auroraexpress | EVENT: ~*~Heat Wave~*~

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EVENT: ~~Heat Wave~~

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! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wait until you meet the prince, it'll all become clear.

Doesn't he have better things to be doing?!

Yeah but you can blame the guy for having a little fun.

[ He winks at Sunset. ]

Then he can keep the romances to himself!

You don't have to read them if you don't want. It's at least pretty obvious to figure 'em out by the cover-- most romances have scantily-clad people clinging dramatically to each other.

Scantily-clad?

[Listen, when your race defaults to naked, all clothes is over dressed.]

Okay, you see what I'm wearing right now?

[ He gestures at his clothing. ]

This is a pretty normal amount of clothes when it's unbearably hot like it is right now. Scantily-clad is like... [ He gesture from about his waist to barely below his butt. ] ...about this much. With some strips of fabric over the chest as well if the person's a lady. Maybe a little more, but only if the fabric's sheer and those are the areas getting fully covered.

Ah. Dramatically dressed then.

....why do only women have fabric over their chests?

Societal rules. Most human cultures-- at least the ones where I come from-- think women's breasts are scandalous and need to be kept covered unless she's feeding a baby or.... participating in mating rituals.

[ Crow is not up for explaining sex to a non-human, even if she does look like she's in her late teens. ]

So you cover up even though you're hot and clothing would just be inconvenient?

Thus rendering one of the advantages of not having fur moot.

Yeah but if you try to walk around without covering up those two areas I mentioned, you're gonna get a lot of scandalized reactions. People turning bright red and stammering, the nice ones trying to cover you up once they get over the shock... Trust me, it'll go easier for you if you just keep the clothes on.

They do realize they've seen a naked human body before, right?

The clothes don't even have embroidery or anything. Could at least have them be fun.

You can buy more clothes once you get sparks. Stuff more to your taste. My outfit's not standard gear-- I can't stand anything they gave my team.

[ He's a vain bird, okay. ]

And yeah, most of 'em have seen naked human bodies before but that's usually in intimate settings. And some of 'em have only seen one type or the other. See, me? I'd be fine if everyone wanted to walk around naked. But there's definitely other people who'd get really flustered.

They also see their own naked body everyday. [Dryly.]

Honestly forcibly bonding with people seems most flustering then a lack of clothes, but apparently people are just doing that willy nilly.

You can choose not to do that if you want to, you're just kinda screwing over all of existence.

[ So you know. It's your call. ]

[Looking away, arms wrapping around herself.]

You can't lie to magic about bonds.

I haven't lied to you once this entire conversation.

I never said you did. I said you can't lie to magic about bonds.

Just going through the motions of a 'bonding' experience doesn't mean anything if it's not actually bonding people.

Right, misheard-- sorry about that.

[ He's very breezy and casual as he speaks, his hands tucked behind his head. ]

See, here's the thing-- I don't actually think you're wrong. There's only so far this setup's gonna work before it stalls out because people won't cooperate. And there's a lot of uncooperative people here. But you have to be willing to put yourself out there and try.

[ He shrugs lightly. ]

And I may be a terrorist, but that doesn't mean I want the whole universe to end. I live in it too. So you know what? You can't hurt anything by giving it a shot.

Can't try if there's nothing to offer. [More a mutter.]

Why aren't people cooperating? I assume most people were left with at least something to work with.

There's always something to offer. It's a matter of wanting to. As for the rest....

[ Crow sighs. ]

A lot of people want to protect themselves. It's hard to trust people you don't know, moreso if you've had it rough. They're too afraid to reach out and so they don't. They'd rather be lonely in hell than risk the pain of putting themselves out there and getting rejected.

Not always. Sometimes people have everything taken away so they can't offer anything anyone would want and their only hope is pity and that's hardly a basis for any strong magic. [Said in a very detached way.]

So why does the train choose them? Why not choose a bunch of happy people who make friends easily. Probably plenty with power to make the whole affair easier too.

That's still a matter of attitude. Just because a person thinks they have nothing to offer doesn't mean that someone else will agree. A sharp sense of humour, a keen insight. You'd be surprised.

[ He moves his hands from behind his head to folded across his chest. ]

The train doesn't choose anyone, perse. The prince, the guy who's running it-- he's blindly reaching for people. Anyone he can. His only choice is "who can I rescue and pull in?" Power and personality don't really factor in.

That doesn't really last though. People can't always be funny or observant, so if there's nothing substantial, it's all just going to be some shallow thing that fades. Hardly enough power to save the universe.

[And she has nothing to offer. Her hands wrap tighter around her because she doesn't. Without her magic, she's just got a bunch of knowledge that she can't even use properly.]

Of course. Because can't making saving the world easy. Could just pull in a bunch of royalty, people of power or talent, let them bond and fix it easily. Instead mixing in a bunch who won't or can't. Great.

Of course it's gonna be shallow if you don't nurture it.

[ Like, obviously? ]

You know, I'm pretty sure the royal and the powerful would be on the same grounds in this kind of situation. And it's definitely won't, not can't.

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