middleofsomewhere | No Place Like Home: Outside

No Place Like Home: Outside

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: OUTSIDE

HOME SWEET HOME

You find yourself not on a wide station platform, in the clothes you last remember, holding what you were when you went through the glas door. There's no longer a train behind you, no sound of its whistle, with no other passengers around you in similar style of clothing to your own.

You're somewhere familiar, or just - the last place you remember being before your life became tethered to the Voidtrecker Express. A field, a city, a kingdom, or perhaps even a space station. You should be nowhere, yet you find yourself somewhere, despite all odds.

People - if there are people - don't at first notice you; but attract enough attention to yourself, and that will all change. Friends, family - are they near, a phonecall away? It's either everything you wanted or everything you imagined (for good or worse), and it could seem unbelievably real. But it is real - you're off the train, back somewhere you know.

Finally - the journey is over...

...If only.
You're moving away from where you arrived, for whatever reason. Who wouldn't? You may be far from home, have business elsewhere, or want to go sightseeing. It's time to return to - and live - your life, and that doesn't include sticking to one place.

But you'll find that when you reach a point, the world becomes...foggy. A fog that you hadn't seen in the distance before it appears, and when you walk through it, you'll find yourself in a place some have already found themselves in.

Because for some passengers, there was nowhere for them to return, and so the barriers lead only to fog, and then straight back onto the platform. The Voidtrecker Express may be stationed, or there may be a blanket of fog where it should be; sometimes, it can be caught trying to leave the station, only to come back a few minutes later. The doors are shut tight, and the windows are obscured, showing nothing inside.

Those who came from somewhere can go back, should they go through the turnstiles again. And if they want, they can take people along with them, too...

But sometimes, they go to a world no one knows. They go through the barriers into nothing, a black emptiness. Not space, for those that know space, and it doesn't seem to be the void either. But it is a void, devoid of anything at all. Just a darkness so complete they will not be able to see anything at all, they will only know their companion is there through touch and sound. How they are breathing, how they are living at all, is a mystery; one probably answered only by the SCA on their wrist.

Being there brings an unease deep down inside them. This place is not natural, not somewhere that they should exist in. Not a place that should exist at all. Luckily they are never there for more than a few moments before they return once more to the station, fog covering them like a safety blanket.

A DIFFERENT CORNER: LOCATIONS

In the first couple of days (whatever that means, when time doesn't match up between most places), the only way to move to another's tethered location is by them leading another there. But after that, individuals will show up in other locations when they reach close to the distance limit. Indeed as time goes on everything gets a lot less stable. They may know their five miles perfectly but still one step to another leads them back to the platform. Attempting to return to their world leads them somewhere else entirely.

And there's quite a few places to end up.

SETTLEMENTS

Buddhist Temple, China ( Koumyou Sanzo | TL )
Rebel Camp, Lothal ( Hera Syndulla | TL )
Homestead, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA ( Nell Ingram TL )
Capsule Corp ( Trunks | TL )
School Grounds, College ( Idia Shroud | TL )
City Ruins, beach ( Najaran | TL )
Hakkei Palace, Tai ( Taiki | TL )
Gusu Lan, mountain sect (China) ( Lan Jingyi | TL)
Lotus Pier, riverside, China ( Jiang Cheng | TL )
The Endless Abyss, Hell ( Shen Qingqiu | TL )
Hyrule Castle Town ( Zelda | TL )
Haven Palace ( TL )

COMMUNITIES

Spaceport ( Yondu | TL)
Mobile Station Base ( Kiyoiri )
Arkwood, Town (Ryo | TL )
Techstead, Town ( Devero | TL )
Tatsumi Port Island ( Ken Amada )
Mor Dhona / Town, Mountain, Lakes ( K'zeka Tai | TL )
Hyrule Field & Lon Lon Ranch ( Link | TL )
Ishigami Village, Japan ( Senku Ishigami | TL )
Aether Paradise/Artificial Island/Natural Preserve ( Katsuya Jonouchi )
Nautilus ( Spark/Clef TL Clef | TL Spark )
The Underworld, Hades ( Zagreus and Thanatos | TL )
Sanctuary ( TL )

CITIES & KINGDOMS

Saillune City ( Zelgadis | TL )
New Mantle, City ( Ruby Rose | TL )
Brooklyn, New York City, USA in 2017 ( Jake Peralta | TL )
Azabu-Juban District, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan ( Usagi Tsukino | TL )
Hau'oli City ( Eva Iden'no | TL )
Gauig City ( Little One/Buttercup | TL )
Kyoto, Japan ( Masumi Sera | TL )
Shinjuku, Japan ( Yosuke Otoha | TL )
Kingdom, Evermore ( Roland Crane )
Garlemad, Kingdom ( Zenos | TL )
Kingdom of Knothole ( Mina Mongoose | TL )
Domino City ( Yugi Muto | TL )
Amnity Park ( Danny Fenton | TL )
Garlemald ( TL )
Lothal ( TL )
Los Angeles ( TL )
The First - Crystarium and Lakeland ( Elidibus | TL )

OOC NOTES

OOC post. Ask questions here.

