middleofsomewhere | Let's Get Down to Business

Let's Get Down to Business

Let's Get Down to Business

On day twenty two of the month of Llama a message comes up on the ICP's.

Voidtreckers have many questions about what happened on system #93426194992 and the entity that was encountered. Analysis shows that the entity on system #93426194992 was also present on systems #86525656412355 and #2207385.

Though it is not known what that entity is, it is clear that it possesses some level of mind influence and complex illusionary magic.

There is a void nexus on system #62138 inhabited by a religious order that, due to their close proximity to the void, employ mental techniques to help with such illusions.

We will be visiting system #62138 for three Days. The Voidtrecker express will remain with the Voidtreckers during this time and due to the nature of the void nexus it is highly advisable to sleep on board.

System #62138 is a wet world. All Voidtreckers will be safe but are advised to keep their SCAs on at all times. This should be the standard on all systems.

THE VOID NEXUS
From the windows of the Voidtrecker Express, passengers see the Void Nexus as a vast island surrounded by darkness, punctuated with rivets of colours running through the sky that casts a glow of blues and violets as they descend closer to the surface. The world faintly blurs the way one’s sight does when sinking into the depths of an ocean, the train manoeuvring around tall rocks that rise like digitates, a sea-green hue deepening over the rocky land outside.

The train doors open from each carriage, and luckily it’s not a flood that welcomes them but clammy air cool to the skin. They come out to a section of land sparse of more than tunicate-like plants under their feet, pools of silvery water otherwise sunk between small pathways that lead like bridges forward.

Which is likely their destination, a vast coral-like structure with a high opening awaiting them - and as they get closer, a being far taller than any of the Voidtrecker themselves.

ARRIVAL

They are met by a tall robed figure. First glance will show them to be a deep purple in colour with a domed head and long tentacles sprouting from their chin that sway slightly when they move. Still they nod deeply and their mouth moves into a shape that could be interpreted as a smile.

"Welcome to those of the VoidTrecker Express. Your arrival was foretold and we have awaited you. Please accept our hospitality."

They lead them onwards, explaining that outsiders are always welcome here but ask them to remain within the public parts of the temple. They further explain that their order is for the most part a silent one. There is no restriction on the voices of guests but they should not be insulted if the members of the order do not answer.

Once a small tour has been conducted the Voidtreckers are left to their own devices to train or explore as they see fit.

IT'S A TRAINING MONTAGE
Going through to the back of the temple will lead them outside once more, the gentle sound of falling water greeting them at what seems to be a distance. But yet - faint as it is to see, glistening in translucent silvers and pinks - the water is quite near and wide, spilling from the high mountain cliff that borders in an otherwise enclosed space. The pool takes up a large portion of this garden, of coral reef and circled stone pathways where every step must be considered, unless you’d like a surprise trip and dip.

Fortunately, the silver water here is light. Submerging yourself in it or sitting under its flow, you won’t find the hard rush of its weight over your heads and shoulders, and the same weightlessness follows you going under. You find that you can breathe and when you come away from the lake, your body and clothes are lightly damp at most.

Still, there is plenty of ground to walk along without going over the pool. However, the first steps of learning mental fortitude against illusionary obstacles will take you into...

[ MEDITATION. ] To combat irrationalities is to iron your own reactions to them. You are instructed to sit where you find it comfortable: those unused to mental training should keep to the shoreline, while the more intermediate may find taking the stone steps out to large limpet-shaped shells - sizeable to fit 3-4 people each - a better challenge. Those more daring should sit under the waterfall or to go into the water’s depths, where you at least don’t need to worry about breathing, or even getting that wet.

To get wet isn’t the purpose, fortunately. The purpose comes the moment you close your eyes - for as soon as you do, you feel. You sense. Some other, some thing, a presence your mind decides must be there. This sensation is lighter by the shore, but sitting above the water or submerging yourself inside it brings it stronger against you. In truth there is nothing there, no one but the other Voidtreckers, but the spell of the water - or is it the void within the water? - makes your brain think otherwise, logic not welcome company.

