LUX (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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hfm_network2015-04-08 01:57 pm
de_lux) wrote in hfm_network2015-04-08 01:57 pm
[VIDEO] Welcome!
[ As dawn breaks over the Freesia City skyline, those new to this world will find themselves woken by an incessant chiming sound.
Those who investigate the device already fitted neatly over their eye will find a video message waiting from them, recorded on an "unknown" date and time, from a strangely generic person in a pair of tacky sunglasses. This figure speaks calmly, with a voice clear as a bell. ]
It is my pleasure to welcome to Freesia City, and I hope despite the mess you will feel comfortable here. You have been brought here to aid in defending this world, and you will not be alone.
Each of you has been equipped with a unique gift. Learn to use your new abilities wisely, and when this plane is once again free of darkness, you may be returned to your homeworlds.
This may seem a monumental task, but I am sure if we all work together...
Excuse me. I must cut this short. Good luck.
[ Frowning, the figure suddenly snaps its fingers and the feed cuts out. In its place, a group chat interface seems to have opened; anything posted here will ping everyone else on the network. ]
Those who investigate the device already fitted neatly over their eye will find a video message waiting from them, recorded on an "unknown" date and time, from a strangely generic person in a pair of tacky sunglasses. This figure speaks calmly, with a voice clear as a bell. ]
It is my pleasure to welcome to Freesia City, and I hope despite the mess you will feel comfortable here. You have been brought here to aid in defending this world, and you will not be alone.
Each of you has been equipped with a unique gift. Learn to use your new abilities wisely, and when this plane is once again free of darkness, you may be returned to your homeworlds.
This may seem a monumental task, but I am sure if we all work together...
Excuse me. I must cut this short. Good luck.
[ Frowning, the figure suddenly snaps its fingers and the feed cuts out. In its place, a group chat interface seems to have opened; anything posted here will ping everyone else on the network. ]
[Voice]
Why do I always wake up in the weirdest places...? [Sighs]
[Voice]
No. Not yet.
I'm still trying to figure out what they mean by gift.
And I'm hoping it's not a Wendy the Werewolf Stalker-style death-is-your-gift spiel, because that almost happened once, and never again.
[Voice]
As for the shadowy things, I get to feeling that we might wanna figure out how to fight them before they realise that we have no idea what's going on. They don't exactly look too friendly.
[Voice]
[That did make a frightening amount of sense, didn't it, Bette?]
Great. Think these devices they gave us work as super-powered flashlights too?
[Voice]
[Daniel occasionally has to deal with this sort of thing in his line of work]
And these devices do seem to have a large amount of functionality, though I won't fully know what they can do until I can find a spare one to pick apart.
[Voice]
I'm not usually involved when the stuff hits the fan back home. So this is new territory. [Though the fact that she was chosen over someone like Batgirl? Yeah. That makes Bette happy. Gives her a boost of confidence.]
I'm calling them iShades until we can get a better name. [She looks around her surroundings.] I mean, we're in a city. There has to be an electronic place that sells these somewhere, right? Speaking of, this does come with unlimited talk, text, and data, right? Because if not, I'm suing Tacky Shades for some sort of financial-slash-technological trauma.
[Voice]
As good a name for them as any, and I could probably tell you where we might find a shopping arcade or district or whatever when I get to the top of that tower I mentioned earlier.
[A brief pause] One thing though. As far as I'm aware, we're in an unfamiliar world, in a city that's encased in some sort of rainbow bubble. Are you sure our money is accepted here?
[Voice]
Oh. Uh. The money thing. I mean. Maybe they take credit? Credit is convertible, right? [This is what happens when you're a sheltered Southern Californian girl. Some things, like how money works, tends to be a little foreign to you.]
Or maybe these devices are linked to a credit account that Tacky Glasses set up for us or something?
[Voice]
As for credit? I doubt any cards we have from our homes will work, though it wouldn't hurt try. In any case, Tacky Glasses may have set something up, but he didn't say in his message so we can't know for certain.
[Voice]
And it casts a hell of a shadow too, which can't be good.
Maybe we can open up new credit accounts or...something.
[She audibly sighs.] This is insane. The last time I felt this lost, it was after this party I'd gone to because I'd done pretty well at the French Open and, well, I don't really parlez with the français.
It didn't end well.
But at least then, things weren't as difficult to figure out.
And I ended up with a really cute pair of shoes, too, even if they were a half-size too small.
[Voice]
Might be able to, if we can find a bank that'll let us. Though that would still mean that we'd need to get jobs. Urgh. I'm really starting to hope that Tacky Glasses has somehow set something up for us.
The French open? You're a tennis player then? Either way, I can empathise with being in a room full of people who don't speak your language and how lost that can make someone feel.
[Voice]
No, they can't have brought us here just to, like, work at the Gap or something. There's clearly a deeper reason with the shadows. Augh, I wish there was a way to get ahold of him, to get more answers, but that thing he sent seemed more like a recording than a live feed.
What did you do? Before here, I mean. I already know you were some sort of troublemaker.
[Voice]
My line of work is making trouble? Well, you're not wrong. I build things. Specifically, experimental technologies. I guess 'Inventor' would be a good job description? Occasionally though, my bosses want my particular skillset in the field, or I get given an invitation to some sort of science event that goes wrong about half an hour after I arrive, or something even more convoluted. It's almost like they just want me there when the shit hits the fan sometimes.
[Daniel sighs]
But where are my manners? I am Daniel Uscarte, scientist, tinkerer and occasional field operative, at your service.
[Voice]
I'm Bette. Bette Kane. Childhood beauty pageant queen, tennis champion, and college student. [Also crimefighter, but that feels like a weird thing to say out loud to someone she barely knows.] It's a pleasure making your acquaintance, Mr. Uscarte. [A little formal? Perhaps. But Southern Californian girls can have good breeding too. They aren't all vapid reality stars.] So. You're an inventor, I'm me. I've also spoken to an alternate universe counterpart of my cousin, and...a little royal guy with horns.
I'm sure there are more of us, though.
[Voice] ((I'm sorry this took so long,))
You're probably right. There are likely more than just four of us, especially if the reason why we're here is connected to those shadowy things.
It also kinda makes sense that whoever or whatever brought us here took us from different worlds. It's probably cause lesser backlash in our home universes than if he took a bunch of people from the same world.
I'm at the base of the tower now. I don't think it'll take too long to climb it.
[Voice] ((Not a single worry!))
It's high but it seems fairly climbable? [Granted, she used her glider wings, so it's not like she has first-hand experience.] I'm the blonde giving the shadows a mean stare.
[Voice]