re_alignment_logs | OPENING LOG: Awakening

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OPENING LOG: Awakening

WHO: Everybody!
WHERE: The Junk Pile.
WHEN: Right here, right now.
WHAT: Game opening! Our Heroes find themselves in a strange place not of their own world, however familiar (or not) it may be.

Consciousness is slow, and a struggle to obtain. The moments before darkness are hazy enough; a great vertigo, a twisting, and then, falling. Falling for what seemed like forever. And when you are finally aware of your surroundings, it is most decidedly not where you came from.

Instead, you are now in what appears to be a wasteland. A wasteland...of junk. Debris as far as you can see, heaped in mini-mountains that offer only so good of a view of the world around you. Perhaps in the distance, you can make out some flatter land, perhaps you can just make out what looks like a crevice - but it's difficult at best. The light here is all wrong, the two greatest sources being a white line in the alien sky that doesn't so much give off light as simply have it - and something in the south that glows like a setting sun.

You may or may not notice it at first, but you, too, have something alien - something on your arm, more likely than not. A marking that glows softly, but offers no clue as to how it got there - no pain, no sensitivity. It's simply there, as you are here.

So.

Now what?

((OOC: This is it, you guys! Have a blast! Please remember to keep everything under the first thread for now; we'll be adding the Firstforged in in a little bit...

OKAY There is now a second thread to post in! Feel free to make new threads there to react to the arrival of the Firstforged, or respond directly to the Firstforged themselves.))

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Alpha Trion let himself be approached, watching the card tricks with more interest than bemusement. He'd seen their like before, resurrected from the junk pile, or drifting through his consciousness with other Knowledge of what might have been.

He'd never seen them used like this, however.

It was fascinating, in its own right.

"A wager would require something to bet, my friend, and I've no interest in taking from you that which isn't free to give." Information, generally. "You have come to Cybertron, my home."

"You aren't? Well, that's hardly fun," said Luxord. "But then, it's always nice to not have to spend to win..."

Cybertron. Not a world he'd heard of then. Something... new.

"And is all of this 'Cybertron' composed of such... magnificent desolation, shall we say?"

He laughed, pleased at how easily this stranger was taking this. "I might be convinced to play a...'hand,' is it? If you would teach me the game." A lesson was always worthwhile, if there was something new to learn.

"Cybertron? Like this?" He chuckled. "Hardly. This is simply where the acolytes bring anything that falls through..." Glancing up, he noted the Lamba's location in the sky, centered almost directly over the junkyard. "I could bring you back to where I live. It's much more comfortable...although I do need to check something first, though. Formalities, I am sure you understand."

He reached up, and touched his shoulder. "To see if you have something here?"

"I'm always delighted to teach anyone games," he said, smiling. "And I do imagine your abode would be a far more adequate location in which to do so."

Anywhere but this place, anyway.

"And as for that, well, as a matter of fact I do. You wouldn't happen to have something to do with it, would you?"

And for the third time that day, he shrugged off the shoulder of his coat just enough to reveal the symbol.

"I have tables, for one thing." It was almost a joke.

Seeing the symbol was relieving, however. It had been worrying, at first, that perhaps some monsters had come through with this crowd. Those were often difficult to weed out, and it had always been even more difficult to explain to the Refugees why some Monsters didn't look any different than they did.

Even more difficult, if they'd already gotten attached.

"Technically, no. In a very roundabout way, yes. That is my name you have on you, there." He gestured toward it, acknowledging that he'd seen it and that the other could replace his robes if he desired. "It is not because of me that you wear it, though. It simply lets me know that you are not a threat...and that you might possibly enjoy some of the same things I do." He blinked out one eye--a wink--a gesture that he'd learned some time ago. "Learning, writing, divining...does any of that sound familiar?"

Luxord raised an eyebrow. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd been marked as part of a mysterious group without his knowledge or consent. It was almost uncomfortably familiar.

"Learning, certainly, though I'm not a bookish sort. I'm far more the type of fellow to prefer the field. Writing... ah, that's more the area of a... friend of mine. But as for divination..."

He fanned out his cards before him, let them float in the air, faces up--the Wheel of Fortune, the Magician, the Three of Wands, the Ace of Pentacles.

"I suppose you could say it's a hobby of mine."

It was ironic that his hobby was divining by cards, given the lack of "diviner" in his title; but on the other hand, as a master of Time it was his job to know the future. Even if, in the end, he knew his cards were merely sleight of hand and being terribly good at reading people.

It was a trick, perhaps, but it was still an impressive one. "Not the usual domain of humans, I've noticed. You seem to have picked up a number of skills in your travels."

He was using one of his own skills, paying attention to Luxord's accent and the unusual nature of his garment, the ease he had at being in a new environment, to make what seemed to him a reasonable assumption. This man had seen other places, Trion guessed. Many of them.

Reading people might have been another thing they had in common.

"I would greatly like to see this in action. Was it your livelihood before coming here?"

"It was not," he said. "In fact, most of my compatriots dismissed it as pointless superstition, a clever sleight of hand. No, my main occupation was research."

