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

[stealsyourheart]

"Guessing's more fun anyway." He says cheerfully.

"Two options! You can do it real fast and hope for the best. Or, you can use the spade to act as a lid, and then pull slowly out from under."

[mynameisallen]

"But the spade is smaller than the bucket." So having to do it quickly was the best option in this case. Looking down at the bucket he was starting to wonder if perhaps he could maybe put a little too much sand in and that some of ti was simply going to come out.

But there wasn't much he could do about that as he flipped it. Some managed to break away, but otherwise, the majority of it was still within the bucket.

"Okay...now I kind of don't want to lift it up."

[stealsyourheart]

"Sadly true." He nods, and laughs cheerfully.

"Nice! Tap it, and lift slowly."

[mynameisallen]

"What does tapping it actually do?" Just lifting it was probably all that was needed anyway.n At least in the mind of the other.

[stealsyourheart]

"Loosens up the sand so it doesn't stick to the bucket." He says cheerfully, tapping in demonstration, before lifting his own bucket.

"Like that, see?"

[mynameisallen]

"Why would it stick to the bucket..." Why is sand so confusing. WHy is he even questions a lot of this stuff. It was rather unknown at this point, but he is just going to lift his own and it's far from perfect, but at least some of it stays up.

[stealsyourheart]

"'S wet." He reminds him with a grin.

"Well, damp, anyway!"

[mynameisallen]

"So the damper it is, the more likely it will all stick together?" Seems a bit of an obvious answer really as he looked at what he had done. But he knew he could at least work with that even if he wasn't the best at creative type things.

So for the time being he was going to attempt to make walls for the sand pile castle.

[stealsyourheart]

"To itself, and to literally everything." He nods. "I mean, you can use pressure to do this with dry sand too - but it's MUCH easier when it's damp!"

Kaito is making several small bucket mounds, and then building slowly upwards from there.

[mynameisallen]

Allen simply nodded for the moment and went about carrying on with his sandcastle. When it was finally done... It was hard to tell it was even a sandcastle, but certain bits were at least there.

Creativity and art were never the young mans strong suits.

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito's mainly gone for towers - he likes towers, okay.

"Nicely done." He grins. "Here, you can pop a flag on the top."

A flick of his fingers produces a tiny cocktail flag, where someone (probably Kaito) has drawn a tiny train.

[mynameisallen]

"Where...did the flag come from?" he asked a little bit more than puzzled anyway.

[stealsyourheart]

He laughs.

"A magician never reveals his secret. Wouldn't be a magic trick if I told, after all!"

Up his sleeve. It's definitely from up his sleeve.

[mynameisallen]

"A magic trick, huh?" Which in his mind meant there was something to do. But yet at the same time, there are people who can use magic so... He couldn't say the other wasn't using actual magic. Which he couldn't say after the number of worlds he has been to anyway.

"I won't try and figure it out."

[stealsyourheart]

"Eh, if you really want to try and work out how it's done, go for it." He sighs a bit wryly. "The Detective thinks it's fun. I mean. I'd appreciate it if you didn't go blabbing it around! But if it's interesting to you, go for it."

[mynameisallen]

"Some other time, maybe. it's sort of like me figuring out how a person cheats, except harder since it's a different area than what I am used to."

[stealsyourheart]

He snorts, amused. "Probably. Sleight of hand is sleight of hand. If you can work it out with one thing, you should be able to work it out with others. I'm pretty damn good though."

[mynameisallen]

"Well then someday we can make a game out of that then." all said with a slight smirk in place of his usual smile.

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito laughs, his own grin a little sharp edged in answer.

"Bring it." He nods. "It's good for me to have a challenge, after all!"

[mynameisallen]

"I'll look forward to the day the challenge happens, but maybe that's for next time. Right now today is about having fun in others ways, right?" Allen said smile back to it's usual type.

[stealsyourheart]

"Yep!" Kaito relaxes as well.

"Shall we see how tall we can build this thing?"

[mynameisallen]

"We can do that, but I don't think it will get really tall, but I guess we will at least give it a try."

[stealsyourheart]

"You never know if you don't try!"

Kaito laughs cheerfully.

[mynameisallen]

"I guess but also logic makes it obvious you can only go so high"

[stealsyourheart]

"True! But who knows how high we can actually go until we try?"