The Shimmer Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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theshimmer2020-07-18 12:17 am
shimmermods) wrote in theshimmer2020-07-18 12:17 am
Welcome.
WELCOME
The Shimmer is beautiful.
There are a lot of things that may or may not have been expected upon your arrival here – the walls of concrete and steel, the others that were brought here with you, the others that weren't brought here with you but have been a constant source of information and instruction and blatant, brazen surveillance – but the fact remains that this world does not seem, inherently, to be an unkind one. Foreign in some ways, perhaps familiar in others; either way, it's a world teeming with life, and with people, and perhaps most jarringly it's a world with beauty, and nothing you've seen otherwise is quite as repulsively and grotesquely beautiful as the Shimmer.
It defies desription, really; the boundaries of it are barely visible during the day, just a thin iridescent sheen encompassing the trees and thick-growing vegetation of the mountains, sweeping ever-closer and closer still to the boundaries of the compound you've been living in but are greatly unlikely to have come to call home. It cascades heavily down the face of the mountain, nestling into the tops of trees before it swallows them whole, arcing up into the sky so far that it hurts your eyes to try to find the crest. It seems almost ravenous in its grace; whatever it touches, it seems to consume.
At night, it's a different matter; it glows and dances in defiance of the bright lights of the compound, glistening bright like the Northern lights - a bit too low to the ground, a bit too far south, a bit too warm this time of year, but the effect is breathtaking. All the colors of the borealis seem to blink lazily at you as they twist in and out of view, sparkling scattershot among the remnants of a town about two miles off that has long since gone dark with abandonment and disuse.
Your mission begins tomorrow.
Your mission begins tomorrow and maybe you're ready for it, maybe you aren't; maybe you're trying not to think about it too much. But the fact of the matter is that there's a rooftop observation deck, open-air and about five stories off the ground, and it's granting you an optimal view of the surroundings and the Shimmer and that darkened town not too far off, and there are no other buildings around for miles. The air is balmy and humid, a little too warm to be pleasant but lacking the roiling heat of the day, a light breeze rendering the entire thing an acceptable respite from the training grounds within the building itself. The only sound this high up and this close to the Shimmer are those made by the people who are here with you – some you know, some you don't. Some are more recent arrivals than others; some have been here for just as long as you. You've all had information taken down about you, the results of which have been provided to you on a small device you found in your room, so perhaps it feels as though you know these people already.
Either way, the night is young, the sun having dipped below the horizon less than half an hour ago, leaving you with perimeter lights that are too bright and the ever-present, watchful glow of the Shimmer; there are tables set up around the balcony for you to use, to eat or socialize or just...sit. You haven't been deprived by any means, but the food that's been provided out here for you tonight is noticeably better than usual; perhaps they know it's the last time you'll eat well for a while. Perhaps it's an apology. Perhaps it's nothing to look into too deeply.
Feel free to stay out here for as long as you like; enjoy each other's company. Or don't let yourself enjoy it too much; it's up to you.
However you choose to do it, perhaps it's best to make sure you have no regrets.
There are a lot of things that may or may not have been expected upon your arrival here – the walls of concrete and steel, the others that were brought here with you, the others that weren't brought here with you but have been a constant source of information and instruction and blatant, brazen surveillance – but the fact remains that this world does not seem, inherently, to be an unkind one. Foreign in some ways, perhaps familiar in others; either way, it's a world teeming with life, and with people, and perhaps most jarringly it's a world with beauty, and nothing you've seen otherwise is quite as repulsively and grotesquely beautiful as the Shimmer.
It defies desription, really; the boundaries of it are barely visible during the day, just a thin iridescent sheen encompassing the trees and thick-growing vegetation of the mountains, sweeping ever-closer and closer still to the boundaries of the compound you've been living in but are greatly unlikely to have come to call home. It cascades heavily down the face of the mountain, nestling into the tops of trees before it swallows them whole, arcing up into the sky so far that it hurts your eyes to try to find the crest. It seems almost ravenous in its grace; whatever it touches, it seems to consume.
At night, it's a different matter; it glows and dances in defiance of the bright lights of the compound, glistening bright like the Northern lights - a bit too low to the ground, a bit too far south, a bit too warm this time of year, but the effect is breathtaking. All the colors of the borealis seem to blink lazily at you as they twist in and out of view, sparkling scattershot among the remnants of a town about two miles off that has long since gone dark with abandonment and disuse.
