Unlock! (1)

[trainmasters]

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!]]

Comments

JASMINE

[spectacularluck]

[ This new arrival is still in his underwear, without having actually had the chance to put on the Team Pajamas, since they just won't come off of his hands. He's shaking his hands and trying to get them off of them, but the clothes are just stuck there and won't come off at all.

So here you have your new member, wandering the train carriage with pajamas stuck on his hands ]

Oh come on! Whoever's idea of a joke this is, it's not actually funny.

[voreaciously]

[yeah so a door decisively slides open, just shy of being slammed and out steps a young, very pale-blue haired lady with clearwater blue eyes wearing what Peter will come to realise as being Jasmine fare.

There are bandages wrapped around her elbows.

She looks the newcomer over and there is something of a dismissal in her stare, like he is found wanting.]

Do keep it down.

[spectacularluck]

Sorry to wake you up from your beauty sleep, honey, but there are clothes stuck to my hands and they're not coming off. So no, I'm not keeping it down.

[voreaciously]

[FITE HER PETER!!!!!

but she just stares at him. There's no residual magic in the air, so it isn't that, as far as she can tell, like someone losing control of their electricity powers, and she does not believe any of her teammates would sabotage someone else's clothes--he's newly-arrived, that wouldn't even be possible. She has no issues with what she is wearing either, so it isn't some sort of pointless tomfoolery.

So it is something else. Thinking of all those possibilities takes less than a second and she does not miss a beat before her eyes begin to glow electric blue, with violet and silver flecks.

Ah. Interesting, actually.]

You are gripping them. Did you not know?

[spectacularluck]

Oh, thank you! Now that you've told me that all my problem are solved because somehow, I totally did not realize I was gripping these clothes.

[ He may be particularly cranky right now. He holds his hands up, showing he's releasing his grip but the cloth stays attached to his palm regardless ]

It isn't coming off.

[voreaciously]

That is not the sort of grip I meant. It is akin to dynamic attachment.

[now, it would be very inconvenient if he would be doing this all the time, so there must be a way to fix it.]

Try to relax. You may be doing this out of stress.

[spectacularluck]

How am I supposed to relax!? I'm in my underwear! [ he just kind of gestures toward her ] In front of a teenager! And I don't even know where I am or who I am!

Relaxing is kind of not easy right now!

[voreaciously]

[yeah and that bod is like /chef's kiss, but listen]

Yes, it is awful and tumultuous enough as it is so how is panic going to solve anything?

[where the fuck is randy. like, fuck randy but also where is he. is he boning priests again, christ]

Make an attempt. Calm. Down. You are safe, for the time being and you are not alone.

[spectacularluck]

Right. Because I can calm down on command.

[ he's taking a deep breath at least, so there is that ]

Who the hell are you anyway?

[acts_her_age]

[just, the tiniest "ahem" from one of the living room couches. sorry there's a (seemingly) tiny on your team peter]

[spectacularluck]

[ He just looks right back at her when he hears that, then at himself, and then back at her again.

And then just sighs ]

Wonderful. Now I'm mostly naked in front of children.

[acts_her_age]

I'll send the welcome speech over your Chain, so go make yourself decent, please.

[holds up her own Chain demonstratively]

[spectacularluck]

Yeah, that's the problem. I tried, and now my hands are stuck to these.

[ he just sort of waves the pajamas around, though he thinks better of it and then just sort of hold it so it can at least cover as much as possible ]

Is that thing like a cellphone or something?

[acts_her_age]

I can see that, but the living room is hardly the place to figure your hand situation out. Yes, it's like a cellphone.

[spectacularluck]

Hey. I didn't actually know there were other people here.

Give me a moment. Stay there, please?

[acts_her_age]

[nods and flaps a hand back toward his room, go go]

[spectacularluck]

[ He's going to take way more time than any normal person should need to get dressed

and when he comes back, he's got clothes on, but the pajamas are still partially stuck in his hands. small victories ]

I'll check that welcome speech you mentioned when I can actually trust myself to touch - anything. Just a quick question? Why the hell are they kidnapping children?

Re: JASMINE

[crimeson]

Uhhhhh, having trouble?

[because that is, uh, something.]

[spectacularluck]

[ He's going to wave his hands around and it's like he's waving flags, only the flags are his pajamas ]

Yeah, I'd say I'm having trouble.

[crimeson]

That's uh, pretty new. Any clue what's happening there?

[approaching]

[spectacularluck]

Oh, yeah, I'm just here with clothes glued to my hands because it's my hobby. Just running around naked while holding pajamas.

[crimeson]

Calm down man, just asking. I'll try pulling?

[snagging the opposite ends]

[spectacularluck]

[ it doesn't seem to budge at all and in fact, there seems to be more of a risk of ripping the clothes than it is of his hands not being glued to them ]

So your hands don't get stuck to this, it's just mine. Wonderful. One question? What the hell is going on.

[crimeson]

[hmm, all right, letting up.]

The universe is fucked and we've been snatched up and stuffed in a train to try and save the world, basically. Not sure where the sticky hands come into it.

[spectacularluck]

[ he's going to just bring his pajama holding hands to his face and lets out the most frustrated noise into the clothes ]

Why would I want to save the world? Ugh.