No Place Like Home: The Return

[voidtreckermods]

---

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.

Comments

Tidus

[blitzcheer]

preparing; pre-anchoring, and finding a partner

Tidus is ready - as close to it as he can be - to leave as soon as he can, to exit out the doors, and from the tomb the interior of the train had become to his senses. That's as far as he can rush though, the actual anchoring business needed to be started - but to others about the doors, just outside, he does whistle for their attention.

"Hey! Anyone here done this anchoring before? You should help take a lead! And do any of us wanna hang back for the people who arrive? I know the anchors are gonna be exhausted too!"

It's up to everyone else to decide what they'll be doing, what roles. But a little pre-paring doesn't hurt; nor does finding people to anchor with.

He'll approach anyone he knows, doesn't - ask throughout the rescue, "You got someone to save?" or "Can you help me?", to lead for either position. If you want someone to be stationary, Tidus can be, even if he'll be looking more forward to being a roamer.

an inevitable return

It's tiring. Tiring to the mind, his soul, that everything he does is on automatic. By a few turns, he's taken out sixth censers and ethers for those anchoring to take, left on a table, and left with whoever's minding the health of everyone during this. It's some help, either to burn the incense smoke and to make a room a place of recovery, or to let the magic of the ether work; but still, after so many rescues as everyone will need to get involved with, the process will get to anyone.

He only rests when he needs to, when he comes out of an anchor, toppling from the experience. There has to be a list by now, and if he can get away with resting in the standard coach, he'll take whatever food or drink is being passed around; ask too, since surely there'll be a list made:

"How many more?"

How many more people are missing? How many more do they need to get?

wildcard;

Feel free to plop a set-up for Tidus coming into your character's world if you don't mind him searching for your character to save! Or if there's anything else you'd like to come up, lmk.

Lioriley; ota

[invigorates]

❱❱ rally the troops

Lioriley had wanted to be optimistic; to believe that those that returned would stay in their home worlds as they wished to. But in the time between their departures and the eventual decision that they needed to be rescued, that optimism had all but vanished.

The signs were all there — the train being unable to move, the flickering shadows of those lost and wandering between the void and the worlds they wished to see, the almost deafening silence around them. But she had held out hope until there was no question otherwise, and the message came through loud and clear: they had to do something to save them.

This was not the first time she had been called to action without much preparation, and it likely wouldn't be the last. And Lioriley moved with the swiftness and stalwart intent of a woman who had seen some shit before, and was ready to adapt however she could to assure things went smoothly. During the first few hours as the plans were set into motion, she could be seen hurrying around the carriages, trying to rally the remainers into a single area. And if they did not care to follow her (she could understand — new and unannounced, people sometimes did not like taking orders from strangers), she would at least ask for their name.

"So few that we are, we should be certain we are not overwhelmed while we aid the others." She explained, "I intend to attempt to keep us all in order, if possible." And it'd be great if they worked together.

❱❱ schedules

After all the appropriate information was gathered, a piece of paper would appear on the walls of one of the main carriages (likely wherever people were dropping out to anchor), stating names, duration on the train if they were only just returned, as well as who had done which job during specific hours and days.

Lioriley was clearly the one updating it, and between doing runs herself to help those stuck outside, she would adjust said information as necessary, her usually perfectly aligned, looping script just a little sloppier in how quickly she was altering the text.

❱❱ creature comforts

If something was set up to calm those that were returned — and even those anchoring that seemed to suffer the mental strain of aiding their fellow passengers — after such trials, Lioriley made sure to pop in as frequently as she could between everything else she was doing.

"Do you need anything?" She would ask, coiled lines of magic along her skin pulsing and flickering. "Food, water, anything at all — if it is in my power to retrieve it, I will gladly do so." even if that something was just sitting down and talking to them, she would be more than happy to do so. Just ignore the obvious exhaustion and anxiousness making her fingers twitch.

