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

"I don't know..." He worries. There's much of his life that he would rather shield his friends from. Even if he didn't want to keep things from them, there was a difference between telling them and them being forced to see what he had...

"Youka!" A child's voice sounded from not too far away as the scene shifted to a group of young women, all dressed the same and folding laundry.

A small child ran down the path, a small version of Taiki, dressed in robes. "Hide me! Hide me!" said Taiki between breaths as he ran toward Youka and hid behind her.

"Taiki just wants to be friends with Youka!" One of the nyosen said.

"That's what I was saying!" Another laughed.

They used the cloths they were holding to cover Taiki up. The little body that hid between the jasmine bushes and Youka was completely covered by the cloths in the blink of an eye.

A moment later a creature ran towards the group. The Nyosen stood, trying and failing to act casually.

The problem in not getting a choice was in this: learning if it was a time to look away. He was peripherally aware of what was happening, but Jingyi's gaze was on Taiki, blinking slow.

"Do you want me walking away from this?"

Whatever memory it was, whatever Taiki did or did not want or need anyone seeing, if it mattered. It wasn't Jingyi's call to make.

He shook his head. "It's alright... This one isn't..." It's not bad. It's painful, but that's because it is a happy one. A time where his life had been calm, where any confusion was just from being stolen to a new world and getting used to that.

The creature got close to the women who giggled and pointed down the path. "He went that way Sanshi!"

"Almost knocked us over, but he headed down the path."

The creature just shook her head, walking past them to the pile of cloths, pulling them off until she revealed a giggling Taiki.

"Taiki." She cooed as Taiki laughed, still out of breath from his running.

"You still found me." He hugged her forhead and she patted his head gently.

"It's impossible to hide from Sanshi." Youka told him with a smile.

"I know..." He sighed again, blushing slightly. Youka brushed his hair off his forhead gently.

"You should go bathe for a bit. It's almost time for dinner." She told him, still gently. "Luckily, there is a lot of clothes here for you to change into. I'll tidy up here and then I'll come find you."

"Okay." Taiki nodded and stood up. "Sanshi, let's go."

The nyosen smiled as they watched Sanshi leave, holding on to Taiki's hand.

"It looks like the one who favors Taiki most is Sanshi!"

"Isn't what?" he asks, more quiet as he blinks and cants his head, listening still more than leaving. Play, indulgence, games of hide and seek, things he knows even if he doesn't indulge in them these days. Or his concept of play has become something else altogether as he's grown, with or without him realising.

It's sweet, and bitter in turns, knowing that Taiki's life has been more shadows than moments lived in the bright light. Through no fault of his own, nothing inherent.

Kindness is not something the world doles out equally, if it doles any out at all.

"It's not one that brings sorrow." A bittersweet sadness for sure. Seeing Sanshi will never not bring pain. Seeing her like this... But the memory itself is a good one.

"I hadn't been at Mount Hou very long then, I don't think I truly even understood what a kirin was at that point."

He often saw his small self as foolish and weak, but seeing him now like this... He had been very small and very far from all he had ever known.

"How much longer before you did?" Start to understand, even as the memory fades around them, carrying away its daylight with it.

"If you want to say." He sighs, squinting before he shakes his head. "That person, were they the one you were supposed to be raised by, according to your birth world's logic?"

"Not very long. The sages eventually explained things. They weren't used to a kirin so old who didn't know anything." So it can't have been long before he had begun to understand.

Not fully understand that had been a lot longer. He nodded though at the second question. "Yes. Sanshi."

He nodded, tailtip flicking as he turns to make his way past another bend in the caves, clucking his tongue. He wished there were anything like a memory compass to guide them in the right direction. Would Wei Wuxian be able to craft something of the kind?

He wondered. If anyone could, it'd be him.

"What about Sanshi?"

Wandering around a cave in the hope that the correct memories, not their own but those of the train, was not the most exact science. There might be a better way, but it was not one he knew.

"That's her name, my nyokai. I hadn't known her very long back then but I... It was as if I had loved her my whole life."

"Huh." Huh, because it's a curious thing to him, to come into that kind of love and to know it with one's whole self. He has to wonder, what was it like, loving his parents when he was little, when the world was absolutes, before the war shattered that into greys? He can't remember. Doesn't know if it matters anymore, when he's found so many other kinds of chosen affections in the time since, when he has a lingering affection and grief that never fully departs, and that he allows to exist, accepts, without attempting to dismiss.

It is, and that is a truth, and so what? He keeps moving anyway.

"How many people have you held deep affections for since her?"

He tilted his head. "I don't think... Not exactly like that. What I feel for my king..." His king, not just Lord Gyousou because he is dead and he will have a new king, a new master to follow and as painful as that is to think about, he knows he will love them. Because he is a kirin. Because that is how his heart works.

