auroraexpress | EVENT: A Certain Confession

Who: everybody!
When: Day 16, evening
Where: wherever you are

[As the sun sets and the new stars come out, there's a message on the ChainChat app. The username is new -- it's not The Construct, but it also doesn't have a profile attached, and doesn't accept private messages. It appears to be some different admin account.]

★: Hi everyone. Good news and bad news here. Good first: you should find your new train car attached as of this message! You guys wanted a garden, so hopefully you'll like this one.
★: As for the bad news: we're having a bit of a problem generating positive energy, so from now on we're adjusting the whole "sparks of light" thing. Starting tomorrow, you'll only get a payout when you consciously make a decision to increase your bonds. We're talking about increasing prices, too, but... one thing at a time.
★: Sorry for the bad timing.

[There's a pause, and then a follow-up.]

★: There are some things I ought to explain now, but I'm not sure where to start. Just be aware that things might get rougher in the future. And that Trials... I might've lied a little about those.
★: I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen. Please try to hang in there.

[It's not a cheerful message, but on the upside, there is in fact a new train car at the end! On the outside it looks like one of the communal cars, with a stylized flower symbol on the door. Inside, however, it's a huge greenhouse. There are several different "rooms", each about 50 feet square, aligned to different climates. It also comes with various basic gardening tools - trowels, gloves, etc -- and enough seedlings to get started growing flowers and veggies. There's always (artificial) sunshine coming down through the glass roof, and the soil in the beds never loses fertility. There are even benches here and there -- it's not only a practical facility, but a nice place to relax!

More seeds and seedlings, equipment, and decor, can be bought via the sparks shop. You may in the meantime assume any simple plants you want are provided -- but they won't be re-issued for free if you kill them!]

[OOC: You can use this toplevel to reply to the prince's chat message. He'll respond for a limited time, but you can use this opportunity to uncover some major plot info! You're also more than welcome to talk to eachother -- it's a chat room and the conversations are public. The changes to the sparks system are outlined in this OOC comm announcement. Thank you!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Crow: you really fucked THAT one up
Crow: so what's your plan now?
Crow: to deal with your friend, I mean

★: We're going to try to fix him. Somehow.

Crow: obviously you're going to try to fix him
Crow: but that answers my question anyway
Crow: you have no idea on the "how"

★: There's a lot I have no idea about honestly.

Crow: hah! well, that's relatable
Crow: so
Crow: here's another one you might not have an answer to
Crow: if this can happen to your friend, what's to stop it from happening to US?

★: I do have that answer actually.
★: It probably happened to him because he spent too much time away from a functioning Prism. It won't happen to you because you've got one on the train, and that one's immune to corruption.

Crow: oh?
Crow: how's it immune?

[To tell the truth or not: the eternal question.

...Well. Lying is going badly, so:]

★: It's a piece of my soul. As long as I don't give up, you're fine. If I do it won't matter because the main Prism will also fall and everyone will die anyway.

[ Internally:

]

Crow: good to know!

Edited 2019-03-21 05:20 (UTC)

★: As you can see, it's a completely reasonable amount of responsibility for one person and I'm doing great.

Crow: I definitely believe that and am in no way alarmed
Crow: on a separate note! if you need to chill at some point, I still have like half a bottle of whiskey I can share