Mission 1: Explorations

[lookouthalifax]

Characters: Montblanc, everyone else you know. if you want.
Format: Anything up to and including indecipherable grunts.
This log is: Wide open!
Location: Anywhere. Well, probably not any dorms but the Red one, but he's a busy guy! He'll at least glance at everything. Backdated to the first day.
Summary: Montblanc explores! The first thing you do when you're in unfamiliar territory is to learn what's what. Or what's where, actually. The point is, Montblanc has is going to be having a good time doing everything from figuring out how to use computers (NOT LIKELY TO WORK) to reaching the end of the sea wall.
Warnings: Kupokupo!

He had prepared an itinerary as soon as he saw a map of the grounds, and was following it determinedly. He explored the entrance area first, slipping unobtrusively--as unobtrusively as a moogle in a human world could--through the strange halls to see if he couldn't get a little more information about the game and, more importantly, how he could escape it. He couldn't recall why, but he was sure that his clan needed him... for some reason. It upset him that he couldn't remember what was happening, but it just meant that he had to get home even faster.

His next stops were the two school buildings and the recreation centre, where he had been shooed away from the library and the pool. Apparently unclaimed weapons weren't allowed to access them. That left the computer room. He gave it a shot with the same determination that had made him a Clan Leader. This was just a different kind of challenge that he could handle, right? Weren't moogles the most technological race in Ivalice? Of course they were. No problem!

He eventually managed to turn one on.

He was frustrated by both the main hall and the mysterious building nearby. While he could explore the first floor of the central building, the rest of it as well as its neighbour were blocked off. There had to be a way to access them, but when no options presented themselves, he was forced to move on.

The forest was his next adventure. He walked along the wall at first to keep from getting lost, but eventually he gathered the will to venture into the forest proper. It felt larger and lonlier than it actually was. Usually, the moogle would be travelling with at least a few others for protection in the monster-infested forests of Ivalice, but they were all back home. Hopefully safe. He lost himself in his thoughts as he wandered, only snapping out of it when he reached the edge of the forest near the ocean. He finally ventured out to the end of the sea wall. He sat for quite some time, deep in thought about the clan he had left behind.

Comments

[wasabisandwiches]

Cécile had much the same idea, in terms of exploration. She'd read the entire Exaclan manual first thing, of course, and had multiple chats to catch up with people she knew, but now was the time for some hands on learning. She hadn't learned how to build her first Knightmare Frame by sitting back, reading manuals and watching, had she? No, she'd gone right out and started dismantling one and wound up grounded for three weeks because of it, but she learned quite a lot about how it worked!

She rather hoped that this expedition would lack the same punishment at the end. This place already felt distinctly enough like punishment, with the rules and regulations that seemed geared towards de-humanizing some of the entrants...

It was a sobering thought. The people that ran this place, what regard for freedom did they have? What regard for a person's own will? It seemed like they didn't even consider Weapons fully human, particularly the unclaimed ones...

Sighing, Cécile continued on her trek through the forest. It wouldn't do any good to concentrate on those things now. Now was the time for information gathering.

Crunching the foliage underfoot, she made sure to stay where she could see the sun through the tops of the trees, not fancying getting lost, even with the map she'd committed to memory. She stopped when she reached the edge of the forest, feeling distinctly satisfied with herself.

[lookouthalifax]

Montblanc was on his way back to his dorm when he spotted her leaving the forest not far from where he had emerged earlier. It looked like he wasn't the only person interested in finding their way around the campus! And odds were good that a person who thought like him was worth meeting, right? Of course she was. You would be hard pressed to find a person who Montblanc would call not worth meeting.

He approached her, holding up a hand in greeting. "Find anything interesting in there, kupo?"

[wasabisandwiches]

Cécile blinked at him, holding her hand back up in response. "Not yet! I did get lost for a little bit," she offered, cheerfully. "Thankfully the forest isn't that large." It would have been distinctly terrible if she'd gotten lost in the forest for any real length of time; after all, there were things to do, manuals to read...

[lookouthalifax]

He nodded. "It's easy to get turned around in there. I mostly stuck to the wall so I wouldn't get lost, but I think I must have missed out on a lot because I was doing that!" he grinned ruefully. Navigating even small forests had never exactly been his calling. "I'm planning to head back in to look around properly later, kupo. It seems like a good idea to explore as much of this place as we can, don't you think?"

[discarded]

Miwako was sitting in the courtyard reading through her Exaclan manual. It was all so confusing to her; what kind of school would come up with a game like this? And why?

When she heard someone wandering by, she looked up. And then blinked and looked again. What kind of animal was that?

[lookouthalifax]

Montblanc smiled when he caught her taking another look at him. He was already used to attracting stares here. It didn't bother him- it wasn't the first time he'd met someone who was awkward around unfamiliar species, that was sure.

She looked busy, but he hoped she wouldn't mind a short distraction. "Not many moogles where you're from, kupo?"

[discarded]

"Erm... n-no, there aren't," she replied incredulously. It could talk. No cat or rabbit she'd ever seen could speak Japanese. This was so bizarre. "I've never heard that word. Um, sorry."

