middleofsomewhere | Event: Healing Waters

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Event: Healing Waters

"Good morning passengers, it is day twenty three of the month of Grasshopper. All passengers of the Voidtrecker Express require rest. Next stop Jema’grethy Island. All passengers prepare to disembark."

It is a very strange morning message that rings through the train on the morning of day twenty three but as the passengers of the Voidtrecker Express wake their screens glow with the colour of the void and a holographic screen pops up for them to read.

World #2554098133741: A world once inhabited by an ancient civilisation and now preserved as a historical site, nature reserve and well-being retreat. It is famous for its relaxing hot springs, calming atmosphere and beautiful beaches.

It is a popular void-traveller destination, particularly among void missionaries as a place to rest and recuperate after difficult missions.

The Voidtrecker Express will spend three days here, arriving today and leaving on day twenty six of the month of Grasshopper. The dressing carriage is open for your convenience.

It is time for a holiday it seems!

Preparation

For those who go to explore the dressing carriage they will find a variety of beachwear and wetsuits. One cupboard has a pile of tents and groundsheets in all four team colours.

One cabinet is exclusively filled with beach towels, in a kaleidoscope of colours, designs and patterns. Another is filled with different shapes and sizes of plain towel dressing gowns. There is even a cabinet with buckets, spades and small rock-pooling nets.

It seems they are in for quite an adventure.

Arrival

"Shortly arriving on World #2554098133741. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train lurches and rattles as it leaves the void they will get a glimpse of silver-purple sky and a beautiful ocean below.

However some passengers might be a little more than distracted, one staring at that table for a second too long, another seeming lost in thought for a couple of seconds, a longer than normal pause in a sentence. They see a vision, a glimpse of a life that is not their own. Not all at once, but here and there as the train descends to the island.

But then it is gone and things are back to normal. Just in time, as they come to land.

Jema’grethy Island

The train has landed on a grassy ridge, overlooking a beautiful beach of white sand and the ocean beyond. It is warm, but not too hot, a cool ocean breeze cutting through the heat making it pleasant. Behind them is a grassy plain, changing to forest in the distance. There is the sound of birdsong in the purple sky. To the west the land is more craggy, the silhouette of a fortress in the distance. In a word, it is idylic. A sense of peace permeates the island.

A little more worrying is the volcano-like structure in the north. But even a quick glance will show it is not a typical volcano. There is no smoke and the liquid slowly running down it in rivulets is pink and blue.

Exploring the passengers will find beautiful beaches, ragged cliffs to walk and caves to explore. Where it is more craggy the beaches are made of pebbles- perfect for rock pooling.

The place has no people, but it is clearly maintained. The eastern beaches have racks of shallow boats, both canoes and one- or two-person sailing dinghies. There is also a small building in which scuba gear is stored, along with several waterproofed manuals and instructional literature.

Ruins of ancient houses are scattered across the island, but the main settlement is built into a rocky section in the north-west that has been secured with ropes and stairways cut into the cliffs, perfect for scrambles and hikes.

There are no living quarters, but there are sheltered sections with basic toilet facilities marked as camping grounds in five different sections of the island - by the hot springs, within the ruined fortress, beside the harbour, on the eastern beaches, and on the northern face of the mountain.

Hot Springs

To the west are the hot springs. They have both outdoor and indoor areas; the indoor areas being wooden loghouse saunas, changing rooms and storage sheds, whilst the outdoor areas are a tiered series of pools spilling down the side of the mountain and shaded by brightly flowering trees. The waters are hot, mineral-rich and soothing.

Perfect for overly stressed, world weary Void heroes...

(OOC: More setting information is here, please feel free to go wild with the setting and have a fun and relaxing time. You can use this post as a catch all for your holiday or make your own posts on

middleofsomewhere. More information about how the memory event is structured is here!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nita was still well-covered, so she's not put under any distress just by seeing him; all the same, Uta's playfulness earned a wry retort.

"Do I look like I'm going skiing?"

Then she nodded.

"Wonder who keeps these places clean enough for the tourists, but, yeah, I'm in."

She gestured on ahead.

"After you?"

"You look like you're about to go skiing about as much as I do."

He showed his hands, splayed out, his smile starting to reach his eyes. He was wearing what were essentially a pair of chucks, some skinny jeans, and a loose fitting and light long sleeved shirt. His hair was tied up as it normally was: pulled up into a messy bun and held there by a hair stick. His hands returned to behind his back.

"Oh, I imagine if we're on a train saving people, there's a train of people who perform maintenance on places such as this."

As she motioned ahead he bowed his head a little in acknowledgement to her and started walking towards the hot springs, listening to make sure her foot steps fell in line behind. They were not far from the hot springs, fortunately.

"It's been a very long time since I've been to an onsen. I'm quite looking forward to it, and to have a few days that we can just sit and relax." He glanced back to her. "Do you have any plans while we're here? I've heard talk of sailing, mountain climbing, quite a bit about swimming..." His voice faded as they kept walking.

Nita has to stop and consider that one.

