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

[happyends]

"So.. What are you going to do then..?"

Madoka looks over at him, and then turns to look at their surroundings before looking back at Sam.

"Are you just going to stand here and cut mushroom pieces? I guess then there's nothing I can help with.." Since it's not like she can get close to those things if he's worried about spores or anything of the sort.

[halfnewb]

Sam gives a little sigh. "Nah one chunk should do it... Guess I'll just have a look around now. What about you, huh? You didn't come out here just to watch weirdos hack at mushrooms and wander around aimlessly."

[happyends]

"Ah, um.."

She seems to hesitate for a moment. Madoka doesn't really want to talk or think about the river too much, in case it may make things awkward. So she's trying really hard to think of something else to do here, but then it seems to hit her.

"Well, I kind of wanted to have a picnic.. But I can't find any of my friends to have it together with right now."

[halfnewb]

Sam looks at her for a second, and then pulls off his helmet so he can look at her properly (and so his player can use different icons). "...seriously? What, are they busy or something?" He finds it hard to believe that Madoka hasn't befriended almost everyone on the train. Were people really that busy chucking feelings rocks into a magic river? Geez.

[happyends]

The girl nods.

"I think the river is pretty popular."

Not that she blames people! She bets most people have tons of people to leave messages for, and then there's the whole time it takes to think up what kind of message to send in the first place.. It probably takes a while.

"Maybe I should just wait until everyone is done and comes back here.."

[halfnewb]

"Uh...yeah." He scratches the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. "...don't...you have messages to send? Or are you just done already?"

[happyends]

Oh god, he just had to go for the most awkward question possible.

Madoka knows she may look extremely weird if she says she doesn't have messages to send, so even though her cheeks light up with shame and it's really obvious she's lying, the girl just says: "I-I'm already done! I.. I just got it done real quickly, before the rush!"

[halfnewb]

"Oh. Good." Lucky for her, Sam's an idiot and never picks up on anything 'obvious'. "Yeah I probably should have guessed that considering how long it took me to drag myself out here... Uh... Might just get back on the train though..."

[happyends]

".. You're not going to have a picnic?"

Sure, Sam is.. a little awkward. Even Madoka can tell as much, and she's a 14 year old who wants to see the best in everyone all the time. But surely even he's made friends on the train to hang out with, she figures.

[halfnewb]

"...nope. Didn't pack one." Definitely the only reason he's not going to have one. Not at all because he's deliberately been a nuisance to anyone else that's spoken to him and therefore has no friends.

Not at all!!

[happyends]

Too bad, Sam.

Because even though Madoka doesn't see through him giving that reason because he's trying to hide another one, it's still an excuse he's not going to get away with. Because now she's definitely holding up the basket she's carrying.

".. we can share, if you want."

[halfnewb]

"...what? That's...I mean c'mon I doubt you packed for...more than you, right? Since your friends are busy...?"

[happyends]

"It's okay, I don't eat a lot."

It's not even a lie! Madoka certainly feels like she wouldn't be able to take care of an entire basket by herself anyway. So why not share? Especially if poor Sam is missing out on the picnicking experience otherwise.. that would be such a bummer to her.

"Besides, it's a lot more fun to have a picnic together with someone else, instead of sitting around all alone."

[halfnewb]

Sam's eyes dart back and forth. He feels like a cornered cat.

Well. More like a cornered dog, and the thing cornering him is an innocent big eyed kitten that he absolutely cannot do much as bark at without bringing well deserved smacks to the nose upon himself.

"...I...uhm..." He fidgets for something at his side that's not there. There's no fast travel teleporting out of this situation.

[happyends]

His hesitance is very, very obvious. At first Madoka wonders if maybe he just needs a moment to decide, and she herself decides to stay quiet to give him that time.

.. but then the awkward silence just lingers, and instead Madoka's look somehow manages to get even more like a cute sad little kitten's.

"Um.. it's fine if you don't want to. I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy, I just didn't want you to feel lonely during our break here.."

[halfnewb]

Ahhh fuck.

"...I'm...kinda used to alone. I don't think I can get lonely. But uh...I guess if you're short on options for uh...company...I can join you."

[happyends]

Madoka can't help but think that being unable to get lonely is kind of lonely in and of itself - but she won't argue about it. Maybe he'll realise that it's nice to be around other people if they can have a fun picnic now, anyway..? Madoka sure is hoping so, at least.

So she nods at him. "Everyone else seems pretty busy right now."

And if Sam has nothing else to do..

"And.. don't you think it might be kind of fun..?"

[halfnewb]

"...no idea. Never had a picnic before."

[happyends]

"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.

[halfnewb]

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.

[happyends]

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.."

[halfnewb]

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."

[happyends]

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."

[halfnewb]

"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?"

[happyends]

"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..?"