FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS || INTRODUCTION LOG

[eternitymods]

Who: All characters (New Arrivals and Native OCs) When: April 11th Where: The Dream Width (Airship), the Curti Center, and the Housing District What: For the first time in 10 years, outworlders have been found the Dream Width. This unprecedented number of new arrivals are rescued and brought to Vaikuntha, and must now try to start adjusting to their new home. Warnings/Notes: All players can put up a toplevel. Please post to the NPC toplevel if you have an IC question for them. 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. The makeshift infirmary is becoming uncomfortably warm, packed to its capacity with people. Stepping out, there is a lobby space that bears the signs of having once held some furniture, now cleared away to make space. Even with the sparse accommodations, the space quickly fills to standing-room only. 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 to play again. ] ’Welcome travelers’… CURTI CENTER [ Finally after hours of flight, you arrive at the Curti Center. The other NPCs await you along with the Native OCs. 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 today. Indeed, here you are. No one knows why such a large number of people has been found at once, but the Curti Center is a place dedicated to piercing the Dream Width's secrets. Cid also introduces the other ones: his assistant Jessie, Claire, the woman looking at the group in horror upon being pointe 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 despairs at the pile of paperwork she must complete by the end of the week), 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 specifically during this introduction, please respond to the toplevel with the name of the NPC in the subject header. The mods will try to reply at least once a day for each NPC. ] 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. ] A BAD OMEN [ Wandering around, you may stumble upon an old and tired-looking moogle wearing what can only be described as a decrepit fortune-teller attire. Upon seeing you, or any of the new arrivals for that matter, he will slowly approach and tell you all the exact same speech. ] If you stay here, you're doomed. She will find you and make you suffer hell. [At which point his eyes will grow exorbitant.] This world is cursed. You will die and never be free. [And finally he'll fly right into your face.] Never! [ Then he will leave and go say his speech to someone else, without doing anything but repeating different variations of his warning if asked for details. Should you ask your assigned Moogle, Biggs or Wedge, they will mention this crazy moogle can't be reasoned with and sometimes stick around the center, even though he's always chased away. He never says anything besides doomsday predictions. For unknown reasons, he's always been particularly nasty with Biggs and Wedge... And with you as well now, it seems. ] 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 the sudden and unexpected number of 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?]

Comments

Sparks Nevada | open

[red_planet_blues]

[Arrival]
[Sparks Nevada awakens and wonders who the hell has kidnapped him. Did the so-called Emperor of Mars have some lackeys he didn't know about? Was this some sort of weird plot by annoying Jupiter spies? Nope - he'd wish it was Jupiter spies in a few minutes.

Sparks pushes his way to the front of the crowd to watch the video, horror growing on his face. He then goes to find the nearest hatch, window, video screen - whatever will let him see outside, if possible.]

No. No way. Not. Again.

[When any potential view doesn't answer his questions anyway, he grabs the nearest person by the arm and demands:]

What planet. What planet are they talking about?!

[SHUT UP HE'S NOT PANICKING YOU'RE PANICKING]


[Curti Center]
[Sparks barely registered anything Cid was saying. He couldn't get over the fact that this was happening again. He was only home on Mars for a few months! Maybe even just weeks! He had just spent three years on Crystallis! The similarities to Crystallis were uncanny, too. A suspicious glare is thrown Jessie's way, mostly by reflex. While on the tour, Sparks looks at his pamphlet while on the tour with a hollow expression. Most new people are probably confused or excited or scared, but Sparks looks downright miserable. He mutters while looking over the literature to no one in particular.]

This again. I can't believe it. Jobs. Moogles. Magic. Swords what got guns in 'em. [Contemptively:] Chocobos.


[Cafeteria -> Gardens]
[Some fresh air and some food do the marshal some good, and he's looking a little better. He's definitely still not enthused to be here. Finding Red, his moogle back on Crystallis, definitely did help, and she was definitely relieved to see him. But as she's gone off exploring, Sparks is left alone to pick at a tray of food alone in the garden. He's trying hard to act like he's not desperately searching for a familiar face among the crowd, but he totally is.]

Curti Center

[daggercubed]

[Vax is, as is his way, just suddenly behind Sparks. Sneaky rogues are sneaky. He heard an interesting thing; something that made the half-elf perk up, instantly, and walk up right behind Sparks.

Then he speaks, with no warning.]

This happens to you frequently?

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks jumps slightly, and looks at Vax with a frown.]

Would you stop-- God you're quiet, anyone ever tell ya that?

