Introduction Log || Have a Merry Starlight Celebration

[eternitymods]

Who: All characters (New Arrivals, Previous Arrivals, and Native OCs) When: December 5th Where: The Dream Width (Airship), the Curti Center, and the Housing District What: It is happening for the fifth time now. More outworlders have arrived in the Dream Width and must be rescued and brought back to their new homes on Vaikuntha Warnings/Notes: Only new players can put up a toplevel. Previous arrivals and established native characters can respond to new characters' toplevel posts. They will get 25 EXP for replying to top levels. MEMORY [ You've been here before...? No, wait, why would you think that? You're here in the moment, everything is as it should be...(?) The memory you are trapped in has completely enthralled you. You stop questioning and accept, you relive and repeat. Luckily, you are not alone. Others have arrived to help you. The travelers in the airships will enter the nebula formed by your memories and attempt to wake you up and bring you back to the present. The dreamer's mind will shape how these newcomers are perceived and how the NPCs in the memory respond to them. For more details on the mechanics, please refer to this post] ARRIVAL [ You wake from your dreams, from your memories, on a narrow cot. There are fleeting impressions- recycled air, humming machinery, movement, strangers waking around you. The room you wake in is lined with cots, with barely enough space between them to walk to the door, though not all of them show signs of having been occupied. The makeshift infirmary seems like it was prepared to hold many more than are here. Stepping out, there is a lobby space that bears the signs of having once held some furniture, now cleared away to make space. Your footsteps echo in the emptiness. As the automatic door slides shut on the infirmary, a light flashes on the far side of the room. A flickering holographic projection of a man’s face and gloved hand appears projected in the space above the arrivals’ heads. He backs up so his upper body is in frame for the recording. An arm, covered in the same orange flightsuit sleeve, hands him a tablet. The man begins to read. A written version of the message scrolls along the bottom of the projection as he speaks. ] ’Welcome travelers’… That’s way too formal. Hey everyone. Hi! [ The second man leans into the frame to add his greeting. ] Don’t panic. You were floating out there, but we pulled you in and rescued you. Yeah, we’re heroic AND handsome. And also the only ones crazy enough to come out here to get you. [ A woman’s voice calls from out of frame. ] Can you two be serious for ONE moment and stick to your scripts? [ The two men give each other a conspiratorial eyeroll. This does not appear to be their first take. ] Anyways, no need to panic. Seriously, don’t do anything reckless. We got our fill of that with Skywalker. [A huff is heard offscreen, and the men finally spare the tablet another glance.] ‘Your pilots will be navigating treacherous environs as this message plays…’ Claire, seriously? Nobody talks like this! [ The tablet is tossed to the side and lands with a thunk offscreen. ] We’re gonna wing it. Look, everyone, we’re workin’ hard to get you planetside safely, and it’s gonna take some tricky flying to do it. So the door to the cockpit is locked so we can focus on not getting us all killed. Don’t try to open it, unless you want to be stardust. We promise you’ll get answers about what’s going on once we land. But for now, please trust us. Right now, we’re your only hope. [ The second man leans forward, close to the recording device, and presses a button. The projection freezes for a moment, and then the message starts on the next recorded message. ] CURTI CENTER [ Finally after hours of flight, you arrive at the Curti Center. The place is covered with snow, it appears to be winter here! The other NPCs await you having been notified of your retrieval in the Dream Width. Jessie gives a long and professional welcome speech, explaining what the situation is: you were lost in a space called the Dream Width. You are now on a planet called Vaikuntha: for ages, the people of this world have used Airships to rescue people lost in the Dream Width, with one person being found roughly every ten years. No one knows why this happens, but this has been a mutually beneficial exchange, with the people from Vaikuntha rescuing people lost in the Dream Width and the rescued ones sharing their wisdom with the people of Vaikuntha. Ten years ago, something unusual happened: two people were found at once, Biggs and Wedge. But that was nothing compared to what happened eight months ago... And six, four, two months ago. And now, here you are. No one knows why such a large number of people has arriving lately, but the Curti Center is a place dedicated to piercing the Dream Width's secrets. Jessie also introduces the other ones: Claire, the woman sighing and writing in her schedule book upon being pointed out as the bookkeeper, Kupoto and Mogaruru, their Mognet representatives and finally the Native OCs: those brave and kind souls who have accepted to help you all on a daily basis. She also mentions Cid, the director who is busy in his office. After Jessie finishes , the employees, including the Native OCs, provide a tour of the facility and help the newcomers navigate their future lives. Now is the time to ask questions