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

[blitzcheer]

"How about asking someone else? Uh," well, "...if we weren't all separated now," he adds sheepishly. Yeah, that wasn't going to go well.

"But there's people who collect plants for those two cars. I don't know if anyone's got any way of telling what's out here. You could still take samples, I guess."

Though, he might be late getting any help if they waited until once they were all back on the train.

"I'll ask around if there's anyone who can help." There. He can do that much.

[10billionpercent]

"I won't hesitate to ask anyone I come across." Senku said agreeably with a little nod.

"I intend to take some."

He would agree, and found himself a little ill-prepared for foraging plants, but considering it was a rare opportunity one he couldn't pass up, he would do his best even if he was doing it alone.

"I appreciate it." He smiled at Tidus for that. "It would be to the benefit of everyone, after all."

[blitzcheer]

He smiles some, and heck, let him think then...

"Roland Crane, you heard of the guy? Black hair pulled back--he's one of the new Purple leads if you saw that. Looks like he's in his 20s. He got a plant for making salve, so he might know. Glor too--Glorfindel," he says. "Elf, glows, tall and pretty. Blond hair. He does something in the gardens too."

Ohh. And that makes his eyes widen, remembering, a forefinger pointing- "Oh yeah, and, you seen a pink-looking girl around? Don't remember her name, but she's a god. Something to do with plants or Spring. 'least I think. We just talked over the terminals once."

[10billionpercent]

Tidus by far, has been the best source of information about the other passengers.

"I met Roland." Senku said agreeably, but shook his head at Glorfindel, he hadn't met him yet. "Roland is going to help me collect samples around the island."

"I'll have to ask after both of them." He said, although really he was the worst at forging diplomatic relations. The absolute worst.

"I did speak to someone else..." He mused thoughtfully and remembered them telling him to ask Tidus. "Oh yes. They mentioned you might be looking for some kind of comforts on the train that you find lacking? I might be able to help you with that."

[blitzcheer]

Wow, Roland was already on it? "Great!" Tidus lets out at that bit of info. Hey, he didn't make some bad guesses after all! But as Senku goes on, mentions another person--that gets him curious. Tidus thinks however more about the offer.

"Comforts on the train? Uh... what kind of comforts are you thinking?"

He knows this guy is into science...but not much else.

[10billionpercent]

"He said something about improvements or modern comforts that you might be missing that you think could improve the train. It's quite possible I might know how to make them. Then it would be a matter of getting the materials." Senku explained the thought process a little more.

"He said that he was fine but he thought you had things you missed."

[blitzcheer]

...well now that's weird.

"Who was it? Not Roland?"

Because who other than that guy could Senku be referring to? Tidus racks his brain trying to remember what he talked about missing, but other than 'more space' and 'being outside'--

And he was pretty sure Senku couldn't do anything about those things.

[10billionpercent]

"No, not Roland. His name was..." Senku paused for a moment, thinking over the conversation he had with Inigo.

"Huh. No idea."

Sorry Tidus, Senku is a bit of a social disaster.

"I can tell you he didn't like math, is that helpful to you?"

[blitzcheer]

Whomp whomp. Well, that explains why he wasn't saying a name.

"Nope," Tidus answers just as unhelpfully, giving a light shrug. "But that's fine. For comforts though, uh... I haven't really thought about it. Other than getting together supplies for missions... and clocks around the train cars?"

What else is there?

"Minako--she wants to put curtains on the quiet cars for privacy. And we talked about a framing to make the benches join together into a bed for one... that's all I can remember right now."

[10billionpercent]

It was his own fault for not really introducing himself to people, really.

"What kind of supplies are you looking for?" Senku asked, because that seemed like the kind of thing he might be able to help with.

"A clock, huh..." He mused about that. "Assuming the day period is when the windows are lit up and the night is black, the day is only 75,600 seconds, or rather, twenty-one hours. I'm not sure how I would make a clock to that effect. I'll think about it."

"Fabric's not my strongest suit, but a frame or a conversion from benches to a bed wouldn't be difficult if you got supplies." Senku mused. "The construction would be quite simple."

[blitzcheer]

"I know there's bamboo? It's pretty sturdy, but I don't know how great it is for what we're talking. Someone grows it in one of the cars..."

He'll have to check it out, find out who's the one that grows it and ask if it's free to take--he knows it's used for the training weaponry, in any case.

For now, Tidus hums a little as he thinks.

