Test Drive Meme VII

[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. It's a familiar process now for the residents of Vaikuntha, rescuing interdimensional travelers from the Dream Width. The interior of the ship has been converted into a resting area for the new arrivals, with cots bolted to the ship's floors as well as some chairs installed for those watching over them as they awaken. Outside of the resting area, windows set into the walls of the refurbished lounge area offer a view of space. Biggs and Wedge have sprung for a few upgrades in the lounge, including a coffee machine and a few holographic gaming tables. It's time to meet your fellow new arrivals and your rescuers 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. The experienced outworlders who helped pull you from your memories may be able to get you caught up to speed. B. CURTI CENTER The researchers at the Curti Center have given up trying to explain scientifically why the interdimensional travelers keep arriving, and focus more on gather data about trends and patterns regarding the latest arrivals. "Please step into the lobby for a quick survey. We have just a few routine questions, it's invaluable to our research so we do ask you indulge us..." With renewed enthusiasm, thanks to the previous outworlders presumably saving the world earlier this month, the Curti staff are happy to do what they can to help the new arrivals 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. Even though outworlders have gained a lot of status and popularity of late, you'll still be expected to share. Space isn't infinite on the island, and besides, it will help you get to know your new companions. The arrangement can be permanent if you are happy with your assigned room (and roommates), although once you settle in and earn some gil, you are welcome to explore alternate housing arrangements. 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 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. Like the experience? The merchant O'aka will be glad to sell you one when you can afford it! 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. Maybe you're not a Hero on Vaikuntha (yet), but the Guild Representatives will still try to woo you into picking their guild. The more Heroes of Light, the better, in their books! 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 productive members of society and not coasting on the coattails of the other Heroes of Light, 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 deposit for housing elsewhere in the world. 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 glitchy, so there's a 50/50 chance that your message will go to the wrong recipient. You might be better served to hand-deliver your message or bribe your moogle with a kupo nut to make sure your device stays functioning. 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! RUDE! 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. And they say, those that party up will live to party on! J. Beach Episode say what? The sand is hot, the breeze is cool, and the sky isn't a blood-red harbinger of the pending apocalypse. Sip your tropical drink, lay back in your lounge chair, and enjoy your continued existence! You're new, so maybe you don't know. The world almost ended in April, but after a very stressful few days repeated over and over, things have seemingly turned out alright. The residents of Vaikuntha are breathing a collective sigh of relief, and it seems like the perfect time to relax and join in their celebrations, taking place all along the coasts. Yes, it's still a little early in the season, but this is happening, dang it! Swimming, surfing, collecting shells, building sand castles, playing sand soccer and volleyball- you know all the fun kinds of activities you can participate in. Want a snack? There are vendors pushing around ice cream carts and plenty of people with grills or bonfires cooking up meals. At night, there are sparklers and camp fire songs. K. WILD CARD Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Comments

[last_son_of_dathomir]

"Prayer would be useless; the fault was my own." He replies dismissively. "I am still attempting to relearn the fighting style I practiced in my own reality. It prioritizes offense over all else but leaves little in the way of defensive options. Had I been at my full strength the fight would have been over much sooner, but it dragged out long enough for my opponent to get lucky." He watches her begin to clean the wound. "At least I did not afford them a second opportunity to do so."

His head cocks to one side when Ovelia confirms she is new to Vaikuntha. "Odd. I assumed now that that dragon had been dealt with the flow of outsiders would have stopped." Had that not been the entire point of this exercise? "...Curious."

Maul cocks his head. "Yes, I've heard of these beasts but I haven't yet attempted to slay one...how many fatalities?" He asks.

[notovelia]

Ovelia shivers at the cold of Maul's statement. Had he killed his opponent? Did that mean nothing to him? She looks away.

"You must have strong convictions, to risk yourself so in every fight." Maybe it was to be considered 'brave', but she thinks it must be a lonely way to live.

She focuses on her work, and the water in the basin quickly becomes pink with blood.

"I cannot say why I am here. Maybe it is for this. To help with the healing after the great storm." She would not mind if it was something like that. She is no warrior. Even the sight of the aftermath of the hamster mauling turned her stomach.

"Three souls were lost in the attack, and one more may not live out the night. The rest were lucky; they were able to escape and find an antidote for the poison in time."

She wrings out the cloth into the basin. Maul's wound is as clean as she can get it. The doctor will be able to make quick work of it when he comes in.

