middleofsomewhere | Event: 12 of Beetroot

Event: 12 of Beetroot

It's been a couple of weeks since they had evacuated Osiga. In that time, many of voidtreckers were busy with a project to try and solve some of the many mysteries that surround the train they travel on. By the eight day of Rabbit they've exhausted all avenues, and whilst they have learned quite a bit, there are still some clear gaps.

Just as that investigation comes to a natural end, passengers are woken up by an announcement.

"Attention voidtreckers and passengers of the voidtrecker express. We are travelling to system #2554098133741. I have sent word to the ministry who have arranged recuperation packs for you. You have had a difficult mission and you deserve a rest.

But it is not just for rest. Last time we visited the system voidtreckers shared memories. Though it is understood that many of you did not enjoy the experience it is notable that certain voidtreckers saw memories of this voidcraft. They were memories that this craft had not accessed. It led to more pathways opening up in the operation of this craft.

I have done some research on the system and I believe we can trigger the caves of memory. This voidcraft understands this might be difficult for the voidtreckers and passengers of the voidtrecker express and it is hoped that only those of you who consent to this experiment will take part.

Regardless this should be a time for relaxation also and the dressing room is open for your convenience. We will arrive in the morning.

The dressing carriage is indeed opened for those who go and look. It's filled with swimming costumes, beach ware, summery clothes and sun hats. There's even a cupboard of buckets, spades, rock pooling gear and picnic blankets.

There are also team coloured tents for those who want to go and sleep under the stars for a night or two, though the train is remaining on the island for those for who camping is their idea of hell.

12 OF BEETROOT

RABBIT 9-12 ~ MEMORY CAVES: BONDING ~ MEMORY MAZE: SEARCH FOR THE TRAIN'S MEMORIES
ASK QUESTIONS ~ LOCATION INFORMATION ~ MEMORY CAVES ~ MEMORY MASTER POST

JEMA'GRETHY ISLAND: RELAXATION

The next day the train announces their arrival and they burst out of the void. For those near a window their first view of the island will be of crystal blue sea and white sand. It really does look like a paradise. The train circles down before landing on a grassy ridge, overlooking a beautiful beach of white sand and the ocean beyond. It is warm, but not too hot, a cool ocean breeze cutting through the heat making it pleasant. Behind them is a grassy plain, changing to forest in the distance. There is the sound of birdsong in the purple sky. To the west the land is more craggy, the silhouette of a fortress in the distance.

In a word, it is idyllic. A sense of peace permeates the island.

The place has no people, but it is clearly maintained. The eastern beaches have racks of shallow boats, both canoes and one- or two-person sailing dinghies. There is also a small building in which scuba gear is stored, along with several waterproofed manuals and instructional literature.

There are no living quarters, but there are sheltered sections with basic toilet facilities marked as camping grounds in five different sections of the island - by the hot springs, within the ruined fortress, beside the harbour, on the eastern beaches, and on the northern face of the mountain.

The recuperation packs are found at the closest toilet facilities to where the train lands. They are simple things, small gift baskets with a couple of fragrant soaps, fancier hair products and skin cream infused with herbs to encourage rest and sleep.

There are some sweet fruit biscuits and a cheesy bread. The packs aren't named but there are some suitable for the younger passengers with tiny plush and colouring books. Quite a few designed for teens with a more engaging activity book and components for making a fancy mocktail with a cute stirrer. Adult packs have a small bottle of alcohol- there's a mixture between the packs and what looks like a stone. When placed next to the skin it will either warm up or cool down depending on what is needed.

Exploring, the passengers will find beautiful beaches, ragged cliffs to walk and caves to explore. Where it is more craggy the beaches are made of pebbles, perfect for rock pooling.

A little more worrying is the volcano-like structure in the north. But even a quick glance will show it is not a typical volcano. There is no smoke and the liquid slowly running down it in rivulets is pink and blue.

