[network] @ADMIN; Arrival [open]

[snowblindmods]

Welcome to Norfinbury. The time is E̛̬̞͖͖̫R҉͖̯̬R̼̻͉̰͎̳̙O̩͓͔̫͇͈̯R and the date is E̛̬̞͖͖̫R҉͖̯̬R̼̻͉̰͎̳̙O̩͓͔̫͇͈̯R. This network has been provided for your use. Please interact politely with everyone else on this network.

Comments

@zd; voice

[swatsflies]

[What kind of name is Goofy, man? That's pretty weird. Thankfully the yelling doesn't really bother him because he's a morning person. It might bother those he's traveling with though. Whoops.]

Yo! I don't think I've heard those names before. Did you just get here?

@kingdomkey

[seekthelight]

[Unfamiliar voice is unfamiliar and makes Sora hesitant a moment before responding.]

Um--yes? I think. I don't remember how I got here, though.

[swatsflies]

Yeah, that's how it goes.

[It's clear the kid didn't read the information dump, but he doesn't really blame him. Zell still struggles to sit still long enough to read the first paragraph of it.]

None of us really know how we were brought here or why. Can you describe the house you're in?

[seekthelight]

[Sora has the attention span of a goldfish. It's honestly going to take someone either making him read it or explaining it to him for him to understand at this point.]

...So all of your worlds were destroyed by the heartless?

[Because he'd heard a story like that before. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith--all of them had been through the same thing.

The sound of shuffling comes next as Sora gets onto his knees to look around again.]

It's a pretty run down house. There's a door with a broken handle--and some weird writing on the wall.

[Wait. That name on the wall...]

[swatsflies]

Whoa! The hell do you mean by the heartless?

[Sounds like something.]

Broken handle? [That was familiar!] Does the writing have l-e-l-r-i-c or -s-t-a-n-d-a-r-d-i-s-s-u-e any where? [Zell says each letter slowly.] Is the door damaged?

[seekthelight]

Heartless! They swarm worlds and destroy them--take them over and wipe out all the light.

[Completely normal things like that.]

Yeah! "standardissue" is written on the wall right next to the door! [Some shuffling can be heard.] It is, yeah. There's metal underneath the stuff that was covering it.

[swatsflies]

Swarm? You make it sound like bugs invaded different worlds. Nothing like that happened where I'm from.

[He does make a sound at the confirmation for Kunsel's name being there.] That's Kain! The other name should be jphawkins. [His tone of voice gets affectionate as he says the second name.] We were at that house. You're north east of the residential area. I can mark where you're at on the map.

[seekthelight]

No, not bugs! Heartless come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and sometimes they can even be people that you know.

[Well at least the weird message on the wall came in handy!]

Yeah that name's on the wall too!

[Can you hear the relief in his voice?]

That would be great!

[swatsflies]

Whoa. Sounds like the monsters here, but they just kill people instead of trying to take the light.

[Sending a map and then an edit of the map with things circled.]

Yeah, I was there when they wrote that. We tried to blow up the door. [He sounds pretty happy about blowing something up.] That's their usernames on the network. Standard Issue is Kain and jphawkins is Jim.

[seekthelight]

Wait but Leon said that there aren't Heartless here!

[Conflicting information is not good for his brain.

Sora looks the map over, not really sure what to do with it now that he has it.]

I'm assuming it didn't work? Blowing it up I mean since..it's still here. Is that when the doorknob broke?

[swatsflies]

They probably aren't the heartless. I have monsters in my world, they just don't look like people. The monsters here have taken the shape of people we know. It was pretty freaky, man.

[He's heard of Leon, but hasn't actually spoken to him before.]

It opened it for a second, but none of us were in the room because of the danger. The doors locked and the spiders fixed it before we could really get in there to see anything. There's some kind of machine in there. [A pause.] Oh! You're at the red circle on the map. The green ones are where you can get food.

[seekthelight]

So they mimic people?

[Oh great. Just great.]

The spiders fixed it? Wait--there are spiders here?!

[More shuffling as Sora scrambles to his feet and backs towards the exit.]

Right. Green circles. I think I should go to one of them now.

[swatsflies]

They try to. They also try to mimic things from our worlds. It doesn't happen all the time, but I'm pretty sure they do it to mess with us.

