melodiesoflife | Intro Log || The City That Never Sleeps

Intro Log || The City That Never Sleeps

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Trano Golsaucia, Aqures Ixen, Airships.
When: The 5th of May. The new Heroes of Light will awaken early in the morning.
Summary: The new Heroes of Light awaken in the Temple of Wind next to Trano Golsaucia, and they 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 a split second, 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 know 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 before long it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you...

And at this very 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 a gentle breeze. Had it all been nothing more than a dream? The soothing voice repeats its call once more, but is soon replaced by a much less graceful "Wake up, Kupo!" Hand clutched on your Crystal, the call of the Moogle may finally bring you back to your senses. But you are no longer in your world, nor in the void. You are before the Crystal of Wind, in the Temple located right outside of a city called Trano Golsaucia. At this point, you may realize the breeze originates from the massive green Crystal floating nearby. 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. They look pretty tired, but they will be more than happy to tell you everything you want to know. They shall tell you about your 'destiny' as a Hero of Light and about what awaits you. Or at least, they will tell you everything they do know, which isn't much in the end.

There are quite a few people around you as well. For the most part, they are people like you-- All clothed in their Job garbs and most likely wondering what is happening. There are also some other Humans, Tarutaru and Hypello in the room, but unlike you they don't have a Crystal, nor do they have a Moogle following them. If addressed, they will say they are the Guardians of the Crystal of Wind and will confirm everything the Moogle said. They will reveal they found you unconscious around the Crystal a couples hours ago, and immediately contacted the Moogles and the government of Aqures Ixen.

If asked about it, both the Moogles and Guardians will explain that Heroes of Light have already appeared in this world within the past year, and they all are in a city called Aqures Ixen. It's the first time Heroes have appeared in this temple. In fact, you probably should go to Aqures Ixen as well. The Moogle will tell you this is where your house is and where the other Heroes will be able to help you. Thankfully, should you decide to take your sweet time to get there, the other Heroes may just come to you.

The Other Heroes
— Anytime —
And indeed, thanks to the efficiency of Mognet and Shoopuf Airline it does not take long for the other Heroes to come around. You may meet them in Trano Golsaucia or in Aqures Ixen, or maybe even in one of the Airships going back and forth between the two cities. They are those who arrived in this world months ago and they have gone through quite a lot. You may have imagined heroic and charismatic figures when your Moogle told you there were other Heroes of Light in this world. You may have imagined persons with fearsome powers when they told you how they recklessly attacked the Heran Empire to free their friends a few months ago. And most importantly, you may have imagined them as people who would have the answers to your, doubtlessly, numerous questions.

If so, you may be up for a complete and utter 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.

Trano Golsaucia
— Anytime —
Should you leave the Temple of Wind and head south, you will reach Trano Golsaucia. It's a gigantic city covered with snow-- To make it simple, this city is a gigantic amusement park. It is the most popular place in this world and of course, there are plenty of people all around. Thankfully, other Heroes of Light are easy to spot: they are the only ones who are followed by a Moogle and holding a Crystal.

And there is quite a lot to be done in this city. Maybe you could stop by the Triple Triad Center to begin a successful career in card games, or maybe you could buy a ticket at the Blitzball Stadium to support your favorite team. If you're the kind of person who relies on luck, you may have more fun gambling in the Casino or betting on your favorite Chocobo in the Chocobo Races. If you're more of a person who enjoys simpler games, maybe you could try one of the numerous carnival-style mini-games found in the city, such as the shooting stand or the treasure chest game.

If you'd like more details regarding all the attractions and games available in Trano Golsaucia, you can find everything here! Of course, all of this requires money and odds are that you may not have a single Gil yet. If your Moogle is nice though, maybe you could ask him or her to loan you some Gil...

Airships
— Every Four Hours —
Upon reaching Trano Golsaucia, you will also have the right to board an Airship. Exceptionally, there is an Airship available every four hours, all because of your arrival so that Heroes of Light can meet each other and go to Aqures Ixen with ease.

The flight itself should take between four to six hours as it will travel from one city to the other on route. This is nothing special for the denizens of this world, but for you it may be quite the experience if you never boarded a plane or any flying contraptions before. The service is nothing special, but there are some light refreshments offered free of charge. Note that most of the employees on Airships are Hypello.

Aqures Ixen
— After an Airship Trip —
Upon arriving in Aqures Ixen, the first thing you will see is the Airship Port in the 12th District. Following that, no doubt your eyes will find the Castle of Aqures Ixen, a classic yet refined structure standing in the city. From there on, characters are free to visit the city-- There are no attractions in this city, but there are scientific buildings, another Blitzball Stadium and even an Observatory serving as base for the Heroes of Light. If you'd like more details regarding all that is available in Aqures Ixen, you can find everything here!

