windofgod | [action/voice]

[It was competition time, which meant a lot of extra practice for Maron and the rhythmic gymnastics team in her school. Extra hours of practice meant a perfected routine to perform in the upcoming tournament. It also meant a lot of stress for Maron, especially since she had sprained her ankle as Jeanne not long before. But still, she was dancing, jumping, twirling, and balancing as if nothing was wrong in practice.

In fact, that's what she was doing, when she found herself in Luceti: jumping, leaping, twirling, stop. But one of her jumps across the mat wound her in a different world entirely. Maron began the jump at one end of the mat, ribbon in hand, dancing on the air as she began...

And it would end in Luceti, with her still jumping. Into people. Were you one of them, up on cherry blossom hill that she jumped into by accident?]

[later on, after getting settled into the welcome center and reading through the guide, Maron fiddles with her journal, and then speaks to the citizens:]

So we're stuck here indefinitely because of some crazy scientists called the Malnosso, no ways out?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know it seems difficult to believe... but that's the situation we're in. We can only remain here until we're sent home.

Sent home? They send us home from this place?

[...oh. Uh. Might want to get off of Vincent, huh? She'll do that quickly, blushing a little. That was awkward.]

Er... sorry. Forgot where I was. Uh... anything else I should know about this place?

[Vincent gets swiftly up and back to his feet in a swirl of red. As his cape settles around him, he regains his composure.]

We cannot return home of our own will, so it's best to become accustomed to this place. There's a village, and housing... and many basic items are available with no need to pay for them. We're within an enclosure that extends some distance off.

[A pause. It always has to get foreboding with him.]

But we're here for a distinct purpose... as experiments.

...W-we're experiments...?!

That is our fate in this place. We don't have any choice in the matter.

...

W-what sort of experiments? [You have effectively freaked her out, Vincent.]

[Nothing about the word "experiment" is ever pleasant, he can agree wholeheartedly on that.]

They call it Shifting. They can alter our bodies, minds, our very histories if they want... the effects themselves are always temporary, and tend to happen on a monthly basis.

[Of course, horrific psychological damage lasts forever. Not that... every experiment causes THAT. Honest.]

...at least they're only temporary, but even thinking about it is... well, not fun? But why do they do it?

Apparently as a means to find a way out of their current situation... and to eventually send us home again.

Wait, their 'current situation'? What do you mean by that?

It's complicated... but their 'experiments' are meant to send us home. They don't intend for us to arrive here, but they are responsible for keeping us within the enclosure.

There are also enemies beyond the enclosure that we must be concerned with, other than the Malnosso.

There's other people beyond them? Who are they?

The Third Party.

[Vincent's stare becomes more intense, more dramatically serious.]

Their army has invaded this enclosure, and even now we're often sent away to wage war against them. Their sole intention for us is to cause us permanent death.

...isn't death permanent anyway? [seriously side-eying you now.]

The cycle of life and death knows no true end in Luceti.

[And this sounds far more ominous coming from him than any Welcome Center person could ever make it sound. Aren't you lucky you had to run into him instead?]

That... are you serious?

[Maron, look closely at this man. Does he appear to be a joking type at all?]

I wish I wasn't... yet that is our fate, in this world.

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