duskofthegods

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[A teenaged girl with cerulean hair wanders the streets. For a homeless wanderer, her school uniform seems unblemished and heavily starched. She cradles her cell phone in her hands, perplexed that she's receiving a signal, but none of her contacts make a connection.

She tries tinkering with her settings--none if it looked familiar. No IP address, all her social media applications were greyed-out, save for one--

--which launched a live video feed to...well, somewhere, but she couldn't be certain who would see it.]

Excuse me, if there's anyone out there who intercepts this message - I'm Ami Mizuno, second year at Azabu-Juban high school in Tokyo--is this...have I somehow been transported to Athens? Or...

[She looks around again, taking note of the distinctly Earth-like atmosphere. There was no sign of the planet Earth in the sky, either.] ...this isn't the Moon Kingdom, either...

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[Moon kingdom? Elsa blinked when she heard that, recalling that someone had said they were from another planet before. But no, the young lady in the strange uniform had said something about Athens. She was certain that had been in a history book somewhere, a far off city, but one famous in history. The construction here certainly was reminiscent of Greek temples, so that meant that perhaps she was from Earth?

No, none of that was as important. She was lost and confused.]

Hello. I am Elsa. I am afraid that I do not know any of those places but Athens, though I do not think this is actually Greece however it looks that way. Have you just arrived?

[Wide eyes only grew wider at the first sight of a young woman on her cell screen, and though relieved to make contact with what appeared to be a friendly face, Ami couldn't bring herself to smile just yet.]

Hello, Miss Elsa. That is correct--I...[She brought a crooked finger to her chin, her brow furrowing in thought.] ...I fear I may have fallen asleep while studying, and found myself here.

[She noticed a small detail that she had to pinpoint--] You said you 'do not think' - does that mean you're not from this place?

[Elsa shook her head almost immediately. No, she wasn't surprised by what Ami had said, after all. She'd been asleep when this had happened to her. So, it was entirely believable.]

You are not the first to have been drawn to this strange city I am afraid. My story is not unlike yours. We are far from my beloved Arendelle and my people.

You are not hurt, not too cold are you?

[The question causes Ami to examine herself. She was so concerned with having questions answered, she hadn't considered that she may have experienced a rough landing of sorts.]

No...I seem to be unscathed. [She looks back to the woman and finally offers that small smile of hers.] Thank you for your concern, however.

Are all the people here from elsewhere? It seems there are clusters of people around that seem quite well-acclimated.

[There was relief there in Elsa's features. Good, Ami wasn't having any immediate problems. Thankfully, the winter chill was finally beginning to fade and the spring would be along in but days. She needed that respite to fine tune her own powers.]

Good. No, not everyone here is from elsewhere. The city was full when we arrived. I think people like you and I are more unique.

[She didn't want to push the topic of temples. It was uncomfortable enough as is.]

Hmm...[There she goes, back into thought. She taps her chin a few times, looking up as though awaiting that cliched light-bulb.]

...I wonder for what purpose we are here, then. I'm assuming there's not a way out..? [She looks back to Elsa expectantly.]

[Elsa fidgeted and looked to the side. She had a feeling that she knew precisely why everyone was brought to this world. But, it wasn't someone freshly arrived needed to deal with. Besides, not everyone had claimed a throne had they? Thankfully there was an entirely different question to answer.]

Not that we know. If you were to walk to the edge of the town, just a small distance beyond it, you would find that you disappeared into the woods, only to emerge and approach the town from the other side.

We have found no exit yet.

So you have tried. How troubling...

[She looks around again, worry starting to appear across her face.]

So...what am I to do here? Is there a city hall I should register at? Or somewhere to learn about the town I'm in?

Yes, though I would not suggest you simply take my word for it. There is no danger, only frustration. It is best to see for certain for yourself, I feel.

[She looked deeply uncomfortable before she sighed and nodded.]

There is a hostel that is being run by a woman named Tatra. She will give you free room and board. You are welcome to do as you please in the city. The locals may have certain hopes, but for now I think perhaps just trying to get settled, to see if anyone you know is here, that might be best.