[last_son_of_dathomir]

"Strength is certainly part of it." Maul agrees. "'Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken.'" Maul replies, and the way he intones suggests this is a saying he was taught. "But more than that, I simply do not wish to die again. Fighting with all my strength ensures that I will not."

"Perhaps the dragon was not the reason we were brought here." Maul replies philosophically. "Perhaps there was no reason at all; we were simply in the right place at the right time to do something about it. Either way, I would not return home even if the path I could take existed. Only death awaits me there. And I have so much more to do before the darkness finally takes me."

Maul listens as Ovelia describes the aftermath. "All that effort and they did not manage to slay the beast?" He asks curiously. "Pity. It would have been a glorious victory for the survivors." If Ovelia is waiting for Maul to express any sort of sympathy for the dead, or the survivors for the friends they have lost, she gets nothing of the sort save his disappointment at their lack of success.

As she wrings the cloth, Maul idly examines the cleaner wound. "You have a skill for this." He notes. "Were you a medic back in your own world?"

[notovelia]

"You fight for your freedom." Maybe Maul was not so different from Delita, though he was certainly more intimidating. Ovelia could not say who would win a battle of wills between the two of them.

She carries the basin back to the sink and returns with a sterile cloth to dab the excess water from Maul's skin. She is curious about his comment 'die again,', but she decides against prying for now.

"It is a tragedy, but the creature's death would not undo the loss they have suffered. Does it not also have the right to live? I would that it was far away, where it can do no harm, but I would not wish it dead." Let Maul laugh at her tender heart and rose-tinted hopes for a peaceful world. Ovelia has had her fill of death already.

She surveys her work and nods to herself. Nothing more she can do but wait for the doctor to knit the flesh back together.

"I learned the theory of healing in my studies, as well as some minor blessings of white magic, but it was considered 'beneath my station' to practice it. I wish I'd had the opportunity to help others like this." Men had died in her name, and she had not even been allowed to visit their ranks and provide them what healing she knew.

[last_son_of_dathomir]

"Yes...I suppose I do." Maul replies. She's not wrong, after all. Maul does seek freedom...freedom to do whatever the hell he wants. "Freedom is in short supply where I come from." He adds, seeing an angle he can work. "If one wishes for liberation from tyranny, they must be prepared to fight for it. The Empire does not give up control easily, or willingly."

Maul nods. "Oh, the creature's right to live is not in question...any longer." He says. "Its will to live proved stronger than the will of its would-be hunters to kill it. It has well-earned its life." The strong consume the weak; that is the underlying nature of existence. "Such is the way of things."

He watches her for a moment. "You are nobility?" He asks finally, sizing Ovelia up as he does so. She has the bearing for it, the quiet dignity. "You are certainly being far more proactive to take advantage of the opportunity this world affords you than many Imperial nobles back home would. Too used to a life of luxury, and decadence. They would not take this situation well. You, on the other hand, see opportunity, and act accordingly." There's a hint of approval in the way he says this, but whether or not Ovelia finds this reassuring is a different matter entirely. Not Apprentice material certainly, but perhaps one to watch regardless. Having an in with someone on the medical staff could be useful, after all.

[notovelia]

The two of them are diametrically opposed- the dark warrior who fights for freedom, and the light healer who suffered a cage for the sake of peace.

"I am sorry you had to endure such trials. Perhaps here, you can finally have what you've fought so wholeheartedly for." Ovelia does not know him, but she wishes that for him. A caged bird can look at a wild one and not begrudge him his wings.

Somehow, their agreement on the hamster's fate comes from two completely different places. Ovelia ducks her head to hide her expression as Maul praises the beast. She is weak, and had she faced the hamster, she would surely have been one of those victims that Maul so readily discounted. She is only alive because she has been shielded by those much stronger than herself. The knowledge of her burdensome existence feels like a solid weight on her heart.

"It makes no difference. I am no one on this world." And no one on Ivalice, though everyone thought it so. She is not. going. to. cry. "....I have done more good in these few days as an apprentice healer here than I ever did on Ivalice as a Princess."

She pretends to brush her hair from her face to disguise the wiping of her eyes. She turns for the door.

"I will go find the doctor for you. Please keep still until he sees to your wound."

[last_son_of_dathomir]

Ovelia can probably feel Maul's silent gaze on her as she retreats out of the room, like daggers in her back.

Interesting. This healer princess intrigues Maul. He will have to watch her, he thinks, as he settles back to wait for the doctor.

Very interesting indeed.