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

[sciencegirl]

"Oh! I met someone's digital pet recently. Digital friend? Either way. It's fascinating! But you function essentially like the original version?"

It seems like the healthiest versions of 'clones' are the ones that come from happenstance.

"The torture thing is less fascinating. That sounds painful and unconstructive." Captain Obvious has arrived on the scene again. "What is Equestria?"

[cureofmanyworlds]

"Pretty much, yes -- oh, you musta met Wormmon, then! He's adorable!" Nozomi said, realizing who Entrapa was talking about.

At the questioning of what Equestria was, well... "You might not believe me, but Equestria is a world where various creatures live. The more recognizable race there were ponies, but not just any type -- there were Earth ponies, which were more entuned with the world around them, pegasuses... pegasui?... well, winged horses, who could fly and walk on clouds, and unicorns, who could use their horns for magic. Even more, the entire world ran on the idea that Friendship is Magic!"

[sciencegirl]

"I believe you! One of my world's greatest champions has a magical steed who has a horn and rainbow wings and talks. His name is Swift Wind."

And his personality can sometimes be a little abrasive, but he has the spirit!

"I know it's plausible, anyway, therefore I have no reason to doubt you. That sounds like it would have been amazing."

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi lets out a small sigh of relief, glad she believed her. Even she had her doubts about it.

“The last world I went to was Valkunthia. We lost our abilities, but gained new ones as ‘Heroes of Light’. A title that was probably more of a lie and a trap.”

[sciencegirl]

"'Heroes of Light?' What did that mean? Did they let you keep your abilities here?"

Entrapta sounds like she's broken-hearted over that. She lost her hair abilities for a fraction of a minute during a mission, failed entirely, and decided to stop participating.

They make up so much of who she is, she wouldn't want someone else to lose theirs.

[cureofmanyworlds]

"Well, Heroes of Light were the name of legendary heroes who saved the world Valkunthia became over the years, but the person who helped bring us here used it to help motivate a lie... it's a long story."

At Entrapta's questioning about her abilities, she smiled and nodded. "Yup! Watch!"

Standing up, she went for her pocket and pulled out a pink phone-like device, opened it and hit a few buttons. "PRETTY CURE METAMORPHORZE!" In a flash of light, Nozomi changed physically into Cure Dream, that familiar magical power flowing through her.

[sciencegirl]

Entrapta is no stranger to transformations. After all, her world has a hero where a Horde expat turns to a 7ft. tall muscled mighty woman. But even if there's a similar scenario, she still squeaks.

"Wow! You didn't even need a sword for that!"

She didn't need to get up, but she's suddenly standing too, just like a dog that needs to get the energetic wiggles out. "I want the long story, don't get me wrong, but I want that story too! All through that device? She-Ra uses a sword!"

This is great.

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi beams at Entrapta's excitement. She never realized someone would be so awed by what she could do.

"It's really handy! This is a CureMo. This is just one of the many devices, from what another told me, that transform certain girls into legendary warriors known as Pretty Cure. Or PreCure for short!"

"With Valkunthia, there was a woman who thought she was a Goddess of Death reborn and sought to bring about the world's destruction, so they brought us in to help speed up its death. They used the whole "Heroes of Light" deal to bring hope to the world before she would destroy it. It took awhile, but we were able to stop her madness. Especially since she was mislead."

But, she could also tell Entrapta was enraptured by her transformation still. "...I'm guessing She-Ra is a hero from your world." She brought a finger to her lips. "You don't have to tell me everything about her."

[sciencegirl]

"....Well I don't know everything about her, but I know a lot about her if you're ever interested."

It's wise to warn her off before she suddenly explodes like a volatile word grenade and covers all her surroundings with unwanted discourse.

"How did you get a CureMo? Were you prophesied to have it? Given it as part of a deal? Found it?"

[cureofmanyworlds]

“Chosen, actually. They come to chosen people when they’re willing to protect people selflessly.” Nozomi said.

“I wonder, though... I don’t think the train could get one because of what it does, but maybe I could request one...”

[sciencegirl]

"Sometimes it won't retrieve rare items, but if it won't do that maybe someone has written something? I'd love to hear about it, though. Technological devices compatible with magic take a degree of integration an inventor has to appreciate."

Who even did invent such a device?

"...Wait, did you meet Trunks?" She remembers something that he'd said before. "He's a friend of mine!"

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi pondered that. She hadn't realized that there were limits to such things. Of course, maybe someone built something like it? She'd have to try.

