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

10 Vigilant Gaze Purges The Horizon

[comingorgoing]

-Arrival-

10 Vigilant Gaze stepped off of the train and stared at the tropical paradise with vague disappointment.

He was vexed. As he understood the situation, the voidtrecker express rode through the void from desperate battle to desperate battle. It sounded like a rewarding job to him. But apparently his timing was off. Humans needed rest, after all. So now he was stuck here, unable to act, while all the mortals frolicked about in the sun and sand.

"Well...I suppose it's not a terrible island."

-Cleaning-

One of the hot spring pools exploded. A tower of steam rose into the sky as little bits of ice fell down everywhere within a solid sixty feet. None were hard enough to hurt, but it was a damned peculiar thing for a hot spring to do.

Investigation would reveal Vigilant Gaze, climbing out of the pool, simultaneously steaming and covered in patches of frost as the water around his feet turned dark with mud.

He had the good grace to look embarrassed, in so much as a faceless suit of stone armor can do so. "Terribly sorry. I probably should have given a warning. All this dust has got to go, though."

-The rest of the damn vacation-

Vigilant Gaze's armor sat, motionless on the beach. Anyone who had seen him before would notice it was sparkling clean, compared to the dusty wreck that had limped onto the train at the platform.

They'd also notice that the armor was inert. The fiery light from within was gone. Vigilant Gaze was elsewhere.

Investigating the pile of armor WOULD get his attention, at least. Right now, a hermit crab was crawling across his knee.

sniffing some armor

[agathokakological]

Crowley had felt another presence on the train, something off that he couldn't quite explain. He didn't have the empathy Aziraphale did when it came to humans or even others like him, and whatever it was, Crowley felt it was best to avoid.

This time was different. He still felt it, but couldn't quite figure out what he was looking at. It wasn't a strong feeling, and the armor seemed to have been discarded. Perhaps it's wearer had gone for a swim?

Crowley kept a short distance of a few feet as he circled around it, eyes every-so-often darting to the ocean and around the beach to see if he could spot the owner.

[comingorgoing]

"I'm still trying to figure you two out."

The pleasant sounding voice came from somewhere further up from the beach, and also in an adjacent dimension. Not a direction humans would normally think to look in without careful training, but a being like Crowley would have no problem pinpointing it.

A massive winged bull, with a ring of flaming eyes for a head, sat there comfortably. Some of the eyes were staring out towards the horizon, but one of them was definitely looking at the demon.

"You and that Aziraphale fellow. You feel almost like angels, but not quite. Or perhaps a different KIND of angel. Something I never even considered might exist."

[agathokakological]

A voice pierces through the veil and he feels it like ice dropped down his spine. His face falls and he stops in his place, frozen and unmoving, careful.

Like angels. What sort of being would think that? Crowley turns finally in the direction of the voice, a cool demeanor, strikingly casual given the circumstances. Crowley had always been good at that, masking any discomfort or fear and replacing it with almost painfully-abrasive confidence, at least enough to rub every angel and demon the wrong way.

"Oh yes." he muses with a grin, "I don't think anyone quite knows what we are, anymore."

Crowley says this with the assumption that word has spread from their home offices. Of angels immune to hellfire and demons immune to holy water. The two beings that were able to defy heaven and hell and escape their rulings. Such appearances need to be upheld, of course.

[comingorgoing]

"Indeed?"

Angels were, as a rule, not much given to change. Those that could reinvent themselves were extraordinarily rare. In all his years and all his lives, Vigilant Gaze could, in fact, only think of one. Yet from this one's words, it almost sounded like he was changing to. Maybe it wasn't as hard as he thought.

Or maybe Crowley and Aziraphale were incredible.

"I am the igneous angel 10 Vigilant Gaze Purges The Horizon. May I ask who you are?"

[agathokakological]

Crowley nods, a bit of a chip on his shoulder, half-shrugging with a bit of swagger. Hearing that he is an angel isn't a shock, but Crowley has certainly never heard of one with such a name, and scowls a bit at it, shaking his head ever so slightly.

"Nah, that's too long," he scoffs, "How's Ten? Ten's a lot better." he notes, his arms spreading slightly to his sides. "But you may... I am the demon Crowley, the Serpent of Eden. And Crowley is preferred."

[comingorgoing]

"Vigilant Gaze is typically the short form." He said, also with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He didn't expect anyone to say the whole name every time but...just Ten? Too far in the other direction. Especially from another immortal.

[agathokakological]

Crowley waves his hand dismissively, "Vigilant Gaze, then. Still seems a bit formal." 

He shrugged, but he wouldn't argue. The demon understood more than anyone why one might want to be called something in particular, as Crowlwy had changed his name quite a few times to better suit him.

"Why such an interest in the two of us, anyway?"

[comingorgoing]

Vigilant Gaze shrugged. "I am a formal person."

"You are interesting, because I have spent seventy eight thousand years in this life, and I have never seen an angel that could wear human skin. Angels work in very specific ways. We would incinerate any flesh within seconds. We have numbers before our names representing how many times we have reincarnated, we live in the void as spirits of smokeless fire, and we were forged by Koss-UN for the purpose of preserving the works of the gods." He rattled off the basics as if contradicting these rules was unthinkable. "And yet, here you are. Something different, yet the same. It's curious."

[agathokakological]

"Must be an angel thing." he scoffed, Aziraphale being quite formal himself. Crowley can't recall ever being that formal when he was one, but that was just the thing, he didn't fit in for a reason.

"Different indeed," he began, "Although, having a body and wearing human skin are two different things, are they not? You can't incinerate this body with fire. Not hellfire, anyway." he mused, having walked into flames plenty of times without any trouble. Here was another being claiming there was more than one god, again, however. Crowley had only ever known one, and was now beginning to question Her more than he had before.

"Do you find us a threat?" he asked curiously, his head tilting to the side like an animal might if confused.

[comingorgoing]

“Only if you intend to be one. I’m too old to break out the fire and brimstone for something that MIGHT become a problem later. Live and let live, I say.”

[agathokakological]

"Right," Crowley purses his lips, eyeing the creature curiously, "Well, if that's the case, I don't think we'll have any problems... assuming I can trust you."

[comingorgoing]

"My word is my law. If I lied, or broke a given promise, my body would start to crack and shatter."

That he didn't know THAT was just further proof that Crowley and Aziraphale might be called angels, as he was, but they were fundamentally different beings.

[agathokakological]

Crowley actually cackles hearing that. Imagine if that had been true for the two of them, they'd have ceased to exist centuries ago.

"Sounds quite dangerous," he says finally, shrugging it off, "But I suppose you don't have a nose to grow, instead."

[comingorgoing]

"I...suppose I do not."

The reference went right over where his head would have been, if he had had a head.