middleofsomewhere | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, yeah, that's true. But sometimes we have to take a little break and recharge. We won't be able to help if we're not physically or mentally at our best.

[ Thanatos is reminded of when Lord Hades told him he needed to take a break. However, he didn't do much to actually alleviate his workload. Mortals still died. The work needed to be done. He never got that break. Instead, he was always late. ]

Were it simply a matter of stopping. Some of us have responsibilities that keep us working at all hours.

[ She glances at him with a small frown. ] Yeah...I guess it'd be hard to take a break from your regular job, huh?

[ At least here he could rest between missions. ]

Even when I stop, I can still feel the pull of those dying.

[ It's not something people understand, but at least he does take breaks during missions. He doesn't get a choice. ]

Still, I would hope that if there is a world we could help, we would instead of taking a break like this...

[ She doesn't quite understand, but she can imagine how that would make it difficult for him to relax. ]

Well...we do also have to wait for a call to help before we can do anything. But it is important to take care of yourself, physically and mentally, so you'll be prepared to be able to help others.

[ Thanatos frowns. Just like Kitty doesn't understand (and Thanatos would be worried if she did), Thanatos doesn't quite understand how they have to wait for a call for help. Did they get a call from Erda? He's not sure. Maybe they did get one from that Voidtrecker. ]

It's hard to just wait around and do nothing.

[ Huh? ]

... I never thought I'd come to share this trait with Zagreus.

[ She nods a little. ] I know. But it also gives us time to prepare, and to be ready whenever a call for help does come up.

[ She glances at him. ] Oh yeah? How come? [ She actually hadn't known that Thanatos and Zagreus knew one another, but it made sense. ]

Zagreus never wants to stay put, and without my duties, I'm finding it hard to do the same.

[ Yes, he spends plenty of time in the quiet booth, but he can't stop feeling that he needs to being doing something, proving his worth, doing something that justifies being taken from his home and risking his world. ]

[ Kitty can't help frowning a bit. She can definitely understand feeling restless, but it was also good taking breaks now and then, especially after particularly stressful missions. But she isn't sure how to explain that to him. ]

...do you know a lot about war?

[ This was pretty risky, because she didn't know much about war herself. But right now, it's the only thing she had. ]

[ Thanatos gives a small, hollow laugh. ]

Ares is one of the reasons why I am so busy. Death plays a big role in War. There was a war going on before I was taken here.

[ That said, Thanatos respects Ares. He's all right. ]

[ She nods a little, not too surprised. She's heard of Aries, and knows that Death and War go pretty hand in hand. ]

So...do you think a commander would be able to keep winning battles if he pushes his soldiers to constantly fight? Even when they're exhausted, and morale is low, and they have nothing left to give...Would they still be able to go on fighting?

...

[ Isn't that what the Greeks did in the Trojan war? For ten years? Isn't that what they're doing in the current war because they need all the resources they can get?

However, Thanatos thinks he knows what Kitty is trying to get at even if he cannot apply it to himself. ]

I can understand it better for mortals. But I'm a god. I do not have the luxury of choice.

We still don't get much of a choice, even here. Where the train goes, the people we help...even being on the train at all.

All we can really do is wait, and make sure we're ready for whatever happens at the next stop.

[ Thanatos makes a soft, thoughtful noise. He has a lot to think about even if he still has trouble fully grasping the idea and applying it to himself. ]

Then it's that wait time that I need to deal with.

[ Which maybe he'll figure out. Eventually. ]

The Endless River

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