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

"I think that's an amazing skill though, Tidus. .. The whole underwater thing, I mean."

It's a surprisingly earnest compliment. Maybe it's Inigo's way of trying to bridge the gap between them a little again, to try and lift the awkward atmosphere. Sure, Tidus doesn't always do well with Inigo's earnest sappiness, but he's willing to risk if when the compliment has to do with Tidus's sports ability - surely he wouldn't mind that as much, right? It's something the other takes pride in!

But that isn't the only thing he's noticing here. After saying that, and slowly emerging at least a bit more from the water again, Inigo's gaze moves from Tidus to Roland.

"And Roland, if I may ask.. Why are you wrapping your hair like that?" It seems so deliberate! Is it just something people do in hot springs? It's not like Inigo would know, and if it's Tidus's first time as well, then they have to rely on Roland's knowledge here.

"Is that so? Hm. It's too bad Inigo and I can't see you in action, even here. Or is it possible on the beach?" Roland continues the motion of dabbing at his face gently, almost relaxing totally in the water now. He's slightly aware of how blitzball would look like given all his interaction with Tidus on the subject matter thus far, but the mechanics of its magical nature elude him. "You should ask Tidus to teach you how to hold your breath for that long. I'd be happy holding my breath for a little over five minutes, myself."

Despite the lingering feelings of unease, Roland just sighs contentedly, sinking a little deeper into the pool, his back sliding against the smooth stone. He doesn't stop his eyes from drooping a little even when Inigo asks him a question.

"To stimulate blood flow, of course. Helps with healthy hair. And so I can control the temperature. If it gets too hot, I might get split ends." Roland replies with a strange confidence that could imply this is something he's known for a while now. He even secures it in place for emphasis. "You should take note of these grooming tips, you two. I wish I had known them when I was your age."

"I can show you some of the moves, sure--I showed Taiki and Inigo some earlier when we were hanging out."

Giving Inigo swimming lessons, and it's probably not that embarrassing to share but Tidus will have a careful mouth and let Inigo disclose himself what they were up to, if he wanted. Adding though, since he realises Roland likely wouldn't know, brightening as he does, "Saku got a blitzball! I can practice it again! Well, more here than I'll get to on the train."

Which he ends with a grumpy tone, but that can't rid Tidus's otherwise positive mood at acquiring the ball, and Saku's kindness. How lucky can you get for timing?

However, it does mean with Tidus's brightened mood than from the second Roland goes on about his hair, now comes a scoff, a flippant tilt of his head given.

"Uh huh. So how much hair you got back at your real age?" Oh, is that slyly asked or what. Look at that smug grin coming into shape.

Don't mind Inigo over here. When Roland starts talking about split ends and grooming tips that are apparently (?) important (??) when you're young (???), Inigo looks really confused, moving one hand out of the water to instead tug a little at his own hair, as if he may suddenly find something wrong with it because he isn't doing the same thing as Roland here.. Future grooming is weird, man.

And he'd gladly contemplate whether or not to tell Roland about the swimming lessons, and whether or not to think more about Gyousou gifting Tidus that ball and talk more about blitzball right here and now.. But the last thing the other teen says completely draws him out of those thoughts.

His jaw even drops a little. Inigo doesn't say anything out loud, but he's definitely mouthing "Can you just ask that?!" at Tidus right about now. Bro. Pal. What are you doing. What if Roland is balding and he's insecure about it!

There's a striking contrast between the calm Roland settles into as he sinks further down into the pool versus his eyes suddenly flying open again, an offended expression masking over him like a storm cloud. He folds his arms over his chest tightly, loosening the towel over his head. If this was any other man, it might even look funny. But he turns to Tidus as if the young man actually did Roland dirty that one has to wonder where this annoyance was coming from...

...Thankfully, it's not a question left unanswered for very long.

"Hey." He says, sitting up a bit straighter. "I'll have you know that outside of this body, I've aged rather gracefully." Roland frowns deeply, almost to the point where he looks like he wasn't about to let up until the matter is put to bed. "Among my constituents, I've still got a full head of hair, and I haven't even thought of dyeing it back to black, not once. Now those chemicals would increase my chances of hair loss and balding!"

