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.
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky Grin)

Exploring

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-12 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Lea chuckled.]

Yes, ma'am.

[After all, he wanted to check out the view from the top too.]
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (Default)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-12 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Pleased, Della keeps climbing. ]

It's like these babies were meant for climbing!
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-13 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Given that this place is a highly rated picnic destination, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were. I mean, a civilization that can build void trains can probably design mushrooms to grow the way they want, even giant ones.

[Though part of him wondered, if it was so highly rated, why weren't there more tourists? Ah well; something to worry about later.]
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (down to acapulco bay)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-13 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Probably! I wish I knew the secret - I'd love to bring some seeds back with me and plant them all around the mansion gardens back home!
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-14 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
I dunno... You think they'd even grow there? I mean the train said the only reason this place is habitable is because of our SCAs; they might not be able to grow somewhere that didn't have the same kind of crazy conditions this place has.
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (Default)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-15 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
In that case, maybe we could find a way to bring the SCA home with us too!
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-17 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not the SCAs, it's the world itself. There's something about it that would hurt or even kill us without the SCAs on. They protect us from what's around us; they don't actually change it.
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (filled with wonders and joy)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-17 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
... Is that right?

Huh. I really gotta start paying more attention to... everything, honestly.
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-18 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
Probly a good idea yeah.

And speaking of things to pay attention to, looks like we're getting close to the top.

[The shadow of the mushroom cap was falling over them, and soon they'd have to change direction slightly to climb up a branch in order to reach it.]
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (cause we're together)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-18 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
Got it!

[ Immediately distracted, Della begins climbing faster, ready to jump to the branch! ]
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-22 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Lea follows her example and climbs a bit faster. Though being the long, lanky guy he is, it's debatable whether he'll even need to jump. Either way, Della will get the first shot, by virtue of being ahead of him.]
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (down to acapulco bay)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-22 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ She laughs happily, and manages to make it to the top! ]

Yes! Ha Ha Ha Ha! That was awesome!
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-04-25 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[It wasn't nearly as much of a jump for Lea, but he soon joined Della, and looked out over the landscape.]

Yeah, it was pretty fun. And even if it hadn't been, the view would definitely make up for it.
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (down to acapulco bay)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-04-26 10:22 am (UTC)(link)
I know, right? Look at that! That's one of the best things about high places - you can't beat the view! Every single time!
hotheadwarmheart: (Looking up)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-05-08 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Lea nods.]

Almost as nice as my friends' and my favorite spot from back home; up on the Twilight Town clock tower. We always tried to meet up there after work to have ice cream and watch the sunset.
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (my darling baby boys)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-05-08 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ Dawww, that sounds cute. ]

A great climb, good heights, and ice cream? That's perfection in every sense, my friend.
hotheadwarmheart: (Looking up)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-05-17 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Well, to be honest we usually took a bit of a shortcut to get up there. But you're right. Hanging out with my friends up there was just about perfect.

We never actually did too much, just sat and talked about whatever came to mind while we had our ice cream. Usually it was just stupid stuff, but that was fine. It was who we were talking about it with that mattered more, I think.