Or maybe -and perhaps inevitably!- you could visit your new house in the 11th or 14th District, and get to know your new neighbors and housemate. It's been a long day, so you could use some sleep. Hopefully your neighbors are people you will get along with...

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"Yes. We first woke up there several month's back. They've set up housing for us and I'm sure you've been assigned a room as well. A few heroes have jobs and shops. While we are here we are trying to help out and the city is more than accommodating." They haven't found a way back home yet.

"You don't seem all that surprised. Are you used to this sort of thing?"

Zelda looked up, her clear blue eyes almost shining in the light of the room. She was hopeful. She was sure the knew heroes would bring with them something that might give them more information.

Oh, right, housing. Mograe mentioned that before, but Ven had put that out of his mind at the time. He would have to look into that soon if he didn't want to just sleep outside. Then again, he'd done that a few times.

Zelda's observation -- or the question, really -- caught him off guard, and under the weight of that look Ven struggled for a reply. It wasn't in his nature to lie, either, so he verbally stumbled for a few seconds.

"Oh -- uh -- well... That's... um -- not exactly? I mean -- I've never heard of a world like this, but -- I'm -- kind of used to -- seeing new places, yeah," he ended lamely. "And I'm... not even sure exactly where I was before I ended up here, so it's... not the most surprising thing for me, no."

And so it turned out that he didn't operate too well under pressure -- not when it came to things like this, anyway.

Zelda looked up at him and laughed softly. She could understand why he was nervous but she couldn't help her self. "It's alright. There are a few among us who are used to traveling between worlds though most of them have never been stuck on one before." Her eyes held her laughter as well as affection. She wasn't laughing at him, she found it endearing.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Ven stopped fumbling over himself at that, and his uncertain look quickly broke into a relieved smile. "Oh -- no, you didn't," he assured her easily. "I'm just... not really supposed to talk about it. But I haven't met a lot of people who know about the worlds." Let alone travel between them. But since Zelda already knew that much, he figured he could be a little more open on the matter. "I don't have my usual powers, though, so I can't even tell if the pathways in this world are open to begin with. Even if they are, I can't use them now."

Surely a Master would be able to tell, though, right? It was difficult to picture Eraqus or Aqua losing their abilities in the same way.

"So no one's really found a way out yet?"

"I'm afraid not. We know it has something to do with the crystals and the strange why we were brought here." Her smile stays though her voice grows a little more serious.

"Something is keeping us here. We have many theories about it. I think that the crystal's we carry connect us to our worlds but even if that were true I don't know if it would help. We lose our natural abilities when coming here and pick up new ones. A lot of people don't like starting from scratch."

The corners of her mouth tilt down at their edges slightly before returning to a comfortable smile. "There is more information at Aqures. I have been keeping a journal there of everything we know if you would like to read through it."

"Hmm... that's weird." Weird, not alarming or upsetting like most would probably deem it, but it took a lot to rattle Ven. He blinked when she mentioned the journal, and then looked impressed. "Wow, that's a good idea! As long as it's not private or anything, that'd be a big help." Avid reader that he had been in the past, it was nice to know she had that kind of information on hand and organized.

Mograe chose that moment to return, struggling slightly with a cup of hot tea. Ven was quick to help her by taking it, and then the moogle went on to pull a muffin and some packets of sugar out of her bag to hand them off. After a word of thanks to both her and Zelda for the snack, Ven backtracked to another point that had been mentioned.

"Actually, it's the ability thing that's really confusing. Mograe explained it, but I'm still not sure I really get it." He frowned now, but even that was more thoughtful than really bothered. It did make him uneasy, not having the powers he'd earned through years of training, but at least he still had his Keyblade. Without it, he'd have been much more unsettled. "We get two... jobs, right? And each one has different specialties and abilities." That much, he was parroting from what Mograe told him before. "And the more we practice, the better we'll get with them. That makes sense, but... how do we know we're any good at the jobs we've been given?"

He may have been thinking too much into it, but if they were just randomly assigned these job things when they arrived... Well, it he hadn't tried his out yet, so who was to say it would fit his fighting style?

Zelda smiled at the moogle seeing Kopula close behind with another try. He was trying to help but Zelda could see how tired the young moogle was. She rose and helped him as Ventus helped his own moogle. It took some time to get settled back in her seat. Now with a cup of tea and a sleeping moogle in her lap. Kopula was always over working himself these days and Zelda worried about him.

"It's honestly like second nature. I had never used a sword or magic or a bow and yet I am able to easily. It's when you over think it that it is difficult. I've seen many heroes do that too."

She slowly brought the tea to her lips blowing at the steaming liquid before taking a sip. "I don't think your original skills are gone forever. I think they are just being sealed right now." It was another theory.