Your mission begins tomorrow.
Your mission begins tomorrow and maybe you're ready for it, maybe you aren't; maybe you're trying not to think about it too much. But the fact of the matter is that there's a rooftop observation deck, open-air and about five stories off the ground, and it's granting you an optimal view of the surroundings and the Shimmer and that darkened town not too far off, and there are no other buildings around for miles. The air is balmy and humid, a little too warm to be pleasant but lacking the roiling heat of the day, a light breeze rendering the entire thing an acceptable respite from the training grounds within the building itself. The only sound this high up and this close to the Shimmer are those made by the people who are here with you – some you know, some you don't. Some are more recent arrivals than others; some have been here for just as long as you. You've all had information taken down about you, the results of which have been provided to you on a small device you found in your room, so perhaps it feels as though you know these people already.
Either way, the night is young, the sun having dipped below the horizon less than half an hour ago, leaving you with perimeter lights that are too bright and the ever-present, watchful glow of the Shimmer; there are tables set up around the balcony for you to use, to eat or socialize or just...sit. You haven't been deprived by any means, but the food that's been provided out here for you tonight is noticeably better than usual; perhaps they know it's the last time you'll eat well for a while. Perhaps it's an apology. Perhaps it's nothing to look into too deeply.
Feel free to stay out here for as long as you like; enjoy each other's company. Or don't let yourself enjoy it too much; it's up to you.
However you choose to do it, perhaps it's best to make sure you have no regrets.
no subject
Given the eternally sleepy look on his face, you could probably call him eternally distracted, but who knows how accurate that is. Just at the moment he's properly paying attention -- at least enough to slow to a stop and then nod helpfully at Felicia and her blanket reunion. He even has a hand cupped around his cigarette protectively...
At least you kind of woke him up, probably.]
Don't worry about it. It's just a blanket.
[He seems to be taking the blanketpocalypse in stride, at least. There's a glance between Felicia and the spread of stuff she left behind to chase her wayward supplies.]
Inventory, right? If you were going to lose something, might as well lose it here.
[At the end of the day maybe he's just way too chill about this.]
no subject
Either way, though, Felicia does go a little sheepish when she sees Jean protecting his cigarette--she nearly messed that up, didn't she? Well, at any rate, she straightens herself up and bows politely at the question.]
Yes! I just wanted to make sure that I had everything before we went--it's not like we're going to get another opportunity to pack, so...we may as well make the most of it, right?
I-It's just kind of silly that even after all this training, I've still got butterfingers...but I guess you're right. Better to have it happen out here than in there--who knows if we'd see it again!
no subject
It's a good idea. You think we've got enough?
[He hasn't thought to ask for extra supplies, himself, but it's not like he has any field experience, nor the ability to carry that much extra in any event. Truly a noodle of limited uses, F everyone.]
I don't think you can train away clumsiness. [patient but blunt is apparently his M.O..... she gets a half-smile, maybe encouraging??] But you just have to learn to counter it some other way. Tie up your blanket. Work closer to the ground. There's ways.
no subject
I personally think we do--just from what I've learned and what we've seen inside! But the Shimmer is unpredictable, so I might ask...
[Still...that other bit gets a bit of thinking from Felicia. It stings a little, Felicia won't lie, to say that clumsiness can't be trained but...]
...That's a good idea! If I can do that, then everything will have to stay where it is--it won't just blow away again! That's a wonderful idea!
[This might actually work, but working toward the ground is. Gonna be an obstacle. Oh lord.]
no subject
[Encouraging continues....... maybe. He's so noncommittal it's hard to tell exactly where he lands, but on the bright side nagging a little about extras isn't his job. Thanks, Felicia.
To be perfectly fair neither of them have been particularly graceful lately but Jean doesn't seem especially affected either way even as he considers the blanket and then considers wherever he stashed his own. He's going to have a time if it ever escapes, huh. That's a problem for future Jean, probably.]
We have camping supplies, too -- there's ways to hold things down. It's hard to tell what kind of weather we'll be running into.
[If a clear night can generate this sort of mess then maybe... they ought to start planning...... some sort of storm is coming, judging by the atmosphere here.]