voidtreckermods: (train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2022-02-12 07:08 am
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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
COMMUNITIES
CITIES & KINGDOMS


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.
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jingyeets: (dubious | to keep you warm and safe)

[personal profile] jingyeets 2022-02-24 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
"It's a personal philosophy," he says, utterly deadpan, because of course no one teaches anyone to beat people up first in Gusu Lan. Even if they're very annoying. Which is why, raised fists aside, Jingyi's mouth remains what strikes first.

Either way, he near rolls his eyes before leading people onward, to warm food, beds, and some less than modern bathing and cleaning facilities, but Shen Qingqiu is unlikely to be one of those who complains. Except if he just decides to complain. He seemed the type.
foxyou: (calm for once)

[personal profile] foxyou 2022-02-26 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Shen Qingqiu does not, in fact, complain. Actually he's quite polite! To any non-Jingyi Lans he happens to meet, anyway. Just look at him, accepting bland food with a (small) smile and bowing in thanks to whoever led him to a bed!

And yet once night falls he doesn't appear to show any intention of actually sleeping in said charity bed. Is there anywhere nice and isolated he can go? Yes? Thanks.
jingyeets: (quiet | five years twenty years)

[personal profile] jingyeets 2022-02-27 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
Further driving home the opinion that Shen Qingqiu had decided early on when casting his fox compulsion at Lan Jingyi that he was going to forever persist in rudeness. Jingyi won't pretend he's surprised, it's as insufferable as Jin Rulan's posturing, albeit with less confidence behind any of it.

Such as it is, within Gusu Lan, the best isolated places are the backside of its main mountain, where the Cold Pool resides, and the rabbits roam, though at night stay tucked in their warren, safely. Jingyi himself is taking time soaking in the Cold Pool, a quiet moment, in a world that's been dampened with the fall of night into nature and little of personkind.

What Will Shen Qingqiu Do? Not a question Lan Jingyi asks himself all that often. Not one he's asking now, though at some point, heading into this isolation, Shen Qingqiu might have the unwanted answer to what Lan Jingyi does as a spirit visiting his confined home.
foxyou: (meh)

[personal profile] foxyou 2022-03-05 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
He didn't do that on purpose, okay!!!

Wandering alone in his plain white robes among the isolated paths of Gusu Lan, long after the sun has set beyond the hills, Shen Qingqiu probably looks like a ghost to any who might catch sight of him in the distance. When he comes upon the Cold Pool, while curiosity brings him close enough to see and be seen, his gaze slides away as quickly as if the pool were ice and his vision a physical thing to place upon it.

Does he turn around and walk away? Not quite - what he does is walk around the perimeter of the pool, clearly having decided to continue exploring despite the presence of a familiar body in the water.
jingyeets: (glance | you would be the one)

[personal profile] jingyeets 2022-03-07 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
"You're seriously louder than I think you realise."

Lazily called out from where he's standing in the spring, half-assedly meditating, more simply basking in its chill and richness of natural qi. His eyes had opened at the approach, but they close again now, because the stupid fox probably won't bother using his charm, and Shen Qingqiu is ten contradictions shoved into the same set of robes and none of them, not one, are based in confidence of self.

"The water's cold," he says, "Very refreshing. Don't touch it."

As one does, when dealing with guests.
foxyou: (cool as ice)

[personal profile] foxyou 2022-03-09 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
Shen Qingqiu's brow twitches at the uninvited commentary, though his expression is otherwise unmoved.

Instead, he slowly comes to a halt, crossing his arms as he turns to face the loser in the spring. "Did you think I was trying to hide?" Because if he was, he certainly wouldn't be standing right out here in the open, now would he?

This comment is followed by a practiced and elegant lift of an eyebrow. Mocking, but in a subdued sort of way.
jingyeets: (ask | though we don't share)

[personal profile] jingyeets 2022-03-09 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
He hadn't, but the return (or the facing of Jingyi's pond, since Jingyi's more shoulder-presenting to Shen Qingqiu in the moment) of the other man's attention more or less merits a slightly narrowed gaze in turn.

"You might have thought you were using illusions. It wouldn't work here, but it might not have felt that way."

He still didn't think that Shen Jiu was trying to sneak around, one would simply do better at it if one were so inclined.

"Since you're not sneaking, go on. Don't linger. I don't need your foxy wiles trying to absorb the energies here."

He made a shooing motion to Shen Qingqiu, inviting him to (rudely) take himself off on his own woodland adventures. Why not? It's hardly like Shen Qingqiu is going to wade into the water and actually use a valuable cultivation tool, is he? That would be sensible, and in Jingyi's experiences, Shen Qingqiu's relationship to sensible varied wildly.
foxyou: (that's nice.)

[personal profile] foxyou 2022-03-12 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"I apologize if this surprises you, but I do have a sense of decorum."

Whether or not he actually feels apologetic is not a question worth asking. He sniffs in disdain at Lan Sizhui's dismissive motions, instead seating himself by the edge of the pool and preparing to soak his feet in it.

This water is good for cultivation then, is it? That's what's being implied here? Well it's not like they'll be staying here forever, so he might as well! Take advantage! Of Sizhui's so courteously friendly invitation.
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