❱❱ wildcard

Lioriley will be anchoring and roaming between all the shit she's doing on the train. So if you would like her to try and help your character feel free to hit me up @ LiLi#0844 and winemom. Always happy to write personal starters.

Preparing

[crowneddragon]

The moment the VoidTrecker calls out to them, Esteban is up, listening, straining to hear if anything they have done in the last few days has even made a dent into its-- their-- unwavering distance. This is how you help.

The relief that floods him is staggering, releasing a coil of tension that had been wound tighter and tighter as time went on, as Esteban suggested each and every stupid, reckless, foolish idea that passed through his thoughts. He still feels lost and a little sideways, but there is progress, there is an offer, and with Kaiba having already warned them of the anchoring, Esteban is more than ready to try, to go, to reach out to the friends that he's lost and hold them close, and tight and bring them home.

He's not even the one who suffered the most, know that a lot more experienced Treckers had lost friends and family that they had built upon for months, see even years, but Esteban always got far too attached, far too quickly, and the threat of losing so much again had ripped holes back open where he'd learned to thread lightly. They still shift underfoot, the structure unsteady, but Esteban has a goal, now, has an option now, and he holds onto these tightly as he pushes the chasm of his past aside.

Later. Later, later later, most definitely not now.

He spots Tidus first; of course he does. The last few days have been... rough, on them both, and there had been comfort in the blond, even though Esteban's not sure he's managed to help him back even half as much as he'd been helped. He's still kicking himself for his deviation in the greenhouse, how he'd gotten so stubborn and narrowminded at something to do that he had blinded himself to Tidus' pain, had talked over his sorrow of how to fix things. Promising things that... weren't his to promise.

But they have now. They can fix it now, please, he just wants to make sure they're all safe, he is a dragon and even though it's just shards of it, some of his hoard is missing and that can't do, that won't do, he would rip the moons apart and fight the twelve God Eaters to bring them back home.

"Sunshine!" He's beaming though, buoyed by the announcement, gathering the relief and the hope close as he jogs up to the blond, and, oops-- goes to give him a quick hug.

"You ready?" There's not even a doubt in Esteban's mind that they're going, they'll be reaching out, because he may not know as many people as Tidus does-- (seriously, how does he keep track of them all? Esteban is a social butterfly, but the blond is always with everyone and the half-elf can't even phantom how he manages to be at ten places at once.) --but he does know Tidus and care for him, so wherever-- whoever Tidus is going to save, Esteban will be right there to help him along.

There are people that he wants to save too, and he hopes Tidus is going to cooperate as well, because Esteban is just short of tossing himself into the fog, tethers be damned, but he knows logically that it is not the right choice. It's still... a struggle. But not one that needs to be shared.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus would offer Esteban's name in return for the nickname, but the other guy's hug keeps it in his throat, swallowed away by the question in its place. It's not an unwelcome gesture however, and Tidus is smiling, if slightly pinched. But this is what they've been waiting for - a chance. An opportunity.

But he nods the question first, an answer both of them already knew. "I want to get Inigo." First, he means, but he's already going through names in his head. "Jingyi-- he's a friend of ours too. He got knocked out of the train; he would've been scrambling for a way back."

The fact that he's not even out here - but Tidus isn't thinking about any of that. He will be, soon.

"Who do you want to find? We'll get them too."

Senku Ishigami

[10billionpercent]

The Placement

Senku had been hopping in and out of his world. Thinking, ruminating, scheming and trying to come up with something as well as keeping tabs on this mess. He knew. He knew something was going wrong. The sky was glowing a strange mix of colours.

Ha. Poetic in its own way. This was another puzzle. Was his world broken again? Was his presence causing the rift? He liked puzzles but honestly, looking at the sky he was just exhausted.

Then, of course, came the point he could no longer venture away from his tether point, and so he sat down in the dirt, just looking at the world as it was. He'd be found sitting there, quiet.

Focusing on Senku, trying to breach into this space he occupied would not be easy.

