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

[yondu]

Yondu gives him an exaggeratedly earnest face. Which looks even worse with the man wearing cream and pink colors rather than his usual leather.

"...Y'know what? I don't doubt ya for even half a second."

He walks over to offer him a hand up.

[worthallthis]

Soldat sits up, takes the hand, and pushes themselves to their feet with a little leverage. There's not even a wince-- though their back does twinge a bit, around the supports for the metal arm, they're an expert at hiding such low-level pain. They are a lot heavier than they look, so Yondu better be well-braced.

"I like the outfit," they comment, sounding vaguely amused. "You're even more dolled up than I am."

[yondu]

Woop! He nearly does go down on top of him before he does fix his feet better and hauls him up. Then he just looks down at himself. "It was what fit."

He hooks his arrow in a belt loop, takes off the jacket part and tosses it at the blanket, and rolls up the sleeves on the pink button-up shirt. Between it being unbuttoned to under the collarbone and visible forearms that's about the most blue he's shown so far.

"Offer still stands if'n you wanna get back up there quick."

[worthallthis]

"It's good for your coloring," Soldat says. And considering they earlier today also counselled a purple lady against wearing the wrong shade of red, that's not just lip-service. "So your arrow can carry a whole person? Does it have a weight limit?"

[yondu]

He scrunches up his face not in disagreement, but in an effort to pull out his collar and try get a look. Then at his sleeves.

With a shrug of acceptance, deciding with a nod the compliment is fine, he holds the arrow over his head like the Statue of Liberty.

"It can hold a coupla people. Come on, arm around my shoulders." He motions with his free hand for Soldat to come over.

[worthallthis]

They hesitate, smothering the tooclosetooclose feeling, but then step over. Yondu is safe. Ish. Yondu is making them something to hold their memories. It's fine. Besides, it won't last long, and they should really get back into the habit of stretching the limits of their touch tolerance. Just because Misty and Pudding aren't here doesn't mean they get to stop trying to get better.

So the flesh arm goes around his shoulders as securely as they can make it, assuming Yondu will stabilize them with his own arm. "Okay."

[yondu]

"You have my full permission to laugh at me over this shit, by the way." He's accepted that it does look ridiculous, and is careful to make sure he has a solid grip. He lifts them both up to the mushroom cap with a trail of red, releasing Soldat once he feels solid... cap? Shroom? Some sorta solid if slightly bouncy surface under his feet.

He tucks his arrow into his belt loop again, looking down at the weird surface.

[worthallthis]

"Yondu. I'm not gonna-- laugh?" The hitch comes when their feet lift off the ground. Jesus Christ that's weird. The metal hand comes up to hang onto the front of Yondu's shirt, reflexively, until they're both settled on the mushroom's cap. It's not that they're afraid of falling-- they just fell from that height, all under their own power-- but it's still an incredibly strange feeling to just be lifted.

They do let go immediately once they're standing again, looking from the arrow to their own hands and back again. So weird! (Not sure if I like that. I did! You're a nerd, though. Hey!) "Why would I laugh at that?"

[yondu]

"I dunno. I usually only did it in emergencies 'cause people looked at me funny for it." Most didn't say anything, true, because he was a scary motherfucker with some great effort. But it still made him self-aware.

He is looking under his feet to see if he's leaving any springy indentions.

Then looks over to Bucky. "It weren't all that bad, huh?" With maybe a hint of a grin, finally, for someone who's been sulking.

[worthallthis]

"It wasn't bad," Soldat assures him. "It was pretty interesting, actually. I've jumped down from things, and up onto things, but I've never just. Floated." Also, not actually funny. Seems kind of strange that people thought something that useful would be funny. "Honestly, if you can fly because of that thing, you definitely should do it whenever you can. I would."

[yondu]

"Sorta. If I go much faster than that I cain't hold to it. Slips right outa my hand an' I end up on my ass like you did."

The grin gets a little bigger as he sits at the edge of the mushroom. Which, yeah, it's a different view up here. Less of those Ego vibes. More missing space travel again. How nice would it be to get out there, back in the black, and just go.

[worthallthis]

Soldat pads over to settle next to him, not quite in comfortable touching reach, but close-ish. "Now that would be funny," they say loftily. "You must've experimented a bit."

[yondu]

He takes out the arrow and turns the arrow in his hands. "Oh yeah, I've had this thing since I was... somewheres between fourteen an' sixteen? Somethin'? Got put in when my skull stopped growin'. Figured out all kindsa things I could do with it. An' all kindsa things I couldn't do or else I'd end up near dead."

He hates how every good trait about him is flavored with something bad. But it seems like Soldat would be the last to judge that.

[worthallthis]

No judgment here. They've got the same problem, after all. Even their happiest memories, few and far between as they are, are tainted by guilt or fear or loss. They might be picking up on his discontent, or they might be thinking about their own non-consensual body modification (well, technically, it's both) but they ask, "Were you angry? When you first got it. Since you didn't ask for it."

