melodiesoflife | Intro Log || The Return of the Heroes

Entry tags:

Intro Log || The Return of the Heroes

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of September. 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. It marks the first time since January that Heroes of Light have appeared in Aqures Ixen.
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 city was recently attacked by the Heran Empire and nearly destroyed by Ultima Weapon. What's the Heran Empire? What's Ultima Weapon? Better to ask to the heroes who saw it 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 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 fiercely battled each other past month. 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 recent attack, Aqures Ixen is under reconstruction. The city was saved for the most part, but there are ruined buildings, the Sixth District is nothing but wasteland now and the Thirteenth District has become a graveyard. Even so, there are a lot of things left to do in the city for newcomers. A few groups of Triple Triad players are playing before Mognet Office in the ninth district, mostly Moogles as many of them are not working after what happened. And of course, 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-- Mognet Office just behind the Triple Triad games is filled with Moogles, most of them panicked, tired, busy or slacking now that their director has disappeared. They can also visit Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline-- Though they have to make a request 48 hours in before to do so.

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.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
— 19:00 —
Characters venturing by the city's outskirts at this specific time will be able to see a most peculiar sight: a flying saucer seemingly abducting a cow before flying away and disappearing into the sky without leaving any traces of its presence. If your character do see it, hopefully there will be someone with them. Otherwise, nobody will believe their story.

Was it an UFO or just a hallucination? Only the future will tell...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Upon closer inspection, the wrench which looks like it had some rust spots actually has some old blood stains on it. He rhythmically tosses it back and forth from hand to hand, as he turns to Ramza at the mention of downed airships.]

Really! There's ones on the ground, that I could see? [He points at Ramza with the wrench, cutting close to Ramza's face, but stopped with precision.]

Take me to one! I saw a lot of damage all over this city. It looks like it's been through a sad story. Such destruction makes my heart heavy, even though I didn't experience it first hand. Chaos has a hold on this city!

[Ramza held his ground as the wrench came zipping toward his face, though he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw in the moment before it would have made impact. Not being smacked in the face with a bloody wrench was a pleasant development. He opened his eyes again, determined that this wrench-wielding newcomer was not going to set foot on Shoopuf Airlines.]

The crash site would be outside of the city. A long walk or a quick chocobo ride away. I could...escort you. That would be much less disruptive than examining one of the remaining ships.

[Graham tossed the wrench up and to his other hand, as he looks back at the airships. Even looking at them made him feel joyful. He would have to wait to take a whole one apart, but he could wait. He could be surprisingly patient when it comes to these things.]

Alright! You convinced me. Congratulations! I could use someone to show me around anyway. Maybe along the way you can fill me in on the sad story that happened to this city.

[His moogle should have done that, but he's far too scared of this guy yet and gave up on him for the day.]

Very well. Put that wrench away and we can hire some chocobos.

[He would feel a lot better if he would stop the wrench-flailing. He gestured for Graham to follow him.]

Do you mean the invasion? We fought off the Heran Imperial forces, though the worst of the destruction was at the hand of a supposed ally.

[No one can tell Graham to put his wrench away. You might as well tell him to stop breathing or pumping blood to his organs. Graham does follow, but continues to lazily swing it in circles on his fingers.]

An invasion? I had thought maybe in a land like this, there had been an attack of a fire-breathing dragon. But the more I see of this city, the less likely that seems. I guess fairy tales really are fairy tales after all. But it was enemy forces, and backstabbing ally? I almost wish I had been here at the time so I could have been in that fight.

[Ramza shrugged.] I've not seen any here dragons yet. They tend to avoid populated areas unless they are provoked into an attack.

[To Ramza, dragons were not anything unbelievable, they were just creatures. He was not sure what Graham meant, but he figured that it was one of those other-world things that he would not understand.]

Are you a fighter, in your world? Because if it a battle you desire, there will be more in the future.

