middleofsomewhere | Fissures of Time: Start

Fissures of Time: Start

"Good Morning Voidtreckers, today is day eight of the month of Poi."
The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image appears...

FISSURES OF TIME: START

... BASE CAMP

THE VOIDTRECKER EXPRESS LANDS CLOSE TO A GIANT OF A FORTRESS SAT ATOP A HILL, A RIVER BORDERING THE WAY TO A NEARBY TOWN. 'Please head to the location marked on your map,' the Voidtrecker Express speaks through the intercoms before opening the doors out.

Passing the threashold, Voidtreckers are welcomed to a mild heat, accompanied by a passing spring breeze; the grass underfoot is a healthy wheat-yellow, with a few unfamiliar flowers dotted about. Checking their maps, they'll see they're at the very far southwest, and their their destination is the fortress - or temple - a small walk from way they are. They'll know they're heading the right direction when two figures dressed in their own military gear meet them halfway, neither human.

'Voidtreckers?' One greets with a nod, then jerks their head to the fortress. 'Follow us. We'll tell you and give you what you need; get you ready for the week you're in for.'

Voidtreckers that follow are led into spacious halls, a Grecian-like architecture with columns carved into flowering patterns, statues of idols lining the walls. There's a faint murmur of activity, but they don't see too many people before they're led into a nearby room filled with containers that close in the space. Even as they enter, a holographic map floats visibly mid-air like the one on their SCAs.

The two people go to either side of it, and it's the one from earlier that speaks again.

'This is Kolokifi's domain- most of it, anyway. Down here where we are is Eilifi's land. Another god, but a history lesson isn't what you need unless you ask for it. All up this way-' the person makes a circular motion in front of the map, leaving a visible mark on it. '--is where time distortions will be happening. The easy explan' of them is that points in the past get pulled into the present - echoes of them. Fragments, moments - Time here got well and screwed up, and tries to bring up points in the past to the present.

'Now, some have a problem with getting rid of the slips of the people that come through, so I'm going to get into that now. Thing is, if they can stick around? They will, but most of them can't. All of this is just Time trying to make a copy of the past appear, so thinking you can leave the distortions alone make everyone whole? Isn't going to work as well as you think. It just makes more problems, and that isn't pretty.' They snort. 'They're gonna fight and sound like people 'cause they are - real unfortunate, unlucky sods. If you're gonna have problems with it, don't deal with them. Leave 'em to whoever with you can, or send a signal for us on the maps. Double tap the area and then get out. There's no point gettin' trauma on top of what's already on your plate.'

Finally they nod to the various containers around.

'But don't worry, it isn't all sad shit. You've got fields to deal with too, open spaces. Boring work, but it's what we're here for. So if you're going, let's get you ready. And you come back here when you need anything.'

GEARING UP. They go through the different roles required, what's best to be done, what does what. They'll be shown how to work an equaliser, how to fit and wear the eye and earpieces - with other designs available if needed - to use the remote-controlled scouting drones.

Take the time to open up an equaliser box yourself, try to work a scouting drone. There are also medical kits, with boxes containing herbal medicine 'blessed by the Spring god here - make sure you can take it,' the Ministry worker helping them warns. There's devices in all of the kits, small scanners to double-check that a medicine won't react poorly to whatever it scans. Similar technology to what the SCAs use, but more advanced.

There's no rush to leave, and the group will also be shown where some spare carts and animals for pulling are outside, for packing up supplies on.

STAYING BACK. But people don't need to go. They can stay with the Voidtrecker Express, use a few facilities in the Ministry base, or wander the immediate area, so long as they don't go beyond the river that down the hill the fortress sits on. There's the train itself that people can stick to, take pillows and their blankets outside to enjoy the fresh air.

Or you could be coming back this way during the mission. The Ministry base has a kitchen free to use, water, and every day fresh fruit and vegetables come in carts from the same figure, flour and oats. If someone wants, they can take some of the food, or use it to make supplies for the Voidtreckers to receive if they come back this way, or other missionaries.

How they spend their time is up to them.

... KOLOKIFI'S DOMAIN

FOR A WEEK, VOIDTRECKERS WILL BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE SAME TORN, SCARRED LAND. Despite the skies being a clearer silver-grey nearer to the Ministry base, it keeps close to a blood-red as Voidtreckers wander its terrain. Heat clings to them in the dry air, the dirt as parched as the scenery leaves the eyes.

Those with scouting droners would do well to getting used to their new toys while they travel, watching out for what lies ahead. Though just from looking at it, there's nothing but the same drained landscape. Those who can fly may be tempted to do so, to get ahead. Those with superspeed, what's the point of hanging around? But eventually, everyone will learn what happens if you simply wander around here...

