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

Cue a somewhat incredulous shrug about them being from the same world.

"I don't know, I've met that guy once!" But if Tidus racks his mind, thinks back to what was said in that meeting--he shakes his head suddenly.

"We can't be, he didn't know what blitzball is. Everyone knows blitzball in Spira." Everyone. No ifs, no buts. That was just the way life was there.

But with Inigo's reaction, Tidus has got to ask: "What's wrong with them? Was it that bad?"

Listening to Prompto, he means.

"Well.." Inigo opens his mouth, then closes it again. Prompto's been so nice, there's no way he could say anything mean about the guy. It'd be like kicking a puppy. So he smiles, trying to be a bit more nuanced about this.

"It wasn't really bad.. Prompto is nice! And his enthusiasm in general is great. It was just.. odd? I don't quite understand what's so great about oversized chickens." He's probably missing something here! "And he really seems to like them a lot."

He pauses, then realises his point probably isn't clear enough yet. "A lot a lot."

There's a scoff, and if it's for the emphasis or for Inigo's wording, well--actually, it's both. Certainly, there's a small smile left over on Tidus's face.

"They are pretty cool," Tidus has to confess, even if that's apparently not Inigo's feelings, for whatever reason. Though it takes just a beat for him to add, "But that guy did go on when I met him too. I think he's just chatty."

It's the most neutral way to describe the blond that Tidus can think of, nothing particular judging. Prompto had puzzled him on their first meeting, but that was a week ago now--and he wasn't going to hold it again the guy, or anything.

"Maybe he's homesick, and he likes them."

Inigo's mouth forms an 'o'. He looks very much like the kind of person who's having a whole new world opened to him. Apparently Tidus is more of a sage than he thought.

"You think so?" About Prompto being homesick, he means. Inigo never considered that angle. He thought it was just a weird interest! (Which he may be right about, actually, but shh.)

He slightly frowns.

".. Now I kind of feel bad. Do you think we maybe can get one of those on the train for him? How big exactly are those things?" Listen, Inigo ~~may be~~ is an idiot, but he would readily sacrifice his points if it's to make someone else happy.

It's a nice gesture to hear; the kind of thoughtfulness that puts a smile on your face, even though ultimately, it's a hopeless one.

"It wouldn't be fair, even if you could fit one on there. They run around all over the place, you know? And we're already packed in as it is." But it's still a nice thought, and now has Tidus wondering -- is he an amazing sage?

"How long has the guy been on the train for?"

"Have you seen about half of the people on the train? I bet one of those things would run around less than some of them!"

.. Granted, Inigo is probably included in that 'way too energetic' category. Or ought to be. In fact, it's probably the sort of thing that should be said by someone more Serious and Calm than this pair of energetic puppy boys, but sshh. The point still stands.

Although Inigo then pauses, more thoughtful for a moment as he has to think.

"I'm pretty sure the time he showed up is quite a few platforms ago now.. I think it's maybe been two months here for him now? Or almost two months."

See: Example of a kettle pointing out all the other pots.

"Doesn't take long to feel homesick when you're away--'specially when it's as suddenly as what's happened to us."

Maybe Inigo would know, except Tidus remembers that he chooses to go to different worlds, so maybe isn't a similar situation. But it's one that Tidus knows well -- better than he currently does, which has the complication of having nowhere to return to...

"I thought I'd been sent a thousand years into the future once." Which Tidus knows how that must sound, laughing a little as he shares it. "I got lifted out of my home and sent somewhere else! Everything was so different...and I never knew if I'd get back, or what'd happen to the place I came from. It got attacked, and then I was elsewhere."

He shrugs a little, a small smile playing on his face.

"Different cultures, no one living the same as you...I got homesick a lot."

It's definitely not a similar situation, but Inigo can still understand. It's hard to be homesick when you don't really have a home to return to in the first place, but that part about no one living the same as you-- that's very familiar. It's odd to be in such a modern place here, where so many people aren't even familiar with something as important to his world as dragons of all things.