LOCATION TOPLEVELS: Since it'll be easier for players to engage with settings presented by those offering them, when we see a toplevel for one of the above locations put up, we'll add it to the list! We've also included the OOC comments for settings to the side, so any questions can be left with the player, as well as extra details. Please always speak with the player first if you intend to do anything drastic to the setting!

A REMINDER: Time of log is Poi 22-25, but time within worlds can last up to a maximum of two weeks. Minimum is whatever you want it to be.

During Poi 22 and 23, characters will need to be led to a location to be able to access it. From Poi 24, people will show up in locations regardless of invitation.

The second half of the event will go up during 20th to 25th February (Poi 26-28). But as always, play around in here and do as you like!

If your character's setting isn't above, link us to it in the Questions post, along with your toplevel! We'll add it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You would think that finding out a bunch of posthumously good things about his legacy would be fantastic, but it's not. It's infuriating for reasons that he can't put his finger on. So he needs these little ventures into other worlds to cope until either the Ministry fully fucks up and his wayward soul is dissolved or he goes back to the train and has to deal with that through all new eyes.

They've both got nerves, and a world with dragons and other odd creatures is a lot better than just fuckin' thinking right now. (That's a part of why he's been showing off his world, some people might need the out and he's not even bothered by any shit people pull on a colony he has no attachment to.)

"Yeah, I'm ready to meet her." He's handled teleporting pretty well- between many of the people he knows on the train, he practically has to get used to it at this point. "She ready to meet me?"

Because he remembers what it was like, having to socialize after having been a thing for so long. Adjusting was rough. To this day he still looks down and away when he's uncomfortable like he's trying to disappear from a conversation, and it's been decades. What's it gonna be like for her?

"Alright-" and with one final breath, Eva tosses the masterball high into the air--

And in resounding crack -displaced air- of a teleport, a humaniod cat-like pokemon with short fur that towers over Eva appears midair, the masterball caught in a psychic grip. A split second later, there's a psychic presence and the telltale prickle, that, like with the abra, there's another mind brushing up against Yondu's. Only this one isn't an abra; it's something more. Intelligently curious. Cat-like yet sapient. Aware. Yet blink and it's pulled back; little more than mental background noise to go with the visual.

The Masterball is very much not given back to Eva, who nods.

A telepathic squinty cat who sounds like a rather mature child, but still a child nonetheless.'Eva trusts you. You are Yondu? I am Fluffy. Do not betray her.'

Eva promptly facepalms. "Nooo shovel talks, please?"

Between having had a teammate that had no mouth to speak of and relied entirely on psychic communication and having met Rocket, neither of these things are entirely surprising. They are, however, still impressive. Though the comment about 'shovel talks' makes him snort.

"What, you not been on the train? There's always someone that introduces themselves that way."

But he waves dismissively to the cat-thing's comment. "She'll be alright. I ain't that type of scumbag." He's still loyal, even if he's not the greatest guy... despite what his new reputation back home says... How the fuck is he even supposed to deal with that? "She already knows the worst I've done."

"You have a point," she says with a nod towards Yondu. "But we talked about this, didn't we Fluffy?" Eva finishes with a pointed look towards her daughter.

The mewtwo's tail flicks lazily, the masterball moving in sync. 'Even so, I must be certain.'

Eva rolls her eyes and then to Yondu: "Anyway, she has the right to not answer any questions you might have for her."

"I didn't, really. Not out of any kind of dislike or disinterest but I figured if she wanted to tell me somethin' about herself she could."

He puts his hands in his pockets and decides to walk around the roof to where he can get a look at the city and the occasional strange animal off doing whatever these things do. "Part of bein' free is only givin' as much of yourself as ya wanna give. I remember first figurin' that out, way back when."

