middleofsomewhere | Under the Sea: Mission start

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Under the Sea: Mission start

After fleeing the strange shapes in the sky the voidtreckers are perhaps not looking forward to yet another mission and indeed the first few days of Fiddlesticks go by without any strange dreams, no warning that another mission might be nigh. Yet on the morning of day five their SCA's will glow with the colours of the void and a holographic message will appear.

Preperations

The dressing room is open once again, though the clothes this time are simple in choice. A wet suit for each void trecker as well as a pair of flippers, a helmet and a breathing pack. It at least has instructions and there will be a little bit of time for them to figure out how to use them. Apart from that there are some waterproof packs for supplies to be packed in.

They will have a couple of hours to get ready for their mission.

Arrival: Blue and Red

"We are now approaching world #7625000129523. Drop order is Red and Blue, Purple then Orange. Red and Blue team to doors. Arrival in world #7625000129523 in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train shudders and lurches as they exit the void, the view from the window goes from the ever shifting void to a beautiful deep blue sky. They fly through the air and swoop down to land on a sandy beach. The doors open allowing those who are taking part in the Blue and Red missions to debark. The doors close and the train swoops up into the air.

The beach stretches from one side to the other, in the distance as the beach turns into sloping green hills they can see a village. Beyond that there is a jungle. Any red team who check their SCA will see four points, the rock pools.

The villagers have noticed the huge train sweeping down onto their island and so contact is made quickly. They will be quite accepting of the help and explain the situation. They will help any of red team to the rockpools if asked.

Red

The rockpools are built up and indeed made so the water will reach a persons waist if they stand in them. The water is cold but not overly so. When the water shoots up anyone in them will shoot up also.

They will find themselves in a vortex of water, with anyone else who enters that rockpool. The water itself seems to be fighting them, tendrils of water reaching out of the whirlpool to try and drag them further into the chaos. It takes a whole lot of willpower to stay in the centre, the water can be fought with weapons, even with fists. They feel as if they are falling or flying, perhaps both. Surrounded by the pure chaos of the ocean.

Blue

Hopefully they spend the day helping with preparations because when night falls the monsters emerge from the sea. Terrifying twisted creatures. The villagers only have simple weapons but will tell them that fire is helpful against these water creatures.

Hold off the monsters and keep the people safe.

Purple

The doors close and the train flies off into the sky, flying over the island to the other side where it lands on a rocky bay, near tall towering cliffs.

"Purple team to doors." The doors open, allowing the purple team to disembark before flying off once again.

In the cliff face there is a large cave entrance, over the entrance there are symbols, translated by their SCA's. Clear mind, clear heart. Come those who seek to serve.

There are six people stood by the entrance, looking quite surprised at the new arrivals. One, a woman with silver hair recovers enough to speak first. "Ah. Void warriors. We are honoured by your help."

Once introductions are made the spiritual leaders will happily accept the escort and their adventure can begin.

Orange

They fly up and out across the ocean, a longer flight than before but eventually they descend and there is a slight juddering before they land, floating on the ocean.

"Orange team disembark, please use luggage or dressing carriage doors only."

They will step out onto an inflated platform that streches around the train. Down below are the depths of the water and their SCA's show them at the point of Bui. It is below them so all they need to is dive.

The dive takes a while, and depends on their swimming ability but hopefully with a bit of teamwork they arrive at the silent city of Bui.

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Maru watched the guy getting the suit on.

He looked at his own.

He watched the Shiny Guy some more.

And then he sighed. Nope. Definitely not something he wanted to be trying to get on. That looked like way too much hard work to him.

Maru was sat on a bench, legs crossed, finally having submitted to putting on a wetsuit. Though he'd been pleased to find he could put on a blue one instead of an orange one.

He was looking at the helmet now, not too sure if he needed or wanted to put it on, when his attention was caught by an unhappy looking man. He didn't know him. And even if he did he wasn't about to question what was wrong with him because it was none of his business. Instead he pointed at the helmet.

"... If I'm not going in the water. Do I need this?"

Oh god. This is the part where Alice has to look like she's not super awkward about what he's asking from her, huh. And it's not even the burn scars - no, the awkwardness already creeps up on her the moment she realises he's asking her about the zipper. That's way too close to touching someone else's skin, no thanks.

But then she does notice the burn marks. And somehow that is the part that does keep her from just plainly refusing to do anything. Thankfully she manages to mask most of the awkwardness behind her pokerface.

"Sure. Just don't move." She reaches out, being so careful to touch absolutely nothing but the zipper as she starts to pull it up. Probably better to try and make some idle chitchat to keep this from being too awkward, but Alice is just.. so bad at that... Thankfully she remembers talking to him before.

"So, did you end up getting help with learning how to fight?"

Ifrit can't help but wander over to Whisper. It's just.... finally, somebody normal-looking. A Lupo, like Texas or Provence, but tinier and furrier. Well, there were people like that, too, where she was from, so that was fine.

Ifrit's wetsuit was covering up the stones on her skin, but it was still obvious she wasn't human, what with the black stone horns on her head. Her helmet, currently unneeded, was tucked under an arm.

"Hey!" .....Hm, what did people usually say in situations like this? "I, uh, guess we'll be working together?" Nailed it.

Whoa whoa, this guy has a--

"A kid?" Does the guy just not look the age Tidus would expect, or is the surprise in hearing about a kid in the first place? A guy being separated from his kid, along with the rest of his family. That definitely has Tidus's attention more than mission talk, put aside as he asks, "How old is she?"

Hm. Fighting living monsters isn't as satisfying as robots.

But they're safe, and she exhaled as well. "...you're welcome." Still just as quiet as before.

Tinier, furrier. Whisper, in turn, was pretty curious about people like Ifrit and Shaw, who had what seemed like minor animal traits on a human body. Clearly, reality was much more complicated than she'd realized - and she'd already met people from other worlds before this.

"...um. Hi." Whisper nodded at Ifrit, her voice quiet, sounding strained just to be audible around a group of people tromping around in wet caves. "We're all... in this together, yeah."

"So people can change which team they are on?" Allen hadn't really been here long enough to know that, so he just stuck with the team he figured he was meant to be on. Which then begged the question of why the colors even matter.

"But you're right, best get this sorted out." And the young man still hasn't realized activating his arm was going to not at all be easy.

"nice to meet you. I'm Allen" he said giving a small bow before shaking his head "I haven't, I didn'#t even know there were teams within teams." Odds were he was just going to go with one and that was that.

[ Prep ]

Ifrit warily eyes the wetsuits provided to them in the Dressing Car. Brightly colored she was fine with, really. But did they really need to cover the whole body? Wouldn't that be stuffy? And what was the point of these giant clear helmets?

"What, are normal swimsuits not good enough?" she comments idly, picking up a garishly purple wetsuit. "...These things better not rip." They seemed like they'd be skintight, and that might be an issue when one's skin had rocks growing out of it.

Hopefully they didn't need helmets, though. Or she'd have to find one that fits around her horns. What a pain.

[ Purple mission: Start ]

As the train lets off its passengers, Ifrit steps off, and...... stares. Just stares.

Sure, there's priests or whatever talking. And sure, there's a mission to worry about. But as the train takes back off, Ifrit's just staring out towards the water.

Siesta's water was nothing like this. The way it stretched all the way to the horizon, the way the island curved inward, just more water around it, instead of curving outward, forming the edge of the lake.... yeah. This was different. Different and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Awestruck a little, maybe.

"Is that.... the ocean?" The real deal. She'd only heard about it in comparison to the beach at Siesta. But there it was.

Somebody get her back on track.

[ Purple mission: Slightly later ]

Ifrit's back on track now. She's got her helmet tucked under one arm, unneeded for now. Her flippers clipped to her side since she also doesn't need those. Honestly, would she even need them? Whatever, unimportant.

She notices how some members of her group have split up - some going ahead, some hanging back, some escorting these priestly people. Hrm.

She seeks out the nearest person who looks like they might know what's really going on - an adult, probably. "Okay, uh, Ifrit reporting for duty! Where do you need me?" Ifrit was used to missions, but she was used to taking orders. Being told where to go, who to aim for, what to kill. She didn't always listen, but she always had direction. Realizing she might need to give a quick rundown of her skills, she amends, "I've got fire. I'm used to taking on large groups of enemies. So just tell me where to go?"

"Not in this sense, no." Being turned into a half-human, half water creature when going to another world, so that you can breath underwater is a completely different matter.

Allen looked on at it for ma bit longer, there was a reason to wear these, but at the same time he wondered if they really had to. If he couldn't figure out he is considering just leaving it.

"Not even sure home has anything like this, but the other places I've been were different. One didn't have such things at all."

"I won't do such things... on purpose." Sometimes the bad luck just happened and the other times it really was his own fault.

But he laughed slightly if not a tiny bit awkwardly with it. She could be quite scary so he was at least aware to not annoy her too much.