But as always, he's really good at shoving down every single negative feeling of his own. He smiles, instead opting to focus on Tidus. Which is easy enough, considering how much information the other is offering him rigth now.

"How about now?" He doesn't know how this train situation compares to the other place Tidus was sent to before, but-- "Have you felt homesick here?"

"Nope." The answer comes easily enough, light off his tongue. His head slightly tipping as he adds to it, "I'm used to it by now. Home's really, really...far away."

There's a note like humour, something funny away at the end, a small smile playing on his lips. Because home is as far as it'll ever be--it's gone, it'll never come back. And there's nowhere else but this beach and the train--wherever it decides to take him--for him to ever exist.

And how can he miss a place he chose to allow disappear?

"What about you?" But he's had time to compartmentalise that, to shove it away; picking up his gaze onto Inigo, expression friendly. "You're used to going to different worlds...but everything's still really different, right? You're away from home."

The answer does seem very Tidus-like. To a point where Inigo has little reason to question it. Or little time, since the question flipped back around to him so quickly - that's exactly what he was trying to avoid here! Can't he just bury his feelings somewhere deep in the sand so no one can ever take a look at them? He'd like that. It's easier to not make people worry about you, and the genuine answer to that question would be pretty worrying.

He manages to casually shrug though, as if his inner turmoil isn't even there. "Sure, it's different. Even just everything on the train is far from what I'm used to, but it's not as if this is the first time I've had to adapt to very different circumstances." At least that is the truth. Maybe he can just try to avoid the parts he doesn't feel comfortable lying about. "So there's nothing really bad about being here. I like meeting all these new people, and seeing all these new places. At worst I guess I kind of miss my sister."

From the outside, it's a rather innocent conversation. A subject that can't be closer to home than home itself, but Inigo's smile is present, his tone easy enough too, that Tidus doesn't mind prying a little, his curiosity boundless.

"Your sister? What's her name? What's she like?"

And perhaps his curiosity is for Inigo in particular--just what was the world around him like, his life in particular? He wants to share in that, if he can. This guy he's spent more than plenty of time around in battle, for better or for worse. And they were more than just fighters, people here to protect one another.

Sitting here with him, Tidus was comfortable and at ease.

"Lucina."

He answers fairly quickly. And easily. Considering just how much his sister is haunting his every waking hour with how much he misses her, it feels natural to let his name escape from his lips like that.

"We look a lot alike, so you'd know it's her the moment she'd appear here. We have the same hair colour, her hair is just longer. And we have the same eyes." Very literally, considering they both have the Brand in one eye. No one else has that. "But we're complete opposites personality-wise. Luce is.. She's incredibly serious. She's focused, a total natural leader. But she's the strongest person I know."

It's weird. Even back home he had to miss her for such a long time, and yet he never gets used to the feeling of being seperated from her. Even now he kind of wishes he could hide behind her at times, just like he did when they were little.

"I'm sure the train would be a hell of a lot better with her on it." Instead of him, he means, but Inigo is leaving that part out on purpose so it could be interpreted in many more ways.

Tidus listens with earnest attention, not catching onto any double meanings--the phrasing innocuous, and he can understand that sentiment with any of the others he personally travelled with. Often wondered why him, instead of them? Though, only because with him...

"I'd love to meet her then," he says, grinning into that wish. Leaning back slightly on his arms behind him, eyebrows throwing up in Inigo's direction. "She sounds like a hero like you! But if she's more serious than you... I can't imagine! You're pretty serious yourself."

Maybe someone with a face like Light's. A blue-haired Light! What the train could do with two of them.

Inigo laughs.

"I know this is going to sound hard to believe, but she's even more of a hero than I am." If anything, Lucina is pretty much the most traditional kind of hero there is. The leader type, the person wielding a mystical sword that can only be used by those deemed worthy? She's even got the whole mysterious mask deal down pat.