Okay, so. It depends. It only happened once, but it happened over the course of years. So if that counts as frequently, then yes. Now, does weird stuff happen to me? Oooh yes. Like, all the time. Mars is a weird place. Weird comes with the marshalin' territory.

[daggercubed]

They would, if they could hear me.

[Vax gives his best shit-eating grin. He nods after that, though, and has to consider it. Something like this happened before?

That's... disturbing.]

For years. It sounds like it. But... it sounds like you deal with weird things a lot. I can appreciate that. My life's gotten pretty weird before.

Hell of a thing to happen twice, though.

[red_planet_blues]

Yep. Woke up in a void one day, got told I was some kinda "Hero 'a Light", got tossed onto a planet called Crystallis that's a whole lot like this one. Except without this level 'a tech. That's refreshing.

[Crystallis was like the Dark Ages to a guy from the year 3012.]

Weird things I'm definitely used to. But I'd prefer them happening, y'know, back where I'm from, instead of having the weird stuff draggin' me to it.

Curti Center - Howdy neighbour!

[boomchucka]

[The sound of Sparks' voice was a relief as Selphie was now assured that she's wasn't the only one she knows that's going through this for the second time. Granted, Sparks didn't sound overly enthused about their new circumstances but the perky brunette, while baffled, opted to wander over to the grumbling lawman with a curious look.]

Hey, what's wrong with Gunblades, Moogles and Chocobos?

Besides, if we're here then the others might be too.

[red_planet_blues]

[Spoiler alert: Sparks actually really came to love his gunblade. But he's embarrassed to admit it since it seems like such a fundamentally stupid idea to him.]

I mean, I guess-- the first two, they're... okay. But chocobos are awful. Big, smelly, dumb birds.

Admittedly, it was a real relief to see a familiar face in this crowd. But it was another person from Crystallis, not from Mars or Earth. Or at least his Mars or Earth.]

Reckon ya could be right about that. I mean, what're the chances that two of us ol' Heroes are here?

[boomchucka]

Aw, Chocobos are awesome though. I guess you get used to the smell after riding them a few times though.

[Selphie probably wasn't the person that Sparks was looking for but she's also feeling the relief of not being entirely alone in a new place. She pulled out her iMog slate and waved it curiously at the marshall.]

We could probably find out in a hurry if everyone has one of these things.

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks brightened up at that idea. He takes out his own new Slate that he hadn't much looked over yet.]

Hey, yeah, you're right. I guess I hadn't thoughta that. These things are kinda old fashioned, but it's still leaps 'n bounds ahead of anythin' Crystallis had.

[Lo and behold, there are a few familiar names on there.]

Huh. Looks like we're gonna be having a class reunion.

Arrival

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk lets out a yelp as a man with quite the hat grabs him by the arm. Not only was this a violation of his personal space, it was wholly unexpected! So Hunk, particularly jumpy given his lack of knowledge, reacts in kind. ]

I don't know?! [ He doesn't remove the man's arm, but instead Hunk grasps Sparks' other arm with his. ] I've seen a lot of planets and heard of even more, and this doesn't seem like any of them!

[ His eyes grow wide like dinner plates and he lets out a whine. ] Wh-what did you mean when you said again?!

Re: Arrival

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks looks down at Hunk's hand. Why was he touching him. Oh right, because he did it first. He finally lets go.]

Because it wasn't all that long ago I woke up in a void, got handed a crystal that was my soul or somethin' and was told I was now a Hero of Light. This time-- Okay maybe just the first part is the same, maybe that ain't Crystalls we're headin' to then. But whatever. I ain't go through all of this nonsense again. I got places to be. Things to do. Planets to marshal. And not whatever one this is!

[chefbayardee]

Wait, so that means you know what's going on. Kind of!

[ His eyes light up and he shakes off the arm-grabbing and just starts excitedly jumping up and down. ]

So you know! [ Hop. Thud. ] What we! [ Hop. Thud. ] Should do! [ Hop. Thud. And then he stops. ]

And don't worry about marshalling those planets, you're with a Paladin of Voltron!

[ Honestly, Hunk is assuming this is some human-like alien race. Because he's found human-like alien elves. And aliens tend to know what Voltron is, so... ]

[red_planet_blues]

Well, I mean-- No, I don't know what's going on right now. That's the problem. Whatever is goin' on better not be like what happened to me last time. I am through gettin' dragged around the multiverse so's I can save it again. It's a pretty thankless task.

[Sparks watches Hunk jump up and down with one eyebrow raised.]

