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

[time5kip]

Get wasted ...?

Bond

[schrodingerscockroach]

Let out a little wine.

[No one said the jokes had to be good.]

[time5kip]

Funny. My guess was better than the actual punchline.

[schrodingerscockroach]

A bit too removed for a proper pun. And puns are supposed to be a little terrible.

Easiest way to get joke points though.

[time5kip]

Maybe, but it's obviously not enough to get this label off. You still got yours.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Tugs at it to be sure.]

So probably have to talk about the thing. Nothing like forced therapy, I guess.

[time5kip]

Go on then. Tell me about being jaded. [ because he's not going first if it's not going to work ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

And here you'd be complaining about me being a chatterbox.

[This is how you're not treated like a kid.]

[By him giving you shit.]

[time5kip]

[ Considering there's a little smile tugging at his lips, he seems to prefer it ] I'll put in my best effort to tolerate it. Wouldn't want you to think I'm playing the pity card if I go first.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[He chuckles. Okay, he can roll with that.]

[He considers a moment and sighs. Gestures for him to follow to the kitchen in the lounge car. He's gonna get some leftover cold drinks from the movie night.]

Well, I guess it's a question if this is my current level of jaded or if it's talking about my concerns for the future. [He shrugged.] Bad things happen, people develop coping mechanisms. Mine is pretty extreme. [He makes a chopping motion in the air.] I'm disturbingly good at compartmentalization. If need be, I can basically shut off all my emotions when things get fucked and just deal with the situation. Overwhelming enemy forces, impromptu dive off a skyscraper, got my heart ripped out after a trial and made a lich a little while. That sucked.

[Pulling two cans of soda from the fridge and holding one out to Five.] And when things aren't being actively bullshit, it's back to jokes, playing with cats, and being generally friendly.

[time5kip]

[ He's going to make a point to stare at the can and not take it because even if the conversation is going better now, he's still a grumpy and stubborn old man. ] Sounds like pragmatism to me.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Will set down the can in easy Five reach then and just lean against the counter, opening the can.]

Never said it wasn't. It's why I'm good at what I do. May have even been why Project Freelancer recruited me. Gonna shove an AI in someone's head, why not use the guy who can keep up skill wise whose used to mental walls. [Shrugs.] Does mean I can treat most terrible things seemingly unaffected, or you know, being jaded.

But it does make me worry when most of my later memories show me not turning off that switch. Times where I would still feel comfortable joking or giving people shit is me being very aggressive and....tired. More of an asshole than usual.

[time5kip]

And why does that bother you?

[schrodingerscockroach]

Because being an asshole isn't productive on this train. There's already a lot who are, and me joining that number won't help anyone. Either the Powers That Be are telling the truth and it's needed to save everything, or things will break bad, in which case having each others' back will be our best bet to deal with that.

I'm concerned because even knowing that might not stop me from becoming a jaded asshole once I remember what things actually managed to break that switch. It's....really frustrating, overall.

Which is why I don't like talking about it.

Which is probably why it's on the nametag.

[time5kip]

You're already assuming you're going to be the same person you were in the past just upon getting your memories back. That's stupid and unrealistic. If you don't want to be an asshole, don't be. It's a lot simpler than you're making it out to be.

[schrodingerscockroach]

I know that. I was fairly friendly, but not quite to the extreme I've been here. But had to change because we need people making the effort, even if aggressive socializing is exhausting.

The problem comes in, I have a solid idea of what came before earlier memories. Five catastrophic missions. A near Glassing. And from how my CO was talking to me, I'm pretty sure I've been near ones before that. Killed a lot of aliens, killed a lot of humans.

Still maintained that switch.

Maybe I'll have enough reason to not be a jaded asshole with the proper motivation, but I also can't pretend I'm not very nervous about remembering what broke that switch.

[time5kip]

Pretty sure obsessing over it isn't going to make it better. But I'll concede I can't relate — you know, seeing as I have all my memories.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Probably not, but also hard not to.

It's a fun rollercoaster ride. Where you're certain on one thing and have to guess for five others.

[time5kip]

For the record, your aggressive socializing isn't effective. It's annoying at best.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Eh, mileage varies. [Waves his hand in a so-so gesture.] Some react well, others don't. At least I can try to get a read on a person and make adjustments.

And considering I got my heart ripped out on my second day here because we couldn't guess what items were associated with what team, at least getting the read is pretty valuable.

[time5kip]

How does that one work out, exactly? Did we become immortal?

[schrodingerscockroach]

I think it's a little more like schrodinger's cat.

If the Powers That Be are to be believed, our world got consumed and we also got partially consumed. Which is why we're missing stuff like memories and powers and why more energy is needed to get that back. Technically we should be dead, but we're still existing, which means we're easier to fix, but it also means we can destabilize suddenly.

As for that specific instance, hearts got ripped out, got turned undead craving warmth and human flesh. We needed to physically put our hearts back and heal from there.

For reference, 80H on Jasmine is a medical professional.

There's also the Healing pods, which can heal and revive people, for a cost.

[time5kip]

[ There's a shift in his expression at that first part, and he looks genuinely hurt for a second - but it's gone as soon as it comes ] That's gross, but it makes things easier.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[That....was certainly a look.]

[Five is going to get a studying look for a moment.]

[Then shrugs.] It does. It's why I'm going to keep a few thousand sparks in my account, takes a thousand to revive a person. 80H is good for injuries and surgeries, but I don't think she can fix death.

[time5kip]

I'll keep that in mind. [ And maybe try to save up as well, just in case. ] Does the label come off now?