Arrival

[letsplayamod]

The moment is a bit different for everyone. Perhaps you were just minding your own business somewhere, others may have been in more... dire circumstances. Regardless, you were approached by a figure you can't quite picture, and they offered you an accord; in exchange for aiding them in the healing of a world lost to chaos, you would be granted something almost unheard of. Godhood.

And each of you said yes, more or less.

A blurry hand, shifting and rippling, reaches out to you. You feel a glow of warmth, unlike anything you've known before. As soon as you think you can describe it, you wake up.

The room you're in is plainly furnished, but it's about the size of a small flat. Plenty of room to stretch your legs. Don't get too comfortable, however. On the bedside table each room has is a letter; handwritten, it's wrapped around a bronze key. The lettering could only be described as the platonic ideal of 'neat and precise'.

If you are reading this, than our deal has been made. You've awoken in a place that will surely feel strange, so I want you to take some time to acclimate. Meet with the others. Breathe. I shall be along shortly.

-A

Whatever that means becomes more apparent as you step out of your housing and behold the world around you. The building you were in, and every piece of architecture you happen across, is blatantly pre-modern. Yet, something about it is otherworldly. Stone and iron and glass as far as the eye can see.

But above you was where the real questions were. It wouldn't be right to say the sun was shining on you now, nor would it be right to say it's the dead of night. Instead, the sky is a hazy mixture of both, wrapped in suffocating storm clouds that are threatening rain. Everywhere you look, into the horizon, it's the same.

Welcome home. Take your time and explore. Nobody ever said godhood was easy.

Comments

[fillets]

[ It really did seem like a good idea at the time. Still, she couldn't possibly have meant now, not with a suitable child in her grasp and everything finally falling into place. She must have said "yes, but." Oh, but she can't remember...

Riful wakes up in the softest bed she's ever experienced. Dauf is nowhere to be found, and she can already tell that something within her has been limited. She reads the letter, and what happens next is her own private business!

Around ten minutes after whatever happens, a girl in a plain shift dress walks out of the living quarters with her hands clasped behind her back and a single downy feather stuck near the bottom of her long brown hair. She sees the statues, and her eyes go bright with interest. ]

My goodness. [ And she's reading everyone's goddamn profiles immediately! Just drinking it all in! Nobody is all that powerful, or so it seems, and she lacks the proper context for most of them... still, it's undeniably interesting. And her description is undeniably saying far too much, but she's not about to make it obvious how infuriating that is! ] Someone certainly seems to think they're well-informed.

[ After she commits that all to memory, she's on the move. While she'll speak quite politely if spoken to, her immediate priority is exploration! None of the homier rooms in the temple—pantry, washroom, eatery, and so on—seem to be of any use, and she breezes past them, but she does find herself lingering at the stairway down, a pout on her face. ]

Really, how frustrating...

[ The forest and the cliff arena are far more her style, and you can find her lingering around both—particularly the cliffs, where she's somehow managed to climb up onto the ledge and is face-to-face with the golden barrier. At no point in time during any of this is she wearing shoes! ]

It's quite lovely, isn't it? Far better than whatever that dreadful aura by the stairs was, at least.

[ There is absolutely no way she turned around and saw the person she's addressing before saying this. ]

Statues

[yourheroine]

[Aoi has similar goals of memorizing everybody, and she speaks up when Riful comments on it:]

They must have access to the profile screen. Aoi didn't even know some of the measurements. Just that I'm short.

[fillets]

Profile screen...?

[ She echoes Aoi, her gaze skimming over her. It's not that she really cares what she's talking about one way or the other, but! ]

[yourheroine]

Mmhmm! Some games will have profiles for all of the characters in the pause menu or the bonus screens.

[fillets]

Hmm.

[ She can't just keep rephrasing random words this child uses as questions but god, if she did, there are so many random words she could pick! ]

That might explain you.

Ledge

[latinumsbetter]

[well, she may not be looking behind her, but she'll get an answer anyway]

Those stairs looked a lot less friendly than out here, I'll give you that.

[fillets]

Yes, I thought as much.

[ The girl turns on her heel, because it's only fair to make eye contact eventually, and smiles. Like, yeah, of course he'll give her that, because she's extremely correct! There's nothing but polite curiosity at the sight of what Quark actually looks like. ]

Of course I'd rather there were no barrier at all, but at least with this one the purpose is clear. Going to all the trouble of recruiting us, only to lose one's allies because some idiot droped off a cliff... it just wouldn't do, you know?

