Event: Healing Waters

[voidtreckermods]

"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!)

Comments

/continues shaming Nita for her work-ethic-that-won't-quit

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Five minutes," Nita agrees, returning the squeeze with a small smile.

"After that... we'll see."

It's not that much further, after all, and a chance to properly unwind - that was rare for wizards on active assignment.

Particularly those who enjoy being at work so much.

[springforth]

Honestly, Persesphone doesn't really know what else Nita would be doing with her time. Though, let's be honest, probably off exploring ruins or finding something important to do that no one even asked them to do. But--it's vacation time and Nita, above all, needs something to relax with.

She gives her hand another squeeze and a brilliant smile. Then she leads the way to the pool, dipping her foot in and then very slowly stepping in.

"It feels a little like home. Except the volcano doesn't actually--do anything."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita blinks in surprise, but then - Ancient Greece, right.

Because where else would Persephone be from, really? Though perhaps she should ask...

"Yeah, that bit is weird. And I did learn one thing: this is the only place that isn't underwater, in this whole world."

There wasn't much the peridexis could give her in terms of information, apart from how ridiculously livable this planet seemed to be, but that part had stuck out to her.

"So, either it was active in a more violent way at some point in the past, or the land here is all made of whatever that blue-and-pink stuff is."

And it was just all super-tame.

The conversation distracts her enough for her to make her own way in to the hot spring, at any rate, letting the yukata billow out around her before she remembers to pull it off-and-aside on the greenery.

[springforth]

"I guess. Or some disaster sent the ocean rising. Angry ocean good maybe?" She grins back at her, "I don't think that--stuff makes land. So it's-- I bet it's just magic. Power or magic."

Persesphone keeps dawdling into the spring, maybe just taking her time or waiting for Nita to get in.

[unfavorableinstigation]

That triggers a faint memory of something she's read, but Nita shakes it off with a rueful smile.

"So we could eat pure magic, is what you're saying?"

Nita's in up to her knees, now, and she'll admit the water is nice.

[springforth]

"I have heard weirder things from you people. Let alone from a world where there's a volcano that erupts with cotton candy colors."

Persesphone dips down to her neck, pleased with getting Nita in the spring at all.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita snickers, finally settling back into where she's sitting in the hot spring.

"There is that. Probably shouldn't expect any gingerbread houses to pop up with this place, though."

Hey, it fit the candy theme!

[springforth]

"One girl I met on the train was making candy to hold magic so--yes, I guess you can actually eat magic." Persephone sets her head in her hand, a little weirded out by her own remembrance. Then she shakes her head.

"A house made of bread would last approximately five minutes before the train demolished it. Trust me, I've made dinner for them."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Huh. Think I heard her talk about that on the Network..."

Not that Nita remembers her name, alas.

Then she snickers.

"Yeah, I get what you mean; I've done cooking for them too, remember?"

Orange Team, commiserate!

"Though, gingerbread is more 'sweet' than bread. And with additional sweets put in it, or used as decorations."

Not that it wouldn't also be demolished in five minutes flat...

[springforth]

"Oh--oh I've never had it!" Persephone leans forward, as much as one can in water. Interesting things!

"Can you make it with what we have on the train? I like trying new things. Zetta is going to make me something called nachos at some point. But I like sweet things a little more than savory."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I can try ordering a kit for it when we get back; they get pretty complex... and they're tasty to eat, besides."

Assuming you had the right toppings as ingredients!

Nita blinks. "Nachos, huh? Yeah, they're good; did he say where he'd heard of them?"

Zetta hadn't always been a book, she knew that; that said, she is still a little confused.

[springforth]

"Oh I'll do it, I don't want you to waste your points on them."

With a bit of a smile, she shrugs at the question, "As for Zetta, who knows where he heard of them. How does he hear of anything? I guess he ate them."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"They let you pool points if you get a meal-for-four; we could shoot for that."

And get enough for a day's eating, no doubt!

And the image of book!Zetta eating nachos makes her grin in turn.

"Or his Prinnies summoned some at some point; I'm not entirely sure how they get all those props..."

[springforth]

"Oh, that's a good idea."

Persephone claps her hands, then waves the image of Prinnies with nachos away, "I find it best not to think too hard about it. If I think too hard about any of it, it all falls apart."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita lets herself snicker at the image as well, before likewise pushing it away.

"Some of us break physics; others break minds?"

... Despite how she's been preoccupied for the past week, there is humor to be found in those words.

"Metaphorically speaking, anyway."

[springforth]

Persephone just smiles in response, curling herself up in preparation for asking a question.

"So--does this help you feel better? Something nice and calm and relaxing, out in nature?" Everyone must feel better out in the embrace of something green and alive, right? So says the nature goddess.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita, in contrast almost, stretches herself out in the water, bumping her head gently against the grassy bank.

"It does, yeah. Reminds me of how I started learning wizardry, after I got my Manual - meditating outside, catching back up with old friends..."

She smiles. "I didn't know that the tree in my backyard really was talking to me as a kid! But once I learned the Speech, I could talk with her again."

[springforth]

"See, I like it because it's so quiet and peaceful. I can't imagine if all the plants started talking to me. Flower nymphs are chatterboxes enough on their own." Persephone smiles crookedly, not quite meeting her eyes, but she seems happy enough to watch Nita and soak.

"Was there a Dyrad bound to it or--I mean, trees themselves don't have the ability to speak."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"It-"

Nita has to pause and really think about that one.

"Liused wasn't a Dryad, as far as I know. But the Speech does allow for communication with all kinds of Life, so it might not have mattered."

A bizarre sentiment, but such often was wizardry's lot when compared with other worlds.

"Grass doesn't really have complex thoughts, either. Though they hate being mowed."

[springforth]

"Oh thats--" She looks a little queasy for a second.

"I don't eat animals because they have thoughts and feelings and now you're going to tell me plants do too? Please tell me that's not what you're implying."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita shakes her head in a worry.

"It's not like that, no! If anything, food's more concerned about being wasted-"

It was usually a long and tangled discussion, but Nita imagines she's going to want to keep this short to keep the hot spring pleasant.

"Wizards don't normally have their food complain about how it got to be that way, I promise."

[springforth]

Persesphone tucks her knees up to her chest, eyes wide and reflected in the water. The answer doesn't seem to completely placate her but it does let her relax a little. Stop casting looks up to the tree branches shading them.

"Okay. Okay good." Then a pause, "Hey, I uh, didn't ask because it's not really my business, but are things... Better? With your wizard stuff. Did it go okay?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

This tree, at least, is at peace, and in no danger of being anyone's meal any time soon; Nita doesn't yet think to ask, but that answer might help if they seek it?

In any case, Nita nods, a relieved smile on her face.

"It did. It really did. We apologized to each other, and the train."

She made a wry face, then. "Though it didn't seem to think we needed to apologize, for some reason?"

Or that was the impression it had given her, anyway.

[springforth]

A little pleased smile curls on her lips, pleased with herself for helping, with Nita for doing something so hard. She squeezed her knees with little fists and then hums softly in thought.

"Maybe it felt guilty about kidnapping us in the first place?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita hums a little, shifting in the water, considering.

"Mmm, maybe? It wasn't as if I could read that much into the emotions it projected."

That the train felt guilt wasn't an entirely alien concept to Nita, though, either.

"Wonder how far in advance we were scheduled to come here, too. Given this whole island's theme is about relaxing and calming down."

That is, it might have been related.