auroraexpress | INTROS + MONTHLIES

Entry tags:

INTROS + MONTHLIES

Who: Everyone
When: Day 60, evening
Where: the Aurora

[The Candy Hearts are gone-- or at least, they're no longer all over the place. If you kept a few for your own purposes then well, feel free to enjoy yourself. Live your best life!

Though you may have just got out of a Trial recently, there is the sound of an announcement on your Chain: ]

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[And indeed, there is another round of newbies 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.

"Someone" has seen to bring refreshments to greet the newbies. It's sparkling water, refreshingly cool and surprisngly sugar-free considering the surroundings. If you choose to drink it, you will find yourself instantly refreshed, almost as if you'd gotten a full day's rest. You will also find that the very next thing you say to someone is a mildly inconvenient truth. It cannot and will not compel you to tell someone your deep, dark secrets but it MIGHT compel you to admit you forgot to brush your teeth this morning....

Have fun and enjoy meeting your new people! ]

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cave-like? Could be. People who are shades of blue aren't always from darker or ceiling regions, but you are more likely to find a blue night pony than an orange one. [Makes total sense to her.]

Teammates, to be specific. Anyone wearing this terracotta color is your teammate.

It varies from society to society. In Equestria, we use bits. Minted coins made of gold. Gold itself can be useful in a multitude of ways and it's pretty, so it has at least some intrinsic value. But the exact amount of value in both bits and items is determined by society. If you're in a place with a lot of apples, apples are going to be very cheap because the demands can be met. If you're in a place with few apples, they're going to cost more because only so many people can get apples and because whoever provided the apples probably had to work harder to get what amount they got.

And currency is a societal agreement. If people refuse to take it, then they're making things harder on themselves. Currency is all about making sure people can get what they need, when they need it, instead of needing someone who provides that thing to need what you provide.

If they just like bartering, there are markets for that, but as a whole life thing when everyone else is using bits, it's choosing to live life in a harder way.

[He nods along, but not all the words she just said made sense. He's sure the context will come out eventually.]

Terracotta? ... oh, the pants! [He looks down at his clothing, throwing his arms out and spinning around. He frowns when he comes back to a stop.] All these clothes feel weird.

Oh I see. So it is determined by the availability of the items you need or want. Bartering and markets are more what I'm used to, I think, but I could probably get used to something new. Everything is new to me here so far.

One more question! What's an apple?

Yeah. It's a color name. This color. [She knows her colors, okay.] Do they? That's surprising, everyone is always up in arms on how important clothes are. [And here's her room. It is a lot bigger then it should reasonably be and looks like a cross between Rapunzel's tower from Tangled and a mage's tower. Though the walls are mostly blank now. She has Plans.]

[She's going over to her dresser, pulling off the various bits of jewelry she has on her.]

Correct. And don't worry, here it's fairly simple. There's not a whole lot of vendors to get things from, so prices are consistent. [And suspect as hell, but another time for her conspiracy theories.]

It's a kind of food that can be grown on a tree.

They just feel strange to me. [Kind of like they're not enough coverage, but there's not much of him that's revealed. It's just kind of strange.]

[Once they reach her room he takes a step in, then steps right back into the door frame and stays there. Something tells him he really shouldn't go into a girl's room, even if she invited him in. He turns his eyes away to give her some privacy.]

Well, that's good.

Um... what's a... tree?

Maybe you're wearing too much. Or not enough. Clothes are confusing, I just wear them because people get all worked up about it. Usually ponies only dressed up for events or protective gear.

....so first step of the tour is the garden car. Do you know what plants are?

[He blushes at that, but keeps his voice relatively neutral. He still isn't going to look directly at her, instead taking time to look around her very spacious room. Lots of books here...] Interesting. I feel like I need more clothes but I'm not sure why. I'm pretty well covered, yes?

Ah, yeah. Plants. Like carrots and potatoes?

You seem overdressed, but I'm a terrible judge. Maybe Loki or Pen willk now better.

Yes. Though bigger than that. You'll see in the garden car. I have some ferns and succulents in here though, other kinds of plants.

May want to turn around a second. [Pulling off her dress now.]

[But it is only a few seconds before a flash of magic and now have a pony.]

[Now he's imagining bigger root vegetables.] Like a turnip?

[Before he can look properly for the ferns, he turns around and covers his eyes as well, just for good measure.]

Tell me when I can look again.

Some kinda can look like that.

Its safe to look. I'm just not entirely sure what happens to my clothes when I change and I actually like this dress. [Holding it up with telekinesis and setting it aside, heading down to the main floor.]

Anyway, these are ferns. [And floating down a fern pot.] More of a decorative plant. Only a few creatures can really eat them.

[He turns and gasps, a smile filling his face once again.] Look at you! I've never seen anything like you before! And are you using magic?

[It feels like magic, but not something he's used to. But how would he know?]

How very pretty. Can it be used in spells?

I know. I look amazing. [She absolutely preens under attention.] I'm a pony, unicorn specifically, from Equestria.

And I am. I'm a very talented sorceress.

The fern? Hmmm, there's some where it's possible. Though it's mostly Zebra's who do more nature based potions and rituals. I can use a fern as a subject as a spell, but nothing comes to mind as a component.

[A pony. That was a new one. So was "unicorn" and "Equestria" and "Zebra" but he was starting to get the idea of all this.]

Wow. Teach me how to use magic! Can I change into a pony too?

I think I'm more used to that kind of magic, I think? Rituals sound right to me.

That's easier said than done. Unicorn magic uses the horn as a focus, a way to take magic inside the body and make it be outside. Humans don't have a focus.

They are capable of using magic, but HOW they make the magic WORK is still something I'm figuring out. I have magic as a human, but as of right now, I have very little idea of how it works or control of when it goes off. It's rather annoying.

Though if we can figure out, one, if you have magic, and two, how to get it out of you, then I can try teaching you spells. Though I do know some rituals, but most of those are for pretty big spells that would need some kind of purpose.

As for changing into a pony? I do have spells, but that requires using myself as a sort of 'copy base' and it might not work because I have to use a magical item to change. [Which is also annoying.] I don't have a proper shapeshift spell and without the item, I default to human.

That's too bad. [But he doesn't seem too disappointed, just curious.]

I can't wait to find out! I want to do magic things. I don't remember if I had it before, but even if not I'd want it anyway. [To be fair, he wants everything.]

Hmm, well, let's try is out at a later time. When we have everything we need. Until then, I guess we can see this garden?

Well, if you're familiar with the concept, that is a good sign. I mean, if magic is in the world, it's always possible to have something of it. Just a question of how much and how well it can be controlled.

[Magic is a legit thing to want, okay okay.]

Yes. [And putting her fern back.] Follow me.

When you need to sleep and eat and such, you come back to Senna. The room you woke up in is yours, though I guess if you want to move to another empty one, you can. Though the empty ones are all the same.

[But leading the way out of Senna.]

I want all of it I can get. It wouldn't be so fun living in a world of magic and being magic-less.

[He'll happily follow along again, this time watching her move as if he's never seen anything like it. Which he hasn't but he doesn't know that yet.]

So this is our house, then? I'll remember it.

I like my room. I think I could stay there just fine. But it's not nearly as nice as yours. How did you get it so big?

True. Being magic-less is the worst. [This is part of why she tries to be pony so much here. MAGIC is easier and versatile.]

[Trotting along as a sedate pace.]

Basically. And I bought it. I figured if I was stuck here, I'd at least have somewhere nice to stay.

But that's a good reason to continue our currency lesson. Sparks is the currency on the train. Now instead of getting physical items, you get a tally on your Chain. As you earn sparks, the number goes up, and you can buy things from the spark store.

Such as room upgrades, or clothes, or magic items. All sorts of things. I even got a tattoo kit, that's how I got this. [Gesturing to the rather large one along her back and around her neck.]

You used the sparks to get it? So they really are valuable...

[He wished he could see them. They sound very neat.]