I. A Rescue

A first glimpse, in the fog, Senku is not the adult, but rather a child, maybe four or five years old, his hair was still standing on end and he's in a pair of pajamas. They were covered in rockets and he was opening the door to his bedroom.

Inside the room are gifts, textbooks, equipment...a lot of things that would belong in a high school lab, not a pre-schooler's bedroom. Behind him, Byakuya Ishigami stood, smiling fondly at the surprise and wonder on his kid's face.

An ominous sound then, slightly distorted but it still sounded like Senku's voice, albeit synthetic. "WHY?"

II. The Return

Getting on board the train again was less than pleasant really, but Senku was exhausted.

Did the train think he wouldn't fight through that to cause a fuss?

He walked right up to the engine room door, banging on it.

"Hey! I need some answers!"

It was possibly entirely fruitless, but he was going to try anyway. Everyone probably wanted rest. Senku needed rest too, all the same, he was going to make a fuss in the hopes that something happened.

[crowneddragon]

Oh! He knows Jingyi too! Briefly, and he knows he meant to talk to him more before-- before.

Dead Guardians in a ditch, this month has been...

"Amaya. Sent her home 'cause I thought she'd be better off there, an'--" 'Dians he regretted it. Even as he spoke her name, his right hand came up, almost by habit now, to press into quick signs, which the SCA sputtered out for him in its mechanized voice. {Amaya}

"She might-- not wanna come back?" he's not sure though. His head shakes and he convinces himself that they'll have time for it later, just. One step at a time.

"Allen an' Kitty stayed back. Danny-- I haven't seen Danny. Zetta was with us, Romeo is here," he's suddenly running through all the names he knows in his head, rechecking and double checking that anyone at all who has spoken to him before is accounted for, is present, or will be as soon as they manage it.

"Oh! Jake's missin' too!" He hasn't spoken to the other sunny man in a while, but he remembers him fondly nonetheless, and he won't-- he can't leave him behind.

[blitzcheer]

...that was smart the way the SCA did that, wasn't it. A name coming from Esteban and then it, and Tidus looks for the device with a glance, but nothing more. No getting distracted now.

"Danny and Amaya - let's focus on them," he says with a nod. "I dunno how many we'll be able to get to, but let's try it." He's bringing up his SCA to the document they got sent, an apprehension similar to giddiness already running through him. It doesn't feel real, but it was, and they were doing it.

"...One of us has to stick with the craft while the other goes searching." He looks up from the information to Esteban, a pause as he considers.

"--You wanna flip on it?"

Not that Tidus has a coin, but he's highly aware that they're both the type to want to go out there and get their friends. But this sounded like one of them would be stuck around the train, or something.

[crowneddragon]

There's a shake of his head, denying it. He knows-- it's-- there's.

Tidus should go first. He won't explain, or go into the details why; but his worry, anger and pain-- grief, Esteban had named then, and it's not because the person isn't dead that it doesn't apply any less, because he knows how much this gnaws inside, empty holes that eat away at more and more of a person until there is no ledge to find safe, to find secure.

"Y' go first. I'll stick around; make sure you're not goin' anywhere you're not s'pposed to be~" There's a cheeky wink, lighthearted and cheery, before Esteban remembers their last attempt at anything remotely similar. "My turn to stand here an' look pretty. Can't have you hog all the spotlight."

'Dians. 'Dians, the hope is palpable. It had been so hard; so hard just to thread the water, he hadn't even realized how low he'd sunk until he could manage to bring himself back up. He's sorry that he was in such a poor state before. He's sorry that, for all his intents, and all his tenacity, these days-- these last few days... Esteban feels like he's lost himself. Not just his friends, but himself too.

Later, later, later, he reminds himself. Not now.

rallying the troops

[blue_ice]

The train is finally allowing them to do what they've insisted they need to do. Seto is somewhat relieved, but he knows it's going to be a long road ahead.