[lookouthalifax]

"Kupo! It's nothing to be ashamed of," he reassured her. She probably came from one of those small towns that were mostly one race, or maybe from one of the cities with few of his kind. Either that or he this somewhere in the world where moogles never ventured.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Montblanc of Clan Nutsy, kupo." He nodded his head in a little half-bow, his pompom bobbing behind it.

[discarded]

"Um-- It's... nice to meet you." She bowed back; she was so awed by the creature that she just fell back into natural reactions. "I'm Miwako Ihara of, um, Tokyo."

[lookouthalifax]

"Of Tokyo, kupo? I've never even heard of it! No surprise there, though; I've never been outside of Ivalice before now. If I'd known there were places like this out there, kupo, I definitely would have explored the world a little more! There are so many amazing things here!" Like indoor plumbing, computers, electricity, and plastic. Everything from the doorknobs to the soap was different from how things were in Ivalice. It was awfully exciting for a member of the most mechanically-inclined race in the country.

"Kupo! Are things in Tokyo anything like they are here?

[discarded]

"Ah, sort of," she replied, wondering inwardly at the things he was saying. Ivalice? Kupo? "I mean... this school is very much like the school I went to, except for, um, the fighting, and the memory erasure, and us not being allowed to go home... The class structure is similar, though, I mean." It had made sense as she thought the words, but now that they were out of her mouth she worried that they were actually ridiculous.

[loyal_liar]

Lyra followed the little creature. It was cute, and she was curious not to mention rather bored. Besides, maybe he'd be willing to be her next weapon!

[lookouthalifax]

Montblanc's long ears didn't take long to tell him that he had a stalker. He was more curious than he was worried. Who would possibly want to follow him here?

Well, there was no better way to find out than to ask, right? If things went badly, he was sure he could take care of himself. He spun to face his follower. "Kupokupo! What can I do for you?"

[loyal_liar]

Lyra just stared down at the little creature and tilted her head.

"Kupo?" She echoed.

[lookouthalifax]

"Kupo!" he replied with a nod, as though he was answering a question. It was like no one here had ever spoken to a moogle before!

Since she had neither bolted nor attacked when he turned to face her, he decided that she probably wasn't an immediate threat. Some people might consider it odd to worry that a young girl like this one was dangerous, but those people probably didn't live in worlds where anyone with the gift for it could perform magic.

[loyal_liar]

"What are you?" Lyra asked, kneeling down to get a better look at this funny little creature, pushing some hair out of her face.

[lookouthalifax]

"I knew it! You've never spoken to a moogle before, have you, kupo? My name is Montblanc. I'm the head of Clan Nutsy." He bowed slightly, his pompom springing forward as he did.

[loyal_liar]

Clans? Well, the only clans Lyra knew of were clans of witches, but she supposed it might be something similar.

"I'm Lyra Silvertongue!" She told the Moogle, before looking at his pompom. It would be rude to try to touch it, she reminded herself.

[brokencrane]

Yuka was out for a walk, trying to familiarize herself with the layout of the grounds; it wouldn't be good to get lost here. She hadn't planned to spend very long in the forest, but she'd found a clearing with a little pavilion in the middle of it, and it looked like a nice quiet place to spend some time later, so she'd decided to explore the surroundings a little more.

She spotted the strange creature a little ways from the clearing. What was that? It certainly didn't look human, but it was wearing clothes and walking around like a person would... "Um, excuse me--"

[lookouthalifax]

Montblanc stopped and turned when he heard her speak. "Oh! Hello, kupo!" He bobbed his head politely.

[brokencrane]

She blinked in surprise; it could talk too, then. "Hello." How to ask...it would sound terribly rude no matter what, but it was just so strange. "Um, I'm sorry for being rude, but...what are you?"

[lookouthalifax]

He was used to it by now. He was starting to wonder if no moogle other than him had ever left Ivalice! It was a little unsettling, but he wouldn't let his concerns about that ruin his opportunity to make a good first impression. "A moogle, kupo! My name is Montblanc of Clan Nutsy," he told her.

[brokencrane]

A...moogle? Well, in hindsight, it wasn't very likely she would've understand any answer he gave her. "My name is Yuka Osada. Nice to meet you, Montblanc-san," she said, giving him a small bow. "Do they have a lot of...moogles where you're from, then?"

[lookouthalifax]

He nodded. "Of course, kupo! Especially in my home town. Muscadet is the kupo capital of Ivalice. We have other races around, too, like humans and nu mou, but for the most part it's moogles as far as the eye can see. Is it just humans where you're from?"

[brokencrane]

"I see." She'd never heard of Ivalice before; she was still having a hard time wrapping her head around this whole "different worlds" idea.

Then his question hit her. "Um...mostly..." She probably shouldn't mention the Orphenochs. Most people from her...world didn't even know about them, and they were basically monsters, weren't they. She couldn't transform at this place anyway, so there wasn't any reason anyone had to know, right?