middleofsomewhere | No Place Like Home: The Return

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No Place Like Home: The Return

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: THE RETURN

a silence broken...

It's been a very difficult few days. Rocking and rolling into the void and out again. Watching their friends out of the window as they wander from world to world. Meanwhile those lost on worlds continue to wander unable to return to the train at all.

"All attempts at returning those who left have failed. This voidcraft cannot do it alone. It is lucky that unlike those that have left before them, I can still sense them.

But I cannot bring them back alone. This is perhaps too advanced for Voidtreckers, but you have done the improbable before. You say you wish to help. This is how you help."

Their SCA's light up with a message. Or rather, a series of instructions:

In the unlikely event a tether gets stranded on a liminal space platform or between their own world and the platform space, you should, in the first instance, contact the Void technicians who monitor their non-travelling self. However, in the case they cannot be reached or there is a mass displacement of tether, an anchoring procedure can be carried out.

Ideally, this will involve two fully tethered individuals to retrieve the lost tether. One should be a stationary anchor. They should be outside of their void craft, if possible, and in physical contact with it. The second should be a roaming anchor reaching to draw the tethers back. In situations of mass tether displacement the stationary anchor can hold mutiple roaming anchors but it is recommended to not exceed five. In this situation, it is recommended that anchors rotate between stationary and roaming.

To start an anchoring of this kind, those anchoring should activate their anchoring program. Those staying station should reach out to the tethers of those they plan to steady. This might cause some emotional upheaval, and they will need to stay steady, especially if connecting to more than one roaming tether. Roaming anchors then must hold the person they search for in their thoughts and move towards them. It is recommended that the lost tethers activate their emergency beacon to facilitate being found and returning but this is not a necessity.

Once the roaming anchor has found the lost tethers they must keep hold of them and guide them back towards their craft, the stationary tethers must draw them back, pulling them through.

There is an additional note at the end, in different font.

It is as Anan told you. Your minds should visualise it. Be strong Voidtreckers.

... a short-lived dream

The doors open and anyone who wishes to try this can leave onto the platform. It is empty, devoid of the figures they had seen before; and, beyond the fog, devoid of anything. But searching requires their SCAs, not a path, and as people get into teams, they can activate their anchors and begin.

For those who will roam, their minds become filled, visualising light, void, voices and chaos; their bodies feel less stable, like they might unravel if not careful. But for those who will stay, when they touch the Voidtrecker Express, they will feel more stable, grounded. The fog shifts, but the world moves around them without pulling them in.

Thinking of the person they wish to keep stable, a mental and emotional link will be established, and they will feel each other as the roaming anchor sets off to find their missing crew.

Outside the train...
For those that had left - either by choice or by strange happenings - they have found themselves back at their anchor point during Poi 26, regardless of where they were before. For those unfortunate enough not to have a world to return to, or those who were stuck between in the first place, they will find themselves alone, in a fog filled space where no matter how far they walk, nothing greets them.

All those in fog or back in their world receive the same message from their SCAs.

Hold fast. Press your evacuation button. Your friends come.

RETURNERS: FLEETING HAPPINESS

But it's likely before the message arrived, that something wrong has been noticed by those outside the void. More than the bizarre ability to travel between existences, an inability to move far from where they appear. Back at their anchor points, they may notice - in time - colours sometimes flash across the sky, streaking through clouds or making trails in a night sky. At first not much, something to be easily dismissed but it builds. People talk, wonder at what is happening.

For the colours aren't the only thing. Across worlds, in cities, kingdoms, villages, underworlds and space stations, people are dreaming. Bright colours, vivid dreams. Prophets spring from nowhere, people claim to know the future or to have seen the past. Some talk of places and worlds they could not have seen.

Perhaps at first it can be explained away, there are always such people. But more people talk, from urchin children to commanders, people dream and the colours dance.

ANCHORERS: A STEADY HAND

While the stationeries will feel grounded, they aren't blind to what's happening to their roamer. It's as if they're both linked, intimately, meshing together, and they will need to work to keep their feelings separate; hearing each other's thoughts, their feelings. Images of what the other thinks and memories shared between them.

And then there is the search for their teammates, amongst the multiple of realities. Existences move past the roamer, threatening to lose them in the mess, but they must persevere, keep their thoughts on the individual, their stationary anchor to help them. Until finally, they appear - in a world they perhaps know, don't, the kaleidoscope colours of the void faint above their heads.

Speak to each other, keep each other focused, certain, and find who you came to save.

BOTH: HOLDING ON

Searching for individuals, the anchorers will find themselves at a character's anchor point; if they haven't moved far from here or another world, it will be easy to locate them. Now is the time to convince them to come back, and then the eventual work of doing so.

It can be in agreement, or force. Taking a hold of the person, the anchorer can pull them into the mass of chaos. Just like when they helped the guests return to their worlds from the false Diagad, all parties become battered by images, voices. Voices like sirens; 'Just stay,' the voices encourage. 'Just let go and drift into the chaos. It will be easier.'

But they must be strong, move towards their anchor and towards the craft. The crossing doesn't take too long, perhaps ten minutes each way, and once they get to the craft the person they are rescuing glows gold and vanishes. The anchors will know instinctively that they are safe on the train.

And indeed, the rescued will find themselves within the luggage carriage - exhausted, but safe.

TRAIN: AN INEVITABLE RETURN

Exhaustion is something all parties will experience, once everyone is returned to the train and the adrenaline wears off. Those who anchored will be hit with a total exhaustion, leaving them unable to do much more than eat and sleep for a few days. Those rescued won't be as bad, but if they decide to join in with the efforts, they'll too face the soul-tiring experience that other anchorers are.

There's likely to be efforts, to help soothe people over this time. And as people return to their life on the train, they will see the marks of the last few days for those who stayed behind. Broken ceramics, books out of order in the library; the ICPs in the standard coach, storage, sports and games carriages broken, and some damage to furniture.

But for the scars brought on by this event, surely, they will heal - eventually.

OOC NOTES

OOC post. Ask questions here. New second part OOC post here.

First phase of the event took place during Poi 22 to 25; the second phase takes place during Poi 26 to 28 (20-25th February).

VISITING WORLDS: While during Poi 26, it will be possible to go back to wherever they were, or other spaces. However, they will have increasing difficulty doing this, and will feel themselves getting more lost if they try world hopping too much over the next 3 (void) days. It's like something is trying to pull them back, or pull them, but into nowhere.

SCAs: The SCA's comms will not be active at this time.

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As much as he would have preferred going out to assist with the rescues, T'Challa knew that he would serve better as an anchor. He hadn't been on the train for very long, and lacked much of the connections with the other passengers. Though that didn't stop him from hoping to find one in particular.

Between finding those lost in the fog, he finds someplace quiet to meditate and clear his head. He's happy to serve as a point of calm for the others, but it can be a bit overwhelming after a while, he can see why it was recommended to alternate. Still, the meditation is enough for now, and once his mind is cleared he's ready to try again once more.

As he's about ready to head out again and look for someone else to partner up with, the familiar voice reaches his ears, and a wave of relief surges through him. Even more so at his exclamation; though he doesn't entirely have the full picture of his life in that other universe, it's enough to know that the fact that Yondu has to say that in the first place is important.

"I am glad to hear it," he finally offers, once he's able to say anything at all.

Rarely is Yondu enthusiastic about something, but he is about that. Getting it right, finally, was something that he needed. He hadn't needed to protect T'Challa in the same ways he protected Peter (for one thing, he could leave Peter on Earth 'cause apparently without his help his idiot crew couldn't recognize him somehow).

But he sees how exhausted T'Challa is and tempers that. "Don't do too many in a row," he tells him. "Take a break, I flat out passed out after the mission where I did too much runnin'. Keeled clean over. I don't doubt you're capable but... I dunno. Who the hell knows if some never-before-seen void worm attacks and a bunch of us are down for the count."

He might not be his Yondu, but that protectiveness and concern kicks in, almost predictably. He hadn't talked to many people about what he found out about T'challa, still wrapping his head around it (also not knowing whether it was fair to the man). But at the very least he's another Ravager, and some other version of him put forth the effort to leave a little bit of whatever decency he had with the boy.

Despite knowing that this Yondu was technically different - that he had experienced different events and wasn't entirely the same person he knows - there is just something so familiar, so...endearing about the evident concern in his voice that T'Challa has to bite back a laugh. Because he doesn't mean to be laughing at him, but rather finds it interesting that, for all the differences he's seen, there are still some things that are so similar, so recognizable as part of Yondu that not even the circumstances of being from a separate universe could really change it.

"I've been resting," he assures Yondu when he can finally manages to respond. "I was just coming from a break, actually. But I am glad to see you've made it back."

It eases some of the tension in his shoulders, relieving the worry that had been building up the past few days.

And in an unsurprising reflection of how he is in both of those universes, he makes a very distinct What the hell did I do? face when he sees the almost laugh. It's not terribly offended, just that gloss of general pissed-off permanently etched into his face being skewed by just the right amount of confusion.

But he seems satisfied at the answer. "Yeah, keep it in mind. Uh... by the way. After I was there a while, people started talkin' about dreams. Bad futures and the like. Maybe not somethin' to discuss while your head needs to be clear, but-"

And then he just straight up gets clumsy with it. "Hell, if we worked together before somewhere else, I figure we could tackle some shit here. ...You know, when I ain't the one neck deep in it." He motions to the wall of the train like he's indicating the bullshit that'd been happening outside.

It is exactly the sort of response T'Challa would expect of him, but he manages to school his expression better this time because he certainly doesn't mean to offend him. He'll try to explain later...maybe.

He does pause a moment though as Yondu continues, his turn to be somewhat confused, not quite following what he was trying to say. So he simply nods, urging Yondu to continue.

"I mean... After we was there a while? People started havin' dreams about shit Thanos was out to do- dunno if you know of him- or planets hatchin' Celestials, and some heroes from Terra doin' such. And it was somethin' goin' on all over, not just around where I was. Not in my range. I left when I figured it out, didn't know if me bein' around was causin' it, but the Void's been bad for causin' some hellish dreams. Been doin' it for a while.

"In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you had some. I had some bad'uns after I went on a tetherin' mission. So it's got me worried the void's kinda leakin'." And it could be seeping into their worlds thanks to the train messing up.

T'Challa frowns a little. "I...believe I have experienced some dreams," he admits. He hadn't given them too much thought, though, more focused on the task of retrieving those lost in the void. "I haven't had any regarding Thanos, however."

Something about what Yondu says about him...thinking about the ways their universes differed...he feels something twist in his stomach. "Thanos...was he collecting the Infinity stones?"

"Yeah. About three months before I came here, we was on Xandar fightin' off Ronan the Accusor. Had one of the stones on 'im, meant for Thanos at first. Peter gave it to the Nova Corp after he took up with his new group and we lit out."

Instead of giving it to him. Which he did not blame him for, but god did it make his damn life terrible for a while after that. Nothin' went right.

"Judgin' from the dreams I heard people referrin' to, Thanos gets 'em." And Thanos's hobby of wiping out half the population of most planets really left no guesses as to what he wanted, even if someone hadn't outright been told.

T'Challa draws in a sharp breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it slowly through his nose, running a hand down his face.

"...I worried about that," he manages after a moment. It had been a thought in the back of his mind, when he had considered the differences between his universe and Yondu's. If one change had made life different for Yondu and the other Ravagers, he'd wondered what it said about others like Thanos, who had only joined after T'Challa.

Well...he supposes now he knows.

And it was...difficult to think about. Thanos certainly made light of his original plans these days, but T'Challa knew that he had been deadly serious back then. And while he had managed to talk the Titan out of it, knowing that he was still capable of something so devastating still affected him deeply, even though he wasn't the same Thanos either.

But...if he hadn't changed...then...

"...what of his daughters?"

"So... he was plannin' it in your world, but didn't end up goin' through with it." Yondu's a little saddened to know how drastically differently things turned out, but there's nothing he can do to change that. Not just out of jealousy- he's prone to that, seeing things he wished he had and unable to get- but because he values Peter's tumultuous, rebellious nature so much, that it's hard to see how the cooperative nature coulda been better for everyone in a lotta ways.

"Gamora's hooked with Peter, took off with his new group. Kind of hoped he got a clan in the makin' there. Has a real young Flora Collosus, a raccoon what got expiremented on and turnt out into space, a Kylosian that lost his family when Ronan crushed his planet, and this one girl, somethin' I ain't seen before, I didn't catch much of the story but she was an empath Ego was keepin' as a pet. Called her 'Mantis'."

