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.
controlsthedie: game art of Thanatos default conversation picture (But the other saying I like so much more)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-05-12 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
"It does," he sighs. There's nothing he can do beyond his messages, and it's frustrating. "Were you in the middle of anything back on your world?"
marvelous_murderbot: (Default)

[personal profile] marvelous_murderbot 2021-05-13 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Nothing critical," she responds, "and nothing I couldn't bear to have interrupted."
controlsthedie: game art of Thanatos default conversation picture (But the other saying I like so much more)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-05-16 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
"The Fates were kind to you." Thanatos isn't jealous, merely glad that she doesn't have to worry about things like he does. He wishes his situation on no one.
marvelous_murderbot: (conversation)

[personal profile] marvelous_murderbot 2021-05-16 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Perhaps, perhaps not. I was on the verge of a free life. This is better than what was, true, but it is hardly that."

"Still," she added, "my perspective may change, with time."
controlsthedie: painterly side profile of Thanatos with purple butterfly (If you take my advice)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-05-17 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
"A free life, huh?" What exactly is that like, he wonders. It's not a life he can imagine. Thanatos was born Death Incarnate. His role was already woven by the Fates.

"Well, if there's one thing we have on this train, it's time."
marvelous_murderbot: (Default)

[personal profile] marvelous_murderbot 2021-05-17 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
She nods, with a slight smile.

"I will remain hopeful, then. I have to, I think."
controlsthedie: long hair Thanatos with small smile (死んでください♥~)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-05-17 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe you can send your past self a message of hope," he says, returning that slight smile. "Others are trying stranger things."

Speaking of others trying stranger things, maybe he should check on some of those others.
marvelous_murderbot: (Default)

[personal profile] marvelous_murderbot 2021-05-17 11:56 am (UTC)(link)
She smiles, shaking her head.

"There would be no point, but it is an interesting suggestion. I feel scientists of my universe might find it quite the alarming prospect, from a temporal perspective, as well."
controlsthedie: game art of Thanatos default conversation picture (But the other saying I like so much more)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-05-18 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
"If you change your mind, there are plenty of bags left. The train expected us to send a lot of messages." He pulls one out to show her what to look for, just in case.

"See you back at the cabin after mandatory sleep if not earlier."