Welcome.

[azumods]

AWAKENING. You're asleep, and the first thing you're aware of is the pulse. It comes quickly, flooding through your system and jolting you awake; the room you're in is dimly-lit but the bed you're in is soft, and while all of this is jarring you'll soon become rather aware that you aren't going through this alone. The room you're in is lined with beds not unlike the one you're in; you'll be able to hear other people stirring, coming awake as they respond to the pulse too, and... ...And it will soon become evident that whatever just happened, something is wrong. Whatever your response may be to waking up in a low-lit room full of people is going to be highly amplified, the emotion rubbing your nerves raw in a way that makes you feel like you're experiencing it for the first time, and whenever you manage to sit up, you'll feel something...strange on your head, tickling the sides of your face, and as you turn your head a little you'll catch a glimpse of an odd, synthetic-looking green. A wig...? Your clothes, too, are different from whatever you remember last (because whatever you remember last, it wasn't this room, it wasn't this place - ); they feel warm, designed to withstand cold weather, and if you throw the blankets off at any point (or even just pause to look beneath them) you'll be greeted with an outfit made of thick material that's alternating parts black and white and glossy silver, with an emblem inscribed on the chest - a G inscribed in gold and black. Whatever's happening here, you aren't given much time to dwell on it; everyone here seems about as confused as you are. There are twenty-four of you in the room altogether, and you're all going through the same thing; whatever you're experiencing, the door is closed, so at least you're experiencing it in relative privacy. For now. It isn't long before a voice can be heard, soft but agitated-sounding, as though trying very hard to not awaken everyone in the building; it sounds like a man, and you can hear his footfalls pause just outside your door as he speaks to someone else, voice soft and androgynous. "And you're sure they're gone?" "Yes, Commander." "And don't you think something should be done about that...?" "Right away, sir." With that, the man and whomever he was speaking to can be heard parting ways, one moving rapidly down a corridor and the other pausing, shifting a bit before eventually moving on himself. You have several options. I. You can sit here for a while and get to know each other, seeing as none of you know what happened. That might be a good idea, all things considered, and as long as the door remains closed there's no rush. It's the middle of the night, after all, and it isn't as though anyone is going to come looking - despite the urgent conversation outside, there isn't any alarm going off, nor is there any reason for most of the building to be on high alert. II. You can explore the building. Should you do that, you'll find several winding corridors leading to what look like dorms, with several rooms containing sleeping people and areas such as formal break rooms; exploring a little further will let you find conference rooms and other large, empty spaces that don't seem to have much of a purpose. There are signs and notices in several places referring to "Team Galactic" and its protocol, all adorned with the same emblem that's on your clothes. Some of these corridors also lead to doors that are, unfortunately, locked and staying that way; some of them lead to people dressed exactly like you, bizarre wig and all. They seem to be a little strange, however; they'll greet you, and they'll speak to you if spoken to, but they look odd and dead behind the eyes and there's not much to their answers, and asking them about preferences or any personal information will just net you a blank stare. It's going to be a long strange journey through the building, but at least you're traveling light; you don't seem to have any belongings with you - save for the outfit you woke up in and the red and white capsule attached to your belt... III. You can also pause to try to figure out what's going on with those capsules. They each contain something very important to you, after all - a creature that seems to have been assigned to you specifically. They don't seem to have anything on them indicating a name or another person that owns them, at any rate, so it's probably safe to assume it's yours. That said, something seems decidedly wrong with it - it seems alarmingly apathetic, the look in its eyes dull and resigned as opposed to alert and emotive, and while it's willing to follow you (it's almost a bit too willing to follow you, it will stay close by your side in the manner of a dog trained to heel if you try to walk away from it) it doesn't seem to be due to any sort of genuine affection. It's all very...sterile, for lack of a better term. Welcome to Sinnoh. Glory to Team Galactic. [OOC: Welcome to Azume! Feel free to use this log to get to know one another iCly; you can use the prompts given or come up with your own, though for now you're confined to the building. The Commanders are currently not present in the building (anywhere that you can find them, anyway). For now, have fun getting your bearings.]

Comments

[omissions]

I/II

[... Well. This is suddenly a lot to take in all at once. Sure, Ari has had strange things happen to him before, but this is on a whole other level, and when he first wakes and sits up, he stays silent. Even if someone might be willing to talk with him, he's not even sure what to say or ask here: judging by what he's observed of everyone else's reactions so far, they appear to be just as lost as he is, so what would be the point?

Still, he will at least get up and walk after about twenty minutes of just sitting and looking around, leaving to explore. Doing so doesn't make the building any more familiar to him though, and when he comes across others dressed like him, he does try to talk with them... only to be met with silence and blank stares. Actually, if anything is familiar, it's that oddly enough. It reminds him almost of himself, or of the responses he sometimes got from other people, but usually they would eventually laugh and go "Ari, you're so funny" or "Sorry, were you saying something just now?", but these people don't even do that. It's kind of unnerving.