Being in groups can help ease the effects through the SCAs, but otherwise, true control comes down to yourself. Breaks are recommended, as there’s no point wearing down an already exhausted mind. Your mind is your defence. Strengthen it. Wield it as a weapon.

[ Combat. ]

Though not exactly what they are here for Voidtreckers will notice that this order of void worshipers train in a form of martial arts. They train outside, using the watery air as part of their movement. Training is done in large group sessions and without weapons. It has a strong focus of listening to the world around them and fighting in a way that makes them one with the world, using the environment to their advantage.

Even though that might not seem the most useful to people who won't be fighting in an environment such as this world, it is at least a good form of exercise.

Any voidtrecker who is curious is welcome to join in the training and those that show especial interest can take more specific lessons aimed at beginners.

TRAVELLING THE NEXUS
[ OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE. ] While the lake and surrounding temple will help to strengthen one’s mental defences with perseverance and training, there is more that can be done away from the temple, and the island is free to be explored. The Voidtrecker Express is stationed where it dropped everyone off, and returning to it will offer everyone a mental relief regardless of the levels of their ongoing training.

The marshland continues beyond the train, one route mostly made by the natural stone pillars that rise up from the ground like stalagmites. Higher cliffs can be climbed by those who wish to, if just for a higher view, curiosity, or privacy. From wherever you look, this island gives off the same impression as most of it already has: sea-like.

[ PLANTS. ] Underfoot, there is not earth-like grass or flowers, but seagrass, kelp, algae and more. They grow along the stone, idly waving as if submerged in water and pushed by unseen waves. Strange blue plants with purple-tipped tendrils will wiggle if touched, while at the higher levels, small bulbs of some kind cluster around the size of a fist. Types of plankton make the gnats of this nexus, too tiny most of the time to be noticed as more than dots to the eyes.

[ CREATURES. ] Also, don’t forget the fish. As tiny as a pinky finger, as big as a hand, the size of a human; they swim through the air, not particularly caring for the Voidtreckers, but also not looking to engage with them. The larger of the fish travel higher than the smaller, and those as big as whales farther up than even the taller cliffs can reach. For those that have any ideas of hunting, they will know - mysteriously, as if recalling the thought - that they should go for the larger fish, and not harm the younger, smaller ones. Those are tastier, after all.

[ STONE FOREST. ] Travel low or high, the way will take them to what appears to be a forest that spans across a large portion of the central island. But as the rest of the nexus is, this is no ordinary, woody land. Its trees are stone, coral, rising high and jagged, the water in the atmosphere denser in this jungle of rock. It turns the world a sea-green to move through, with plants and coral everywhere to be seen. The air denser, thicker, leaving small droplets of water on skin and clothes.

There are no real paths than the spaces between the ‘trees’, but there are guides to find your way to somewhere: pink jellyfish, or something of the sort floating around. They are the shiri as the monks call them, and looking upon them will tell you they will help you find where you need to go, that they will aid you if you get lost and think of them. And for those whose thoughts lean such a way, they will know that harming them will bring a greater injury to the individual who does so tenfold, and they will find no guidance at all on this nexus until they have repented.

Read: Enjoy being stuck on the train for the rest of the stay.

[ CONCH LAKE. ] For those less destructive, a short travel through the stone forest will lead them to a lake, with what can only be described as a conch shell gazebo accessible in its centre. Bubbles float up and around, balls of water made to linger by whatever strange force controls this place. They can be made to bounce away and around with a touch, and respond to being thrown as a ball might. Just, watch out: They like to burst at random, no matter the force used, scattering as tiny beads all over the air.

The water here is different from that around the temple, its colour more blue, but closer to aqua than what many are used to. Yet diving into it will have the similar properties that allows one to hold their breath for much longer than usual, and to move with an ease, like floating weightlessly. There’s no worry if they close their eyes here, a peace radiating from the pool; like a refuge from the trickery that lurks no matter where you are in this nexus.

Climbing out of the pool will have you damp, more appropriately soaked than the temple’s lake. There’s nothing like towels or a great way to dry off, but you can sit and hang around under the conch gazebo if you like.