and look over pamphlets regarding locations, Jobs, life in Vaikuntha... ] [ If you want to contact an NPC, you can do so on the NPC Contact Page. ] A BALL OF FLUFF NAMED MOOGLE [ It has been a long day, perhaps now you would like to find your way to a place to sleep? Or perhaps you'd like to get some answers, but you can't be bothered to go seek people out? And lo, just as despair begins settles in, a Moogle slams into you! Or stops by your side if their aim is decent... It's the Moogle Jessie mentioned in her speech earlier! And they'll be informing you that now, they will stick to you like your shadow and help you in anyway they can! They're also giving you your iMog Slate- Now you can get onto Mognet! Isn't it great? ] A QUICK CHECK-UP [ Whether it's your Moogle, Native OCs or NPCs, all will urge you to stop by the hospital wing for a basic check-up. You may disagree, but listen. You've just been thrown into a space between worlds, rescued, and brought to another world. For your own sake, that's a good idea. Should you give in and go (or should you be dragged by your Moogle or a Native OC), you will find yourself in the cold and white space very reminiscent of an hospital. For characters with specific medical conditions necessitating help, this is where they will receive it if asked. The doctors and nurses are all White Mages or Chemists, with various levels into their Job as well as medical knowledge. Don't mind the confused looks if you look like nothing they've ever seen before... It's hard for a doctor to be unable to give a proper diagnosis to a patient! For everyone else though, they'll be let go with smiles and be given a candy as they leave. No one likes medical check-ups, but it's a very quick and basic one: testing reflexes, taking your temperature and the likes. On the bright side, while you're grumpily sitting on a bed with a thermometer on your forehead or in your mouth, it might be a good time to socialize with your fellow new arrival who's having lights flashed into their eyes by a doctor. Misery loves company, after all. ] STARLIGHT SIGHTS [ There's plenty of rooms to wander about in, with several points of interest apart from the offices. Most noticeably, the entire place is decorated with Christmas decorations and there are even employees dressed as Santa Claus! Of course, it's not called Christmas but the Starlight Celebration in this world. And everyone appears to be in the holiday spirit, ready for the great day on the 25th! The Airship Hangar is where the airships are kept and the first room you entered. Workers keep guard to prevent the outworlders from getting too close to the vehicles. Airships are expensive and they don't want you messing with them, after all. Venturing into the Research Section, you can walk through public exhibitions on astronomy, airship design, and asterisk studies. A good place to get used to the basic science of this world. The laboratories lie behind a thick locked door with a sign reading "EMPLOYEES ONLY". No going there, for now anyway. Not too far from there are the Employee Quarters - work stations, apartments, and lounge areas. The latter are available to the public, whereas the rest is locked to Native OCs. But if you get them to be friends with you, perhaps they'll let you visit? Also open to all is a Cafeteria - a standard food court with stalls serving all types of Vaikunthan cuisine. The Chef is a very jovial and absent-minded Hypello. Beware of long lines and crowded tables. Should you prefer open spaces, then the gardens are for you! There are different sections in the gardens around the center, but they all look the same at this time of the year, snow covering everything. Oh, and what's that? It's snowing right now! Or perhaps, you want to wait till the sunset. Dusk on a new world, but a beginning of a new life... The sea shines bright in the orange light. A good moment for quiet contemplation. ] HOUSING [The housing accommodations are the best the Curti staff could provide, given that they are still also sheltering most of the previous arrivals from the Dream Width. The keys have been entrusted to the moogles who will be guiding the new arrivals. The new arrivals can stop by the Curti Center storage room to collect some essential supplies that have been donated by charity organizations from around the world (there are boxes of toothbrushes and whitening toothpaste sent from the Zora, hair brushes from the Elezen, quick-drying towels from the Hypello, among the various donations of clothes, toiletries, and blankets), before heading to their new homes. The people of Vaikuntha have done their best to provide for their new neighbors and help them get on their feet. Still, things will be a little cramped until the off-worlders can find employment and move into better housing if they so wish. The staff hopes they can get along with one another until alternate arrangements can be made. You can survive living with roommates for a few months, right?] THE JOB FOR YOU [An important part of life on Vaikuntha is the Job (or Jobs) you choose to take. No, not the way you earn your living. Your Job Class. Most Natives only choose one or two, but you'll have an opportunity to take on more Job Asterisks after you master your first Jobs. The Curti Center's resident Job Master, Ganeshan, is more than happy to arrange transportation to the various Guilds so that you can claim your first Asterisks. ]

