EVENT: ~*~Heat Wave~*~

[trainmasters]

Who: Heroes! Old ones, new ones...!
When: Day 42, afternoon
Where: Around the train

[ Good news, everyone! Those pesky cicadas are gone at last! You might have even had a chance to relax, except....

Except for the heat wave.

It's like the worst parts of the last dregs of summer come to torture you with excrutiating heat. It's heat so bad you could swear that you've started melting yourself the second you step outside. It's terrible. At least with the cold you can add more layers on, how are you supposed to deal with heat?? You can't just walk around naked??

(That's not a suggestion.)

Here's the thing about the heat, though: It's bad enough that it's causing mirages-- mirages of people you may even recognize, people who are lost in the dark. People who will try to lead you into danger, people who don't want what's best for you after all....

That aside, you may or may not have noticed that there's some new teammates on the train! The notification appears cheerfully on everyone's Chains:

WELCOME NEW HEROES

And you may find yourself wearing a label you can't seem to remove until you've spoken to at least one other person: "Hi, I'm ______! Talk to me about ______!"

There's a mischievous giggle in the wind that you may recognize as the same one that ran the plants and secrets game. ]

[[ NOTES: You're welcome to make team posts if you like, or intro directly into this mingle if you haven't already. Until next month's placements, the heat wave will persist. Characters stand the risk of seeing castmates not in the game until that point, mirages from the heat. Enjoy! ]]

Comments

[schrodingerscockroach]

...

You know, I'd say I have no idea how he went from hostage to helping counsel people I knew, but it kind of makes sense for how much he actually sasses as a prisoner.

[bluediligence]

HmmmMMMMMMMM.

[ That one was definitely judging. ]

You've got a talent for making friends in weird ways, I guess ...

[ Plonks her hand on his head and lightly ruffles his hair up. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Hair ruffled.]

To be fair, considering how much pain I was in, it's amazing how calm I was being. [Mister just had a bunch of stuff blew up in his face not twenty minutes ago.] I think that might have been right after whatever was hurting in the desert...

[bluediligence]

I'm not going to lecture you about how being in pain doesn't excuse being an ass, because I think you already know it.

[ Plops down to sit next to him. She's wearing a gym skort and cropped athletic top, revealing yet more scars. ]

... D'you know the context? [ What is even going on in his life! ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

I dunno, I kind of felt like I got hit by a car. [It's a feeling he knows.] And I wasn't exactly trying to be nice anyway.

[Making note of those scars. So many.]

No clue at all. Maine, or Meta as he's going by at this point, and I are trying to do something. Eventually we end up in the desert with a bunch of alien bodies. I guess we're going after the red guys for something? I don't know if they're my Reds or other reds though.

I think taking Doc was more incidental. Something's wrong with Maine and I'm worried about him, so I want a doctor around to tell me what is wrong. But maybe he knows the red guys and that's why I just kept him.

[bluediligence]

Yeah, I kinda noticed you not being nice. [ Kinda. KINDA. ] But hopefully you didn't actually get hit by a car.

[ Peers up at him sidelong. ]

... Huh. [ Rubs her chin. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

...I mean. It would explain why pretty much why everything hurt. And that armor isn't easy to hurt though.

I think he's suffering after having his AI removed. He's.....he's moving different.

[bluediligence]

Geez ...

[ The slight furrow in her eyebrows is more concerned than judgemental. She kinda, lightly leans against his side. Very lightly. She's following her instincts, here, but how welcome will it be? ]

... Suffering? You mean ... it's hurt him? I'd have thought that they're designed so you can remove them if you need to.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[He's going to lean back instinctively.]

Not like. Held down and removed, though I imagine that'd be traumatic, all things considered. There's a lot of reasons we might not have them. It might even be time, AI's can only last so many years.

But it was sharing a head with another person. Having someone always there and then being gone, it only makes sense there's scars. I wouldn't be surprised if there's why I seem more uptight in these later memories.

[bluediligence]

That's a good point ... I guess I wasn't thinking of it as something that'd lead to somebody needing medical intervention. Physical medical intervention, anyway.

[ Settles in, comfortable if Definitely Concerned. ]

You haven't remembered your AI partner yet, then?

[schrodingerscockroach]

I was asking Doc for a psych eval too. Getting a read on where his metnal state was. But yeah, I mean. The entire idea is highly experimental. There's no way to do something like that and not have consequences. Pretty sure that was why North wasn't sleeping.

[Shakes his head.] Nothing yet. But there's been big jumps. Time with the Project, and then a number of years later. Can feel the difference in health.

[bluediligence]

[ With a quiet hum, she … loosely wraps an arm around him, unobtrusive but there. ]

I hope your friend got better. [ She can't imagine that things went back to the way they were, whatever that was. But to something that was good and liveable, if different? Yeah. ] And I hope your next memory is gonna be you catching a break for once.

[schrodingerscockroach]

I do too. It looks like we split off, hopefully he's getting help or some kind of break.

[Haha, sob.]

I mean, not everything is so bad. I have friends with people. Not like I didn't expect a lot of drama and fighting.

[bluediligence]

Fingers crossed!

I'm not saying that everything's terrible forever or that you're … I don't know - miserable and alone or something. [ Huffs a bit of a laugh. ] Just that it seems like you could use a vacation. A vacation without drama.

[schrodingerscockroach]

...technically, that might have been me shipwrecked.

[bluediligence]

I'm ... I'm not sure that counts.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Well, I mean, I had enough time to just make training regiments and obstacles courses.

That's kind of relaxing.

[bluediligence]

... You relax by building obstacle courses?

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Shrugs.] Something to do that's not counting rocks.

Not sure there were many books after a shipwreck.