middleofsomewhere | The Endless River

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.

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Entrapta has been collecting stones for research, but she does stop to use a few genuinely. She spends her own time nearby, clutching them, giving them her thoughts. For Glimmer to lead Etheria into a golden age. For Catra to be good to Adora because she owes it to her. For Hordak to... For Hordak to take care of Dryl, to make it his home until she returns, and to take care of himself.

One after another they're cast into the river.

When she's done, she looks down to where Bulma is standing, smiling a little. "I think it'll work." Her evidence is slim, but it being that the train is so inexplicable she bets any research they would conduct would conclude it to be true. And she does plan to research this.

Bulma doesn't bother to collect any stones for further research. Her family had given her enough to do with Vegeta's plans for a new suit, his want for a gravity room in which to train, the lot. She did bring along a little journal with her incase the sun and relaxation gave her any brain blasts or one kind or another when it came to any of the projects she's working on, though.

Entrapta is familiar enough that she gives her a little wave hello, nodding her agreement.

"An interdimensional train is wild enough, so why not interdimensional voice mail, in a way?" Of course, she'd rather hug and hold her children in the forms she knew them in again rather than send them these little stones, but there's no helping it at this point, and no ue in lingering on it.

"I'm happy to at least try it, anyway. No harm no foul in that."

"I did want to talk to you about some research ideas. Trunks showed me some technology your family developed! It was really great. The capsules are adorable, too, so that's a huge bonus."

What? She's an absent-minded genius so she can be fickle and love tiny things.

"There's a lot about the train I'm wanting to discover." She pats her pocket full of stones so that they rattle. "If it does work, there are so many useful implications and applications for these stones as information storage or signal conductors. I'm used to working with crystals myself."

"He's my best advertiser around here, hm?" Bulma smiles, though, obviously very very fond of her son. He always talks her up so much, she thinks, but she can also hardly complain. After all - he wasn't saying anything that was untrue at the end of the day. She was pretty damn brilliant at the end of the day, even by her own estimations.

"I used a particular crystal for my time machine back in my world as a conductor and reflector. Had to get a friend of mine go and get it for me.." Only to have it blown up by Beerus and Whis, but that's a story for another day. "What were you looking to discover about the train, though? Or these stones?"

"Basically anything, at this point."

The train is such a mystery that she knows little about it. But now that she's reminded....

"Actually, someone told me about their radio. They have a void-sensitive radio that lets them pick up signals, and they want me to figure out how to send them from outside of the train. I have one to take apart but I've not fully sat down with it yet. Plus, I want to do a lot of testing like seeing if I can attach an antenna to the side of the train, or pick up a dull pulse from the platform after we leave it. That kind of thing."

And she's been looking for people to look over the innards of this radio with her. She needs to find some magical folks as well.

"Fair enough." Bulma can't help a little laugh. She too wants to know basically anything that she can about this train and how it works. How it could possibly be improved, too, beyond things that are more selfish, like suites for couples so that they could have their own spaces.

"Void sensitive radio?" Well, that's interesting. It's certainly caught Bulma's attention. "Is it from this world, one of the void worlds, or their own?" That may be an interesting thing to figure out all on its own. If it's from this world, then it stands a good chance at being very, very worth it to look into.

Her suggestion about trying to pick up pulses of stations brings a smile to her face, nodding gently. It's only this entertaining because, well - "My husband said something about trying to gauge how far apart stops were, or trying to communicate back to them not too long ago. I just don't know if we have the resources to send pulses quite that far out."

"I don't know what world it's from besides a void sensitive radio. It could be ordered through the shop. I may get another one in the future. But I do have one I can take apart to look at."

It's going to take a lot of research. She definitely can't do it all on her own. Especially since she's aware she has a very Etherian gaze, and experts from different worlds can help her.

"Yeah! I mean, even if we can't tell exactly how long it's been. I think we might be able to... You know. After some experimentation!" She doesn't expect immediate progress, but maybe some. Especially people acquainted with communication between worlds in some indirect way.

"Hmm... Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter if it's workable, right?" Or at the very least they could pick it apart for parts at the end of the day if it worked. Bulma's very much not on the picky side when it comes to these things, provided they work. Any lead is a good lead when there isn't much to work from to begin with.

Considering that she's invented and rebuilt a time machine or two... this seems doable.

"If Goku was here we could maybe just use his instant transmission, but.." Bulma's shoulders shrug. ".. It's maybe also good he isn't."

"It might be a little more complicated than that. It seems like the Void is very particular about what messages it lets through."

She gestures to all the rocks.

"Unfortunately it seems too dangerous to get samples of the water... also I can't find a bottle that will hold it."

"There's not one in the picnic supplies you could rig?" It's something to consider at any rate, or, actually, now that she thinks about it a little bit more, she has a bit of a cheat here. "I have family that flies, if that would help. I could convince Vegeta."

'Convince' meaning putting the bottle in his hand and saying 'fetch' to keep his wife happy.

"It evaporates too quickly. Or whatever process it is- I assume it's evaporation but I can't tell. It could be soaking into its surroundings or dissipating in some other way. Plus when I touched the water before it didn't feel so good."

She shakes out her hand. She's even wearing gloves, and it still bothered her. Tingly and unnerving.

"But the stones seem to be fine. For now, anyway."

OOC: But the mods have informed me messing with them in experiments will make volatile reactions so guess what Princess has two thumbs a lotta hair and is gonna get soot on her face!

"Let me know if you'd like any help with your experiments. Even if it's just extra hands." Bulma's curious too, but she's got bigger fish to fry for Vegeta. And, apparently, something to do for Cassie as well at this point. Family obligations add up, of course, but helping Vegeta with his tail and his new gravity chamber are most important at this point.

And who knows what other opportunities may pop up.

"Any idea what you're going to try with them experiment wise?"

( OOC : oh no, poor Entrapta's hair! ... That's the Duo Maxwell in me popping out. )

"That would be great!" Especially since working with people usually gives her a lot of great ideas.

"Oh! I was thinking maybe we could make dummies for the gymnasium with varying degrees of damageability! Maybe even mobility. Right now they're just not as robust as they need to be."

Though she wants to find out more about that radio first.

OOC: Luckily the worst she'll get is some singeing but y'know, good blow up times.

"That definitely sounds useable for most people. Not my family, but - " Bulma stops to laugh a little at the thought, knowing that no dummy they make would be indestructible for Vegeta right about now. Maybe for Trunks, but.. well. That was a saiyan problem.

"Most people aren't as strong as them and that's probably for the better."

"It's true that the Saiyans are exceptionally strong, as are the gods, but there is still a good chunk of the train that isn't. And they feel inadequate comparatively. Some of these people were some of the strongest their worlds had to offer back home. I'm used to not fighting, but for them, being so severely underclassed compared to their crewmates makes them feel anxious and inadequate."

Especially the ones that already have issues with personal value, which is a number of them. She's seen it, and it breaks her heart. Yeah, there's definitely something to be said for the power of discussion and the support that comes from friendship, but on a train when they feel trapped and useless it can't be good for them.

"I can't do much, but maybe I can help them become stronger. Maybe a little more knowledgeable in how to handle things stronger than them, even. I think one day they may really need that."

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The Endless River

ENDLESS RIVER

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