middleofsomewhere | 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

It would be a terrible food source. Because it's like sugar, I'd have to deduct it likely gets broken down in the body like sugar, which means that it's not really full of nutrients that people could live on. Certainly the plants and fish would help, but it's a strange situation where there is so much sweetness around. It's not very common to the wilds I'm used to.

You'd think it if is like sugar, that people would have ill effects from consuming so much.

[ He's keeping up with her, whether he looks a bit tired or not and he nods at the question. ]

I'm interested in seeing if there are any artifacts or remnants to be found.

I suppose you're right. But I have to wonder what happened...

{ They reach the dwelling and she slips inside, poking at an old hammock. ]

It really was a slow and simple life, it seems.

I suppose that is the question.

[ He's glancing around for any remnants, maybe a piece of broken pottery? ]

Simple, sure, but non-technologically advanced societies have a reputation for being slow and easy, but that's just not true.

Well...yes. You would have to work a lot harder to get what you needed, right?

That's correct, ten billion points to you.

[ He speaks out of habit to show he's impressed with her. ]

Survival alone takes a considerable amount of energy even if you are attempting to survive in a group. It leaves a lot of problems to ignore aspects of that for scientific achievement. It's a delicate balance.

Mm. How interesting...what we want and what we need.

[ It really is. But honestly, some of it flies above her head. ]

But there's always more to learn, and I'm especially grateful for that now.

That's how I feel.

[ He smiles rather openly at that, he loves to learn that's just the way he is. ]

Most recently, I learned a lot about baking bread, stollen specifically. It was interesting. Francois showed me what I was doing wrong.

Oh! I wonder if we could do that on the train.

I bake, but we're so often lacking in ingredients it's hard to do everything I'd like to. Bread sounds wonderful.

Stollen? Hmmmm. [ He makes a thoughtful noise as he considers that. ]

It takes fruit, which there is some here, alcohol which isn't hard to make if you have fruit, nuts which I haven't seen and some kind of butter. We use goat's milk butter, but it wouldn't make the composition different if it was cow butter or something of that nature.

But something like a simple loaf of bread wouldn't be a problem, as long as you have flour and water. Yeast is floating in the air all around us, so it's not hard to acquire.

Mami nods happily. "That's right! I haven't tried in so long...but I'd like to do that."

She's all smiles. "When we return to the train, maybe I'll give it a try. Thank you."

Sure, it's no problem.

[ He waves his hand a little, if anyone's ever looking for random science facts, he's got them all. ]

I knew the basics but I had a lot of problems in the baking part of it, but Francois showed me what I was doing wrong.

Event: Healing Waters

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