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

Alright with me!!

[adregem]

His face is the picture of concern, arms crossed tightly against his chest. From Nita's explanation, he can only determine one other thing:

"So they're not visions. They're memories..." He hums. It makes sense. "I honestly thought it was something from this whole trip, to help us relax. I...I saw people in mine, but I didn't know who they were. We were in some sort of restaurant, it was colorful and a little garish. And they were all so young, all students. Like I was still a student, too."

A beat passes.

"But that's all I saw. I don't know who it belongs to. And you had a third one too? Gah. I knew it. I knew something strange would come up sooner or later. It's never this simple with the train..."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Did you hear anyone's voice? Anything familiar from the train?"

Nita shrugs, though her expression is very annoyed.

"It wasn't ever all that simple back home, either. Just when you think things are going to get clearer..."

She holds up her hands.

"Poof."

And then she pauses, considering.

"Y'know, that mixer might have helped a little; getting to know everyone and all. Though if your person isn't on Team Purple, that's not necessarily gonna help," she admits.

[adregem]

"Well, it might have helped regardless. Anyone can come, really. We're not exactly asking for ID at the door, heh." A light joke to help break the mood, but Roland can't help but shake the feeling anyway. He exhales heavily, Bambosh just darting across his periphery. The higgledy would be fine.

"No. I didn't see a single familiar face, and no familiar voices either. This is...concerning, Nita. I..." He trails off. If these were memories he was witnessing, it wasn't right. These were not his to see, to witness. And neither were his anyone else's. This bothers him greatly, even if all he has to show for it is a deep frown on his youthful visage.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nods, expression turning somewhat grim.

"To you and me, both. We never got the chance to opt-in - or opt-out, more like - for this thing, even beyond the rest of being a Voidtrecker."

"Do you remember any names, or was it all just an impression, gone in a flash?"

It may safely end up brushed away... provided it doesn't happen again."

[adregem]

"Nothing. But...it felt pleasant. It was nice. That's why I thought it was just a vision the train was giving us to accompany this weird holiday on the island."

There's a heaviness in his shoulders.

"But if they're memories, then I can't assume everyone felt the same. For you, was it like that? Or did you see something concerning?" This was all too intrusive; Roland is so incredibly uncomfortable that his usually still facade is starting to grow more and more tense.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"The train's shared visions before, but not with everyone," Nita says - but slowly, because she's thinking of that occasion with all the dreams now.

Maybe then-?

"It might be something related to this world... Mine was more serious than yours," she admits, "But the person in them is all right for now."

Hopefully that was the case for the majority of them here - though she knew some of them had died before arriving on the train.

[adregem]

"Should we be alerting people? Teams?"

There's an urgency there, but his voice is low. "How...We just got here..." Roland looks away, stares at the ground before them. What a waste of a view, if this was the price they had to pay.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nods, before sighing.

"We're not on a mission, though; we don't have the use of the comms. I can send word to two people here, but as for spreading it to everyone..."

No doubt everyone's spread out to enjoy the break.

"But let's keep going for now, see what we came here to see. Hate to only be the bearer of bad news; we should see if there's good to bring back, too."

[adregem]

"Yeah. Yeah, good idea. Let's keep walking, then."

He offers Nita a smile, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He follows the higgledy's trail as it jumps up and down, poking and prodding as much of the natural environment as it can. For now, he'll do his best not to cause too much panic. There was too much they didn't know anyway, even if it's the source of his stress at the moment.

"May that be the last of the unpleasant surprise. Jema'grethy is a beautiful place. I want to at least enjoy the sights."

[unfavorableinstigation]

The sweet smell intensifies as they climb - not enough to make thinking hard, but enough that she sets Bobo about to running a scan on materials in the area for what it could be...

"Whatever else is going on, this landscape really is harmless; there's nothing here that could kill us if ingested."

She gives Roland an odd look. "You'd think there would have been a flyer on the subject."

[adregem]

That gets him slightly more riled up, turning to Nita faster than usual. "Exactly! If Jema'grethy is a well-known destination for void missionaries, you'd expect at least a couple of tourist brochures. A map of the island, top five best places to watch the sunset, even."

The smell isn't lost on Roland either, but it only makes him wince in silence. It was cloyingly sweet, but it was confusing. What was it? Where was it coming from?

"I'm just glad to know the isle's passed your standards, Nita." Not that he wasn't going to be any less off-guard. It's just not in his nature.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"It'd all be a lot easier if our worlds had been void-active to begin with, I'm sure."

Not having access to the void equivalent of Yelp! was causing them serious worry, here.

Meanwhile, Nita snorts.

"I ran a scan with wizardry; I couldn't tell you that much just by smelling. It's that... stuff produced by the volcano that's making the smell; it's some kind of syrup."

Which was as much as the peridexis could determine with minimal data.

[adregem]

"Syrup?" His mind flies to sweet syrups he's most naturally familiar with - pancake syrups, maple syrups, candied syrups..His confusion doesn't let up.

"Wanna take a detour then? See if we can find a nice stream of...syrup to dip our toes into?" At this, Bambosh suddenly reappears behind his boot, jumping up and down until it settles into a nice waddle in place. That's not a coincidence; he's manually called him back to his side, though higgledies were inclined to follow their charges anyway, even as they wander.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Should be just ahead."

Not much more work for them; apparently it could be ingested raw... Shaking her head at that bit of trivia, she catches sight of Bambosh teleporting again.

"At least if it decides it wants a taste, it'll be fine. ... Can they even eat?"

Meaning higgledies, of course.

[adregem]

"That's good. I wouldn't want one of my best allies to get a higgledy tummy ache, heh." Bambosh doesn't react to that, but there's a cognizance there - it begins to speak in its strange language again, though Roland cannot understand it at all. That was more Evan's territory.

"And they can. But not for nourishment. They eat to get stronger. Get tougher. I believe this one has a taste for - " Roland pauses, finger under his chin before he answers, though a little uncertain. "- Hot peppers. Or peppers of any kind. Right...?" As he looks down at Bambosh, he just stares up at him with a hiiiiig.... steaming out of him. Whether or not that was affirmation or not, would be left to mystery.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita, listening to the higgeldy, snickers.

"Yeah, I'm not sure 'tougher' is what this planet is for. 'Sweet', maybe."

A moment of amusement, in an otherwise serious conversation.

[adregem]

And speaking of 'sweet,' there they were, a sticky stream oozing out of the ground a few steps away. The smell was reminding him of candy. The colors weren't helping either. He calls Bambosh silently to settle on his shoulder, which he complies with easily. Roland would rather not risk anything even though Nita's already scanned it, declared it safe.

He approaches first, arms crossed, expression skeptical. "And you're sure this is fine?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita marched on up beside him, kneeling to test the stream of ooze.

"It's more 'do we test it, or let someone else do it', I'd think."

Unless there was a third option that also resulted in them learning about it - not doing anything didn't seem like a satisfactory idea, here.

[adregem]

He takes in a deep breath and kneels beside Nita after a brief pause.

"Here goes nothing, then." Better Roland than Nita, and better Roland than anyone else on the train. His hand hovers close over its surface, and he only hesitates once before he goes in for the plunge, dipping the side of his knuckles into the sludge and goop.

It's not...unpleasant, at least. Neutral temperature, and it reminds him of tree sap with the way its viscosity wraps around his hand. He lifts his hand for Nita to study, the trail dripping down at a snail's pace. It was aesthetically pleasing, at the very least.

"Bottom's up?" He waits for Nita to finish looking at the syrup before he decides to risk it and taste it himself.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita eyes him carefully throughout; worst comes to worst, he could give himself a psychosomatic reaction to the stuff, and that would be bad for everyone.

There's still no sign of anything going wrong, however, and so she scoops up a small amount of the syrup herself.

Touching it to her tongue, her eyes go wide.

"... Have you ever tasted something that means you the opposite of bad?"

It wasn't as if it was pure sugar, but it was good, above all else.

[adregem]

Roland quickly regrets not eating it before Nita had a chance to ingest it herself, paranoia setting in that perhaps it was poison, and he had to run to get her to help -

- but nothing really happened. And according to Nita, it was the opposite of something bad happening anyway. Roland blinks in confusion before taking some of the syrup into his own mouth. The reaction is instant.

"Whoa."

He glances at its colorful stream down by their feet, then back to his companion. The higgledy on his shoulder stares at the syrup itself, bopping its head to its slow flow out of the crevices.

"If a feeling had a taste." And the feeling, was calm. Incredibly so. Like a hit of Oxycontin.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"You see what I mean." Taste? Eh, who knows.

"It's not even addictive, or so the scan says." She lets herself take another tentative taste.

[adregem]

Bambosh starts poking the syrup, but again, Roland knows its harmless at this point. Might even do it some good, with all the energy.

"Should we be taking this back with us? To study? Or...do we just have our fill every once in a while for three days straight?" He quirks a curious eyebrow at it, half-joking, but really he wonders if this was the reason. "The brief said this was a popular resting spot for people like us, right? Maybe this is why. Because the whole island is made up of...this."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I'd say yeah. You brought any canisters?"

Nita, for her part, could improvise with wizardry, but there was no sense putting it all in one place.

Then she snorts. "Given all there is to do besides this, I don't think so. Unless it means mental rest?"

[adregem]

Speaking of...

He materializes a jar of sliced up carrots from his Arms Band, shaking it slightly with one hand. Roland offers it to her. There's a joke here, but he's delivering it pretty dryly, face way too serious.

"Dip?"

Or, feed it to Bambosh, even if it isn't to its taste. Get the jar empty.