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!]]
unaffective: (3)

A

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ As she barges into Elaine's room she's vaguely tucked beneath the corners, disheveled, but she

sits up, right away. startled, red in the face? ]

Ah - Is there something that you'd like...?
desirestruth: (And fell into Hell)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
I--please excuse me, I did not realize someone was in here...

[She's kind of. Frozen. Trying to figure out hat is happening in here. She's flushed. Is she sick? No that can't be right. Um...]
unaffective: (174)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
It's quite alright. If there is something that you would like to eat, there should be leftovers available... though - should they fail to suit your tastes, I likewise believe that I may be able to cook something.
desirestruth: (And fell into Hell)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
I--don't believe I need to eat anything but blood?

[THIS IS AWKWARD.]

Ah, though I can eat, if I need to, I am sure your cooking is lovely.
unaffective: (186)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
... Is that so... Well, I'm certain that I could spare a bit.
desirestruth: (And fell into Hell)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
I--um. You could?

[She's not used to people just. Offering that? What's going on?]
unaffective: (54)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
Of course. Though I would prefer that you refrain from drinking to such an extent that I would be made dry, certainly sparing a bit would be within my capabilities.
desirestruth: (Mother--Mother)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
[She considers this for a long while. She doesn't like it. But the person she'd prefer to drink from has no memories, and she can't go without forever, she knows that.

It's to survive. It's to keep from hurting anyone. So it's fine, right?]


...Then, give me your wrist. And, ah...please. Tell me your name?
unaffective: (39)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ extends her arm without a second thought, apparently not too perturbed by this situation ]

Elaine. It's a pleasure to have made your acquaintance, of course.
desirestruth: (Have you forgiven me?)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
My name is Naeva. My apologies if this hurts.

[Right, here we go. Chomp.

It's a pretty clean bite, all things considered. Her teeth are made for this, but the powers that would normally make this less painful aren't available to her so, uh. Hot chick biting your wrist. Please enjoy?]

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-25 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ it's cool she can turn it off on her end.

but it's pretty excellent quality blood, as these things go. the texture becomes a little strange the longer it's out and exposed to the air, but in this specific moment it's as warm and smooth as anyone's, overflowing with magic energy.

for elaine's part, she doesn't seem bothered one way or the other. sense of pain, like sex drive: dead ]
desirestruth: (This would have been easier)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-25 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Aside from the missing pain, there's an odd sense of--well, this is faster than most blood donations. She takes quickly, and with some force behind it. But only a pint, maybe two, enough to make one a little woozy but not life-threatening.

And then she releases Elaine, stepping back to lick her lips clean of the last bits, even while she puts immediate pressure on the wound to stop the flow of blood.]


...A mage?
unaffective: (54)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-26 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's right.

[ calm, as she shifts her weight in bed. worst case scenario she could always just eat and wait a bit, she thinks, but when she looks up at the pressure to see she's already done -

well. that's fine too. ]
desirestruth: (Mother--Mother)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-27 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
That means I need less of it.

[Something else is Odd but, without her powers, and the senses that come with them, Naeva can't pick up on what about Elaine's life-force doesn't seem to be quite...right.]

...Are you alright?
unaffective: (42)

[personal profile] unaffective 2019-02-28 08:54 am (UTC)(link)
Loathe though I may be to confess, I'm a bit - rather, inebriated, somewhat... Please pay it no mind.
desirestruth: (I wonder which one is better)

[personal profile] desirestruth 2019-02-28 08:56 am (UTC)(link)
...If you need water, it's no trouble for me to go fetch some?