It wasn't a lie. He would scout planets, after all, and gather the materials to build Kingdom Hearts, and seek out the best ways to break a human heart. That was research. But now was not the time to mention such things; best not to reveal your hand, after all.

Research was good.

Research was very good, especially given that they needed assistance with the Lambda. Still, this man did not strike Alpha Trion as a scientist...which meant the research as probably in some other area. More fields than just science researched, after all.

"History, perhaps?"

"In a manner of speaking," he said. "History, culture, society, a little sociology too, I suppose...."

How else do you put 'scouting worlds to find weak points'? And no need to mention hunting Heartless with the Keybearer.

"Then you must have learned a great deal," Alpha Trion nodded, very curious about the societies this human had come across. "Especially to be already so comfortable with talking to me. Are there talking robots on your world, as well?"

This was always a good thing to know. The spread of Cybertronians across the multiverse never ceased to fascinate him...

...but then again, there were few things that he did not find fascinating.

"None that speak, no, not that I've met anyway. But there are stranger things in the universe. An associate of mine once had an entire world of sentient computer programs that all lived inside a single computer, there was a world whose entire culture revolved around the celebration of a single holiday devoted to fear and terror, there was a world of talking cards and doorknobs and an invisible cat..."

He shrugged. "There are stranger things in this universe than speaking machines, even if the ones I've met here are the first I've encountered."

Oh, he can tell you're going to teach him plenty about the multiverse, Luxord. Not that its hard to tell, but its exciting for him anyhow.

"And that's a normal day for you, is it?" He smiled. "I wish it would be so easy for you to travel while you are here."

Which reminds him.

"Is there anything particular you'll need to eat? I do have a somewhat overgrown garden, and the tomatoes seem to be ripe..."

"Oh yes, perfectly average day, really. Indeed, the only thing out of the ordinary about this is that I don't know how I got here, and it's not even the first time I've woken in a strange place."

He shrugs. And then... the food question makes him realize that giant robots might not know so much about human (or Nobody) dietary needs.

"I'll need more than tomatoes, you know. As will most of the other, er, organic life forms around here, of which there seem to be a few. Proteins of some sort, even if it's just eggplants and beans. I suppose I'll have to take what I can get, hmm?"

Nodding, Alpha Trion gestured upwards. "You arrived via the Lambda. It seems to be adept at shifting individuals out of their proper universes and setting them down upon this world." Or, occasionally, leaving them in space to die. Or sometimes spitting them toward the planet where they burned up in the atmosphere.

Still, these are things he's certain that Luxord doesn't want to know right now.

"And if this isn't the first time you've woken up in a strange place, then you must have either lived an exciting life, or attended some exciting parties." Nexus had made a strange drink for him, once.

All that he really remembered about it was waking up back home the next cycle.

"Can you provide me with a list? I know some of the dietary restrictions of organics, but not comprehensively."

"Well, I lived a life, at any rate," he said. "I suppose it was interesting, for certain arbitrary values of interesting."

He tapped his chin.

"I can compose a rudimentary list, certainly. I'm no expert, but... and perhaps I'll poll the other humans about, hmm? We could get a proper shopping list up, as it were."

This might actually be fun. At the very least, a sight more interesting than spending days tracking Heartless migration patterns in Port Royale, and trying to pinpoint the worst person there...

"Then if interest is something you desire, I hope you can find it here, as well. It might be some time before we're capable of sending you home."

He laid down the fact as delicately as he could, though he trusted Luxord to not take it too badly. Generally, his Refugees could deal with the situation as it was, which, given how Luxord was already offering to come up with a list, he had every reason to be proud of.

"This might be of some use to you," he said, and crouched down to hand Luxord one of the smaller, human-compatible Link Devices. "For your lists, among other things. You should be able to communicate with anyone on the planet with it."

"To be perfectly honest, I have no interest in returning home," he said. "The situation in my native land has become... difficult."

He took the object with interest, turning it over in his hands. "Dreadfully useful, the whole communicating with everyone bit," he said, pocketing it. "Thank you kindly for your assistance."

"You know, I'm not certain if I caught your name, sir...?"

"Oh, really?" It wasn't unheard of for a Refugee to be content with their new situation, but it was certainly less common. Normally, the intent was always to get back.

Really, he'd wanted to see the others find their homes, as well, it just hadn't worked out that way.

"I would enjoy hearing more about your world when you are settled, then," he said casually. "I am Alpha Trion." Silly of him to forget to introduce himself, really, but sometimes the newcomers already knew. That had been a headache, the first time it had happened. "What shall I call you?"

"Luxord will suffice," he said. He almost added, Number X, Gambler of Fate but again, need to know basis. Besides, he was as good as dead back home, ergo that title would no longer apply. The only exit was death, and, well, if he was dead, then...

"And I'll tell what I can of my world, if that's what you're interested in," he said. He'd omit certain facts, of course--again, no need to run his mouth about Kingdom Hearts, for instance.

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OPENING LOG: Awakening

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