To his defense, he was a president who traveled extensively from coast to coast, country to country, to strike peace deals and treatises left to right. He wasn't being vain. But he can't deny that he always needed to leave a good first impression, and so what if he's ingrained that into his daily habits outside of work? It's normal! They should be keeping note of these, while they're still both naturally spry!

Now that that was settled.

Roland quietly clears his throat and begins to sink back into his previous position, adjusting the warm towel over his head and resuming at dabbing his face with the other. His eyes close again as he speaks, but now he's less calm about things, at full alert in case he had to god forbid, defend himself from such relentless and untrue accusations from Tidus's cheekiness. And with Inigo around, goodness was this kid impressionable, can't even tell what Roland's real age is on any given day thanks to the other's constant jabs...

"Okay. So you've got what you need to do a quick blitzball exhibition. If you're up for repeating the demo, I'd be a willing audience member." He opens his eyes now, only slightly smiling at the thought, looking over at the blonde on the other edge of the hot spring. He's about to ask who Saku was, but it dawns on him that he means Gyousou - Lord Saku Gyousou, as Taiki had introduced to him the other day.

"I'm glad that you finally got one though. I'm sure you'll treasure it and keep it safe." Roland turns his head slightly towards Inigo knowing, remembering that he witnessed it already. "Did you enjoy his one-man game? How was it?"

Tidus is getting an Inigo radar of some time, including letting him know when the other guy is mouthing soundlessly at him. Helps that they're angled to face each other, and so when Inigo stares at him, aghast, he makes a dismissive, shrug of a face at him in turn, a 'What? I'm just askin' in all its innocuous, innocuous depiction.

Until he looks back at Roland, and there's a second of something there that gives Tidus pause, and his throat closes up at a thunderstorm that might emerge.

...but it's still Roland, and so his delivery doesn't tower over him like he knows such reprimands can. His shoulders ease, as well as the rest of him.

pffft. Whatever! It's just Roland, and Tidus just tips his head again at the spiel once it's over, sitting his back to rest against the edge of the hot spring.

Inigo can have his time to chat.

Inigo is just about halfway through his 'pointing to his eyes, pointing to Tidus' routine when suddenly Roland speaks up in a kind of way Inigo has never really heard from the guy before.

It leaves him looking rather flabberghasted for a moment. Especially considering what this is about. Tidus has been joking about so many things around Roland, and this is the part that gets to him? His hair? It's an odd thing to be touchy about, but it's not like Inigo would ever say that out loud, especially considering Roland's weird outburst before he returns to his calm self..

Inigo's eyes nervously dart between Roland - like he can't fantom the change back and forth quite yet - and Tidus - who is.. not as sulky as before? But still a little sulky? Inigo can't quite tell, but.. all the same, it can't hurt to tilt this conversation slightly more into a beneficial angle for Tidus, right? Even if Tidus started it, that outburst was just a little.. much.

"I'm fairly sure it was nothing special compared to the full thing." You know, in a more appropriate location, and with more people, and all, but.. "But he is really good. It amazed me."

Sure, it's planned flattery, but it's genuine enough that Inigo easily smiles, the feeling reflected in his eyes as he speaks, even though he's looking at Roland rather than directly at Tidus. (And yes, he's making sure to stay far away from compliments about how atlethic Tidus is and how good his body looks like because of it, THANKS.)

"I wish I had anything I was even half as good at or passionate about as him!"

"I saw one of his moves in the sports car a while back. But with an actual blitzball in his hands, I'm sure I'll see an even more impressive move." Roland recalls that day well, and it was when he saw Tidus for his athleticism that he had every reason to be proud of, to flaunt. That couldn't have been easy to train for, but he performed it as if it was nothing at all. "I look forward to it, when you're ready!"

The towel is removed from his hair, revealing his black locks once more. It is discarded for now, and he's just left to folding the remaining towel back into a square, and placing it directly on top of his scalp, like a square just sitting there, keeping his head warm. His hands work to comb through the tips when he nonchalantly adds to Inigo's little remark.

