Ongoing: All Teams

[voidtreckermods]

The first few days are taken up with solving the problems in the various sectors, all the while getting closer to their goal. The Great-Winter, Great-Summer, Great-Spring and Great Autumn.

On Day 9 of the month of Jelly they will see on their map a clear indicator of where to go. As they draw near it will be obvious what they are looking for.

The Overseers

In the centre of each of the sectors there is a large metal tube, hundreds of pipes lead from it, spanning up to the ceiling above and down below, creating a field of pipes and tubes to clamber over and crawl under to reach the central tube. On the tube itself there is a panel, wrapping around it in a circle. The SCA's of the Voidtrecker show an exclamation mark, if they click on them they will see the message.

Reach the panel, enter the inner systems and give your aid.

As Voidtreckers step towards the tubes it will seem as if the world shifts around them. Instead of metal and wire they will see trees. The Great-Spring is a tree in blossom, pink leaves spreading up across the canopy. Great-Summer has strong green leaves, Great_Autumns leaves are brown and falling and Great-Winter has no leaves at all.

The panel is still there, the only part of the scene that doesn't look organic. As the Voidtreckers move towards their goal the tree begins to move, branches fighting against those trying to get through the roots. The aim seems to be to push intruders away, going as far as flinging them back with higher branches.

The branches aren't the only security measures in place. As they push forwards they will find creatures coming at them from the trees.

Strangely the creatures look like creatures from their own worlds, any creature they would expect to see in a tree. Regardless of species they attack with claws and with lazers from their eyes. They don't move far from the branches, but try and stop invaders from getting close to the trunk.

For those that get through they will find that as they draw close to the 'trunk' the attacks stop, as if they have reached an eye of a storm.

Going Further

The panel is a simple glowing screen, there are no instructions but their SCA's will beep softly and if they press their SCA to the panel they will find everything vanishes, the trees, branches and weird animals.

Or perhaps it is they themselves that vanish as they find themselves in a large white room, everyone is together here. No matter what sector they had travelled through and which overseer they entered through.

There are four tubes filled with liquid, pink, green, orange and white towering over them.

"Our systems have been compromised." The four voices ring out. "Heal what has been harmed, destroy what should not be here. Find the source and purge it from our world."

The overseers and the room vanish and the voidtreckers find themselves in a forest, a forest that is slowly being choaked by red sickly vines.

The Voidtreckers themselves will find themselves looking different, almost like the hard-light holograms of the Helpmates though they certainly feel like themselves. They are carrying a sturdy stick but nothing else and depending how imaginative they are will quickly find they can alter their appearance to fit their wishes.

Heal and Destroy

The voidtreckers will find themselves drawn towards the vines, if they touch them they will be able to soothe, a glowing blue light from their hands that runs down the vine before it fades away, freeing the trees that it held in its chokehold.

There are many pathways, many vines and it will be a long task to clear it all. It is not long also before the first threats find them. Threats that look like mongeese, small creatures that will lunge at them, teeth bared and claws out.

Luckily the Voidtreckers will quickly learn the ability to soothe is not the only power gifted to them.

On the Outside

For anyone who does not enter through the panel it will seem like their fellow Voidtreckers have entered a deep trance. The area they are sat around the tree is calm, no threats enter there. But outside that area there are still threats, the branches attack, the animals attack and sometimes Helpmates try to evict those they see from the area, claiming it 'restricted.'

Comments

[subcircuits]

Devero just stares down at him, absolutely non-plussed by the offer. "No offense, kiddo, but that's absurd." Devero not only outweighs him, he outclasses this slight teenager entirely. "I can take a few hits. You--" He's not quite blunt enough to say it, but the intention's there in the way he eyes Ryo up and down. He looks like he might buckle if just one of these animals got in a lucky shot.

"You stay behind me, got it?"

[fivemilesdeep]

He expects the argument - he's realized healers' authority doesn't necessarily carry over onto the train, and he isn't really a healer right now - but the way this person sizes him up-

The last person to look at Ryo like that had left him in need of a healer himself.

But Torren is dead, and this person isn't like him - Torren would never offer to help - but Ryo still struggles to keep the snarl off his face and the anger out of his voice. "You're not listening to me." Well, he's succeeded in not snarling, at least. "You don't know how your healing works. If it's anything like mine, not only can you not heal yourself, but it'll stop working entirely if you get too badly injured! You can not 'take a few hits!'" He takes a breath, tries to calm down. "Not until we know more."

Deep down, some part of him is terrified - he's arguing with someone who outsizes him badly and that has never gone well for him - but his anger is still at the surface, and he'll work with that for now. Hopefully he can get his point across - if they lose their only healer and someone dies because of it, he'll never be able to forgive himself.

