Welcome to the Program

[airlockedmods]

Good Morning, Champions. In the interest of maintaining healthy sleep patterns, a day/night cycle is in effect. Your presence is expected in the cafeteria in exactly one hour.

[The voice comes through not a large speaker, but through the device that's attached to each Champion's arm. Further investigation of the features of the device will reveal a list of profiles, a mini-map, and a list of rules. The hallways are shiny white and silver, with running lights along the floor and lights on the ceiling, and at the junction of the hallways is a sign with a knife and fork icon and an arrow pointing down the hall.

Welcome to the Excellence Program, Champions. Time to get to know your teammates.]

Comments

[discalibur]

That makes most of us, I believe. It's a strange situation we have all found ourselves in.

But I'm sure we'll get our answers soon enough!

[challengesfate]

I hope so.

[She frowns, continuing to look around.] But I don't know how much can be answered for...or how much anyone will bother answering. Everyone else I have met seems...not familiar with these sorts of things, but...they've been able to adapt very easily.

[discalibur]

And you've been having more trouble?

Well, I realize I can't provide answers about our situation right now, but if there's anything else about this you're having trouble with, then please allow me to assist!

[challengesfate]

[Oh

That's

Huh.

Lucina blinks, a little surprised by the offer, but then nods.]

Alright. I would greatly appreciate the help. Um...[What to start with? Perhaps...yes, okay! She points to the electric lights above them.] What manner of lanterns are those? Do you know?

[discalibur]

[He looks up and... ah. Even that basic? Well, he's hardly one to back down from a promise.]

Oh, the lights! They're more... advanced lanterns, I suppose! But instead of using fire, they use electricity.

[challengesfate]

[Yeah, we're going pretty far back into technological advances here.]

And where does the electricity come from? Is there a tome in use?

[discalibur]

Well, that is... more difficult to explain. It would have to be generated somewhere, I suppose, but... someone with a better technological background would understand it better.

I'm not sure how a tome would factor into it...

[challengesfate]

Well, a Thunder tome could generate a significant amount of electricity. If it were Elthunder or Thoron, even moreso. But I only know that from seeing magic on the battlefield, I've never used it myself.

[...What.]

[discalibur]

...Huh?

[You... absolutely lost him, Lucina.]

[challengesfate]

...Have you...never seen a tome before? One with magic? Thunder, Fire, Wind, and then the Dark magic tomes...they're quite varied.

[discalibur]

Definitely not, not ever.

When you say magic, you can't really mean... actual magic?

[challengesfate]

What other magic is there?

[discalibur]

I'm... not sure. Ah, well, I suppose there is stage magic, but-- No, no.

I'm fairly certain that magic isn't real...

[challengesfate]

...I think I...understand the problem. Perhaps there is no magic in your realm - it is very real in mine.

[discalibur]

Your... So then you must be from very far away!

[challengesfate]

Perhaps. I...get the feeling that all of us are very far away from our homes right now, but...I could be wrong.

[discalibur]

Ah... yes, it does seem like that. And you're not the first I've met her who seems to be from somewhere completely unfamiliar to me.

It makes an already strange situation all the stranger.

[challengesfate]

It does. And on top of it all...we don't even know exactly where "here" is. I've...heard the term "space" used, but, I'm still trying to reconcile that with what I see through the window.

[discalibur]

Well, even simply saying space doesn't quite clear it up. It's very large. It's like being lost at sea and being content saying you're in "the ocean".

[challengesfate]

That's not...quite what I meant. But, I think I understand.

["Space" is super big, he means. Right? Right.]

[discalibur]

Ah yes, I should... probably clarify exactly what space even is, yes?

I suppose traveling to it isn't possible yet where you are from.

[challengesfate]

No...it's certainly nothing anyone has ever imagined being possible before.

[Nobody's figured out flight yet...]

[discalibur]

It's a little hard to explain, but...

Space is... essentially the sky, I suppose. If you were to fly up so high that you left the world entirely, then you would be in space. It's where everything is. Planets, the stars, the sun, the moon.

[challengesfate]

But...why would someone want to fly that high in the first place? We can see the stars just fine from the ground...

[discalibur]

The desire to see even more, of course! There's only so much one can glimpse from the ground. Those with an explorer's soul will naturally desire to go further than their own world.