Comments

[legalcy]

Minimus crosses his arms. "Endearment should not factor into the quality of official notices. Mogsuna, take pictures of each pamphlet and send them to me. I will compile a report and send it to accounting."

The Moogle nods in agreement, pausing his game of Kupo Nut Crusher.

"Your collaboration would be greatly appreciated. Have you experience in filing business complaints?"

[tiredcharmer]

Normally, Tyzias really wasn't the type to do this kind of thing. Most people had hard enough lives already without being hassled about fonts. But... Sweet Sufferer her eyes were screaming in pain just looking at some of these things. Whoever was committing these formatting crimes deserved to be brought to justice. And the tiny robot seemed so earnest too, she couldn't refuse him.

After a moment of hesitation, Tyzias shrugs. "I have experience processing themmmm, at least. Should be able to help. Wwwwhat's your nammmme? I'mmmm Tyzias."

[legalcy]

Minimus nods. "Excellent. Call me -" Ah, so he would have to go back to this again. "Ambus. Minimus Ambus. My guide's name is Mogsuna." He gestures at the Moogle, who is opening each pamphlet and taking an image of each page spread. It's boring, repetitive work, but he's not the one that will be picking the best images to use. "While I have been provided housing, I will be available to work here all night in order to submit the report tomorrow."

[tiredcharmer]

"You knowwww wwwwhat?" Tyzias shrugs, then takes a sip from her mug. She just needed to grab some grub, maybe take quick tour of the center, then she'd be free. Tyzias didn't exactly like stuff like this, but it was... familiar. Enough to be grounding, at least. "I have literally nothing better to do tonight. Wwwwhen do you wwwwant to mmmmeet?"

[legalcy]

"We will meet at 1500 hours at this lounge. Type up your observations on these piles," he commands as he hands over half of the Job System pamphlets, "and I will write my half. Together, will be complete the report with graphs and introductory statements. Is that clear?"

Cut back to the meeting?

[tiredcharmer]

"Yeesh, pushy mmmmuch?" Tyzias heaves a sigh, taking a look at the pamphlets. Ah, what the hell. Why not? Her other option was to spend even more time crying like the useless sack of shit that she was. "But alright. See you soon." With that, Tyzias scoops up the pamphlets and ambles off to the cafeteria, paging through the one on the NOBLE AND JUST PALADINS!

[cue spinning screen transition]

[legalcy]

Following a tour of the housing area, meeting his new roommates, having a moment to compose himself after his conversation with Megatron, and scolding another employee to tracking in melted now, Minimus arrives at the designated meeting area 15 minutes early to organize the chairs, dust off the desk, and set up his workstation. The Slate is propped on his lap as he goes through each of Mogsuna's photos, angles them so that the text is at a level angle, and crops them.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias arrives two minutes early, sipping from a blank white mug while a folder bursting with pamphlets and notes is under her other arm. Wordlessly, she sits down and slides it to Minimus. Inside is... actually a fairly organized and very thorough log of every typesetting error that conflicts with the Vaikunthan Common Typesetting Association rules, neatly notated in precise handwriting. There's even an index and a summary of all errors. Tyzias takes another sip from her mug and gestures for Minimus to hand over his work for comparison.

[legalcy]

If Cybertronians followed any sort of caretaker-neonate traditions, Minimus would have claimed Tyzias as his prodigy this instant. He adjusts his screen to better display the windows he set up - one containing the draft in progress along with the footnotes and table of contents, one displaying the images with a naming system that references Job and error, one with various types of graphs displaying the rate of occurrence for each issue. Each document has multiple drafts so he can compare wording and typesetting.

He nods and accepts the folder to leaf through. "Interesting. The color coding I utilized for each issue differs from yours, however. Let me account for this." With two clicks, he adjusts the pallete on the graph to match the onces Tyzias provided. "The clerk directed me to the best bookkeeping programs. They were not free, but I have signed the documentation to pay her back once I begin employment."

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias nods, looking over the screen with sharp eyes despite her overall exhausted demeanor. She takes note of the editing software as well--should be useful later--although she's far more concerned with the actual content of the documents. "Mmmmaybe wwwwe should include a line graph based on date of the edition's publication cross referenced wwwwith frequency of errors? Crunched sommmme nummmmbers, looks like the person wwwwho typed these up started getting mmmmore and mmmmore reckless as timmmme wwwwent on."

[legalcy]

"Then we will have to assign a weight to each type of error - misspellings are a single isntance issue, but tight margins affect an entire page and reduce the page count, which in turn limits the allowable area for images." These things had to come with a science. "To incorporate your suggestion, we should create a table listing the types of errors, sorting them by their frequency in a single pamphlet and then over the entire sample. From there, we can look at the chronological comparison for each type of error."

[tiredcharmer]

"Mmmmm, yeah, good idea. Mmmmind if I use your slate for a bit?" If given permission, Tyzias slides the slate over to her side, and begins typing at a frankly terrifying speed for someone who normally speaks so slowly. A few seconds in, she blinks, mutters something about, "right, no quirks in formmmmal essays," and edits. In under three minutes, she takes a deep breath and turns the slate around, revealing that she's edited in all of Minimus' suggestions to the letter. "That look good?"

[look at this graph]

[legalcy]

"Of course. Please do not rename any of my files or move the windows." They were meticulously sized so that the sides of the windows formed orderly columns and rows. The background of the slate peeked through a sliver, just enough to create boundaries without distracting him from what was truly important.

That is why, when Tyzias types, he leans over to watch her work. He visibly flinches when he sees 3 "m"s in a row.

"Yes, that appears to be it." Minor adjustments aside, these graphs were up to standard. "Add your observations to the appropriate subsection."

[tiredcharmer]

"Got it." Tyzias types out her additions in a blur, then hands the slate back to Minimus. "Feel like wwwwe should wwwwrite an introduction on wwwwhy this is immmmportant. Like, sommmme of the shit on the pammmmphlets will be hard to read for people wwwwith disabilities. They're not likely to take us seriously if wwwwe just hand themmmm a docummmment full of graphs and tell 'emmmm to read it because it's immmmportant unless wwwwe have a reason beyond typesetting guidelines."

[legalcy]

"There is no need to worry. I have over a million years of experience in presenting data - and I do mean that in the literal sense. While this document is shorter than what I would typically write up, I should have enough information to have a proper lecture."

Fortunately for Claire, he does not have the resources to make a 500-slide presentation.

[tiredcharmer]

"Alright." Tyzias cracks her knuckles. She could already feel the study grind determination setting in. Minimus best be prepared for someone as dogged and anal as him about formatting. They were both gonna be here for a while.

Tyzias didn't exactly enjoy this stuff. But it was easy to lose herself in, to forgot the despair and the pain and the everything, while she was busy on working on an ultimately trivial report on something miniscule. So many details to process, so many things to keep track of. Kept her busy.

"Let's get down to business."