Edited 2015-09-16 00:45 (UTC)

I am. But here? I don't know. I feel like I've been shattered into pieces here, and I'm only a fraction of myself. If this is some Hero's rite of passage, then count me out! I don't understand why I am not like I should be. Why give me other skills that aren't as good?!

[The wrench speeds up it swings with the more agitated he gets.]

[The man was odd, but Ramza could sympathize. He had lost many abilities upon his arrival as well. It was disheartening, to feel so weak after being accustomed to strength. But coddling the new Hero would not be a kindness.]

It would seem we'd make better Heroes with our abilities unhampered, but we must work with the circumstances. It might be that the training we undertake for our jobs will make us better prepared to save this world. Forcing us to act like a Crystallian may incline us to take up their cause, rather than laboring to return to our worlds and leave them to their fate.

[He shrugged again.] I do not know why it is the case, but it is. You would be wise to accept it and train yourself in your new skills.

[Ramza chose not to mention that he had disregarded his own advice and maintained the freelancer job. Bringing in his mistrust of the crystals' powers would only muddy an already confusing situation.]

[Graham frowned, not liking that answer. The whole idea was silly. If this world needed help, why weaken people? But he probably wasn't going to be a hero anyway, maybe it didn't matter.]

It remains to be seen if I'm even hero material. Being a villain has always come more natural to me than being hero. It's my born nature. Can a man really change his heart so suddenly, just because someone else tried to label him that way? I doubt it. Perhaps that's why they had to change me physically, as well? I'm not sure. I feel like bringing me here was a mistake, but the universe is large and full of mysteries. I need time to figure it out and find out where my piece fits into this strange new puzzle!

[Oh, Ramza would have none of that. Ivalice was rife with nobles trying to keep the commoners downtrodden with talk of 'born natures' and bloodlines and such, and he had had quite enough of it. He stopped and turned to the new hero to meet his eye.]

Everyone is 'hero material'. There are no 'good' or 'evil' natures, only the choices you make. If you are a villain, it is because of the actions you take. You can choose to be a hero if you are willing to follow the narrow path.

[He continued down the road.] But how you want to solve the puzzle is up to you.

[Graham blinks in surprise when Ramza stops to give that mini-lecture, but follows after him again in a few moment, grinning. He's genuinely pleased, and gestures grandly with his arms.]

We've just met, and yet you seem confident I could be a hero! I'm moved. You must definitely be the heroic type, then. Even discounting sonmeone's circumstances and environment, their families and how they were raised, and the influence of other people in their lives, someone could still crawl through all that dirt and darkness and rise above it all, a knight in shining armor! I want to believe you're right. But it's too early for me to decide yet. I need to see more of this place. Know more about this situation. Experience it for myself!

[Ramza suppressed a smile at the other man's flailing. He thought back fondly of the friends he'd had in Ivalice.]

I have seen it happen. A grease-covered machinist from the slums of Goug harnessing the power of the lost machines of the ancient world. An orphan girl raised by a thief commanding lightning from the heavens.... A peasant boy who had lost everything, rising from the ashes to win the heart of a princess and become the 'Commoner King'.

[He missed them all so much. The realization that he would never see any of them again, even if he did return to his world, made his smile falter. He walked on in silence.]

[A machinist, huh. Graham smiles to himself at that. Ramza's silence won't keep him quiet, though.]

Heroes are needed everywhere there are villains, and there are villains everywhere. They just need to be brought out, or made, in any number of ways. But this world seems to have plenty of Heroes as it is. If there's a lack of villains, that could be my roll after all. A villain under the guise of a hero all along. What a sad story that is!

[He turned to Graham again, his expression hard.]

Just know, if you betray us and cause any harm to this world, there will be no happy ending for you. I am a Hero, and I give you my word on that.

[Graham responds with a grin that's both delighted and predatory at the same time.]

I always thought there wouldn't be for me! I will remember that. I will remember that no matter which way my heart falls, that this world is safe in the hands of Heroes like you.

