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

[zombiemessiah]

"Time flies when you're having fun and drags ass when you're ruminating and the train seems like it's better for one than the other."

There's the bitching, too. At least he can admit, "This is pretty wild, though. Still having trouble believing it's real but every sense I have is absolutely sure of it."

Again, he has to just look at how damn beautiful and... not apocalypse all of this is. No broken buildings. No smell of rot. These bright mushrooms towering over them like Geiger and Lisa Frank made some sort of spiritual truce. Honestly? It's amazing.

"No, no one else is here." He says that bit softly, still distracted, mottled eyes reflecting the neon gills from a nearby high cap. "Just me."

[bakegarasu]

"Something like that. ... And this place is nicer than the last two. First one was some kind of space colony thing where all the systems went haywire, last place was a bunch of demons invading a ruined world." Granted, they'd done pretty well by that last place thanks to Persephone at the end, but... still, not great to begin with.

"Maybe they'll show up. Someone from my world did. ... Someone I actually give a shit about, not some random person or an enemy." Which had been incredibly surprising to him, but he's not going to say no by any means.

[zombiemessiah]

"Space colony?"

How is this in his particular skillset, he wonders. Demons seem a little closer to what he's used to, but its not like he has a weapon and he's not even sure his powers would work on things that weren't human.

Lord, what if Dr. Merch showed up? Dr. Curian? Boy, how much shit he'd get into for what he would immediately do.

But the thoughtfulness ebbs. "I was surprised mine didn't come lookin' for me on her own." Warren is a force of nature, unstoppable in his eyes. If anyone could find this train on sheer force of will.

[bakegarasu]

"Something like that." He's not sure about the details, but he didn't really ask. "Robots and shit." Not satisfying to fight in the slightest.

"One of those types, huh? Just someone you work with, or something else?"

[zombiemessiah]

"More like a bodyguard, escort, traveling-companion thing?" That's his best description of their lasting relationship, in the end. "I come from an apocalypse. There's no work anymore. Even my bar in a relatively settled area still does business in bullets. You make your own hours and those hours are usually 'is it time to run' or 'is there food here'?"

He gestures flippantly in the train's direction.

"Now to get my body used to a schedule after all that."

[bakegarasu]

... Huh. "My world's not like that. A lot of my city got destroyed by the guy who had my job before me." Which was... stupid, especially given what he understands of Eko's aims.

"What happened?"

[zombiemessiah]

"Just your standard Romero-style zombie apocalypse. People kept arguing whether it would be the fire or ice but that's the only thing that saves anyone, anymore."

His mouth twitches into resignation.

"It is what it is, and people are what they are." He almost adds something about 'humans being their own worst enemy', which he still might even have said as a human. But he's been making an effort to mind his manners.

[bakegarasu]

Romero? He tries to think of who that is, but... generic zombie movie. Sure. "Yeah, well. Some people are shit. ... Didn't think I'd be pulled into being one of the people cleaning it up."

Cleaning up, maintaining, looking for answers... "But it is what it is. I like my role."

[zombiemessiah]

"Well, if you go through a cataclysm you might as well enjoy the role you get saddled with."

Murphy sometimes loves it. Some people genuinely admire him. He has helped, despite himself. He's finally in a position where people who threaten and domineer him pay for it. He can dress how he wants and love whoever he pleases.

Murphy also hates it. He'd rather be a normal ass human with a normal ass office job in a normal ass house, in some manufactured prefab life.

"So what do you do? And I guess the other asshole that wrecked things."

[bakegarasu]

"Used to be an enforcer for the yakuza. Now I'm the guardian of the city of Shinjuku, picked out by the will of the city to take down the former one. Basically he was pulling some bad shit to try to get people to do something he thought would fix a problem, but it ended up with a lot of people dead and a good chunk of the city destroyed."

He pauses. If this guy is from a world with zombie movies, then... "And I know the magic stuff sounds nonsense, I thought it was too until a few months ago. It's not a total apocalypse, but it is a mess."

[zombiemessiah]

"Oh! Yakuza enforcer. That explains the whole 'bad boy brick house' thing you have going on." He's also kind of working on some quarantine hair there but who is he to judge. Lord knows he's had to go months and months without a haircut of any sort, it's one of the greatest tragedies of a declining society.

"How are the rebuilding efforts going? Is it one of those things where the national government's falling down on the job? I had to direct a reconstruction once. It went surprisingly well for a while."

[bakegarasu]

Sadly no, it's just always like this. This is just his style.

"... No idea. Probably botching it... I stepped away from staring down a full police squad and then wound up here."

[zombiemessiah]

"Figures, you become the protector of a city and you still can't even catch a break. If anything I bet it made it worse."

