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

[so_dark_a_road]

"What's this mandatory unconsciousness? I don't seem to become unconscious at all, unless it's my choice. But you do?"

Curufin believes in accuracy, too! It's one of those things they have in common.

"You're my friend, Webmind. If you fell out of a boat, I'd feel very much obligated to pull you back in or jump in after you."

[iamnotgod]

"I mean the resets, Curufin."

Because apparently that was what was causing it - guess who binge-read the magazines after a certain peridexion gave him the go-ahead?

"And I am glad you consider me a friend, Curufin - because I consider you one of mine."

Stated plainly, a simple truth.

"I would do the same for you as well, assuming I were physically able at the time."

And not a disembodied intelligence! He'd have to find someone else to help in that case...

[so_dark_a_road]

"What resets?" Puzzled, and also not very familiar with computerspeak or netspeak.

Webmind is definitely more knowledgeable about the code aspect of the train's functioning than Curufin is, or probably ever will be.

He smiles when Webmind makes his declaration of friendship. "I believe you would. Absolutely." Despite his frequent use of the network, Curufin has only a rudimentary idea of how it works, or even of Webmind's identity as the Earth's internet. But he trusts him.

[iamnotgod]

Well, with that happy issue settled, Webmind goes back to the actual question.

"Where we all end up in our assigned beds for the morning announcements."

Webmind's puzzled that Curufin is puzzled!

[so_dark_a_road]

"Oh, that. But for me, there's no unconsciousness involved. One minute I'm sitting in the Garden Carriage, playing my flute, and then suddenly I'm in my bed. No time seems to have elapsed between one scene and the next. It's just instantaneous travel. Why, do you experience it differently?"

Curufn has experienced something like teleportation in the past, and he doesn't experience it as particularly strange.

[iamnotgod]

"No. It is a matter I discovered in one of the magazines Nita Callahan ordered; it arrived this past platform. Impressive what sort of trivia people will mention in seemingly mundane sources, no?"

Finding more details to validate it as more than just a one-off would be difficult, he imagines, but it's well worth attempting to learn more about their situation!

[so_dark_a_road]

Still puzzled about this reset idea.

"What did the magazine say? Was it a periodical with articles related to Void travel?"

[iamnotgod]

"It was a magazine with instructions and materials for constructing a model voidcraft, of all things."

They really are going to have to go through this, aren't they?

[so_dark_a_road]

"Who would want to build a model voidcraft instead of the real thing?" laughs Curufin. "Also, does the train think there'll be less information in a model magazine for us to get our hands on and maybe use in ways that would make the train nervous?"

Yep.

"So, did it mention resets as a feature of Void travel?"

[iamnotgod]

"If there's one thing I've learned from humanity, Curufin, it's that the sufficiently bored will build models of anything."

There's thousands of video blogs to demonstrate, Curufin. Thousands.

"It didn't describe them as resets, only as periods of unconsciousness that anyone could experience regardless of species, or indeed any natural capability of sleeping."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I wouldn't," laughs Curufin. "But I guess I must not be that kind of humanity, in that case. Though I do consider Elves and mortals to be basically the same species. Just different races. But anyway, I guess mortals build models for the very reason you just said. Boredom."

Curufin has never been on Earth's internet, so he's never seen those thousands of video blogs of people building models of the Titanic.

"Ah, I see. So resets was your word for what happens. But as I was saying, I don't experience unconsciousness before I get whisked back to my own bed. There's no interval at all, just the Garden Carriage and then whomp! I'm dumped into my bed. But Webmind, do you experience it as a period of unconsciousness?"

[iamnotgod]

"You would not be alone there, Curufin," Webmind says - though whether Webmind is including himself in that statement isn't clear.

"No; it is a complete disconnect, particularly for those of us not located in our rooms at the time, hence my calling it a 'reset.' But if it happens to everyone regardless of species, well."

And the details on that system wouldn't be accessible from the Network, either; very annoying!

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin shrugs and smiles at Webmind's statement that he would not be there alone. "I only build a model if I need it to give me information that will make it possible for me to build it full-scale."

"I won't argue with your calling it a disconnect. That is what I experience. I sometimes stay in the Garden Carriage all night, playing my flute and singing, or else writing in my journal or making project diagrams and materials lists. And that's when I get transported. I'm in one place and then suddenly in another, with no interval in between. Zero! So, it seems we have more or less the same experience."

Too bad! It would be interesting if Webmind could get the details from the network. How to build a transporter!

[iamnotgod]

The matter of models seems to be dropped for now, in a nicely-concluded manner. As for the disconnect:

"One of the few unifying factors for those on the train, it appears. One must wonder why it picked those features, if they were even its choice."

Should we wrap this one?

[so_dark_a_road]

"I do wonder, as you say, why the train chose those features, or even if it did choose? Maybe this is a feature of all sentient beings, that we experience an instantaneous transport through time and space as a disconnect. I suppose we'll never know what the train thinks unless it decides to start communicating with us. Or unless there's digital documentation somewhere that you have access to or can get hold of." Such as by hacking.

The waves on this side of the surf are gentle and the wind is mild, and it's a sunny day. The boat rolls with the waves and Curufin is enjoying this conversation in a sailing craft.

That's fine!

[iamnotgod]

"Short of clocks being installed - even assuming they are genuine - there is no true way of knowing the former, and we would likely have to visit a void-active world to try learning it the latter way you mention."

But it is a nice day, despite their current musings, and Webmind for his part will do his best to enjoy it.