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]

...were the little higgle-things feeling those twigs when Roland chucked them in? A sparing thought, there and then gone, but Tidus did think about what the fire was, after the way it came to life.

Otherwise, his thoughts are on their plan. Something bigger than a plan, when plan felt too simple of a word, too small. A course that would take time and thought and more to execute, to have it be anything. He sees Roland cross his hand over to the SCA and remembers his own; dips his arm, as if moving it farther from his face. The flames of the fire lick and crackle between them.

"Right. Not hard," he says, like a joke, but it isn't. "We got kids on here, we share the missions - you think we should include visual proof? Images? We can buy a - camera. Memoris. Picture and video records." He doesn't know which word to use, goes for everything and all. "Keep a record of everything?"

It might get bigger than what bottles can hold, but it wouldn't really matter. Long as they're discreet about how they deposit what they want the ministry to find, don't have anyone else take notice, pay attention.

[adregem]

(Speaking of, Bambosh is actually dancing around the fire...Was it happy?)

The twig in his hand grows still as he nods at Tidus. "That makes sense. There's technology from the second world that could help with that too. I'll try ordering it once I get enough points replenished. They're called Memoliths and they record events for you to play back whenever you want. The inventor of it is a president too, Zip Vector. We have to make it look like we're buying these things for ourselves first, though. Build it up so it's natural. Since..."

When he trails off, Roland furrows his brow and kicks the dirt around him, flattens it so it's a clean slate again with the bottom of his heel. He places a finger under his chin and he's there again, in that place in his mind where the plans unfold and he is in his element. The twig starts drawing two things: on one side, closer to the fire, a rectangle with small wheels; on the other, closer to Tidus's side of the pit, a triangle with its apex facing the other figure.

The triangle is the void ministry. The poorly drawn rectangle with circles, the Voidtrecker Express.

"...Since we're still dependent on the train for our daily needs, we have to be careful not to draw their attention too. So everything we do has to look like it's just us trying to make the most of what we have. If the train finds out we're leaving hints to the ministry for them to follow, we might get punished just as badly. We don't know what kind of void magic our captors can do, after all." The line from the rectangle starts moving to the center.

"We have to play them both for fools. See who breaks first, who gives information that can help us figure out who we're actually fighting for. Or what this all means, saving worlds and not getting answers." The line is drawn from the triangle this time, and both intersect at the middle with an X to mark the spot.

"Play the victim for the void ministry. Play the merry little voidtrecker for the train." He stops drawing now, and just hands Tidus the twig absentmindedly, voice trailing off as he rethinks everything he's just said. There was no other way, was there? Not that he could see...

[blitzcheer]

Tidus takes it because it's handed, not knowing what to do with it, but not really puzzled either. He turns it on its side between thumb and forefinger, letting it roll between the pads, spinning quick.

"I spoke to one of the Team Leads about taking photos. Gladio, from Blue. Just as a way of documenting things, doing it for ourselves too, you know? The scenery, the people we meet. It wouldn't be weird if we took extra." Photos of them, the children, each other, proving they weren't making it up.

He stops twisting the twig and points it towards the fire, idly circling the tip in the air.

"So what do we want to say? 'For five or six months we've been travelling on the Voidtrecker Express, it's been taking us from different worlds without our permission and dropping us onto planets we don't know to investigate some disaster happening'?"

[adregem]

"Yeah, Gladio I've met briefly too. You know. When you suddenly forgot how to explain the Black Squad to him?" The look he throws Tidus isn't one that's new; he should be used to it by now. But it's more of a kind prod, a reminder that he wasn't alone on all of this. That even if they had to do this together, at least they had each other to fall back on. They could ask no one else, it was too dangerous already.

"Hm. Remember all the times you left messages on the Feedback terminal? From not being able to tell time to not even getting food, drinks, or decent weapons?" He smirks softly. "That. We need to include all of that, too. Make the narrative sound like we're being taken advantage of; that we don't even know why we're being taken at all. To what standard do they hold heroism that they have to kidnap talking cats and children who can't fight giant monsters."

