Introduction Log || It's Happening Again (Again!)

[eternitymods]

Who: All characters (New Arrivals, Previous Arrivals, and Native OCs) When: June 5th Where: The Dream Width (Airship), the Curti Center, and the Housing District What: It is happening again. 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 native characters can respond to new characters' toplevel posts. 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 other NPCs await you having been notified of your retrieval in the Dream Width. Cid gives a short and to the point 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 Vaikutha 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 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. Cid also introduces the other ones: his assistant Jessie, a young woman fascinated by the new arrivals, 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. After Cid finishes (and Claire grumbles at her work never being done), 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 Cid mentioned in his 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. ] PRETTY SIGHTS [ There's plenty of rooms to wander about in, with several points of interest apart from the offices. 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. One boasts a wide array of blooming flowers, another more practical with herbs commonly used in Vaikunthan cooking. One had been cultivated for butterflies and hummingbirds to visit. Paths have been laid through so that visitors can safely navigate, and moogles will swoop down and shout at anyone who strays into the flower beds. 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 temporary 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. 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

[saint_sami]

”She’s too young!”

“I think I can handle it now... Emeralda, right?” Sasami said, smiling brightly. “I’m Sasami. Thanks for your help!”

[remnantofzeboim]

"She's old enough to be here! You still can't choose for her, she has to choose for herself!"

Emeralda nodded. "Yes, that me. Nice to meet you Sasami!" She smiled brightly, then half-turned to watch the two moogles arguing.

"He seem...protective?"

[arosetowar]

[Emeralda looks human. She sounds human. Even her hair colour doesn't set her apart--green hair is rare in Cornelia's world, but it exists.]

[Without really meaning to, Cornelia cocks her brow and frowns. The day has been an endless sequence of absurdities and the more she speaks with people, the more she realises that she's at a distinct disadvantage. But that's all the more reason for her to keep asking questions.]

You're not human?

[remnantofzeboim]

[Emeralda shook her head at that.]

No. Emeralda...

[How was she supposed to explain this? Technology here wasn't anywhere close to home, for the most part.]

...Complicated. You know nanomachine? [As in, the word.]

[saint_sami]

“Yes, he does...” Sasami said, sighing as Kujo turned around, crossed his arms and “Hmph”ed. “I don’t know if he’s scared or he thinks being my companion means being overprotective...”

[remnantofzeboim]

"Hey! You can't just ignore me, you know I'm right!" Fidget declared as she tried to fly around to face him again.

Emeralda made a hm noise under her breath as she watched the two moogles. "Probably worry." She finally said, looking at Sasami. "You young. So worry. Emeralda's parents worry too. And I look older even."

[arosetowar]

I know of nanotechnology as a scientific field--[Or at least its potential application to weapons of war; other fields interest her less.]--but nothing of nanomachines, specifically.

[remnantofzeboim]

Yes, that! [Well that was a relief.] Emeralda those!

But they stuck here. [She flexed her fingers as she thought about it.] Stuck one shape. And not giving right measures for doctors.

[She glanced at the door as she said this.]

[lordshield]

[Shiva as she... they? appeared here was certainly not like anything Clarus had ever seen before, and the old warrior was caught watching the display a moment as the scene unfolded around them. It took him a delayed moment to realize the woman and the boy had fled, and he followed after them a bit belatedly, though they hadn't gone far. And then Hope seemed aware...]

A dream. Or rather a memory.

[He paused to marvel at the ice structure around them and the renegades that had come to their rescue, as Clarus knew there was no real danger here for them regardless of what happened in the memory.]

One you need to wake from. We are both in danger if we remain here.

[Sorry there's a strange man in your dreams, son, but he'll explain once they're back to the airship.]

1/God I don't even fucking know why number it....

