THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

[modormenace]

 

A

rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

F

or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

A

nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."

The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.

"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

THE WHITE TOWER SANCTUM AURORAE KRAKOA HOUSE OF M EMPIRE OF LIGHT EQUALITY BEFORE LAW THE TWIN CITIES OLIN VALE EDEN SEEKERS OF THE NEW DAWN NORTHWESTERN IMPERIUM GREEN PIECE MAD BURNISH LUMINARY

Comments

Lan Sizhui | the Untamed | OTA

[radishgrown]

Arrival
At least the people seem friendly enough. Sizhui gives them polite smiles as he makes his way through the gate.

"Glimmershire," he whispers to himself.

He'll need to figure out who the Seekers really were. He gives a kind smile at the apology for the low grade chaos around him. It isn't any different than the bigger, bustling cities he had been to. How strange there is a place that explicitly is against physical fighting.

"I think I'll be able to find my way around," he responds back to the keeper. Sizhui swings his arms around to meet his hands and bow to him as he makes his way in, trying to weave his way around the crowd and, perhaps, see some familiar faces. He wonders if his friends...his family could be seen in such a place.

Initiation
As he't walking about, he's been guided to the Library and their strange cafeteria...or was it more of a wine house? The smell of alcohol can be picked up on and Sizhui joins the crowd, looking at the row of shots that the keep had laid out. The Fate Challenge? He waits to see if anyone would step up to the challenge, wondering exactly what it would mean besides a free meal.

Wildcard!
[OOC: Write a starter or let me know what you'd like to do via PM and we could whip up a starter! :)]

Wildcard | Video/network | After initiation

[inquiryguqin]

He wakes up some time ago in the same house, though the house has aged somewhat through the years. He woke up in a body that is different and much older than he's accustomed to. For one, he looks like himself except there's a slight variance to his hair-style and eye color almost a light-brown, but it's the same body but no scars on his back and chest. And he cannot see, but he found a pair of glasses to fit him to correct his vision.

Whatever Sizhui is doing now, his device to the network starts to ring. He's reaching out to his family members as he recalls them, wondering if they are around.

When he turns on the network, the video plays, "Sizhui is that you?" It's his father, and yet slightly different in appearance and look. He hoped he recognized him.

[radishgrown]

He picks up his device when it begins to ring and fumbles with it a little before seeing a vaguely familiar face. It looks like Hanguang Jun but the glasses...the coloring seems...different...Is this just a younger Shifu? But from how he greets him, Sizhui is a little hesitant.

"H...hanguang Jun?" he asks cautiously.

[inquiryguqin]

Is this the same Sizhui? He hopes it's him. He remembers him. He fixes his glasses in place as the video plays in the device.

"It's me. It's...this is strange. I'll explain later. It seems you're in this world too. Is everything all right?"

[radishgrown]

He nods to answer Hanguang Jun's question.

"I've just entered the city and...gone through the initiation rite."

Clearly, it makes him uncomfortable since it broke a Cloud Recesses rule. But technically, the rule reads No alcohol at Cloud Recesses.

"Hanguang Jun...why...do you look like that?"

[inquiryguqin]

"You had gone to the initiation rite? That's good. If you're done, just tell me where you are and then I can go pick you up and take you home."

At his question, he thought about it and he's perplexed himself. "This is...this body is different. I don't know how to explain. Like this body came from an earlier time, and then it has lived here for a long time, and my soul woke up in this body. I have no memory of living here, but I remember you, everyone, and our home in Cloud Recesses."

After a pause, "How about you? Tell me what you last remember before arriving here?"

[radishgrown]

"I'm outside of the library at the moment. Are you nearby?"

His last memory...Sizhui thinks on it.

"My last memory was seeing Jin Ling outside of the restaurant I was at. With the soda."

[inquiryguqin]

"No. I'm in Jeopardy. I have to go to you." Lan Wangji listens. He's pretty soda doesn't exist back home, and if he's with Jin Ling.

"Were you in Jeopardy or city? Because last I seen you, I left the house to go to work to the bookstore." Hopefully, their memories are aligned and this Sizhui is the one he has last seen.

[radishgrown]

"Heropa."

The name is strangely familiar on his tongue.

"I was in Heropa. You came and picked me up. And I saw Jin Ling and Fairy. And Jingyi even came by."

[inquiryguqin]

The fact he is able to identify a city and the people he has seen, that is his proof it's him, and somehow he manage to cross over when the dimensional shift happens. He sighs in relief. "Which I have last seen you. I'm glad you're all right. I have not seen Jin Ling or Fairy here, but I have seen Jin Ling. You two ought to meet."

"Stay where you are. I'll go to meet up with you. You're at the library? Which faction you are in?"

[radishgrown]

He's certainly not going anywhere. He nods.

"Yes, I'm at the Library. I seem to be a part of the Seekers of the New Dawn?" he asks.

[inquiryguqin]

"All right, stay put. I'll be coming over and pick you up."

In half an hour, he took the porter and travel to the library. The faction is full of people, new arrivals, and staff alike. When he approaches him, he appears as he does. Except he looks different wearing glasses and tied up his hair in a ponytail.

As he makes his approach, spotting his son in the crowd. "There you are. Sizhui, are you well?"

Arrival

[ze_uwu_jun]

"Sizhui."

Xichen's voice may have gone a tiny bit raspier, but between the time of recovery and is high cultivation, he doesn't necessarily look too different... other than the clothing, since even the best quality silk has its wear and tear. He is wearing white and blue still, and his forehead ribbon, of course.

The smile is still very faint, because while the him from this world has had time to heal, he only just arrived here, inside this body, so it is... strange still.

"Are you looking for something?"

[radishgrown]

The voice is familiar if a bit different. Sizhui looks through the crowd to see if he could pinpoint the source of the voice. The forehead ribbon and colors give him away and the faint smile is familiar.

"Zewu Jun!"

The cry is happy as he moves toward him and bows. A familiar face is a balm for the soul.

"Zewu Jun, you're here too? How did you get here?"

And he...certainly looks a little different but he recognizes Sizhui and that was what matters.

[ze_uwu_jun]

The smile steadies a little. Things are confusing, right now, but the familiar brightness of the young man is reassuring. Xichen reaches up, squeezing Sizhui's shoulders for moment in reassurance. The time with Jingyi has certainly let him

"I have been away from the Cloud Recesses for a while, though only vaguely... here. Or, perhaps, here - but not now. Then I was... here and now, yet without my knowledge of how it became now - and yet people act as though I have been here all the while." The smile goes a little lopsided. "It is a little confusing, I am afraid. Have you - how have you been, since you arrived here? Are you in need of anything?"

These things are important. Xichen suspects no amount of explanations will do, at first, hence moving to more practical matters.