"Keeping an eye on me then? Does that mean you'll report me if I do something wrong?" The last part was a slight joke, but also something he was sort of familiar with, having someone watch him the whole time. Link certainly was something.

Dressing
He's never seen anything like this in his life. The material is rigid but pliable and he can't for the life of him determine its use. It isn't armor, it would stop no blade or spearhead, and yet others are choosing them and donning them as they are necessary for whatever lies ahead of them. If it's any indication, though, the idea of a 'zipper' is a new one to the confused Drow.

Blue Team - Day
Having been told it was his choice whether or not he go with his own team or others, hearing that Blue Team would be responsible for the protection of civilians, he didn't hesitate to join their roster. The darkness-dwelling Drow winced as the train doors opened onto a bright bay, sun-dappled water glittering off into the distance as far as his hindered eyes could see. The smell of the salt air was new but not unpleasant as he raised a hand to shielf his eyes and disembarked, looking around as his eyes adjusted to the light, adjusting the strap of his rucksack which he brought with him when they left.

"The village's defenses are beyond minimal. We have much work to do."

Blue Team - Evening (Beach Patrol)
As the sun sank toward the horizon, Drizzt made his way out to the beach, having acquired a torch per the villagers' recommendations and a crude spear, still toting his rucksack. His night vision and ability to see the heat of his surroundings acutely as any other can see in bright light gave him the advantage of patrolling the beaches at night, but he had one final task to see to before he set about planning the path of his patrol.

finding a spot of open sand, he set down his rucksack and pulled from it a small, onyx figurine of a panther lying in ambush for unsuspecting prey. He placed the statuette down gently, lovingly, and hoped being on a planet rather than in the void would allow this to work. He stepped forward a few paces, crouching to watch the waves as he uttered quietly, "Guenhwyvar...please hear me, my friend."

Her summoning made no sound, and Drizzt was no warlock or mage attuned to her call, so all that kept him company for a moment was the gentle sound of lapping waves and the burning orange of the sunset. Anyone watching would notice a ripple of shadow around that small figurine, as though it was silently erupting in a dense black fog that solidified into a large, 600 lb black panther with shining amber eyes who padded soundlessly over to the crouched Drow, muscles rippling under her shining coat.

And who shoved her head against his shoulder with enough force to unsteady him and he caught himself on all fours, turning with a broad grin. "Guenhwyvar!" He threw his arms around the great cat's neck, her purr of affectionate greeting loud enough to carry on the sea breeze to anyone who might be nearby. The great cat tenses if anyone approaches and Drizzt rises swiftly, the borrowed spear in one hand, the other resting gently atop Guenhwyvar's head, staying any attack she might have planned.

"The village will be safe this night, at least from this beach." He's still smiling, confident, reassured. It's amazing what steadfast friends can do for a man's bravery.

When Bucky approaches Inigo, the boy actually looks downright worried for once in a way he either isn't attempting to hide or doesn't quite realise he should be hiding. He's just staring at his SCA, his face pale enough that he looks like he's about to pass out.

In fact, he seems so focused on it that he doesn't even notice Bucky until the other is right next to him. Inigo startles, like he's snapping out of something, and stares at Bucky like he's seen a ghost for a moment or two. He tries to force an awkward smile on his face just a few seconds too late.

"Oh. .. Hey, Bucky."

"I'm Ifrit." Introductions! Yes, she's nailing all of this conversation stuff.

What came next, though? Right, right, they're on mission talk, so discussing the mission was important. Makes sense.

"I'll be the firepower on this mission. Literally." She lights up a flame over her hand as demonstration. "Just let me know if you need a light or.... I don't know, something burnt to a crisp. Maybe monsters. I don't know." Her tone is slightly braggy - she does like to show off her powers - but also it was important to know what everybody's roles were, right?

He'd sought after some measure of peace and quiet; he did well enough with others surrounding him but he'd always tended more towards solitude. Easier that way, with only Roach for company. Jaskier had insisted on upending that, and Yennefer drifted in and out as she wished, but solitude was his habit all the same.

He heard the two approaching behind him, already heightened senses easily picking them out in the echo chamber of the caves. He might have been concerned about something trying to creep up on him in the dark -- not that he couldn't see, the Trials had done their job and all he had to do was widen his pupils and everything was laid out clear enough -- but one of them was noisy enough for the both of them, so ultimately he stops long enough for them to catch up. It's damp and it's tight for his large frame, and babysitting isn't high on his list of things to do, but they're there, only liable to get into trouble and as much as he pretends otherwise he does prefer to avoid injury to those around him.

