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

Devero reaches out and pulls Koumyou in against his side, and nods.

Chihyoon looks at the two of them for a moment through narrowed eyes, the ticking of her mind as she considers everything visible on her face. Then she nods as well.

"All right," she says. "Theoretical physics is way outside my wheelhouse, so I'll take your word for it." Now her shrewd gaze zeros in on Koumyou alone. "Does that make you someone from another universe, then?"

Koumyou beams, "I'm a real space alien! Although maybe... not? I'm from a different Earth. A very different Earth. So it's complicated! Still a human, though."

A smile cracks through Chihyoon's otherwise fairly brusque demeanor. "A real space human alien, huh?" She touches her temple and then flicks the hand in Koumyou's direction, tossing her ID to the Interface he's wearing. When her own Interface flashes an error in response, she goes right back to frowning.

"It's a dummy," Devero explains sheepishly. "There's not a lot of tech where he comes from, so I gave him one of my old ones to wear while we're here. Chihyoon, this is Koumyou Sanzo. He's... we're going to make a family."

"Is that so?" she asks, arching an eyebrow.

"This is just to blend in a little," Koumyou agrees, and in response to that last bit, he lifts his left hand to show the ring on it.

She catches his hand and leans forward to examine it, before looking up and examining him more closely. "Hmm." Only then does she release his hand and straighten up.

"Tell me again what happened with Valdana?"

"We came to borrow Babysitter for a little search and rescue mission, and she came in behind us in the other room as soon as I came in here to clear it. I got between them, and I confronted her with a lot of secret shit she's done to Devero, and she didn't appreciate that very much."

Things like who set off the current bomb, and what ultimately happened to Valdana, he's not going to say unless Devero decides he should.

"Then she actually physically attacked you, and when that didn't stop you, she set off a current bomb and took off." When she glances at Devero for confirmation, he nods.

Chihyoon folds her arms and frowns thoughtfully, clicking the nails of his bio hand against the plating of her augment arm. "I've got strict instructions to subdue and turn in anyone entering this building who isn't supposed to be here," she says, "especially if their emID claims they're you, Dev."

Devero hisses in a breath between his teeth. "Boss--"

She cuts him off with a slice of a hand. "But I was distracted, you see, by the inexplicable EMP that went off, and rushed straight into my office to recover whatever surveillance data I could so it didn't get corrupted by any hardware damage. So if anything happens out here while I'm doing that...." She shrugs extravagantly. "Guess I've missed it."

"Oh, I definitely like your boss, Devero," Koumyou beams at them both. "She has excellent priorities."

She grins at Koumyou, and then even wider when Devero visibly figures out what she means a moment later.

"Boss..." he says again, and again she cuts him off with a wave. She turns and squares up in front of Koumyou.

"So you're claiming him, that right? Going to get married?"

Koumyou reaches for Devero's left hand, and helpfully lifts it for him to show his ring. With the same green as the machine shining light on them for two bands.

"You'd be invited in a heartbeat if it wasn't probably happening on some weird world with frog people and flying trees, or something. But yes."

Edited 2022-02-23 04:41 (UTC)

Her eyes flick from the ring to the machine behind them, and her expression softens as she makes that connection. "Well, I appreciate the thought," she says.

Leaning forward, she pokes Koumyou in the chest. "Now listen up, space human alien man," she says. "This big lugnut's been my right hand man for years, so I like to think I know him pretty well. And frankly, he looks better than I've seen him in a real long time." Another poke. "If you're part of that, keep it up."

She pivots slightly to face Devero now, and reaches up to pat his cheek with rough affection. "And if he doesn't take care of you the way you always deserved, you get back here and let me know, and I'll put my metal foot up his ass for you. Okay?"

Devero sputters and laughs. "Chihyoon!" he protests. "Rust and ruin!"

"If I ever find out I'm not doing right by him," Koumyou says lightly, only half-joking, "I'll kick my own ass."

Koumyou may be half-joking, but Devero smiles down at him like he's just said the most romantic thing in the world. "He would," he says softly, slinging an arm around Koumyou's shoulders and pulling him in to smooch the top of his head. "Whether I want him to or not."

When he looks up, Chihyoon has looked away, and is biting down on the knuckles of her bio hand.

"Boss...?"

