middleofsomewhere | The Endless River

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"T-Then you should try it! At least once!"

Truthfully, Madoka is worried about being a little pushy here. But it's not like a picnic could hurt him, right? It's just sitting, and eating, and having some company..

"Here, let's go find a nice spot to sit down together." She's already turning, starting to walk to try and find said spot.

He debates making a run for it, but that would be...rude. Also the terrain here is pretty flat. She'd see him.

So he gives a silent sigh and walks after her, checking over his shoulder every few seconds. Being out in the open with not a single weapon on him made him...incredibly uneasy.

The girl just keeps on walking. Sure, she too glances over her shoulder once or twice - just to make sure he's still there, and that she isn't walking over to a spot all by herself like some sort of idiot.

But no, he is still following her. Even though it's almost a little surprising. There's something skittish about him, Madoka thinks, like a scared animal that could run away at any time.

But as she stops under a particularly large mushroom and spreads out the picnic blanket and sits down, he's still there.

So she pats the blanket, as if to tell him to sit down.

"Um, is there any particular food you like? I can see if it happens to be in my basket.."

Sam gives a friendly smile as he plops down, twiddling his thumbs and really feeling the empty weight of the absence of a gun in his hands. Every little sound makes his head snap in that direction, squinting suspiciously.

He barely manages to catch her question. "Huh? Oh, yeah, where I'm from you uh...can't be picky about what you eat. Otherwise you just...don't eat. I'll eat anything, trust me."

Somehow it's like every single thing he mentions about himself or the place he comes from only serves to make Madoka worry even more about the guy. They can't be picky about what they eat? Why, because there's so little food? Does it have something to do with the reason as to why he's always wearing that suit?

Madoka can't quite fit all the puzzle pieces together mentally yet, but everything does seem to point in the direction of things there just being bad.

But for now she puts her basket in the middle of the blanket, opening it so he can take from it whatever he wants. Madoka, too, grabs some food from it and starts eating.

It's only then that she carefully speaks up: "It sounds like things are.. um, difficult for you. Back home."

"Hm? Oh, it's not that bad. I mean I'm certainly doing better than I used to. Pandora isn't the uh...best planet I could've crashed on but...yeah I make it work." He sifts through the basket carefully, squinting and poking at a sandwich. "What's this?"

"It's.. a sandwich."

There's a small pause there, because this may just be the first time Madoka has encountered someone who doesn't know what that is. And she's encountered a lot of people from odd worlds on the train at this point.

"They don't have those on.. um, Pandora either..?"

"Oh. No we got sandwiches. I think. They're just usually..." He tries to think of a word that wouldn't ruin both their appetites and fails. "...they just uhhh look different." He picks it up, lifting up the top piece curiously to peer at the contents. "...huh." He recognizes neither the peanut butter nor the jelly however. He bites into it, eyebrows lifting as he chews. "Oh. That's sweet."

...

Madoka is sure now.

Sam's world is really, really sad. But that only makes her more determined to have him try some good things. Like having a fun picnic with friends, or even something as plain as a sandwich. Maybe she should have Romeo show him his lunchbox later or something..

But for now she just smiles at him, doing her best to seem encouraging.

"It's good, right? There's some different ones in the basket, feel free to try whichever look best to you!"

"Yeah? Okay I can try-"

There was a noise from behind them and Sam was on his feet in half a second, trying to take something off of his belt that wasn't there. He gave a quiet 'dammit' when he remembered he was weaponless, shieldless, and grenadeless.

He'd put himself in between whatever potential threat was happening and Madoka, only to see it was just some overgrown bits of mushroom cap falling to the ground with gentle thuds.

Sam sighed and ran his hand back through his hair. "... perfectly fine." He mumbled, sitting back down but visibly on edge.

"I.. um, I think it's okay, I don't think there's anything bad.. around here.."

But Madoka sounds a little unsure as she speaks. After all, it's not like she's been to this world before. What if there is some sort of threat after all, and she's putting him at ease even though he shouldn't be?

But she wants to try all the same. Because it feels so bad to see him being so jumpy during a moment he should be enjoying, a moment they have to stretch their legs outside of the train for once. That Pandora world.. between how he's on guard, and his talk about food, it must have been dangerous. Maybe a place that's only about survival, where you can't sit down and have a picnic..

.. what a sad world.

Madoka shakes her head, not wanting to linger on that thought. Looking for something more positive to say, something more positive they can focus on. "Y-You were just trying to protect me too, huh..? Thank you.."

"...I mean I wanna try to if I have to but I don't even have a...shield..." He paces a little, roughly running his fingers through his hair. "Is this place even safe? Are we supposed to believe it's safe just because a train told us it was?"

He does have a point with that last part. Madoka isn't entirely trusting of the train anymore either at this point, but on the other hand, it sure has seemed quiet enough here. Usually they would have been attacked already at this point if it was a real mission.

"Well, if something does happen.. There's a lot of people here who can tackle the danger."

There's so many strong people on the train, after all.

"So we'll be okay. Even if things do get dangerous. I promise."

The Endless River

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject