trainmasters: (Default)
Aurora Express Mods ([personal profile] trainmasters) wrote in [community profile] auroraexpress2019-02-15 09:27 pm

Unlock! (1)

Who: Everyone
When: Day 12, evening into night
Where: the Aurora

[As evening approaches, you hear the jingle associated with an official message from your Chain. It's the same balloons and confetti animation as the last time newbies arrived, and the same message as well:]
WELCOME NEW HEROES

[As anticipated, some newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas.

Just after this, however, something much more startling happens...

Outisde, the bell tone gets all the louder, a beautiful resonating sound that fills the air. Then, suddenly, a flood of strange square-shaped sparkles appear, floating around like magical fireflies, bringing with them a pleasant warmth. They increase in size and volume until the air itself whites out with a bright but pleasant light. While you can't see, you can hear the bell, and the distant rumbling of stone.

Abruptly, the sound stops, and the bright light fades to reveal a sky painted in sunset hues. Where there was once a dark and hostile jungle with cracks in the ground, there's now a colourful rainforest environment and a floor thick with bright moss. The sounds of birds and insects and regular wildlife rise over the previous silence, and the aggressive plantlife is replaced by large flowers and succulent fruits. In one direction, a dirt path winds through the trees, and in the opposite, the brush gives way to a stone formation with a flat top and an opening flanked in carvings of water and plants.

If one were to enter the new cave entrance, they'd find the previous moon crystals replaced by rainbow ones that reflect sparkling light onto the floor, and feel soothingly warm to the touch. Further into the caves, there's a carved stone path that leads to the beach you initially arrived on. There stands the Prism: a large floating cube in the center of gyproscope-like concentric rings. Where it had been glowing black, it's now a royal purple, and the light and energy from it are significantly less malicious than before -- though still far from pure. The beach itself is now covered in fine white sand, and the sea no longer tries to pull you in -- provided you don't go out too far.

Because not all is well on this Star just yet. While the nearby water contains a reef of colourful fish, 100 meters or so out to sea the water turns black again. While under water in the safe area, you can occasionally see the shadows of great and terrible monsters deep in the dark.

Likewise, should you choose to follow the first path, after ~1km you'll find the forest fades back into the previous dense, dark jungle. At the edge of the darkness, there's something new -- the remains of what looks like a modern town. It's all overgrown, cottages twisted into ruins and streets covered in vines and prowled by tiger monsters and a new threat: towering reptilian creatures that climb the crumbling shells of apartment buildings and the empty City Hall, like geckos increased to dinosaur size. They're fast, and if they catch you they'll swallow you whole. On the one side, that makes it easier for someone to save you -- they could cut you out. On the other, those unable to be rescued will find their skin and muscles becoming slowly more transparent and stiff, the colour and feeling leaving them until their minds are trapped in a useless shell. Those found in that condition later must be saved via the healing pods -- but they'll remember their stay in their glass bodies, with their blood running and heart pumping like a living anatomical model of their organs.

On the Aurora, however, you're welcome to enjoy the first sight of the sun in 12 days. As the brilliant sunset moves into a night reigned over by a gentle moon, the Heartbeat Festival remains in full swing. So celebrate your victory with a glass of shimmery alcohol and a kiss, because you've done it -- your love has purified a part of this Star!]

[[OOC NOTES: CONGRATULATIONS on your first Prism purification, guys! There is a toplevel for ICly suggesting train upgrades here, so check it out! Next week we'll post a poll, and the week after the upgrade will be implemented.

The updates to the Setting page to reflect this post will be made soon, so keep an eye out!]]
desirestruth: (Mother--Mother)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-16 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
...It is difficult, for me to know what to say.

[She sighs, and picks up one of the glasses off the table, to play with the charm on the stem...]

To begin with...your full name is Lucien Margelidon. Or...to be technical, Crown Prince Lucien the Second, of the house of Margelidon, of the Golden Empire.
newmodelblade: (Destined to rot.)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-16 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
[That sets him to blinking. Frankly to kind of reeling in his seat. He needs a long moment to process it, before he manages to speak again:]

...I would prefer Lucien, if it is all the same to you, Naeva.

[And that comes with a wry little smirk.]
desirestruth: (the punishment can't be erased)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-16 11:20 am (UTC)(link)
Lucien? Smirk at me like that and I'm calling you Luci.

[She does mirror the smirk, but then considers where to continue.]

To be honest with you, I'm not sure how much it would help, to explain to you the entire history of the last century, without any memories to give you context.
newmodelblade: (And we've become the cycle)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-16 11:29 am (UTC)(link)
When you say it like that, I will have to ask that you keep such a nickname to yourself. Lucien will suffice.

[He laughs faintly, and sighs.]

To be honest, this is all so overwhelming. Just knowing that someone has some idea of who I am is comfort enough.
desirestruth: (Diseases make me weak)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-16 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
[...Yeah she's gonna take the chocolate drink and just. Down that. This will surely not make her lose her goddamn mind later on downthread.]

It's overwhelming even remembering...but, I am glad I can be of some comfort to you.
newmodelblade: (And we've become the cycle)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-17 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
[Of course not! This will certainly not cause any issues or anything.]

Again, I thank you, Naeva.
desirestruth: (Of all the mythical stories)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-17 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
You really don’t need to. Even without your memories...you know you’d have done the same if our positions were reversed, don’t you?

[Of course, he’d probably do it for anyone, too. Mmm yes just gonna enjoy this boozeahol.]
newmodelblade: (Create the demons true.)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-17 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
I would like to think so, yes. And if you say I would, then I have no reason to doubt that.

[He laughs a bit and just, leans back in his chair.]

What a strange day it has been.
desirestruth: (If I knew I wasn't loved)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-17 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
You have a gift for understatement, Lucien.

[She is resisting the urge to flop. She feels odd. She’s getting a bit flushed.

What is happening...]
newmodelblade: (that divides us thin.)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-17 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
...Are you alright? I think your drink might be getting to you.

[LUCI YOU DON'T KNOW HOW RIGHT YOU ARE]
desirestruth: (Of a future that only)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-17 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm....It’s not that strong? Unless my tolerance is gone with the rest of my powers...

[One, it’s pretty fucking strong, naeva, and two, she’s uh. Staring at him kind of intently...

Uh-oh.]
newmodelblade: (Create the demons true.)

[personal profile] newmodelblade 2019-02-17 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
It could be.

[He pauses and considers this.]

So you remember who I am and everything else, and yet have no powers. I seem to be in full command of my abilities, but have no memory. How bizarre.
desirestruth: (If it really is divisible)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-17 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
Whoever brought us here did a sloppy job of it, that's for certain.

[Yeah she...hasn't stopped staring. the flush grew a little darker.

She wouldn't have any problem demanding what she wants of him before but...he doesn't remember anything. She's not sure where the boundaries are now.]