The Endless River

[voidtreckermods]

On the morning of day twenty one of the month of Kazoo there is a message on the ICP screens around the train. Their SCA's will light up the colour of the Void and show the following information.

World #398050 is a void nexus known locally as Tshering. As a void nexus this world has strong links with the void and the connection through worlds. World #398050 is home to the Endless River. Legends speak of this river being powerful enough to send thoughts from one heart to another across any distance. All that is needed is for you to know who it is you wish to reach.

On-board

The dressing carriage is open, filled with clothing best suited to a pleasant spring day. Light, airy and in a rainbow of joyful colours and florals. One closet is entirely filled with wide-brimmed hats bedecked with ribbons, feathers and ornaments. A stack of picnic baskets and containers filled with an alarming variety of passenger-suitable foodstuffs and flasked drinks sits in one corner, next to rolls of thick, weatherproof blankets in the four team colours.

The large box marked Do Not Use Yet, filled with small, empty jute bags, is hopefully still sat in the Luggage carriage, ready for passengers to grab handfuls of its contents as directed by the announcement.

Upon landing (after an appropriate countdown), the train remains on the surface, its carriages partially curved to form a gathering site for the day. Welcome to Tshering, the eighth void nexus!



A Day for Picnics

Tshering, system #398050, is a strange place, only habitable by grace of the passengers' SCAs. The sky is shot through with colours, a cascade of sunsets, and through it, the void shimmering through it in seams like a child's painting of the milky way. Still, there's a beauty to the chaotic mash of colours that soaks through its landscape, and in the shelter of the forests of towering funghi that dot its surface, the Void can go unseen by its visitors.

The temperature seems mild, suitable for the provided clothing, and if there are weather patterns around the world they've taken the day off. The funghi are sturdy enough that what air flow there is doesn't disturb their stalks, and carved grooves and holds in some of the larger examples indicate that climbing them to sit atop their glowing crowns is eminently possible, and, in fact, encouraged.

the Endless River

The Endless River is a font of pure chaos, flowing from a multitude of small rivulets across the area to a central reservoir, from which it pours directly upwards, away from Tshering's surface and out of sight, beyond the world's atmosphere.

Anything bagged and placed within the Endless River will also flow upwards and soon be out of sight, passing, presumably, into the Void. Scattered across the surface of Tshering are small, glittering pebbles, as described in the announcement.

The stones are pleasantly cool to the touch, and all passengers need to do is feel. Messages can be in any form that the Voidtreckers wish. Perhaps words, perhaps feelings, perhaps an image from their mind into the stone. Perhaps a mixture. Once they begin their message the stone will glow slightly and continue to glow as they secure it in the bag and cast it into the river. They will feel, almost instinctively, that they need to focus as they do so, thinking of the person they wish to reach all the while.

There are plenty of bags and many more stones; passengers will not be limited in their sendings.

Comments

[worthallthis]

"Necessary, no. Shouldn't be dangerous at all, so long as you keep your SCA on," Soldat answers. They pause in their own search for pants that will fit to look over the rack she's at. "Might be fun, though. I'm sure we can find you something loose enough that it won't be uncomfortable."

[theimpatientone]

"It is entertainment, isn't it? As much as it can be practical." Merwen shakes her head in amused disbelief. "Do you know how complicated these things are? First I learn that some cultures share shame in an uncovered body, then that sometimes it's necessary protection, and it can be to share fun. Is there anything else I should know about clothing?"

[worthallthis]

"Uuuh. That it can be really flattering, too, I guess?" Soldat shrugs, little sheepishly. "It's used as much to make you look good as to make you feel good. Some colors are gonna look better on one person than other colors, too. Like me? I should never wear red. Makes me look all blotchy." They give her a brief once-over. "You neither, probably, I don't think it'd go well with the purple."

[theimpatientone]

"And self-decoration," Merwen says with a bit of a laugh. "And I suppose it's true that it's easier to match colours with a skin like yours. I don't think I will ever truly share understanding, but very well. What would share harmony with purple? A nice blue?"

Okay, she's playing along. She doesn't get it. But she's playing along.

[worthallthis]

"White with a colorful pattern would be really striking," they suggest. "Blue or gold-- a nice gold not something with orange undertones. Maybe both. A really light blue would compliment nice, too, but I really like the idea of you in a pattern." And the white really would stand out in a lovely way against the purple. They start flipping through the rack she'd been fingering, looking for a good dress or three that's loose, light, and patterned.

[theimpatientone]

Merwen stands to one side, her head tilted. "You have an artist's eye for colour," she observes. "Do you paint at all?"

Though her notion of painting might be slightly different, given her entire society's lack of paper or ground rocks to make pigments. The basics are the same. The skill is the same.

[worthallthis]

"Oh, god, no. I'm not that kinda creative. I just know clothes." They pull one out, hold it up in Merwen's direction, then abruptly shake their head and put it back, continuing to search. "I painted once, on a wall in the. The group housing building, in Beacon. Because a friend wanted to see what I'd do. It turned out pretty dumb."

[theimpatientone]

Merwen gives a dismissive snort. "I doubt that very much. You can't attempt something once and then decide you're unskilled. Everyone is unskilled after one attempt."

[worthallthis]

They wrinkle their nose at her, but it's not with annoyance, really. "It's not a question of skill. It was technically fine. The lines were where I intended them to be, nothing dripped. You could tell what it was, if it was actually anything recognizable. It was just dumb."

Another dress comes out, held directly up near Merwen's cheek. The colors are okay, the fabric is soft. It'll be too confining for her, but they can fix that. "What do you think of that one?"

[theimpatientone]

She runs her fingertips over the fabric experimentally. "There are so many more types of fabric than I would have expected," Merwen says. "This is lovely, though. Will it fit?"

She honestly can't tell.

[worthallthis]

"Yes, but it'll be tighter than you'd like. I want to take the seams out a little, give you more breathing room." It's a sundress, loose in the skirt but tighter in the bodice. No sleeves, just narrow straps, so her arms will be free. They can work with this. "The fabrics the uniforms are made of are utilitarian. Not really for comfort. Except the pajamas."

They bring the dress over to the dresser with the sewing supplies.