INTRO LOG - JULY 2013

[rekindlemods]

Who: Everyone Where: The Welcome Plaza When: 18th July, afternoon Summary: The new arrivals, freshly pulled from their worlds or others, awaken in a strange plaza... Warnings: Inbox death may occur. System overload at own risk. SOME NPC RESPONSES WILL BE SLOW UNTIL THE ONE WHO PLAYS THEM IS PRESENT. The first flickering of a lantern... It's a shuddering breath, a sensation of being pulled to elsewhere and finding oneself pressed against something rather hard with the sound of water coming from nearby. However, before one can fully stir, there is something that lifts you up from the rather warm (yet why did it feel like a chill going down your spine?) stone when you begin to drift off once more. It felt as though someone had thrown you from the frying pan, and then into the freezer - all you wanted to do was sleep... Yet the feeling passes quickly, and when you awaken, you begin to realize your surroundings. It looks like...a plaza of some sort? As they look around them, the ground beneath them is an intricate mosiac - a water fountain at the center of the plaza in this foreign world. There are many buildings around its perimeter, making this location seem like a central hub of whatever town this was. Some may even recognize the peculiar design of the buildings and sloped tiled rooftops as a Far Eastern theme. Were they somewhere along the Pacific? Who knows! But what is quite apparent is this: Along with the many buildings surrounding the plaza, the first thing that is noticeable is the amount of people sitting or standing around you in a similar daze. You are not alone... One building seems to stand out among all the others; one that seems large enough to house all of the completely lost and confused masses gathered here to the welcome plaza. A sign outside the door reads: WELCOME CENTER Newcomers: Please come inside for refreshments and your welcome packets! Odd... This wasn't written in your own language, and yet you find it easily understandable. Soon enough, if you don't enter on your own, someone comes from inside the double doors to usher you and everyone else inside. "Welcome to Saeng Seong! I know you must be confused as to where you are and what's going on, but we promise to explain this to you once we're inside and away from the hot sun!" Whether you go inside immediately or linger outside a little longer, eventually you must come in from the hot summer day, and sooner rather than later would probably be better. You'll find yourself in a well-lit lobby, filled with comfortable-looking couches and chairs. Along one wall are refreshment tables, loaded with all sorts of food and drink, including some you probably aren't familiar with. On the wall opposite are a pair of desks, each with a sign and a person seated behind them - Irene, General Assistance Devin, Technological Assistance However, before you can go over and give them a piece of their mind and ask for questions, the same person who ushered you inside hands you a manilla envelope that contains your welcome packet, urging you to read this before asking the three figures questions that the packet likely answers. Inside it, you will find: a ring with a key and apartment number on it, some kind of cash card, a map and informational guide to the city, and a letter folded neatly on the top - Welcome to Saeng Seong! You are among a new group of arrivals to our city, from many far-apart worlds. We have gathered you here because our city is in a crisis, and we are at our last resorts. The energy of the city is in a slow downward spiral, and is dangerously close to expiring altogether. That's where you come in - you and everyone else we've brought to the city. Unlike those of us here, you have the potential to generate the energy the city needs, but you'll need to work together to do it. Why? Because the energy can only be generated when two people touch each other. Any touch will do, but it must be between two of you who are new to the city. If you don't keep in contact with someone, eventually your energy will begin to drain as well, making you dangerously ill. A few other things: The closed-off sections of the city are closed off for a reason; approaching them will cause your energy to drain very rapidly. We're working to open the rest of the city to you as soon as we can, but for now, please remain within the two central districts of the city. You have been given a key to a one-bedroom apartment in a complex set aside for you and the other new arrivals, near the riverside in the 1st district. You're free to change your living quarters whenever you like, and we encourage you to move in with someone in one of the larger apartments. When you want to change, just come back to this building to exchange your key. We've also included a cash card with a living stipend; if you're unfamiliar with this system, or the network established for new arrivals, you can talk to Devin in the lobby for help. It's what he's here for. If you need medical assistance, contact Mai, one of our nurses - she'll be going around today for anyone who needs help. Again, welcome, and thank you for all your help. Irene Arrival Liaison Back behind you, others still linger, and through the translucent glass you can see a banner hanging from the tiled roof of the building across the street in the blistering summer day: WELCOME TO SAENG SEONG (ENJOY YOUR STAY!)

Comments

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"Without even asking if you wanted to!" Davesprite huffs dramatically, spreading out his hands. "At least they're not telling us to bump uglies straight off."

[soldiernoclass]

"If that was the case, I'd have some much bigger issues with this." His obvious shock at the very suggestion probably speaks for itself, though. Casual as the explanation in the letter seemed, that's a potential escalation he hasn't considered.

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"Bet everyone would. Real riots, right here and now, people shouting everywhere." Davesprite shrugs; it seems like the obvious way to produce the most energy to him. But just in a crisis, hopefully, if it ever came to it. And assuming that's all true. "Plus you'd hope they'd keep the shorties out of it. If they can pull people here, they could probably be a bit selective."

[soldiernoclass]

(Shorties?)

"If you mean the kids, then, uh - yeah, that's way more than I wanna think about." Ever. Besides, his personal outlook has never leant itself well to contemplating the worst case scenarios - especially not in situations where they're clearly thinking well outside the present circumstances. "...I didn't think of it that way, though. You don't really think they're picking and choosing, do you?"

