TEST DRIVE MEME

[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. None of you know how you came to be here or where you are going, and the door to the cockpit is locked as the pilots focus on navigating the treacherous obstacles of the Dream Width. You might as well take this moment to introduce yourself to your fellow travelers. B. CURTI CENTER There’s an almost overwhelming aura of excitement in the tower as researchers rush to document this unprecedented number of interdimensional travelers. Over the commotion, the leaders of the Center struggle to explain, ‘Welcome to Vaikuntha. We don’t know why you’ve been brought here, but this is your new home.’ The staff will do their best to help the off-worlders settle in. They answer the questions they can, provide maps and pamphlets about the world 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 under the circumstances. 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. WILD CARD Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Comments

[conniemaheswaran]

"No problem. I can be, um, pretty weird sometimes too. As evidenced by me saying that. Anyways, I've dealt with a lot of weird even before I woke up here, and honestly you don't register that high on the scale." Connie rubs the back of her neck. "Uh, apparently this happens a lot, well, the people suddenly showing up in space part, at least, but we, um, generally don't come in large numbers. Apparently." Connie hisses through her teeth, eyeing the chaos unraveling all throughout the airship. "I kinda get the feeling that they weren't exactly prepared for all the new arrivals."

[somebodyperfect]

"Yeah, no kidding." He settles down on the cot. "Kinda grateful they didn't pile..." He notices a footprint on his coat and dusts it off. "... Nevermind. So, any clue where we're headed? Or where we are?"

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie chews the inside of her cheek as she rises to her feet alongside the redheaded man. "Um, well, again, this is only what I've read, but the place we're traveling through right now is called the Interdimensional Cloud, or, uh, the Dream Width. Stuff from other dimensions occasionally pops up here, including, well, hu- people, like us. The world we're headed to is called," she digs through her pamphlets, "um, Vaikuntha. It's got this whole fantasy schtick going, but there are some pretty high-tech areas too. Oh, and, um, this is also a weird question, but did you have any cool powers before you woke up here? If you did, um, you might be in for kind of a rude awakening."

[somebodyperfect]

"Only the ability to control fire. I'm gonna assume I don't have that anymore?" He laughs a little. "Typical. New world, new rules." Pulling a leg to his chest for a second, he thinks. "So how dangerous is Vai-whatever?" If he doesn't have any powers... if none of them do... they could be at a SERIOUS disadvantage.

[conniemaheswaran]

"Yeeeeeaaaaah. Um, if it's any consolation, I lost all my sword skills when I popped up, so at least we're on an even playing field?" Connie smiles awkwardly. "That probably didn't help. Sorry. Anyways, yeah, from what I can tell, monsters tend to harass travelers the moment they step out of city borders. It's a pretty big problem. But!" Connie raises a finger, "They have these things called 'asterisks,' which, um, apparently make you instantly pretty decent at whatever, uh, 'Job' they're aligned to. Win some, lose some? I guess? I mean, it feels kinda cheap that any old schmuck can skip months of training by going down to the swordmaster guild and grab an asterisk, but I guess it's pretty useful if, uh, you're averse to becoming monster chow."

[somebodyperfect]

"I bet it's not that straightforward. There's gotta be more to it." He shrugs. He didn't get his skills instantly on becoming a Nobody way back when. He needed to train. "Maybe they just open... channels or something?" Well, whatever. They hit a patch of turbulence, a bad one, and Lea's nearly shaken off his cot. "... It always this bad?"

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie winces. "Yeah, there's a certain degree of training--it's not like you instantly become an elite master--but still, it kinda stings that people can just load in an asterisk and go the easy route. I dunno. Anyways, from what I can tell, it's pretty much always this, um, windy. Is it technically windy if you're in space?" she wonders aloud.

[somebodyperfect]

"I dunno, I always cheated." He shrugs. "Bet I can't do it now. What even are asterisks? Aren't those... punctuation or something?" He's a little confused by the whole situation, but he might as well make conversation.

