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

Once was enough, fortunately. He was frustrated and annoyed, but he wasn't completely out of it. He took another deep breath and glared at the train before turning to face Inigo.

"I'm not sure what happened, but I need to make sure this train had nothing to do with it." That was the problem. It was much harder to fight a war on two fronts.

"It happened again. Those who weren't petrified before, are petrified now. There's no one left, as far as I can see."

".. No one?"

That is dire. Inigo can only imagine how he would have felt if he went back to his own world, only to see it utterly destroyed - and again, too. Just like Senku, who once tried his best to salvage a broken world, only for it to now get broken all over again.

It must be maddening, and Inigo feels an empty feeling appear in his gut, just out of sheer sympathy.

"How would that be possible? What petrified people the first time around? Was that something that just-- that could just happen again?"

And incidentally, right as Senku was gone from that world for.. how long had it been? Not quite as long as Inigo, but still getting reasonably close to a year, Inigo thinks.

Senku took a long, slow breath. It was a calming technique. He was so angry and frustrated, but that was going to help nothing. Anger didn't help. He needed to think things through.

"No one. They've all taken a position to protect themselves from breakage. They must've seen the light again, but why?" He was frowning.

Senku shot Inigo a glance and nodded. "We know it came from the Medusa. But the one we had was broken. The battery was dead." He explained. "The battery was dead so even though there's a constant broadcast, trying to activate it, of course it wouldn't. I mean. I...there'd have to be another one. Or we would've had to fix that one. Or..."

He was just spitballing. "But if the train had something to do with it, that's another thing and an unknown variable..." It had been close to a year. "I think they've been petrified awhile too."

He frowns - but in that way that makes it obvious that Inigo is thinking. He was already thinking, trying to figure out how to fix their current half-tethered situation, but his thoughts shift a little now. It's a lot of thinking, especially for a guy not particularly bright like Inigo, but..

What else is he supposed to do? He can't just sit around and wait for someone else to fix their situation. And if Senku's world is in trouble, then he wants to help with that too, because he can't just abandon any friend in trouble.

"I don't think the train would have done something directly." At least, Inigo.. assumes so? He doesn't even like the train, but he figures it wouldn't have time to mess around with worlds while it's flying around through the void.

"If anything, it probably has something to do with your absence there. Didn't that pink-haired girl on the network say a few days ago that the Ministry told her that her world was gone, and she said it was because of her absence? Or.. something like that." Inigo reaches up with one hand to pull said hand through his hair, still thinking. He didn't quite know the details, having found the broadcast too sad to respond to. "Maybe something about you being gone from your world made the situation worse? Though I'm not sure.. how."

Especially since it's not his own world. He knows some stuff about Senku's world, but certainly not enough to piece together exactly how him being gone could turn everyone back to stone like that.

"I...honestly don't know." Senku said with a very loud exhale again like he was exasperated and frustrated at once.

"There's a couple of options. Either more of the Medusas have come down and activated, or we've somehow repaired the one I had, except I took it with me so I'm not clear on that. Or they found another? Repaired it?" He speculated.

"But even if they did." That seemed like a huge if to him. "They would've had to let Whyman give the order, which is...unfathomable. Why? Why would that be the solution?"

There were so many questions and no real answers.

It's not too much of a surprise that Senku doesn't know. Judging by how worked up the other seemed, Inigo figures that he didn't even get enough time in his world to really figure out what went wrong.

"We should find out," he says. And yes, there's a we there. It might not be Inigo's world, but if Senku's world got screwed over, then he wants to help the other get it back to normal. This situation is already messed up enough by itself, after all, without having ruined worlds on top of it all.

And it doesn't seem like he's going to be able to grab the train's attention anytime soon, even though he's been standing on the platform and trying for a while now - so he might as well do something more productive.

"I could go with you, back to your world. Maybe we can see what the problem is."

"...Yeah, alright." Senku allowed with a small nod. He didn't know if that would work, but it couldn't hurt. He didn't know if he could find the solution in fast order at all, and if he needed to do what he did in the first place, he needed two years.

He held out his hand to Inigo. "Better hang on." He suggested. "Since I'm not sure how easy it is to bring someone back with me, so maybe if I walk first..."

"Sure. I'll be relying on you," Inigo says as he moves to grab the other's hand.

After all, it's not like he quite knows how hard exactly it is to pull someone else into your world. He hasn't brought anyone into Ylisse, and he isn't planning on doing so if he can help it. Thankfully everyone seems preoccupied with their own worlds enough to ask him about it, so he's more than fine with just going along to Senku's world like this.

(Sure, it might be dangerous, going into a world where everyone has been turned into stone - but it's still preferable over leaving a friend to deal with a problem all alone.)

"I'll do my best to stick by your side, so just guide me over, if you can."

He would've willingly gone to see Ylisse, it would be exciting to him, but Senku wasn't exactly thinking clearly. Despite all appearances, he was still a human and subject to emotions even if he didn't find them particularly useful.

It was surprisingly easy.

The barrier, the fog, all disappeared and they would find themselves on a small island. There was only dirt there, with one very large hut on a platform.

