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
[Well, for someone who isn't from the wrong end of the timeline or the wrong region, that is. He takes another look at her profile on the fly and, maybe 'electroshock' should have been an indicator but he's been absorbing a lot of information lately. Hmm.
He is used to shaking hands, for his part, and this is that sort of a gathering anyways. She gets a firm shake, pleasant and brisk.]
Look forward to working with you.
no subject
Thank you for the offer! I would appreciate any help that you can give with that, as well as being able to work with you once we get started on our mission tomorrow.
no subject
Here and now all he really needs to do is keep going on the basic courtesies, though, so:]
Looks like you've got everything down here except for the name, unless there's anything else that needs adding. You'd have to talk to them for real edits, though.
[He tilts his head towards the inside of the building, but other than that he really just has browsing tips for general mobile devices, his canon is on flip phones at the moment. There's a hum as he tucks his own device back into his pocket.]
You work with medicinal plants?
no subject
no subject
[Thoughtfully, even though so far most of the vegetables on the table he's been able to recognize, so it's not like they're venturing off into the fantastical (relatively?) unknown here.
(He says it's an exchange but given the camping hell nature of their trip she will probably have more to offer. He is just here to lament the slow death of electronic civilization, probably.)]
Maybe we'll be counting on you for edible wild plants.
[He says 'edible wild plants' the same way someone would say 'dwarf elliptical galaxies'. Truly a far off concept...]
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[The fact that they can technically see into the Shimmer particularly in daylight kind of messes with the way everyone keeps talking about it, like it's some kind of separate plane of reality or just somewhere in between being back on the Dowa continent and coming here.
Wow, his sense of reality sure has gotten skewed lately along with everything else.]
But according to what's out here... It shouldn't be that different. Maybe further in. [musingly] Maybe the rations are enough for camping.
[Is this just a camping trip to him.]
no subject
[Starvation would be a real bad time.]
no subject
We have some pretty enthusiastic hunters here.
[Accidental pun on at least two peoples' names or titles. This place is more accidentally German than half the Dowa Kingdom.
Sometimes it do be like that.]
Between all of you, we'll be fine.
no subject
no subject
[She's not wrong, and the spirit is right, at least.
Probably, it would have been a good idea to run more practice drills as a group -- the timing on recruitments and the pace of training versus actually setting out made that a little tough but, it is what it is.
There's a faint smile from him.]
There's all kinds of people here from all walks of life; more than I've ever seen. That's saying something.
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[Softly bemused, a little disjointed, because no matter what it still takes some doing to wrap your head around the possible fact that you're breaking space-time just to hang out, learn how to patch people up, and eat some last-minute toast before S-day.]
It was me, and my office, and the people I saw daily.
What were they like? Your companions.
no subject
And then there was Mr. Pierson. He was wanting to collect money for an orphanage, and frequently wanted to invite me out to the gardens to spend time with him, but... I was always so busy, and despite his interest, I had to turn him down a lot when he asked me out.
[... For good reason, really, given that Kreacher Pierson was... kind of a creep, but Emma is too nice to say it.]
... And finally, there is of course my dearest angel Emily.
[And at the mention of this person, her tone significantly changes to a fonder one, easy to tell that she liked this person quite a lot given the first name basis in comparison to the other people she mentioned.]
She's a doctor, and a very good one at that. She was always looking out for all of us and making sure that we were kept in good health, and the two of us would frequently spend time together talking and showing her my scarecrow and plants in the manor we were staying at.