Of course, Entrapta mentioning Trunks caused her to blush and grin sheepishly. "I, ah... met Trunks. He, uh... helped me... when the demons got ahold of me."

[sciencegirl]

"He's a good guy! His mom is a scientist."

Which is a real win in his corner. But she forges on.

"Even if there's a book or a schematic, that could create a real solid understanding of how it works! Not that I think I could ever build a device like that-" boy does she wish she could, though. Not even so she could use it! She just wants to create it. "-But I've been trying to build a better unified understanding of the shared magical properties between worlds. That way people on the train could build more unique items with magical compatibility. Our own stuff! That doesn't rely on universal constraints when we order things."

[cureofmanyworlds]

“Oh, wow, I didn’t know that about him! That’s cool!”

Listening to Entrapta’s talk, she begins to ponder a bit before an idea comes to her head.

“Ah! Of course! I totally forgot! The iMog!” Nozomi said. “It was an electronic and magic pad that we were given on Valkuntha in place of our powers. After awhile, we were about to modify the system so we could use our abilities and even pass them on! It didn’t come with me, but I could request it!”

[sciencegirl]

"Oh that sounds fantastic! I would love that. Maybe I could request another magical scanner or special item that I can trade for it."

She finds a sandwich cut into quarters, and situates it so she feels like she has four tiny sandwiches.

"I love seeing how people become so unique! Knowing how some of these abilities work could help people with some disadvantages find new advantages to work with." Sometimes you can't fix what's wrong, but you can give someone something else to hold them together. Hordak was the one who showed her that.

[cureofmanyworlds]

“And I’m glad to have found a way to help you!” Nozomi said. “Does this make us friends, too?”

She nibbled on another sandwich after saying that she isn’t sure why she said it like that, thought it’s most likely out of uncertainty.

[sciencegirl]

"I think you were pretty good friend material when you offered to share your tiny food! But the research transaction does sweeten the deal. You know what? Put her there!"

She extends a 'hand', or rather a lock of her hair in the shape of a hand, to shake.

[cureofmanyworlds]

"Great!" Nozomi said, taking the hand-shaped hair into her hand to shake it. "Ooh, feels nice, too!"

[sciencegirl]

Entrapta's expression ends up changing a little, as she thinks about it.

"You probably don't have any friends from home here, either?"

She's not terribly upset about it, it doesn't create a giant void inside of her. The only one she wishes were here, honestly, is Hordak because then she would know he was okay. But the rest of her friends back home? They have things to do, but it would be nice to see them.

She spent so long alone that she didn't realize that it would be nice to have people. And now she's having to make all new ones, ones who aren't familiar with her home.

"Well, that's okay. You'll have to tell me more about your world! The world your original came from, and the place that copied you."

[cureofmanyworlds]

“No, no I don’t.” Nozomi said, shaking her head. “Each new world has been like that.”

Hearing her suggest that she tell her about her worlds does make her feel better, though. Someone to know where she came from.

“That sounds like an awesome idea! Should I talk now or wait?”

[sciencegirl]

"You can tell me now! I don't really have a lot of plans."

Collecting rocks, and maybe talking to a couple of people. Jack and Rich. And part of her would like to put that off for a while. That situation is extremely complicated.

She'd rather hear neat things about someone else's world for a little bit. It's relaxing.

[cureofmanyworlds]

"Okay, then!" Nozomi said, cheerfully. Sorry, Entrapta, she'll just mosey on over beside you for this.

"Ahh, the world my real self came from is Earth. A lot of people come from Earth, actually, but mine's a little different. There's magical worlds, kingdoms even, hidden away from the normal world and when trouble arises, we Pretty Cure are usually called on to help reverse the damage done."

She shrugged a little bit. "Earth is pretty mundane, actually. The magic we use is just confined to us and a few other creatures."

[sciencegirl]

"How do the Kingdoms work?"

She wonders how it lines up with Etheria, actually. Like their Kingdoms but hidden and secret. She's still not sure about Earth. She hasn't even seen any of the movies in the Cinema car.

She probably should, just to learn.

"And how do you access the magical worlds?"

[cureofmanyworlds]

"Well, if I remember right, they were from other worlds that usually can only be accessed by others from those kingdoms." Nozomi said. "They're connected by an artifact called the Prism Flower..."

[sciencegirl]

"Other worlds that can only be accessed by people from those kingdoms. Hmmm..." She repeats, mulling it over in her head, wondering about means of access and why they left and so much more.

"What's the Prism Flower do? Besides connect the Kingdoms?"