I-- A paladin of whatnow? Never heard of ya. And technically I'm only marshal of one planet, which is most likely not the one we're about to be landing on. And that is the biggest problem outta all of this.

Curti Center

[failtsuninari]

Again?

[Kenichi had happened to overhear Sparks as he was reading the piece of literature he got. He had some suspicions that it had something to do with Crystallis based on two certain heroes who were now back home had told him.]

Was this all on Crystallis by any chance?

Re: Curti Center

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks looks up at Kenichi, and his eyes narrow. He knew about Crystallis? But Sparks didn't recognize him.]

Uh, yeah, actually. You been there?

[failtsuninari]

Not me, personally. I've heard about it from others. You would happen to know Saori Nakagawa or Mary Read?

Gardens

[sullenstallion]

[You can't get much more familiar than Dylas, right? Not far from where Sparks is eating, there's someone standing behind a row of bushes. His back is turned, but there's a wild mane of perwinkle hair that reaches the middle of his back, and his ears (though now scaled) are still black with white tufts of fur beneath them.

He's talking to his Moogle, but after a moment, the Moogle leaps, surprised, and runs off. Dylas turns his body to watch him go. Really, he looks like a normal Dylas just standing there, the bushes hiding anything that might be off about him from Spark's view.

He even turns to look at Sparks at one point, but...he doesn't see anyone he knows.]

What do you want?

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks stares, surprised to see another familiar face.]

Whoa, hey. You're here too? Wh--

[No, something's wrong. Where are the antlers? Maybe this was some sort of weird coincidence. Sparks looks confused.]

[sullenstallion]

['You're here, too'?

Dylas narrows his eyes and slithers closer. He might be a monster, but he uses the path instead of coming straight through the flowers, but to be fair his massive tail would pretty much crush the flowers.]

You know me? ...You're no one I've ever seen before.

Re: Sparks Nevada | open

[conniemaheswaran]

The place where Sparks sits down to nosh on his meal is, in fact, already occupied by a very frustrated young girl. "Alright. Right foot back to brace," she shifts her leg backwards, wobbling slightly in the attempt to widen her stance, "raise blade to parry," she tries to block some imaginary attacker with a quite heft stick, although any veteran can tell that the attempt at deflection would never have held up in real battle. Judging by Connie's twitching eye, she was well aware of that as well.

"And riposte!" She stumbles forward, thrusting her "sword" out to impale a nonexistent foe, but loses her balance and falls flat on her face. She just lays there for a few seconds, still, before letting loose a muffled scream into the dirt and rolling over. "Guess it really is no use," she mutters at the sky.

[red_planet_blues]

Sparks winces at Connie's fall, but he can hardly judge her for her style. Back on Crystallis, just changing your Job status was enough to innately know how to wield your weapons. If someone had tossed him a sword without that, he'd have no clue what he was doing either.

What he won't stand for is hearing someone give up. Not a kid, anyway. He speaks up, loud enough for her to hear him from where he sits.

"Hey now, 'practice makes perfect' ain't just a boring cliche, y'know. Okay, well, it is, but it's a true one."

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie sighs, picking herself back up. Pearl's voice echoed Sparks', saying, "Training isn't an energy-efficient process, but not all that effort is lost to entropy. Some of it is helping you improved. So don't give up!" Of course, she already knew all that. It was just so... frustrating, suddenly losing everything she ever knew about swordfighting.

Hanging her head, Connie says, "No, no. I know that. It took me weeks to even get past a Level One training hologram. It's just... gah!" she kicks at the dirt, "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to suddenly lose more than a year's worth of training, hours and hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears in one fell swoop? It's just insult to injury that I remember every detail of how to fight, but my body won't cooperate!"

She blinks. "S-Sorry. Kinda unloaded on you there."

Gardens

[kuposcreed]

[Bonnie's been looking for a familiar face too. Not Spark's face, mind, but it'll do for now. Maybe he's seen the one she's been looking for! She flutters over to him, calling out with all the familiarity that can only be had by someone from Crystallis or Mars or...from Earth.]

Marshal! Marshal! Heeeeelp, kupo!

[red_planet_blues]

[Was that... Bonnie? Sparks blinked at her in surprise. Did that mean Mary was here too? After all Red, Sparks's moogle, turned up when he did.]

...Bonnie? When did you get here?

[kuposcreed]

Kupooo, I got here when you all got here. But I haven't been able to find Mary, kupo. Have you seen her?

[He's not the first she's asked, and he won't be the last, but the reality of all of this is starting to settle on her and panic is starting to set in. The poor little thing is starting to shake from the stress.]