"I'm sure you'll find one. A 'blitzball' of your own, so to speak." The older man thinks back to what he knows of Inigo, and the most recent idea came just a day and a half ago. "You're quite knowledgeable on flowers. That might be a good start, don't you think?"

...why does Roland have to sit a square on his head...why is he like this...

Which skips the mixture of pride-embarrassment he gets from hearing Inigo speak up about him; unsure if it's all meant to tease him, but when it's about blitzball, you're not going to catch him being shy!! Especially now that he has a blitzball and can start showing Inigo some moves and maybe get him to try some too...!

But that'll be a thought and conversation for later, as Rolad brings up about flowers. And oh, doesn't Tidus have a few things to say about that!

"That's what I was telling Inigo before! He should get into flowers for a hobby! And we're tryin' bread making too. Or he is," Tidus clarifies with a jerk of his head to Inigo. "I know how to. Or have. But Inigo should too! It's never as hard as people think it is. You can try it too!"

Why not. Why not get everyone to make bread.

Hey, guys, how about we don't say a bunch of things about flowers? Especially when Inigo is still so insecure about whether or not he could really do a good job at making those grow, and he's pretty sure a lot of people on the train would think they're useless, and--

Okay, no. Nope! Not going down that spiral right here and now. He absolutely refuses to have more than one freakout today here in this nice hot water, thanks.

".. Hey, Roland, do you ever feel like Tidus is just making excuses to have other people make food for him?" Does that think he's 100% Tidus's intention? Not really, though it may be part of it. But it's just so easy to make fun at. It's like Tidus left the ball right in front of the goal!

The dabbing motions pause and the towel in his hand sinks into the water. He looks mildly intrigued, flower hobby successfully set aside for now.

"Well, I can't say I blame him. There's really nothing like freshly baked bread, you know." He quickly shifts into an even better mood, thinking about all the times he's had it both off and on the train. "Evermore's got some of the best bread in the whole realm, I can tell you that much. I'm spoiled."

Finally, he discards the smaller towel too, folds it in half and leaves it draped on his shoulder. "Hm. We can learn together, Inigo. I can't say I'm much of a chef or baker, but I think with the right instruction, we can do it." He nods firmly, a smile on his face at the thought. "I'd like to try baking some of my favorites too. Glorfindel might actually get sick of entertaining all my requests, heh. Tidus, are you volunteering to be our baking teacher here, or what?"

A playful, almost challenging look is thrown his way. If he was the type to wiggle eyebrows, this would probably be that moment.

will he stop messing around with all those towels?!?!

Why's Inigo got to make him sound like a food fiend all the time? He eats a healthy amount for an athlete, alright! Tidus's mouth lines in an unimpressed manner, but doesn't go further than that with Roland's remarks. Agreeable remarks, even--though his thrown look isn't as effective as he might be aiming for. Still, Tidus tips his head one-side with a slight shrug.

"I'll join, but Glor's the one making the bread. That's how it came up," at least, so he thinks. "He's making that special bread for the missions. Elven bread? I can join in, but I don't know how everythin' weighs by heart."

But with that said, he looks back over to Inigo.

"Maybe you'll learn to appreciate food more if you get in the kitchen! Actually, if you help me out, I can make some fish skewers!"

This hot spring is going to need an explanation as to what happened to their entire supply of towels later..

Towel antics aside, what gets Inigo to actually pipe up is that last thing Tidus throws his way. (What Roland says he's fine - of course Inigo isn't going to mind him of all people joining in on this whole thing.) He doesn't quite throw a tantrum over here on his side of the hot spring, but he does look offended for a second.

"Hey, I have plenty of appreciation for food!"

.. says the guy who regularly skips meals, but. Shh. Clearly that doesn't detract from his statement! He folds his arms, though it's not entirely visible with how most of him is still submerged in the water, only his shoulders sticking out.

"Besides, I'm not going to back out on the whole baking thing. I already promised that I'd give it a try, and I don't break a promise."

He has a healthy interest in towels in a hot spring, thank you very much.

