auroraexpress | EVENT: The Very Hungry Nightblossom FINALE

Who: everybody
When: Day 10, sunrise
Where: mainly outside

[Sometime early in the morning, there's a deep rumble, as the ground shakes. The vines previously grabbing at the Aurora and its heroes multiply rapidly, completely coating the train and shutting out starlight. For a moment everything creaks, as if the metal itself is about to cave in.

But then it stops. Somewhere far away something roars, and suddenly the vines retreat, leaving only a few remaining cracks in the ground. Below, the caves have only the harmless glowing mushrooms which, should you choose to attempt eating them, prove to quickly fill one's stomach and leave them with a burst of energy. You can follow the tunnels still, though -- now that they're free of monster plant, you'll find it's one big connected network. There are various small caves in which iridescent white crystals grow, letting off a faint light reminiscent of the moon. From them drips a translucent liquid which feels soft and cool on the skin, until it seeps in. Once it's in your bloodstream you'll find yourself caught in a euphoria that encourages acting on your every impulse. If you want to steal something, you will. If you want to kiss someone, you will. If you want to kill someone...

...Well. It's possible to overcome the compulsions, at least. You need only picture someone you care more about than yourself, and concentrate. Unfortunately the high that comes with it can be addictive, so one must take care when exploring the caves.

It's unlikely anyone will get much exploring done before sunrise, but if you're not in the deep dark where signal is poor, you'll be woken at dawn by a loud and cheerful jingle on your Chain. Even if you were previously dead, you're sure up now! Accompanying it is the slight shift in the train that usually comes with a trial, and a message that just says:

come outside

If you follow the summons, you'll see that rather than a scary tower or spooky house, there's what appears to be a really flashy convertible, painted a shimmering deep rose. Leaning against the hood is a man who appears just over twenty, with long hair and bright eyes, both quite literally twinkling with stars.

His voice might be familiar, if you were one of the first arrivals. But the tone, rather than sad and soft, is... frankly annoyingly full of energy. As is his smile as he waves at everyone coming out.]

"Good morning, my lovely heroes!"

[[OOC NOTES: Anyone who died will be revived at the time of the prince's arrival, even if it's earlier than the 1 day revival timeline. Injuries can still be there depending on your character's timeline, but there are a couple of hours between the plants leaving and the prince appearing, so everyone should have had time to catch their breath and take a shower at least.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To save the universe, of course. The welcome message isn't a lie.

As soon as I got here I had acidic slime eat my eyes! You might want to work on your welcomes, Your Grace.

Wh-- They weren't my slimes!

So you just happened to deposit your heroes into an ecosystem full of eye-eating slimes, then. I'm glad you're not malevolent, just incompetent.

We put you here to get rid of the slimes! There are no nice ecosystems anymore. That's why we need you.

And you never thought to consult us before summary conscription?

It's hard to consult someone when they're languishing in mystical darkness.

Elaborate.

The worlds you're all from are as utterly devoid of light as the Star you're on right now. Our algorithm searches for strong souls lost in the Malice, and pulls them out. We use the Prism on the Aurora to restore you to your original form as best as we can, but we don't know who we've gotten until you're ready to wake up.

So you mean to say that my world was destroyed.

As you know it, yes. But it can be recovered if the Prism in that area is purified.

Then the place where we are now was once an entire world?

Yes. Although, the Stars that house Prisms are very small. It's a way of protecting them.

Fascinating. And the train will us to each of them, somehow.

Yes! We've programmed a route that we think will be the most efficient for restoration of the universe.

I marvel at your efficiency.

You should! If you have ten Stars to fix instead of a hundred, isn't that a big help?

How convenient that we can't just go home.

That's not exactly my fault. And it's not a lie! But I can't prove it if seeing this place isn't enough for you.

Maybe this humble peasant girl should have a little more humility towards the peacock prince.

Eh? I never said anything about "peasants"!

I'm not from your empire, Prince. So your orders will only be a suggestion for me.

I don't have an empire and I didn't give any orders. You're not even in the same book as me right now!

Then don't call yourself a prince.

I am a prince! Of a kingdom! It's small but it's mine and it's the only one left, so there's nobody else to answer to. Not that I want you guys to bow down or anything! I'm just telling you, I'm the only thing between you all and... Well.

[Gestures at the jungle.]

This. Becoming this, that is.

Edited 2019-02-09 19:16 (UTC)

Re: THE PRINCE

nihilmancy - 2019-02-09 23:39 (UTC) - Expand

joybound - 2019-02-10 16:22 (UTC) - Expand

nihilmancy - 2019-02-10 16:33 (UTC) - Expand

joybound - 2019-02-10 17:04 (UTC) - Expand

nihilmancy - 2019-02-10 17:40 (UTC) - Expand

joybound - 2019-02-12 01:54 (UTC) - Expand

nihilmancy - 2019-02-12 02:46 (UTC) - Expand