Under the Sea: Conclusion and aftermath

[voidtreckermods]

Ritual

The jellyfish is no more and as red team take stock of their injuries, or collapse from exhaustion the lights zip around them, singing their song of joy. They gather around the light that had been inside the jellyfish and now that it has been released it is obvious this light is different. Stronger. They surround it and the song gets even louder as they begin to move towards the plinth.

In the caverns where the purple and orange team are there is a stillness. For those in orange team still in the cavern they can only hope that the instructions they gave out had been followed. Luckily for them they have been, Purple team have done a remarkable job of defeating the crabs and cleaning the temple. The priests gather around the shell on the alter, arms linked together in prayer as they seek to re-sanctify their temple. As their prayer begins they will invite the voidtreckers to join them, though no one is forced into taking part in the ritual. They suggest that they use their strange wrist jewellery to open communication with their friends in Bui.

The monster on the beach is defeated and though the fight is still raging against the crabs, a beacon has been built and lit. The islanders who are not fighting gather around it, linking arms, drawing any voidtreckers who don't object to joining them into the circle.

The song begins hesitantly, almost as if everyone has forgotten the words and only half remembers the tune. The SCA translates, the prayer is simple, a blessing on the land and its people, deliverance from the darkness and hope for the future.

The light from the jellyfish reaches the plinth and is set upon it. The song heightens and the light shoots upwards, blinding in its brilliance.

Through the dark storm clouds a light streams towards the island, most of it towards the beacon on the island though there is a break away light that goes towards the train, where some of orange team have set up a second beacon. It swirls around those on the train roof, singing a song of happiness and bounces back towards the island.

The light reaches the main beacon and hits it with a strength that lights up the whole sky. The light splits more solidly into two and speeds off over the ocean. Light pours into the underground caverns, not caring about the ocean and rock in the way, the light pools into the shells, the caverns glow warmly.

Outside the storm calms, clouds roll back, the sun shines. The sea stills. The wind stops. The sun is rising, a beautiful dawn. Any monsters left scuttle away, vanishing into the ocean, away from Bui.

Those with any powers that they couldn't reach before find them returned in a rush. Those who can sense life find this world teeming with it. A song that dances between every plant and creature.

Some of red may have evacuated to the train but those who stayed to see the ritual through, the world around them seems to melt away and they find themselves back next to the rock pools. Among their number there are some confused looking islanders who intrinsically draw closer to those who helped free the lights.

Orange and Purple

Down underwater there's noise and a babble of voices as the citizens of Bui wake up. There's a shimmering around the city now, like a shield though they can pass through easily. Parents scramble to locate their children and all check on loved ones and friends.

The familiar voice of train announcements is heard through Orange team's SCAs. Orange return to the VoidTrecker Express. Once everyone is on board it flies low over the ocean, skimming the waves.

In the underwater temple the priests finish sealing the ritual and then it is time to begin the return trek. There are no monsters this time and after a few hours, as they emerge onto the first of the sandbanks they will find the VoidTrecker Express is waiting for them.

Red and Blue

The monsters gone, those of the island gather everyone from the rock pools and for a few hours everyone sleeps.

At about noon the islanders begin to stir, begin putting things to rights. Wood is moved from the strategic points to more communal campfires on the beach. Any dead monsters that haven't been gathered for food have been washed out to sea, disappeared into the depths. They begin to prepare food and won't turn away any helpers. Though those who have been fighting are encouraged to rest.

The islanders bring blankets and start to gather. Everyone is exhausted but the children, in the way of children find the energy to play in the sea and the sand.

Beach Day

Early afternoon the train lands on the beach and everyone gets a holographic message to their SCA.

Mission successful. Well done Voidtreckers. Enjoy the rest of your day. You will find suitable clothing in the dressing room. A new recipe has been added to the kitchen information points.

The dressing room is indeed open once more, this time it holds swimsuits of every style, shorts, t shirts, wraps and beach skirts. Sun hats and sunglasses can also be found. It's a bit of a mush mash but they should be able to cobble together something other than their uniform wet suits.

Time to laze around on the beach or for those who still have energy swim or play. A few hours later a ripple across the water brings some of those from Bui and they swim or lounge on rocks to talk.

Food and stories

Food is cooked and shared, the islanders will happily try the voidtreckers' offerings and share their own. As the sun begins to set they gather around the fires. Stories and songs are shared and there's even some dancing for the brave.

Voidtreckers can choose whether to sleep in their own beds or spend one last night on the island before the train flies off into the sunrise and into the void.

Comments

[happyends]

Madoka may have been trying to build a sand castle earlier today herself, but obviously it wasn't anywhere near as large as the one Dread is making. Sure, the size difference makes sense when you take into account the fact that he's so huge, but Madoka seems genuinely amazed at the castle all the same!

"W.. Wow, it's so big! Someone could almost live in it!" Okay, now that may be just a bit of an exaggeration there, Madoka..

[thebiggestguy]

"Sarai isn't that tiny," Dreads said with a chuckle. Tinier than Madoka, though, yes, so who can blame her for that opinion...

[happyends]

"Eh?"

For a moment Madoka doesn't seem to get the joke, but then her cheeks start colouring slightly pink. Leave it to the overly polite girl to worry about how someone else's joke could reflect on her..

"A-Ah, no! I.. Um, I didn't mean to say anything about her height..!" She quickly covers her cheeks with her hands. "I mean, if it was a little bigger, I could probably live in it!" Madoka's aware she's tiny too..

[thebiggestguy]

Dread pressed the back of his wrist to his mouth, to keep himself from bursting into laughter. "But Sarai is shorter than you are. So it doesn't need to be a little bigger for her?"

Dread stop teasing Madoka.

