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!]]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
No. From that question, I understand this isn't unusual.
grimpa: (02)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
[nods]

Many of us lost our memories or our abilities coming here. We were brought here to help dispel the threat to our worlds through the power of our bonds. Our team is Thyme, and there are several others working alongside us on this train.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
What threat? And what bonds?
grimpa: (106)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
They call it "Malice." It has plunged this world and many others into corruption and darkness. Bonds are our own connections to each other.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know any of you. Or, if I do, I don't remember.
grimpa: (102)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
[shrugs]

New bonds. We also have activities that are meant to foster our bonds and grant us money to earn back memories and buy supplies. Thyme's bond is "teaching," for example. Just this conversation is meant to be exercising our bonds.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
It is a good thing that I will need so very much teaching until my memories return.

[This is said slightly wryly: she's nervous, but trying to cover it.]

What supplies do we need? Food?
grimpa: (107)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
We're provided with basic food, but anything more has to be bought, yes. I believe people have mostly been buying entertainment, new clothes and new furniture.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Shouldn't we be saving for something more practical? If we are saving the world?
grimpa: (11)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
What would you suggest?

[not defensive or anything, earnest in wanting to hear ideas]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know. I haven't had much of a chance to observe, and I don't have any memories.
grimpa: (104)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
We may find that there are more practical things to spend our sparks on, but it does largely seem to be to incentivize us to actively practice our bonds. It doesn't seem that we can fight the Malice with traditional weapons, so that's not a concern. Access to the healing stations can be purchased, so that's the main reason I'm saving my own sparks.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[she nodded]

That was more what I was thinking. Then we have something that will need healing?
grimpa: (18)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Sometimes there are... attacks, from creatures that have been turned into monsters by the Malice. The attacks take the form of dangerous puzzles or other trials that we're forced to face together. Injuries happen. This world can also be dangerous, so a small weapon wouldn't be out of place, but an arsenal shouldn't be necessary as far as I've seen.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
If I remembered how to use one, I'd carry a weapon.

What sort of 'other trials'?
grimpa: (05)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
[nods]

It's safest to travel in groups while exploring outside the train, in the meantime.

...They sometimes have complex rules, almost like games, but with serious consequences. Some are more harmful that others. It's unfortunate for me to have to say that I haven't been able to be present for many of them, to give you a better idea. Not all team members are always present.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'll have to ask the others, then.
grimpa: (02)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[nods]

Eliza and Smile have been present at many of them, I believe. We have five other teammates-- Eliza, Smile and Saber, Felix and Nanashi. Felix is rather new. Smile and Saber are children, and Saber is a ghost, so the majority of us can't see them.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
A ghost?

[someone is skeptical of this]
grimpa: (100)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[does not seem to recognize the skepticism]

Yes. Smile takes care of them for the most part.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Can anyone else see them?
grimpa: (104)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Eliza can. Perhaps a few people on other teams, as well. We're not certain what gives someone the ability to see them.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll have to see if I'm one of them.
grimpa: (23)

[personal profile] grimpa 2019-02-17 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be fortunate. I wonder if they must feel lonely.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Can they see others? Or interact with us?

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