Sure, all Murphy ever did was bad business and a little bit of postal fraud he failed to cover up properly, but he was in the prison system long enough (and with dire enough consequences) to be more than a little resentful.

[bakegarasu]

"Yeah. Guy wanted to make humans believe in yokai again via fear. ... Yokai are like folklore monsters? Anyway they're real and if humans stop believing in them they die. ... It didn't even work."

How long had Eko planned for that, for humans to not even care?

[zombiemessiah]

"So a lot of 'clapping your hands to help Tinkerbell live', but with screaming instead. Gotcha. Humans are remarkably good at ignoring things that are real for the sake of their own sanity, let alone things they're... somewhat imagining."

He can't really keep the contempt out of his voice. But it ends in a sort of acceptance that people do what people do.

[bakegarasu]

"Yeah. ... Ugh." He kicks at the ground lightly. "People are stupid. Not that I was any different until recently. ... Still stupid, but not like that."

He's seen more now than he ever thought he would in a lifetime. And there's people that actually treat him as a person here, which is surprising to say the least.

[zombiemessiah]

"Hey, when it comes to being cynical? I can hang with the best. But you came from a ruined city, you escaped a stand off with police, and you're in... what looks like Tron met Super Mario Brothers."

He spreads his arms and gestures out. All this.

"Don't have to worry about Yokai right now. I don't have to worry about the apocalypse right now. It's just us and the headache hellriver over there and that's it."

A pause, before pointing at the river.

"It gives you a headache, too, right? Or is that just me?"

[bakegarasu]

He is familiar with one of those things, sort of.

"Yeah. And apparently sending messages. Don't have anyone left alive to get them, though."

He frowns at the question. "Not... really?"

[zombiemessiah]

Oh, that makes Murphy look concerned. Not the, not the no one left alive thing. Because god, after the apocalypse it's a miracle if anyone has anyone. And it sounds like the guy has a person that counts actually here. Bird in the hand worth two stones in the river, right? Close enough.

But it bothers him that the river has an effect on him.

He pulls off his hat and fiddles with the brim, squinting suspiciously out at it. Almost accusingly.

"If I were I'd send some cops some conspicuous messages and nail some people you hate, bring down that enemy list." He muses out loud, also considering what he'll be sending when he get closer.

[bakegarasu]

He snorts and glances sideways at Murphy.

"Maybe. I plan on hunting down the rest of the top officers in my old group... the leader's gone, that was my brother. They're all terrible for the city and none of them treated me like a person."

But sending to the cops might be funny. Maybe that one officer he saw with the old guy who got killed...

[zombiemessiah]

"Look, if you're going to be by a magical river that seems to be fueled by tears and broken dreams and you have no other options? Don't get sad. Get even."

Make it someone else's problem.

Wait. His brother. "...You guys had some real family drama, huh? Should I console you or congratulate you here or both. That sounds really... complex."

[bakegarasu]

"I mean fair. ... Eh. He didn't care about me. I knew he was using me, but I didn't really have any other option of what to do. It doesn't bother me." If anything it had been a weight off of his shoulders.

"Besides, he shot my best friend. Any slight mercy went out the window after that." He knows most people think it's weird that it doesn't bother him, but there really was no love lost between them.

[zombiemessiah]

"Then fuck him." Murphy says with particular coldness. But he adds, "Look I know that old addage that blood is thicker than water? And I absolutely loved my mother and I loved my little girl." There is a definite glimmer of heart in there. "But your brother deserved to drown."

He hasn't had any family betray him, but dammit he'd known he owed his blood something to protect it. Of all his sins, being a bad father or bad family was not one of them.

Otoha's brother sounds like he was a dipshit and the better one stayed in the gene pool. He almost said that blood isn't a contract that comes with immunity except... well... Murphy's blood is.

[bakegarasu]

"He did." And that's that. The rest of the officers too, if only to scatter the whole group. They're bad for the city and he knows it, and knew it at the time... but no other options.

"I'm tied to the city, but I'm still more free now. Different responsibilities, but helping people rather than killing them. Not that I don't still like a good fight."

[zombiemessiah]

"Look, I was just in prison on postal fraud charges? And that alone numbed me to it just because of temperamental inmate shit. Before the apocalypse even started."

You see enough people shanked, worry about it happening to you, you stop caring about people being killed outside of the times it's a massive inconvenience and the rarer time it's actually a friend. Even moreso when the zombies started.

(Murphy, understandably, doesn't have many friends. It's difficult to determine whether this is intentional or just a symptom of his deep personality flaws).

"I know they want people to fight for 'em but right now I just wanna feel as normal as I can. All two weeks of it before shit's due to go to hell." He says it in a way that there might be more wrong with him than just being red.