Ruins of ancient houses are scattered across the island, but the main settlement is built into a rocky section in the north-west that has been secured with ropes and stairways cut into the cliffs, perfect for scrambles and hikes.

To the west are the hot springs. They have both outdoor and indoor areas; the indoor areas being wooden loghouse saunas, changing rooms and storage sheds, whilst the outdoor areas are a tiered series of pools spilling down the side of the mountain and shaded by brightly flowering trees. The waters are hot, mineral-rich and soothing.

MEMORY CAVES: BONDING

Shortly before arriving they will receive some information on their SCA. It will explain how those who once lived on this island went about making life bonds. Both people would bathe in the hot springs and then dress simply, barefoot and walk to one of seven rocks on the island. Their maps will pin point these, which is good because there's no real indication of what makes these rocks different to any other on the island.

Here they must offer their wish to know the other deeper and share food and drink. They can then go about their day. Sometime in the hours after they will receive their first memory, seen through their partners eyes.

However it seems that in envoking the ritual they have woken something on the island. Even those who did not take part or chose to bond to someone find themselves seeing a glimpse of another life.

On the second day they see another memory, through the eyes of their pair. When they come out of it they find themselves in a cave with their partner, chosen or not. The same happens on the third day, except for this final memory both pairs see both memories, watching from the sidelines as it plays out. They find themselves in the cave once more and this time, for many there is only one exit, to leave through together.

Please go here to play out the bonding process!

MEMORY MAZE: TRAIN'S MEMORIES

On the third day the train sends another message to their SCA.

"Activating the caves that share memories has been successful. I know this is a lot to ask of the voidtreckers, but any who wish to assist in discovering what it is that I have forgotten, the path is open now.

Those who wish to may go to the sacred rocks. Please be warned, I do not know how voidtreckers will fare. Please only go of your own free will."

Their SCA's once again show the rocks on their maps and when they get there, this time they are faintly glowing. It doesn't take much. One touch and their minds are drawn away from their bodies, into a labyrinth of caves. For anyone who comes across these people on the island, they look like they are in a deep trance, breathing, safe but far away in their mind.

The labyrinth is made of cool, dark rock. The walls have a glow coming from crystals in-bedded in them, allowing everyone to see as they move through.

At first there's no more to this labyrinth, or so it seems. But then they turn a corner, and they are no longer in cavern as it just was. They may be in their childhood bedroom, or in the middle of a battle they once fought. Perhaps they are not in their own memory, but someone else's. Scenes move rapidly and often merge, one persons into another, mixing to make strange scenes.

These visions don't attempt to ensnare them like some illusions, and those with protection from illusions and such techniques, will be able to find their way forward through the cave, and away from this triggered scenario.

Time barely has meaning. Indeed, when they finally emerge from the caves only a few minutes will have passed. But in that time they will have seen much, and eventually they may stumble across a fragment of memory that belongs not to a voidtrecker, but to the Voidtrecker Express itself.

OOC NOTES

OOC Post ~ Questions
~ You can either write memories in your tags or if they are longer/require a lot of content warnings you might want to write them in this post and link to them. Just start a top level with your character name to keep things organised!

~ For those taking part in the memory share bonding the cave post is here. Characters arrive in the cave after the second and third memory but it is obviously up to you if you play out the conversations after each or both! For those who do decide that their characters will bond- the cave after the third memory will only have one exit for them to leave together.

~ For those who signed up for train memories you will receive the snippet that your character sees- use these in tags as you will. There will be a conclusion post on the 24th which will put all of those memories together!

Art Credits: Header: Tropical Jewel by Steven Power, Thumbnail image 3.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So they're just-- missin' the ground? Constantly?" He'd laugh, but he's still reeling. At least his breathing is slowing down, and his humor is returning. He manages to think vaguely that he always carries a waterskin with him-- before remembering that he hasn't had a waterskin since he joined the train.

