INTROS + MONTHLIES

[trainmasters]

Who: Everyone
When: Day 59, morning
Where: the Aurora

[It's morning, though you might not know it from the darkness that remains outside. But there is an annoouncement on your Chain to brighten up the day regardless:]

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[This round's newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas. They'll get their basic welcome message and a prompt to view the IC Guide.

As you go out to greet them, you might find that the entire train has been decorated! By whom is not readily apparent, but there's streamers and heart-shaped balloons adorning all the hallways and many of the additional cars besides which. It's festive!

You know what else is festive? The candy hearts sitting in bowls around the place. They all have generic, cute messages on them like "I ♥ You," "Be Mine," "Text Me," "Forever," etc. Try one out! Though you might find they carry some effects when you try one out....

♥ Pink Hearts These hearts will cause an empathetic bond! For the next few minutes/hours/rest of the thread, you'll find yourself connected with the nearest person in arguably the most intimate of ways....

♡ White Hearts You just can't help it after you chomp down on one of these hearts-- you've got a song on your lips bursting to come out! You may even feel up for dancing. Go forth and be your best, most musical sellf!

♥ Green Hearts You know what that person you're talking to RIGHT NOW needs? A hug!!! At least, that's the urge you'll get the moment you pop a green heart into your mouth. Although handholding also seems to get rid of the compulsion, so hey, there's options!

♡ Blue Hearts The very next thing you say after you eat one of these bad boys comes out in poem form! It doesn't have to be good poetry, mind you. Limericks, haikus, anything goes! At least it's mercifully brief?

And so it goes. Enjoy your icebreaker and make that fresh meat feel welcome!]

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

Comments

[schrodingerscockroach]

Design wise, only as a blunt weapon, and a one handed blunt weapon isn't effective at that size. [He's. He's a weapon nerd, okay.]

That....doesn't actually tell me if it's a yes or no. It sounds like what Malice does, but that's also vague, but it's also weird magic stuff that I'm not the best at telling the difference with.

Eliza might be the better person to iron out that detail.

But important for now answer, Malice is a big cosmic thing consuming worlds.

[terribletwos]

[ That's why he has two. ]

I've never had any problems with them. They just do what I need. People say they're special.

[ Not like he knows anything about their lore. No one ever explained that part. but none of that is important right now. Only one thing is... ]

So it separated us from the others.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Ah. Yeah, that's magic weapon then. Makes a lot more sense.

Malice didn't do that.

The people who brought us here did that. They pulled us out of the Malice.

[terribletwos]

Then... the others are still trapped in that?

[ There is genuine fear this time. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

...if what they say is to be believed?

Most likely.

[He has his doubts.]

[terribletwos]

[ Moving forward to push him aside ]

I have to go find them. I'm not losing them again.

[ First, he needs to find something he can actually fight in. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

[I mean, Dusk is in the kitchen, he's not really in the way.]

And you're going to just run in a random direction and hope that leads to your friends instead of staying with people who have a plan of action to save people....why?

[terribletwos]

I know how to find them.

[ Or at least he knows how to start. Time to attempt to open a Dark Corridor. He de-materializes his Keyblades and extends a hand, palm facing outward.

And absolutely nothing happens. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

I'm guessing transportation magic of some kind of a no go?

[terribletwos]

[ Roxas pulls back his hand, distraught. ]

Why won't it... ?

[ Is this because he's on the side of Light now? Does that mean he has no way of leaving this place? He doesn't have a ship like Sora.

He turns back to Dusk. ]

What do you mean a plan of action?

[schrodingerscockroach]

I'd assume cosmic interference. Most people seem cut off from any energy sources they has previously, I'd assume that would also hit punching holes through space time.

Try a smaller jump. Like in the room still.

You're not the only one with friends, you know.

[terribletwos]

[ Roxas looks guilty at that, which probably looks extra depressing in his unicorn getup. ]

... sorry. We were separated for a long time. It's hard to believe it could happen again so soon.

Your friends got caught in it too?

[schrodingerscockroach]

Most likely. Though my situation is a complicated mess from what I've pieced together. Memory loss is a bitch. I may or may not have been on the same plane of existence as them at the time.

But if I'm going to get back to them, going with the action plan is my best bet. Running off on my own would accomplish jack squat and mean not helping efforts that may be necessary to save them. As it stands, at minimum I'm helping other people and getting my memories back, but good chance I'm saving them too.

[terribletwos]

How can we help here?

[ Will not comment on the super thorny topic of memory loss just yet. More important things. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

A few ways.

The way to help with all the Malice is to purify a few key stars from my understanding. If we can get these stars cleared, then it should help us clear away the rest.

Or, you know, find what's behind the Malice, but that's a whole thing in the works.

To do that, one, is to do special missions to parts of the planet. The other is to gather energy to make a path to those places. Which is where teams come in.

[terribletwos]

What sort of missions?

[schrodingerscockroach]

Well, the one I was on meant running through an old tower, dealing with dangerous creatures and our emotions getting fu-messed with.

[terribletwos]

That's nothing new to me. How do we start these missions?

[schrodingerscockroach]

That will take time.

We just got to a new world. So first we need to build up energy.

Which we do with trials and bonding.

[terribletwos]

Trials and bonding?

[ He's not entirely sure how these two things are related. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

Malice affects emotions and then it makes them stuff beyond physical problems. The tower had a lot of fear and loneliness affects.

So we fight that with positive emotions.

We're supposed to regenerate positive emotions by bonding with each other. Becoming friends and all that. There's a list of things.

Trials are more....condensed efforts of emotions. We compete in contests as teams and usually after a trial, more of the world is purified.

[terribletwos]

You fight with positive emotions?

[ Is this what Sora talks about? Unfortunately, positive feelings aren't really his expertise. Especially right now when he's worried about his friends. Maybe he can try redirecting his thoughts.

Becoming friends... That can't be that hard. Aside from the fact that most of his friendships just sort of happened without a lot of effort on his part...]

I can do contests.

[ Now competition, that's something he actually is good at. ]

I used to a lot of those.

[ Does it count if that place wasn't entirely real? ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

Well, that is the idea. Positive emotions have an affect.

I prefer just fighting with a gun, but when in Rome.... [Waves a hand in the air.]

But having friends is never a bad thing.

Good. For the most part. Here's where the direct terrible comes in. Trials are very loose in their definition. Sometimes, it's doing dumb things like truth or dare and playing candyland. Sometimes it's making things.

Sometimes it means running around a person's soul for some godawful reason.

Sometimes it involves people getting maimed and killed.

[terribletwos]

What's a gun?

Wait, the person who brought us here has the power to traverse hearts?

[ Yes, that is far more alarming than the maiming and killing. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

[He pulls out the Orbal Gun.] This. For a pistol, anyway.

Yeah.

It's been a fucking riot. Haven't slept since I woke up from that, trying to sort out the maelstrom of emotional fuckery.

Which is basically murder my feelings until I can deal. I try to be more pleasant, but this is about as much as I got to offer.