Or perhaps messing around isn’t what brought you here, but the four iridescent slabs of stone that stand at intercardinal points at the edges of the lake, that speak of the Trials to the mind when you look upon them.

THE FOUR CAVERN TRIALS

There are four caverns, four trials, with each slab suggesting their test. Upon deciding where you will go, a shiri will come to guide your character through the forest to where the stone trees part, and a half an hour walk will lead Voidtreckers to a vesicular cavern.

You know as you approach the cave’s mouth that the shiri will guide you out if you need it, but they stay outside, leaving those searching for advanced training to journey on in themselves. Passengers descend, dots of light coming through the multiple holes above to illuminate the way as you go deeper into the cave.

And you won’t have to go far to find the crystals in any of the caverns, though there’s many pathways to go deeper in. Attacking the stones to break them won’t do much, but when you put your hand on one…

The illusions start, pulling in anyone nearby.

[ CAVE OF PERCEIVING. ]    Bend deceiving labyrinths into your own path.

What is real? What is not? This cave holds a large underground river flowing through it. The water is not too fast flowing or deep but it is cold enough to be a shock if anyone falls in.

Fall in they might for their task is to cross the river. The river is filled with stones large enough to hold a person as they cross. However not all of those stones are real, some are just illusions and if they step on the illusionary rocks they will fall through to the river below.

It is possible to get by on trial and error but the task will not be considered complete until they force their minds to see through the illusions are perceive the one true path.

[ CAVE OF ENDURANCE. ]    Wounds bleed and skin burns only to bodies that believe it.

This cave may differ between Voidtreckers. Sometimes it is a monster they must face or an environmental challenge to battle through.Perhaps the searing heat of a fire or the low altitude and freezing temperature of a mountain top. Perhaps a lizard with claws and teeth. The important part is not defeating the threat but to neutralise the damage. It's not real and the mind can overcome it.

All the caves are probably best faced in groups but this was especially so. They are unlikely to be able to make the damage unreal to start with and so there is likely to be a fight or struggle before they succeed.

[ CAVE OF HEART. ]    To accept crafted desires is to invite everlasting grief.

Here they are in a beautiful place. A meadow, a forest, a rocky beach. The weather is beautiful, not too hot not too cold. A little further in is something they want, something their heart yearns for.

They can't see it yet but they are sure they will, if only they go deeper into the grass, the trees, the water. It is there, just out of reach.

To pass this test they must walk away. Turn around and leave despite their heart calling to them to go deeper.

[ CAVE OF MIND. ]    Craft a weapon from your own vulnerabilities.

Fear does not have to be a weakness. The cave is filled with a lake and in the centre there is a bubble of water, it contains something they fear. They can't see it but they know it is there. Perhaps a person, a place, an object.

Facing a fear is one thing but this task asks for more than that. To accept the fear as part of them, to turn it into a strength to protect others.

This trial is the most personal and perhaps the most difficult. They must step into that space, knowing that they will face what they fear whilst also knowing that it won't be real and use that knowledge and acceptance to bring down the entire illusion, bubble, lake and all.

art sources: alien / landscapes / waterfall / caverns

OOC Information

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, I've done some of the dishonest work too. But to my credit, I tried to do it to the people what had no business havin' it in the first place."

At least after a time he did. He chuckles to himself and ones he's sure of his footing he takes a few hops forward. Really could use those hover boots of Quills. He takes the time to take a good look around again.

"I never thought I'd have to use my fin as much as I've had to on the train. Had it for a good two-thirds of my life, roundabouts. Better hope this shit holds out."

"Even the dishonest kind is more honest than the people making the decisions that call for it," Asch says, with a bit of a grumble. "I'll take someone willing to get in the thick of it than someone who pays someone else to do it any day."

He takes another step, crossing the halfway point, before turning, with relative politeness by Asch standards, to wait for Yondu to catch up a bit. Truthfully, the conversation is helping, since it gives his brain something to focus on other than second-guessing itself.

"I had to come up with a way to keep the smog at bay in the city," he offers. "So if nothing else, the damn place is forcing us to improve."