[Ramza is not amused, Graham. This is not a joking matter.]

If you are content to live without conviction and die in obscurity, you have my pity.

[He lifted his sheathed sword, the impressive-looking but essentially useless Excalipoor, and pointed it at Graham.]

But do not think that pity will stay my blade should you turn traitor to our cause. I will be watching you.

[Graham, on the other hand, looks elated. He wields his wrench, quick as a flash, more than ready to go if he is. There's nothing he loves more than a good fight, and an honest to goodness Hero might bring him one.]

That might have been my fate all along. Even before coming here. What would it matter if I died nameless and alone, here or in some foreign world? Should I just become a Hero so the history books here remember my name? Is that what you think? That doesn't much sound like the actions of a selfless Hero!

[It was a sore point for Ramza, thinking about what the history books back home said about him, if they still carried his name at all. He was not sure which was worse, to be branded a heretic or erased entirely. His voice was cold when he spoke.]

Fame, reputation... that matters not. Making a difference in this world and upholding my ideals is what I care about, whether or not anyone remembers it. If you do not know what you stand for, you had better learn quickly. The fate of this world will not wait upon you.

[He lowered the blade, but did not return the sheath to his sword belt just yet. With the way Graham was swinging that wrench, he might well want a fight. If it would help him on the path to becoming a Hero, Ramza was willing to oblige.]

Whoever or whatever decided to bring you here knew what they were doing, that's for sure. It'll remain to be seen with me. It's still only my first day, after all!

[Only been here for a few hours, and Graham Specter is already winning friends and influencing people. He doesn't put his wrench down, but instead tosses it back and forth from hand to hand methodically.]

What I stand for is going home. If that means playing along as Hero, then I might not have a choice.

[...for once in his life, Ramza chose to do the smart thing. He did not mention his suspicions that they were stuck here for good. He was going to see Graham become a Hero, and he did not want to do something to push him over the brink of villainy.]

Then the best course of action is to become a great Hero and help bring an end to the Calamity. Anything else will only delay our time here.

Then I'll become the greatest Hero this unlucky world has ever seen!

[He raises his wrench over his head triumphantly, but he can't help but laugh.]

This is ridiculous. Absurd. Real life shouldn't be this way, or so we've always been told. But it is! This is it! Who's to say what's real and what isn't? Reality is what you make of it, and this is what it is now. Not everyone is gifted with the opportunity of a new reality, so we should feel honored!

[Graham was making less and less sense the longer he talked. Ramza nodded, hoping to be encouraging.]

Yes, we have been given a great responsibility, and from that, there is great honor. Did you still wish to see the airship?

[The frequent stops had slowed their progress, but they had eventually made their way to the chocobo rental stand. Ramza paid the gil for the rental of two birds, and, taking another glance at Graham's wildly turning wrench, opted for the chocobo insurance as well.]

[That's usually how it goes. Ramza will learn fast that there's no point in trying to keep up with him.]

Of course! I want to--

[He stops dead when he sees the chocobos. He didn't know what one was, but this was certainly not what he expected.]

What is this, now?!

[Ramza gave the nearest bird an affectionate scratch on its head-feathers. It cooed and nuzzled its beak into his arm.]

'Tis a chocobo. They are the beasts of burden of Crystallis any many other worlds beside. They can be dangerous if encountered in the wild, but once tamed, they are loyal companions.

[Graham should have figured from the lack of automobiles on the streets - besides the one motorbike he'd seen - that there would be something else that Aqures Ixen used for basic transportation. He thought horses. Not large birds.

A machine he can work with. An animal is trickier. He approaches it, looking unsure, and places a hand on it cautiously.]

This is what this world uses? That's incredible! I haven't seen anything like this outside of a circus! But I think those were ostriches, and I don't think they particularly enjoy people riding around on them like this. They'd probably kick your head clean off!

(no subject)

zodiac_brave - 2015-10-11 05:17 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

bright_and_blue - 2015-10-12 20:59 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only