melodiesofeternity | Event || Custom Fit

Event || Custom Fit

Who: All
When: September 10th to September 30th
Where: Curti Center and mines around the world
What: Characters assist Ganeshan in developing Custom Jobs.
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post

A. The Lab

As much as Ganeshan requires supplies to create Custom Jobs, he need help at home base. With the large number of potential applicants, outworlders and Curti Center employees are invited to help out in the lab, not only with testing transfer of Jobs to crystals, but in developing the abilities and running safety tests.

Easier said than done when all of these cats aren't roaming throughout the center and claiming everything to be their sitting spot. The interns are trying their best to catherd to little avail.

B. Job Development

The break room contains formal submission papers and pamphlets describing the steps required to develop a Custom Job. Senior employees are available to help characters workshop the abilities, but they mostly want to remain in the break rooms to avoid Ganeshan's constant Job mania. His booming voice is muffled through the doors, interspersed with allergic sneezing.

A room has been prepared for those to practice using their basic job abilities, primarily in making sure they're stable yet not too weak. There is a chance that an improper ability extraction can go wrong and hurt the user, so Ganeshan has group of White Mages are on standby in case things go south.

For those that would rather have all the fun without the work, there is the Ability Simulation and Modeling Room, where characters can design their abilities on the computer and see them play out on the screen before them. There's no limit here, and since Jessie is too busy to keep an eye on everyone, the outfits and visual effects have the potential to get...very, very silly.

C. Heigh-Ho

It's off to work you go. Those crystals won't mine themselves, and anyone strong enough must enter the mine in search of the necessary material. It's tedious, difficult work, and some of these are embedded so deeply in the rock that they might be more trouble than they're worth. Not to mention those gross bugs might not like their homes to be disturbed.

There's also the fact that monsters have a tendency to wander inside and attack, so they'll need some reliable body guards.

There should be more crystals deeper inside, but someone else will have to scout the area...

D. Explore the Dungeon

Which is where this team comes in. All the good stuff is deep in this mine, and reliable navigators are necessary to map out the tunnels without getting lost. There's also the fact that the previous owners of a time long ago didn't want opportunists to take their precious resources and outfitted the rooms with puzzles.

Door Locks are puzzles. Pressure plates activate traps. It's the ultimate test of critical thinking. Some of these don't make sense if you think for too long. Why did they go through all the trouble to program time-based puzzles with falling blocks and symbols? The Pupu are strange. At least the bats here are easy to fight, and the mine cart rides are fun.

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b; job development

[It's a relief to have his Keyblade in his hand once again. While he's made what he believes to be a lot of progress in the past month as a Paladin, for some reason his sword just doesn't feel as right in his hand as his Keyblade does. The two skills aren't so different, but for the first time in the past month he feels the most like himself as he moves through a few attack patterns, thrusting his Keyblade in several directions and occasionally moving through a couple spins.

He might not be at full power, but the smoothness of his movements please him, despite being a little rusty and off-balance. Eventually, he has to stop and catch his breath, touching the tip of his Keyblade to the floor and leaning on it just slightly. He swipes his forearm across his forehead.]

Never thought after a month I'd feel this out of practice.

[And he hasn't even attempted any magic yet!]

c; heigh-ho

[The idea of having a custom job that would allow him use of his Keyblade has given Riku enough excitement and determination to fulfill whatever task is asked of him. It only makes sense that since the creation of this new job is a benefit to them all that they be expected to help out however they can. But once he's inside the mine, inspecting every inch of the walls and flooring for crystals and picking bugs off himself, he begins to wonder if maybe too much was being asked of them.

Some of the crystals are lodged so tightly that even using his sword to leverage them out doesn't work frequently enough to be much help.]

Did anyone bring a shovel? Maybe we can use it to break some of the gravel up.

[ Angeal can see where the out of practice part comes in, and he can give a lecture on the whole regular practice thing (he still might, but he's abstaining for the moment), instead tilting his head towards the odd shape of the weapon. And the absence of visible cutting edge. ]

Other than the shape of it, what's the difference?

[ Call him curious.

And he might be unarmed now - monk doesn't really do weapons - but he does have some knowledge of swords and using them. ]

[He glances over to Angeal once he hears the question, still catching his breath.]

It can do things a normal sword can't, like magic. It's also what allows me to open the doors between worlds back home. [He remembers telling the other man a little bit about that already.]