After using his fin a few times he starts seeing disturbances in the illusory rocks. Red, keen eyes trace along the water, picking out the ripples and shadows that are senseless. He's seeing through the illusion, which is the point he supposes. The context clues. Though he would still count the fin as "seeing", it's very much one of his senses, even if it's artificial in nature.

"Spend all your young years improvin' so you can get used, puts a bad flavor for it in your mouth. I've been tellin' myself that I'm doin' it so I can help watch out for all y'all. Unfortunately, that means the train gets a lil' favoritism."

He's got people to take care of, so that's his focus. He hates the idea of serving the train. But right now a bunch of their lives depend on the shitty thing being able to maintain their hold on them.

"Gotta do what I can to keep the worst from happenin'." He keeps following him across the river, mostly having the hang of it now, thought some of the real rocks aren't as not-slippery as he'd like, doing a flappy armed flail when he hits one.

"You're only one person," Asch points out, mildly. "Better to give decent support to a handful of people than shitty support to everyone."

Not everyone can handle being the kind of person who looks out for every soul that passes them by. Asch can't, and he knows that about himself. He'll act always for the sake of the world, but on the individual level? He doesn't have it in him to do that kind of caring.

"You're prioritizing," he continues. "And it feels shitty when you have to prioritize some people over others, but it's still the better decision as a leader, in the long run."

And with that, he hops to the second-to-last stone, almost to the far bank.

"Fortunately I know I'm not the only one who's like that. We got three or four of us." He chuckles. "I'm just foolin'" he adds, in case this guy takes a fit of the Quills and doesn't understand that he's just joking, and knows that there are more than a few that'd watch out for their own.

He's better seeing the 'real' rocks even without using his fin now, hopping along after him.

"So what're your thoughts on the train?" Not so much the training. It is what it is. And he's not gonna hold it against him. He just wants to know what the guy's thinking so far and what he would actually want to contribute.

Asch blinks a little at the clarification, but it's not like he can really complain about the clarification, can he?

"Cramped," is his first and instant reaction. "There's barely room to swing a regular sword, nevermind the kind of weapons I'm used to." Blade weapons just don't do small, most of the time.

He jumps to the last stone before continuing with a more considered answer. "It feels like there hasn't really been time to recover," he says after a moment. "Just rushing headlong from crisis one to trying to prepare for crisis two. If it's always like this? You people must be fucking exhausted."

"I used to run dangerous missions back home all the time. That ain't much of a bother." He makes the last few rocks, and on the last one he nearly tumbles, blurting a- "Don't you do it you piece of shit!" -as if an inanimate object might bow to the sheer will of spite. But luckily he salvages it and makes it, turns and points accusingly.

And finds himself outside holding a crystal, out of nowhere.

"...Well, shit..." he mutters, having not expected that.

Then he turns to Asch. "Uh.... yeah they told me missions were gonna be easy when I started out, but apparently they been getting rougher."

"Makes sense. Sucks like hell for the people who get thrown in these days, though." Another jump from the last stone to the bank, which ends on a slight spin in order to actually face Yondu and continue the finish the conversation. "A dangerous mission and a crisis are different, though. One of them's got time and civilian casualties bearing down on you."

For Asch's part, he finished the trial... But came out holding out nothing. He stares at his hand, then at Yondu's, and then says, "I think it thinks I cheated."

"...Well that ain't fair." He looks back at the cave spitefully.

"You did it same as me."

After some consideration, he plops the stone into Asch's hand. "To hell with it, I can do that one again." He'll take care of his team dammit, so they don't have to waste their time figuring out the 'right' way to do something.

"I can give it another try anyway," Asch says. He flips the stone back around with startlingly quick reflexes, tossing it lightly back at Yondu. "It's not really that difficult for me."

He shrugs his shoulders vaguely. He's not used to being taken care of by anyone and it shows; even with Jade and the other people in the town, he's less reliant on everyone else. Being a part of a team at all is still new to him; being taken care of is outside of his experience.

He catches it equally quickly, which might be a surprise for an old man, but not one used to casually snatching things out of the air and with startling quick reflexes.

