Event || Window of Opportunity

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All Heroes of Light.
Where: Aqures Ixen - Everywhere
When: September 25th - From 12:30 to 22:30.
Summary: Heroes of Light will relive the same ten hours over and over again until they find a solution. This may be a blow to what's left of their sanity, but that's also a window of opportunity! The OOC Post is here for more information! It's not too late to sign-up, anyone can still jump right into the event! However, your vote for the total number of loops will not be taken into account any more.

Speaking of which-- Votes are in and this time displacement madness will be solved after 191 loops. Practically speaking, this means characters going through every single loop will live 2 months, 2 weeks, 3 days and 14 hours in the span of half a day. Hopefully they won't mind the food for the day, the clothes they're wearing or what they were doing when the loop started, because that's what they'll be stuck with until the end. There are some events described below, but there will be no NPC replies. Feel free to partake in these events and of course, make your own!

Warning: Too many time loops may be bad for your mental health.

The Flence Salesman
— All Day Long —
There is a salesman from Flence in the city, and he is going for every person he sees in the streets. Adults, children or elders, humans or tarutarus, it doesn't matter to him so long as he can make money! He will try to sell to the characters specialties from Flence and some crystals at absolutely awful prices, but he's open to negotiations and beyond that, he's extremely persistent. Normally, nobody would care about this, but given the salesman isn't be aware of the loop, he'll keep doing the same things over and over again... Hopefully he won't see your characters, otherwise he might just bother them for every single loop.


Moogle Demonstration for the Future of Mognet
— 12:30 => 16:00 —
For a surprise one-day long strike, the Moogles are demonstrating! There are roughly 800 Moogles together (250 according to the government, 5000 according to the striking Moogles) in the demonstration, all singing slogans and some even holding placards with "More Gil and Less Work" or "Give us Kupo Nuts" signs.

They started at 10:00 and left from the 09th District, but they will go throughout every district and explain what their protest is about. They'll finish at 16:00 and will be back to the 09th District to eat Kupo Nuts and drink Chocobo Milk together.


Biggs' Grand Return
— 14:00 => 22:30 —
After a month spent in the hospital, Biggs is finally back! He leave the Hospital at 14:00 and head straight for the Castle of Aqures Ixen. Noticeably he still has a broken and bandaged arm, but he'll pretend to be totally fine and for that matter, he will be as rude and as unfriendly as ever. He will spend most of the day in the Castle, but will go in Palitutu's Lab by 19:00 to meet with Cid. Among other things, he will side-eye everyone and will accidentally splash Cid's coffee on a Hero of Light working there (or on a Moogle, should the Hero have the good sense to avoid Biggs next loop).


Renovation of the Blitzball Stadium
— 15:30 => 20:00 —
The repairs are going steadily and today, a special dome from Trano Golsaucia is being transported and placed on the Blitzball Stadium, brand new and much more modern than what Aqures Ixen used to have! On the downside however, the airship bringing the dome and the work being done on the stadium are all very, very noisy. So noisy that everyone in a two-district radius will be bothered by it.

Under normal circumstances it would have been only for a short time and easilly bearable, but here it will happen for every single loop.


Have You Heard of the Heroes of Light?
— All Day Long —
Throughout the day, a few people are going to go and knock on every doors in the city, to talk about a most fascinating topic: the Heroes of Light! They will speak about how it is said the Heroes of Light are in Crystallis and how they managed to defeat the empire without difficulties back during the attack! Then they will go on and ask for a contribution (hear: money) to help the Heroes of Light in their cause. Of course, these people are dishonest and the money will go into their own pockets, as they don't believe in the Heroes of Light to begin with.

And of course, they'll go knock on doors during every single loop!


The Accident
— 22:29 => 22:30 —
The one minute that started it all. Who is the imbecile who committed the mistake on Palitutu's computer? Is this a Moogle or a Hero of Light, maybe Cid or Biggs? Whoever it is, after the first time, at 22:29 the program will start again on its own and will activate the loop right at 22:30, sending everything back to 12:30. The characters may try to run more programs to block the computer, cut the energy source or even bomb the building if they so wish...

But these archaic and barbaric solutions won't prevent the next loop from happening. Only hard work and scientific solutions shall prevail!

Comments

Ramza, in the loop

[zodiac_brave]

1. Moogle Demonstration (Loops 1-7)

Ramza had tried searching in the library to find some sort of explanation for over 28 years of moogles protests and unrest, but he’d turned up nothing conclusive.

Where better to find out than from the moogles themselves. As the fluffy white army flew past, Ramza fell into step with them. At first, they seemed to think he was making sport, but soon enough, he was handed a sign that had proven too heavy for the moogles who’d help it. It read, “Fair Treatment NOW, Kupo!”

Ramza held the sign aloft, and the moogles who had carried it sat on his shoulder and answered his questions as they marched. The Hero did not learn much more than he’d already known, but he stayed with them through a few more districts until the moogle with the sign felt rested enough to take it back.