"Lembas?" Roland attempts to fill in when Tidus leads the conversation there. He's had it before and it isn't too bad; definitely made to be filling more than anything. But the banter between the two rolls in quite nicely, enough to help Roland settle into the hot springs more fervently, sinking against the pool just a little more until his head and neck are the only parts of him visible from the surface.

"I'd like to learn how to make fish skewers." Evan would enjoy that a lot. "But if you get into baking Inigo, I can see you making really beautiful cakes. With fancy icing." There's a delay between what he says and what Roland adds in next, as if he just remembered -

"Uh, icing is sweet. Feels fluffy and creamy. It can cover a cake or go in between layers." Did the halidom have cakes...? He doesn't overthink it, sinking even further into the water. Relaxing and soothing...Now it's just his head, with the towel on top of his hair visible. It's nice. It's all quite nice.

ok david

"Does the stores have icing?" Speaking of who has what where, and where Roland's mind is going with all these ideas. "It's not gonna have the stuff you're thinking about for decorating. Making a cake's easy," he decides to share with Inigo, half-flippantly even, waving a hand with the barest pause between switching between the two guys. On the conversation of baking, it's gotten casual--who knows how long it'll last.

"Easier than bread. You stick the ingredients together, mix them, then cook them off. But Roland thinks you'd be real good at artsy stuff it sounds like!"

And that's remarked with a grin and lift at the end, looking at Inigo. What do you think, pal? Does Roland know something Tidus doesn't?

Guys, please, calm down! This is going way too fast for Inigo's two braincells. That's a lot of information to try and take in at once, and Inigo can kind of feel his head starting to spin as he tries to do so. It's been a long while since he's even seen a cake back home, honestly - he's having a hard time trying to think of what they even looked like, especially since he had been so young that it's hard to recall full concrete memories.

But as Inigo's head is trying really hard to sort it all out, he glances between Roland and Tidus, catching mostly that expression on the latter's face. Excuse you, bro, what's that grin for?

Rather than snapping back in their usual bickering way like before though, Inigo instead seems a bit embarrassed. This is just inching so close to the topic of d-a-n-c-i-n-g and just.. nope. Not going there.

"I-- I mean, I think decorating cakes sounds.. kind of fun..?" Even with his nervous embarrassment, he means that. Inigo may not be super good at drawing or painting, but he enjoys other creative outlets.. "Though I don't know why Roland thinks I'd be good at it.."

He's just.. slowly going to sink a bit more into the water here again in embarassment. Up to his chin. Don't mind him, guys.

Roland's pretty much calmed from the events that had transpired earlier. The water in Jema'grethy was really out of this world - pun intended. So as the conversation continues, he answers as if he's in a state of half-rest, his usually sharp and stoic voice melting away, alongside the tension that's built up in his neck, his shoulders...He might have sighed quietly to himself then and there, but it's soft enough so that it could be easily mistaken as something else.

"You can just make icing from scratch. It's basically sugar." He mumbles, eyes still half-closed and his head leaning backwards. The towel, strangely, doesn't fall...Was that magic? A skill? Who knows! And in this perfect state of sudden serenity, Roland discloses just a little bit about why he thinks Inigo would bake wonderful things. In fact, he's imagining it right now. He'd visit that cafe every day, if he had the time. ~~But this was neither the time nor the place to wax poetic about that; him and having time...~~

"Of course you'd be good at it," he goes, and it's a smooth transition. "You're detail-oriented. Your hands are nimble." He doesn't specify that he knows this as fact because they threaded flower bracelets just a day or two ago. Maybe he should?

Woowww, excuse you, Mr. Icing Sugar maker! The waters may be nice, but Roland is on a different level when it comes to being relaxed by them. Tidus watches the way he looks ready to drift asleep in the soothing temperatures; like an old man lulled into dozing away by a rocking chair on a boat. Yep, that's Roland alright.

But Tidus's attentions aren't all on him, not missing how Inigo's begun to sunk lower into the water than he ever did before. Except, 'Your hands are nimble'. Tidus has a brow to raise and shoot in Inigo's direction at that.