Of course, being a Ravager, he doesn't mean material possessions. He'll liberate those from others as he sees fit. But the very truth of someone's person, that's theirs. Eva had told him much of 'Fluffy's story. He didn't wanna intrude.

"But I'll ask you if you brought her anything to tell her about the worlds you saw out there. Bein' confined to one world, let alone to bein' a fugitive, that don't feel like a proper way of livin'."

"Fair," Eva agrees with a hum, hanging back while Fluffy floats over to him - then past the building to hover mid-air.

'This world will learn.' The mewtwo sweeps a paw across the city. 'They fear so much. They know so little. Yet I know less than them - to read a mind is rude. I must hide, for now. I am not, yet, strong enough to take them all and carve my place within the world.'

The more she talks, the more apparent it becomes that along with the curiosity, her voice is cold like ice and thoroughly devoid of warmth. Innocently savage and ruled just as much by instinct as rational.

'Eva has. I read her mind when I was released upon her return.'

"'Balled for some very good reasons that won't be repeated now you know I'm fine, right?" Ev injects, tone serious.

'Of course not. To know her mind was not stolen is comforting. This land will live. Yet, I want to go with her. You have many battles. It looks fun. Enjoyable. To fight and annihilate threats, to dance that dance and slash and wear the blood of the foe once it is over...'

Fluffy's smile is downright terrifying, all sharp teeth and fangs, no shred of kindness.

A beat, and then, brightly: 'I would also get head scritches.'

On one hand, the whole emotionlessness about murder is unnerving. On the other? At one point, that was him. In fact it never really became hard to kill, there wasn't exactly guilt that came with it. Hesitance did build up with enough interference, enough trained empathy.

"Just remember that there are always a pocket of people that think differ'nt. That's where I found my place." Before he ruined it for himself, before he-

But wait, that's right. They'd lauded him as a hero after his death. He's still adjusting, and the pause in what he's saying is heavy enough for him to strain on before he finds some other path to take.

"The fightin' ain't bad but blue and orange don't get all that much of it. My personal preference would be more of it but we're both team leads. We gotta look out for our people." Even if he'd gone with Orange last time.

'Truth.' It would be easier if she could look into his mind, take what she needed, but that was... Eva said it was wrong. That people didn't like the breach of privacy. Yet she wanted to know and it was hard to suppress that instinct. For the sake of Eva, she did, though.

'It is still battle, still fighting.' A shrug at the end; she's not about to deny what she likes, what she was made for.

Eva offers a half-smile. Fluffy is a good person, yet the link they share... "If you ask Satoru nicely, he might take you on the next Rocket round up?"

'I shall ask. It would be a fun test to not slaughter them all.' The mewtwo agrees before turning back to Yondu. 'Yes... and it has been good for Eva. The train. To know more humans do not see her as a Traitor. Think differently to Arkeans. I want to see, yet... I fear I would make Eva sad. That I would react... ill.'

"Aliens too. I'm Centaurian, not her species. What's the name of your world again? Humans don't always line up."

He usually calls them 'Terrans' but that's because in his universe the world is 'Terra' and humans aren't exclusive to the one world. They're also on Xandar.

But if the world is named something different here, one his translator can pick up on...

'Arkea. Arkeans are humans and humans are Arkeans.' Fluffy says with a lazy roll of her shoulders before she decides she'll come sit -like a cat- on the edge of the building.

"I think I started just calling us Arkeans at some point," Eva adds. "She'd have picked up on it. It makes teaching her easier but also..."

'We sometimes miss the mark. Minds are chaotic places and thoughts come and go even in shared memories. Your world is called Centaur?'

It's a valid assumption, ok.

"Arkeans fit..." He comments idly, rubbing the back of his head 'cause he kind of remembers Krugarr using this kind of psychic discussion. It hits a familiar point he'd forgotten how to listen with.

"Centauri. Well, Centauri IV. It's what other people call it, what it gets translated as. It ain't the people's name for it but that's a little rougher to pronounce." Centaurian is mostly grunts, whistles, and clicks. When it's translated it's often filled with vowels that are the best guess for throat vocals and "w"s at best for the whistling. Yaka. Kruna. Even Yondu's own name are all twists from the actual tongue of the place.

But he's spoken with his throat since he was a baby, and the language he's made for doesn't visit his mouth as often as it should. Mostly to command his arrow.

"Dependin' on how similar your world is to Terra, if I could see the constellations I could point out the star it runs 'round."

'Like an exonym, then,' Fluffy muses with a smile. 'I could say the name if I hear it.'

