middleofsomewhere | 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

He nods. "Once I got the topic away from it, she cheered up pretty fast. Best not to pry if it gets her that upset."

He starts moving to the ruined building. "You game?"

Yeah, Tidus knows about that too. He cocks his head at the offered direction, a small hum of confirmation and he's walking, following into the ruins more. A half-shelter of a building, a portion of its roof entirely gone.

And the door.

"Spira's like this too--just shells of buildings gone to waste after a thousand years... people search for treasures now in 'em. So I heard."

Zidane carefully steps over the door and heads inside.

"There was a place back on Gaia where magic didn't work," he says as he looks around his surroundings. And for some reason, tier one weapons worked.

"It was quite the place." It wasn't his choice to go, his hand was forced by Kuja.

"I come from a band of thieves and we did stuff like this," he waves a hand around. "Explore ruins and abandoned caves."

"Just searching and selling?" He wonders about Spira, and-- probably, maybe there were people like that. But most likely they were the Al Bhed, scavenging what was left behind of the past. Once the easier trinkets to take and sell from the past were sold off. No one else was going to bother with machina.

"Was something stopping your magic working in that one place?"

He shakes his head. "No, to keep. Whatever we found in those ruins was ours."

He rubs the back of his head. "It wasn't my first pick to go to that place, but my hands were tied. It was a anti-magic barrier around the place that stopped magic itself from working."

He sighs. "My friends were held hostage so I had to go."

That gets a scoff of surprise. "Who did you guys steal from?"

Because if Zidane and his friends were a band of thieves--well, not that difficult to assume it had something to do with that, right? Though, what a place...! Was that anti-magic barrier spot just nearby?

That gets an eyebrow raise. "We're not talking about the same place, right?" He sighs then rubs his head. "My band got to keep the treasure from places that were abandoned."

This is his fault for not making it clear really. "The place with the anti-magic, well, I was away from my gang of thieves at the time. I'd left much earlier to save my princess. Kuja, my twin, captured my team and held us hostage, saying that he couldn't get the Gulug stone from it since it was blocking his magic." Zidane folds his arms across his chest. "He didn't exactly give me a choice in the matter."

Yeah, guess who can't use magic.

Well.

"Nice twin," is Tidus's conclusion from that. And what a life--going from a band of thieves, to a new crew? Or just away and with a princess in the addition. Tidus remembers Zidane speaking about the princess before (they have a thing, don't they? He should ask Inigo if that makes Zidane a king), and he wonders what happened there--but, decides to ask first instead.

"What's special about the Gulug stone? You have any idea?"

Event: Healing Waters

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject