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

[arosetowar]

[Does it change anything?]

[It changes the way she looks at him; it softens the heart-rending belief that her little sister died because the love she extended to her brother was met only with hatred. If what he says is true—if he never intended to cause such grievous harm to her sister—then does that mean he be trusted? Can she spare Euphy the pain of discovering her fate, and can Euphy be allowed the company of her brother?]

[Cornelia still doesn't know.]

[Lelouch had been so flippant when she'd asked about Euphy earlier that it's impossible for her to reconcile what he's saying now with how he had acted before. She knows that this shift was likely caused by her making clear that she knows his reign was a ruse, but can't decide whether she believes it has motivated him to be truthful or to use it to his advantage. There is more to his reaction than his words, though. The way he holds his arm, the way he trembles—those responses look real to her, and there's something so infuriating about it all that for a moment she loses focus on the lie and instead begins resenting him for his pain. He hurts, he suffers, he grieves?]

[No. Euphy has suffered so much more than his curse.]

You gave Clovis the dignity of a quick death. [A single shot, a bullet to the brain, he would have barely felt anything.] But Euphy... [Her voice picks up again here, louder, sharper, less controlled.] She died in agony by your hand.

[Another weaponisation of her sister; another impulse she can't hold back. The fact that he killed her is almost unbearably painful but she understands it on a certain level. As far as the public knew, Euphy had orchestrated the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people, and given what Cornelia now knows, there was no bringing her sister back from that. Either she remained under the Geass forever, or she was freed of it and spent the rest of her life knowing what she had done. That doesn't change how deeply she suffered during her last moments. That doesn't make her death seem any more loving, any more compassionate, any less spiteful.]

After all the pain you've caused her, what right do you have to act as though you haven't destroyed her in every possible way? What claim do you dare to take on her love?

[On her laughter. On her smile. On her forgiveness. On any of it.]

[likewishes]

[ They are all valid questions, really. He asks himself those same things. Cornelia might be able to contain herself, but Lelouch? When not lying and manipulating, he's far more intense. Now hit's his hands slapping on the table. It's his voice that rises. Anger. Grief. Guilt. All of those things. The anger isn't directed at Cornelia, really. It's at himself. ]

What else could I do!? I couldn't stop her in time! She wouldn't - couldn't - have stopped!

[ So it's not that he wanted to pull the trigger. It's that he didn't think there was another option. It had been the only way to put an end to it. Death had been the only release from the Geass he had accidentally placed on her. ]

And Clovis? I don't regret it. My hand wasn't shaking as I pulled the trigger and I most certainly wasn't struggling -

[ He cuts himself off. Could he have killed Euphy in a similar manner? Probably. The truth was that his aim had likely been off. She suffered because Lelouch couldn't reign everything in like he had for Clovis. She suffered simply because Lelouch loved her dearly and that compromised his actions. He wavered. ]

I don't claim anything, Cornelia. When we crossed paths here I said I'd leave. When she left last night I told her it was for the best! I know I don't deserve it. Seeing her is a constant reminder that I destroyed everything she was and everything she hoped for that day! I killed her and I can't change that!

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? ]

[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. ]

....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...

[likewishes]

[ Lelouch's head immediately jerks towards the open door. Realization hits like ice spreading through his veins. Down his spine. She's there. Oh Euphy's heard them. There's no mistake of that. Not with that look on her face. This isn't the way that he wants to tell her. It isn't the way that she should be told of it - not with her siblings arguing but with an actual discussion.

Oh Lelouch wants to say something. The issue is that he cannot find his voice. His throat constricts tightly and he, right along with her, makes a strangled sound.

This is wrong. So, so wrong. ]

and then there was a book ... 1/2

[euphemia]

[ For several weeks she lived a blissfully ignorant life, one with no knowledge of whatever issues plagued Lelouch on the day of their arrival. The story he gave was passable and did not need further details. She learned a great tragedy occurred on the day of SAZ and the hundreds of lives lost due to it, including that of her own.