Ven moved to sit, only to belatedly realize that he needed to take his Keyblade off to do so, or to at least do so comfortably. Out of reflex, he tried again to dismiss it -- and then remembered that he couldn't, and instead settled for unstrapping it and leaning it against the side of his chair. With that accomplished, he sat down opposite Zelda and pulled his tea closer, already tearing into those sugar packets.

Having their abilities sealed made sense, more or less. Ven hadn't entertained the thought that his own were gone gone -- that was just crazy, and the presence of his Keyblade debunked that from his point of view. He'd lost it once before, after Xehanort had removed his darkness; it had been sealed then, in a sense, enough that Ven had to earn it through training all over again. He wasn't sure how that worked with his amnesia, but neither did he care to. Thinking about it still gave him a slight headache.

So he focused on the other point Zelda mentioned, since that was more interesting, as well. "Really? You could just use them, like that?" In the chair beside him, Mograe nodded sagely. She'd pretty much told him as much before, back in the temple, but wouldn't hold it against him if he took it more seriously from another Hero. Not to mention Ven had been a little out of it when she first gave him all the information. "Huh... So, what jobs do you have?" Ven asked Zelda, tilting his head.

She smiled laughing softly. "Quite a few actually. I started as a paladin and whitemage. I was able to master those so I switched jobs. The crystals can hold jobs and your moogles can switch between the ones that it holds. At first it's a total of 5. Two are easily accessed while your moogle can switch those two with the other three. Those two are also trained at the same time and weaker than just having access to one skill." She paused for a moment wondering if the was explaining this well.

"Since I've mastered a job I can use the onion knight which is an ability that lets my crystal hold ten jobs. Right now I believe I have 9." She flushed slightly realizing how much she really did have stored in that tiny crystal. "I've been here awhile."

Ven didn't pick up on that embarrassment -- if anything, he might have made it worse with his startled reaction. "Nine? And the limit's usually five?" His surprise quickly returned to a grin. "That's amazing, Zelda! You even mastered some of them, too -- that's really impressive!" And inspiring, besides -- she'd said she never even used magic before then, so hopefully that meant Ven would have an easier time adjusting than he thought.

"So do you know anything about the Red Mage job? Or--" He paused, trying to remember the name.

"Dragoon," Mograe piped up helpfully.

"Yeah, that's it -- or the Dragoon class?"

She hadn't thought her skills were very impressive but it was nice to hear him say so. At least all her time here hasn't' been spent doing nothing. Her eyes shifted down towards the map and then back up at Ven. She wished she didn't get flustered so easily.

"Yes, I mean the redmage can use both white and black magic but only to a slight extent compared to a full black or white mage. It's a balanced class. The Dragoon focuses on spears or lances. I believe it has an ability called jump? It lets you jump in the air and us gravity to fall." She hadn't had either of those skills but she know others who did and she has read up on them as well.

"Oh. That sounds pretty fair." The Red Mage, at least, seemed along the lines of his usual fighting style. "But... spears, huh? I've never used anything like that."

"That doesn't matter, kupo," Mograe piped up beside him. "It's like she said -- the jobs you have now come with the innate ability to use those weapons, kupo. Once you get your hands on one, you'll see what we mean, kupo."

Ven made a thoughtful sound and sipped his tea again. It wasn't the strangest thing he'd heard, oddly enough. It only made him wonder what kinds of jobs his friends would have ended up with if they were here.

He instantly perked up at that thought. He'd already asked around before now and so far only received negative answers, but that didn't discourage him from trying again. "Oh, yeah -- do you know any other Heroes named Terra or Aqua? They'd be kind of dressed like me, maybe with a weapon like mine."

"If you need help learning there are a lot of heroes who train together and perfect their skills." She smiled hoping that would ease his thoughts more than the 'you'll just understand it' reasoning. She can understand that wasn't the easiest reason to accept. She hadn't been sure about her abilities until she was fighting and then she knew that they had to work because there were people she wanted to protect.

Zelda's smile softened somewhat. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of Aqua but there is a girl names Terra here. Is that who you are looking for?" She hadn't seen the girl with a blade like Ven's but she kept to herself a lot more than other heroes.

At the "but" in Zelda's sentence, Ven's hopes jumped ahead of him and he quickly straightened up in his seat -- only for the rest of her words to catch up, then his shoulders sagged slightly.

"Oh... no, the Terra I know is a guy." Which was why, under the brief flip-flop of surprise to disappointment, it struck Ven as strange, even kind of funny that Terra could be used as a girl's name, too. It hadn't occurred to him before. "But thanks, anyway," he added with a smile, although this one was halfhearted compared to the rest. He'd considered dropping Sora's name, as well, but it slipped his mind during the exchange just now.

