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!]]
acts_her_age: :? (20)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-17 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[gestures toward him, like, go ahead]
spectacularluck: (pic#12627430)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-17 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's going to look around the room and then just ]

... Barbara? You look like you could be a Barbara.

Oh! Jellyfish.
acts_her_age: (you in particular aren't special.)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-17 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
...Keep trying. Are we going with an aquatic theme? What about Finn, for you?
spectacularluck: (pic#12886197)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-17 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I mean, that's basically all we've got going in here.

Finn's not too bad, actually. I like how that sounds. Fits the aquatic theme too.
acts_her_age: :) (It's a quarthex!)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-17 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps we'll go with that, then, unless you find something else you prefer.
spectacularluck: (pic#12663874)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-17 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Finn's the winner for now.

What about Coral for you?
acts_her_age: (28)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-17 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Coral."

[hmm. clearly turning that over in her head, considering... before she gives a small nod]

I think that will do.
spectacularluck: (pic#12886183)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-17 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow.

That was actually kind of fun.
spectacularluck: (pic#12635944)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-17 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe. Sticky and easily amused. Sounds like someone I could be.
acts_her_age: (33)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-17 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps your first memory will help explain the stickiness.
spectacularluck: (pic#12886197)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-18 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
How do I get the actual memory, anyway? Like the entire process — how does it work? It just suddenly appears in there?
acts_her_age: (13)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-18 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
You'll be granted memory tokens through your Chain as you gain currency by participating in specific activities. 500 sparks for a memory that appears on the screen in the public lounge, and 1000 sparks for a private memory.
spectacularluck: (pic#12886183)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-18 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
And I imagine the rest is in the explanation you sent me on my Chain. All right then - I'll check that one up.

Thanks for the help, by the way. I don't know how I feel about the fact a child is more calm about all of this than I am, but I appreciate it.
acts_her_age: (I sleep for myself and nobody else.)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-18 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be strange, wouldn't it.

[that's an odd way to say that, coral,]

Of course. We'll make more progress as a team the better everyone is informed.
spectacularluck: (pic#12886198)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-19 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure how much of a team guy I am, actually. I still kinda feel like this whole saving the world business isn't something I terribly care for.

But I do want to get my memories, so ... I don't mind sticking around for that.
acts_her_age: (crying is not a proper retort!)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-19 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[nods]

We all roughly have the same goals, so it's easy to cooperate.

[...and then, more sarcastically]

It's just very convenient that our needs line up so perfectly with our captor's.
spectacularluck: (pic#12663874)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-19 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Right? Oh thank god I'm not the only one who's feeling like that.

I don't even actually believe this entire set up all that much, you know? Save the world? Oh, accidentally we kinda screwed up on bringing you here so you lost stuff?

Yeah, sure, accidentally. I'm sure you didn't mean to, mysterious kidnapper.
acts_her_age: whisperwhisper (09)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-19 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
And then sprinkle in a few examples like Randy, who didn't lose anything, to make the story easier to swallow. I'm almost impressed by it, really.

...I will accept that they didn't know exactly who they were press-ganging into their intergalactic army, however.

[just kinda. spreads her arms out demonstratively. look at me. why this]
spectacularluck: (pic#12886183)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-19 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't be so sure about that. You don't exactly strike me as a normal child.
acts_her_age: :/ (slay the spirits of inaccuracy)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-19 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I can hardly leave the train.
spectacularluck: (pic#12663876)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-19 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
But you're —

I mean. You've got your shit together pretty well. Sure, you've been here longer than me I'm guessing, but I don't think that explains it.

Why exactly can't you leave the train, though?
acts_her_age: :) (It's a quarthex!)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-19 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[that gets a brief smile, but]

I'm not one to go into hysterics, but this body is just as vulnerable as it seems. It's dangerous outside. Whether they're lying to us about our memories being an accident or not, this world really is being attacked by something.
spectacularluck: (pic#12663878)

[personal profile] spectacularluck 2019-02-19 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Well.

We can go outside together and with any luck, things will just stick to me.
acts_her_age: :) (people LOVE diacetate jokes!)

[personal profile] acts_her_age 2019-02-19 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, that's a plan.