"Fabric's easy, kinda. Spider can make that s'long as you pay her in food--and Minako can always do that." Though with what's around now, maybe she'd take a fish dish. He'll think about that later. "I guess if you could figure out what you'd need... we could get it? You can talk to Minako about it if you're interested. She said she'd try make a frame, buuut I...don't think she knows how."

If he can make assumptions. No offence, Minako.

"I figure making a clock won't be easy. I should probably give up waiting for the train to add any and just buy some." Pah. Well, nevermind that.

"How about asking the train at large though for ideas? By the network. You'll probably get some ideas. I know some people were trying to make communicators... like the way the SCAs work on missions. Don't know if they're still bothering."

[10billionpercent]

"Bamboo is very sturdy and incredibly useful in a lot of ways, and if it's all we can get you can probably make it work, with a little trial and error."

Trial and error was the story of his life, really.

"I can take a look at the cabin she wants to use and come up with a design. I'll do it when we go back, shouldn't take terribly long." He knew a lot about that kind of thing, so it shouldn't be a problem to help.

"The clock itself isn't the problem, it's getting it to run on a twenty-one hour cycle instead of a twenty-four hour cycle." Senku mused. "Well if nothing else, I can always tell you how long it's been since I got up."

"Communication? That's an excellent goal. It would be incredibly tricky without the necessary resources. It's kind of a pain in the ass to be chained to the train."

[blitzcheer]

How long since he got up? Whatever that's supposed to mean puzzles Tidus, but he gets distracted by the talk of communications. And likely misses out on the chance to know the extent of Senku's weird talents.

"For thaaat," Tidus says, dragging out the word some, "I know Tony's involved. Red Team, likes to call himself leader of the train. I don't know who else, but I think he's the projects guy. And I think Webmind too's up to something? Webmind's safe to go up to and ask about whatever." At least, he'd bank on him being a more inviting conversation.

But on remembering the walking computer, that also reminds him: "Oh, he might even have info he can share with you. He used to be connected to a giant information network in his world. I think he's still got it all in his wires."

If by the fact he showed Tidus pictures of his Earth.

[10billionpercent]

It means exactly what it sounds like Tidus. Weird doesn't even begin to cover it.

"I've met Webmind." Senku said agreeably with a nod. "He mentioned that, having to do with the internet. It's fascinating." He grinned slightly.

"I don't know Tony, but his name's been mentioned to me before, I'll keep my eyes open for him." He looked like he was thinking about something. "Communications are good, and presumably I can get something smaller and more compact maybe, because there's no way the cell phone I made before is workable for actually carrying around."

He would need something more modern than stone age technology. "But radio waves? Not that difficult. You just need a roadmap."

[blitzcheer]

"A roadmap?"

Tidus knows what that sounds like to him, but he's pretty sure it's not what Senku's talking about. But then, what is he? Actually, he's not even sure how 'radio waves' aren't that difficult. ...considering he knows nothing about making them in the first place.

[10billionpercent]

"A roadmap is what I use to illustrate the steps necessary to get to a goal. Usually it gives me an overview of the resources required, and how each piece fits together to make what I want to happen." Senku explained, so no, it wasn't really a map of roads.

"In the case of the cell phone and radio tower, I needed components like plastic, wiring, Rochelle salts and vacuum tubes for example, and then each of those components gets broken down into the basic parts that make up the whole. It's like a blueprint."

[blitzcheer]

That makes sense as Senku explains it--and shows his intelligence, the more he speaks. Tidus understands what he's saying, but at the same time... he's aware that whatever this guy ends up doing is going to be beyond him.

"If you find someone to work with," he says, perhaps the one last idea he can offer, "there's a guy, Piccolo--he can create objects with magic. He used to make weapons for the train, but he made some lunchboxes and drink bottles for me recent. For everyone, really--they're for the missions."

And for anyone who'd need them.

"If you need materials, he might be okay making a few things, s'long as they won't hurt anyone." And to explain, just in case Senku wasn't around when it happened: "He stopped making the weapons after one guy killed another passenger. But as long as you're making something useful, he's fine with it. You'll just need to ask him what he can make. Plastic shouldn't be hard."

As an example.

[10billionpercent]

"He creates objects? How does that work?" Senku blinked at him because honestly in his world one couldn't create something from nothing. "What are the limitations to that?" That could potentially be a game changer, really.

He was going to have to find Piccolo.

Senku waved his hand, he knew Tidus didn't have those answers. "I see." He murmured. "No, I won't be looking for any weapons. I hadn't considered it. I'm not the kind of guy who fights anyone." Not with a sword in hand anyway, more with his wit and science than anything.