[happyends]

But teasing Madoka is so much fun! And so easy too. It takes absolutely nothing, as evidenced by the fact that the girl somehow still doesn't seem to catch on to the fact that he's just teasing her.

"Um.."

Her face is bright red, and she looks like she's about to burst out into a nervous sweat as she frantically tries to think of what to say.

"N.. No, it doesn't need to be just a little bigger! It needs to be a lot bigger!" Somehow she manages to sound half-determined (comically so) and half-nervous at the same time as she replies. "Because she deserves a huge castle!"

[thebiggestguy]

Dread glanced over at her in surprise as that comment land -- then rocked backwards, sitting down on the shore as he began to laugh hard enough that he couldn't stay upright.

"I can't argue that!"

[happyends]

At least that reaction keeps Madoka from getting further flustered.

But instead she just seems frozen in surprise as she stares. Dread is laughing, so that's.. probably good? Laughing is good! But she's pretty sure she didn't say anything funny enough that it's worth that laughter.

Time to just quickly try to seize hold of the topic here before she gets even more confused and surprised..

"M.. Maybe if you want to make a bigger sandcastle, I can help out? I like building sandcastles."

[thebiggestguy]

"I'd like that," Dread said, as his laughter subsided. Both hands lifted in an affectation of helplessness, he added, "I think you'll be a lot better with the small details than I am."

[happyends]

"I don't know about that.."

Despite the size difference between their hands being.. very apparent. But Madoka is as usually determined to give everyone as many compliments as possible.

At least she seems a bit more cheerful as she kneels down on the sand to see where to start adding details and decorations on this thing.

"I'm sure you could do it if you try! What's important is being careful, after all."

[thebiggestguy]

"And practice. I don't get to practice sand castles much." Other things, like cooking, he'd adapted to just that way -- hours of practice and effort, aimed towards that ultimate goal.

[happyends]

She blinks up at him.

"Well.. I guess it's true that it's not like there's a whole lot of sand on the train to practice with." As if that's the main issue keeping a more-than-fully-grown adult from making sand castles, Madoka!! But she smiles. "Don't worry though, sir. This is the perfect time to practice, right? Before you know it, we might end up in a world with a sandcastle building contest, and then you'll be prepared!"

There might be a tiny bit of a joke to that, but she mostly actually seems pretty serious. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to the train at this point.

[thebiggestguy]

"Wouldn't be the strangest thing I've done." Dread motioned her to sit down and join in. "We'll both be prepared."

[happyends]

Madoka does sit down at that, starting to make some smaller decorations on the outer walls of the castle. The girl looks like she's concentrating - maybe a little too hard, like she's just taking this that seriously - but at least she can still talk at the same time.

"What kind of stranger things have you done then? .. Um, if that's okay for me to ask!"

[thebiggestguy]

"I once had to inspire a race of bird people by doing their sacred dance," Dread replined immediately.

[happyends]

Oh no, Dread. Why did you have to use that example? Because Madoka's eyes grow wide as she hears that, and then the look on her face makes it so, so very obvious she's trying to imagine that. No matter how hard it is, since a huge guy like Dread doing some kind of bird dance? That's not easy to imagine.

So of course it's followed up by the obvious question: "What kind of dance was it?"

[thebiggestguy]

"A war dance. Heavy stomps and posturing, designed to show the spirit of the dancer. That was how they did battle, actually -- the Vanu tribe whose dance remained fierce and resolute while their opponent's crumbled was the superior one." He smiled after a moment. "Just don't ask Sarai to show you."

His wife had never been too fond of how she looked doing that dance.

[happyends]

"Ooh.."

Now that she can imagine! Dread must have been amazing at that kind of war dance, considering his size.. Although she hopes the birds he was dancing with weren't tiny enough to accidentally get stomped on.

".. Why not though? Um-- I mean, I definitely won't!" She's much too polite to do so. "But it's not like she could be bad at dancing, right..? She looks like she'd be really good at it."

[thebiggestguy]

"Oh, she was incredible, don't get me wrong. But that doesn't mean SHE thought she looked her finest." Silly Sarai, who looked beautiful in any and all circumstances!

[happyends]

"It sounds like she's too hard on herself then.." Yeah, Madoka. Does that just happen to sound like anyone you know, hm? Maybe the person in the mirror?

"If I ever see her dancing here, I'll make sure to compliment her!" The girl gives a determined little nod. "That should help, right..?"

[thebiggestguy]

"Oh, she's terrific at other dances and she knows it! It's just the Sundrop dance that gets her. But compliment her anyway," Dread said, sharing a conspiratorial smile with the girl.

[happyends]

"Okay!"

He may be looking all conspiratorial, but either that is going about fifty miles over Madoka's head, or she's just that genuinely happy to compliment just about anyone.. or both, really. It's both. Since Madoka over here is just smiling so very innocently.

"Do you ever dance together too?"

[thebiggestguy]

"We certainly do." Dread smooshed together some sand, then began shaping it into a cylinder for a guard tower. "Eorzea has a lot of celebrations, and many musicians."

[happyends]

"That must be nice.." Not that Madoka hasn't participated in many celebrations before! Both here and back home. But there's never been a lot of dancing involved for those..

(Although that might be for the better. She'd get awfully shy.)

"It sounds like it's a fun place."

[thebiggestguy]

"It's a troubled place, one that has been through a lot in the past few years. But everyone does their best to stay positive." And Dread liked to think that he'd had a hand in giving people reasons to.

[happyends]

"Like by dancing?"

That does seem like a way to keep people's spirits up. Although - judging by her tone - the girl seems rather impressed by the idea that people could all manage to stay positive despite what circumstances that 'a lot' implies.