Probably, but the mewtwo is banking on telepathic speech for the win here.

Eva casts a glance up at the sky and winces. She should have aimed for midnight. While the light pollution isn't as bad as it would be compared to Earth, it's still pre-dawn and it's a small mercy it's autumn, not winter or summer, that the Blue Star isn't in the Sky.

But that doesn't mean the combined light of Arkea's suns isn't already refracting in the atmosphere and dimming what stars can be seen.

"I wouldn't know; we're a binary star system in a barred galaxy." Near as she remembered from her schooling, but details. "You'll likely want to look that way," she points to the south. "It's the darkest part of the sky."

Fluff considers. 'I could create a map of the sky?'

"Then it's a little further than I can show." He looks out into the sky, committing to memory what this one is like. "Seein' what new places was like was one of the first ways where I felt free."

Having the whole universe at his fingertips was a joy to him, even during his worst days. When he stopped trusting and everything hurt, he could still find beauty in a nebula or joy in a job well done.

"Sometimes where you're born don't matter as much as where you go." He hopes that ends up being the case with the cat thing as well, and he sits cross-legged at the roof's edge.

"Create one anyway?" Eva suggests as she pulls out Roro.

'Travel does have a better taste when free,' Fluff agrees as she creates a decently sized map, one that has a glow about it due to psychic power, of the night sky on the floor. Eva walks around it as Roro snaps picture after picture.

It's nothing like Earth's sky -the band that is the centre of the galaxy is thicker and brighter, for one, though sometimes it might seem like it here and there.

'One day, I shall see what lays beyond the Greater Sea.'

"That assumes the satellite hints of other continents are even real," Eva says with an uncertain smile. "Every few years there's a few that try to cross it, but..." Eva hugs herself. "Very few ever return; those who do, speak of endless ocean filled monsters beyond anything we know how to handle."

'I could take them,' Fluffy huffs, sounding like a child who is convinced that not only can they climb that tree, but they're immune from things like falling out of said tree.

"It's real pretty. Never did any jumps in a bar galaxy. Ours was spiral. Bet those'd throw you for a loop."

He walks around the map, then, staring down at unfamiliar stars and he suddenly misses exploring so much. He misses being part of the universe. The train's hopping isn't what he wants. He wants the choice to go. Being dragged from place to place isn't the same.

If they never fix this, and this is it for him, at least he has these last few visits, these last few trips that he's choosing to go on. This world? He wanted to walk into, he wanted to see it, and now he's under a strange sky that he wanted to see looking at an unknown vastness under his feet.

"You don't gotta fight ever' one of 'em I bet. I bet with powers like this, sometimes you could slide on by. With a silver tongue you could even make some friends that make it rough for people to try an' chase ya."

Allies were a hell of a thing. They're nice to have again.

"Probably," Eva nods. "But you'd get used to it, right? Like worlds with only one sun, or a single moon-"

'Odd memories but true,' Fluffy agrees, tail twitching in thought as she regards Yondu. 'I like fighting.'

"What Yondu-san says is true-" Eva starts and then her eyes go distant as Fluffy's glow brighter. She remains like that for almost half a minute before she rolls her eyes. "Menace. I raised a menace."

'I am cute.' It's almost wrong, the I-am-a-poor-repressed-kitten look that crosses the pokemon's face. 'Eva is mean. She says I still can't erase memories if people here suspect I am sapient.'

"Oi! That's not what I said and you know it!" Eva squeaks in protest. "If you think they can be trusted then go slow-"

'And kill if they bet-'

"NO!" Face in hands. So much face in hands. "It was easier we just had to hide..."

But now she's a taste of what it could be like if people knew, if she trusted a little more... hiding and living in fear...

"Yeah, you get used to a lotta things. Like not killin'." He looks back over to the big floating cat creature. "I cain't kill nearly as much as I used to, not without causin' people what don't deserve it a lotta grief.

"The gentleness I show when I ain't killin' someone ain't for my enemies. It's for the people I know that don't need to see more dead bodies."

But, to be honest?

"...Y'know, I'd actually ask 'em. Memory or death. You wanna live without a memory or die? Some people are just gonna choose a memory wipe."

But he thinks back to so many of the worlds he visited. Even the space port he's been bouncing back and forth from. He couldn't ever stay in one place, he doesn't think, not forever. But he loves all those different places.

'I see.' Not really; gentleness is, even now, an alien notion. Nor does she see how death causes grief. She can ask Eva, later, though. Or look into the woman's memories.