[euphemia]

[ A trip to the library was necessary to gain a little more knowledge of the details of her soon to be career choice as a nurse. That and of course preparing for whatever studies were to come when she began school in a few weeks. There was quite a bit to look forward to even if the current situation was a bit grim. Yet Euphemia was confident this little mishap would smooth over within a few days, all she needed was a chance to show Cornelia that Lelouch meant well here. Here, at least. She doesn't know what he was back at home after her story there ended. But she knows that beyond all else, he means well, if only because of Nunnally.

And yet when she arrived at the door she can already hear the voices just outside. Low, at first, but familiar enough. Lelouch? Lelouch was here? So they were speaking. This was a good thing! It meant that they were going to work out their issues and it would not need her hand after all. She quickens her pace to the door and stops just before it, ready to enter and encourage them to set aside their differences.

Yet what she hears at the other side is so loud that not even the door can block it. The words shouted by her sister filled with a passionate rage she is all too familiar with hearing. At least towards others and usually when she suspects she can't hear. It's not the tone that stuns her, however, but the words spat.

Died. In agony. By his hands? The words stun her but ... it's just like her to assume that Lelouch was involved in her death. That simply wasn't true, he told her himself that they protected the Japanese from whatever terrible deed her brother apparently 'miscalculated' on. She needed to correct her which is why she gently pushed the door open to confront her sister and correct the misunderstanding made.

And— ]

[euphemia]

[ And... listening? ]

[arosetowar]

I'm surprised that the doctors can measaure them at all. [If she's made from nanomachines, is she even flesh and bone? Does she bleed? It feels rude to ask, so Cornelia doesn't.] Did you tell them what you are?

[euphemia]

[ To him killing Clovis. To showing no remorse for those actions. She knew that but. To hear it so loudly by him. And the words he told her last night while leaving and struggling to disregard? She listens to the fact her very presence destroys him. To the fact she is a constant reminder, That everything she hoped for that day was taken. That he— ]

[euphemia]

[euphemia]

[ ... Killed. Her. ]

[remnantofzeboim]

Can't. Why numbers wrong. [She shifted.] They look pulse, get 210. Look for temperature, get 91.

I say not human but they just look annoyed.

[And she was pretty sure they would NOT know what nanomachines are.]

....end.

[euphemia]

[ What. What? What What now? Except for staring. From the door, she entered. And at them. At Cornelia. At Lelouch. ]

[ Lelouch. ]

[ Lelouch... The quietest ... strangled noise. ]

[arosetowar]

[There's a breeze. There's the sounds of the outdoors--people talking, laughing. Footsteps. Birds singing. Cornelia looks away from Lelouch and towards the open door, and damned near falls back into her chair when she sees Euphy standing there, staring at them, so wide-eyed and pained that she must have overheard them.]

[Concern freezes Cornelia in place. Shock renders her damned near silent. All she can muster is a soft, quiet,]

...Euphy...

Iris Amicitia | Final Fantasy XV | OTA.

[moogleshield]

MEMORY.

[ Perhaps you were on one of the many airships set to save the new "arrivals" that had found their way adrift in the endless sea of the Dream Width. Maybe you found yourself here through no fault of your own, eyes closing and opening to a distinct shift in what you know or remember. Regardless, as the world begins to shift before you, everything seems to quietly fall away, as a new existence slowly snaps into place.

It's raining, colors blurring together in a tapestry of muddy grays, as the sounds of cars and people quietly frame this damp and dreary night. Placed squarely in the middle of what appears to be a large park, a copse of trees blocking out what scant light the streetlights specking the city provide, the world moves as if it does not notice that someone else is here. Life moves on, unaware of the change.

But there's someone else here, the percussive, full-body sobs of someone nearby cutting through the noise. It's faint, but difficult to ignore, and crouched by a large tree, her back turned, is a small girl. Her black dress is covered in mud, and judging from the scrapes on her bare arms, it looks like she might have fallen from somewhere. ]

MOOGLES + CHECK-UP.