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

(From the shortest person in this conversation, no less.)

He frowns slightly, feathers fluffing up and settling down again. "If they're desperate enough to be pulling us all from where we were, probably not. Hell, I wouldn't count on whatever they're doing it with to be particularly precise about it, except it looks like they managed to set it just to finding people and not flowers and trees or just anything that was around."

[soldiernoclass]

In fairness, it's not difficult to be the shortest person as compared to Zack.

"Yeah, well, I figure that's just because, y'know - people are pretty different from plants and stuff." That sure is some scientific deduction there, yessir. He gestures just as vaguely with the hand not planted on his hip. "Whatever it is, you'd think it's at least gotta know the difference, even if the rest of this is just random selection."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

Davesprite nods, very seriously, lifting one hand up to stroke his chin. "Yeah. There's got to be a certain level of sentience to even be aware of the concept of a hug, even if it doesn't take half as much to figure out how to work one."

[soldiernoclass]

"Woah, now you're talkin' way over my head." As far as the implied machinery in this equation goes, he's not likely to be much use on the technical details of anybody's hypothesis. (Now if anybody wants a computer irreparably damaged, he's the guy for the job. But otherwise.) "The who and why are probably more important, right now, than the how, anyway."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"The ones running this whole shindig, yeah." He flicks his wings, and tilts his head. "Think they're actually approachable?"

[soldiernoclass]

"Actually? No." But that's just how the world (worlds? whatever) works, most of the time. Zack shrugs, the gesture halfhearted, and takes another look around. "I don't know whether or not their intentions are really good, but I doubt they're gonna wanna come down and chat with a bunch of people they just kidnapped, either way."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"Wouldn't do it if I'd pulled a bunch of people from whatever they were up to, nope," Davesprite agrees. "It all sounds benign enough, sure, but if you'd found someone who got really wound up about it…"

He flicks his wings again, and shrugs. "Want to go look anyway?"

[soldiernoclass]

Zack is briefly distracted by the wings, when they move again (they're real? he must not've been paying close enough attention). But he can talk and stare at the same time, fortunately. "Why not? The worst they can do is turn us away."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"Yeah, exactly." Davesprite nods, and glances around the building. "So. Where would you be hanging out if you were in charge?"

[soldiernoclass]

"If I was in charge...?" He shakes his head, after a moment's thought, sighing and dropping his arms to his sides after another brief shrug. "Nowhere you'd be able to find me that easy. Of course, I'd be pretty sure we were in for a riot. Everybody here seems too out of it for that, though."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"You think maybe everyone's energy got tanked after getting pulled here?" It wouldn't surprise him, to be honest- getting everyone here's got to cost something, somewhere. "So maybe we should be looking for people who look less tired than everyone else."

[soldiernoclass]

"Yeah. That's actually not a bad idea." Zack, on the other hand, does look surprised - he'd written his own fatigue off as the result of fighting a losing battle for longer than he can remember before finally kicking it, and then more or less left the state unexamined. Why a guy who's already pretty dead should still be tired, though, he doesn't know. "...But I'm not so sure your plan'll work. There are a lot of people here who say they're from the last batch brought in - lookin' for familiar faces, I guess. And they don't seem too whipped. Maybe our criteria needs to be a little more specific."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

Davesprite nods, mouth pulling to one side. "Only makes sense we'd have to work a little harder to work anything out. So if that's the case, maybe we should establish what differentiates people from here from people who've been pulled in."

[soldiernoclass]

"From the looks of it... Nothing." The people behind the desks certainly don't strike him as any different from the ones wandering around in front of them. "Except they at least seem to know what they're doing here."

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

"So we look around for people who don't seem totally established yet, ask what they know about town so far?" Davesprite pauses, head tilted, hands in his pockets. "Want to split up and report back?"

[soldiernoclass]

"Sure. Sounds like as good a plan as any." And reconnaissance is something comfortably familiar, to him. Well, that and chatting up a crowd. "I'll go this way, and you go that way, and we'll meet up again once we've circled around?"

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

He might not be as used to chatting up a crowd, but Davesprite still figures he can get something done. He nods, wings twitching. "Sounds like as sure a plan as any. Are we giving prizes for who does a lap first, too?"

[soldiernoclass]

"Sorry, but I'm tapped out." And he's not totally sure what constitutes a proper prize for doing recon fastest (it seems a little antithetical, even). "How about the reward of a job well done?"

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

He shrugs. "Sure, that works too. Guess we could go get some eats while we're at it."

[soldiernoclass]

"Yeah, sure." Free food is probably a decent reward. Before he takes off, though - he really has to ask. "...By the way, uh, do you mind if I ask just - what you are?" Because if he's going to hang out with this guy, it might be nice to know. Purely for curiosity's sake.

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

It's not a huge surprise that Zack asks, because of course he stands out like this, but he pauses anyway, wings shifting slightly. "Nah, 's fine, can't blame you for wondering about something this fine," he says. "I'm… I was a sprite before turning up here. Dunno what all this means now." He can't feel the Sburb code running through him, which only makes sense if they're not in the Medium, or anywhere connected to it, but that doesn't really help decide what he is right now.