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

[newmodelblade]

[He will wave back, then!]

Truthfully, I cannot complain. I seem to be the only one I have met today who can say that, however. What in the world did I miss this morning?

[bad_crowmance]

There was another one of those trial things, kinda left most people upset. Honestly, it was pretty messed up-- they wanted us first to pick someone to be a figurehead only to hurt ourselves to keep them safe in one round and then kill them the next.

[newmodelblade]

A game that is little more than a sanctioned assault, then? What manner of trial is that? It does explain so much, though... I am angry to have missed it, though I do not know what I could have changed.

[bad_crowmance]

Probably not much... Anyway, that prince guy popped up and said that he thinks there's something wrong with the guy who ran that trial, which is obvious, but...

[ He gestures around vaguely. ]

The less obvious part is where he admitted than he and his friends are behind them and he lied about that, but the trials weren't supposed to be like that.

[newmodelblade]

Mmm. So we are supposed to take this as a misstep in benevolence, then? I do not like this, Crow. "It wasn't supposed to be like this, something went wrong," it smacks of a confidence game.

[bad_crowmance]

Oh yeah, I don't trust any of it either.

[newmodelblade]

And yet... the games are crucial in some way, supposedly, are they not? Hardly a fair choice.

[bad_crowmance]

Something about generating sparks to purify prisms and save the world, yeah. I don't even think that's a lie perse.... but I gotta wonder about the methods being used.

[newmodelblade]

The best lies often are mostly true, save a detail that serves the teller. That likely is what they actually do... But why then lie about being behind them? It suggests they suspected something would go amiss.

[bad_crowmance]

It's a more convenient way to paint yourself as sympathetic if you're just a victim, too.

[newmodelblade]

Ah, of course. A sense of solidarity... until things go too wrong that you have to explain.

[bad_crowmance]

Exactly. Honestly I think if he really means well, he fucked himself out of our goodwill with that stunt.