He ends up coming back to the room he first woke up in and sitting on the edge of the bed, at a bit of a loss. If anyone wants to try to talk to him first though, they're more than welcome to do so--despite appearances, he's not emotionless like those other strange people in the building, we swear.]

III

[Eventually he takes notice of that strange capsule at his belt here, and he starts playing with it in his hands here until he sees the button and pushes it. He was absolutely not expecting a creature to be inside of this thing though, and it definitely causes a shocked reaction of falling back on his butt here.]

A monster... ?

[Except... huh. This looks like a floating pair of gears. With eyes. He's never seen one that looked like that before, though it almost reminds him of the little gears that he had collected during his journey back home.

Even so, there are a lot of creatures that will attack and even try to kill you back home, and even though this one hasn't moved to strike, experience gets Ari's feet back up, looking around for a moment. A weapon, or something to defend himself with just in case...

... He ends up grabbing a broom from a closet, so now there's this teenage boy holding a broom in a defensive stance while carefully watching this strange gear-shaped creature. Because he totally doesn't look ridiculous doing something like that.]

III

[hyruglyphics]

... I do not believe that it means you harm.

[ Like, just saying. She says it gently though, because she can easily imagine Link's reaction being very similar to that. Zelda herself has a Beldum floating behind her, and she's resisting geeking out over the gears here, because the boy takes priority. She reaches out a hand hesitantly, as if considering touching him, but thinks better of it. ]

[omissions]

[Ari almost jumps at the sight of the other metal monster floating behind her, but... it too doesn't seem interested in attacking them. After a few seconds of hesitation, Ari slowly lowers the broom, but doesn't put it down yet.

He almost asks if she knows what these things are, but given the earlier confusion he observed everyone sharing, she might not know either. So instead, he asks a different question.]

Who are you?

[hyruglyphics]

[ It's so strange to introduce herself so much! But she smiles softly and she responds, pulling her hands together in front of her, ]

Zelda. My name is Zelda.

[omissions]

Zelda. Okay.

[He nods.]

I'm Ari... it's, um, nice to meet you?

[... Despite the peculiar circumstances here, that is.]

[hyruglyphics]

Yes, Ari, it's a pleasure.

[ . . . despite the circumstances is sort of unsaid there, but her sort of smirk does betray that. ]

Are you a warrior of some sort?

III

[thunderwolf]

They're not aggressive.

[Eustace was in a similar situation with his Mimikyu not long ago, so he figured he'd throw that out there for this kid. Honestly, he's glad he's not the only one who had this sort of reaction to monsters out of nowhere.]

[omissions]

[Ari doesn't put the broom down, but he does lower it a little here after a moment.]

... I suppose they're not. For now.

[thunderwolf]

Yeah. For now.

[He definitely won't argue that things could change in that regard.

He takes a moment to study Ari's monster.]

Haven't seen many mechanical monsters.

[If...ever, honestly. There are some strange monsters out there, but they're typically organic.]

[omissions]

Neither have I... it's strange.

[He's really not sure what to make of it here.]

[thunderwolf]

Mm. The fact that they came out of those balls is strange too. I've never seen anything like it.

[How did they fit??]

i

[factorization]

[She watched the person look around, almost like he was trying to induce something from the masses of people. The ones she's not sure what to think of. Are they robots? She can't really say, but that's what she's theorizing they are at the moment.

When he sits down on the bed, she decides to approach him.]

Learn anything?

[omissions]

[Ari shakes his head.]

Nothing that made sense to me. [...] What about you?

[factorization]

I'm in the same boat. Nothing about this situation makes any sense.

[She rubs her temple as she tries to think about where they could be, but nothing.]

[omissions]

Mm... did you talk to any of the other people in this building?

III

[perfectselfie]

[Aya hasn't had the heart to put her Audino back in its ball, so it follows her over.]

It isn't going to hurt you. I think it's just as messed up as the people outside are.

[omissions]

... That's still a little unsettling.

[what in the world could have happened to make them act like this...]

[perfectselfie]

You can say that again. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I wonder what happened...

[omissions]

Yeah... and how did we all get here?

[The last thing he remembers is walking home and then... suddenly, all this.]

[perfectselfie]

That's the real question. The last thing I remember is going to bed, and then I woke up here.

II

[ventulus]

Hey, is everything okay?

[ Ventus saw the boy sitting at the edge of the bed like that, and with some of the people here looking like they did, he had to ask. ]

[omissions]

Yeah.

[...]

I mean, not really, since I don't know where we are? But I'm fine, I think.

[Physically, at least.]

[ventulus]

Okay. Do you want to check this place out together?

[ ... ]

It might help with getting us to know where we are.

[omissions]

Sure.

... I'm Ari. What's your name?

[ventulus]

My name's Ventus, but you can call me Ven.

[ He smiles a little. ]

It's nice to meet you, Ari. I bet with us putting our heads together, we might even be out of here with our stuff and answers in no time.