WHAT ONCE WAS. Sometimes, the time distortions are innocuous - a glimpse into peaceful times, a view of the world as it once was. A step, one single move forward into a time distortion, and the world around you changes. Gone is the suffering heat and chalky environment, and the world blossoms. Wild yellow-grass sways every-which way, the sky sits with fluffy clouds against and blushed pink than the blood-red.

You can move around, explore for a little while, but up until a point, the world just stops: you run, you fly, you walk, but it makes no difference.

...It also means you can't leave. Well, good thing your SCA still works to ask for help.

These time distortions will be the simplest to deal with, only occupied by a few wild animals, maybe fish in a stream. A good place to practice with the equaliser, and to watch as the scenery fades to the stark reality of the present day.

UNEARTHED WAR. But then, peace isn't what led this land into the state it is. The skies are a lavender and red, and sometimes:

Mother Nature

'Who goes there!'

'You're no warrior of Kolokifi! Come quietly under her mercy, or suffer her judgment!'

( MOD NOTE: Play these scenarios to whatever degree you like; people can be knocked unconscious or situations can't be helped. Choose what is best for yourself or your character. )

IDYLLIC LIFE. Except, it's not a battlefield that is the hardest to deal with. There are the instances of peace, but when it comes with those more aware than just the flowers or animals - but with people.

Sometimes, they might be moved around: a pair on a picnic, or people with tents by a lake, enjoying themselves. Or, you might get asked what you're up to, asked to join them. Perhaps it's a merchant going to the next town. 'Kolokifi may be a blessed God, but you know Silifi's fields bring their best this time of year.'

They may disappear, without knowing what you were doing - or realise something is wrong, just towards the end. Steel your heart.

The hardest are the towns, sections of them, and moving around them, trying to find the best place to set up.

But if an equaliser goes off too early, doesn't get set in the best place (was it because the best place was in a river? Where a house is, with nowhere to set the equaliser?), then fractions of this settlement will start to disappear - and the civillians will notice, and the panic will be quick.

If it becomes too tough, remember: A marker can be set on the maps and a call made for another group - non-Voidtreckers - to do the job.

HEAVY HEARTS IN REST. There will be enough for four separate camps to be set out from the supplies, the tents wide and spacious to put in simple bedding for the stragglers from the time distortions that do make it out.

It's here where they should be brought. Calm them down, reassure them, until you can find someone to take them to the Ministry base. This will be some work, depending on how panicked they are, distrustful. The less care and stealth used when setting Equalisers and getting rid of time distortions, the less reason these people will have to care about what the Voidtreckers have to offer - and they're already scared.

Kids, adults, the elderly - they'll try to make their escape, and sometimes end up in new distortions.

Voidtreckers will need to coordinate well with the different camps, with where their people are going. There's only so many Equalisers, and it is good to keep moving around.

And very likely, this will be a mission heavier on the heart than the body. Speak with one another, share in the weight of this world's tragedy.

OOC NOTES

OOC post. Ask questions here. Let us know about shenanigans here. NPC requests here, set up a thread here. Rewards go here.

Reminder of goals: Red Team is to deal with the heavier war-time distortions, keeping Orange people setting Equalisers safe, who will also use scouting drones + other methods to locate distortions. Purple Team aids in the smaller, more scattered distortions (includes 'idyllic' distortions), and helping Blue locate misplaced people, keeping them safe. Blue also protects and moves the camps.

NPC fighters: Their skills vary, depending on what you want to come up against. But they have guns, swords, shielding; nature can be particularly vengeful, and even typhoons might be deployed. People will be rewound from where they're going to where they were; and warriors sometimes have their own quick means of healing.

Play with whatever obstacles you want! As ever you don't have to stick to the prompts we write, this is a setting where a lot of wildness can happen so feel free to write your own distortions to take down! Also, again: For anything traumatic, you can have your characters miss anything too distressing for them. There are a lot of time distortions in very ordinary settings.

Further Prompt Ideas: Click!

Blue Team:

You're dealing with a misplaced person, and how agreeable are they? Did they run off on foot? Or use the cart animal in the night? Now you're looking for them - and either with or without them, you've ended up in a time distortion.
The camp's moving, and you're setting up for the first time, packing away for the second. Are you used to the heat? The repetition?
You've got food from the train to work with for meals, but the Ministry has packed everyone a mix too. Some ration foods that you add water to, but also an orso-like pasta and types of chicken breast (at least, it tastes like chicken), cooking sauces, pita breads. Does your character know how to cook?
You just want a change of scenery, and someone in the camp is going to one of the time distortions. Maybe you go along, just to bring out some food, or just out of curiosisty.
There's nothing stopping you from using a scouting drone - actually, being in one place makes it easy. You can speak to people through the drone. How much can you help from afar?