Bottles. They're called bottles here, and they're awfully hard to the touch.

Esteban reaches out to the bag he'd dropped nearby, dragging it closer and plucking the bottle from its depths. The water is still cool enough to provide some relief, and it helps him to focus his mind onto something so small and simple. Bit by bit, he's piecing himself back together.

"So y' travel to the moons an' the stars on some of them?" At least that concept is not new-- he'd been so startled to hear that people could space travel before, but it only seemed logical to him that they would try one day. A wanderer at heart, he couldn't help but understand the desire to reach new destinations, new places that he'd never seen before.

Edited (wrong icon) 2022-06-15 02:16 (UTC)

She settles in next to him, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. She can see this will take some explaining, and she is patient.

"In a way, yes," she replies, "though it's easier out in space, in its way - where gravity isn't as much of a factor."

"As for the rest, well. It's important to remember our galaxy is a lot older than many of the ones you might have heard of. Spacefaring races have been expanding our knowledge of the galaxy for nearly thirty thousand years, you see. It took a long time but now...tens of millions of worlds are inhabited. We've charted perhaps two thirds of the galaxy, a little more even."

There's a pause, a strained smile, and Esteban reaches up to ruffle the hair at the back of his head, trying to refocus again.

"Y'r world's so big," he manages after a short moment. "It's dizzyin'." His eyes close, a slight press of his eyebrows lingering low over his nose, and her companion takes another deep breath.

He can't deal with the numbers and implications that she keeps tossing at him. That they'd been traveling the stars for thirty thousand years is yet another wonder of such weight that he can't quite touch it yet. Even the oldest immortal Esteban knew was only about seven thousands years-- four times, fives times his age-- this was so much.

"Keep it small?" The physical barrier of it being small helps him find some bearing. Don't tell him about the numbers that are so big that his brain crosses over itself trying to keep up.

"Did you have a ship yourself?" He eventually asks, hoping this gives them a starting point, from which he can start charting his own path through the immense monsters Guri had presented so far. She'd wanted to show him her world, and he's really touched that she tried-- but it still feels like a dragon just crushed him under its paw and he now has to get back up from that.

"It is the capital," she offered, by way of explanation. "And as I said, our universe is older than most, at least in terms of human exploration."

She did nod at his question.

"Yes," she replied, "I did before I was brought here. The Stinger</i - a rather unique design, as it happens."

Oh! He thinks he remembers that one!

"The one shaped like a wasp, right?" Or at least Guri had told him she'd been in one shaped like a wasp. Was that her own ship? "Did you design it? Why was it shaped like a wasp?"

It helps him. Something small like this is helpful, and he takes another sip of his water, letting the simple matter draw him away from the stars and planets and galaxies, the universe far too big for how small he is among it all. And a wasp is all the more tiny. It makes him wonder why they would design their flying vessels after such small creatures.

"Oh, no, mine was much smaller. I preferred it that way."

She reached down, picking up a bit of stick, and with precision, began to trace out a basic three-dimensional outline of her ship.

"As for the wasp ships, it's because they used to be. The carapaces of long-dead space-faring wasps were used as ship hulls. Nearly a kilometer long."

Surely that will go down great for him.

He's surprised that she can just draw it out in the dirt like that, a little envious of her skills-- Esteban's best attempt at a doodle would be a bunch of squiggly lines, and that's with proper materials. But it at least gives him an idea of the ship she's used, even though he can barely tell much other than the front and the back of it, and only because it has such a distinct shape.

The wasp-ships don't even seem to phase him, surprisingly enough. He nods as she speaks, though his smile grows a little complicated; with an eyebrow pinched down and some trace of awkwardness to it.

"Wow. That's... alright, that's morbid, but pretty cool," he has to admit, snickering at the idea. Yikes. That's like saying someone would have found a dragon's corpse, emptied it out and started using it to fly about. But a kilometer-long wasp is still small enough that he can deal, pressing the vastness away with the smaller distance in comparison.