(When the day ended and he found himself in the sea of moogles again the next day, he immediately went to Item Shop and demanded a Remedy. When that did not bring him out of his assumed hallucination, he spent the rest of the day at the hospital.

On Day 3, Ramza decided that if he was insane, he might as well be useful about it. He chose a different moogles to speak to, trying to find any discrepancies in the moogles’ story or any clues about how they could be appeased. He spent the rest of the week doing the same, but with little to show for it.)

2. The Training Area Loops 8-20

When the moogles’ answers all started blending together, Ramza took to leaving the protest when he awoke, making his way to the training fields instead. Just because he was obviously going crazy, it did not mean he could not train his body. That seemed to work well enough. Just his mind was trapped in this cycle.

The first day or the eighth, reckoned from the start, Ramza swung his Excalipoor at a training post until he collapsed from exhaustion, just to work out his frustrations. The weapon did not damage the equipment like a real weapon would, so he did not feel guilty about it.

The next day the ninth day, the blisters were gone, and Ramza figured he’d gain nothing from strength training. He switched to teaching himself new techniques, like the way he’d seen Sephiroth slash his sword or Tifa deliver a punch. He stopped when he ran out of things to teach himself.

3. Around the Town Loops 21-???

This might be Hell, Ramza told himself, as he awoke for the twenty-first time in the middle of the moogles protest. He had thought he’d lived a good, upright life, despite having been labeled a heretic, but who even knew. The Holy Man who had defined the Ivalicean’s ideas of morality had been a fraud. Maybe everyone went to Hell.

But the people around him seemed blissfully unaware of his struggle. Well, if there was no help for Ramza, he might as well put himself to use seeing if he could help anyone else. He began to seek out the Heroes he knew, to see if there was anything he could do in a day or in a string of days that never moved forward to make their lives better.

4. ??? Loops ???

(This depends on what happens to Ramza and if someone else looping alerts him to the breaking-the-loop effort)

2

[nobugs]

Kija watched the young man train. He did seem quite impressive with the way he was handling his weapon (or it appeared at least so to Kija, as he was not familiar at all with handling them) and the way he swung it against the training post.

It takes another few moments until Kija decided to speak up.

"You seem to be quite experienced with weapons."

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza lowered his weapon and turned to face the new Hero.

"I have had training. Do you wish to spar?" He did not recognize the man, so he did not know what level of experience he had. But with the Excalipoor Ramza carried on his belt, he could face a child and not risk hurting them.

[nobugs]

Kija smiled. It seems he was lucky with the person he had just found. "I would like to." He bows to the person, but then he had to add something, and rather sheepishly at that. "I have to admit I am not well-versed in the use of weapons, but it seems to be a requirement for a lot of those 'jobs' here."

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza returned the bow. "It would be wise to learn to fight with a weapon, unless you plan to use only magic to defend yourself," he admitted. "It is not shameful to be a beginner. Everyone starts off as a novice."

He took a step back and gave the other Hero a glance. "My name is Ramza. I can teach you the sword, or another weapon, if you would prefer."

[nobugs]

"I would like to learn how to fight with a weapon. I have even less experience with magic, but I do know how to fight physically."

Just that his usual "weapon" was taken away and it didn't require much skill or finesse, if one was entirely honest. It had been granted to him - and of course he had trained his body for battle, but it did not seem to be the same as learning a weapon.

"My name is Kija, it is nice to meet you, Ramza. Learning how to use the sword sounds fine to me."

Moogle Demistration

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi had already figured out that things were looping over and over and over again and he wondered how long it would be because it drove him mad. or worse. But as he noticed the moogles protests he had to admit he was not surprised and had some inkling as to what it could be about. Though seeing a person within a sea of moogles was not something he was expecting.

"I see you are protesting too? That's very admirable of you." He had been tempted to join in once or twice, but with him seeing it in the past he wasn't sure how much change he could do.

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza had to look around for a moment before he located the speaker. Once he did, he was not sure how he had managed to miss that hair. He raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you. I do not know if it of any use, though," he admitted. He had spent a few days here already, and so far, nothing had changed. He did not know if anyone else experienced what he did, but if the other Hero didn't, he would only think Ramza was crazy for the next ten hours...

[sizedoesntmatter]

"Yeah, they seem to protest every so often, or at least when we went back in time they had been... Not a lot has changed from that." So he figured the reasons they were protesting was for the same reasons. He still wished he could help though, but he couldn't back then... doubted he could now.

"But I can understand them wanting to be treated the same as everyone else."

[zodiac_brave]

"Of course," Ramza agreed. He did not dispute that the moogles had cause to speak out for better work conditions. "But that is not what I meant."

He met Yugi's eyes. "This may not make sense, but...this same protest will happen again tomorrow."

[sizedoesntmatter]

"You mean because of the time looping, right?" He quickly got that the other must know about it and Yugi did as well, but so far nothing came to mind as to how this happened.

"It will continue to keep doing it until we solve the problem and maybe they can have an actual resolution."

