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

[I - Meditation]
The silence part of this doesn't bother Hajime much. He's fine with staying quiet. It's the stillness of this meditation that he doesn't like. He'd rather be doing something; it's hard for him to see this as anything other than just sitting around waiting for something to happen. He'd rather not focus too hard on whatever's rattling around in his brain, thanks, because he knows his more monstrous side is still there. Quiet, but still capable of coming out to wreak havoc if he's not careful. He spends a little time in the shallows, and his brain sensing a thing there is not helping given his own concerns that the Joker Undead might surprise him in a moment of weakness. His restlessness brings him into the shells as though that might help, but he doesn't spend too long there. He can't. He stays quiet the whole time and makes no particular effort to reach out to anyone else, but the expression on his face suggests a very extreme discomfort with all of this.

[II - Combat]
The combat is much more suited to his tastes. He's never been fond of group work, but this isn't sitting around waiting for things to happen. It's better.

He'll follow along as instructed, absolutely comfortable with this sort of thing. Even though his own brand of fighting tends to be a bit more direct--and flashier, though he wouldn't describe it as such--there's still some use to this, and he feels like it's worth the effort. (Plus, it is not another round in the creepy water, thanks.)

[III - Trials]
Despite his misgivings about the meditation part of things, Hajime seeks out the trials when given the chance.

The illusions in the Cave of Percieving aren't too bad. It takes him a couple of tries, but he's able to cross without incident. Just crossing a river, that's simple enough.

Which means the illusions in the Cave of Endurance are a bit more than he'd bargained for. It's hard to curb his natural impulses to fight back when he's jumped by monsters of various types, all of them human-sized and covered in an uncomfortable amount of spikes. He gets wrapped up enough in the brawling in his first few attempts to earn more than a few cuts and scrapes, all of which are bleeding an unsettling bright green. Eventually, he and his scrapes and bruises manage to make it through.

The Cave of Heart is easier to shake off, even if it's more immediately painful. There's an excited little girl there, waving to him and calling out, "Hajime-san! Hajime-san!" Hajime remembers what he'd thought of the welcoming illusions from the previous mission. Too convenient, too easy, too likely to exist only to slow one's progress. That makes it easier--but not easy, never easy--to turn and walk away. Nope. Nope. Not real, not here, if he focuses on it not being real then it can't rip out his heartstrings.

He thinks he's done with the worst of it by the time he gets to the Cave of Mind. He's fought monsters, he's had to deal with an illusion of Amane, and he figures nothing else could rattle him too badly, especially not after the Sealing Stone had showed up during the last mission's illusions. It is with no small amount of surprise that he's slow to react to an illusion of the Joker Undead coming at him. Yeah, it's what he fears most, but it's also himself. This one's going to take a bit of doing.

Madoka has been trying out the whole meditating thing.

It's weird. It's not anything she's done back home, and so she can't help but wonder if it's normal that you feel something sneaking up on you like that. It feels weirdly omnious, while Madoka is pretty sure the whole point of meditation is calming down.. isn't it?

It makes her peek her eyes open. Enough to look around her a bit - and therefore enough to spot Hajime sitting there like that, looking so uncomfortable.

"Um.." She whispers, not wanting to disturb anyone else trying to meditate, as she leans a little in his direction. ".. Is everything okay?"

He rubs his head before opening his own eyes. "I'm fine." The way he absentmindedly checks one of his hands like he's expecting it to look different does not suggest "fine," but that's his story, and he's sticking to it. "You hanging in there?"

"Ah, I'm.. okay.."

There's some hesitance in it though, the way she answers. She's sure she's okay, at least, but there's something else on her mind that's bothering her. That's what makes Madoka pause a little as she's talking, rather than answering right away.

"Something just feels a little.. um, odd, I guess..?" She tilts her head a little as she's talking, like she's thinking. "But I'm not sure if that's normal, since I've never meditated before.."

"Neither have I." Hajime frowns slightly. "I suspect this isn't how a normal meditation session would go." He glances over his shoulder again. "I suspect a normal session would be more peaceful."

Peaceful makes sense. Pictures of people meditating always looked peaceful, after all.

But that does beg one question. And clearly Hajime, the older one here and therefore the Responsible Adult in Madoka's eyes, must have the answer.

"Why would we be having such a strange feeling then when we try to do it here..?"

"Something about this world, I think." Hajime resists the urge to look over his shoulder again. "It's strange." Not like he's been to many worlds to compare it to.

"Something about this world.. Something that makes you feel like there's someone there even when there isn't.." Madoka sums up.

She mostly sounds like she's still thinking about it herself as she says it, and frowns slightly, in a thoughtful sort of way.