A hostel...that sounds like a good place to start.

[Though what did Elsa mean by 'certain hopes'? Ami shuffled that question away for another time.]

Thank you, Miss Elsa, for all your guidance. I'll see if I can find the hostel for the time being and go from there.

Of course. Let me send you directions from there to where I am staying. If you wish to speak later, or have more questions you may come to me. I am sure that there will be some.

[She definitely wanted to make sure and be here for new arrivals. Tatra did not need to be the only one like that.]

Oh that's--[Her eyes flicker to the bottom of the screen as the information sends through.]--that's very kind of you. I'll do my best not to come by at an inconvenient time.

No time is truly inconvenient, Ami. I am frequently available. But until we meet, please take care.

We've advanced to colonizing the moon and we're still using monarchy?

[ Clearly she's from Earth, if she knows about both Tokyo and Athens. Or at least some offshoot of Earth civilization. Probably. Right? Right. ]

[Ami blushes, quick to defend her princess--but not in a cruel way! She hopes...]

Oh! Th-the Moon Kingdom was centuries ago! Not a modern civilization, so--[She weakly smiles, her eyes going distant.] And the royal Moon Family is quite benevolent--closer to England, maybe?--though without the class discrepancies.

Oh. [ So, aliens then. Cool. ]

That makes more sense, I guess.

England isn't really a monarchy, though. It's like... pretend monarchy. Full monarchy tends not to go so well, at least for humans.

Indeed. The Silver Millenium is unlike most monarchies I've studied in the past. I wouldn't say it's a pretend monarchy, though it does seem to lack a male monarch.

[Take from that what you will.]

[ She chooses to take Wonder Woman's Paradise Island from that statement. ]

Sounds like my kinda monarchy.

I'm Steph, by the way. Stephanie Brown, local Goddess of Coffee. I sorta skipped that part.

It was a wonderful time of peace. [Perhaps it was inevitable to end, though Ami was a bit of a cynic at times. She tried not to let that part of her show.]

Miss Stephanie, it's good to meet y--[Hold on--] E-excuse me, did you say, 'goddess'? ['Of Coffee' no less, how very odd--] Do you mean to say that there are deities incarnate in this place?

No no, not at all. There are thrones here that convey the office of 'god'. It does seem to come with certain powers, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't literally make us gods.

[Have a wordless pause, and several bewildered blinks.]

So...then...what does...why--does that mean you--

[She stops, not sure where to start, and she puts a hand to her forehead.] I don't really understand.

[ Allow her to explain. ]

There's a Temple of Coffee. Before I took the throne, there was no coffee. I took the throne, suddenly: coffee. It's not very good coffee, but it does seem to improve when I yell at it.

[WELL THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE--]

I see - so it's the act of occupying a throne that makes the element--for lack of better term--manifest, not the will of some omnipotent deity?

[...why coffee?]

[ Because coffee, that’s why. ]

Pretty much. It’s a whacky world we’ve found ourselves in.

Edited 2018-03-16 20:17 (UTC)

'Wacky' is a word for it, to be sure.

...so are there a lot of thrones? For the other...fundamental necessities, I mean.

[Not going to diss a coffee god, not going to diss a coffee god...]

[ It's true, coffee is a fundamental necessity. ]

Yeah, there's a bunch. 30-something, I think.

Oh? And they're all occupied by citizens such as yourself?

Newcomers, yeah. Well, not all of them. Some of them are just empty. And some of them are being held by people who really don't want them and don't have time to deal with them, like me and Agriculture.

[ Please take agriculture from her. ]

So it's not the natives occupying the thrones, then?

[How bizarre...]

What would happen if you were to vacate agriculture, then? Would the crops die out? The herds get sick?

Pretty much exactly that. And fairly instantaneously, I think. Plus, no matter what kind of stuff you try to do to fix it it'll never get better. Not that there's anyone on the medicine throne right now anyway, I don't think.

[ Kara will be taking it in a minute, but Steph doesn't know that. ]

Hello, Miss Mizuno. I'm Zelda.

