telling Zack that he was a memory do? Who else here would know about his fate? It was unnerving to know, at least, and it did make for some rather awkward reactions from the former bartender.

"Did you just arrive? How are you holding up?"

"We never left Nibelheim. We were down in the basement of the mansion. There was someone I wanted to see in Midgar."

Being experimented on. Stuck there for four years and then there were other things that Zack had to do before he could really go see Aerith. He couldn't really tell her how long it's been since they were on the road for a while, traveling back and forth to different places sometimes on foot and other on a bike.

"Yeah, I noticed. Sephiroth was pretty surprising."

Zack kind of has an idea of how things will go when he went back home. As long as Cloud survived then it was good enough for him. He would give his life to protect his friend. Facing a couple of battalions wasn't too bad but they were probably facing half of the entire army. Even he couldn't dodge all of those bullets.

"Newly arrived, that's me. I'm doing pretty good. My moogle filled me in on the legend and celebration." He motioned to the decorations that were being put up.

Tifa doesn't hear the last part of Zack's response as she was left hanging off the mountain of a surprise he'd divulged. Chances are that there had been some one else he had mentioned, a name quite similar in sound and pronunciation than the man she had hoped would stay far away from this realm. She doesn't dare ask for him to repeat himself, taking the time that would be used to ask to keep her balance as she feels dread overtake her thoughts.

"He's.. He's here?!"

Zack doesn't seem all to fazed with the idea of Sephiroth being here, as far as Tifa can tell at least. Had Sephiroth arrived here from a different point in time as well?

"Where is he?! Has he been near Cloud?! He hasn't tried to harm anyone yet, has he?"!

She's scared and Zack doesn't blame her. The silver-haired crazy general had left him lying on the stairs but she'd been a teen back then against Sephiroth's insane strength while he'd been a 1st Class SOLDIER who actually stood something of a chance against him.

His hands come down to her shoulders, both to steady her and give her some bit of comfort. Maybe Tifa would remember that Zack had gone against Sephiroth through the haze of the pain that had been caused that day and not lump him into the same category.

"Tifa! Calm down," he said firmly.

A squeeze of her shoulders came in hope of getting her attention again. Zack is definitely affected by Sephiroth's presence but is just a little better at hiding it now that he's not completely surprised.

"Cloud was fine when I saw him." That was the most important thing to say first. "I don't think he remembers that day. I think he's like Cloud and doesn't know a lot of the things that happened to lead up to it too."

She drags in a long breath of air, the jarring motion of his grasp helping to snap her back to reality while her senses had rushed in a panic. She blinks once, twice, coming back to their conversation as she shakes her head with apology.

"S-Sorry. Just.."

There was no need to explain. Zack knew as well as she did that Sephiroth was, at least at the point where they had come from, now as fearsome as the worst, hate fueled nightmare.

Cloud. Cloud was fine. The man she'd pining for, longing for, waiting for, he was fine. It relieves her far more than the reassuring grip from the SOLDIER, which does offer a level of reprieve as well.

"Good. That's good to hear. So, he's here? But- he doesn't remember?"

Tifa had bumped into Yuffie in much the same way. While the young girl had looked like Yuffie and claimed to be from Wutai, there had been a difference in time and age in which the shinobi had not be introduced to AVALANCHE and Tifa. Could Cloud be in the same circumstance?

"He's.. Does he remember anything about you?"

Intro Log || The Night of the Thirteen Moogles

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject