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

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!"

"Wha-- Senku, I can't fly!"

But even as Inigo is saying that, near-comically protesting, he's still following the other down the ladder all the same. Surely Senku wouldn't lure him into something that's too unsafe, right. Even if Inigo has absolutely no idea how the other wants to go fly..

"I mean, you can't fly either! We're not birds! Or dragons!" Because the latter is definitely an important flying category in Inigo's world. If not the most important one, aside from pegasi.

Senku was snickering lightly by the time he hit the ground with Inigo's protests. Sure, everything was tire and all of that, but honestly people telling him he couldn't do something, only to find out he could never got old. Especially when Gen did it.

Inigo's squawking was a close second to that.

"Ten billion percent correct, we're not birds, we're not going to fly under our own power. That's what the balloon is for. This way." He beckoned and started walking into the woods.

Inigo probably would have been less surprised by this idea if he was familiar with modern technology in the slightest.. or technology in general, really. He just imagines that if Senku's world did have flying animals, they would have been petrified too, or else he would have noticed them already.

Which immediately eliminates any potential methods they could use to fly here from Inigo's mind, leaving only this mysterious balloon thing Senku mentioned.

And though Inigo trusts Senku, he's not so sure how much he trusts the idea of something he's never even heard of before - not even as he, too, finishes descending from the ladder onto the ground and starts following Senku.

"Is that balloon.. safe? Have people used it before? A lot?" Please, he needs some reassurance here.

Stress is bad for the baby. And that baby is 100% Inigo.

"The balloon is safe, look I just want a higher vantage point, we don't even have to untether from the ground." Senku snickered though. "Although we could. Yes, it gets used a lot."

The balloon was a basket sitting in a field. He pulled out the balloon part, which was made of canvas and started unfurling it and laying it out on the ground.

P-Please, Senku, let's not use words like 'tether' or 'untether' right now, okay. Even if they apply to the situation, it's just a little too soon after being kicked off the train and having what seems like some unsafe tether still in place..

Thankfully Inigo is way too busy being confused about what's happening in front of his eyes to really think much about that. Even what Senku is doing here isn't helping to clarify the balloon mystery in Inigo's mind right about now.

After all, the other is just.. unfurling fabric..?

"Is that going to fly?"

Look, he'd help, but he's pretty sure he'd just make things worse with his lack of knowledge about this situation and his general confusion. He'll leave it up to Senku "Expert" Ishigami over here.

Inigo can't even figure out how that canvas is suddenly going to fly! He's already missing step one!

"Yes it is." Senku still looked wildly amused by Inigo's reactions and even better, there wasn't much he needed to do. He unpacked the balloon and that was it.

It was one of the simplest contraptions he'd ever made.

He hopped over the side of the basket and stood inside of it. "Come in here and I'll show you how it works."

Inside there was a furnace in the middle but plenty of room for people to stand around it. "We're going to heat up the air inside the balloon and that will take us into the air. Then we cut the furnace and we'll float back down."

Simple, right?

The explanation is simple enough - but in Inigo's medieval mind, it's still hard to imagine how that might make something fly, especially since he doesn't get scientific concepts like the temperature of air in the slightest.. The only thing that's giving him even a little bit of trust in this entire deal is the fact that Senku is the smart one, and surely he wouldn't say something works if it doesn't.

So Inigo also climbs into the basket, determined to try, even if he's still very, very unsure.

.. unsure enough that he wraps his arms around Senku to cling to the other.

Look. Look! He needs a little bit of comfort in this uncertain moment, let the sensitive baby have this much.

"Ack!" Senku protested when he was suddenly glomped onto and he gave Inigo a look and a bit of a sigh. Honestly.

"Alright, look." He tapped Inigo's arms. "Lower here, around my waist."

Senku will permit the clinging, just give him his range of motion back please. "And step closer to the furnace with me then."

At least Inigo, even in this state, is pretty obedient. The moment Senku tells him to lower his arms, he does. And the moment he tells him to cooperate by stepping over towards-- well, towards where Senku is guiding them, he does that too.

But as long as the other isn't telling him to let go? Inigo isn't going to do so just yet. He's still clinging to his life raft here, thanks, even once they're at the furnace.

"This can't kill us. Right?"

Something about that question sounds like he's desperate for confirmation.

It was very unfortunate for Inigo that Senku was not a liar, nor was he good at comfort.

"Technically." Senku hummed. "But you could die having dinner too, danger is relative."

He opened a door and dropped in a couple of pieces of wood. It was going to be sort, so he didn't need too much. He grabbed some flint and started banging it against a rock to try and light the fire.

"That's not an answer at all!"

.. or, well, it's an answer. But it's a very technical one, and a technical answer is so not what baby Inigo needs at a moment like this. He easily freaks out about stuff like this, and hearing that there's a chance of danger is definitely enough to ensure he keeps clinging to Senku.

He doesn't even know what it'd be like to die in their current weird half-tethered state, but he also doesn't want to know.

"I-If I'd die, I would at least want it to be in a way that's more heroic than this..!"

"You're only going to die if I screw up, and I won't screw up." Senku offered, was that better?

The flame was starting up and he tugged Inigo back from the stove and looked over the side of the basket.

"Give it a minute to warm up the air and..."

It takes a couple of minutes, but surely enough that linen balloon was going to begin to inflate and move on its own.

At first Inigo doesn't even seem to realise that they're slowly, veeery slowly, moving up from the ground. Maybe it's because he's still so busy clinging to Senku, or maybe it's indeed just because of the tempo they're moving at, too slow to really be noticable.

Whatever it is, he doesn't make a sound during the first few moments.

And not until he suddenly realises that their view looks just a little bit different. It's almost as if they grew taller, or because..

Inigo gasps.

"W-Wait, we're really going up!"

He says it with such surprise in his voice that it kind of sounds like he didn't actually expect them to be able to do so. Or just because he didn't imagine how this would even happen with just that piece of canvas.

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