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

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.

[He's happy to know they share an understanding on the superiority of sweets.]

I don't believe so, no. [Fire spells definitely didn't seem like something he would do.]

[He beams.]

Illusions, huh? I'll look into it. [Another thing he isn't certain he can do, but magic still feels right in some ways.]

Ooooh, that's what that is. I see. [He nods.] How does the fire stay in the sky like that, anyway?

[Ponies are all about sweets, it's true.]

Illusions are very handy. They're good for conveying information, disguise work, and just plain messing with people. [Listen. She knows there's chaos in this boy and seeing people pranked is still funny.]

....that is entirely dependent on how your universe's laws of physics work.

I know two and they are very different and not terribly compatible. In one, it's gravity and momentum, the other, a living god moves it. About the only way they might mesh is if the laws of physics were broken by Discord and Celestia is just making up for what's been lost now.

[His grin becomes conspiratorial.] Sounds like loads of fun.

So it changes depending on the world? That's neat. I wonder how it worked in my world. I don't really remember seeing the sun, but I'm sure there was one somewhere.

Oh, I'm sure of it.

At least in my experience. Some people do have the gravity kind, but I couldn't say how it works in yours, and I'm not sure if that's how stars work here for either.

There's so much to learn and see and experience. I think it would be a waste if we didn't take the chance to figure it all out, or at least see new things. Maybe that's why I'm not too upset about my memories. Until I get them back, I can just make more.

[Moving forward just seems that simple to him.]

Are we at the garden yet? I'm still not used to how this train is laid out. It's so big, and there's more to see outside, right?

I just don't like what's mine being taken from me. [And she's not entirely convinced it was Malice that did it. Prince is dumb enough to maybe be honest, but he can be used.] Plus I want to know why I'm stuck in a human body. That's annoying.

There is, but outside is fairly dangerous right now. We just purified a star a bit ago, so there's little that's safe outside. The garden car should be this next car.

I hadn't thought of it that way. [Maybe he should be angrier. He just can't feel all that connected with what he doesn't remember.]

For what it's worth, I like the way you look either way. You have hair that's so amazing, I've never seen anything like it before! Or at least, I'm fairly certain I've never seen something so vibrant as that. [It's really quite gorgeous. He already let slip she was pretty, so there's no really going back on that.]

That's what we're here to actually do, right? Purify the star and save the world? Be heroes? I kind of like the idea of being a hero....

[By then they had reached the stylized door. The patterns on it were pretty but he was more curious as to what he would see inside.]

Well, it's a pretty raw deal. Having to work to earn back what you already had.

To be fair, it seems most worlds aren't as vibrant as mine. Everyone has just variant shades of like two colors here for skin. Hair is a little better, but still, a lot is dull. Equestria and the Earth I've been too, there was all the colors of the rainbow. [It's WEIRD.] But yes, I am quite pretty. [She's proud of that, okay.]

Yes, that's the deal. We use bonds to help fuel purifying magic to take back some of the world, and when the corruption is thinned out enough, we may go explore key places where the corruption started and seek out totems.

Strangely, that feels familiar. [He frowns, because he's not sure how that works, but there's something familiar about the sentiment at least.]

[He looks down at his own hands, blue with sharp black nails.] I wonder if it was the same for me... It feels like I have never seen someone as pretty as you, but I cannot be certain. Until I get some memories back, at least.

What is a totem? How long does it take for the corruption to ebb?

....I feel for what you're going to remember then.

It could be you're around cooler colors more? Like genetics do usually means similar colors stay in a family so if it's a small community or the like, you might not have had a lot of reds or yellows?

Though we can get to work on you getting back some memories if you're cool with the bonding thing.

The totem is basically what acts as an 'anchor' for the corruption. Now what a totem is can vary, though the last star had at least two people. A girl and the soul of a boy who suffered tragedy before the corruption took hold completely.

Some weeks. I believe the first time around was about two moons time wise.

Perhaps. [All he knows is that his hands look normal to him. He shrugs.]

You'll have to teach me about how it works, so I can do it properly. [He's still not quite sure how it works, but doing things seems much simpler than listening about them.]

But it's not always people? I wonder how we'll know what they are...

[He tilts his head.] So some... weeks is two moons? [He bites his lip.] I... don't believe I know what a "moon" is. How many bells would that be?

I can do that. I might not have been the most social sort, but I do have friends. Very....very huggy friends.

They're usually at the center of a bunch of defenses that messes without our emotions and sense of self. I had to contend with evil mirror me. Having back up is pretty essential, Chiharu had to help me keep my sense of self.

....hum. It depends how long is a bell. Do you know what a second is? Like...

One. Two. Three.

That's about three seconds.

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