[ The blonde gives a proper smile and what is probably meant to be a curtsy, though it doesn't work very well over video. Then she addresses the bulk of the post. ]

I'm sorry, I can't say I'm familiar with any of those places. May I ask, when you say 'Moon Kingdom', are you referring to the moon over Earth?

[ She's learned from her books that there are lots of moons, and they're globes like Earth is, but the books were pretty clear on there being no breathable atmosphere. ]

[She smiles slightly, giving a small nod of affirmation.] That is correct, though the Moon Kingdom was centuries ago, rather than a currently existing civilization.

[For now, at least, if the future is to be believed.]

Nice to meet you, Miss Zelda. Are you of this place? Have you anything you can tell me as to how I got here?

I'd no notion such a thing was even possible.

[ Now she really wants to meet whoever could establish a kingdom on the moon... and ask if anything untoward happens during a blood moon, like in her world. ]

Oh, no. I'm from the kingdom of Hyrule, and I've no more idea how I came to be here than how you did.

It struck me as odd the first time I'd heard of it, until I saw it with my own eyes.

[At first she thought that's where she was, yet again. She can't decide if she's relieved to be wrong or not.]

I can't say I've ever heard of the Kingdom of Hyrule, though there are many Kingdoms beyond the Milky Way that humankind has yet to discover, I've learned.

[Going by your ears, Zelda--no offense--she gathers that you're an alien of some sort.]

The Milky Way--

[ Hold on, let her check her notes. She's been learning a whole lot of stuff really quickly, and sometimes she gets confused about what they think at home that's correct and what isn't.

...Nope, the Milky Way contains Earth, it isn't separate from it. ]

Yes, that's where Hyrule is, if I'm not mistaken. On Earth. Astronomy is a relatively new subject to me, I'm afraid.

It is?

[Alternate realities, then? Or a separate dimension?]

Can you elaborate as to what it's in the vicinity of, then?

The Earth? Or Hyrule?

[ You're confusing her, Ami. Only a very small portion of her world has been mapped. ]

As in--what sorts of countries border it? I'm from Earth and I can't say I've heard of it.

Hyrule Kingdom is surrounded by Hebra to the northwest, Eldin to the northeast and the Gerudo Desert to the southwest. Lanayru, Necluda and Faron are all under Hylian rule, to the south and east of us. Or, they were, before the Calamity.

Hyrule the continent is bordered by the Great Mountains to the north and west, and the sea to the east. The Gerudo Desert stretches much farther than anyone has been able to explore. Beyond that, nobody knows.

[That certainly doesn't sound anything like the Earth that she knows. Could it be linguistic? Or a different era, perhaps?]

Nobody knows? You don't have explorers that venture past?

[ Both very reasonable possibilities. Or maybe it’s a whole other planet altogether that’s just called the same thing. ]

All who’ve tried either perished or turned back. We’ve done all we can with the technology we have. It’s possible the ancient Sheikah had gone farther, with their more advanced technology, but almost all of their writings have been lost.

[Zelda just said the magic word--Ami visibly perks with interest, but not before offering some condolence.]

That's so awful--I'm so sorry to hear that.

But...wh...at sort of technology...?

[ Zelda doesn't really know what to say to that. It's not like she knew any of them. ]

The ancient Shiekah built the four Divine Beasts, great battle machines that make use of some power we'd never seen before. Surely the creators of such things could find a way to scale impossibly high mountains, survive the desert and ocean, even overpower the monstrous beasts that make such places their homes.

How fascinating...

[Like those robots little boys watch on TV.]

Do you think they're using those machines to explore past the borders?

If they are, and they still live, they've waited some 10,000 years to return to us.

Uh, um, it's because it's neither of those places.

(Peter rubs the back of his head.)

Um, okay... so okay, where to begin with explaining all of this. How much did everyone fill you in on so far?

Edited 2018-03-18 03:03 (UTC)

Did you just say Moon Kingdom?

[Someone wasn't terribly into anime as a child unless she stumbled onto it.]

Edited 2018-03-22 06:42 (UTC)

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