[yondu]

"Ah... less than you'd think. At that point my real fin'd already been taken off so I'd just give up on bein' too mad. I just didn't like it much. It made me dizzy all the time. They wanted to start trainin' me with it too quick. My aim was shit."

Though at the time he'd been very fucked up. To this day he'll look away, look down on reflex if he's in a situation where he's been disapproved of or subjugated. So until he'd found joy in it, it'd fallen in that odd quiet place. A muted sort of contempt.

"What about yours? You seemed a lot happier after that uh... that one train burp or whatever it was that set your arm right for a bit."

Whatever the fuck train magical indigestion is called.

[worthallthis]

Fuck train magical indigestion. Oh god, Yondu, you should say that out loud sometime. You might make an old man laugh.

Soldat turns their metal hand over on their knee, curling the fingers with a mechanical buzz. "I don't mind it. It's a good arm, even if it came from terrible people. When the train made me young again, it didn't hurt anymore, that's all." Between the supports screwed into their bones and the weight of it pulling on their back, there's not often a time Soldat doesn't hurt. "It feels things differently, but if I want that, I can always use my right hand."

[yondu]

"Don't tell nobody this," not that he thinks Soldat would, but he's just recently realized the embarrassing aspects to it. "But my fin is a way to find mates on Centauri. They basically made it impossible to ever hook up with someone permanent-like if I ever went back to my homeworld. Plus there were a whole lotta nerves in there to help me feel a li'l' more companionable."

He sneers unhappily as he touches the fin. Get the right shape. Can't get that feeling back. "It don't hurt no more, though."

[worthallthis]

"Secret's safe with me." And while it's a little embarrassing, and they're perfectly happy not to bring it up again ever, it's also a little sad. Being cut off from-- what, his people's version of marriage? That's horrible. Certainly a thing they can see slave owners wanting to do, though. If they even actually understood what it meant, when they did it.

At least arms don't really have any cultural significance. Jesus. "Would you go back?" they ask. "If you could. Back to Centauri."

[yondu]

"Nah. I had plenty o' chances. But I was fine just gettin' me a few reminders here an' there. I'm Centaurian enough to care but I'm Ravager enough I'd rather be travellin' than tryin' to make myself fit like a bent outa shape puzzle piece."

Though sometimes he does think he'd like to see it again.

"What about you? Where do you wanna go if this shit ever gives you an out?"

[worthallthis]

They've thought about this. Going back to the world they came from is... not an option. Only if they somehow went back to the exact moment they'd died in, and somehow avoided dying again, and managed to go back somewhere close enough to save Steve....

And Beacon might not be an option, either. They don't know if it survived the World Eater, and even if it did, it might not be hospitable to the dead anymore. "I don't know. If I could be sure it's possible, back to Beacon, maybe. I might just stay here, if Beacon's coming back to life or if it died the rest of the way. My people might not be there anymore."

[yondu]

"You really did like that place, didn't ya?"

He grins over at him, but it's not one of his meaner ones. It's just a little smile.

"Well, I hope ya make it back there then, an' you get your people back."

[worthallthis]

"Maybe someday. It was home, you now. My only home in the world I came from is. Was. From seventy years ago. It's gone now. So Beacon is what I have." They look back in the direction of the train. "And here, I suppose. There's good people here."

They aren't close enough for a shoulder bump, but they can swing one foot over to bump Yondu's foot. Meaning: like you, you big softie.

[yondu]

He looks down at the strange shoes he's wearing. Sneakers at the moment, actually. With laces done up in the wrong kind of knot because he doesn't wear this shit. "Eh. There's assholes, too."

He'll swear up and down he's one of the assholes but he'll accept that he can be good people to the ones he likes now.

"You gonna say anything at that damn river?" He says 'that damn river' like it's a bastard who owes him money and keeps dodging him to avoid paying it back. It's that kind of contempt.

[worthallthis]

They give him a sidelong look full of amusement for the tone. "Yeah, I think I am. I've got a couple people who. If they're still alive in some way. Who would need to hear from me, I think." They're still kind of percolating on what they want to say to those couple people, to cause the least worry while still being truthful.

Of course, they're not sure either person they most want to contact are still alive, so.

That begs the question though: "Are you?"

[yondu]

"Nah." And then par for the course, the fucking asshole who's a drag and has no happy stories, just shakes his head.

"Day before I died, ran into some of my old team. In fact the guy what saved me an' one of our teammates. He told me when I died, he'd not even mourn me. Wouldn't even show up at my funeral. Probably didn't figure it'd not be but a bit later. Thing is, I still care about 'em enough that I ain't gonna put myself in their heads where I ain't wanted."

He frowns again.

"Might send somethin' pissy to someone I don't like, though, if I can think of someone worth it."