EVENT: A Certain Confession

[joybound]

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!]

Comments

[bowtiedbones]

I guess??

[we have a clinic with real medicines tho]

It's probably fine to grow them, as long as they're somewhere that's kiddie- and pet-proofed.

[desirestruth]

It'd be difficult to ensure that entirely...for now, best to not go into it.

[She pauses for a longer moment.]

And I can't make anything I'd need them for, for some reason, so it's moot.

[bowtiedbones]

You could always grow pots in your room, if it comes down to it...

I guess you know a lot about plants?

[desirestruth]

The royal gardeners fell to the curse when I was little, so I started doing it...it was a good way to practice my magic, too.

And I like flowers.

[bowtiedbones]

Oh! You have magic for growing?

[desirestruth]

It is one of the kinds of magic I have. More accurately, I could manipulate the life energy of other things...ah.

[She pauses and looks at her chain.]

...It seems I may be able to show you.

[bowtiedbones]

I want to see! I want to see!

[her dragons lift their heads, pausing in their digging, do we have to be on familiar duty now]

[desirestruth]

[Well, she's gonna spend her token right quick. And then look at the trowel before setting it down, and then biting. Into the flesh of her hand? To draw blood??? which then oozes out of the wound and into her palm and stands up like a tiny flowerbud of blood???? NAEVA???????????]

I mentioned before, that there are two different classes of magic; magecraft and witchcraft. As a witch, my domain of control is over...vitae. The basic essence of life. The form of vitae most living beings are familiar with is blood, so I am called the Blood Witch.

[The little blood bloom starts to unfurl and wave at Eliza. HI ELIZA.]

[bowtiedbones]

[THAT'S A YEP yep on a familiar duty. both skeletons move to flank Eliza, watching Naeva keenly. eliza flinches at the biting— why does everyone on this train do blood stuff with their hands??? —but past that one second:]

Oh my gosh, look at that, you can make it move! I've never seen that before— I mean, I don't know a lot to start about any kind of blood magic, but that's like— That's just so neat! It's like a flower!

[desirestruth]

[She drinks blood, Eliza, she doesn't have to worry about blood-borne pathogens. But the little blood flower keeps waving.]

I'm more limited right now than I'd normally be. For now, I can only manipulate this energy in living creatures. My own is the easiest to use, of course, it won't resist me, but--

[It's probably an odd sensation, to feel the blood in your body try to move, but all naeva's trying to do is get Eliza's hand to wave back at the flower. She can resist, of course, and it won't be hard to do so, right now. naeva's not going to brute-force it.] --Every living being has something, even if it's not blood.

[bowtiedbones]

Um! Sorry, please warn for that next time.

[there is resistance, an immediate and absolute refusal, but it's not by Eliza. her magic does have its own natural barrier through her body, but at the first touch of outside influence her dragons flood eliza's system with their own magic, drowning out any foreign signals. Isildur and Isolde are shaking their heads, loudly rattling their spiny crests in a showy display, but Eliza's just. oops!]

But that's interesting! So is that like, sap for trees, hemolyph for bugs? And you can do everything, just like that?

[desirestruth]

Oh, hush, you two.

[She blinks, the magic fading out of Eliza's blood instantly. It didn't really even feel like magic, only noticeable now in it's absence...it's a subtle power, in the sense of how much mana it uses, but Naeva looks noticeably more...bloodless.]

Something like that. Those are only the physical signs of vitae. Even plants that don't make much of a sign still have that life in them. But anything much larger than, mm...a bear, I'd have to have given it some of my own blood, or it's too much for me.

[bowtiedbones]

[Eliza pets their noses, cooing at them until they both sit. yes good boy good girl, doing your good good jobs, who are the best guard dogs, it's you!]

That's a really wide range. Bears are pretty big!

[desirestruth]

There's still a lot of things bigger than bears, especially if we're including plants.

[Dragons, for example, much bigger than bears.]

And it can be resisted...I'm powerful, but I can't count on being infallible.

[bowtiedbones]

[don't put blood in the dragons that is probably bad for fossils]

That would be a little scary if you were totally infallible, honestly!

[desirestruth]

[She meant actual live dragons we're good.]

Most people find--found me plenty scary already.

[Shrugging.] In any case, this is only one part of it. I suppose it'll take more tokens to regain the rest.