Instead, he asked, "But new Heroes are brought here a lot, right? Are they always dropped off at the temple?"

Mograe could have answered that, but she decided to let the conversation continue unless she was needed.

"I'm sorry." His disappointment was obvious and Zelda hadn't wanted to upset him. She had hoped that it was the same person though she hadn't seen a man there by that name. His next question made her pause because the full answer was rather long.

"Yes but not always that crystal. The crystal we hold and the elemental crystals in each city are connected. I woke up by the crystal of fire. Last time it was earth and this time wind. Somehow the connect to the crystal of fire was broken but I don't know how. Most of the heroes had woken up there. That's in Aqures."

It was slower than usual, but Ven's smile returned and he shook his head. "No, it's okay." It was his own fault for jumping ahead, like always.

Pushing his disappointment behind him, Ven listened attentively. "But it's always at a crystal," he surmised quietly. "So the next time Heroes come in..." He could be there to see whether anyone he knew had arrived. Rather than finishing that thought out loud, however, Ven focused on what Zelda had said last. "Aqures... it's sounding like a pretty important place." It was where they lived, where most of the resources were -- according to Mograe -- and where the Heroes tended to show up, apparently. "And that's across the water, right? So we can only get there by airship?"

"It is, at least to us. There is a lot going on there and we are trying our best to help. Some things are rather sensitive so it might be best to discuss those back at the observatory but it's become like a second home. I feel comfortable there." Zelda shook her head slowly. It was hard not to sound wistful at times and yet she was determined to greet those around her with a confident smile.

"I think, after what happened last month, that the connection to the fire crystal was cut off. So I don't know how we can get heroes to appear there again. It would be best to keep an eye on the other crystals at the beginning of each moth." She paused. "That's when heroes usually arrive.

Zelda took a moment to sip her tea feeling the hot liquid glide down her throat. "As for what happened last month. Well, that situation started a few months ago and we only recently got it resolved. It's.. It's a long story."

"It sounds nice." And yet, if Zelda sounded a shade wistful there, so did Ven. He appreciated this second chance -- third, fourth, really -- but as enjoyable and comfortable as Aqures Ixen might turn out to be, it still wasn't home. Not his real home, not the Land of Departure, and that was a gap in his heart that couldn't be bridged by a substitute, new friends or no.

Nevertheless, those were darker thoughts that could wait. For now, he would appreciate what he'd been given.

"And it sounds like everyone's been busy," he added more cheerfully. "I'm still not really sure what's expected of me, but I hope I can live up to it." That was the least he could do in return for having been revived -- although even now he felt a little uneasy at the idea of simply leaving Sora behind. Ven had been in the role of the protected for so long, but only recently he was moved to do the opposite and protect Sora. What if he was needed again?

Either way, Ven couldn't do anything about it at the moment, so he went on smiling curiously at Zelda. "I guess I just need to go check the city out myself. Are you heading back soon?"

Zelda shook her head with a confident smile. “Nothing is expecting of you. Do what you can. Do what you feel comfortable with. You shouldn’t force yourself unless, of course, you want too.” She laughed softly for a moment as if sharing in her own joke. Zelda was very much the sort who forced herself to work too hard. She never felt like she did enough.

“I’m going to head back this afternoon. I wanted to see which heroes I could run into and help here. Myself and Lady Asheila head up the observatory in Aqures Ixen. It’s a place where we are collecting information and working to get the heroes home. As well as find out more about this place and our roles. I have some records there that document everything that has happened thus far as well as a few correspondences given to be by other heroes.” It was slow moving but Zelda still hoped it would help.

“I do suggest seeing the city. It’s spring there.” Though the last few days in Aqures felt like summer. “And if you want, stop by the observatory. I’m almost always there.”

It was comforting to hear that, even if Ven was indeed the type to overexert himself in just about anything. Regardless, knowing that there was no particular standard to keep up with right off the bat definitely took off some of the pressure.

"The observatory, huh? I'll drop by sometime," he assured her with a nod. To check up on her, since he certainly wouldn't mind seeing her again, as well as get around to reading the journal she had mentioned. "You know where that is?" he asked Mograe. She looked slightly ruffled by such a question.

"Of course! I know that city like the back of my paw, kupo."

Ven laughed. "All right, then I won't have any trouble finding it." Draining the last of his tea from his cup, he added, "Thanks for everything, Zelda! You've been a big help."

"Your welcome. Hopefully we can meet again." Her smile was wide as she looked up at Ventus. She was going to remain a little long and give her tired out moogle a chance to rest.

She carefully folded up her map and then slid it into Kopula's bag without waking him. Once that was done she watched Ventus leave until he disappeared into the crowd.

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Intro Log || The City That Never Sleeps

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