fluxscape | Welcome to Haven:

Entry tags:

Welcome to Haven:

What: It's moving day for everyone.
Where: Haven MagLev Train/Haven Train Station and then Jerry's Info Booth for the Newbies.
When: 04/28 - Morning
Warnings: There will be swearing, probably mentions of violence. Will update as needed.

This FluxOver starts a lot differently than the others. For starters, everyone and we mean everyone is waking up on a train. No one's waking up in their homes. The first sound anyone hears isn't an alarm clock. It's the steady hum and squeal of the MagLev train just barely skimming it's rails as it makes a turn towards the Haven Train Station and then a deep, gravely, lightly accented male voice saying:

"Haven Train Station! Last stop! Everyone off!

And then the grinding of brakes as the train slows down to a bit of a harsh stop. With so many people stuffed into the train like sardines, it's probably hot and crowded, and everyone wants off. It's also very likely you're going to wake up leaning on someone. Do you know them? Are they a stranger? Let's hope you didn't drool while you were sleeping, or snore too loudly.

When the doors open, the heat probably gets a bit worse and the crowd is very eager to get off the train. Jostling and bumping, it seems as though no one cares who they smack into, they just want off. Since it's the last stop, it's probably best you depart, too. Should you choose to stick on the train, you'll find that while it does depart the Haven Train Station eventually, it just goes through a foggy area that seems to lead right back to the Haven Train Station. It'll keep doing so until you depart the train. Once the last person is off, the train will roll away and disappear in the distance.

For all the newcomers, you'll feel an impulse to go right to the very ramshackle-looking information booth, where a gentleman named Jerry has your information packet. For everyone else, your phones will start buzzing and a voice will start giving you directions, leading you back home and we're sorry to say it, but your homes have taken on the external appearance of everything else around them. Pieced together, rusty. Built more for survival and less for visual appeal.

Again; externally. Internally, you'll find that nothings changed and home is just as you remember it. And for anyone that got anything for FluxMas, you'll find your stuff waiting for you in the kitchen of your homes. Unless it's a vehicle. You'll find the keys to that in your pockets, shortly after stepping into your houses.

Settle in. Explore. Find your friends.

Welcome to Haven.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Making his way home from work, he typically wouldn't have paid much attention to anyone loitering around the entrance to the apartment building. A lot of the natives tended to do it, and it had started to remind him enough of the Slums of Sector 7 that he just accepted it as part of the scenery.

Though this particular woman had shockingly red hair he hadn't seen around the area, and seemed to be avoiding the building actively. She didn't look lost exactly, but she definitely didn't look like a local.

She looked...angry at the building, but also sad? It wasn't pretty, sure, but it was better than nothing.]

Hey. Everything okay? I haven't seen you around here before.

[ She probably should have paid more attention to people coming and going. How was she supposed to do that though with so much going on in a new place? It'd take time for her to adjust to a new place with new minds. New unhappy minds. She really should have noticed someone approaching way faster than she had.

She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. ]

Yeah, everything's great. I love weird kidnappings. This one's definitely miles above the last few I had. [ That was actually pretty true. The last ones involved her powers being cut off from her and her being forced to work as a killer for shady secret organizations. At least this place didn't seem that bad so far. ] Uh, yeah, I haven't been here long.

You've got me there, it's pretty weird.

[And he didn't miss the fact that she wasn't lying about other kidnappings. He was starting to get the idea very few of the people here lived 'normal' or 'happy' lives, himself included, but kidnapping wasn't something you heard everyday, even in Midgar.]

Well, I'm Biggs. [He offered a hand to her.] And...welcome to Haven, our new home, until it sends us somewhere else.

It's saying something when I think something is weird. My life is kinda just a series of weird things. [ It was like one weird event after another and it seemed like there actually was no stopping it. Thinking that things would stop because she merged with a god probably was stupid on her part. Maybe it'd have made more sense to think things would get more complicated there. ]

Nice to meet you, Biggs. [ She took his hand and shook it with confidence. ] I'm Jean. Thanks for the welcome...I think. Does it decide to send us somewhere else a lot?

[That got a chuckle out of him at least.] I'll keep that in mind if I ever need a litmus test for weird.

[He couldn't say his life had been especially weird before being dragged to this reality, but it hadn't been boring.]

I don't know about "a lot", but when I showed up in this group of people, we were in a resort town called Driftcrest. I went to sleep one night and woke up on a train to Haven with everybody else. People who've been here longer say it's happened before.

You're in luck, I'm a walking litmus test for weird. I've been all over weirdland. [ And done some pretty weird things, like swapping two people's minds. One of them had deserved it though!

Okay, she kind of almost laughs at the name Driftcrest. Sorry, she tried not to but it just sounds so...well, weird. ] Driftcrest. That's a name and a half. [ She rests her hands on her hips. ] A resort town sounds a lot nicer than this. [ Bummer she got this instead. ] Does anyone know what controls the changing?

Yeah? Is that North or South of Crazytown?