"If ya look real hard at the rocks, the ones that are fake don't have water flowin' around 'em the right way. Doesn't look quite right. At least to me."

Look. He's blue. Neither of them is human here, Yondu's just significantly more obvious about it. Asch's core crystal is the only obviously blade part of him on display, but that plus being more human-passing than average doesn't make him more human.

Asch nods, noting the advice down, even as he hesitates before saying, "I'm almost never wrong on a blind guess," and leaves it at that. It's too complicated to try and explain his intuition even if he didn't hide it habitually.

"Yeah, okay." He doesn't even ask for an explanation. He's seen so much shit it's ridiculous.

"In my opinion you shoulda got it. The whole first half I was usin' my fin." His artificial sense was a powerful one, and had proven invaluable for these missions. Funny that he'd never had to rely on it quite so much before, incidentally honing it. Honestly he was starting to worry it could be damaging him but also, partially, didn't give a shit if it did or not.

"Them rocks look differ'nt enough to pick up on. You sure you don't just want this'n?" He holds it up again.

Honestly, the lack of questioning is a little bit relieving.

"Yeah, I'm sure. If it winds up not working after another try or two, I'll take you up on it, but it's not like everything has to be done the first day." (Says Asch, who is doing everything he can the first day, but that's so that he has the second two to mess around with water ether and practice with that while he's in such a good environment for it.)

"I can't wait to be done with these damn caves." He sneers at them, hating the whole idea of them.

"I'm gettin' 'em over as quick as I can. Then I'm goin' fishin', to hell with this."

Though he's taking this far more personally than everyone else. It stinks too much of the worst type of mental conditioning to him, even if that's not accurate. Bad experiences put his mind in a bad place.

Asch snorts. "Trust me, so am I," he says. "I don't get a lot of chances to work with an environment like this."

He flicks one hand in a gesture like he's tossing a juggling ball or hackeysack, and a small orb of water follows the motion as though he'd thrown it. Asch 'catches' the ball in his other hand, and it disappears. "Usually I only work with darkness and fire much," he says. "Can't turn down the opportunity to practice while it's here."

"Hey, that's pretty handy." He can't do magic so he's always kind of impressed by those who can. And is astounded by the sheer number of people that can do water-related stuff.

He had experience with magicians, just not ones that made so much use of Wet.

"Centaurians are big hunters. An' I might not have been raised there, but the inclination's in my blood. Fishin' with an arrow? Close enough."

He pulls his coat out to show the arrow in its holster.

"Honestly, I've mostly only ever used it to keep rain off my clothes." At least as far as he can remember, anyway. "But missions aren't going anywhere."

And every bit of skill worth having is something they might need, not just this training with the illusions.

Still, Asch leans forward a little to look at the arrow with curiosity. "Just an arrow?" he says. "Blades can get some weird weapons, but I've never seen anything like that."

He whistles and the arrow zips up to hang in the air by his head, hovering there.

He reaches up and flicks his finger against it, and it stays there rigidly until he whistles again, changing the tone and letting it drift with that soft red trail behind it. Then he taps it, and its lightly nudged in the air into a spinning motion.

"Centaurians never stop aimin', even if they use a bow. In my case I am the bow," he explains, tapping it so it spins once more and then putting it back in its holster.

Asch watches the arrow with the keenness of someone who is figuring out, maybe not how it works, but how he might need to work with or against it. There's a certain combat-readiness in the set of his shoulders in the absence of any actual threat.

"Blade weapons aren't dissimilar in some ways," he says, "but they're not actually physical objects in the same way most things are. They're ether-constructs."

"Ether? I think that's what Cherry uses. Or somethin' similar. She's a real good kid, by the way. Purple team but she hangs with blue sometimes."

He doesn't mention that she can't read. He wants to help her with that when he can, but it's hard when he knows they speak a couple of different languages and with translators he doesn't know if he'd be teaching her right.

He should probably talk to Q'uila about that.

Aside from all that, though. "You got somethin' special you use?"

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Let's Get Down to Business

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