Orange Team:

It's your job to set up Equalisers. How confusing are they to you? Do you get unlucky? Does it jam at a bad time?
You have to set up an Equaliser in a settlement. And if it wasn't bad enough, there's nowhere good to put them except in someone's backyard/right in front of a shop stall. These people aren't pleased. They're going to get suspicious!
This distortion is too big for the amount of Equalisers you and the other person have with you. Do you realise this? Even when it's a peaceful distortion, this can be tricky - you have to pack one up and move it! Or the worst happens when you set them off, and only erase half the place - and people notice.

Red Team:

Fire burns around you as war rages. The equalisers need to be set but to get them in place the fires need put out. Tricky when there are a whole bunch of soldiers currently lighting them.
Red's job is to deal with the obstacles of the more physical-demanding distortions, but that doesn't mean they're easy to find. You end up in scenic landscapes - and you're not the person with an equaliser.
Sometimes - or most of the time - the fighters are not match for your strength. But sometimes, these warriors have skills that can manage to get you defenceless, maybe even nullify your powers.
Do you care about murder? Sometimes, it's simple self-defence - they're attacking first. But not everyone in a war time distortion is an attacker - sometimes they're normal civillians caught up in the chaos. Maybe they even help you, take your side - and you know they're soon going to disappear.
Even Red Team needs a break now and then. Wandering around at random just drops you into distortions that you can find a way to deal with. Or are you seeing what you can do? Maybe there's more that can be done than just waiting on Orange Team.
But even so, there are camps moving around - you should head back to one. Or will you risk sleeping out where a distortion might hit?

Purple Team:

Whilst helping in a town based distortion so thing goes wrong. The market has vanished and people have noticed. Specifically these angry traders, heading towards your team with the intent to stop them in their tracks.
People aren't the only problem. A distortion has spooked a heard of animals and they are stampeding. This makes it very difficult to place Equalisers.
You stumble upon a couple of chatty locals in this distortion. The equalisers still need to be set without causing suspicion so someone needs to be a distraction. How do you make small talk with people you are about to erase from time?
Often it is the terrain that makes things difficult. Clear trees or rockfalls or find a route across a difficult river.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The one that isn't a fox," Jiang Cheng replies absently, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. That's his Wei Wuxian, after all, the one who will bully him into accepting affection and warmth, the one who is vocal and real and - almost too much for him.

He's still not completely adjusted to the notion of having two brothers here, but he is managing.

"Potions?" His eyebrows raise, just a little, but he's able to look inside, to poke through things, to look at what is happening in front of him. They're so different from what he's used to, bandages and Cultivation and all the things that go with it, and he sighs.

"I know enough," he can keep himself alive easily enough, but he's no Wen Qing, "but the supplies will help."

"Magic potions, mostly." With his hands free, he can grab a few that he knows - healing, an ether. Turning with the small vials in hand, showing their different-coloured interiors, the caps.

"All of these, just throw the stuff inside on you or near you - they're magic," he explains, for how weird that will always sound. He takes one now at a time. "This one'll be good for a recharge after a hard fight, this one is good when someone's near dying or needs help right then and there - it'll do everything but re-attach a limb."

It's not that kind of elixir.

"And this one-" for the last of the three- "-is good for magic energy. Or...spirit energy? You might wanna see if it'll work," just like any of the potions, "but it's more for helping exhaustion than wounds."

He holds them out, each labelled potion - elixir - ether if Jiang Cheng should look.

"It's always good to try a lil when you can. They work for me and a bunch of other people! But different worlds and all that."

Kind of a resigned, eh, you never know, right?

"Potions, I see," Jiang Cheng is used to herbal remedies, traditional methods of medicine, using the power of a cultivator to heal. This is a little bit different.

Luckily, he's not particular fearful of the notion of "magic"; it's more familiar to him than what he's seen around the train, all the technology and different parts that is forcing him to adjust. This he can adapt to quite quickly without too much hesitation.

He pokes at the bottles and the different things, accepting the knowledge easily enough.

"If it works for spirit energy then it should work with a Golden Core, but I will check with the others." Perhaps Lan Xichen or one of the Lan Wangji might be aware of how best they work. Either way, it can't hurt to have some with them.

"If I need it I'll let you know how they work. Then we'll know for other people from my world."

