middleofsomewhere | Event: Healing Waters

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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

Inigo quietly contemplates the options. Swimming sure is out of the question. Reading isn't exactly Inigo's favourite activity, and lying around sounds kind of boring too..

So sand sculptures it is. How hard could it be, really?

"Let's go build something out of sand then!" It may be their only real option here, but Inigo manages to sound excited about it all the same, like it's his favourite and prefered option. It sounds kind of fun to do together with a close friend anyway.

"How about we both try to make something we know from back home? Then we can show each other."

"Okay." He nodded, "We can do that."

He's never made sand sculptures before, but he has sculpted with clay and such in art class and so it can't be all that different. He has seen sand sculptures before at least.

"There are some spades and things in the dressing carriage."

At least Inigo doesn't seem too worried about his artistic ability - or lack thereof. Maybe he's just glad to at least be attempting to do something fun together with Taiki, regardless of the end result.

"Let's go get those then!" He latches onto Taiki's hand - of course - to gently tug him along. There's a smile on Inigo's face as he tries really hard to force the earlier images to the back of his mind. He doesn't want to think about those in front of Taiki when Inigo is sure it'll make all sorts of emotions appear on his face. "You have to show me which ones we should take with us. You're the expert, after all."

He allows his hand to be taken and to be tugged along by Inigo towards the dressing carriage. He shook his head, a little embarassed.

"Not really, I haven't done it before either." But it can't be that hard and Inigo seems keen so he will do his best to pick the right things to take with them.

"I guess... A few different sizes of spade will be a good idea."

"Aww, Taiki! One day you'll have to accept a compliment when I give you it, you know!" Pot, meet kettle. It's not as if Inigo ever fully embraces any compliment that's thrown his way, but he thinks Taiki needs to soak in compliments much more urgently than he does. "Just watch out, I'll catch you off guard with one someday! You'll never see it coming."

The terrifying threat of spontaneous compliments. Beware, Taiki.

Thankfully the dressing carriage is not too far off, and Inigo is already starting to look at the spades.. He picks up one of the tiny plastic kid ones, giving it a puzzling look. Like he's never quite seen anything like it.

".. wait, is this really still a spade?"

He blushed a little at that, it was hard. When everything Inigo says is... It's not really true. He just doesn't know Taiki well enough or he would know... Taiki is not any of the things he is meant to be, never mind the additional things that Inigo seems to think of him.

But he takes the threat seriously at least and is glad to change the subject. "Yes. It is for digging softer things, like the sand."

You can change the subject, Taiki, but the threat of compliments is never far away.. They're just lurking in the background, waiting for their turn in the spotlight!

Even though Inigo is presently very busy trying to figure out this whole spades situation over here.

"There are different, specialized kinds?!" He seems amazed by this. Maybe not as sparkly-eyed as he gets over some things, but it still sounds like Taiki is blowing his mind. Not like they had a whole lot of thing around back in his time, let alone in the middle of the apocalypse.. "I thought there was only one kind of spade! We should make sure to take as many as possible.. Just so we can ensure we can make the perfect kinds of sand sculptures!"

Maybe he's taking this a bit too seriously. (Or maybe he's just overcompensating to try and ward off the bad vision from before, sshh..)

"I guess." He nodded looking at the spades, "We can make sure to get a lot." He's not sure really what difference different types of spades make to sand sculpting, but he's sure they can figure it out.

And if it has Inigo enthused then it is worth it, he gathers the different brightly coloured spades into his arms.

At least this time Inigo isn't making the dumb mistake of telling Taiki that Inigo himself can carry it all - that's saved for the next day, obviously.

"Great! Is there anything else we should take?"

Inigo glances at the similarly brightly coloured buckets, holding one of them up. He figures those are part of a set with the spades, considering their colours..

"Like this?"

"We can take some buckets as well. They will be useful".

Depending on what they were going to make. But sandcastles weren't very difficult and would be a good start.

"I think that's all we need."

"Alright! Let's go!"

Inigo has made sure to load his arms full of spades and buckets at this point too. It looks a little ridiculous, especially with how brightly multicoloured they are, but Inigo grins all the same with his arms full of them. He has no regrets.

Except for the fact that it's impossible to hold Taiki's hand this way. Boo.

But he walks all the same, heading out of the train and out into the sun.

"Do you already have an idea of what you want to make, Taiki?"

He shook his head with a small smile, "I'm not sure... Do you know what you would like to make?"

This was for Inigo after all, anything he wanted to make Taiki would help with. He didn't know what was going on but Inigo had seemed worried when Taiki had first seen him and so he is determined to try and cheer him up.

"Most people build castles, I think they are easiest..."

Ah, yes. The majestic Taiki and Inigo in their natural habitat. Both so focused on trying to make the other have fun, it might just end up turning into a self-feeding loop of helpfulness making them both happy.