There's a short pause as he considers what to say to this, slowly collecting himself from the entire scores of knowledge and thoughts that has been poured into him in the last few minutes. It was-- a lot. But Esteban is adaptable, and, beyond the overwhelming scope of things, he can start picking at threads to see the colours woven in the tapestry.

"I've always loved the stars," he mentions, a little distractedly, eyes turning up to the gentle purple sky above their heads. "Even when I was a kid-- the moons too. The night." He closes his eyes. "The wind an' the feelin' of flyin'. Like I could go anywhere." There's a deep breath that settles in his lungs, smelling just a bit like saltgrass. The vast open plains that were as much his world as the cities were.

"I think it's amazin' that humans managed it in your world. That they reached out to the skies an' flew."

"Not just us - many, many species. There are easily thousands of hyperspace-travelling species, probably vastly more than that. But it is a truly wide and varied universe."

It seems the most hopeful message she can give him, that isn't completely overwhelming to him.

Oh! That's right! There's androids too, in her world. So Esteban beams at his companion, and nods, correcting himself with "People in your world are amazing!" There's a bit more mirth in his voice at this, but it's quick to fade, and the redhead turns back to the sky again.

"Thanks. For showing me." So, it's still a bit much for him to grasp, with the needle-towers and the dragonglass windows and the sheer numbers still running in through his brain, but Esteban has always found people's creativity and ingenuity impossibly amazing, from the cloud candies Roland has shown him to make, all the way to the ships that carry people like Hera and Guri through the stars. People are amazing. And, somewhere, in a distant world, or even a different one, there's a planet that is a city, so vast and large that Esteban cannot for the life of him conceive it.

He'd like to visit it some day.

Alright, now he's ready. Like dipping his toes in a pool, the half-elf shifts his head to the side as he turns to ask "Alright; 'f your world's that huge, how d's sunlight get all the way down t' the ground?"

Always curious, ever curious, and he'll have to be careful to navigate this world of millions-of-millions numbers; but he does want to learn, he does want to understand, and the glimpse that Guri gave him of her world is precious to him all the same, because it is part of her. Every person is a collection of stories, and Esteban loves hearing his friends speak of their world. Their homes.

"You're very welcome, though in future I think I would choose something...less overwhelming.

But at least there's a question she can answer.

"Interestingly, the weather is completely controlled. A key component of that is solar reflectors surrounding the planet - satellites, in orbit in space...they direct light here and there in order to intensify or lower local conditions."

He shakes his head at her mention, denying it. Yes, it's overwhelming, yes, it is so much for his mind to grasp, and he can feel it fray and tatter at his thoughts and at the corners of his mind, but he doesn't regret it either. He doesn't regret it.

"It's your home!" A brilliant smile accompanies his claim, bright with hope, and care. It doesn't matter to Esteban that the world she's shown him left him dizzy and with a pinching headache over each of his ears. She's shown him something that was important to her. And the half-elf is touched that she has.

"Thank you for showin' me." He repeats, his smiles curving more easily now, less lost into the vastness snatched in his mind that he can't even conceive. "I'm glad that you did."

He still grasps at the explanation, piecing together pieces of the puzzle that show him details instead of the whole, because the picture is still too big for him to catch on. But each little thing clicks a facet into place, a shard of it, and somehow, it reminds him of Eriat, the mirror moon. The light bounced wrong, and he went blind-- but it won't stop him from loving her colours when they spark across the ground.

"So they're mirrors, right?" That's one shard of it. "What 'bout the rain?" He asks, still following this line of questioning through.

The one thing he'd been greedy over is the weather controls in the train after all; and to this day, Esteban rarely has seen anyone wrestle it out of his hands. It's a change that keeps him sane in the eternal sameness of the train.

She might question whether or not it's home per se. It was a place she had existed. When she had been a servant of others, too. But she knew it well, at least. And she had nowhere else she knew as well.

"Essentially," she agrees, with a nod. "And the WeatherNet controls that through careful atmospheric manipulation. Only in the evenings, of course - and they make sure fog dissipates before the morning rush begins."

"So they control rain t' only happen at night?" That's... a bit odd in his books. "Why?"

Weather shouldn't-- he doesn't believe weather should be controlled to that point. He loves the wind and the rain, loves the way the sky changes under its own whims. Sure, there's some good to directing the sunlight to each part of the world, even moreso down from the incredibly tall dragonglass needle-buildings-- in between the narrow spaces, and to plazas otherwise sheltered by the shadows of giants. But no rain?

"What 'bout thunderstorms?" What do they do with those? Do they even control that much? Hang on-- "D'you have oceans?" He'd managed to piece together that the entire planet was a single city, but surely, there's nothing over the oceans? They'd never be able to build that much...

Would they?

"Less traffic to interfere with," she replies, easily. "It is the centre of Galactic government, after all."

She'd agree in general - but nothing about Coruscant is natural anymore. That ship had sailed thousands and thousands of years before she was constructed.

"There's one large ocean, yes," she replied, "it's required as a water sources to keep the entire system running, after all. And they do have storms, but the violence of them is strictly tempered."

Yes, they had built that much.

So-- so much of it is beyond Esteban's understanding.

Warned this time, it's not as much of a blow to his thoughts, only a sort of distant awe and... apprehension? Fear? He can't quite put his finger on it, just that he finds it both amazing and yet dreadful at the same time, that people and society got so far, but at the cost of everything-- anything--... natural. Is it even still a planet anymore?

But it is their way, and somehow, they've made it work. And that is the depth of people's ingenuity. It is both staggering and awe-inspiring. It is not beautiful in a way Esteban recognizes; but it is its own marvel.

"Wow." He doesn't really know what else to say to this-- his words are too small to compare to the depth that he's been shown. But he lets his tone, his breathless voice indicate how much her world has impacted him.

Okay. Okay, he's ready.

"What d'you like best from it?" he asks, and there's a bit of bracing for impact in his question, an attempt that whatever comes next he (hopefully) won't get staggered again by the sheer enormity of it.

She was quiet at that question. Nobody had ever asked it. She hadn't asked it before.

"Leaving it," she said, after a long moment. "You broke orbit, and as you started to head out into the stars, you could look back at it, this strange shining jewel just hanging there, and all those kilometers of skyscrapers and the trillions of people were all behind you."

Oh.

It's not as bad as he thought. Her simple description of it is... easy enough to imagine, like watching the Mirror Moon when he's falling down. The distance that slowly grows, the gentle glow that remains behind. He... sort of can imagine it the same.

"When 't feels so small, 'ven though y' know it's really not?" His question is not... so much a question, and more of a statement. At least, that's how he feels. His eyes close with the memories so close to the surface, of the endless sky and the shriek of the wind, the thunder of giant wings overhead.

A dusting of stars. A brilliant moon. The smile that curls on his lips is gentler as he recalls, before he glances her way again.

"Bigger question, though," and at this, Esteban grins, trying to ease it along, because he's not sure how Guri might take it. It's not that it's inappropriate, it's just-- "Why show me this?" Specifically. Purposefully.

Esteban had promised he would show her the Moon Mountains, but he doesn't recall asking for her to do the same. Of course, he's happy that she did, only-- oh, his words might be a little misleading, aren't they? "Why did you choose to show me this?"

That's clearer, right? That makes more sense?

"Or want. Both. Either." He should really just shut up at this point-- and Esteban manages to halt his slightly nervous ramble by carding a large hand through the small hairs at the back of his head. It keeps him silent enough to remember that he also has a bottle of water, and he takes a sip, a gesture aimed to keep him still and quiet and listen.

She nodded in understanding, but his question called her to shrug.

"I didn't, not purposefully. I am not familiar with these things - what came through is what came through."

"Maybe it's just the place I was the most familiar with, the one that came through the most clearly."

Oh, well. That's a bit of a disappointment. But he's still glad that she tried!

"Alright then! Where'd you liked t' spend the most of your time when there?" He asks, because while Guri may not have intended to share this with him per say, she still had and Esteban is greedy. He will learn what he can of the android while they remain on a subject that mattered to her; or at least what she is willing to share.

"What was it like? What didja like 'bout it?" Curious, curious, curious. Prodding at what he can find, collecting every shard of it. Crafting a better picture of who she is in his mind, in his soul. He wants to get to know her better after all.

She pursed her lips.

"I was under command. I had no free will," she replied. She can't respond to his curiosity, alas.

"You... never went there for y'rself?" He's not sure how to voice this in a way that doesn't feel awkward, but the more awkward he'll feel, the less he thinks they can actually talk about this. Slavery is not a problem Esteban had ever feared encountering before-- and he doesn't know how to be delicate regardless.

"Is it a bad memory for you?" He asks instead, brows furrowed in wonderment. For how amazed he was at the city, there's something bitter about hearing his friend had only been there when she did not have a say in this.

"Some of them are," she replied. "But you must recall, I was a slave. I was a thing, with no legal rights, and owned."

She's quiet for a moment.

"It was a place I lived, where I followed commands. I noticed some things, but it was...accidental, really. Rare moments of introspection in a busy, controlled life."

"A-- a bit of freedom in your shackles?" He's not sure if he should push for more... Not sure if stepping away would make him a coward. He doesn't know how to understand what she's telling him, after all, but Esteban doesn't want to just blot things out with the sunshine he usually brings to others.

He just... doesn't know what else to add.

That's a lot of things he can't do, and that doesn't sit well with him either. So he grins and shrugs, and goes "If you wanna tell me about it, y're welcome to? Can't say I'd be much help, but I'm... here? I can sit here an' listen. I'll squirm 'round a bit, but I can try an' keep still." It's... really the best he can offer.

Usually, he'd try to fix things, but she's already told him that she'd gotten free, so he's. Well. There's nothing much else he can think of. It's a little jarring, and he's bouncing again, needing to do something, needing to help, somehow. But there's no-how that come to mind. So this is-- this is what he can offer.

She nodded, slowly, folding her hands.

"Maybe. Some precursor to who I've become. And do not worry, I have been...blessed by the people I have met here. With kindness far beyond anything I ever knew, or could know, in my own universe."

"Vast though it is," she continues, "I am still a thing to my own galaxy. Here...here I am a person, with friends, with...with cares, and feelings. It is better."

There's more to this that he doesn't understand-- why Guri is considered a thing at all, when she clearly has a mind of her own. It baffles him that such a thing would happen, or how it might come to be; but then, Esteban has the tendency to see the train as a being, rather than a thing-- something he's aware isn't shared along with everyone in the train.

"Y'r a great person, Guri. Y'r patient, an' gen'rous too. I don't know you much, an' you prob'bly don't need t' hear it from me--" his hand raises to ruffle through the short hairs at the back of his head-- "an' I bet y' already know that, but... y' don't need others t' trap you in their def'nition." It feels a bit... awkward to tell her so, but he won't back down. He can't back down.

She matters; just as much as anyone else does. Her choices and her hopes and her dreams matter, whether she keeps them entirely to herself or whether she shares them with her companions, they are so important.

"I'm happy that I met you. I'm happy that I get t' be y'r friend." He can't offer much to them, these precious beings that he's met. But he can hold them dear. He can offer them that much.

Event: 12 of Beetroot

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Link is broken; managed to find it googling the name though

Boo, sorry!

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feel free to have her catch that memory too if you want

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CW: slavery

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Fade-to-black? (Second attempt XD)

Yes :)