middleofsomewhere | Under the Sea: Conclusion and aftermath

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Under the Sea: Conclusion and aftermath

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Gah!" He flinched, flinging some sand around, somehow managing not to get any of it in his eyes. Blinking up at her, he took a moment to compose himself, clearing his throat. "Hi. Yeah, I did. Without any injuries, too!" Not counting an odd bruise or two.

"Everything go alright with you?" He assumed so, since she was standing there, in one piece.

Any normal person might realise what startled him so much, but Alice? Totally clueless. Either she thinks this is somehow a totally normal reaction to have over nothing, or she's just chosing to not question it.

Instead she just nods at his question.

"Honestly, it was a good call on your part to not go into the water. It feels as if there was almost nothing other than hordes of irritating crab monsters down there." But she did get out unharmed. Or, well, mostly. She's pretty much on the same level as him with maybe a few bruises somewhere at best.

"Yeah?" Sitting up, he brushed some of the sand out of his hair. "Man, I gotta imagine that fighting shit off underwater is even harder than on land," he said. Especially since there was so much more to worry about underwater, like breathing and swimming and not losing your air...the list probably went on.

"I'm glad you're alright, though."

Alice gives a slight eyeroll in agreement to what he says at first, but it's the second part that gets her to suddenly freeze up. Despite the fact that she obviously must at least have been slightly concerned enough to check up on him, it seems like a total surprise to her to receive anything similar in return. She's even quiet for a moment, as if her brain is checking whether or not she really just heard that.

".. you are?"

She sounds so confused, as if the very concept of people being nice is foreign to her.

"Um, yeah?" He might have only vaguely remembered their previous conversation, so he was confused about why she seemed confused. "Why wouldn't I be? We're all in this together, right? And...I'm not sure if we're friends, but we've met, so I definitely want you to be okay." He wanted everyone to be okay, especially after a mission.

Honestly, the sentiment he's expressing is a pretty normal one. Yet for some reason it doesn't seem to be normal to Alice, since his answer still makes her look very confused, as if he just said something she can't understand at all.

It takes her a moment to even speak up again.

"You might be one of the first people I've met who cares about whether or not people you've only barely met are alright or not." .. well, outside of the train, that is. The ratio of nice people seems to be way higher here, which is.. odd, for sure.

"Seriously? I mean, I know people can really be pro-themselves, but..." But for him to be one of the first people she'd met who cared about other people, no matter how well they knew each other... "I guess I'm just kind of a softie." He was the same way back home, caring about people he barely knew, doing nice things for them just because. Sometimes he thought he was an asshole, but...maybe he was too hard on himself.

"That's not a bad thing."

If anything, it's good that there's people like him out in this world. People who can relatively easily be kind to others. If only there had been more people like that back where she comes from, things might not have been as consistently crappy.

"Although I do suppose it might make matters harder on you." If there's anything said 'pro-themselves' people love, after all, it's trampling all over softies to get what they want.

"Yeah, I know. People take advantage of nice people." And he'd been there, done that--on the receiving end of being used, of course. He'd never do that to someone else, but his fans certainly took advantage of his kindness from time to time. Most of them were great, really, but there was always a bad apple in the bunch. "But, it is what it is and it's not gonna make me change."

"It's admirable," she admits. Especially since Alice could never be like that. There's a reason she tries so hard to tuck away every single potential sign of anything nice or soft away as much as she can. She doesn't want to get hurt because of people like that ever again. But it is true that it makes him all the more admirable for just sticking with it.

After a second Alice sits down next to him, and then speaks up again - perhaps in an attempt to quickly change the subject, since she's no good with giving compliments. (Or dealing with the aftermath.)

"Have you eaten yet? It seems the villagers are insisting on feeding us until we drop."

His cheeks went a little pink, and he shrugged. "I just...do what I can." When it came to certain things, he wasn't used to receiving compliments.

He was grateful for the subject change too, because it meant he could stop floundering and focus on something else. "Uh, a little. I poked at some of the food." He'd eaten a little bit, but not much, just enough to be polite. It'd been pretty good, though. "Maybe it's their way of saying 'thank you'," he added.

A subject change truly is the best thing for both of them here, huh. Before things just get too awkward. Thankfully this topic is something Alice can speak on much easier.

