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.

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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.

Maybe so. [ He got a tiny smile from her. ] Guess we have our work cut out for us there.

[ She let out a tiny chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. ] I'm...uh, a telepath. Back home I knew everyone I lived with so it didn't feel as weird hearing them. [ It felt awkward to tell someone that but if they were going to be in the same building it meant they'd run into each other and maybe it'd be better if he knew at least something. She just hoped he didn't react as badly as some people did to telepaths. ] It's also a lot easier to filter them out because I was used to doing it.

Pretty much. I'm probably going to start out with exploring. I'll worry about growing a culture later.

[He returned the smile, though his brow lowered at her explanation. He'd heard of telepathy, in a completely fictional way. She amounted to the only person he'd ever met who claimed it and so he paused for a moment, processing.]

You read peoples' minds? [He shook his head, a vision of stumbling through a loudly speaking crowd of strangers flashing through his mind.] Shit that has to suck.

Seems like the smarter move. Better to know where you've been kidnapped to, right?

[ She gave him a wry smile and pointed a finger up to her head. ] It's exactly like that actually. Stumbling through a loudly speaking crowd of strangers with their thoughts being randomly flung at you. Most of the time you really don't want to hear what people are thinking.

And if there's anything to learn about the people who left the place like this.

[People didn't choose to live this way, it was forced upon them, either through oppression or neglect.]

I don't blame you. [He smiles.] I wouldn't trade you, that's for sure. Tell you what, I'll take my thoughts elsewhere and let you get acclimated. [A nod.] Good to meet you, Jean.

Thank you. [ She gives him a gentle smile. ] I really appreciate it. It was nice to meet you.

You too. [He gives a mock salute.] Take care of yourself.

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Welcome to Haven:

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