Aurora Express: A Panfandom RP

Who: Everyone
When: Day 12, evening into night
Where: the Aurora

[As evening approaches, you hear the jingle associated with an official message from your Chain. It's the same balloons and confetti animation as the last time newbies arrived, and the same message as well:]

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[As anticipated, some newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas.

Just after this, however, something much more startling happens...

Outisde, the bell tone gets all the louder, a beautiful resonating sound that fills the air. Then, suddenly, a flood of strange square-shaped sparkles appear, floating around like magical fireflies, bringing with them a pleasant warmth. They increase in size and volume until the air itself whites out with a bright but pleasant light. While you can't see, you can hear the bell, and the distant rumbling of stone.

Abruptly, the sound stops, and the bright light fades to reveal a sky painted in sunset hues. Where there was once a dark and hostile jungle with cracks in the ground, there's now a colourful rainforest environment and a floor thick with bright moss. The sounds of birds and insects and regular wildlife rise over the previous silence, and the aggressive plantlife is replaced by large flowers and succulent fruits. In one direction, a dirt path winds through the trees, and in the opposite, the brush gives way to a stone formation with a flat top and an opening flanked in carvings of water and plants.

If one were to enter the new cave entrance, they'd find the previous moon crystals replaced by rainbow ones that reflect sparkling light onto the floor, and feel soothingly warm to the touch. Further into the caves, there's a carved stone path that leads to the beach you initially arrived on. There stands the Prism: a large floating cube in the center of gyproscope-like concentric rings. Where it had been glowing black, it's now a royal purple, and the light and energy from it are significantly less malicious than before -- though still far from pure. The beach itself is now covered in fine white sand, and the sea no longer tries to pull you in -- provided you don't go out too far.

Because not all is well on this Star just yet. While the nearby water contains a reef of colourful fish, 100 meters or so out to sea the water turns black again. While under water in the safe area, you can occasionally see the shadows of great and terrible monsters deep in the dark.

Likewise, should you choose to follow the first path, after ~1km you'll find the forest fades back into the previous dense, dark jungle. At the edge of the darkness, there's something new -- the remains of what looks like a modern town. It's all overgrown, cottages twisted into ruins and streets covered in vines and prowled by tiger monsters and a new threat: towering reptilian creatures that climb the crumbling shells of apartment buildings and the empty City Hall, like geckos increased to dinosaur size. They're fast, and if they catch you they'll swallow you whole. On the one side, that makes it easier for someone to save you -- they could cut you out. On the other, those unable to be rescued will find their skin and muscles becoming slowly more transparent and stiff, the colour and feeling leaving them until their minds are trapped in a useless shell. Those found in that condition later must be saved via the healing pods -- but they'll remember their stay in their glass bodies, with their blood running and heart pumping like a living anatomical model of their organs.

On the Aurora, however, you're welcome to enjoy the first sight of the sun in 12 days. As the brilliant sunset moves into a night reigned over by a gentle moon, the Heartbeat Festival remains in full swing. So celebrate your victory with a glass of shimmery alcohol and a kiss, because you've done it -- your love has purified a part of this Star!]

[[OOC NOTES: CONGRATULATIONS on your first Prism purification, guys! There is a toplevel for ICly suggesting train upgrades here, so check it out! Next week we'll post a poll, and the week after the upgrade will be implemented.

The updates to the Setting page to reflect this post will be made soon, so keep an eye out!]]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 2, evening
Where: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Well, uh, that red dolphin seems to have been successfully fended off! Good job everyone, you are truly terrifying.

A five minute warning is issued by the pleasant robotic voice from last time: the six hour wait is over. Right as the countdown is finishing up, the power flickers on in the remaining powerless cars, with the startling sound of every single mechanical door in the train closing at once. So those are working now.

Similarly, your previously nonfunctional Chains are coming to life, displaying a helpful little welcome message:

Welcome aboard the Aurora!

You have been selected by the Star Prince as a potential hero, tasked with saving the universe from Malice. As a passenger I, your Construct and Conductor, will attempt to provide you with quality lodgings and safety. In return, we ask that you join your fellows in making bonds and doing your utmost to bring joy back to the Stars.

Due to the process of restoring your body, you may find some things are missing. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to return them to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

You are also now able to access and fill out your profiles.

With that, the train shudders into motion. Except rather than moving strictly horizontally, it's slanting up after it's moved only a few feet, picking itself up off the hazardous beach car by car and snaking through thin air. Here's hoping you got the message to hold onto something during takeoff when the cars started tilting.