And although he makes sure to not let that smile fade off his face entirely, he does raise a sceptical eyebrow at the other guy.

"She'll probably think you're crazy though if you'd call me serious in front of her. Don't waste her first impression of you that way, man."

"Then maybe your sister needs to take a second look at you! The way you get whenever there's work to be done? You're as serious as they get! You give it your all!"

Tidus won't be dissuaded from that. He might not be serious in the stoic type of terms, but Inigo was far from aloof or indifferent about what he put himself into, and Tidus wasn't going to let that go unsaid or downplayed. Waving a hand, it turns into a fist that Tidus holds in front of himself in confidence as he continues.

"If anything? You're too serious--you don't let yourself get much of a break. But that's because you care. You did some good work out here."

Oh no. Compliments. Inigo's ultimate weakness. Sure, he may put up an act of fake confidence often enough, but that's all it is - just empty bravado. There's so much insecurity packed underneath it that Tidus' words, no matter how simple, manage to completely render Inigo silent for a moment. He at least manages to surpress a blush before it appears on his face, but there sure are a few seconds where he's just looking at Tidus, looking completely baffled.

Then he snorts, regaining some of his usual attitude.

"Well, of course I did good work out there. I told you, I'm a hero! This is just what I do!" He grins. "Have you ever seen a hero take a break? I don't think so."

Tidus catches the off-guard expression, brief as it is, the way it's answered with boasting. He doesn't really question it, the way Inigo accepts it not really bothersome. Though he does scoff, throwing him a half-judging (but not really sincere) look.

"I have, 'cause we made her." Because when Tidus thinks about it, sure--he knows a hero type alright. "Giving her everything for other people, putting herself before others? That's where people like me come in!" Dropping any hint of a lecture from his tone, Tidus gives the back of Inigo's shoulder a slap.

"Remember, you're part of a team! You're not the only hero out there--and I know you wouldn't tell anyone else not to take a rest. Trust in us to have your back!"

Well, maybe it wasn't that much an end to his considerate nagging. But it's not Tidus's fault Inigo is like that!

"Ugh!"

Inigo lets out a way exaggerated dramatic sound when Tidus slaps his shoulder like that, as if the other just punched him in the face or something. (Why yes, he's trying to distract from the seriousness of this topic, because Tidus is seeing right through him and he doesn't like it one bit! Him overworking himself is supposed to be a trade secret!)

"Trust you to dislocate my shoulder, more like!" It doesn't sound like a true complaint though, especially with the way Inigo smiles the moment he's done saying it. After all, he does know Tidus means well. It's really sweet of him to say all of this, honestly. But if he isn't the one overworking himself, then it'll be someone else - and that's what Inigo wants to prevent like the stubborn idiot he is. "Give me a warning next time, won't you?"

Stop being a dweeb, dweeb.

"I'm being serious!" Unfortunately for Inigo! But Tidus's voice does lighten, a light shake of his head given. "Just go easy on yourself. So you'll be better ready to fight another day."

After all, burn out too soon and there'll be no getting up tomorrow, right? ...alright, maybe not that severe, but close enough with Mr. Too Good For Rest!

"Anyway," and he gives Inigo an anyway, a move from the subject deliberately (because he really doesn't want to be some old nag), "You think you'll help Blue again? Or go back to Purple?"

Hah, the joke is on Tidus, because Inigo will be able to fight even without rest! Witness the magical power of having adjusted your body so much that you can fight for days on end if you have to.. until your body just shuts down entirely and you collapse and don't wake up for a good while. But look, that's clearly just a small detail...

Not to mention that the other has thankfully already changed the subject. The question just makes Inigo shrug slightly though.

"It depends." Usually he would have been a bit more decisive with his answer, but the fact that one of his favourite people on the train - NO, NOT YOU, TIDUS - is more or less permanently helping out blue now sways him a bit. "I'll probably be sticking with purple. It seems like blue has enough going for them to not need the extra help. I mean, you did see that huge lion thing, right?"

