[Game Opening, Part 1 - What Souls Here May Bring]

[stringmods]

The drawstrings cut,
my hollow ebony stained wood plomps to the floor—
THUD

Eyes open, souls recollect.
The new me, erect.

I make my own decisions, have my own priorities,
have my own thoughts.

No external force taps into me—
Freedom.
- Jana Bielecki
Who: (Everyone OPEN LOG)
Where: (City Hall)
Summary: (You've just arrived in the city. Welcome.)
Warnings: (Intro logs are pretty warnable.)
Style: (The text is in prose, but feel free to write back in action tags if you feel more comfortable.)

They always say the first day on a new job is always the hardest.

But tell me...did those tasks include being taken from your own homeworld, dumped into a city you didn't recognize, meeting a man dressed in the purest of whites with a butterfly mask, to be bestowed the power of Persona, and then having some Men in Black lead you to the city hall saying you were expected?

...

...at least your things are apparently safe in your new apartments?

...

...looks like you might be here for a while.


What a way to start the first of September...

As they usher the last of you in, you realize that they've been preparing this for quite a while. There is a small table with food on the right, mixed cuisine (although the main theme seems to be Japanese dishes). Some strange computer program appears next to you and seems to be translating what you are saying so those before you understand. Language barriers? Don't be silly!

Most of the men ignore you after that. You are expected to mingle amongst yourselves a bit before the main 'show' starts, it seems....

Comments

[drakenguard]

Yamato continued to smirk, picking up the man's disapproval of his callous regard of the SDF. That was fine. Many people were normally disgusted by how little he cared about his subordinates' lives. Not to say that he sent them off to be killed gleefully, or tried to get them killed. No, that would be a waste of resource.

Everyone was an expendable pawn to be sacrificed for the end goal, even himself.

"...DSA is a Demon Summoning App," Yamato continued after a pause. He approved of Ludwig holding his tongue when so openly disagreeing with his views - why couldn't everyone be this mature instead of whining to him about how cruel he was? He was simply doing what must be done.

[blitzkriegzwei]

"A Demon Summoning App..." Well, presumably it did what was said on the tin. It most likely summoned demons. Duh. Ludwig wanted to ask more questions about this alien technology, but found that he couldn't think of what to ask. Well, there was something. "What did you use it for? General combat purposes? Did the demons aid you in battle?" That might have been another question with an obvious answer, but Ludwig figured he might as well ask anyway.

[drakenguard]

"Obviously," Yamato replied, although there was no disdain in his tone. "Conventional weapons were useless against the enemy we faced - both demonic and extraterrestrial. Summoned demons were used to assist in battle against the threats."

[blitzkriegzwei]

"Extraterrestrial? You fought aliens?" Ludwig, stop with the dumb questions already! He couldn't help it. He was impressed by what this man had been through. No one in his world would know what to do if aliens suddenly invaded, he felt certain of that. "It sounds like you were well prepared. Where I come from, I doubt we'd be prepared at all."

[drakenguard]

Strangely, Yamato did not appear flattered. Instead his expression tightened, and he crossed his arms in a gesture that almost seemed defensive.

"...we were well prepared, because we had information given to us prior the invasion by a specific individual," Yamato said after a tense pause. "The heretic..."

[blitzkriegzwei]

"Ah, so you had an informant," Ludwig observed. However, he also observed the defensive posturing Yamato was taking on. Even someone as socially dense as Ludwig could tell something was up. "...My apologies. This seems to be a difficult subject for you."

[drakenguard]

"Ha...! Ahaha...calling that thing an- never mind," Yamato abruptly cut his laughter off, his expression blanking. "It is not difficult, merely...complicated. The, what was he calling himself this time, ah, The Anguished One had his own ambitions when warning us of the coming Invasion, that is all. Although our goals differed, he was of use to me until our disagreement became, shall we say, fatally antagonistic."

Meaning, Alcor attempted to assassinate him. That was fun.

[blitzkriegzwei]

"Ambitions? Dare I ask what he was planning to do during the invasion?" Here Ludwig frowned. "If he was working with you and not protecting the country he served... that's shameful." Clearly, he understood nothing of the Anguished One's nature. He was simply assuming that this "Anguished One" was another soldier who somehow had information on the alien invasion. Oh, how wrong he was.

[drakenguard]

How wrong he was.

"He serves no country," Yamato corrected. "He is not human, so therefore he has no obligation to serve any country. He is an abomination that attempts to mimic humanity."

He scoffed quietly, crossing his arms in an aggravated gesture. "He is useful for information, when he decides to give it, but it is only for his own ambitions. Whatever they were, I know not, but it would only end in the total destruction of my world."

[blitzkriegzwei]

"...Some help he is," replied Ludwig after some thought. No, this Anguished One did not sound like a good person (if he even counted as a person) at all. "Was he an alien, too? That's the only conclusion that makes sense, if he knew about the aliens beforehand and yet wanted the destruction of your world."

[drakenguard]

Yamato, strangely, hesitated at this point.

"...what is isn't important. The only important fact is that he held necessary information whilst having hidden agendas."

[blitzkriegzwei]

Shut down again. "He sounds like a dangerous person. Was he ever disposed of? ...After information was gotten from him, of course." Ludwig hoped so. This Anguished One sounded like a dangerous person to have around. And yet he held information on the alien invasion... what a dilemma that must have been.

[drakenguard]

"Ahahaha...! Aha, no," Yamato grinned wryly, "or rather, I do not know. I died before I could confront him myself. However his death is necessary for, hm, certain advancements in the situation, so perhaps he has died."

[blitzkriegzwei]

Wait just a minute. "You... died?" Now this city was bringing dead people back to life?! Well, he'd seen it happen to some of his fellow nations. Hell, he'd come back from death quite a few times himself (always the stray bullets. Always). But still, to see that power available to someone who was ostensibly a normal human being was something of a shock. "I think this is something that merits an explanation of some sort."

[drakenguard]

"Well, admittedly my final moments are understandably unclear," Yamato stated, "so I don't know if I died completely and was revived, or was somehow put back together enough to not die. However, either way, I have no explanation of how this," he gestured to himself, "happened."

[blitzkriegzwei]

"I suppose that's understandable." Ludwig hadn't been able to keep track of himself in a few of his deaths either, but that was probably a slightly different situation than what was going on with Yamato. "Maybe it was that strange man's doing... the one with the mask."

[drakenguard]

"It is a high possibility," Yamato said simply. High possibility? More like completely certain.

[blitzkriegzwei]

"I've been wondering about him... we only saw him once, before we woke up here. I wonder if we'll ever see him again." Ludwig shifted his weight from foot to foot. "And I wonder what else we'll see here..."

[drakenguard]

Yamato gave him a long, sideways look. "It is obvious that we would see him again. I highly doubt he will simply squat in the shadows for the entirety of our stay here. What will come, will come."