Bambosh walks over to him and he offers his finger as a greeting. The higgledy shakes it and reappears on his shoulder.

"Heh. I can't believe we're doing the 'ol bait and bleed. Forcing two other sides to meet each other while we get to watch them fight it out."

[blitzcheer]

Oh, right. That time. Tidus just throws him a look back, somewhere between puzzled and flippant, 'cause who are you making faces at, man? Use words. But Roland doesn't want to (figures; this is the guy who likes to try and leave mysteriously any chance he can get!), and so Tidus leans back, throwing the twig into the flames.

"Sounds fun, doesn't it?" For all the risk going into it, it's nice to grab moments where you don't have to think of the ways it can go wrong. "But this train - it's trying to do something, some kind of goal. If it's playing hero, then it's doing it with our lives. But if it's something else -"

Because now, some people think the train is a combination of previous lives, an amalgamation of individuals who travelled the void to protect worlds. Looking to go back, save the lives of their own.

"-- we don't know the cost. Who's gonna pay a price for it getting what it wants. So far, all we know is that it's risking us for itself."

Or them--the voidtreckers they lost.

[adregem]

"I know."

The words feel heavy on his tongue. What they know now about the train compelled him to maybe share just a little bit more with someone he can trust. He takes Bambosh on the back of his hand, tiny, powerful thing that it was, and peers at it closely, studies the way it moves as he speaks.

"Before I came here," he starts off. "There was a lot of trouble around Evermore. Someone - someone started harvesting souls of innocent people from every corner of every kingdom to help revive something that he lost. His kingdom that fell to ruin, a long time ago. It felt like a living nightmare, the way people were just fainting on the street, not waking up. But no, it was all too real. This guy was going to actually sacrifice everyone else so he could have his kingdom again, and the woman that he loved with it."

He lets Bambosh wander off, away from him, as the higgledy walks to Tidus next, peering up at him and his headpiece bobbing about against its flame shaped head.

"He wanted me to join him, you know. To help him rule so I could regain what I lost. And let me tell you, I was tempted at some point, to take his offer." Roland slows, memories still fresh, the violation to his person resonating even now, even as they plan behind the train's back. "A part of me understands the appeal, if that's what the voidtrecker is trying to do. If it's really trying to recover something that was taken from them. Lives, loved ones...What you wouldn't do for them, right? What you wouldn't give?"

He warms his hands against the fire, gaze low.

"But if you have to risk innocents just to get what you want, then how could you call that an act of love? If the train has to take us against our will to do what it wants, to pay the price they won't..." He shakes his head, his smile is absent of any joy or mirth. But there's a wisdom there Tidus might recognize.

"Well, here's to hoping we'll find out the truth, one bottled message at a time."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus meets the higgledy's gaze, small as it is, bright nonetheless. His curiosity there for whether it's searching for anything, but then taken away as Roland's story continues; his attention on a tale that's almost hard to believe, but then--not. What's the more of a surprise is to hear that Roland for any second thought about taking up an offer that required the sacrifice that came before. His mouth twitching in its line, his gaze unsteadying the same.

Lives, loved ones...What you wouldn't do for them, right? What you wouldn't give?

Tidus looks down at the ground between himself and the fire, a chill breathing on the back of his neck. He's been asking himself that, lately.

"You wanna write a letter tonight?" It's not a question that comes in a hurry, slow and undisturbed. Tidus regarding the higgledy again, reminded of something else. A group of them, dreamers; those that supported them beyond the end of their human lives, trapped forever into dreaming.

"Or we can leave it 'til the morning. We should have time 'til the train leaves. We can't do much else than a letter for now."

A letter in a bottle, if perhaps the only one they'll tuck away like that.

[adregem]

"Yeah. Tonight sounds good."

He materializes his empty book for notes and his pen from his Arms Band, where he stored them upon vacating the beach for safekeeping. He tears into the page, ripping it away from the spine. He reaches for the record of the mission log next to him, now a little creased, but still readable and intact.

"You wanted me to draft this, right? What do you want me to say, in a gist? I'll do the rest."

His serious edge returns and it's all business again. He was ready. They both were, it seems. Come what may.