[conniemaheswaran]

"I'm... honestly not that clear on it myself?" Connie says, shrugging. "I think when we get down to the Curti Center, we'll get assigned these crystals that'll hold all of our magical abilities. Asterisks are, like, add-ons to those, a sort of prepackaged set of skills that all fit a certain theme, like destructive magic or ninjitsu. Yeah, I know, this place is crazy."

TFW your Square Enix character is commenting on other games' mechanics...

[somebodyperfect]

"I dunno, in my homeworld there were giant key weapons that changed based on what keychain you clipped to them." He grins. "It's crazy everywhere." He's not even exaggerating... And the gear he equipped back then changed what weapons he could summon, too, but he's not gonna bring that stuff up too much.

Considering the fic I'm writing this is actually pretty funny

[conniemaheswaran]

"...seriously? How, I... what?" Connie struck dumb for a moment. "Okay, first of all, just... why? Why keys? That strikes me as an extraordinarily impractical choice of weapon! I mean, sure, some keys can have pretty sharp edges, but that's ridiculous! It's, I just... what?"

Oh?

[somebodyperfect]

"Something about unlocking hearts of worlds in darkness with the power of light and love and blah blah blah." He shrugs. "It never made much sense to me, and one of my best friends was a wielder of them." Technically he is too but he hasn't learned that yet.

SU/KH crossover fic in which Connie is the protagonist who I never cease to emotionally torment

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie snorts. “To be perfectly frank, this all sounds like a gimmick that a bad fantasy fiction author would use to make their bland story more interesting-sounding. ‘Oh, look! It’s totally not a ripoff of the greats and a mutilation of the hero’s journey because our protagonists, um, use giant keys instead of normal swords! That sounds cool, right?’”

That sounds pretty cool!

[somebodyperfect]

He laughs, just a little. "Maybe. Doesn't feel that way when you're living it. They're also the only thing that can stop the heartless, though, so their existence is probably worthwhile."

Re: That sounds pretty cool!

[conniemaheswaran]

“Heartless?” Connie raises an eyebrow. “They, um, don’t sound very pleasant.”

[somebodyperfect]

"They aren't. They eat people's hearts, turning THEM into heartless, too." He's had a few personal encounters with them... And one of those he wasn't ready at all for. "They're creatures of darkness, and they bring down entire worlds."

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie grimaces. “They sound worse than Corrupted Gens, that’s for sure. At least all you have to worry about with then is getting killed.” She pauses, scrutinizing Lea. “Sounds like you have personal experience with these ‘Heartless’ things. Did one of them get your world, or... I mean, that’s certainly one way to wind up here.”

[somebodyperfect]

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago. I made it off." Sort of, but he's not going to tell the whole truth to some random stranger when he's not sure of it himself. "I'm not sure what I'm doing here, really."

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie grimaces. “...me neither, honestly. Last thing I remember was crashing in the Sun Incinerator after finally getting off that weird planet.”

[somebodyperfect]

"... Ok, what's a Sun Incinerator and why were you crashing in it?" That sounds EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Not... that losing your world is any safer.

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie chuckles. “Oh, um, it’s just that, um, I’m sure you know this, but bad guys have this tendency to give everything over-the-top names. I mean, it is a top of the line Diamond Authority cruiser, but I’m fairly certain it can’t, um, actually incinerate stars. And, uh, I didn’t actually crash it. I meant sleeping. Yeah.”

[somebodyperfect]

"... Yeah, I definitely know that." CASTLE OBLIVION HIS (FLAT) ASS. "I was hoping you didn't mean like... crashing into the sun. Glad to know you didn't."

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie waits for a moment before saying, “But I did crash a fighter onto an alien moon with a hostile ecosystem.”

[somebodyperfect]

He pauses. "... How are you alive again?" Seriously. Girl, you need to rethink your life choices.

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie shrugs. “If it helps, it wasn’t technically me that took the hit that crashed our ship. It’s, um, a complicated situation. Very complicated.”