Don't break this ship apart, Inigo...!!

"That lion that showed up for five minutes on the last day?" Which sounds meaner than Tidus really means, considering he goes on, "it was a big help--" get it? big? "--but I don't know about Blue having enough. We were really stretched thin over those ten days. Red team had it tough too!"

But then, he brought this up before with Inigo, didn't he? And the guy didn't really seem all that concerned about how covered or not the other teams were, which Tidus remembers only then. Still he frowns a little, not entirely dissuaded from continuing.

"'Less there's a reason I don't think I can help, I think I'll go with either Blue or Red." ...but saying that, he rubs the back of his head, remembering something else. "Long as Yuna doesn't mind...she weren't happy when I said I was switching teams."

Honestly, Inigo doesn't get why Tidus keeps making such a big deal out of this. Especially with how often people appear and disappear here. There's no telling which team will need the help more or not by the time the next mission rolls around, so it's sure not something Inigo is going to worry about now of all times. He can roll with things as they come.

But before he has the opportunity to say anything about that, there's something else catching his attention. He gives Tidus a curious look.

"Yuna?" He doesn't think he's heard that name before.. But it's got to be someone on the train, judging by what Tidus is saying. "Who's that? Your girlfriend?"

He makes a face like a grimace at that--not disgusted by the suggestion, but complicated, aided by the long drawn out "Nooooooo..." that comes with it.

And then a deep sigh that slumps his shoulders after that.

"She's...we're..." Um. "We're from the same world. I was her guardian, and we were close. But...it's been two years since we've seen each other. I said I'd stick with her no matter what! ...but."

It's a surprise why his voice even brightened earnestly in that moment at the end there, the way it then drops with the sagging of his posture, his shaking head.

"I don't regret coming to help, but...I dunno. Maybe I do? She was happy to see me when we got together again, but."

But the one easy way to make Tidus an unsure, uncertain mess: Disappointing Yuna. He's even rubbing the back of his head.

Boo, why did it have to be all serious and complicated! Here Inigo was totally ready to tease Tidus with his maybe-girlfriend-or-maybe-not-girlfriend, but then Tidus has to get so vulnerable about it. There's no way Inigo can still tease him then in good conscience. He doesn't actually want to hurt the other's feelings if he can help it.

".. why did you leave her side then? If you maybe regret it, I mean." He tilts his head a little, seeming to consider it. "I mean, if you just would've asked me, 'hey Inigo, fill in for me with this team so I can protect someone important to me somewhere else', I totally would have done that for you, you know."

Granted, Inigo would have been going with the blue team anyway because of the whole water problem, but still!

"It's nice of you to think of our group as a whole, but that's no good if it comes at the price of your personal feelings." (Says the guy who was getting scolded literally two minutes ago for refusing to take breaks.. But that's different. Clearly.)

"Yeah, but--I really thought the villagers needed more help than a bunch of priests, you know? And they did! And Yuna can take care of herself. I know she can. But..."

It's difficult, complicated, maybe more than it should. But Tidus can't help it, falling into a small silence before shaking his head again.

"Protecting her's all I've done since I left home. It wasn't long, but I took it seriously. She was on a journey back then to defeat a monster in our world, and life's changed since then...but it feels almost like I let the others down by not going."

And how pathetic does that sound? Groaning, Tidus ruffles up his hair in both hands, letting out an exhale after as he tips his head back.

"I know, it's too late to take it back now. I shouldn't be thinking about it!" That's what Inigo had told him before, after all. "I'll make it up to her later."

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glad to know tidus uses the blitzball test to determine important things

blitzball is lyfe

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this thread is so sad i can't believe you'd lure me into this TRAP

chants into a mirror, jelle jelle jelle

appears with PAIN

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NO TAKEBACKS

YOU DON'T DESERVE THESE COMPLIMENTS!!

:(

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