But that doesn't account for the other one what shot him in the head. But he figures it ended up fair between them considering she had to juice up his ship.

"Nebula got driven off the deep end. Thanos spliced her up until barely nothin' left being flesh and blood was on her. If she weren't as strong as Gamora, he had to keep tryin'. But she shot my old fin out-" He points to the one he's now mostly gotten used to. Mostly.

"'Swhy the crew was able to kill off half their brothers. I couldn't stop 'em." It's tragic information, but he doesn't know who T'challa knows, who he was close to. So he watches his face as he delivers the story, bits and pieces of how things went bad.

T'Challa stiffens, his eyes widening as more of the pieces start falling into place. Yondu had told him that everyone else had died, and only Kraglin remained. And he knew Yondu wasn't quite the same, a little rougher around the edges than he was used to...but even with those that had opposed their decision when the Ravagers went straight, he never imagined that any of them would...

And Nebula. He'd known that her relationship with Thanos had been...difficult, at best. But to think that the Titan was still capable of committing such things...

For once, words escape him as he tries to imagine a world where such things could come to pass. Had his presence really affected that much?

"Things really weren't all that bad for ya, were they?" And it obviously had to be something the boys manifested themselves on some level. Especially specifically the reaction to Nebula, and he realizes that this boy was more like Peter's brother just like Nebula was Gamora's sister. The pairs oddly matched to the misfit across universes.

Just a sad passing thought.

"Quill... He wasn't made for smoothin' things over, but he did a lot to defend folks what couldn't hold their own. He wasn't real interested in gettin' us to show our better natures. But he made- makes-" he's careful to correct himself, because Peter is still out there, alive and successful and happy. "He focused a lot on the little guy. I think it came down to the crew knowin' he was worth a whole lotta money while hatin' 'im."

Yondu's crew hadn't been worth trying to bond with. Yondu and Peter had their moments, but there was a significant difference in that T'Challa would call his Yondu for help easily, and Peter only would if he was at the absolute end of his rope. Still as reliable, but one was a regular resource, and one was the nuclear option of desperation.

He clears his throat a little as he tries to regain some composure. "I...suppose that could do it," he manages. In some ways, he could imagine that having to sit on a particularly generous payment could lead to tension among the clan. But even so, it didn't quite feel like enough of an explanation.

Like it didn't feel like it was enough to say that simply exchanging himself for Peter Quill could really lead to all this. There had to be more involved than just a single person in question.

"I'm sure Peter managed as best as he could," he says after a moment. There had to be other factors involved besides which one of them had traveled with Yondu. But perhaps too many to consider, at least for the moment. All he knew was that it isn't fair to put any kind of blame on Peter for how things turned out. He hadn't been the cause of any of it, after all.

Yondu sighs out his nose and paces over to a wall, leaning against it and generally just... well... looking sad for it.

"I think ya did good in your own ways. I ain't sure what all you done, but I know if I didn't have nobody, I woulda been worse off for it." Whether it was T'Challa or Peter. Yondu desperately wanted more than to just be crew. He wanted to be family. "Ain't nothin' quite as hard on me as not havin' nobody. I sure wish I coulda had the both of you around, pretty sure the whole universe woulda been fixed before y'all got some waver in your whistle."

Before they got bass in their voice, essentially.

"I didn't try to contact nobody when I was back there, but I did look up some holovids and broke into some Nova Corp files. Nebula's still kickin'. She's in good with her sister finally. People are havin' them void dreams about the future- maybe if things don't get erased by the Ministry, knowin' what's to come'll stop shit from goin' bad."

He's not all that good at consolation sometimes. But he does know that it's rough seeing T'Challa so downbeat. "I'm sure you're real good at it, boy, but you don't gotta fix everything. A good chunk of it's on us wantin' to. It's our responsibility. Don't wear a weight too heavy for ya."

Hearing that Nebula at least wasn't alone did comfort him somewhat. In his efforts to try and help Thanos and Nebula reconnect, T'Challa admittedly knew little about her relationship with Gamora. From what he could tell, they got along decently enough, though still weren't particularly close. "I'm glad that she still has family to turn to."