Senku tugged lightly and started them forward for a few steps before letting go, to ensure Inigo had truly broken through the barrier.

"Across the bridges...I can show you where my body is too, if that would be helpful. I don't...I don't know."

It's a little startling, suddenly being on the platform, and then suddenly in another world entirely - not to mention one Inigo has never seen before. The missions have given him quite some experience with seeing worlds that are totally unlike his own, but Senku's is something else entirely once more. Inigo can't quite help himself, curiously glancing around as they start to step forward, trying to take it all in.

It's only for a moment though. He knows where the bulk of his attention should be right now. This must all be hard for Senku, so Inigo should do his best to support him during a moment like this.

"Yeah, let's do that."

Inigo isn't sure whether it'll help at all, but he will gladly give Senku some strands to hold on to here. It's not like they have any other clues to go off. Maybe they can find something out about the other's body, or about its surroundings..

"As long as you don't find it too strange to see yourself like that, anyway."

"I alraedy found it. It's strange but...no stranger than anything else." The sound of their feet on the bridge's wooden planks likely seemed very loud.

His world was quiet. Excessively quiet. Sure, there was a bit of birdsong as spring was coming around but there was no human noise. No din of people, no music...nothing.

The path between the bridges on the second island was nearly clear, save a statue of a person curled into the ball halfway on the path. There were a few statues here, littered among the huts.

Each hut was made of wood and straw, with a pipe sticking out of the top. Senku, personally, found all the quiet foreboding as opposed to peaceful if only because he'd lived through this before.

He didn't want to do this again.

As they walk, Inigo tries very hard to not look too much at all the statues of people they pass. It just.. doesn't feel right to gawk at them in their current state. Not really because it makes Inigo feel bad to see people in this state - though it does make him feel that way! - but more just since it feels disrespectful.

It's like staring at someone's corpse, even if he hopes in the depths of his heart that they can somehow restore Senku's world.

"Is everything else still looking the way you remember it..?" He asks as they walk, perhaps to keep the heavy silence from hanging over them. Maybe to give Senku something to think about that doesn't involve the fate of all these people. "The huts, I mean. Or just the surroundings. Has anything else really changed?"

They've got to look into anything they can for clues as to what happened, after all.

"Yeah." Senku answered quietly. At least, these statues were covered in clothing that was beginning to tatter, the ones further out, the clothing was long disintegrated and gone and might be liable to make Inigo blush.

He crossed the second bridge to the mainland. There were a lot more statues there, balled up, and he stepped around them.

"See the observatory? Up that ladder." Senku informed him.

Inigo's gaze shifts towards the other, and Inigo slowly nods. He did already spot it while looking around, so he knows what Senku is talking about.

"Yes," he answers, in case the other is too busy looking around to look over at him and see that nod. "What about it? Did something change there..?"

Or is that where Senku's body is?

"No, no." Senku responded, shaking his head. "It's where my statue is."

He weaved around another person, he knew them as Sapphire, and he grabbed onto the ladder.

He hoisted himself up. "It's also my house, coincidentally." Senku didn't need to speak terribly loudly with the lack of background noise. It could be a very nice and peaceful looking place, really.

He stepped up on the small landing in front of one round door and scooted to the left to a second ladder and up to the upper door. It was easy enough to push open.

.. so even Senku's own body turned into a statue while he was gone, huh. It's not too surprising, since Inigo doubts even someone as smart and capable as Senku would be immune to this sort of thing if it was truly hitting everyone out here.

But it's still sad to think that happened to him. That he wasn't even able to defend himself from it, since his body would have been comatose during the time he was gone, if the information given to them was in any way accurate.

Inigo follows the other, also climbing up the ladder. It doesn't seem too difficult for him to do so, thankfully.

"Is this where you were too before you showed up on the platform?"

That would make the most sense. Or someone would have had to move Senku's body while it was comatose.

"No. Someone must have moved me. I was where we came in, I think." Senku responded as he climbed inside and stepped out of the way so Inigo could come in.

"If I had to guess, it was Tsukasa." Probably with one hand too, some people had serious cheat codes in life. "Or Taiju." He considered.

Inside the observatory, it was like Senku had left it. There was a small, makeshift desk with various engineering plans all over it. The telescope remained pointed at the closed ceiling. Senku's statue was laid out on the floor on a soft looking pelt, with another pelt tossed over him, to mind the cold. His eyes were closed and he looked like he'd fallen asleep. It was just spring, after all. This building had no heating to be seen.

There were some shelves in the corner, upon which were a few things like some homemade pottery, a pair of glasses for drinking water from. A few dried herbs, a whole set of different flowers, particularly nightshade. If Inigo had stopped by their room in the last while, the smell might be familiar.

In the corner was a wooden chest, with two more pelts folded up neatly on top and a hook that held Senku's winter coat, very similar to the one he'd made himself, and Inigo so long ago. There wasn't a lot of evidence of Gen, just a few touches, because Gen was travelling abroad at the moment.

