Aurora Express: A Panfandom RP

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!]]