"It is much stronger than the love I had for her, but it is different. A very different feeling. Also the love I have for my friends, I feel strongly for you, for Tidus and Inigo and Xion but... It's not the same."

"Is it supposed to be?"

The question wasn't rhetorical, Jingyi turning with another twist in the way forward, the gentle illusionary glows lighting their way. To the left, a memory tries to begin, but the barking of canines isn't anything he's familiar with, and he only glances to see if Taiki is inclined to stop.

Canines, so he presumes, won't be insight into the Voidtrecker Express's missing memories.

"I don't think people assume you'll feel the same way about anyone, including feeling close to them, holding deep affection, whatever you want to call it. Sure, some of it for you is compulsory, but is that so different in ways for others? People end up caring for and respecting their parents even when they're harsh. Respecting and feeling affection for elders who punish them for not being exactly as they want." Jingyi, who isn't using the word love directly, but means it exactly, regardless.

"I care for you, Inigo, Sizhui, Tidus, Xichen, all different people in different ways. Not like how I remember caring for my parents, or how I feel for my elders. So that's all normal stuff... that the way you feel for different people is just different. Who have you felt strongly for since? Which I guess is what I meant, and what you answered, anyway."

Taiki does stop, tilting his head at the barking of dogs but not quite recognising it. Was it his memory? Was in Jingyi's memory? Or another voidtreckers?

"Yes. It is different. But no less."

Or maybe a bit less. But just mostly different.

Something he was still learning. "I don't think I will ever care for anyone else like I did her. But I care for them just as much."

Jingyi only looks back, rather than pause at Taiki with his tilted head and the barking dogs. No, didn't look like he recognised it, so safe enough to bypass, per Jingyi's estimate.

"Welcome to being a person. We're all good at that kind of thing, whatever else our bodies or circumstances might make of us."

A smile, and something like a laugh, waving his hand at Taiki.

"Come on, let's see if we can stumble into anything Voidtrecker Express like happening in here. Or find some monster in the middle. There's always a monster in the middle of a maze or a cave or whatever this is."

And there was, because there was always something monstrous to each of them lurking within themselves.

"I hope there isn't."

A monster that was. He doesn't want to have to fight. Or rather to watch Jingyi fight and be helpless.

He doesn't want violence or blood but he rarely gets what he wants.

Hopefully they will find this memory soon. He tilts his head as they move around the next corner, looking at Jingyi to see if he recognised anything.

The memory that forms is... fluffy.

Clouds in the sky, only close at hand sort of fluffy, and then there's... a dragon? No, not singular. Ten, maybe more, beribboned dragons rising through the clouds like eels slipping through the water, sinuous and twisting in and over on themselves. Scales coloured in silvers and greys and blacks, some showing hints of gold or red or green, and then the strange part:

The dragons at the highest point over the rest shimmer, a wink of light that blinds if looked at too directly, silvers and golds and whites, and then where there were dragons, there are now humans.

Falling humans, naked as the day they were born, and the lower dragons were spinning and coming up underneath them, catching the falling cultivators and then offering steady platform for each to gain their companion's back.

Jingyi blinks, shaking his head before he laughs.

"Good think Inigo's not around," he says offhand to Taiki, figuring he understands why. Naked guys is far beyond what Inigo can handle with anything like grace, though it's not much of an explanation of what in the world is going on. "Don't think he'd handle watching our fall practise all that well. Have you ever tried doing something like this?"

He gestures to where he, some sort of teenager, looking much like he does now, but rounder in the face, still carrying more babyfat, falls through a cloud only to be caught and come rising back out on the back of a dragon given to dark greys and deep red mane and tail.

"Learning how to catch people out of the skies? Or how to recover if you're suddenly forced human." Having one's partial divinity sealed, running into a lack of energy, running into a sky-array, there were always ways.

It's a beautiful sight, dragons twisting and turning in the sky and Taiki smiles softly before his eyes widen as they turn and fall, being caught by more dragons.

He laughs at Jingyi's words. It was indeed a good thing their friend was not here. He shook his head.

"No. I've never trained in anything like that. Us kirin don't see each other very often, we are all required in our kingdoms. I was lucky that Keiki had some time to come and see me when I was on Mount Hou, he taught me a lot but that was before I could transform."

Which was one of the things he had been trying to teach him. "You trained like this often? All together?"

"Until we knew what to do without having to think about it, sure." The memory was already fading, the clouds dissolving until it was the glow of the caverns slowly penetrating them, not the light of a forgotten sun.