"You know, that train's adventures are probably even more wild than ours. You never hear much about the clean-up types."

They deserved a lot more credit, on average, than they usually got.

"I haven't booked myself for anything in particular," she replied.

"But I just know S'reee'll want to see me out swimming. Make sure I'm all back to normal."

Still looking back to her: "And are you?"

Edited (meh wanted to change the formatting) 2020-08-16 01:45 (UTC)

Nita has to stop and consider that.

"I'm different from how I started out, if you really wanna get philosophical. But... I feel more like myself again. Less put-out about myself, if that makes sense?"

That impression from the train - that it had basically already forgiven her, that the apology hadn't been needed - had done a lot for her nerves.

Uta had stopped looking at her as she considered. She would speak when she was ready. His silence stretched for a moment after she finished speaking as he thought over her words. It was good that she had figured how to grow from the experience.

"It does." He felt no need to really elaborate on it. He never was one to comment where it wasn't really needed.

He would continue on in a pleasant silence unless she spoke, but it wasn't long before they arrived. He looked between the indoor and outdoor facilities before turning to Nita.

"Do you have a preference for indoor or outdoor? I don't mind either way."

With a small smile at Uta's response, Nita nodded.

As for his question, however:

"... Let's stick with indoor."

Not all outdoor hot springs could be in copses of trees.

He gave her a nod at her preference to stay indoor. "Won't have to deal with those flowers, then."

He led the way in and, with his back to her, stripped down to just a towel. She would find that he had quite a few more tattoos than that of his hands and neck and, presumably, sclera. He had a tattoo on his right arm that ended neatly at the wrist, and another on his left arm, ending much the same. Clearly this was why he tended to wear long sleeve shirts. He also had a large tattoo that ran along his waist and abdomen, with an ornate tattoo of a sword along the back to mirror the tattoo on his stomach. He also has a tattoo of a sun on his pectoral, though she may not see that until they make it into the bath proper.

...Where he didn't hesitate to immediately just slide into the water and spread his arms along the edges of the bath to stop him from submerging completely. He closed his eyes for a moment - mostly to take in the heat on his skin, but also to afford Nita a little privacy.

"This is nice. It was rare that I could do this back at home." He could do it a bit more often in Syn, but there were always touches that the owner of the room would add that made it a little more synthetic of an experience.

"It's not like they'll give us allergies," Nita said with a grin, though it quickly hid itself again as the two busied themselves undressing.

Nita had opted for a two-piece blue bikini - not a sky-blue light, or a navy dark, but something more like calm ocean waters, a sort of sea-glass green that still looked blue enough.

Nita didn't pay attention to Uta's tattoos, at first, but they eventually drew her gaze as she adjusted to the water's heat.

"Not many baths, or was something else in the way?"

In some cultures it was often both, regardless of if those barred were human or something else.

The allergies bit made Uta genuinely smile for just a moment, but, like her, it quickly hid itself.

He opened his eyes and looked to Nita.

"Tattoos are frowned upon where I am from. They were once a symbol of gangs. There are some places that would allow people with tattoos in, but they are few and far between. Other places allow people with tattoos in as long as they can be covered, but..." He glanced to one of his arms for a brief moment. "That's difficult in my case."

There were other reasons as well - mostly pertaining to wanting to be as withdrawn from human life as possible - but he could take comfort on occasion, and this new place seemed to be as willing to overlook his own peculiarities as the place before.

With a frown, she nodded. And Uta wasn't saying whether or not he'd been in a gang...

"It's still unfair, though. What one does with their own skin is their own business."

She leaned back in the water; while she had no tattoos to speak of it was because she'd never felt the desire for them, not because she disliked them.
There were scars, true, but nothing remarkable; not even a reminder of the time a flower had bloomed from her chest...

Well, she could do without a reminder of that incident.

Her frown almost made him chuckle: he had an idea what her thought was. He would neither confirm nor deny it because technically he was in a gang of sorts - almost all ghouls were, but it was entirely unrelated to his tattoos.

“I agree, but social views are slow to change and people will always have something to be afraid of. I got them knowing full well the consequences.”

Uta noted the scars - trophies from someone who fought for something they believed in, surely - but he made no move to ask about them. She could tell him if she wished, or she could not.

“I must admit that it has been nice to be able to travel to places where it seems to matter little.”

Nita made a less-frowny wry face.

"So, a trade? Between tattoos and frequent hot springs trips..."

There were worse ones, to be sure.

Head now the only part of her above water, she nodded again and tried not to stretch too much.

"That's the good thing about traveling, seeing other worlds; might find a place you're more comfortable in than home."

She snorted. "Though that's been more my sister's thing than me. I know my home hasn't changed, existentially speaking."

A house in Hempstead, New York, and the people who lived there - and just down the street, too.

He would agree: there were worse trades to be made, but the worst choice had been made for him when he was born.

Uta sank a little lower into the water as he considered what Nita had said. He wasn't sure if where he was now, or before, was better than home, and he wasn't sure how much he missed home. While he would admit he did miss the day to day noises of Tokyo, he did miss his clients, he didn't much ache over it. He only ached about missing one person in particular and that was enough for him to feel a bit homesick, but if he were honest it was simply being personsick.

