voidtreckermods: (train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-04-10 06:25 am

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.
ourtomorrow: (stunned)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-18 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
Ken blinks. Maybe he shouldn't immediately connect these dots, but to see if he's right: "You have a partner, too...?"

Wormmon crawls into Ken-chan's lap, because the idea of being without Ken-chan is sad, and also to demonstrate that HE is the partner. Yes. It is HIM.

He's the partner!
bakegarasu: (as i pondered weak and weary)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-18 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah... yes?" Sort of. he thinks about how to explain. "She's the will of the city and I'm the guardian of the city. I entered a contract with her."

... Sometimes the basic one is the best. No need to get into the whole 'almost died twice' thing.
ourtomorrow: (love)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-19 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
"The city guardian...."

That sounds SO COOL. Wormmon twists up to look at Ken. "Hey. Am I the Ken-chan guardian?"

"You guard me very well," Ken agrees, and Wormmon giggles. He's cool too!
bakegarasu: (the city is at war)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-19 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
He chuckles a little and nods. "I guess you are, if you protect him..." Hm. Still. "I haven't been outside of Shinjuku for a long time, even before I became her guardian. It's kind of interesting going to all of these different places."
ourtomorrow: (reassure)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-19 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
"For the missions, you mean?" Ken picks up a bowl for some salad and begins to fill it for Wormmon. Wormmon likes vegetables. (Wormmon also likes cake. Everything in moderation.) "Other worlds can be surprising."
bakegarasu: (i hear you)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-19 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. And this is a very different kind of train than a commuter train." That much is obvious, though. "But... there's a different kind of mood than I'm used to. People are actually nice here."
ourtomorrow: (Default)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-20 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm." Ken has noticed this same thing, and contemplates it a lot. His hands slow as he continues to do so now.

"Being a part of something feels good," says Wormmon, who likes the Togetherness. And he smiles at Otoha. Being together with this big man is nice too! Wormmon has not gotten to meet many human adults so it's been neat to see what grown-ups are like.
bakegarasu: (those cold blue eyes)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-21 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I... I'm used to working on my own or in small groups. Not... taking into account stuff other people are doing on the battlefield." He can take a ton of damage in his armor, but other people can't take whatever he might deflect off of it.

He is not a good example, Wormmon. "... Partners, huh..." He's still turning that thought over in his head. "You're always there for each other, aren't you?"
ourtomorrow: (down)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-21 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. Aren't we, Ken-chan?"

"We are," Ken affirms. Wormmon giggles, then blushes. But Ken looks a bit thoughtful, all the same.

Always there for each other....Wormmon has always been there for him, so he'd agreed. But - has he always been there for Wormmon? He's not sure he can say that.
bakegarasu: (little child be not afraid)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-22 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"It's... nice to have a friend like that." He pauses and smiles a little sadly. "I've got some friends here that are kind of like that... I did have someone like that at home until... a few months ago, now."

That's still weird to say, but maybe if he keeps saying it his heart will stop squeezing his chest.
ourtomorrow: (hurt)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-22 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. Oh, no. Ken looks stricken. Is it their fault? Did they dredge up a bad memory? Did he step right into -

"I'm sorry."

He's not sure for what. But he's sorry anyway.
bakegarasu: (i hear you)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-22 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not your fault." The response is immediate. It's his fault, it's his father's fault, it's the whole group's fault. "It's just... good to see kids with... friends. I've... made some here." He's pretty sure. He's never totally certain what their relationship is.

"I don't mean to - sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
ourtomorrow: (reassure)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-23 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
"No, it's all right...." Now Ken feels bad for making Otoha feel bad about making Ken feel bad. Which even he can recognize is not helpful. He smiles, forcing it at first but then it becomes genuine. "I'm glad - you have those memories."

Losing people hurts. But that doesn't mean they can't have left you with good things, too. Wormmon bumps against his hand: you're thinking about your brother, but you're also - are you thinking about HIM, Ken-chan?! He's so happy.
bakegarasu: (quietly listening)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-24 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
"It's nice. Are you... uh." He's so bad at this. "... You seem like a good kid. ... Both of you." Wormmon seems like a kid to him, at least.
ourtomorrow: (DGMN02bd_EP42_17070)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-24 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Wormmon nods, as if Otoha has just revealed the world's Sagest Wisdom. "Ken-chan is very kind."
bakegarasu: (i heard a tapping)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-24 09:38 am (UTC)(link)
"He seems that way. But so do you." He's a lot like Amefurikozo in that way... though hopefully not stealing blood bags like the little rain spirit was doing.
ourtomorrow: (love)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-24 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"Me?"

Wormmon cups his cheeks. He's never thought of himself that way, but Ken-chan is looking at him as if he agrees!

"I would still be alone if it weren't for you, Wormmon," Ken contributes. And Wormmon needs to support himself on the closest solid surface.

...Which is Otoha.
bakegarasu: (i hear you)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-25 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. Uh. He gives Wormmon a careful pat, not wanting to hurt the poor bug.

"... It's good to see people like you in the world. There's... not enough. Too many people are a - are terrible." Gotta limit the swearing around Children.
ourtomorrow: (scratch)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-25 10:28 am (UTC)(link)
".....Mm." Ken, as a former doer of terrible things, cannot deny that. "The world is full of - both."

Otoha is lumping him in a category other than "terrible". Ken comes across as something other than "terrible", when he meets new people. Ken, trying nothing more than "to be Ken", is someone who can be accepted.

That's nice.

"I'm going to protect Ken-chan from the terrible people," Wormmon informs Otoha's leg. He had felt bad about leaning here, but then he got a pat, so now he is nuzzling. This is not as nice as nuzzling with Ken-chan but it is still pretty good.
bakegarasu: (little child be not afraid)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-26 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Good. Don't... get pushed around by people. Do what you need to do." He's in no position to give advice, but... that's the best he can give.

His gaze flicks back over to Ken. "I'm not the greatest at advice... in some ways I barely lived, myself. But I don't want kids to get stuck with nowhere to go but somewhere terrible."
ourtomorrow: (vow)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-26 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
Ken doesn't want that, either. Ken doesn't want anyone to feel the way he felt, suffer the same way he did. Hearing someone else say it....he needs some time to think about everything that brings up for him, but it's not an unwelcome feeling.

"Right," says Ken, and meets Otoha's eyes. He's dead serious.
bakegarasu: (those cold blue eyes)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-26 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"... You've had a rough time, huh?" He looks away reflexively - he doesn't want to come off as intimidating, and he knows his stare can be... intense.
ourtomorrow: (avoid)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-04-26 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Ken averts his eyes too, not wanting to make Otoha uncomfortable. They can just hold a whole conversation looking in opposite directions, it's fine.

"....It's - improving."

"Good for everybody."

Wormmon is completely down for an awkward picnic between people whose lives are treating them more kindly lately.
bakegarasu: (dream a little dream)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-04-27 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
He doesn't want to scare a kid, of all people. "Yeah. ... Hopefully it can keep going up. In general, I mean." He's not so stupid as to think that it can always be better. He's already had a bad day today.