Test Drive Meme II

[eternitymods]

A. RETRIEVAL Dreams fade slowly, and awareness returns in increments. The hum of machinery, the smell of recycled air, the murmurs of others waking up around you. The interior of the ship has been outfitted with cots for those Biggs and Wedge retrieve from the Dream Width. Outside of the makeshift infirmary, windows set into the walls of the worn lounge area offer a view of space. It’s time to meet your fellow new arrivals who have been brought together on Biggs and Wedge’s airship. The other newly-awakened people have no idea how they came to be here, but now's a good time as ever to introduce yourself to the others on the airship and glean what information you can. B. CURTI CENTER The researchers at the Curti Center are not quite so unprepared as last time, but it is still obvious that they are struggling to understand the sudden influx of interdimensional travelers from the Dream Width. "Please step into the lobby for a quick survey. Perhaps there is some common thread we haven't discovered yet..." The staff will do their best to help the off-worlders settle in. They answer the questions they can, write down all proffered information they can about the arrivals' homeworlds, provide maps and pamphlets about Vaikuntha and the destinations within it, and even guide the arrivals to a neighborhood where housing has been provided for you. Yes, due to the strange influx of arrivals, you’ll be expected to share, but the Curti staff are doing the best they can, considering they are still housing the previous arrivals here on the island. Experiences like these bring people together. Perhaps you are the only one here from your world, but at least you are not alone in this experience. Others are right beside you, learning the same information, planning trips to visit the same new cities, checking out these Job things, and settling in to their new (temporary) homes. C. UP IN THE SKY There’s a whole new world to explore. It’s almost enough to distract from the fact that there’s one place you can’t go- home. You are on an Airship, the main mode of transportation between the major cities of Vaikuntha. While the majority are owned by airlines, perhaps you hitched a ride with a friend that has their own. You can go anywhere in a matter of hours — One can only hope you don’t have motion sickness. D. GUILDS Proud representatives of the Guild are lined up, ready to demonstrate their skills for the new initiates. Make sure to stay behind the designated line, this might get dangerous. So you want a new Job? You'll have to first travel to the Guilds, sign the papers, go through the orientation and introductory lectures, and get basic training. Afterwards, you can freely chat and practice with your fellow members, celebrating your new powers, and checking out your new wardrobe. E. LET'S BE ADVENTURERS Separated from all of your material possessions, connections, and everything you know, and really, what you’re left with is time. Better try to make the most of it. Enough expository banter. It's explorin' time. Maybe instead of spending every day in your room, you'd rather spend it living it up in the city of Lavode, or betting on Chocobo Races in Sparks Goldsaucia. Or maybe you'd rather go and explore the caves and ruins near Arito. With Airships and Chocobos at your disposal, you can go nearly anywhere! F. SIDEQUESTS Maybe you’re telling yourself, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ But wait, you did. At least it pays. It all started when you checked the Quest Board.  All you wanted was a few gil to spend, and here you are in the wild, hunting for a Malboro Vine. Or maybe you are in some ancient and decrepit ruins looking for an artifact. Or you could be asked to be janitor for a week. Consider yourself lucky though, at least you don't have to do that alone. G. GET A JOB (THE OTHER KIND) You’ve got a Job, but Claire keeps sighing and muttering about layabout space-people not earning their keep, so it might be time to seek out Employment as well. There are plenty of opportunities to earn some gil in Vaikuntha, no matter where you choose to settle down. Your iMog slate includes listing for employment opportunities. Hopefully you can find something you can live with so that you can start saving up for an airship or the security payment for your permanent housing. H. MOGNET *Ding!* You’ve got Mog-Mail! Thankfully, you can instantaneously chat with your friends around the world thanks to you iMog Slate. And unlike old-fashioned Moogle Letters, you can even send messages to everyone in a blink of an eye! However, despite the change in technology, the old tradition of Mognet Strikes have never gone away. Nobody knows any more whether the Moogles have legitimate reasons to go on strike or if they are just lazy. But today, Mognet is down, and to get information you have no choice but going to the public boards or risk message corruption and mishandling. I. RANDOM ENCOUNTER The ground trembles, and out of nowhere, something hostile appears! Is that battle music playing? You were minding your own business walking around, and suddenly monsters attacked you! Time to put to use the skills you've learned with your Jobs! Will you try to fight on your own or seek help? And remember, you die in random battle, you die FOR REAL. There’s no shame from running from enemies that are a higher level than you! J. CHOCOBO MADNESS You look at the giant chicken, and the giant chicken looks back at you. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful relationship? The kind folks at the Chocobo Farm have provided you with the tools of the chocobo-catching trade: greens, a bridle, and more advice than you can remember. Time to go find your new steed. Or perhaps you have already captured a chocobo, and your friend has captured a chocobo, and now you'd like to bring some chicks into the equation. Chocobo breeding may be the minigame for you! K. WILD CARD Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Comments

[arosetowar]

Britannia, Europia United, and the Chinese Federation.

[There had been other independent powers when she began championing the war, but none of them were super and only one still existed when she abandoned her duties to the Empire. She cocks a brow at how easily he jumps to Antarctica and Australia, amused.]

Australia alone was neutral. [A slight pause before was. Not is, not with the Areas having been granted independence. She'll have to get used to that.] None of the superpowers were interested in bringing it under their rule, and its leadership refused to enter into an alliance with any of them.

[chefbayardee]

But... Great Britain is in Europe. How's that work? And... [ He pauses, clearly hesitating with her question. After a moment, he finds his composure. ]

You said there was peace. Who won the war?

[arosetowar]

Are you familiar with North and South America? Britannia occupies both continents, along with Russia, North-East and Southern Africa, and Western Europe up to the borders of Germany and Italy, the former of which is part of the EU and the latter of which belongs to the Chinese Federation. The British Isles are also members of the EU. Or rather, that's how things were. It's impossible to say what they will become now.

[Frowns a little at the question. Who indeed?]

There was no victor.

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk wished he had a map so he could color code the regions- it would've made it easier to make sure he was right. It didn't seem to matter though, because nobody won the war. Which made no sense. ]

How was there peace if nobody won the war? [ And now he's staring at her, dumbfounded. ] Were there peace treaties? Or did the war just end?

[arosetowar]

[She just looks bitter now. When she speaks, she'll sound bitter. Not the bitterness of an exhausted surviving soldier and not a bitterness directed towards Hunk. It's inward. It's personal.]

A tyrant usurped the Britannian throne and enslaved the world by capturing its leaders and taking lethal action against any dissidents. Two months into his reign, he was assassinated en route to executing those leaders, along with what remained of the Britannain royal family and the former anti-Britannia organisation, the Black Knights. That assassain was a man whose only allegiance was to his own cause. Thus, there was no victor, only a world in desperate need to be rebuilt.

[There is a lot she's leaving out. Geass. Her suspicions about the true nature of the tyrant's reign. Her relationship to both the tyrant and his assassin. None of those things matter, though. They don't exist the story that history will tell.]

[chefbayardee]

So were those leaders still executed, or did that tyrant get killed before he could hurt them? [ He does not miss a beat, piecing together what she's saying almost as quickly as the words reach his ears. But... slaves and rebuilding a world? Doesn't sound too far off from what he's seen. ]

I think they'll be fine. The tyrant's dead. [ Sure, there's a power vacuum and a lot of people died, but they can move on, right? They're free, right? ] I've seen people rebuild from worse.

[arosetowar]

They live... and they know too well the costs of war. Any further conflicts should occur on a more managable scale. [She expects that there will be terrorists. That factions will rise against the new world order as if they alone are righteous. The war has always been about entitlement, and in a beaten-down world with so much wreckage to claim and shape into something greater, that impulse will only grow.]

[It doesn't worry her, though. Only one terrorist ever has, and he now represents peace better than anybody else.]

You needn't attempt to reassure me, Hunk. I have ample cause to believe that the errors of the past won't be repeated. [She was one of the conquerors once -- one of the worst accelerants feeding the flames of war. With her father dead, her brother enslaved to peace, and she herself aware of the follies of forced peace, Britannia is no longer a threat, no longer something to rise against. The war is truly over.]

[chefbayardee]

[ She was stern and serious about all this, but at least she had something resembling optimism. Would it hurt her to smile? Maybe, since this is still some grim stuff. ]

Well that's good. [ Things'll be fine in her world, so it's time to focus on the now, on Vaikuntha. ] So... do you have any friends back home? They might've ended up here. [ And then he smiles, nice and sunny. ] One of mine did!

(( ooc- Lemme know if you wanna move this to the Intro Log, close it out, or anything else! I have no idea if the CG crew wants to know of each other through hearsay or anything, and I can def edit Hunk's train of thought in another direction if preferred! ))

[arosetowar]

((Replied here! I did have her arrive without knowing about her siblings for Maximum Antics, but she would 100% not expect them to be here so she probably won't mention them by name anyway. We coo, we coo!))