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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.....I did, in fact.

[Ahem. He quickly pulls himself together, trying to look cool and collected and not like he'd just been mentally impressing threats and insults into a large rock.]

Someone in need of a lot of strong reminders in order not to get himself killed while I'm away.

[Yes.]

Oh..? Is that person in danger?

[ Look how Invested Madoka is, all of a sudden. Even though she has no idea who this person is. Even though she'll never meet them. If they're important to him, then clearly they're an important person! ]

Do you think they're going to be alright while you're here?

I-- [could honestly care less, he manages to stop himself from saying.

Jiu turns back to look at the water again, conveniently also avoiding Madoka's gaze.]

If he's in any danger at all, it will be from overworking himself....it's nothing for you to worry about, anyway.

[ There's a small sound at those last words - at him saying that it's nothing for her to worry about. It sounds like her conceding, but in a kind of reluctant way. After all, she doesn't want to cross some line here, but at the same time.. ]

If you're worried about it, then I'm worried about it too.

[ It's said a little more softly, as if to show it's not like she wants to fight about this or anything. The girl is just trying to explain herself. ]

I-I mean, I wouldn't want you to have to worry all by yourself..

Who says I'm worried?

[The reply comes out sounding a little more snappish than he would prefer to be around her, and he colors slightly at having lost his composure for a second.]

...If he got himself killed while I was away, I'd have wasted the effort I put into saving him. I just thought I'd send a reminder big enough to get through his thick skill.

[ Madoka does wince at the snappishness, as gentle and shy as she is, but thankfully it is only a momentary wince before she manages to steel herself again, not wanting to seem like a total wuss. Nor wanting to make him feel bad for a snappishness she - as hopefully as always - thinks he probably didn't have much control over. ]

.. Sorry if I assumed something rude.

[ She instead says, trying to smile a little. ]

But.. that does make sense. I hope he stays safe, even if it may be somewhere far away from here. O-Or who knows, maybe you'll see each other again soon..?

[What if he doesn't want to see him again, huh!!!

....That'd be a tiny bit of a lie, but like hell is he going to admit it out loud. Either way, it's not Madoka's fault she's too good, too pure to understand....he gives himself half a second to see if he can manage a smile before giving up with a sigh.]

Miss Madoka. I appreciate your concern - truly, I do - but some things are better left alone. I have no particular desire to see this person again, and would be displeased at best if he somehow found himself on the train with us. It would be better for you to put him out of your mind.

...

[ The pause is a little longer this time. Madoka's gaze shifts awkwardly, as if she's trying to look at anything but him, and the smile completely fades from her face.

She definitely looks more than just a little bit awkward. ]

Sorry.

[ Madoka knows she already apologized a moment ago, but it still feels like she should do so again, no matter that he says he appreciates her concern. She still feels like she's only making things more awkward with everything she says. Ah, she's really no good at this. ]

I.. um. [ She shouldn't have approached, huh. There's another beat, as if Madoka is looking for words she can't find, but then she just bows as a wordless apology. ] I-- I can leave you alone.

[.........Jiu pauses almost an equally long time, looking incredibly awkward himself. He didn't mean to--are her feelings hurt, or something? Why is she so sensitive? Yingying was never this sensitive! He feels like he did something wrong and can't for the life of him figure out what that something was!]

Stop apologizing—

[He inadvertently snaps again, then hurriedly reaches out to stop her bow, frowning not so much in irritation as in flustered confusion.]

Are you always this apologetic? I'm the one throwing rocks in the river, you have nothing to be sorry for! You're just...I never said I disliked your company, only that I preferred not to talk about someone who isn't even here for you to worry about. [There's another short pause as he fumbles for his words, before backing up a step and turning his gaze away.]

...You may be a girl, but that's all the more reason you should try to stand up for yourself more.

[ Sorry, Jiu. This is what it's like to meet people with extremely low self confidence or sense of self worth.. It's only natural for them to start apologizing for absolutely everything.

Though at least something now seems to make Madoka stop apologizing. And it's not even because he's pointing it out. No, she's just quiet because she's surprised, and a little confused.. ]

.. What does me being a girl have to do with it..?

[ Well.

At least it worked to make her stop for a moment, though in an inconventional way. ]

[As someone who's had an extremely low sense of self worth for the majority of his 30-plus years of life, the idea of simply lying down and accepting it is honestly kind of irritating--but with Madoka being a girl and all, he's managed to tamp it down to something sort of resembling concern instead.]

Young ladies in good households are generally raised to be...demure, I suppose. But there is a difference between deference and abject obeisance, and you're leaning much too far towards the latter. Even if you were a servant or slave before coming here, you're certainly free now, aren't you? Nobody will punish you for not apologizing, so don't bother!

I-- I wasn't a servant or a slave!

[ Okay, maybe it's not the best thing to start with here, but the moment Madoka hears it, she just has to make sure that he understands she wasn't. She doesn't want him to get the wrong idea!

In fact, she's pretty sure she hasn't even been raised to be demure.. Her mom sure isn't, after all. ]

It's just.. I don't want to make people feel bad. Isn't it only natural to apologize when you think you've hurt someone?

[But if she's not a servant then why does she act like one! Has he ever met a well-off girl this timid before?]

Even then, how many times do you think you need to apologize in a single conversation? I don't want to hear any at all from you, do you understand?

[He pokes her forehead as if to emphasize his point.]

I'm not hurt, I never was, and I don't want to hear you implying my feelings are that fragile--don't apologize for that, either!

.. okay..!

[ It feels kind of weird to agree with this. She's never allowed to apologize to him ever again?! But what if she ever does something really bad to him! What then! The possibilities are myriad, and all of them are terrifying, and--

And then she's poked in the forehead, which makes her let out a tiny, surprised sound before she quickly moves her hands up to cover said forehead.

Madoka is so easily bullied. ]

I.. I promise I'll try my best! I, um.. [ SHE DOES WANT TO SAY SORRY FOR THE IMPLICATION..

BUT NOW SHE CAN'T.. This is a dilemma already. ]

I-I think.. your strength is very admirable..

[ There, she managed to twist the apology around into a compliment for him. That's better, right? ]

[Oh yes, that's much better! Jiu puffs up immediately, clearly happy with the compliment.]

Thank you, that's something I work hard to maintain.

[He smiles for once, hands falling to his hips in a relaxed sort of manner.]

That wasn't so hard now, was it? Much better than a useless apology.

.. yes..

[ At least there's no apology.

But it does feel like her meekness in front of him has increased tenfold now this whole thing has gone down. ]

I'll.. um. I'll go do something else now. Please enjoy your day.. [ Trying to escape? Madoka? No way.

(Yes way.) ]

[.......Why does she seem even more downtrodden than before...that's now how this was supposed to work?

He blinks at her, confused and ever-so-slightly unsure, and - before she can run away - he awkwardly tries....giving her a headpat?]

...You too. Good luck with your endeavors, whatever they are.

[Pat pat.]

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The Endless River

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