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

[seacub]

"Hmmm..." Well he can at least try...

"H-up!" Jumping for it like he's going for monkey bars, he narrowly manages to grab onto one of the 'rungs' of mushroom. "G-Got it..!" ...Okay.

Now to find the. Next one. Hm. "Uhh..."

[bakegarasu]

Where is it... ah!

"It's just to the upper right of you, looks like you can grab on there." He makes sure he's under Emporio, just in case.

[seacub]

"Got it..!" And with a swing, he leaps-! And grabs it, swaying a bit while he hangs there. Looking around, he asks- "Can you see the next few..?"

[bakegarasu]

"At your eleven o'clock, and then straight up after that. Should be able to get the edge from there."

[seacub]

"Right-!" And over-

And across, as the next one makes itself known-

And then one more- "HA-AH!" This is a bit fun, if he thinks about it!

[bakegarasu]

He watches Emporio scramble up onto the cap and then kicks off the ground. He jumps a decent way up and starts climbing, hanging from handholds easily. Not the first thing he's climbed and won't be the last, though he's not used to climbing anything organic.

[seacub]

Emporio for his part, peers over the edge of the cap to watch. "Careful not to grab any of the really narrow ones!" he calls. "I'm pretty sure those ones might be fragile!"

[bakegarasu]

"Got it." He scans around and leaps sideways to another handhold, pulling himself up further on the mushroom. "I don't weigh that much." His tone is light and joking.

"Shouldn't take too long..." He might need to move around the mushroom a bit more, but it'll be fine.

[seacub]

"Well you're still an adult right..?" Emporio remarks in excuse, laughing weakly. He is, ultimately, a very small kid. "Right...I think I see a good one over there..."

[bakegarasu]

"Depends who's counting." He is, but he doesn't have the experience that a lot of adults have. "Right, I see it..." He scrambles over, pushing off of the stem so he doesn't smash his face when he grabs it. He's almost at the cap, thanks to both long legs and general upper body strength.

[seacub]

"Counting? How old are you then..??" He assumes that 'counting' is a matter of age, anyway. But, from there he's a bit more quiet- he doesn't want to distract Otoha when he's this close to the end now.

[bakegarasu]

"Twenty seven." He just grunts a little as he climbs up under the cap and then over the edge to sit down next to Emporio. "Still got treated like a kid by most people in the yakuza cell... the ones who weren't terrified of me, at least."

[seacub]

"That still seems pretty adult to me though...but I guess it's sort of like in a jail, where the seniority gets taken really seriously..."

Sometimes he forgets to not say something Immensely Concerning,

"Aha-!" And here's Otoha-! "We both made it now!" Now they can just enjoy the view...

[bakegarasu]

He settles down and nods. "It is... even though I was in it from the day I was born, a lot of the older guys treated me like I was still ten..." It was normal for him but that didn't mean he liked it.

[seacub]

"Maybe that's part of it? Like...they knew you when you were smaller, so they couldn't help but want to keep you from the stuff you were actually ready for."

It's a guess, and his tone says as much. "...I know that some people here have that kind of outlook because of my age...so, if that kind of thought stuck..."

But then again, are people like that even in the sorts of places Otoha was? Hm.

[bakegarasu]

“Probably. And I never rose very high in the organization. I don’t have enough brains for strategy like that.” Besides, he’s a killer, and that’s all he’ll ever be.

He leans back and takes a deep breath. “... I won’t deny that I think you should be looked after more than most. I’m not... great with kids. But for the record I think people who underestimate you aren’t worth the time worrying over. You can always surprise them... and if they’re still doubtful after that it’s their loss.”

[seacub]

On the one hand, he can't help but feel a little bashfully touched that Otoha cares enough to say that. It might be an odd way to put it, 'looked after more than most', but it's nice.

On the other, he can't help but give a small amused snort at the last bit. "I...think I'm more worried about people on the train who'd rather me not fight, than people I'm fighting..." he laughs, hoping at the least that that's what Otoha meant.

Otherwise he's not really sure 'surprising' them would be that kind.

[bakegarasu]

"Well, they can shove their opinions up their ass. You do what you need to do." He hesitates for a moment before reaching over to put a hand on Emporio's shoulder. "And I'm... I'll be here for backup, if you need."

[seacub]

"Ahaha..." Ohhhhh he doesn't want to think of it that way though...

But- "...I'll keep that in mind though. ...Thanks," he finishes, smiling slightly.

He's...definitely not pulling him into things with Alice though. The poor woman's just worried after all, to tears even.

[bakegarasu]

He gives Emporio's shoulder a squeeze before dropping his hand. "... Place like this is really nice, huh? Weird, but not... like the last place."

Hopefully nothing is like the last place anytime soon. He didn't mind, but other people did.

[seacub]

"Yeah... ...I think the last place was pretty intense compared to others... ...I mean, the fight at the end of things on the planet with pandas was rough, but at least before that things were okay right? There..."

There, it was just bad.

[bakegarasu]

"... We changed it for the better, right? You're... you did good, Emporio." In both senses of the word. "... I.. what was the planet with the pandas?" Is there a mission briefing around? Probably. Did he read it? God no.

[seacub]

"Mnh?" Oh right he wasn't there for that- "Oh! Well, mostly it was alright to begin with; it was a natural preserve, and we had to restore the tech used to protect it. But it turned out some pirates had been chasing someone down to the planet as well- they started sabotaging our work later in the week there, and then they just attacked everyone all at once with the machines they'd taken over."

He frowns. "...I did pretty well, but a lot of people got hurt- I think it's why the train added the triage carriage after. You used to have to go from Luggage to Medical if you evacuated..."