Yondu's advice does bring a small smile to his face, having received rather similar advice from him back home in his younger years. After the (supposed) loss of his family and country on Earth, he had been very determined to save everyone in the universe. But the reminder that he couldn't do everything helped keep him grounded in what could or could not be done for people.

"I will keep that in mind." It does help, hearing it again out loud. "Thank you."

It's nice, he thinks, to be able to say something that actually helps. He tends to stumble over that kind of thing, rambling and unhelpful at best, raging at very worst. But it also helps to speak to a kid that seems more receptive of him, anyway.

"Maybe you can tell me what all went right sometime soon. This sort of shit happens again or we get to send messages back? I can give 'em some advice what might help 'em."

At least then maybe he'll fell like there's something he can do to help. "I know the messages we got to send before make it. I didn't send none but someone did on my behalf, I didn't know it. But Stakar said on some holovid he'd gotten it."

T'Challa can't help a curious frown. "I'd be happy to tell you what I can. But what is this about messages? You mean messages sent back to our worlds?"

"We stopped at this place. There were stones made of void metal. You could hold 'em and think into 'em. I didn't send no messages back then, either. Couldn't bring myself to do it."

He'd genuinely thought that he wasn't mourned, then. Turns out that knowing he was, though, still results in him not being able to say anything.

"Well, I sent a couple. But not to anyone you'd know." At least he better not. That's something he doesn't wanna unpack right now. "But Stakar got one. From this kid on the train, apparently had a lotta good things to say on my behalf. So what happened is you'd get the rock, you'd think real hard about a who and a when, you'd think out your message, you'd chuck it into the water. And it worked. The rock showed up, and he ain't from any version of our universe."

T'Challa hums thoughtfully. "Most fascinating. Being able to send messages back home would certainly be useful."

He would like to send a message to his own Yondu, at least, that he was all right.

"It sounds as though visiting such places doesn't happen quite so often, however."

"Nah, they only happened once since I been here. And whatever glorious piece of dumbassery that was." He sneers towards one of the windows, still a little bitter that things went so strange out there. At least he confirmed some things, like that his body was gone but his home world could still be located. Could be useful to people looking for tether solutions.

"Maybe it'll happen again. If Ego's pullin' some shit they're gonna need ya, unless that other me can tell Quill how to fight back. Quill's got the same power as Ego stored up in 'im. If he can tap into that, he can hit back just as hard."

Problem is telling him how. "Did I ever tell ya how I use my arrow?" He assumes that, since apparently he could live with a little less pretense in his life, that maybe he got the chance to tell him that it was more with his heart than his head. That it was with the motivation of everything he cared about and all the people he cared for.

With a thoughtful frown, T'Challa nods. "It certainly would be helpful, even if we are only able to send some word or advice back to them." While he knows he hadn't had much of a choice in coming here, he honestly didn't mind if he was needed to help. But not at the expense of his own world.

"You did explain it to me once." Though he hadn't quite gone into so much detail, T'Challa does remember a time when he had been younger that he'd asked how the arrow had worked.

"You need to tell 'im to use his heart, not his head. When I use my arrow, I use my heart. I always got ever'thin' I want, ever'thin' I care about, ever' right I gotta wrong all wrung up in my head. Sure, that ain't the technical bit, but he ain't gonna be able to tap into his end of Ego's power if he don't got the motivation. And you cain't fend Ego off without puttin' down that avatar of himself first."

He frowns hard, not that it's unusual for him to frown but it's definitely a more self-directed bout of genuine upset in this case.

"Hey, if I can help y'all crush that fella twice over then I'll really feel like I did somethin' right."

T'Challa can't help a frown of his own. "I'll be sure to tell him when I can." He can only hope it'll be soon enough.

"For the record...there still has been plenty you've done right."

His expression softens up.

"At least I got it right somewhere. Even if I needed some coaxin'." He assumes that he's talking about his Yondu. But the coaxing he'd needed was just someone caring about him, even if he'd been stupidly selfish about it a universe away.

And while Yondu could still be deceitful, this one mostly did it out of the sake of keeping the peace, often at his own expense. Because of the bad he'd gone through with his friends, having been called out as brutally as he had, he'd learned to not make choices quite so selfish. Maybe a lesson a little less brutal woulda helped.

"I appreciate knowin' I got it in me."

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No Place Like Home: The Return

Back on the Train

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