He turns to greet them, but of course one of them has their torch on, too bright for adjusted eyes, and he closes them tightly for a few long moments with a grimace of discomfort against the brilliance.

"Turn it off or point it another way," he growls. "What are you doing so far from the group."

Also patrolling that night and due to return for a break, Gyousou was close enough to hear the strange exclamation. An attack, so close to the village? Or an unexpected arrival? His initial urgency in investigating tailed off when he heard the rumbling purr and saw the other man embrace what was clearly an ally in the flickering torchlight, and it gladdened him to see such joy in a reunion.

"A friend of yours?" He called, and slowed to a walk again. There was no obvious danger, and the great cat that now watched him carefully was a beast that demanded admiration. "She is magnificent."

Danny scowls down at his own diving apparatus.

"It would be nice if we actually got training before they expected us to go diving in these. I mean, I don't actually need to breathe. So I'll probably be fine if something happens. But that's not going to be true for anyone who's not a ghost."

Preparations

Noct stared at the wet suits, unsure of what to make of them. Would this whole mission take place underwater? Dread filled his stomach as he thought about water on all sides. He loved lakes and beaches, but being surrounded by water reminded him too much of his time in Altissia and the tragedy that occurred there. Still, he tried to suck it up and put on his red suit. He looked ridiculous, but he was still on board for the mission. For Now.

Arrival-Closed to Gladio

Red and Blue would be the first teams to be dropped. Although in red, Noct planned to accompany blue...until he saw the world they would be dropped in. He stood, frozen in place. Flashes of Leviathan and Altissia raced across his eyes, and he whipped his head around, looking for the safest person he knew.

"Gladio..." His voice croaked out. He needed Gladio. He couldn't do this. Not alone. Perhaps not at all.

Staying behind- Assisting Orange team on board

After a day, Noct is at least calm enough to talk to people. He knows that Orange is using the train as a base, so he does what he can to help them after their hard work. He's in the kitchen, preparing basic snacks that don't require a lot of cooking. He notices someone come in and he smiles.

"Hey, are you hungry?"

"Left," he answered, a choice made largely at random. Didn't matter either way, as far as he was concerned. He looked ahead then, made to head off where he'd chosen, but at the advisement he snorted.

"I'll keep an eye out. And if I need help you'd better run the other way."

Oh right. Living on the train for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to have someone worried about his safety for small things like this. (They'd been more concerned over things like his concussion or the time he got attacked by a boar.)

Anyone else, and he would have protested that he could take care of himself. But this was Ran, and if she was this worried about his safety in such a small thing, it meant that she was more worried about the situation as a whole than she was letting on.

He lets Ran tug him back from the edge.

"I just wanted to find out if I could see anything down there."

"I'm planning on it," he says cheerfully. "Do you think there are sharks down there?"

It's hard to tell if it's even possible with how wide Madoka's smile is at seeing him to begin with, but it's as if it grows just the tiniest bit wider at seeing him smile back at her. She's just so excited for this mission that she's glad to see him in an even slightly good mood too!

Though her gaze turns a bit more curious as she looks at the wet suits. "Oh?" That.. sure is orange, yes. Madoka looks back at the vampire. "Hm.. Is it the colour that's the problem? I guess it is kind of bright.. Maybe we can see if there's a spare blue one instead? It'd match your hair!"

As much as Gladio had wanted to take part in the mission now he realised there was one, he didn't feel immediately up to it and doubted there would be an opportunity to join half way. He resigned himself to skipping out on this one. His heart just wasn't in it.

He though that he could, at least, be there to see his friends off and hoped they would understand...

Except instead of seeing Noct off safely, he found his King turning back around with a look in his eyes that Gladio had never seen before. Fear. He didn't need to be asked. Gladio was on the move and had Noct in his arms and pulled away from the open door in moments. "I'm here..." He spoke quietly, head lowered toward Nocts. "I've got you, Noct."

Noct immediately held on to Gladio as if his life depended on it. His face was completely white, his eyes wide. "It's just like Altissia...just like..." His stomach was painfully tight, and his body stiff. "I can't, I can't..."

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Page 13 of 94

Under the Sea: Mission start

Preparations

Dressing

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cave friends

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Cave fraaand

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Re: Allen Walker - Purple - Arrival

Ifrit | Prep / Purple

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Drizzt Do'Urden | Purple Team (accompanying Blue)

preparations

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Evening Patrol

Re: Dressing car

Noctis Lucis Caelum

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Re: The Dive

Re: The Dive

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Arrival

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