"I haven't so much found a place I've liked more than Tokyo as much as finding people who are more open and accepting to those different from them. It's been a very nice change of pace." His smile faded a little. "Not that I don't miss people from home, and I find myself wondering if I will ever have the opportunity to see them again." And I wonder if they miss me, he wondered to himself.

"...I doubt Tokyo's changed much with the absence of an artist, though. There are others there that are quite a bit more important than I am."

"Yeah..."

Nita looked up at the ceiling, considering it all.

"People come and go a lot in our travels, don't they? In Nautilus, in wherever that liminal place you spoke about really was... and back in our worlds, too."

Not a pleasant subject, but she wasn't talking about it to mope. Casting another glance his way, she said, "Important how? Life's Life, isn't it?"

"I only mean those who change everything around them." He let his own head fall back as he looked up towards the ceiling, focusing on the delicate swirls of steam as they faded into the air. "Like Sarai, for example. She's important. She directly affects what happens in her home." He inhaled deeply, then exhaled.

"With regards to the coming and going of people... I think that is the lot of our transient existence. I feel as soon as you let go of your home and where you should be, you become something of a wanderer. You could choose to settle elsewhere, but..." He smiled a little as he watched the steam's dance. His smile was hollow.

"...Clearly we were not meant to, nor do we desire to. So we continue this transient existence, moving from one place to another." Despite his rather bleak view, he sounded quite relaxed.

Despite the centrality Nita had experienced - participating in the Lone Power's own Reconfiguration - she still found that mindset something hard to stretch around.

"Would we really be out here if we didn't have the power to change things so thoroughly? Just... multiversal rejects?"

It was a sad thought, but perhaps that's what these places are about: serious contemplation and releasing muscle tension.

Her question made him fall silent, and he was quiet for a while. The silence stretched for long enough that Nita may think that she'd said something wrong.

"...I had never thought of it that way." His tone was thoughtful. He would never admit to it on his own but he always tended towards a more cynical point of view. It was always someone else that helped guide him towards something less bleak.

"I suppose we would not be taken from our homes if we were not of some value to someone or, I guess in this case, something. We were chosen to be heroes, after all."

"Everyone is the solution to some problem of the universe's, if you want to look at it that way," Nita continued, pulling one hand out of the water to make a sweeping gesture.

One which she didn't go too far on, so as to not get water on Uta's face!

"Though the whole voidtrecking program has a pretty gung-ho way of gathering us."

'Proactive' didn't quite cover the notion.

He appreciated that Nita didn't splash him as he glanced up at the sound of her hand leaving the water. He couldn't stifle the chuckle at her calling the program gung-ho. That was a cute way to put it, for sure.

"Hah, that is true. There are far too many people on that damn train. This is the first peace I've known since arriving on that platform."

He could still hear the murmurs of conversations from the others also in the springs, the sounds of footsteps that were far off, but it was quite relaxing to be able to simply focus on Nita's heartbeat and very easily ignore the rest. Not to mention the air here smelled so clean in comparison to being on the train.

"After the last mission, though... That would have been a mess without as many people as we do have, I think."

Nita sighed.

"True enough. All those monsters, and still not enough answers. Didn't even get to find out why the source for them was hunting the Burrower."

And even that much seemed like supposition, much as it had acted like a predator sending minions... and the Burrower easy prey.

Her sigh made him look to her. She seemed disappointed that she couldn’t find all the answers.

“Try not to let it get you down too much, Nita. We weren’t there long enough for a full investigation, and I’m confident you helped the people greatly in what you did find.”

"We didn't have any casualties..."

Nita rolled her head; something in her neck gave a satisfying crack.

"I just hope they'll be able to handle the rest of their problems by themselves, now. They've got a fight up ahead in turning back the tide of pollution, amongst other things."

Uta let his head fall back with the crack of her neck and, for just a split second, his head went somewhere rather macabre. But he did not let it linger.

"I imagine they'll figure things out one way or another."

There was a pause for a while. He seemed to be pondering something based on his expression, but he eventually chose to go with it and he spoke again.

"This may be a little strange, but have you had any strange dreams since exiting the void here? Or seen anything weird? I know it's a strange question since we've only just arrived."

"If they try, and work together..." Nita nodded, before sinking further into the water and giving a more relaxed sigh-

And then Uta mentioned the visions, after which there was a splash as she resurfaced.

"... Yup. More vision than dream - and even then, I'm pretty sure it was more memory than just vision."

And not her own memory; she knew that for sure, now.

Event: Healing Waters

Re: On Jema'grethy

Re: On Jema'grethy

Re: On Jema'grethy

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congrats you’re getting my very first phone tag owo

/chomps tag and also your phone o3o

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Fun fact my phone corrects Nita to Anita lol

Heh~

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who knew i'd need a confused icon but here we are

WELP

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Set-up to wrap!

Wrapped up like a Christmas present :3