When Inigo sees the scene inside, he realises that Senku's body indeed must have been moved. Just the way it's been laid out there, with the pelts and all, makes it pretty obvious that someone deliberately moved it and left it here like this - unless he fell asleep like this, but Senku's explanation makes it pretty clear that that wasn't the case.

He carefully takes a step closer to the statue, staring at it for a moment.

This sucks. The train interfering with worlds by randomly dragging people out of them, causing things to get worse in said worlds.. It really sucks, and Inigo feels a heavy feeling in his stomach that he's trying really hard to suppress. He doesn't want to throw a fit when he has to be strong for Senku.

"That must mean that people petrying can't have happened the moment you left." Because someone still moved his body.

Inigo's tone is on the serious side, but he's trying really hard to keep it from becoming too heavy as he speaks.

"Some time must have passed before it happened."

Hey, at least that's a step towards figuring out what exactly happened.

"Yeah." Senku agreed softly as he crouched down to prod at the statue gently. It was rock solid of course, there was nothing to be harmed from it. "Mine's pretty clean, my clothing is unaffected by the weather because I'm in shelter. The shelter's in okay shape too."

He looked around, it really was, there seemed to be minimal damage and weathering. He tilted his head back at the roof.

"Bit of patching needs to be done...meaning this happened before the end of winter which would've been...well if I've really been gone so long, it's fall now, or just about." He shook his head.

"Anytime between- no. It was December for Gen. So push that forward. January at the earliest." Senku said, gently touching a wall.

"Meaning it could've been like this for at least eight of those months. The least is maybe six, but that would be pushing it. Repairs would've been done after the snow cleared and the statues outside show weathering in their clothing."

Now they're getting somewhere. It really helps that Senku is so smart, Inigo thinks. It makes logically figuring out more about this situation easier.

"Alright, so things have probably been like this for a while now." That's where they're at so far, right? It didn't happen right after the other was taken by the train, but it still happened quite a bit before they showed up back here now. Somewhere between those two points.

Inigo frowns and turns, glancing back outside.

"Is that petrifying something that happens in a single instant?"

Inigo has never seen it happening to anyone before, so it's not like he knows much about it.

"Or is it an effect that could linger over time? If some regular human who isn't only half-here like us would show up here, would they instantly turn into a statue too?" Like it still.. remaining in the air somehow, or however it works. Inigo is just trying to learn more about it, so he can think about this better.

"Yeah." Senku responded with a little nod. "It's instant..or at least every example we've seen of it is." He frowned a little bit.

"And no, it doesn't linger. When the astronauts came down originally, they weren't petrified upon landing even though that was a risk they must've decided they were willing to take."

He pressed his lips. "And we didn't, but then again..." He waved his wrist with the SCA on it.

...

As.. tronauts..?

Maybe it's some sort of group of people that's unique to Senku's world? That's what it sounds like to Inigo, anyway. He's never heard the word before. He spends a moment trying to figure out whether or not he ought to know who these people are for context, but then he figures it's probably not that important.

Not as important as focusing on this huge issue, anyway.

"True, it could be that they're protecting us. And giving our.. erm, current circumstances, I'd rather not try to take them off." Even aside from the entire petrification problem, Inigo feels like they might just blip out of existence entirely if they tried, considering their odd connection to the train in this moment. "But it could also be that whatever caused it has already stopped again."

Even though it's not like Inigo could see that - especially when he has no idea what to look for in the first place.

"What do you think would be more productive right now, Senku? Or maybe just more likely." Since it's hard for Inigo to determine either when he's not the expert on this world, nor this situation. "Should we try to find the source of this and take it out, or should we try to find some way to return everyone here back to normal?" Even though the latter may risk them getting petrified all over again, if the source is still somewhere out there.

Still, Inigo is more than willing to rely on Senku's guidance here. It's why he turns back to look at the other.

"I wasn't going to!" Senku protested, because he knew Inigo was thinking he might take off his SCA. He didn't think he'd be petrified or harmed, it was meant to be his world right? But there was also his body here, so he clearly wasn't connected.

He wasn't entirely reckless.

"We can look around a bit for another source." Senku admitted. "As long as we're within eight kilometres, or we'll end up back on the platform. If this is the same kind of petrification, I know how to fix it, I just don't have the time."

He rubbed the back of his neck and considered his options. "Do you want to go up in the balloon?"

He knew enough to navigate. Somewhat.

Inigo has been asked a lot of strange questions during his life. Even more so ever since he boarded the train.

But 'do you want to go up in the balloon' might be near the top of the list when it comes to the most odd questions.

"Uh.. sure."

And yet he answers that way. A bit of hesitation, sure, but in the end he just goes along with it. After all, if it's the best way to see if they can find out more about the situation, then they ought to do that, even if there's one little problem..

".. I have no idea what that means though."

P-Please, Senku, what is a balloon? Help a pal out here.

"You're in for something fun." Senku responded with a little cackle as he moved to head back down the ladder. "Come on!"

He could explain, certainly, but where was the fun if he didn't show Inigo what he meant?

"We're going to fly!"

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