How do I get these sparks? Do I need to do manual labor? [He grimaces.]

You really do have some pretty markings. I don't think I have anything like that, but I didn't look when I first woke up. I wanted to see the rest of the train.

So the Prince says. [She has Doubts on things.]

No. Well, not necessarily manual labor, depends what you do. That is getting into the thing about the Aurora and the thing is bonds. There's a list of in general ones in the Lounge car and Senna has two personalized one. The idea is you perform these tasks with someone and you earn sparks.

Senna's personalized ones is decoration and bringing warmth. General ones are physical affection, comforting someone, defending someone, giving a gift, or make a gesture of gratitude. You do need to think about starting a bond for it to count though. Then you get one to two hundred sparks.

You get two hundred for losing a trial, five hundred for winning a trial. And three hundred that just....kind of randomly happens? I don't know what those are. [Events are vaguely defined from an IC perspective, okay okay.]

The wings are ones that I got here. The only natural marking I had was my Cutie Mark as a pony.

Bonds... [If having sparks can get you that kind of luxury, then he wondered how many cakes they could get him.]

[How very strange.] How simple. Acts of comfort and kindness, and you have to think about it first for it to work?

So even if you lose a trial you get sparks? And you don't get set on fire? [In his mind "trials" and "pyres" went hand-in-hand, though again, he's not sure why.]

Oooo! Does that mean I could get wings too? What's a cutie mark?

Yes. And it simple. Disturbingly simple. Bonds itself can lead to great magic, sure. Magic users working in tandem can create great magics and harmony magic is something in Equestria that's very powerful. But what happens here is....very simple and easy. [It's Suspicious.] But yes, at least times of comfort where I wasn't thinking about it at first don't seem to count.

....not generally, no. Are you stuck on fire because it's called sparks, or should I be worried about any pyro tendencies?

But yes, even if you lose a trial, you get sparks, but you get more from winning.

You can get tattoo wings, yes. 80H on Jasmine has a steady hand for the ink work and she makes it pretty painless.

This. [And her tail flicks forward, underlining the mark on her flank.] It's a pony thing. Sometime during puberty, a pony will discover their special talent and get their Cutie Mark as a result.

Then it can't be all that hard to get my own memories back. Not that I need them, but it would be nice to know who I am.

Oh, no, not at all. I dislike fires that aren't for warmth or cooking. [Just thinking about large one gives him a sudden chill.]

I like winning better than losing, too.

Maybe I would like that. [Marking himself seems wrong and right at the same time. Huh. How conflicting.] I'll have to think about it. Do they come off, or are they there forever? Can we change them whenever we want?

A special talent? What's yours?

You can get a bunch in quick succession depending how dedicated you are, yeah. And you don't even need to spend the sparks to get them. You get a memory token every five hundred you earn automatically.

So it's more a phobia?

Oh, definitely. I never like losing, so it's good to know you'll be trying to win too.

Tattoos are permanent unless you know magic to get them off. Which I don't. And no, you can't change them. They're whatever you make for forever. It's why I made my own design. [And she desperately wanted to cover something else up.]

Hmmm, that IS a question. Some Cutie Marks can be so straight forward, you can look at them and know what a Pony is about. But some can be extremely obtuse.

Sadly, sun with balance symbol of color is extremely vague.

Well isn't that kind of them! I'd rather spend my sparks on important things. Like cakes.

Hmm, perhaps. I'm not sure. [He frowns. He definitely would rather think about more pleasant things.]

If we're teammates then we should work together to win a lot!

Hmm... That's not as fun as I had hoped, but I guess I could look into finding a spell that makes them change. Or maybe one that makes them move! [Wouldn't that be cool!]

It's really pretty... That's a "sun" you say?

It would certainly be annoying if we had to buy the token and other things. Cakes are certainly nice to get.

I see. So probably no fire spells.

Exactly. That's the spirit.

If you get really good at illusions, you can do that. Loki is changing his clothes pretty much constantly.

Yes. Well, a stylized sun. Usually it's just an orb of light in the sky to look at it, but it is made of fire.

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