Also I don't have to worry about taking the extra time to draw it. I can summon it directly into my hand.

Ah. We did not have the ability to open portals, but magical abilities were in the form of orbs, called Materia. They could be equipped and unequipped, both to the person or a weapon.

[ He remembers, too, their previous conversation. ]

I am guessing that particular ability is not working right now.

Materia? We don't anything like that. But when Sora and I travel to other worlds we sometimes get new Keyblades specific to that world that come with special abilities.

[He tilts his head questioningly.]

Which ability? Summoning it?

... you are a friend of Sora's.

[ It doesn't sound like Angeal finds it a bad thing at all, just another piece of information clicking into place - and his face definitely softens when bringing Sora up. He has that effect. ]

The ability to open portals among worlds.

Yeah. You know Sora?

[He should really stop being surprised by the sheer number of people that Sora meets and knows. It's impossible to keep track of.]

Oh...yeah. That one's definitely not working.

But if everything goes right with this custom job, all my other abilities should be intact.

[He's pretty excited about it and it shows in his voice and expressions.]

Well, you still look cool doing it!

[ No worries here, Riku, Sora's always going to be your number one fan. Out of practice or not! They've always been able to depend on each other before to get one another motivated, challenged, and better at doing all this sort of stuff and Sora was super pleased he had this to look forward to here as well! All they needed was Wakka, Tidus, Kairi, Selphie ... and they'd be in great shape!

Well, maybe one day they could all get back together, after all this world seems like it's doing a great job reaching out to a whole lot of different worlds (and universes because.. boy Tidus and Selphie are not the same ones they grew up with)!

Sora gets in a stance, he’s a Red Mage and boy he feels pretty weak compared to what he was able to do before coming here! ]

I need practice too! I can barely handle my own sword!

[ Unfortunately for Sora, he didn’t have his keyblade (maybe it had to do with the fact that he used both his hands for the blade and here he was only allowed one-handed swords). What he did have was a thin rapier blade, which he was using to practice with Riku. ]

[Having trained a bit in his second job as a Red Mage, Riku can sympathize with Sora. The thinness of the rapier blades are different from anything either of them have have wielded before. And while Riku has the slight edge of being used to wielding his weapons one-handed, it hadn't helped his skills too much. Paladin is by far the easier fit of the two for him.

But even having the additional edge of having his Keyblade isn't going to stop him from taking on Sora's challenge and falling into his own battle stance. It's been awhile since they've had a good spare, and they can both use the practice.]

Are we focusing on just swordsmanship, or is magic allowed too? [They should probably figure out just how all out they're going first to keep things fair. Riku isn't sure how far Sora has progressed as a Red Mage yet.]

[ Sora couldn’t help it— ] Oh? You mean.. you can do magic too?~ [ He teased before a small laugh sounded and he waved a hand. ] Nah, lets focus on our sword fighting first. I want to be really good at that then we can implement magic as we improve.

Does that sound okay to you?

[He nods. It sounds like a good way of going about things. Even though he is anxious to try out his magic as well, if he can't even re-familiarize himself properly with his Keyblade technique then it's a moot point. Starting with the basics is always a good idea.]

Alright, Sora. You're on! On the count of three? One...two...

[ And that’s a three! Sora rushes in, his reaper raised high with both hands on the weapon - which was probably his mistake - and when he swings its with excessive force that sends him flying toward the ground without Riku even having to do anything.

Man, getting used to holding the sword with one hand was going to be hard! Sora laughed at his ridiculousness and waved his hands to Riku, apologizing lightly for the poor start.

They face off again, Sora has to keep in mind not to put his other hand on the weapon so he folds his arm behind his back. Something he had seen off of movies, the rapier is thin enough anyway that it was nice and light. He could do this with his hand behind his back. Or so he told himself.

They counted off again and Sora let Riku rush in on him this time. He lifted his sword for a counter defense. ]

[He sighs and shakes his head at Sora's antics. But he knows it's hard enough learning a new weapon without also having to change your technique.]

You have to think of it as an extension of your arm. You lose mobility if you try a two-handed grip. Not to mention speed.

[With advice given, he falls back into his fighting stance and waits for Sora to do the same. He smiles just slightly as he watches his friend place one hand behind his back. Of course he'd go to that extreme.

Counting off again, he strikes forward this time, leaping across the distance between them and bringing down his Keyblade with a strong downward stroke.]