"Good!" A cheery nod and he lets Jiang Cheng have the bottles, the medical kit, freeing up his own hands to let him fold his arms for a moment.

"A few people have different healing stuff around, but this is the most for the 'free for all' supplies. There's a few plants too if you don't mind chewing on leaves-" and he scrunches his nose, smile widening at the act. "--I'll have them, and I can give you one. Better if you have one of those 'put things away' spaces. Uhh, Wangji called them qiankun pouches if that means anything?"

One day, Tidus will learn a good word for 'hammerspace' that isn't 'hammerspace'.

Unfortunately, the notion of anyone offering to heal him makes him feel somewhat discomforted - lack of trust being high on the list of reasons why he hates it, discomfort with anyone treating him medically near it - but he admits that he might not have a choice.

Things happen in battles. Jiang Cheng cannot promise he'll come out of things with no wounds whatsoever.

"I don't have a qiankun pouch, but I can carry things myself." He has pockets, and other kinds of pouches. Either way he'll manage - he'll force it to happen. "I'll see if more supplies can be made later, once this mission is over."

No pouch? --well, that's fine, and there'll be plenty of supplies available from other sources if Jiang Cheng does happen to run out. So he nods, and - might as well? Might as well - he'll bring out the pouch of the leaves he has from his own arms band, hands coming close together to be ready for the small bag that appears.

"Here, just in case," he hands over, the smell fresh leaves inside. "Anything you can do later'll be great! If you know anyone who can make or do anything later, too - lemme know."

The more spread of supplies, the better!

He looks down at the leaves with a tilt of his head, glancing at them for a moment before he nods his head. Maybe there's more he could do - maybe he could get some things for the garden, something to grow into proper herbs, he had heard a little of Wen Qing's studies in the past - but for now his mind is on the mission.

Jiang Cheng tucks his supplies into the belts and pockets he does wear, what little he can fit, before he turns back to look at Tidus - before he hesitates for a moment.

He purses his lips, then -

"Have you spoken to Madoka recently?"

He thinks that's it, doesn't mind it not - but the question makes Tidus's brows raise with a surprise, lowering, his own lips pursing with some hesitation.

"Yeah." There's concern in that note, gaze flitting from elsewhere to back onto Jiang Cheng. "What's up? Did she say something?"

There's a few things she could've said, not said; she's been low spirits for a while now, but maybe the young girl showed something today.

Jiang Cheng shakes his head - he's not intending to betray her confidence, not when she came to speak to him alone and in private, but he also knows that she has friends who care about her. There's no reason not to take advantage of that.

"No," as if she would say anything, really, to most people. "But I think she might be keeping more things bottled in than she would ever say aloud. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

So that he could keep an eye on her as well.

Jiang Cheng doesn't really have to say more than that. Tidus's own face betrays what he knows, a look of understanding that's mingled with concern. He nods to the man, quiet, except-

"When the mission's over - let's treat her. She really likes drawing."

Which Jiang Cheng is already aware of, probably, but - from one guy who cares about Madoka to another.

There's not much Jiang Cheng can really do, given who he is - there's something a little awkward about it, with him trying to help. He wants to do better, wants to support her, but she's not like the people of his world.

"That sounds fine," he nods his head, considering. There's not much he can buy for her, but he is tolerable with calligraphy and can attempt to draw with her.

Maybe he could draw his home.

"She can play with the rabbit, too."

"Plenty of rabbit to play with," he jokes lightly, but it's not the time to linger - not the mood for it, either. When they get back - they'll do something then for her.

"I'll visit her if I see her. I'm going with Red," he explains with a nod. "But I can make my way 'round if we're not too far apart."

It sounds like the Purples will be closer to the Blues, but he'll figure something out. Distance hasn't ever been a problem for him before - and not if Webs is around again to teleport them.

"Enough to crush her," he agrees absently, lips pursed into a frown. It's a good thing, in the end, that Wei Wuxian got him Lili; it's a gift that has been a comfort for many.

Gathering up his supplies, Jiang Cheng nods his head, looking over to give Tidus one last look. He's not the type of man to be this honest with someone he's not necessarily completely close to, but Madoka overcomes that.

"I'll stay with blue," he says finally. "We should be fine, but thank you."

Whatever they did really for the girl - that'd count for her the most - would have to wait, but Tidus would send her a message, even if he couldn't get to her physically. He gives Jiang Cheng another nod, and raises a hand in a wave.

"Call me if you need anything. I'll call Madoka!"

It's more of a reassurance. Likely, he'd see the girl eventually, to come and put together supplies for Blue too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fissures of Time: Start

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