2

[not_most_days]

Kidd was taking advantage of the loops to observe and spy on all the people she could. With her presence effectively reset every few hours, this gave her the perfect chance to gather information. The repetition was a little infuriating but she made a point of trying to change her path regularly.

The 12th loop brought her to the training facility and there she was amused to find Ramza deep in his training. She watched him for a few moments before she recognized the sword he was holding.

An eyebrow went up as she wondered first why he was using it and second why he wasn't using another particular sword. Watching him a bit longer, she finally spoke up as she walked over. "Ahoy there. Looks like that dummy is getting the best of you."

Her presence was certainly not something that happened in previous loops.

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza turned to face Kidd. After their time together in Aerilon, her tendency to sneak up on him startled him less than it had. He still had trouble detecting her when she did not wish to be seen, though.

He looked down at the sword with an embarrassed frown.

"It...um...it is a good training sword. It does not dull or damage the equipment here." Of course, a regular sword would have served just as well, under the circumstances, since any damage done to the blade or the training posts would be undone at the next loop. But no need to point that out to his friend...

[not_most_days]

Kidd frowned. Loop aside there was still something to be said for using a weapon of any actual quality for training. "Are you sure? That doesn't seem like the easiest of swords to use. And as I hear it the blade is so dull and stubborn that you might as well be using a spoon."

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza shook his head. "It has the weight and feel of a normal sword, but with less danger of harming someone. Here, strike me with it," he said, offering her the hilt.

[not_most_days]

Kidd took the sword, looking incredulously at it and Ramza before swinging it at him. She trusted him to know what he was doing and if he didn't...well at least there was the time loop.

2. The Training Area Loops 19

[thegreatninja]

The training area was one place that Yuffie was allowed besides home. Mooshoo was still upset with her for reading everyone's files and he's found away to be very persuasive to the young ninja princess. Which was why she had gotten into the habit of listening to him.

She's completely oblivious to the loop but that didn't stop her from wanting to trait. Seeing Ramza in the training area surprised her but what surprised her more was how good he was.

"Whoa, long time no see." She waved a hand before digging her fist into her pocket. "I don't remember you being able to swing a sword like that." She'd be game for sparing but she looks like she wanted to talk more than fight.

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza lowered his sword when Yuffie called out to him.

"Yes, I have...been training more, lately." He figured Yuffie was not one of the Heroes who experienced the loop. If she was, he had faith that he would have heard her causing mischief before now.

She did not seem to be readying herself for a training session, so he put his sword back on his belt and used a towel to mop the sweat from his brow. Slightly more presentable, he turned his attention back to the young princess.

"What brings you here today?" he asked her.

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie began to pout.

"Mooshoo's grounded me, I'm only allowed to be here or at home and I'm tired of home." She sighed before leaning against the nearest lean-able surface. "Sides, I volunteered to train people here."

Yuffie was at the training ground pretty often nowadays but it was only as day shifted into night. It was easier to practice being sneaky when you were in partial light.

"I haven't seen you in awhile." A far amount of things have happened to the young princess. Though she didn't think Ramza wanted to hear her talk about boys and how much they suck no matter how cute they are.

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza nodded. "Mentoring others will help you improve as well. It is good Mooshoo did not restrict your training." The stronger and stealthier Yuffie could train herself to be, the safer she'd be when Crystallis threw its next disaster at them.

"I am sorry I've been distant," he told her. "Some...things... happened, in the past. How have you been?"

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie just stared at Ramza like the young man had grown another head. "You really think I'm going to leave it at that? I'll tell you how I've been if you tell me what's up."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at Ramza. Yuffie had a lot of things she wanted to complain to him about, top of which was boys. Not that Ramza wanted to hear about that but Yuffie really need to talk about it.

2

[unyieldingspirit]

Having headed there to have a look, at least, K'pandolu was present to watch Ramza's attempts at some of the techniques. She clapped after one she felt was particularly impressive, stepping a little closer.

"Where did you learn that?"

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza turned when he heard applause behind him. He nodded in greeting to K'pandolu. He had fought beside her in several battles now, but he knew little about her. He gestured for her to join him in the training ring.

"I have seen Kidd use that move a time or two," he replied, demonstrating the trick of producing a dagger from his sleeve and slashing with it so that K'pandolu could see it more closely. Not that he planned on giving all of Kidd's secrets away...but he felt he could trust the other warrior with that, at least.

[unyieldingspirit]

K'pandolu moved forward to stand beside him, watching his movements closely. "Indeed? It seems quite a useful technique." It reminded her of one of Thancred's, even, but she tried to smother the feeling of homesickness that brought on. She moved moved for her own knife- meant for for skinning beasts, but good enough for this purpose, attempting the movement herself. "Like so?"

[zodiac_brave]

"Indeed," Ramza agreed. She was a quick study, it seemed. "It takes some practice to do it quickly without letting the blade go astray, but that is the basic motion."

The practice might be for naught, if K'pandolu was not in the loop. But no reason no to try.

"You know your way around a blade. Were you a warrior before you became a Hero?" he asked, to get to know her better.