That being said, Inigo is 100% oblivious to Taiki's intentions. He's just happy to be able to help Taiki with doing something that's actually fun. Making things out of sand sounds like fun to him, anyway!

"Castles, huh? I guess I could try to see if I can make the palace from back home, then I can show you!"

"Oh." He nodded with a smile, "I'd like to see that." To see where Inigo was from, "If you want I can try and make the imperial palace of Tai..."

If he sounds uncertain it is because it would be a complex endeavour. But he would try, for Inigo.

"I would love that!"

After all, Inigo has a very similar interest in seeing more of the place Taiki is from. He's seen a bit in that dream, but not much at all - especially not with how twisted everything was, how quickly everything kept changing.

Though.. "Only if you're sure you want to." There's that uncertain edge to Taiki's tone - which, granted, is often there, but still - that makes Inigo want to give the other a way out in case it'd be too much for him. He wouldn't want to force Taiki to do anything he didn't want to.

"Besides, if you happen to be worried about how good it'll look, don't worry! This is my first time doing it, so I'm sure the palace I'll make might end up looking more like a stable." He laughs.

"Mine might too, but we can try."

After all the fun was in the building, even if they didn't end up with perfect results.

He used his elbow to press the button that opened the train door, as his hands were full and hopped down onto the grass below, looking around with eyes full of wonder. It really was a beautiful place.

Taiki may be standing there to admire it all, but behind him Inigo basically jumps out of the train, already starting to bounce on his feet and jog off the moment he hits the ground. Like he doesn't even have a moment to admire the scenery in the middle of his excitement.

"Come on, Taiki! Last to the sand is a slowpoke!"

.. So he says, but he's still just.. bouncing in place rather than running ahead. As if Inigo would ever let Taiki be the slowpoke here, please.

"Oh. Okay..." He smiles, seeing how Inigo is bouncing on the spot. "Let's go then." He began running towards the beach, though not so fast, checking that Inigo was really with him.

He's not the fastest runner anyways, not as he is now, in this form.

Inigo is definitely following. He's smart enough to not give Taiki a huge obvious lead, but instead he's making sure to stick at the other's side, keeping up at Taiki's pace so they'll arrive at the same time.

And when they do, Inigo just unelegantly drops all of the buckets and shovels in his arms onto the sand before dropping to his knees next to them.

(He may seem a little sweaty, as overdressed as he is for a beach setting..)

"Phew!" He grabs one of the buckets, smiling up at Taiki. "So are you supposed to fill these with sand?"

Taiki isn't exactly dressed for the beach either, but he grins at Inigo as they arrive. He knows Inigo let him win, Inigo could beat him in a race any day. He could beat him in anything like that.

"Yes." He nodded and picked one up himself, beginning to demonstrate. "Um. I think the sand nearer the sea is better, if it is wet it sticks together better and is easier to build with."

"Ah, really? I guess since it's wetter.."

Still, it's nothing Inigo has ever considered before. He hasn't even had a beach trip before - or, well, before the last mission they had involving a beach, anyway - let alone considered building things out of sand.

He seems to take Taiki's suggestion seriously enough, picking up the bucket and moving it a bit closer to the water so he can grab some of the stand there.

"You should tell me what the imperial palace of Tai was like, even before you show me! I'm curious."

Taiki follows with a small nod, smiling as Inigo starts collecting sand. He does the same, filling the small bucket he is carrying with the wet sand.

"All the palaces, the imperial palaces but also the other provincial palaces are on mountains. Really they exist in... another place. The mountains stretch high above the clouds, from the ground you cannot see the top of them."

That was a good place to start building, creating the mountain. "From the top, where the palace is, it is like being on an island. Because in my world the sky is also a sea, called the sea of clouds. Each palace is an island floating in that sea and if you were to dive in the water you would never find an end to it."

It's like every time he finds out more about the place Taiki came from, it sounds more fantastical. Inigo could take the people turning into horses thing, since that wouldn't be too out of place in his own world, but he had to draw the line at baby trees.

Actually, this new piece of information suddenly feels a lot more normal when he thinks about the baby trees. Sweet Naga, those baby trees.

He smiles. "That sounds great! The view from those places must have been amazing." Since Inigo imagines you must have been able to just look out over that sea of clouds.

"It was, it really was like looking over an ocean, with clouds in it."

He's aware it sounds fantastical, it had all been so strange when he had first went there.

"What was the palace like, where you lived?"

Inigo laughs.

"I'm afraid it's not going to sound very impressive now you've told about the imperial palace of Tai.."

It's not like his world has cloud seas. Heck, the palace isn't even on top of an actual mountain!

"It's just in the capital, in Ylisstol. You'd see it right away once you enter the city. If you look up from the busy streets, you could see the castle standing up on the hill. It always seemed so big to me when I was younger."

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