[latinumsbetter]

It'd be a pretty terrible waste of resources, that's for sure. [The corner of his mouth curls upwards into a smile of his own] And I get the feeling that our host is too smart for that.

[fillets]

And why do you think that?

... Oh, don't misunderstand. I do agree with you! It's simply a matter of curiosity.

Stairway

[sweetsynergy]

That's one way of putting it.

[She shoves at the aura.]

Efficient, but showy. And with no apparent backup if the power fails.

[fillets]

[ She hears what she assumes is a frank assessment of technology (???????) she doesn't understand, plus the implication of said technology being fallible, and perks up immediately. ]

Oh, do you have experience with barriers like this?

[ like this is very much the tone ]

[sweetsynergy]

[Well that's some kind of reaction, okay.]

Not much personally, but it's not exactly UNcommon tech. Do you not?

[fillets]

Really! No, I'm afraid not... but to hear that such things are common elsewhere is marvelous news.

[ like, she's familiar with an aura of "oh whatever entity's at the bottom of this staircase is really fucked up and terrifying and now my legs won't work because i'm so scared", but this feels different! and portable! ]

statues

[threeapplestall]

[Mutsumi startles at Riful's voice- she's far too used to the Not-Angry-Definitely-Not-Mad voice to not pick up on the emotion behind her words.]

I... don't know about that... [After all, the plaque beneath her own likeness is almost totally blank. The only thing inscribed on it is a hastily-scribbled "GOD OF NOTHING."]

[fillets]

Well, now. [ Hmm!!! ] You must be difficult to research.

[ Or just very dull. Still... Riful's own writeup, which hatefully lists her top-secret species like it ain't no thing, skips over certain fields (it's not uploaded yet, but the profile lists her age as unknown and her weight as "that's a secret!"), but it's not a blank. She finds herself almost interested. ]

[threeapplestall]

...that doesn't make sense. Ta-kun and Minami-chan are... [mumble mumble mumble] And I'm a guitarist for Ave Mujica... I'd understand if they'd forget about me, but if they're that thorough for everyone else...

Cliff

[catsgothistongue]

[Looks like he wasn't the only one preferring the forest area over being inside that dusty building. The kid talking to him doesn't get much of a reaction from him, other than him climbing on up over beside her to sit down, staring out over the horizon.]

You said it. Those stairs were givin' me some wicked bad vibes. Nothing beats this, even if it'd be a nicer view without this in the way.

[Ranma tosses a pebble at the barrier, watching it bounce back.]

[fillets]

[ She looks down to her side, registering the presence (which she technically already acknowledged) in more detail, watches the pebble rebound, and braces one palm against the golden boundary as if touching it could actually tell her something. ]

You'll need more than that. Not that anything particularly interesting would happen if you tried, I don't think.

[catsgothistongue]

[Seeing her put a hand on the golden dome, he decides to. Knock on the barrier. Thunk thunk thunk. Yeaaaah he's gonna make an educated guess and say he might not be able to break through this. Might is the keyword.]

What do ya' think's out there past this?

[Clearly when there's some magical forcefield put over a land, it means one of two things. keep something in (which is concerning) or keep something out (also concerning).]

cliffs

[rockymountaindie]

[ From Alex's perspective: A little girl without shoes has climbed all the way up to the edge of the cliff. She stands at it, and even though there is a barrier—

He scrambles up after her, little regard for his own safety. ]

H-h- hey, careful, you could hurt yourself!

[fillets]

[ Oh, that's right. Humans do this sort of thing sometimes. Geez, is she really going to have to deal with it every time...?

The little girl without shoes turns around and smiles down at him, abandoning her inspection of the barrier for the moment. ]

Oh, it's very kind of you to be concerned... but don't let me worry you. That won't happen.

[rockymountaindie]

[ Completely oblivious, Alex just continues approaching, slowly. ]

You really never know... Even if you're, uh, used to this kinda terrain, it never hurts to be...careful.

[ He does not know how to interact with kids rip ]

Cliffs

[cannotunravel]

It'd be better if there was sun.

[Don't be picky, Misane]

[fillets]

This wall wouldn't glow nearly as brightly if the sun were out, though.

[cannotunravel]

We can observe the wall shining at night. During the day it's better to have sun.