Intro Log || The Night of the Thirteen Moogles

[melodiesmods]

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.

Comments

[verteidiger]

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.

[iamspark]

No matter what he told her about the future, no matter how bad it was - Lightning would take it all. Even if it hurt because honestly, she hated not knowing. It was somehow worse than knowing because as long as she had that information then she could so something with it. She might not know what to do with it all the time but Light could start thinking about it. And Light was already thinking about the situation they were in.

A nod of her head. "I saw it."

Not that she was this Hero of Light they were talking about since apparently she didn't get a crystal upon arrival.

[verteidiger]

Snow nodded along with her, feeling slightly embittered about having to tell her this at all. Of all of the crazy bullshit scenarios they could have ended up in...

"I don't know for sure yet," he said, "and the rules here are a little different, but... Light, I'm pretty sure that thing is a fal'Cie. Which means that you and me and Serah and all the other Heroes of Light are..."

He trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought. We're its army of l'Cie. It was strange to even think about. From the timeline that Lightning was pulled, she already was a l'Cie. Was that even possible? Could fal'Cie rebrand people? Steal l'Cie from each other? Maybe, across worlds, it didn't matter. It still worried him, all the same.

[iamspark]

She frowned. Honestly, she had the same thoughts on arrival. It all seemed too familiar - a focus, a crystal. If it wasn't for the fact that no one else had gotten a crystal like they were supposed to, Light would have thought that it was because she already was a l'Cie. All that would mean that this fal-Cie brought her here, gave her a new focus.

Before she responded to that, Light got up. She moved over to the window to stand there and stare out for a minute. Then proceeded to check on her brand. Still white. Light was safe...for now. Serah and Snow weren't though. She turned back towards him.

"None of the new arrivals received crystals. What has been happening here that might have changed that?"

Because she doubted that it was caused by her arrival with her brand and crystal given to her by another fal'Cie. If it was then all the better for those who showed up at the same time as her. None of them would become a l'Cie slave, they would just be stuck here until they found a way home.

[herosheroine]

The date hadn't really slipped past her but with the recent events (Fang and Vanille both falling into crystal sleep, more than anything) her thoughts were preoccupied. The new arrivals of more Heroes of Light hadn't even crossed her mind.

She and Trix had gone to get groceries and supplies for the house instead, delayed mostly because Serah was still taking in a lot of the city and Trix was happy to play tour guide. Amidst the supplies were a few books, even. They might hold answers or at least some kind of clues in them, and if not, honestly? Serah wouldn't consider it a loss as long as there was something to be learned. Maybe she'd ask Snow to help her out. Two sets of eyes and two minds were better than one.

The front door swung open with Trix's help, and Serah stepped inside after her, already feeling more optimistic than when she'd left as she headed for the kitchen. It would take her past the living room but Serah was already calling out as she walked. "Snow? We're home! Sorry it took a while, I stopped by to check in on..."

She trailed off, mostly because... Oh, well, what do you know? There was a Lightning sitting in their living room. How about that? The surprise registered immediately, followed by excitement and relief, shadowed after the fact by worry. It had been ages since she'd had more than just a few minutes to speak with her sister, so a part of her was immediately thrilled and even grateful to see her there... Yet another part of her was already worrying about everything else that it meant, too. It looked as if she'd interrupted a conversation between the two, and there was another moment when she realized just how lucky she was to have two of the most important people in her life here in the city now, not just Snow.

"Lightning!?"

[iamspark]

Whatever conversation Snow and Lightning had been having went out the door the moment it opened. As far as she knew it was just the three of them (and the moogles) living here so it could only be Serah on the other side of it. Sure enough that thought was followed by the sound of her sister's voice.

It was Serah. Really truly Serah and she didn't have to turn to know that but she does anyway because she needed to see her sister. So many emotions flicker across Serah's face and Light knew them all so well.

Nothing seemed more important than that right now. The last time she had seen her sister's face it had been frozen in crystal so to be able to see those expressions again was a gift she wasn't sure she would live to see.

"Serah," a sigh of relief. Of course she trusted Snow to tell her the truth about Serah's well-being but it's different to see it with her own eyes. She moved toward her sister, hugging her despite the bags of groceries.