[So they can eat you :<]

Yeah, the spiders. They are little robots that paralyze you for about fifteen minutes. Pretty sure they have a network of tunnels underground that lets them reach every house. [A pause.] Don't break the tablets and don't put anything in the vents and you'll be safe from them.

[OR don't blow anything up.]

[seekthelight]

Got it.

[Sora tucks that bit of knowledge away for now. It's not something he's going to forget anytime soon, that's for sure.]

The spiders are robots? [O..kay. That's weird.] So they don't attack unless you do something they don't like. That's good to know, I guess. [But he still wants to leave the house all of a sudden.] Is there anything I need to know before I go outside--besides what the guide told me!

[swatsflies]

Can you actually read the guide? [He sounds impressed.] I have to get Jim to read it for me. They filled it up with too many words. [Zell likes action and doing things. Sitting still for too long bugged him]

Don't try to take on the monsters no matter what experience you might have with fighting them. Nothing hurts them and they will knock you out with a single touch. [Think. Think. What else?] Oh! And the guide has the food part wrong. Food doesn't expire in a week. They just give you about seven days of rations when you start out. Most of the food you'll find sucks until you get to the grocery store.

[seekthelight]

I got through some of it--there's just a lot to read! [More than he has the attention span for. Why do things have to be so long?

Sora can't help but frown as the other continues.]

Nothing hurts them? Then what are we suppose to do to get rid of them? There has to be a way! [There's always a way.] That's good to know. I guess I should probably head towards the grocery store, then?

[swatsflies]

There's a lot to read. I wish they had an audio version or something with pictures instead. It's pretty boring.

[Important, but boring]

People have gotten creative and still haven't been able to stop them. It frickin' sucks. [BIG TIME.] They knock people out with a single touch before swallowing them whole. [His voice drops with the last part.] It's better to just run and barricade yourself in shelter. They usually leave the next day. [The important word in there is usually.]

Downtown is south. Head for the school and then go south from there. It'll probably take a week if you're quick, but it's worth the wait. Fresh cookies and fruit.

[seekthelight]

Audio would be great! Then people could listen to it on the go which would...actually that might be kind of distracting, huh?

[Yeah probably not the best idea.]

Wait--

Swallowing them whole?!

[What what what?!]

What do you mean swallow people whole? They just--they just eat people?! Why!

[swatsflies]

[His attention flickers over to Jim, who might be occupied hopefully. Lowering his voice just in case.]

No frickin' clue. We're still trying to figure out what they even are. According to the formal residents, something is wrong with them. The admin can make adjustments to them, but it's usually bad when they do.

[Very, very bad.]

[seekthelight]

I don't...

[This was strange. Really strange and Sora isn't sure if he's following.]

Wrong with them how? Are they--were they humans or something before they got turned into whatever they are now? And what do you mean by adjustments?

[swatsflies]

Don't think they were humans, but they couldn't really remember how they should be. They just insisted they're different and shouldn't be acting like that.

[Just wait, Sora. It gets even stranger.]

The admin made announcements in the past about adjusting wandering anomalies, which is what they call us and the monsters. Every time they do, the monsters get smarter or things get worst. One time they took on the faces of people we knew from back home.

[seekthelight]

So that's..it? No one knows anything else?

[It'd be a lot less worrisome if he had more to go on.]

Took--they get smart? And take faces? So they are mimics!

[swatsflies]

Yeah. It's been pretty frustrating. I'm looking for clues to see what the hell even happened, but we wind up with more questions than answers.

[There is a pause as he thinks about it.]

Yeah, they might be. Hoping to eventually be able to catch one to find out more about them. Just have to keep trying until something works, you know? We'll get there.

[seekthelight]

[Sora's quiet for a long moment.]

I want to help, if I can. To catch one of those things. There's got to be a way to do it and I have a lot of experience fighting monsters!

[swatsflies]

[Teenagers and fighting monsters is totally normal where he's from, so Sora checks out.]

Yeah, been thinking of making a chain with the metal from the rubble. Got distracted with a key we found, so I haven't been working on it lately. Oh! Rubble can hit them, but it doesn't hurt them. It has to do with whatever the metal they built the houses with. I think it's supposed to keep them out.