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 AssistanceDevin, Technological AssistanceUnlike the few waves before, the only people in charge seem to be the people behind the desks. They look a bit busy.
However, before you can go over and give them a piece of your mind and ask 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 two 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 three 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.
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!)
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rekindlemods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rekindleme2013-08-18 12:17 am
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I know it might be a little overwhelming, but everyone is safe, and people who we lost to droning were coming back too, slowly over the course of the year.
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[Rin made a little pattern in the air, sort of drawing out lines.] This here would have been Mayfield. The people running the place had a massive fallout with one another, and the one who created it was killed in the process. More people died, and as a result, we discovered that Mayfield was a virtual simulation, once meant to house people, refugees in a paradise. But the one who ran it went insane from monitoring everything.
The real thing is that everyone was revealed to be a copy of the original, like a digital scan of our lives, powers, and memories. Your family live in the town we're making our home now.
With me so far?
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This explained a lot, and yet there was still more? Nanoha nodded. ] Yes. Please continue.
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There, we make our lives, everyone does. And it's where we're going to spend our lives at, with the families that we have, and the people who we care about that were replicated in Mayfield.
So that's our story in a nutshell. There's a lot of things that changed our world perceptions, but Vivio and Fate are there. And I live with Hayate who's my mom now.
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...and crushing grief that she was here. Here. It's a selfish emotion, Nanoha realizes, but she indulges it anyway because after going through that and being reunited with a family that had been missing her for a long time, and finally fitting all the pieces back together again, she was pulled away from that and now her family lives on... without her.
It hurts. It hurts really badly.
She wavers, a hand to her forehead. ] Thank you for the ... explanation, Rin. I'm... I need a moment. [ Nanoha clutches a hand to her chest. ] I need to sit down.
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[She had a feeling someone who hadn't experienced the end of Mayfield would react like this. She must be terribly worried, and even the thought of most if not everyone surviving the hard reset was hard enough. And all, she wanted to make sure she was okay. Hayate often spoke about how strong Nanoha could be, but how reliant she was on a family.]
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Once they're seated, she closes her eyes and takes a few breaths to calm herself. ] This timeline... when was everyone moved over to the new town? The last thing I recall was having that gather in Captain Ruri's ship to share information and I can't remember getting home afterward.
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[Annie was their savior, her and her brother. Rin smiled comfortingly at Nanoha, trying to get her to relax.] Everyone's safe there.
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You say "everyone", but... I can't help but worry.
[ Something else was bothering her. ] If that was a simulation, then what does that make this place? [ There is no way she would have been hooked up to some machine, imagining all that bad stuff going on in her mind, and yet feel in the same relative condition she left Mayfield in. Well. Minus the discomfort and fatigue natural for arrivals. ]
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I think this is another world. One that has the power to pull us FROM Mayfield. It seems too organized and less chaotic than Mayfield's setting. And when we arrived in the safe area, we could feel the power to change our setting around us, a little at a time.
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[She felt pity for Nanoha, worry mostly that she was going to overload her with too much information. Clearing her throat, she made a second circle in the air.]
Think of this as the area around Mayfield. The server we were brought to. And this... [Another straight line running right through it.] was the highway. What Annie did was open the highway, so we could go... [and she drew the line further, longer still to another circle she drew in the air.] to here.
This circle here, is where we live now.
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Here, [And Rin motioned to where she drew the second circle] Is where we make our homes. It's basically a place that is safe. People live here now, and its been our haven for a few months now.
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There's another Rin Natsuki, my original, living her life back home, unaware. That goes for the same for everyone. We weren't brought here to begin with, we were just remade...
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[ She would love to believe every last word, every last detail, but part of her doubts that things could have ended in a flash like that and everything was truly so peaceful. She'll hope for it, but it doesn't change the fact that even those "copies" are truly safe and happy.
What a bitter view of that world, Nanoha has. ]
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I think as long as I'm able to live in relative peace and work on my accessories, I'll be okay.
[Hopefully Nanoha will find her own happiness soon. She deserved as much.]
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