'It's something to consider, at least.'

"Yondu-san's right. I... I think once all of this is solved... Maybe." The tone is hopeful, yet from the look in Eva's eyes, it's something that will be talked about between them later when they don't have company who isn't aware of all the cultural baggage that'll come with such talks.

Eva sighs. "But we have to solve this first."

'Why solve when you can have fun? It is night... and she wouldn't attract attention.'

"You just want to go flying."

Fluffy has the grace to look complete innocent.

"Go flyin'?" Yondu asks, turning away from the edge of the roof with a look of confusion.

But, oh right! She mentioned dragons. And that she had a dragon. She'd shown him that dragon.

Is she gonna whip out a dragon? Right up here?

He feels like someone might notice even if it's night but also Yondu is very prone to not giving a damn if it's a good time.

"'Wingthing,'" both Eva and Fluffy say at the same time, though only Eva continues with a half-grin as she fiddles around with Roro until she snatches a premierball out of the air with ease that suggests she's done it a hundred or more times.

She holds the white, tennisball sized object up. "The p'tera I told you about. Provided you follow what I say -for safety reasons- you can meet her."

'P'tera are no joke,' Fluffy adds. 'Listen to Eva.'

"Right. Gotcha." He backs over towards her. Because he doesn't want to be eaten. Or frozen. Or lit on fire. Or poked with a thousand plant needles. Or any of the other things that the critters here can do.

(Honestly he should try and poke around with some of the plant pokemon, 'cause on the off chance they survive this, it'd be a bunch of useful skills to pick up.)

"A'ight, I'm good." He'll just let her handle this, thanks. He does, shockingly, have some sense of self preservation, just not when his babies are in trouble.

Once Yondu's beside her, Eva holds out the ball and taps the centre button. In no short order, a scaly, grey 'dinosaur' with wings appears in a burst of light. It stands close to six foot at the shoulder, a towering apex predator of a pokemon wearing a basic, but sturdy, leather riding harness with metallic green buckles.

Wingthing scents the air, but soon settles into something that could be called relaxed but alert, and it's not hard to see why some would call the creature draconic. Eva grins when green eyes zero in on her, the 'ball hooked onto her belt.

"Hey girl," Eva says, calm and confident as she walks up to the aerodactyl, who gently butts her nose against the fragile human with a low growl-like purr. It's one that only gets louder as Eva rubs said nose with one hand, and absently checks over the harness with the other. After almost a full minute, she speaks. "She's settled. Eager for flight, but otherwise, you can come closer now. Just stay in her light of sight, and don't make any sudden movements."

Edited 2022-03-05 04:10 (UTC)

Luckily, other than his arrow? Yondu's not prone to sudden movements. He's happy enough just to move around all easy-going like, even in the most not easy-going of situations.

He's seen bigger and weirder but usually bigger and wierder is fixed on attacking him or eating someone. It's not a giant creature that someone can actually pet. Maybe not just anyone, but someone. So he comes over to linger by Eva's side again, uncertain what you do with a giant winged lizard beaked thing like what's happening in front of him.

"Yeah, I ain't got the foggiest what to do in this situation," he admits. Like a child of country folk raised like a city boy and sometimes bumbles about how to be gentle around nature. He'd be worse at it if Nell hadn't helped him.

Wingthing's eyes, crocodilian with the cold intelligence to match, track the newcomer, nostrils scenting Yondu. But otherwise, Wingthing is docile under Eva's hand; willing to trust the human knows what she's doing.

"Si'en," Eva whispers once Yondu's next to her. As if on command, Wingthing lowers herself to the ground rumble-purr to reveal two very basic tether-and-belts attached to the harness, with flight googles loosely looped around each belt. Eva wastes no time in clambering up and getting herself onto the front one.

Then she offers a hand out to Yondu. "Up you come. Into the belt and get the goggles on. Eye-blind isn't something to sneeze at."

"Up you come. Behind me.

It takes a little bit of doing around the fin considering the particular way it juts out from his head, but he manages it after a bit. Just a touch longer than it'd take most people. Though he finds himself regretting the particular design again. Maybe he should get a set he should switch out.

But aside from that he settles comfortably in behind her, making sure he's secured so that he won't fall off a fucking giant flying reptile 'cause there are definitely worse ways to go but he'd still rather it not be this way in particular.

"Alright, I'm good." He thinks, anyway. Like taking a ride with another pilot, just windier.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No Place Like Home: Outside

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject