EVENT: The Sound of Summer

[trainmasters]

Who: darers, newbies, and everyone else!
When: Day 40, dawn
Where: around the train

[After several hours of Kiss or Dare, the bar lights go off and you're let out into the grey pre-dawn. The Cat isn't one for ceremony, so there's no closing fanfare -- but in the sky are new stars in cobalt, pink, & violet. Congratulations to the winners!

You could go home and get some sleep, but you might have a rough time with that. As the sun appears in the sky, there's a horrible ruckus -- the sound of what seems like a million cicadas suddenly springing to life. They're staying in the canopy, not causing particular problems with buzzing around, but they are deafening.

Occasionally, you may hear one particularly low-pitched cicada noise. If you do, cover your ears, else you become hypnotized, overcome by a destructive urge. Those effected will find themselves compelled to act out violence on inanimate objects -- it's only property destruction, but the longer you're effected the more likely you are to lash out at anyone trying to stop you.

Good thing the hypnosis is broken by hugs, because this will be lasting for awhile.

Maybe it's the noise or maybe it's just bad timing, but the arrival of the cicadas is accompanied by the arrival of some new teammates! As always, the notifcation will appear on everyone's Chains:

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[[NOTES: Announcements and placements are up over here. You're welcome to make team posts if you like, or intro directly into this mingle. The cicadas will be here until next month's placements, so please feel free to interact with them in your own posts throughout the month. If you have questions, please comment to the announcements post. Thank you!]]

Comments

[blood_strife]

[ kind of mutters under his breath ]

. . .uh, so brought here and lost stuff because of the Malice. . .?

[bowtiedbones]

The Malice took over you and your world. You were brought here by a team of people that are trying to counter the Malice and were able to pull you out and connect you to the Aurora— that’s the name of this train and the crystal that powers it. Our bond to it and each other sustains us, and creates energy that drives off the Malice.

[blood_strife]

. . . [ quiet for a long moment ] Is there. . . a book on this, or something. . . [ voice gets quieter and he kind of mumbles the last bit ]

[bowtiedbones]

I'm afraid not, but that's a good idea. You can try asking the Construct— that's going to be an app on your phone, but it's not the most detailed.

Our team, Thyme, is the teaching team, so usually newcomers only get a Q&A. We get paid for it.

[blood_strife]

Gotta talk to people a lot?

[bowtiedbones]

I talk a lot because I like to, but not necessarily. There's other ways to earn Sparks, and even if we do teach, there's other ways to learn than listening to a lecture.

[blood_strife]

. . . got it. Reading'd be easier.

[ shifts a bit ]

So, uh, now what?

[bowtiedbones]

I'll write down some notes for you later. For now, would you like a nickname?

[blood_strife]

[ hunches his shoulders a little ]

's what I'm supposed to do? Get a nickname?

[bowtiedbones]

It's not something you have to do, only if you want to. A lot of people pick names to use until they remember theirs. A couple of the teams have themes for them, like we've done sabretooth tigers or another team does times of day.