[ This is a lot to take in. The Dream Width. A new world. The fact that Noctis and her father are still very much alive. It's overwhelming to say the least, and while it's probably a good idea for her to stay grouped up with someone she knows, she doesn't really want to keep Noct tied up for however long it takes for her to get settled. Apparently there are things she has to do? They have an agenda now? That seems kinda weird for a group that's still new to this whole people-from-other-worlds thing, but Iris is willing to roll with the punches.

The deciding factor? Well... ]

I can't see it from here. Where are we going anyway, Oleander? You haven't told me yet.

All in due time, kupo. I assure you, miss, that you will be glad we came this way, kupo.

[ So moogles. She's familiar with them, but only that they were cute and very much not-real. So after the initial meeting (and quietly geeking out over) her own moogle, Iris set out her own toward a place that she was told was required viewing.

It must be good, right? Usually if there's a line, that means that people want to be here. Unfortunately, she's still too far back to realize that it is the hospital that she's been corralled toward. It just looks like a large building from here. She's not going to be too happy when she realizes what is going on.

And true to that, some time later... ]

Come now, it can't have been that bad, kupo.

Ah'm noh talhun to youh righ nah, Oheandah.

[ Sitting on one of the hospital bed, a lollipop stick hanging out of her mouth as she holds a hand over the inside of her elbow, Iris doesn't look amused. She doesn't mind going in for a routine check-up, and if he had been honest about it, she wouldn't be so miffed.

Look, she's tough, but even the strongest fighters probably still hate needles. Ugh. ]

PRETTY SIGHTS.

[ As the day finally gives way to evening, Iris finds herself in the park, wandering around almost aimlessly as she slowly lets everything that has happened filter in. It's overwhelming, and for the most part she's done well to compartmentalize most everything. This world isn't her own, and so much about it is strange and new that it's difficult to be able to focus on one particular thing.

How did they get here? Was this just the natural progression of things, a result of the daemons taking hold of her own world? It feels strange and weirdly heavy in her chest. Things were peaceful, and there's something about that that makes her ache. With everything that's happened recently, none of this feels real. As if she were still trapped within a dream, and that, as soon as she fell asleep here, she would awaken back in a world plagued by perpetual night.

But for now...

Slowly, Iris stops, looking out toward the horizon, and the amber-colored sun slowly lowering. Her moogle hovers to her side, saying something that she doesn't quite hear ("Miss?"). Right now, it's as if she's a million miles away.

A sunset... ]

...I never thought I'd get to see this again.

[ She had forgotten how beautiful they could be. ]

[arosetowar]

[As a member of the royal family, Cornelia has never had a bad experience with doctors. So to hear that these ones not only refuse to listen to their patients but are annoyed by them restores her frown.]

Then it seems they aren't qualified to work here. Do you recall which doctor it was? [She has more than half a mind to file a complaint on Emeralda's behalf.] And what were you saying earlier, about your shape?

CONTINUING FROM THE TDM.

[moogleshield]

[regisrex]

Unsuspecting, Regis just grins at the moogle. Moogleberry? "Hi! The latter, I'm told." He nods towards his own moogle, and moves forward, only looking a little strangely at the oddly-dressed one.

"Yes! Regis here has only just arrived, and he's been assigned to C-05. How many residents are currently here, if I may ask?"

[chosennobody]

[Okay to be fair Sora would definitely be advocating for Ravus to join the people from his world and make friends and all that sentimental crap. Instead Roxas took a more pragmatic approach to things.]

Yeah, I'm in that one. [He jerked a thumb at the peaceful house next door.]

For the record, your housemates are really loud and don't understand the sanctity of mornings. [He'd learned that word from one of the other disgruntled neighbors, but it seemed like a good word.]

[remnantofzeboim]

I think they just worry. Since look human.

[She wasn't sure she wanted to get anyone in trouble for worrying about her, even if it was annoying!]

I should change. Hand into thing or hair into other thing. But can't.

II

[wheretheresawill]

You're safe. [Terra's not sure how to begin this conversation, but that's an important fact to convey.]

If those are your friends, they might not be here. I'm sorry.