The trip only lasts a few short minutes before the train shudders again, worryingly, and descends abruptly into the jungle below. It's less of a crash-landing than the one that presumably woke you up in the first place, but it's not the smoothest, either, what with all the plant life the train is crashing into. Do try not to hit your heads, everyone.]

[[OOC NOTE: The train has moved into the jungle. The power is on in every carriage! This means food is now in the fridges, the doors all actually work, and characters now have access to the sparks shop.

This is an event post, so you can take 300 points for participating!]]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 1, starting in the morning
Where: ???

[It's morning on the Aurora and 36 newcomers, including you, are waking up queasy in their beds to the dim orange glow of emergency lights and the blare of an alarm. Lying beside you is what appears to be a smartphone -- but it won't turn on, and there's nothing to tell anyone from a lower-tech society what it even is. In fact there's no explanation for anything. All you can hear is the shrill alarm, and all you can see outside your windows is blackness. There's no sun, moon, or stars, just a complete, all-encompassing darkness and, if you look from the right angle, a view of the rest of the train hurtling through it.

The room you're in is oddly decorated, with a theme reflected by the clothes in your closet, all in a colour scheme that matches the colour of your smartphone. You may find a few other items in the closet as well -- things you need in order to access your abilities.

After a few seconds, the train jerks and shakes with impact. The alarm fades out, and in its place a recording begins to play, broken and full of static.]

"Heroes of Distant Stars, Welcome ......... The Aurora. My name is ... Prince of Stars. The worlds you knew have unfortunately ......... by Malice, and for that I can only offer my deepest condolences. You ...... why you alone were saved. ......... to that is simple: our numbers are too few. We can no longer repel the Malice. Without you, ......... You must use ......... to bring back the Light. Rely on your teammates for support, and ......... victory.

Please, save us all. You are our only hope."

[The recording repeats endlessly after that, with only a brief pause between -- a young man's voice, sad and desperate, over and over in the silence.

When you try to leave your room the door, while evidently automatic, needs to be manually dragged open. After that you'll find yourself in a two-floor dormitory in the same theme as your room. There are seven total doors in the hall, and stairs down to the elaborately decorated main floors. There's food in the fridge, but no actual power on to keep it cold, so if you want to eat you should do so now before it spoils. The doors are all similarly out of order -- they must be pulled or pushed open and shut in their sliding frames, and they don't have any locks to speak of.

At least you're not alone -- each train car has five or six total occupants, all who've been given the same set of colour-coded clothes and useless phone as you. Some of you are confused but intact. Some of you remember nothing before waking. Some of you remember, but have lost all the power you know yourself to carry. And yet there are no answers. Only the train, the darkness, and the increasing sound of lapping waves.

Look outside now, and you'll see the train has landed on an island in the midst of sea so calm it's like one big, black, mirror. The island itself has a beach of fine black sand, on which the train rests. Nearby is a huge pedestal above which floats an odd cube in the center of two concentric metal rings, all spinning like a gyroscope. It glows with black light and a malevolence so intense that even those without magical senses can detect it.

Further inland, however, it's all tangled growth and unintelligible whispers. Entering the jungle will prove terribly dangerous -- it's full of black snakes whose venom will leave you dizzy and nauseous, or if the snake is big enough could even stop your heart. There are furry pig-like beasts that are edible, but they're accompanied by carnivorous monsters reminiscent of tigers with horns, six eyes, and saber teeth. Some plants are harmless, or bear edible fruit, but others let off spores that cause frightening hallucinations, and others will reach out with tendrils to try to pull you into their many-toothed maws.

But it's not the jungle you have to worry about first. It's the water sneaking up the beach as if it's alive -- if you let it pool ankle-deep around you, it'll drag you with terrifying speed into the sea, pulling you under with intent to let you drown, your corpse to feed the unknown horrors deep below.

So what will you do, Heroes of Distant Stars?]

[[OOC NOTE: The only items in your character's closet are clothes and any mod-approved item-based power exceptions. For the duration of this event, all unnecessary systems have been disengaged. This means there's no power to anything but the lights and health pods, and your Chain will not come on. This will last an IC day or two, depending on game speed. For now make friends, and figure out as much as you can on your own until the Aurora's Prism comes back on!

You can make separate posts if you want a team meet-and-greet, etc, for your team only. This post is for engaging with the outside or hanging out in public spaces!

Also, this is an official Event post, so you can all add 300 sparks to your sheet if you tag in!]]