auroraexpress | Event: A Prelude

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.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

[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!]

[LOOK REAL ALARMED UNTIL HE CLEARS THAT LANDING]

[applauds politely]

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

Is this better?

Much, thank you.

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.

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

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.

[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?

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

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

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.

Ah. That sounds charming.

[SO DRY]

How did you turn the power back on?

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.

[ooooh so that's what she meant]

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

I don't know if a shark would have actually been worse... It was really big. It had like ten eyes. The water kept trying to pull people in, too.

But a guy did a spell that dropped um, the sun? on it. So that was resolved.

[. . .]

The sun

[. . . . .]

That seems reasonable.

Yeah. And then the train literally flew us to safety. So, um, that's the bar we're at for normalcy.

[thank god his bar for normalcy is really, really low]

Eh. I've experienced worse.

[adjusts his glasses]

Thanks for the heads up, though. I'll be on the lookout for any more killer dolphins.

It's this whole island that's tainted, so there's going to be other corrupted plants and animals and things.

Mmm. . .

[glancing towards the jungle now, expression thoughtful]

And I'm fairly certain I know where some of them will be coming from.

I would recommend sticking close to the train... but some people have been exploring. You could probably find a group.

[right. . . because it is better to travel in groups]

We won't find any answers by just staying in one place.

Yeah, but if someone gets lost... That's probably it for them.

[jabs a finger at her]

And that's why you never go anywhere without a navigator.

Like... GPS? I don't think the chains have that.

(no subject)

purrtagonist - 2019-01-29 16:43 (UTC) - Expand

bowtiedbones - 2019-01-29 16:47 (UTC) - Expand

purrtagonist - 2019-01-31 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

bowtiedbones - 2019-01-31 03:56 (UTC) - Expand