Event: Bubbles...??

[trainmasters]

Who: You?
When: Day 5, morning
Where: Everywhere

[ If you step outside this morning you may find a surprise! Large, pink colored bubbles, bouncing along lazily in the air as if they just arrived from some child's pleasant dreams. They are roughly the size of a melon and, upon closer inspection, appear to be filled with ... something? That sparkles and reflects the morning sunlight.

In any case, they seem harmless enough. Just a strange weather pattern for this strange world. Though if you happen to bump into one (or perhaps if one happens to sneak up and bump into you) you'll find that it pops quite easily upon contact-- and covers you in glitter!?

Well at least that explains the sparkling. But is this really harmless after all...? If nothing else, it's really annoying.

Oh yeah, by the way! You may find that some of your teammates are missing... but don't worry! Most of the empty rooms have already been filled by brand new Heroes! This isn't concerning at all! ]


[ OOC NOTES ON THIS EVENT

Each of these bubbles contain different colored glitter! Each glitter has a different effect, and you may oocly choose which color or combination of colors you want this glitter to be. The effects remain until you wash all of the glitter off. In addition, it's completely possible to get glitter on someone else just by contact... in fact some of these effects won't actually kick into place until you do spread the glitter curse. Just remember to communicate oocly which effects you want to play with!

GLITTER COLORS

White: Nothing. It's just glitter.
Purple: Increase "positive" feelings! Maybe you can't stop laughing, or maybe you suddenly feel much more affectionate towards someone you didn't particularly like before... whatever it is, it's definitely a little concerning. But maybe it's not too bad? This effect lasts until you manage to wash the glitter off.
Yellow: Memory share (x1) upon contact! Whoever you touch with this glitter receives one of your memories... but only if you also happen to remember it! (memories from the game itself are also valid!)
Green: Feelings share upon contact! Whoever you touch with this glitter can feel whatever you are feeling and vice-versa. This effect lasts until you manage to wash off the glitter.
Blue: Thoughts share upon contact! Whoever you touch with this glitter can now hear your thoughts and vice-versa. At least any loud thoughts. Maybe think a little quieter? This effect lasts until you manage to wash off the glitter.
Pink: You cannot lie. If you lie you start to feel sick... coincidentally enough, telling the truth makes you feel better? Or you can wash the glitter off. ]


[ ALSO! To those who were poisoned in the last game, you have the option to say that the poison has worn off by now! You also have the option to keep playing with it if you would like, either way is completely fine! ]

Comments

[ruinatings]

One. Alas, one can't always be perfect.

[HahaHAAAA. That's definitely testing to see if Randy knows things. He may not have been around for the whole yelling at Rufus that being perfect is impossible and bad bit, but Rufus strongly suspects that certain cute protagonists would have told him after the fact.]

[crimeson]

[don't start shit don't start shit don't rise to rufus starting shit, fuck this is gonna be hard.]

Is that a reference to how gorgeous you are or something? I'm sure your hair would be great if it weren't a mess right now.

[ruinatings]

Your flattery is ever charming, Lt. Orlando. I'm pleased to see you retain your memories.

[There is no hiding it. He can see the tension!]

[crimeson]

Buzzkill. Here I was, specifically trying to avoid awkward stuff like this, too.

[ruinatings]

Is it awkward? I thought we were getting along.

[crimeson]

Ah, right, right, how's prison been treating you?

[ruinatings]

[okay now we're not getting along]

Quite well, thank you. Have you gotten to go home yet? It would be a shame if you missed the restoration efforts.

[crimeson]

[DON'T WANT NONE DON'T START NONE]

The cool thing about you no longer having any power is that I no longer have to report to you even a little, so I'll leave that to your imagination.

[ruinatings]

Yes, well. As long as we're here, none of us have any power. But it would serve us both to attempt some kind of civility, given the situation.

[crimeson]

Again, literally what I was trying for when we started!

[ruinatings]

I was perfectly polite.

[He was, in fact polite. The words he used were nice! ...If you don't know him and what he was saying between the lines.]

[crimeson]

It isn't a matter of manners when it comes to you. Don't be coy.

[ruinatings]

Hehe, you're acting so familiar. How am I going to handle you?

[They really should try to not be mean to eachother! But Rufus is a little bitter. And yet he is well aware that he was in the wrong. Hell, the whole point of the exercise was to do the wrong thing so the right thing could be done later!! And yet... He's just not used to being honest or open, so he's actively struggling here.]

[crimeson]

[randy...

sighs. heavily.]

Okay. Look. We're gonna have to coexist on the same train. And I am perfectly capable of being civil, as long as you don't keep doing the thing where you don't technically say anything wrong but you're being nasty in between your words.