[subcircuits]

His anger actually gets right through to Devero, whose gaze is a lot more assessing when he looks down at him again.

"All right," he says. From anyone else it, those words could have easily been patronizingly placating, but from Devero they're serious. "You're right. I don't know shit about this. But I can't be the only person who's-- who's suddenly cropped up with this ability. That wouldn't make any sense!"

He's not special enough for that.

[fivemilesdeep]

The sudden acquiescence floors Ryo - he'd been expecting a continued argument, and he'd feared it getting bad, so to have this person suddenly agree is unexpected, but...also nice, if he's going to be honest with himself. It's nice to be listened to, especially when it's something this important.

"None of this makes any sense anyway," he snorts, and then he takes a breath to center himself and sighs. "You might not be, but until we know for sure, we need to act like you are. Can you take care of the vines until then?"

[subcircuits]

His snort is followed by a brief laugh from Devero. "That's the truth," he says with a brief, crooked grin.

He still doesn't like it, this idea of doing anything other than putting his body between a threat and someone else. Isn't that one of the only goddamn things he's good for? But now is definitely not the time for that bitter self-recrimination, so he nods.

"Copy that," he says solemnly, and turns to lift his hand to the nearest tree.

[fivemilesdeep]

Inherent worth as a person aside, he's good for a lot more than just being a meat shield if he's able to heal. Healers are protected for a reason.

"Thank you," Ryo says, turning his attention to the forest itself, listening for mongooses. He honestly is grateful that this person listened to him instead of escalating things. "I appreciate it."

[subcircuits]

Devero recognizes that tone-- though he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it is about it that he's vibing with. (It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's said those words like he's used to not getting what he's asked for from people, or that Devero himself has spoken plenty of times with the same gratitude since arriving on the train, oh nooo.)

He concentrates for a few moments on sending that soothing blue light up into the vines, releasing the trees from their viral influence. But after a few minutes, something occurs to him, and he looks over his shoulder even as he rests his hand on a new vine. "Hey, kid-- what's your name?"

[fivemilesdeep]

It's been quiet. They've been lucky so far, though Ryo isn't expecting that luck to hold out for too much longer - not with the vines as prevalent as they are. He's been clearing the ones that are within arm's reach, but he's mostly been focusing on watching the forest and listening for approaching creatures.

He looks up at the question- oh, he'd never introduced himself, had he. "It's Ryo. What's yours?"

[subcircuits]

"Devero." He moves on to the next tree. "You new to the train? I don't remember having seen you around."

[fivemilesdeep]

"I am, yes. It's been..." He trails off. Some of the days have bled together, but there haven't been too many of them to begin with. "It's been a very long week," he finishes quietly.

But he doesn't have time to think about that now - he swallows back that same wave of homesickness he's been fighting for the past nine days and turns his attention back to the forest.

[subcircuits]

"I think everyone's first week is a very long week," Devero tells him sympathetically. "It's a lot to get used to." He peeks over his shoulder at Ryo and-- maybe sees a hint of that on his face?

Something prompts him to continue, anyway: "I spent my entire first week trying to access a network that doesn't exist on the train. Just constantly pulling at things--" He pantomimes a couple of the gestures he'd use to access, say, his social feed, or the local public network, or his data cloud for something he'd saved earlier. "--and getting dead air. Nothing there.

"Made a damn fool of myself on more than one occasion," he adds with a hint of a self-deprecating grin.

[fivemilesdeep]

Ryo isn't entirely sure what Devero is talking about - the kind of network he's referring to is something completely unfamiliar to Ryo - but he gets it. That feeling of looking for something that isn't going to be there, no matter how hard you try. That's been him, this entire week.

He meets Devero's grin with a sad smile. "I know what you mean. I can't listen to my Sense too closely, or I start trying to find my friends. I know they're not here, but..." He trails off and shrugs. "I can't help it."

[subcircuits]

"I keep looking for mine in my feed," Devero says, getting a little more solemn in the face of the kid's obvious unhappiness. He fidgets unconsciously with his Interface, adjusting it minutely. "Even if I know they're not going to be there, it's... pretty automatic.

"I'd tell you it gets better," he continues, "but I've only been here a few weeks myself and I'm still checking for signals."

[fivemilesdeep]

He's still not quite sure what Devero is referring to, though the device Devero is wearing on his face might have something to do with it.

"I talked with Persephone when I first got here," he says, a bit hesitantly. "She told me that it gets better if you work at it - making friends, and finding things you like." It sounds simple now that he's repeating it, but gods, had he ever needed it at the time.

[subcircuits]

"That makes sense," he says. "We're all stuck here, after all. Best thing we can do for ourselves and for everyone else is figure out how to move forward with what we have, instead of lingering on what we're missing."