Event: A Prelude

[trainmasters]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 8, evening
Where: around

[It's a beautiful evening in the jungle tonight. It's warmer than usual, and some new plants have appeared, black vines that climb up the trees near the Aurora, opening hundreds of tiny white flowers that glow in the darkness. They let of a sweet smell that's soothing like a chamomile tea, and are filled with a dew that, if consumed, leaves characters feeling relaxed and just a little more likely to act on positive impulses.

However, the vines of this plant aren't so harmless. When broken they drip a milky white substance which irritates the skin, leaving red welts that burn and last anywhere from an hour to a full day, depending on how long the substance is in contact. Eating this won't kill you but it'll give you really intense heartburn and nausea for a few hours.

Additionally, if you're walking around in the nearby jungle, you might trip over one of the small cracks that have appeared in the forest floor. Mostly they're not visible underneath the grass and underbrush, but the bigger ones have caused a slight unevenness in the ground that can catch careless toes. There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern or origin to the cracks, nor do they have any other affect on their surroundings. They're just there, suddenly, in a roughly 100-foot radius from the train.

But there's plenty of reason to ignore these natural phenomenon, because there are some new teammates waking up in your carriages! In response to this new wave of arrivals, existing players will hear a cute jingling ringtone come from their Chain. Upon checking, the screen displays... a silly animation of balloons and confetti and the words "WELCOME NEW HEROES", which goes away on its own after a few seconds or when characters tap it. The same display is shown on the big screen in the lounge, in which trays full of colourful drinks have mysteriously appeared. The drinks taste like Kool-Aid and change some part of you the corresponding colour -- pink hair, blue skin, purple eyes, or maybe just a literal green thumb!]

[[OOC NOTE: Newbies can review the arrival scenario on the navigation page if necessary. The drinks in the lounge come in any colour you want, and cause colour shift in whatever and however large an area you want. It could just be a strand of hair or it could be your entire body, whatever you feel like playing with.]]

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[uh]






Can you start that story over from the beginning?

[bowtiedbones]

Sure, but fair warning, it's all weird and creepy from start to finish.

[purrtagonist]

Hey, I'm tough. I can handle creepy-weird.

[bowtiedbones]

Cool, well, first, I assume you have your memories? Unless you just retained what YouTube is.

[purrtagonist]

Yyyyyyes?

[kind of. gives her a bemused look at that]

[bowtiedbones]

There's a lot of people here that don't. There's some others of us, like me, that remember everything but can't use all of our abilities. Some people are unaffected by either. It seems to be a side effect of being transported here, and the lost experiences are recoverable, but it is widespread.

[purrtagonist]

[ah]

The welcome message mentioned something possibly being lost. I assume that's what it is?

[bowtiedbones]

Probably. We've only been here a week, so there could be more we don't know.

[purrtagonist]

[ker-pinged!]

Hm? Have you been here since the beginning?

[bowtiedbones]

I have. We started out on the beach, and the train didn't have any power— we had to force the doors open to get out of our rooms.

[purrtagonist]

[yesssss someone who can tell him more about what's going on here!]

I know this is a pretty big question with what is likely a long answer, but can you tell me everything that's happened since you arrived?

[bowtiedbones]

I can, but would you like to come off of the train first? It's a lot of stuff to be calling up to the roof.

[purrtagonist]

[ah. right]

Sure. One second.

[brb taking a RUNNING LEAP off of the train roof and landing on the ground in an impressive tuck-and-roll, popping back onto his feet seconds later]

[graceful!]

[bowtiedbones]

[LOOK REAL ALARMED UNTIL HE CLEARS THAT LANDING]



[applauds politely]

[purrtagonist]

[puffs out a breath of air, blowing the unicorn ears out of his face]

Is this better?

[bowtiedbones]

Much, thank you.

[purrtagonist]

Great.

[stuffs his hands into his pockets and kicks at the ground]

Should we sit down for this? I feel like we'll be here a while.

[bowtiedbones]

We might as well. It's only a few days to cover, but they were some extreme days.

[purrtagonist]

Cool.

[where do they sit]

[. . .]

[on the ground next to the train seems okay]

[plops down, legs crossed, motioning for her to do the same]

You make it sound like I have a lot to look forward to.

[bowtiedbones]

[on the ground works for her. sits down, spreading out the tail of her big Thyme coat to keep herself off the dirt]

Nothing good to look forward too, eventually. You've gotten the gist of why we're here, right?

[purrtagonist]

Something something, Star Prince, something something, save the universes. Right?

[that is to say, yes. he read the welcome message]

[bowtiedbones]

That's about it. The power wasn't on when we got here, so most of the message was garbled. We were just in a blacked-out train on a creepy beach.

[purrtagonist]

Ah. That sounds charming.

[SO DRY]

How did you turn the power back on?

[bowtiedbones]

We didn't, it had to charge up. I guess building Bonds did it? It wasn't at full power though, so we were still stuck on the beach. It needed a couple hours before it could get us out, and we were attacked meanwhile by a giant shadow-corrupted dolphin.

[purrtagonist]

[ooooh so that's what she meant]

Aaaaat least it wasn't a shadow-corrupted shark?