"I assume so. They must be happy that they are no longer becoming sea food themselves." As in 'food for the sea (monsters)', that is, yes. Maybe it's a terrible attempt at humor on Alice's part, though she says it with a completely straight face. "I doubt they even had any idea why they were being attacked to begin with."

Oh no, that was a terrible joke, which meant Dyme absolutely started laughing before covering his mouth, realizing it might not be polite to laugh at the expense of others.

Clearing his throat, he dropped his hands away once he'd composed himself again. "Why were they being attacked, anyway?" Did anyone actually know? He assumed someone had to, but he sure as hell didn't.

Alice shrugs at the question. Maybe she should have been a little more concerned with what the reason behind their mission was, but honestly, she had been glad to just have something to take out some anger on.. until the crabs just kept coming and it turned into a pain instead, that is.

"I assume it had something to do with that prayer the priests carried out. Everything turned back to normal after that. Perhaps there is some sort of sea god they have to appease?"

"Oh, that's a good point." Even if the idea of sea gods was really weird to him. "They seem so nice though, I dunno how they could've pissed something off." Or maybe they had a picky sea god? Hell if he knew. It was fun to speculate at least, especially when he could just go and ask one of the islanders. But that would've felt rude, considering everything they'd had just been through.

"If you'd ask me, I would say pissing people or beings off is much easier than appeasing them."

After all, sometimes you don't even have to do anything to piss someone off. It just happens naturally. Which she does believe happened here, since it's just like he says. The villagers seem much too nice to have done anything to cause this deliberately.

"Some people take offense to everything." Pot, kettle. "I doubt any sea god would be any different. If anything, it might just be easier to anger since anyone with a lot of power tends to be much too prideful."

"Mmm, you might have a point there. Some people just are offended by everything" -he'd been one of those people once, before he'd learned to just let it roll off of him, that there were more important things in life- "and I bet gods are the same. Like. They're gods but they can't be perfect, right? Nothing's perfect." Still assuming that gods even existed for this train of thought. "Though a super nice god who was just really chill would be nice."

There definitely is a lot of assumption going on with this gods thing. Alice doesn't necessarily believe in gods either, but honestly, she's willing to assume just about anything could exist at this point. She's seen enough weird things back home.

But she does know that's not the standard for every world and person out there, so she glances over at him.

"Does your world have gods?"

He made a face, somewhere between thoughtful and cringing. "Uuuuh. Debatable. A lot of people believe in a god, but I haven't seen any proof, so. I don't really believe, myself." But he also figured it wasn't his place to stop people from believing whatever they wanted to, so long as they weren't hurting anyone.

"That makes sense. You're the first seeing then believing type, aren't you?"

Most people are. In fact, it's not like Alice believes in the existence of any god either, despite the things she has seen that other people would deem absolutely impossible. After all, if there is a god out there and they let people suffer like this, then they're a pretty crappy god to begin with.

"I once met someone who said she sometimes believed six impossible things before breakfast. But to be fair, she generally didn't make very much sense."

"Yeah, exactly." He liked proof and facts over blind faith.

But then he scrunched his face up a little. "Six impossible things before breakfast?" Who had the brain power for that in the first place? "Like, unicorns and...and werewolves and stuff?" They didn't have any of those on board, did they?

"I imagine so," she replies, but then tilts her head slightly as she considers it. "Although neither of those would be so out of place here on the train, would they?"

There's enough strange people around, after all. In fact--

"A unicorn might just be more normal than some of the people here." And hey, it's not her being entirely rude about other people, considering she definitely counts herself more on the weird side of things than she might seem to.

"I guess not." A unicorn would still be pretty weird, he'd think. Mostly because something the size of a horse would be a little hard to fit comfortably in places on the train.

"And maybe. But at least they're nice, no matter how weird they are." It all balanced out, in the end. Now though, he was mulling over vampires and werewolves and aliens ~~oh my~~. "A lot of things that seemed impossible before are totally just...actually real here. Like the elves."

Alice pauses. It's like she's considering it herself for a moment, but then she holds out her hand (making sure it's not aiming in Dyme's direction though, she's at least aware of how threatening that may come across) and a moment later a very ornate knife appears in it.

"Impossible things like this?" She says it so calmly too. Like this is just normal.

His mouth dropped open, and he stared at the knife for longer then necessary, making sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing.

"That's...vaguely troubling, and really cool, and definitely adding to my list of 'things that seem impossible but aren't'. How did--wait, lemme guess. Magic?"

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