[ The downward stroke is met with resistance as Sora uses his reaper to counter the attack. He's not skilled enough, or strong enough, to counter-attack the blade. Sora's knees are bent and he puts his strength in trying to force the blade back upward but he finds it pretty gosh darn tough. Man, when did Riku get so strong!

His brow knit and his teeth clenched with a soft grunt as he tried to force the blade back upward.

Once he knew he wasn't going to be able to force it Sora's foot slid back and he tucked into a roll before he got up and ran around the room, trying to get his stamina back in his arm and back before he would attack again. Once he felt ready he rushed for Riku with his reaper pointed forward like some sort of lance in a tournament. ]

[Riku puts all his strength into the attack and feels a rush of accomplishment as Sora struggles to keep his defense up. Even when the other boy finally manages to break away, Riku not quite quick enough to land another attack before he got out of range, he still feels proud of his progress.

He allows Sora a moment to reorient himself, sweeping his sword back and forth in the arm to keep his arm loose and ready. When Sora rushes forward, he's ready for him, and he quickly brings up his sword to deflect his reaper, attempting to knock it to the side.]

[ Have faith in the reaper! Have faith in the reaper! Sora charges with the mantra running through his mind with a crazed voice (or that of one Donald Duck!) echoing between his ears. The adrenaline feels amazing with facing Riku once again, this time without malevolence but for strength, practice, and growth! Both of them are a bit rusty but both of them have been fighting on their own journey for sometime and they bring their experiences here to this world! Sora’s beginning to feel more in his element and though he’s got the ridiculous voice cheering him on there’s determination on his knitted brow.

The reaper shimmies as soon as it strikes Riku’s blade and the vibration runs up Sora’s arms and into his diaphragm which gives him a small break in his concentration as he giggles. He jumps back, the reaper whines against Riku’s blade as it slides against the top of it and Sora ducks into a roll to give him some quick space between the two of them. He comes up with his reaper held up with one arm, waiting for an attack and ready to defend— if Riku so chooses to come forward, if not then Sora’s rushing at the other again. ]

[Riku doesn't give Sora much time to relax or to put more distance between them, instead charging forward within moments of the other teen returning to his feet. If he keeps up with a barrage he might be able to strike Sora unawares, or keep him so busy deflecting blows that he grows tired and gets sloppy.

While this is a spar and Riku isn't (entirely) worried about winning or losing, he can't help but give it his all.]

[ What a pounding! Sora met Riku’s blade with a weakening counter of his own. Each time he defended himself he could feel his arm losing the strength, the stamina it took to ward off those attacks.

Course, how could he go against those big old arms of Riku’s with his own smaller ones. Sora was strong, sure, but he was definitely not as strong as Riku! Eventually his reaper is struck down from his hand and his wrist twists with a painful reminder of it. ]

Eh!

[ He hops backward, quickly, and waves his hand around with a few more grunts. ]

[Once Sora's reaper is struck from his hand, Riku lowers his blade, panting audibly as he takes a moment to try and regain his breath.]

Need a break? [He watches as Sora waves his hand around and starts wondering if maybe he had been too forceful.] Is your hand okay?

No! No... okay, like a minute.. [ He waves his hand around, agitating it more than helping it. He laughs a bit sheepishly before he massages his wrist with his other hand. He walks over to his reaper and picks it up. He's a safe distance from Riku and he gives the blade a few test swipes against the air. ]

Nope, I'm good. Lets keep going.

[ He takes a breath then gets into position, ready for another attack. ]

At least it's not six.

[ He's being.... rather closely scrutinized by someone who happens to be on break, herself. She wouldn't mind it if they kept going, but the lab techs had told her, in no uncertain terms, that they needed time to look over the data and make sure everything was balanced correctly before continuing.

So instead she's watching others instead. And this guy looks pretty familiar to a certain lore seeking friend of hers. Enough that she's got an idea who he might be, though she won't know for sure until she asks. ]

[The scrutiny goes mostly unnoticed while Riku is practicing. In fact, he doesn't seem like he even notices her until she speaks up, dragging his attention away from his Keyblade and onto her.

Six months...that does sound rough.]

Yeah, I guess I'm lucky I got dragged here when I did and not any sooner. By the time I reached six months I might have forgotten how to even summon my Keyblade.

[It probably wouldn't have been that extreme. But it feels that way.]

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Event || Custom Fit

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