"Since the war, it's against precepts to fight physically in dragon form. We can act a shield or whatever, but not attack. We have to be good at shifting on the fly, and fighting as we need to, because we can only do that when we can hold a sword properly."

A shrug, tail giving a lazy sweep behind him. He glances to Taiki, quirking up his brows.

"Wanna train the next time we have skies?"

"Ah." Against the precepts to fight in dragon form? He wondered why but he also knew he was probably not ready for that story. And Lan Jingyi was perhaps not ready to tell it. He was already prying so much, against his will.

But training to transform in the air? He smiled a that.

"It would be good... I'd like that."

"Great, that's what we'll do." Nodding, then proceeding onward with the next twist that lead them right to a branching intersection.

He paused, tail swooshing low behind him, back and forth.

"Split up, or go left, or go right?"

He nodded and then looked around. "Left? I think that's what you are meant to do in mazes." And sticking together. Splitting up might help find the memories but they were more likely to get lost.

He rounded the corner to the left and stopped suddenly as he came face to face with... himself. Taiki, looking no younger than the Taiki stood next to Jingyi leaped to his feet and stared at them with big wide eyes.

No not at them... As the rest of the scene built around them, a minor palace in an imperial complex, a young girl next to Taiki staring in the same direction, a couple of other figures in robes, stood around Jingyi and Taiki as if the were just part of this meeting.

They all began to turn around, to look at what Taiki was seeing. And there at the door way was a man. Built like a fighter, with a gaze of pure steel he strode into the hall, confident and sure. "“Of course. This is where you end up.”

Taiki, the Taiki from the memory was first to move. He bowed formally and gestured to the seat he had been sitting on. As the man sat Taiki knelt in front of him. “Your sudden arrival caught us all by surprise.”

“Well, seeing that you were able to sneak up on me, I figured I should be able to return the favor.”

Next to Jingyi Taiki seemed to shrink into himself, watching the scene with wary eyes.

Jingyi slotted himself just in front of Taiki as he shrunk in on himself.

"Who is it?" he said, keeping his eyes on the Taiki of memory and the fighter who'd walked into the memory hall. He suspected he knew, but hearing it from Taiki would make more sense.

It was good to have Jingyi there, to have his protection even though this is a memory. He's not here. They are not in Tai.

"Asen." He said quietly.

“Being able or not is beside the point. It is a breach of protocol for His Highness to visit Jinjuu Manor without permission, quite beyond the bounds of propriety.” The Taiki from the memory was saying.

Asen stifled a laugh. “You know, intruders entered my domain last night.”

“So I’ve heard.”

"He was always one step ahead of me. Even when I thought I had things under control..."

This memory is not from all that long ago and he knows it well, as the two began speaking of the attempt to rescue Seirai and all that might mean.

Asen indeed. Jingyi scowls at the memory of the man, tailtip thudding against the ground to express general frustration.

"People like that are difficult to deal with. Even when you know, if they're so much better at twisting words... you can shout louder, but people believe them first, or their power. Until you have the leverage to expose everything and make them seen for what they are, they're difficult to handle."

Or until they're killed.

"Or until they're killed."

"I wish it didn't need to come to that." But it did. It did because he had seen what Asen had done to Tai since Taiki had vanished for the third time. Lord Gyousou was dead. The people were in dire straits.

“And what of the Imperial Court under my auspices?” Asen was asking of Taiki, growing tired of the kirin's attempts at allowing him to see Seirai.

“It’s complicated. Asen-sama being the emperor, I would serve you as a matter of course. The same goes for the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Should he refuse no matter what, he would have to be removed from his position. But I do believe I can persuade him in regards to the ledgers.”

Yet still his kirin heart refused to wish death upon the man who had caused so much harm. Asen's death would be a tragedy like every death. But it was necessary. There was no world where Asen could live and Tai could be saved. The two were incompatible.

"He was so good at making people believe, even without his mind eating youma." Taiki watched the scene with hard eyes.

“Am I the emperor?”

“I have said so many times already. You are the emperor. Have you not been convinced?” Kirin and false king looked at each other, steely eyes meeting each other in a battle of wills.

“No covenant has been made.”

Taiki answered in a cool tone of voice, “Because no abdication has taken place.”

“In other words, what? With no covenant between us, I should take you at your word and march Gyousou in here? And if he refuses to abdicate?”

“The result of such an outcome all depends on the Will of Heaven. That is far beyond my ken.”

"But I really thought I could convince him..."

He had been foolish.

Event: 12 of Beetroot

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cw: crying blood. 12 kingdoms is great

pretty sure 12 kingdoms is "taiki traumatised well over twelve times"

Re: pretty sure 12 kingdoms is "taiki traumatised well over twelve times"

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