She was blind to the reason and even more so how she died, but that was such a minor in the grand scheme when in the end peace was achieved despite it all. Her last memories recalled that peaceful explanation with Suzaku ensuring she did her part in saving all the Japanese. She left the world believing her hand in things brought about a massive change between that of the Japanese and Britannia. It was a comforting thought that let her find eternal rest easy. A rest disturbed by the Dream Width.

Lies were undone not purposely but on accident. It started with his arrival and the robes that told his fate. Her death sparked a chain reaction of unwanted events, one that led to the death of her brother, Lelouch. The details weren’t entirely clear only because she refused to indulge further. It didn’t seem necessary or important as she knew that path was likely riddled with choices she would never want to see him make. Or Suzaku, for that matter.

She could see and tell that the guilt ate at him every day with the manner he treated her and gave her the option that he could leave. She declined, of course, because that was foolish and assumed it was his guilt with his misdeeds. That his life of Zero made him unworthy, that was the only thing she could assume with that behavior of his. Whatever it was, whatever it might be, she wanted them to live a life that was not filled with daily agony, so she filled it with varied ways of joy and bliss. A simple life abruptly cut from them when familiar faces began to appear, a life put to ruin because she refused to hear. Because the truth had a way of slipping out even when she was the one running from it all along. It wasn't Lelouch that blocked the story, but her unwillingness to want to know.

And … the truth. It cut, it didn’t set her free. It burned, it didn’t make her feel relieved. It was the worst thing to hear and no matter how much she wished she could turn around and pretend she never came in. To pretend she never heard it, to act like it was not a word yelled. That the reason for her death was not because of illness or some other fatal accident, but because he killed her himself. ]

2/2

[euphemia]

[ There were several opportunities he could have done this. At the hotel. At the island. Even during their meeting at SAZ. And every time he hesitated. Because of reasons. Because...

She got too bold, too confident. Too assured that this reason would keep her safe. But that wasn’t true at all. Because he was clearly just waiting for the right moment. Right? That was why? Was that why she couldn’t remember the moment? No, she did. That was the worst part. The memory confirmation. By admitting it, it brought back something that was a little unclear. Something like...

'Lelouch... why?'

Why.

It was that lack of a 'why' that sent her storming across the room. Made her stand before him with eyes filled with immense pain. And after a prolonged silence between them of just staring ... only them did she raise her hand.

... and the sound of her hand as it crashed on his cheek might as well silenced everything. ]

[likewishes]

[ Lelouch has wanted to tell her, honestly. He had made it clear that he would tell Euphemia everything. Anything she wanted to know. He'd keep nothing from her. Out of everyone in this place, Euphy deserves the truth. Part of the Requiem had been for her sake too. Built upon her desires and wishes of the world.

Just because she had run away from it doesn't mean that he shouldn't have pressed the issue. Lelouch should have. He knows this. Even if that truth had pushed her away from him, forced a second loss that would have been just as painful as the first, he should have told her. The reality is that he had a hard time with her death. Even now. One of two deaths, really, that had been his doing that he had felt regret over. Euphemia's had broken him. Euphemia in general had made him question everything. Bringing it up would have been like ripping open a wound that hadn't entirely healed only to watch it bleed and likely not heal again.

Now? Well now it is the same, only the that wound is festering on top of it. Lelouch doesn't stop the slap. Not that he could. He is in shock and isn't even entirely aware of Euphy's proximity until her hand connects with his face. It burns. Not with pain, but with shame. He can't even turn back to look at her or even try to explain. This is what Lelouch deserves. She should slap him more. Euphemia has the right of it. ]

1/2

[euphemia]

[ And she would have! Should have! Going to! Wanted to! The hand raised again eager to do just that because she wasn’t done there! It was rotten and cold. Cruel and heartless. Fooling her to believe he was there and then—and then—!

—yet she can do nothing but hold her hand up hesitant to bring it back for a second round. Because her eyes fill with tears as she feels her insides turn to nothing. ]

[euphemia]

[ ... a choked sob is all he gets. And with that, she turns and sprints out the door. Sprints. Never to look back again... ]