"Nimble, huh?" Really, now. "You been showing Roland what you can do like you did to me?"

This is a very straight-forward question that Inigo will get the meaning of.

Sweet Naga. The compliments. They're too much. Inigo can feel his entire face heating up, and he knows for sure that it's not just the water he's so far into at this point that's causing it. How does he even deal with that - especially when those are things he never noticed about himself before? But Roland wouldn't lie, right? Does he really have.. nimble hands..?

But before Inigo can even question it, there's instead Tidus's much too vague question following up on it.

Inigo thinks. He really tries to think. What he can do? What did he show Tidus? What did he do to Tidus?

As he thinks, his gaze travels down from Tidus's face, looking at his well-built shoulders, his pecs, what did Inigo do to tho--

No. No. No, no, no, nope! Go away, gay thoughts! Begone! You won't catch him today, nope siree!

Inigo's eyes suddenly grow wide, and he rises from the water enough again that his shoulders are visible.

"W--Wait, what did I show to who?!"

Help, he outran the gay thoughts, but now he has no idea where that leaves him!

He creaks one eye more open than the other, folds his arms across his chest. Still pretty calm about everything, considering how he's now getting a whiff of that sweet syrup in the air...Goodness, this should be a thing after every mission!

"Yeah, what did show to who, Inigo? To Tidus?" He closes both eyes again and hums, trying to shake off the mist surrounding his mind's eye. Too relaxing...

"Oh." Like a eureka moment, Roland perks up just somewhat, enough to look like he's found some sort of answer. "Did you show him how to make flower bracelets, too?" He sits back in, satisfied. "That's nice. Good for you."

What's with that confused, flustered response, dude? Tidus's brow dips at Inigo, half-ignores the sleepy echo of Roland's unhelpful addition. He wants to tell grandpa to go to bed, but he keeps his sights and focus on Roland.

"The backrub? Remember?" Remember, dude??

...

It's a strange moment in that Roland was already so relaxed and ready to start another routine to help him unwind even more. But at the mention of a backrub, he feels like the neurons in his brain slowly start connecting bits and pieces. It's a crawl to the realization, which really only shows when he opens his eyes and his brows furrow. He looks like he's thinking out loud even though he doesn't speak.

He takes one look at Inigo, then another at Tidus, then back again.

Eventually, his eyes grow a bit wider, and his mouth forms a small o as if the big picture is finally clear for him to see. Like it was so obvious from the start. And if he had walked in any earlier, it would have been. "So that's why you started saying those things about Tidus's body..." He directs to Inigo.

Whatever pause is granted him at the break of this awkwardness, Roland blinks, coughs, before adding a gentle end note.

"Uh, is that...something I can ask for, too?"

At least recognition dawns, pushing aside some of the embarrassment. Yes, okay, the backrub. Sure, he remembers that much. But before Inigo can even reply, there's that sentence coming from Roland's mouth, making Inigo's facial expression a bit more comical again.

No, no, that's definitely not why he started saying those things about Tidus's body. But who would Inigo be to protest when it's such a perfect excuse compared to having to come out of the closet in the most awkward situation possible?

So sure, whatever. Yeah, that's it. Let's just move on to the question instead and hope Tidus also decides to ignore that reference to the awkward situation Roland caught them in real hard.

".. You want it?" He seems a little surprised by that fact too. "I mean.. Right now?"

Inigo doesn't sound opposed to it! The water is nice, whatever, he may as well linger and provide backrubs.

"I can give you one again too if you want it, Tidus." If he isn't too weirded out after how much Inigo talked about his body, anyway.

...he sounds like such a sleepy grandpa.

That's it difficult to ever remember he's supposed to - technically - be younger in body, but everything else about Roland overrides that. He's mumbling over there something or other about bodies and backrubs, and now Tidus is sure the old man is going to fall asleep.

Especially since Inigo agrees. Tidus waves his hands out at the offer given his way, a dismissal before he speaks it.

"You two have fun, I'm fine relaxing over here. Just don't let pops there get so comfy he falls asleep in the bath."

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