And one of the newcomers is facing this task with enthusiasm and purpose. That's somewhat comforting. But he needs to understand and so he tilts his head slightly.

"What do you mean keep us in order? Counting to make sure we're not losing anyone?"

[theverymodel]

Train

It's going to be complicated calculus, especially if what he remembers of the anchoring process from before rings true. They have a lot of people to retrieve and not a lot of people equipped to retrieve them. It's going to wipe out anyone working on retrieval. "Will need to prioritize carefully. Need to retrieve all. Early attempts should be suited to joining in effort. Or supporting any medical issues."

Yeah, he's implying that losing the few healers they have on the train currently could be a problem.

Anchoring/Roaming

HOpefully they've worked something out. He intends to see this through, taking turns as needed as a stationary anchor or heading out as a roamer. He's ready to be pratical about the thing.

Wildcard

It wears on him, but what can he do but make sure another name gets crossed off the list of the people they need to retrieve? No good can come of leaving people in limbo. He'll rest when he's done.

Retrieval -- Closed to Tidus and whoever anchors him

[gathersnomoss]

Zelgadis had noticed things were getting weird in Saillune City. The colors, for one — it was too far south to have the northern lights. But given he was spending a lot of time with the granddaughter of the king, the fact people were starting to collectively dream of other worlds didn’t go unnoticed. While the people of Saillune City were no strangers to weird shit coming to their area, it wasn’t too hard for Zelgadis to link the train’s failed attempt to return him home to sudden appearance of Void stuff.

The message on his SCA did cause him to hesitate for a moment. He’d never used the evacuate function on a mission, and trying it out under the circumstances where gods only know what held his self to anything (his body, the train, whatever) was a bit dubious.

Amelia had elected to see him off. Attempts to remind her that unlike him, she actually had duties and responsibilities had utterly failed, so Zelgadis was resigned to the fact that either he pressed the damn button or he actually had to put up with a prolonged goodbye to a friend rather than his normal habit of ‘short goodbye than leave’. So, have two people — one familiar, one not — seated on the ledge of a fountain in the city square, watching the sky show disturbing flashes of light and waiting for Zelgadis to make up his mind about the damn evacuate button on his wrist.

[invigorates]

"I am keeping a list." She confirmed with a nod, pulling out her journal with a series of names and team colors already written down, along with a few other details scribbled beside them (distinguishing features, current emotional state, their intentions for the mission if they cared to give her any detailed responses). "And intend to do frequent - hourly, if possible - rounds to assure we are all accounted for and well enough to continue our missions. As well as keeping track of all those we retrieve." It didn't look like she had recruited anyone else for this task, and since no one had volunteered, she certainly wasn't going to try and force them.

"The passenger roster helped a bit, but who knows if it can be relied on."

ayoooooooooo

[flatteries]

At first it feels like something is wrong when Inigo suddenly finds himself appearing in Ylisse again, despite not meaning to go there. Again.

Something about being here, in a world that isn't his anymore, separated from the friends he promised to be present for - his friends back on the train, Taiki in his own world who needed so much help - threatens to make him feel sick to his stomach. It feels like a taunt, even moreso because it's not like he's actually there. He's just like a ghost, hanging out in a world that isn't his. It's like this is the way things are meant to be, if he'd ever go home. He's just secondary. The Inigo that isn't the real Inigo, not anymore.

Still, there's the message. It's the one good thing in all of this. And though Inigo also feels bad about that, wishes that there was something he could actively do to help, he can't think of a single thing to do.

Other than to just.. sit there. And wait. No matter how much he hates it.

By the time people reach out to find him, Inigo is sitting in a field of flowers - apparently somewhere in nature, because there's not a single building to be spotted anywhere around, nor a single other person. Overhead the sky is dyed in the colours of the sunset, though occasionally there's an odd colour mixed in, one that somehow doesn't seem to belong there, like an odd streak of light.

Inigo isn't watching that though. His legs are drawn up so his forehead rests against his knees, his hand uselessly pressing the evacuation button on his SCA, over and over.

Yondu Udonta | Closed and OTA

[yondu]

Emotionally Braced - Closed to Tobirama

That 'devil-may-care' attitude persists until he sees Koumyou die, and that's what slows him down. Just this dawning realization that he can't be sure what's about to happen to them, that an actual end might be in sight, and he really is living on borrowed time (though all he saw was Koumyou disappear rather than any remnant of a corpse as usually happens).

So he goes back to that little pocket of galaxy on that spaceport colony that means nothing to him and waits around there, quiet, again unnoticed. He sits by the bar and works through drinks, listens to reporters talk about recent happenings. He hears someone talking about Thanos and a dream that he'd attacked Xandar. He listens to someone else bring up a familiar name, Steve Rogers, as the subject of one of their own dreams and wondering why the hell they needed to remember that. Someone else brings up a sky full of colors.

Something was going wrong and Yondu realizes that as much as he wants to spend as much time as possible in a universe where he's wanted? Even if he's not engaging it at the moment beyond drinking? He can't. He has to go and he has to wait in the fog. His presence could be damning this place and he fully expects the Void is somehow leaking in after him.

He could use those moments to send out decent final messages, passing notes for Quill and his team to find later. But he can't think of anything good to say. He'd tried to do that with Devero, leave important messages to people he cared about, but what goddamn good did that do? More seemed to go than he managed to keep.

Maybe if he'd waited for just a little bit longer before walking away, just a few more minutes, he'd have noticed the swirl of yellow from a forming portal not too far from where he'd been sitting. He'd have seen the strong, noble form of one Stakar Ogord step through with Krugarr slithering along behind him. He would have seen them asking around, following up on the word that the ghost of Captain Udonta was haunting this place.

That spirit was purged by the time they arrived, and he's out among the platforms, silent and sad and spent as he checks his SCA and the message that comes across it. Hold fast. Press your evacuation button. Your friends come. The Evac button. He'd forgotten that existed. Maybe he should have tried it sooner, if he'd thought of it. Whether or not it did any good. Now he's not eager to. Now he's angry he can't just exist in a world that actually wanted him in the end.

With that patented too-hard frown and grim face, he pushes the button to summon help. Someone will come, he knows that, whether or not he feels like he deserves it or that they should. They'd come whether they cared about him or not. It's just how these people are. But then again, wouldn't he throw himself out there just the same for his crew?

For now he just stands there and waits.

Back at the Train - OTA

When he's back to the train, he's got some priorities. As much as a self-serving sadsack he can be, he does love his people, so he goes to seek them out. The ones he's claimed as children, the ones he's generally worried about, the ones he feels he really owes something to.

And then there are the ones that bothered to tether for him. Putting their heads on the line to bring him back, and even if someone wandered out into the void river for him, he knows the ones that stayed at the train paid just as big a role. So he finds them too, as soon as he can.

"They flew the Colors for me!" is one of the first things he ends up blurting out. Because it needs to be said, out loud, after all this time. He had been remembered. No idea what the hell to do with that? But he'd been remembered.

WILDCARD - OTA

OOC: As I'm not entirely sure how the tethering/anchoring process is gonna go I'm just gonna tackle some one on one threads here with a Wildcard option for any tether/anchor conversations between those involved if they don't have a top-level to use, even if they're quick action or whatever.

kaiba | anchor | ota

[blue_ice]

preparation/pairing

Kaiba's already done single anchoring, and he'd been prepared for that, but the extra dimension of pairing with someone else has him slightly wary. He's not sure he's in enough control of his emotional state to hold it all back in an anchor pair right now, but for everyone's sake, he needs to try.

He's paused at the door to steel himself, and perhaps seek a partner.

"...this might be chaotic." Understatement of the week.

rescues

Seto's going off a combination of his own memories and Lioriley's list, trying to call to mind every face he knows. There's some emotion he can draw on to find them, right? It's painful, pushing through all the chaos swirling around him and holding himself together, but he's on a mission. People need him.

If he should find a crew member, he'll yell out. "Over here! Everything's destabilized, we have to go!"

As serious as the words are, there's a glimmer of relief that people are alive. But he's determined to save them.

...and the non-rescues

As the procedure goes on, Seto remembers something he'd learned during their past anchoring test. He'd been able to walk so tantalizingly close to other worlds, is it possible he'd be able to latch onto former crew who'd likely become void ghosts too?

He'll try to recruit a stationary anchor. "Do you know how many rescues we have left? Wondering if I have time to try something."

sleepy reunions

Eventually, Seto is forced to rest. He'd thrown himself too hard at the problem early on, as usual, and he's almost unconscious by the time he lumbers back onto the train. He's draped across a chair, barely moving, but just barely awake.

He might manage to lift a hand in greeting. "You made it."

[blue_ice]

Seto briefly peeked at the list and nodded. So many missing...it was a daunting task ahead of them, but he couldn't leave them behind.

"If you saw any names in gold, we might not find them. Those people tend to be lost---they vanish at the next platform stop. But everything's especially unreliable right now."

Everything else she said, though...despite all that, he felt the drive to be on the job. "I'm going in. I have too many people to find."

[invigorates]

"Ah. That is good to know." Jotting that down real quick. She would have to check the roster again later to be sure she adjusted her own list accordingly.

"Understandable. Do you intend to go immediately, then? The instructions suggest it to be an emotionally daunting task - I would recommend not lingering for long periods of time."

[blitzcheer]

He's glad, really; he won't deny the other guy's desire to go out there and find people, knows Esteban wants to, just as much as him. So it's an appreciation that melt onto his face, a small nudge added by the playfulness Esteban adds.

Tidus owes him through this time, for sure, and he reaches for a shoulder, nodding with the gratitude spoken as well.

"Thanks." It's firm, genuine, a squeeze from his fingers, and then he lets go so he can ready his SCA. For the next part to get them going, whatever this experience will be.

"Okay, Trusting you, pretty boy." And there's a grin in it that isn't shown, but still in the delivery. He raises his SCA in indication. "All thoughts on me."

And he'll wait just for a moment, seeing that Esteban is following his wavelength - that he's getting a hand ready on the voidcraft, or near - before his presses the visible anchor symbol, and --

It's like they're in the luggage carriage again; like it, but not exactly the same. The grounded feeling under Tidus's feet disappearing, but he isn't falling, isn't floating; and he'll need Esteban to connect to him, to give him an anchor, to keep himself from becoming lost in that rush. For their emotions, their minds to link -- Tidus with some apprehension in his heart, a flutter of confusion for the sensations, but a grip to persevere through it; his mind, his trust in Esteban apparent, and the desperate impatience for his mind to start their journey into this unknown to find their friend.

rescues

[miseris_socios]

Ken doesn't want to be here. Not in this location - but he can't move too far from the alley where his house used to be, where his mother died... where Shinjiro nearly died saving him. He hears a voice and looks up.

"Seto?" He moves towards the voice, ignoring the sudden pull he feels to stay and reaches out his hand, struggling to move towards the voice. Something must have gone wrong... he can't imagine Seto had put together a craft this quickly.

[blitzcheer]

And for the two people hanging out on the fountain, have one appearing quite abruptly where it is they are - one Tidus, that is, toppling over a single step and landing straight on his face.

If there's a great way of 'landing' after riding a tether made by thinking a lot about a person, it wasn't in the instructions they were given. So he doesn't even get to see anything but concrete, arms at least somewhat shielding his face, but his nose sure is aching, an "Owwwww-" sounding as Tidus tries to awkwardly lift his head off from the ground.

Give him-- give him a second here, Zelgadis. And sorry if you felt like you just bumped your nose too, Esteban.

awooooooooo

[blitzcheer]

The anchoring process is a rush, a rollercoaster with no fastening to protect him than the sense of Esteban holding onto some part of - maybe all - of him to keep him whole. And still if he loses focus, if he doesn't keep a hold on the thought and goal pulling him forward, he knows he'll slip.

And what does it mean, to slip in the void? Tidus won't find out. Inigo, Inigo, Inigo.

The thoughts that carry him aren't just privy to him and the void. It spills through to Esteban, a passenger to every thought, every feeling; the blue-haired man's smile, his touch, the sight of him in the mornings, laying in bed. The conversation held between them in the greenhouse before Inigo's flowers, crouched; Tidus holding his hand for comfort and wishing he could help let Inigo live the life of someone free. Fields of flowers conjured from memories of Inigo's own childhood, somewhere for him to dance freely.

('We promised to be there for each other,' Inigo had reminded him calmly, sure; and Tidus realised how much he'd come to rely on Inigo after all.)

And before he's even truly in Ylisse, there's a power, a call being made to try and get Inigo to hear him, to let him appear where he is. A permission, a plea, a feeling and Inigo repeating his name in his head.

Inigo, it's me, Inigo, hear me hear me hear me--

Because if he can reach him, the power he received from Diagad will let him find Inigo.

Naoya

[crouching_sin]

Preparation

The broadcast is impossible to ignore. Naoya reads through the instructions several times - this feels familiar. He heads around the train looking for people who look idle and hufffs, slightly annoyed.

"We've got work to do."

Other than that he lingers near the doors and waits for them to open, glancing at the assembled and waiting for their chance to go rescue people.


Retrieval

Naoya doesn't mind being a stationary anchor, perfectly comfortable with holding on to a tether. He knows a lot of people are hero types, more prone to being the ones roaming than the ones holding on.

But he's not about to leave anyone out there. He heads out into the fog himself at times, looking for passengers. He's memorized the roster of course, so there's a decent chance that anyone who's in need might find the white-haired man emerging from the fog.


Exhaustion

For as much as he grumbles, Naoya is willing to work himself to exhaustion to find people. He doesn't complain, doesn't waver even when he's clearly tired. It takes someone actually forcing him to rest for him to actually sit down, slumping in a seat and blinking slowly. He's not about to sleep - not out here, with so many people about - but he'll... be up in a few minutes.

Just as soon as he gets his energy back.


Wildcard

[???]

[eternalinquiry]

Anchor Point
Wangji had ventured into the worlds voluntarily, so that he may see his home as it was. He can't regret it even as he finds himself dragged away and back to the familiar lecture hall he was originally yanked from. If you are looking for him, that's where he will be, staring out the window or going through some notes. Some students are milling around and they will be asking him questions, mostly about the strange events happening in the outskirts of town and in the afternoon sky. As it is he's finding it far too easy to slip into old habits and think about staying when his SCA tells him to hit 'evacuate'. He does and can only hope to see a friendly face.
"How strange is it that I am looking forward to returning to the train?"

Returning
Wangji will be tired and emotionally weary from the whiplash of seeing everything. He will offer a helping hand to anyone who looks like they need it, but really he wants some peace and maybe a cup of tea. He will head to the kitchen and then the library or gardens to try and regain his peace of mind.
"I hope those who were seeking to leave are not too discouraged by this set back."

comforts

[crouching_sin]

"No, I'm fine." Naoya's hair is a bit matted down to his head, wavering slightly. He's fine. He's not tired. There's no mental strain that he can't deal with.

"Just looking for someone else to anchor with. There's still a lot of people we need to go and retrieve."

[blue_ice]

"The tethers didn't sever all the way. The train can't leave, and it's glitching."

He pushes forward as much as he can, seizing Ken's hand the moment he's in reach. He might be squeezing just a little too tight. But before they step into the chaos he takes a moment to take Ken's face in...relieved to see him, but also worried about what might've happened in such a creepy place.

"Hold onto my hand no matter what. If you let go, you'll become a void ghost."