[It was meant as a joke, if the smile was any indication. He was trying to be comforting, to let her know it wasn't a big deal on his end, either. Sure, it was probably one of the strangest things that had ever happened to him, but he was managing.]

It fit the place. [He shook his head.] Not that I know of, no. If they do know, they're not talking, which just means they're on the other side. [If there were sides, that was.]

They overlap. [ Her expression darkened though at the word crazy. That was something she could do without hearing ever again. ] I'm not though, crazy. Just to make that clear. [ Did it make her seem crazy to immediately say that and protest? Now she was even second guessing that. ]

There are sides now?

[He raised his hands to still any further protests.]

Hey, I wasn't calling you crazy. It was a joke.

[But he took her change in subject to heart, shrugging.] As far as sides, I don't know. It's hard not to see it that way. There's a group of people who get shuffled around to different places, apparently the other people stay the same visually, but might as well be different people. They don't remember us, and they don't remember the place the way it was before. That can't be chance. Somebody planned it, but they aren't sharing. People who are on your side don't keep secrets.

[ She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and bit down on her lower lip. ] Sorry. I've just...had bad experiences with that. [ Bad experiences that left her with barely any fingernails still. What did it say about someone that they ascended to become some sort of god and still bit their fingernails all the time? Probably that they were just a bit crazy.

She shook her head at his explanation. ]

That's super weird. I know someone who had powers that maybe could have done something like that but he's...well. Gone. You're right though, people on your side don't keep secrets. Secrets just mess everything up.

No problem. I didn't know, either. [He raised two fingers to his forehead in mock salute.] So, copy. No Crazytown.

[He smiles to let her know he didn't mean it, but nodded.]

Secrets leave you wondering who you can trust, and we don't need that around here.

I don't like to advertise it, you know? [ She forces a weird little smile, her best attempt to cover up how awkward she felt now. ] No Crazytown, please.

[ She lets out a little bitter chuckle. ]

Yeah, that's...really true. You have experience with something like that?

I don't blame you. [He smiles again, offering a hand in a friendly shake.] How about I just stick with Jean?

[He rolled his shoulder in a shrug.]

With shady organizations with more secrets than handouts? You could say that again.

I'd appreciate it. [ She gives his hand a quick shake. ]

Oof shady organizations are always a lot of fun to deal with.

You got it.

[He nodded.]

I have a feeling we have one to thank for all the amenities that came with us. [He motioned toward the building outside which they stood.]

Take the apartments for instance. They don't look like much from the outside, but if you have a look around, they really don't look like they're from around here. Maybe I'm paranoid, but in my experience, people in power don't like to do things for free, so I keep wondering what they're expecting of us. Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels weird, you know?

[ It might not be the most logical reaction to have, but Jean found herself smiling at his brief little rambling. ] I know someone that would probably be having the same reaction to all this. [ There was no way Scott would just trust all of this without thinking it was part of something bigger, something more doom and gloom. ]

It's paranoid, but paranoia isn't always wrong you know?

So you're telling me you're not? [God knew Biggs' healthy doses of paranoia had saved Avalanche on more than one occasion, if only because he made contingency plans for his contingency plans. Still, he chuckled awkwardly before nodding.]

Yeah, and I know a couple of people back home who'd be telling me I need to relax. Let me guess, that's your job with your friend?

Not really. I don't disagree with you, but I also...don't really care what they want from me. Nobody will ever force me to do something against my will again. [ So, yeah, she's got a healthy dose of paranoia about the entire thing. She definitely thinks he's right, that they're probably expecting something from them, but for now it sounds like nobody knows what.

She smiled a bit sadly. ]

Yeah, it...was. Someone had to keep him from getting an ulcer all the time.

Well, hopefully between the two of us, we can keep that from happening.

[He smiled, sympathetic. He didn't want to be used or to have his life directed for him any more than she did. He chuckled at her explanation, though, the sound somewhat sad as well.]

Yeah. I can think of a couple of people who do the same thing with me.

[ She smiles and gives a little shrug. ]

You prone to stress ulcers?

Well no, thankfully.

[Because if he was, it's not as though he could afford the treatment for it.]

Just the occasional [Read "often"] bout of insomnia.

That I can relate to. [ Not that she wanted to really admit to how dangerous her own bouts of insomnia could be. ] I end up going stretches without sleep.

[He scoffed, but it was self-deprecating and prepped to accompany his next comment.]

Well, maybe we can find a hobby. [He got the impression she didn't want to talk about whatever caused her insomnia, and thinking about his was just going to make it worse.] Have you been inside to see your apartment yet?

I can't remember the last time I actually just had a hobby for the fun of it. [ And as sad as that was, she wasn't entirely sure what she'd even want as one now. She shook her head. ] Nah. I was going to but it was...loud. [ Good job, Jean. Just confirm you're nuts right away. She let out a sigh. ] That probably sounds weird.

[Neither could he, if he were honest.]

Maybe it's about time, then.

[He tilted his head to the side, shaking his head.] Not really. "Loud" can mean a lot of things, but since you think it sounds weird, I'm thinking you mean something more specific than bad music.

Welcome to Haven:

b. wavering road apartments exploration

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