Her eyes are shiny when she looks back. "Happy for you," she says, her voice rough. She pats him again on the cheek, gentler this time, then gives Koumyou a deep nod. "I'd better go get distracted by that sec footage so you two can get out of here," she adds with forced briskness. "Take care, all right?"

"I'm sure it'll be genuinely interesting," Koumyou assures her cheerfully, leaning into Devero's side and looping an arm around his waist, "very distracting stuff."

After all, he'd paralyzed Valdana for a bit there with a thought.

Yeah, her eyes are definitely misty as she watches the two of them, especially the way Devero leans unconsciously back against Koumyou and smiles so dopily at him. She's never seen him look at Valdana this way, not even back in the early days when every teased him about his puppy love crush on their great Administrator.

"Get outta here," she says roughly, waving her hand widely at them both and at Babysitter before she turns and stomps away, favoring her mechanical leg slightly as she does.

Devero watches her go, a little bewildered. Apparently, someone didn't realize his boss cared about him this much.

Koumyou can certainly see it, though. He smiles, and gives Devero's waist a squeeze before he extracts himself to go inspect the real Babysitter, up close.

"So how are we going to get your big suit of shiny armor out of here, sir knight? That is, without wrecking anything. If the cameras are still off I could lift one of the big doors with the sutra..."

But that would almost certainly break whatever normally lifts and lowers it.

(He'd been perfectly willing to slice the exo cradle off of Babysitter if needed, but now that Dev's boss is in the building, he's glad it got loose in time.)

Edited 2022-02-27 10:03 (UTC)

Devero watches Chihyoon until she disappears into the dim lights of the hangar on her way to her office. Only then does he turn back, eyes tracking Koumyou as the priest investigates his exo.

"If the power's still off, the cameras are off," he says after a moment, giving himself a shake as if he needs to pull himself out of a trance. "There's a manual release we need to trigger so you don't break the door, though." His lips tilt, a hint of his usual good humor peeking back through. "Don't think the boss would be too thrilled if I let you do that."

"I'd prefer to keep you out of trouble with her," Koumyou agrees, and goes to one of the big bay doors. "So, how do we do that? The trigger thing."

While he's doing that, Devero swings up into Babysitter. He settles into the pilot's cradle with a faint sigh, engaging the exo so he can point its forward floods at Koumyou and the door.

He tracks the lights to the left, illuminating a mechanism of chains and pulleys stretching up into the gloom. "There's a lever," he calls out, "you see it?"

"Yeah," Koumyou finds it, grabs it, and hauls it down. His feet leave the ground a little when he does it, but he gets it done.

Then, if Devero doesn't protest, the sutra snakes out from his back and slides several tendrils under the bay door, and cracks it upwards. Koumyou actually goes down onto his hands and knees to peek out under it, just in case there's witnesses out there.

There's no protest from Devero, and nothing immediately visible to Koumyou on the other side of the door besides bare concrete.

Devero takes a step forward in his exo, but stops again when he realizes what Koumyou's doing anything. "Anybody out there?" he calls.

Precious Devero... he sometimes wouldn't know stealth if it snuck up behind him and smacked his ass, would he? Koumyou huffs out a laugh and then stands back up, the tendrils lifting the door in one smooth motion.

He steps to the side and makes a gesture/wave toward the outside with plenty of flourish, "After you."

Well, if it smacked his ass he might. He's had his fair share of quick and dirty assignations in empty rooms and out of the way corners. But out on the field? Nope, not at all.

But Koumyou's response is answer enough. He engages his exo and strides it smoothly forward, through the door and out of the building. Killing the forward floods, he prioritizes the rear camera in one display and works on entering Beepers' frequency into Babysitter's scanners on another.

Koumyou waits until Babysitter's clear, then steps out as well while the sutra lowers the door back down into place. One paper-thin, indestructable tendril even stays under it as it comes down, then puts the lever back to normal before all the tendrils vanish.

"Is there room in there? Or should I jump on top?"

"There's rescue perches on the back you can hang onto," Devero tells him. "Let me light one up for you."

Indeed, on the back of the machine, picked out in blinking LED pinpoints as Devero triggers that function, is a set of hand and footholds that a person who's in good physical condition can, well, perch on.

(no subject)

its_dad_sanzo - 2022-04-11 10:39 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

subcircuits - 2022-04-12 01:55 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only