INTROS + MONTHLIES

[trainmasters]

Who: Everyone
When: Day 51, evening
Where: the Aurora

[It's evening, and as the stars come out you get that text again:]

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[This round's newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas.

Outside, the fog is gone. In its place is a pleasant evening, its beauty enhanced by tiny, softly-glowing flowers along the jungle paths. Unfortunately, should you peer closer toy may notice these flowers have blackened, curled leaves -- and the scent that wafts up when you step on them will either heighten or dull one of your senses.

But hey, why go in the jungle when you could eat questionable snacks in the lounge again? This time there are towers of round chocolates in varying colours, and sparkle blue and white snowflake decor on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. In typical Star Prince and Knights fashion there is a lot of glitter, and the chocolates definitely have a magical side-effect: in this case, transformation.

☆ Blue-wrapped chocolates cause your character to shift in age. They may get older or younger, and this transformation may be purely physical or may include mental shifting as well.

☆ Silver-wrapped chocolates cause your character to gain animal features -- anything from cat ears to fully becoming a cat is acceptable, and any animal real or mythical is game. It won't change you to a size that doesn't fit in the train, though.

☆ White-wrapped chocolates cause a transformation to a different physical sex.

☆ Black-wrapped chocolates cause you to take on the form of another person -- someone on the train or someone you remember from elsewhere. It won't turn you into anyone you don't personally know, however.

These effects wear off within a few hours, and you can combine more than one. Enjoy your icebreaker and make that fresh meat feel welcome!]

[[OOC NOTES: As the monthly prompt, the flowers will continue until next month's placements. If you have any questions, please ping the mods via the q&a. Thank you!]]

Comments

[voreaciously]

Madam, I am a child.

[everythinghappens]

Well how am I supposed to know that! Or that you're not the oldest!

[voreaciously]

...I am pretty old. [she concedes] B-but I think you might be bigger than me.

[everythinghappens]

Whether or not I'm bigger than anyone at any given time isn't actually a fixed value. Especially not here, apparently?

[ she pulls a blue chocolate out of her pile. ]

I wonder if these would work on me? The idea that it might sort of suggests the chocolate's sentient, which seems like a huuuuuge ethical breach.

[voreaciously]

Is that...a candy?

[she eyes it like you know, an excited child

forgetting that she has already had it.]

I do not understand, what do you want to work on you?

[everythinghappens]

Observation has revealed these candies have a myriad of effects, likely based on colour. As a scientist, it's my sworn duty to experience each one firsthand.

You can also have some if you want, I'd have let my actual son try it so I'm not gonna stop someone else's kid.

[voreaciously]

You're a scientist?

[she stares at her with newfound respect and wonder.]

C-Can I help you with your experiment, I know science, too!

[everythinghappens]

[

god she is going to be so sad when 80H isn't a kid anymore. science kids are the only humans worth saving - ]

Of course you can! I live to expand the minds of the youth! A proper experiment will be hard, since as far as I see there's no direct way to reverse this and I don't have a workshop here, but we can do some fun elementary science project stuff. Hypothesis: blue like our hair changes your age, white changes your sex, black makes you someone's clone, and silver causes you to spontaneously have been designed by the MSFC. Secondarily, the candy's active agent - is either sentient or a highly advanced AI and is capable of either memory scanning or extrapolation based on present circumstances.

Anyways, I'm gonna eat a blue one so you should choose a non-blue one. Try to surprise it! The chocolate, you know.

[voreaciously]

The chocolate is alive?! Should we dissect it?

[but she will unwrap a silver one before eyeing it.]

What is the "MSFC"?

[everythinghappens]

Oh, just the company I used to work for. We made robots and advanced neural maps using human brains copied onto slime molds. Also, like half of our products had animal parts because who knows.

Oh, also we made really good furniture. IKEA's got nothing on us!

[voreaciously]

Robots? Do you mean like dolls? That all sounds really cool--I mean very fascinating! Will you make stuff here? What was your favourite project to work on? Why?

[she's just so curious and interested!]

[everythinghappens]

Dolls, exactly! Well, we also made regular robots but Dolls were the crowning achievement. I'd like to make stuff here, so I'm angling to get a workshop up and running asap. And my favourite project...?

Well, I guess that'd be me.

[voreaciously]

I make dolls! Well, um, I am still learning and Mother is still teaching me a lot, but I can!

[but when she says she's her favourite project she starts to walk around her and eyeing her.

She whispers, her voice full of quiet wonder and eyes shining bright with the want to learn, to know.]

What did you do?

[everythinghappens]

Converted myself into a Doll, of course! I mean, that was step one. Step two was ensuring that I can maintain the illusion of continuity of consciousness and establish a consistent neural map without actually having direct backups to transfer. The idea is if I distilled myself down to a concept, that concept could then occupy any informational space, and with the aid of sentient beings, propagate itself. It's a combination of neurology, virology, and AI engineering!

And it worked! Victory Iteration 1 was a genius, which makes me one too!

[voreaciously]

[








HOLY SHIT]

You're so beautiful!

[everythinghappens]

[ fuck yeah praise her more. she gives a bow, and then stoops to pat Amane on the head. ]

I get that a lot. Maybe when you're older you can see just how beautiful I am. ...Or I mean, you could dissect me right now I guess. That's a child-appropriate activity.

Oh! But it should wait 'till we see how this messes with me.

[voreaciously]

[she gasps and giggles when she's pat on the head. This lady is the best? holy sugars]

But I can see you perfectly fine right now? [why does she need to be older, she doesn't understand.] Can I?

[THAT IS ABSOLUTELY A CHILD APPROPRIATE ACTIVITY SHE IS ALL BUT BOUNCING--until she remembers...]

O-oh, but I do not have my tools...

1/2

[everythinghappens]

Oh yeah, I don't have mine, either. What a paaaain.

[ she sighs, and then

plops a chocolate in her mouth. ]

[everythinghappens]

[ and then she instantly smallifies. after a brief moment of looking at her hands, she just bursts out into flailing laughter. ]

Haha, wow! It actually worked, holy shit! I absolutely didn't look like this when I was a kid! Iteration 1 was completely different and Iteration Me was never this small! That's one point towards "extrapolation"!

[voreaciously]

[she gasps again, but for an entirely different reason.]

That's a bad word! You shouldn't say that.

[she looks around, there are adults everywhere. Isn't she worried about getting caught?]

[everythinghappens]

What, what? Who's gonna say anything about it, our parents? I'm my own parent and stopped being one like literally three seconds ago. We're in the clear.

[voreaciously]

My Mother knows everything!

[also she wouldn't care most times but]

but since you are really an adult, I guess that's okay...

[she's in awe, still actually.]

How do you feel?

[everythinghappens]

I want to drink about ten six packs of soda and three pizzas.

[ this is not mysterious child urges. this is just how she always is. ]

[voreaciously]

That is really unhealthy...but if you're still a doll, that should be fine if your internals can process all that without wear.

[everythinghappens]

I could drink ten canisters of scifi alien acid and probably be perfectly fine. I mean, I haven't tested that, on account of a shortage of scifi aliens, but I'm pretty hard to break.