auroraexpress | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: newbies + you
When: Day 22, evening
Where: around

[This evening, out of nowhere, Hazel's carriage disappears. There's a shower of sparkles, a bright light, and after that... it's gone. Anyone who was in its hallway is now in the Garden entrance. The Garden car itself is now hooked to Clover's carriage, as if it had aways been and Hazel was never real. Clover itself is currently bare as well -- the lock screen is dull, completely turned off, and there are no lights inside. No one is there, now, but at least the space remains.

In some carriages, that loss of vibrancy is countered by the appearance of some new heroes. In general, the gloomy mood throughout the train is only heightened by the onset of a heavy storm. Outside there's a crack of thunder that rattles the train, and it begins to pour so hard the edge of the clearing is barely visible through the windows.

The rain, the thunder, and the strobe-light effect of constant lightning will continue til dawn.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, well for me it's hard to do much without mana. With a contractor they provide the mana and I supply my power. That's why they have to be at least strong enough to overcome a trial. And the stronger they are, the more mana they can give me, the more I can do for longer.

So.... how are you gonna know if someone's strong enough for you without that trial?

I guess I won't. I could run one but I'm not even sure I have the mana to manage right now.

I guess I could rely on secondary contractors if the first isn't enough, but I'm not sure how to arrange for that. Honestly this is all so out of the realm of normal I'm not entirely sure if I can successfully bind a contract in the first place.

Probably best to assume you can secure one for now. I doubt you would've been brought here just to slowly fade back into whatever state you're usually in.

That would seem counterproductive.

Pretty much! And I doubt the prince has the resources to waste on it. So all you've gotta do is talk to people and figure out what you want.

Haha... Yeah. Thanks, Crow.

Heh. Anytime, Rean.

[It's been so long since he personally had to figure out what he wants! And he doesn't even remember like 99% of his life right now, but he's Rean so he's still thinking about Crow's advice seriously.]

So, show me the rest?

[ Crow's pretty pleased with that piece of advice, so he'd be gratified to know Rean's seriously taking it into consideration. ]

Alright, next stop's the garden carriage! This one's interesting because we didn't always have it. Right around the time I showed up, there was this big vote to decide what it would be and this is what won.

How does that work?

What, the voting?

No I mean, why did it appear?

Something about prism purification? I wasn't actually very clear on that. I was pretty distracted at the time.

More to do with the whole reason we're here then?

Pretty sure that's what it is, yeah. I think the idea is that we purify worlds one at a time and the energy that comes from that is enough to do more with the train? ....Or something like that.

I see. So we should work hard to purify this world.

[ He nods, tucking his hands behind his head. ]

Yeah, through bonds and whatnot.

Well it's not like you can force getting along or getting close to someone... So I can see how it's a challenge.

Yeah... actually on that note, anyone tell you about the trials they sometimes run here?

No one's mentioned them.

Alright, here we go then. Well-- first of all, I say "they" but we can run 'em too now. That's a recent development though, it's normally been the prince and his buddies. Anyway! They're these sort of.... tests, you could say, that are meant to bring people closer together? But they can range from "go socialize with each other in these specific ways" to "put on a play" to "behead your trammate."

[ Whoops that escalated quickly. ]

Wh-what?!

I don't think that last one happens too often-- but it does happen so you really should be warned.

How does that help??