[ruinatings]

I'm not--

[Oh. Oh there's the lying sickness. Suddenly he's really queasy.]

...Nngh.

[crimeson]

... What's up?

[suspicious, but not... OF rufus, at least.]

[ruinatings]

I don't know. I'd been ill yesterday, but I thought it'd passed.

[And it wasn't this kind of nausea. It was worse and more ridiculous things!]

[crimeson]

The poison...?

[drawing closer, reaching to steady him.]

[ruinatings]

[No don't touch the glittery parts of him you'll regret it!!

--Which is to say Rufus tries to dodge.]

I don't need your help.

[Which is also a lie so now he's doubling over a little.]

[crimeson]

[I mean he can dodge the first attempt but Randy's DEFINITELY going to steady him once he's doubling over.]

Don't be stupid.

[ruinatings]

Mmph.

[That's the secret, Randy, he's always stupid. Or ratherrr, refusing to let anyone help him ever is his special brand of stupidity which you already know!! And Rufus knows too so he's at least making a token effort to be good and letting Randy prop him up now.

But meanwhile Randy's getting a memory thrown at him!

It's... actually really cute at first. Just a younger Rufus, outside in the sunny garden of their mansion, giving tiny Jusis the very beginnings of swordsmanship teaching. This is just the start so he's just teaching him how to hold it and whatnot. They're both all smiles, and Rufus is genuinely happy. And yet there's some constant background droning of empty sorrow.

Afterwards, Rufus shoos Jusis off to go take a bath. Then he heads inside, where he's accosted by a butler telling him his father is in need of him. The hatred there is palpable but Rufus goes, and he's polite and obedient and so perfect, giving his opinion on some paperwork and then accepting a mission to go stir some political shit somewhere.

The memory fades out on him leaving the room, outwardly serene and inwardly boiling with a bitterness that's turning in on itself and gnawing at his heart. Just you wait, "Father".]

[crimeson]

[oh. oh fuck.

It's hard seeing Rufus like this, relating even a little and understanding how he could have turned out the way he did. It's unpleasant, he doesn't like it, but he doesn't pull away, either. Because Rufus is letting him support him, and Randy doesn't want to pull away and ruin that.

For Rufus, though, he's also getting a "fun" flash of memory.

This one isn't cute at first, but it is... tactically satisfying. Randy is successfully leading a small company of Red Constellation Jaegers to victory against a Zephyr force three times their size. He uses familiar territory to his advantage-- they're near a village they often visit to resupply, so he has his men use that village as bait. There's some property damage, but mostly on the outskirts of the village, and his subordinates run like a well oiled machine. There's barely a single mistake made, and only one civilian casualty. He knows, the entire time, that this is a test of his mettle and leadership capabilities, so he's showing his best, and for a few bare moments he's even satisfied that there was only a single slip-up, only one piece of collateral damage with even the slightest significance, and managing such an absurd operation with only the loss of one innocent life? To a Jaeger? That's going above and beyond.

And then he sees the body. And, well, it all comes crashing down around him. The memory helpfully supplies a little montage of time spent with that young man, a bottle of rum shared between them kept safe behind the counter, talk of his dreams of moving out of that little village and running his own bar somewhere bigger, somewhere better. Rufus may not understand, as Randy didn't until later, that this is clearly his first friend not involved in the bloodier side of his life. In the moment, Randy doesn't really understand why everything seems so wrong. He understands loss of life, the mourning of a comrade, but this is different. This isn't even the same as the distant displeasure at seeing the corpse of someone uninvolved, even one he'd made himself. He cares too much.

Randy can't even appreciate it when his uncle and cousin show up to compliment him on a job well done, to tell him that his good work here means he's been chosen as his father's successor. He's too busy having his comfort in his own worldview rattled out from under him by the persistent guilt and horror at a young life he'd genuinely loved, snuffed out because of his choices. The memory closes out, at the realization that he had, perhaps, genuinely loved that boy.]

[ruinatings]

[Well that's painful as fuck. And in a way, weirdly relatable. That obliviousness... From the outside it seems obvious but from the inside it's a really familiar thing. Pride in success, without understanding the real consequences.

...He's wondering now, as he snaps out of it and starts to process, how he'd have felt if his machinations had killed Jusis.]

...This again.

[crimeson]

[oops we suddenly relate to each other, this, sucks,]

...This already got you, then.

[ruinatings]

[The real question is if this'll make him go softer on Randy or just get meaner out of spite.]

Yes.

[Pushing away from himmmm. He's fine he's just kinda nauseous.]

It's frustrating.