"I hope that doesn't mean there's something bad here.."

"If there is, there are enough people on the train capable of fighting it." Hajime's trying to be reassuring here.

Madoka pauses.

She really doesn't want to be pessimistic! And she's pretty sure that Hajime really knows what he's talking about. But on the other hand.. "What if it's that thing from the end of the mission?"

That odd.. entity, whatever it had been. The thing that had caused all of those illusions.

"I don't think most of us were dealing with it very well back then.. Even the reliable adults were having trouble."

"If it's a smaller variant of that thing," Hajime reasons, "then it should be easier to defeat than the one from the mission. A sort of training exercise." In theory, anyway. Even if trying to do this still makes him look around for whatever's approaching, ready to fight it.

"You think they're really letting something sneak up on us here?"

Right now she has no idea whether it's just a feeling or whether there's really something there whenever they close their eyes, after all.

"Whenever we close our eyes?"

"That's what it seems like." Hajime frowns thoughtfully. "We could take turns keeping watch, if you'd like."

It does sound like a bad idea to let something sneak up on them while they're both having their eyes closed.. Especially when they have no ideas about the intentions of whatever it is. If it's one of the monks, it probably can't hurt, but what if it's something scarier or more dangerous than that?

Besides, how would something appear and then disappear so slowly when one opens their eyes?

It's a mystery Madoka is kind of terrified of, but also a little curious about, in the way most teens can't quite resist horror mysteries. So she slowly nods.

"Okay.. Should I close my eyes first, or should you..?"

He's the responsible adult here, so he gets to make the choice.

"I can do it first." He figures that might be more reassuring. He's going first, it's perfectly safe, no big deal.

He still seems tense as he closes his eyes.

Madoka is making sure to do her part of this. The moment Hajime closes his eyes, she sits even a bit more upright, like she's Determined to spot anything at all the moment it might show up. It feels like something should show up, anyway, with that feeling they keep having whenever they close their eyes.

.. and yet.. Even as she's sitting there, waiting for something to show up any moment now, nothing does.

It leaves the girl a little uncertain, biting her lower lips until she finally speaks up - softly, because she doesn't want to break his concentration fully: "I.. I can't see anything."

He's been sitting there with his eyes closed trying to look relaxed and probably failing to look entirely relaxed. But at her words, he opens his eyes again. Hard to break concentration when you don't really have it to begin with. "It still felt like something was coming. Do you want to try?"

"Okay."

It's a lot less scary to close her eyes when she knows that there's someone nearby keeping an eye out, after all.

So Madoka nods and does close her eyes, trying to concentrate again.. only to feel the same feeling, like something creeping up on her. She tries to keep her eyes closed though, no matter how awkward and unsettled it makes her feel, trying to trust the fact that Hajime is there to help in case something bad does happen.

"Nothing's here," Hajime says after a little bit. He's trying to be reassuring. But it's frustrating, feeling an oncoming enemy and not being able to to anything about it other than ignore it and hope it goes away. That's what this feels like, ignoring things and hoping they go away.

Madoka slowly peeks her eyes back open after he says it. Despite believing Hajime, the girl can't help but look a little around her all the same, just to make sure there's really nothing there.

"Then maybe there's no actual enemy here," she says. Why else would it not have used the opportunity to sneak up on them and actually do something already? "It could be that the feeling is there on purpose. Um.. To teach us how to meditate better, or something like that.."

"We've got to...I don't know that 'ignore' is the right word to use." There's a grimace. "But you're right. It's got to be a teaching exercise. Learn to break through that, and you can break through other things."

Thanks, he hates it.

She nods.

That does sound likely, especially since she figures there's no way Hajime would miss it if there really was something giving them the feeling, other than induced paranoia they have to practice with.

But there's something else that draws Madoka's attention too - something that makes her frown.

"You don't look very happy about it." (Understatement of the year.)

"I prefer a direct fight." There's a sigh. "Tricks like this don't sit well with me." He settles back in to close his eyes again. "But not everything can be fought with physical strength alone."

"Oh.. I get that."

Not on a personal level. After all, look at Madoka's thin teenage girl arms. Those sure aren't going to knock out anything soon. But she can still on a more objective level understand that a lot of people would find the idea of dealing with something in a more direct way like that comfortable.

"But.. even if this is a little harder to deal with.. We're still lucky that we don't have to deal with it alone, right? The fact that I know I have people like you to lean on makes it a little easier for me, a-anyway.."

There's a nod. Far more certain than he's feeling; he can't let the kid down. But man, he's not at all well acquainted with this working together thing at all. "It would seem that sticking together is consistently thought of as a source of strength across a great many universes."

Let's Get Down to Business

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