Into the Unknown Part Two

[voidtreckermods]

On day twenty-five of the month of Symphony, everyone is gathered together, at least everyone who follows the request for a meeting to be held.

One of the head scientists - named Till - stands before the group, a look of excitement on their face.

"We have found something, an anomaly in the void. We are not sure what it is exactly, but there is a lot of activity coming from its coordinates. More penitently, initial investigations have picked up readings that are constant with a void storm.

I believe from your own reports you have experienced void storms before, and you know they can be dangerous, but always fleeting, never lasting more than a few days. However, this storm seems to be static. It has not moved or changed since we first detected it.

We understand there may be people who do not want to venture into this storm, and we understand. The loops we have added to your tethers will allow you to stay on the base long enough for those investigating to return. You may experience some discomfort and disorientation during the time your craft is away, but it should only be mild and temporary.

For those investigating, we know little of what you will face. Every storm is different, and this one is already stranger than anything we have come across before."

The scientists stick around to reassure people and help them make their decisions. Those going to investigate are told to report to their craft in the morning.

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INTO THE UNKNOWN: PART 2

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SYMPHONY 26-29 ~ OOC POST ~ QUESTIONS ~ FIRST PART

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JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN

Those willing to go will leave on the Voidtrecker Express first thing the next day, with only warnings and well-wishes to be careful to go with them. There is an estimate for how long it'll take them to reach the anomaly, about half a day's travel by the train's clock, give or take. But there's no telling the true time it'll take, nor the effects of the void that will be waiting for them. Keeping away from the windows or putting up blinds is advised as a precaution, just in case, and to monitor each other's health.

"Warning: Approaching Voidstorm, please take precautions." The train warns as they arrive on the edges, all the usual train precautions have been taken, the lab cart has been shut down, the ovens in the kitchen are disconnected. The train begins to shake as it enters the first layer.

LAYER ONE: CHANGING SHADES

They first experience changes by sight - literally. Around them, objects start emitting an aura that's unique to each passenger, colouring it to match their mood towards that particular thing. Coffee machines? Amazing, paint that gold. A boring book? Ugh, the entire thing is turning grey.

It's a small effect at the start, yet objects aren't the only things being affected - so are the people on board. Their own moods are changing their hair colour, eyes, and skin, shifting more rapidly than the furniture's paint job. And as time goes on, passengers will be able to affect one another's colouration and aura, giving away how they may feel about that person at that moment, if their feelings are strong enough. Never noticed how fondly one feels about you? Now you do.

LAYER TWO: LOOSE LIPS

Going into the next layer, there's an itch that starts to gnaw at everyone - an itch to talk. To friends, to strangers, to anyone; you have a need to chatter, and it has to get out. Attempting to isolate yourself only makes the need worse, and you won't be able to sleep it away. It doesn't matter if you don't know what to talk about - you'll find something.

A good chat will subdue the need for a while, but it will eventually return. So while listening to others talk might help keep it at bay, it won't forever.

LAYER THREE: CONFESSION - I THINK YOU'RE OK

The changes become stronger, and with them the urges. Passengers will feel compelled to tell those they know their feelings for them, whether it's as simple as finding them okay, to having stronger inclinations of friendship, dislike, or even love.

These urges can be held back on for a time, but it's easy for it to slip out; and many may still be suffering from the previous layer, where they get the sudden need to talk.

LAYER FOUR: A CAKE FOR MY BELOVED

Talking is simply not good enough in this layer: actions speak louder than words. You want to create ways of expressing your desires, regardless of how creative you actually are. Building a shrine to your loved ones, challenging rivals to duels. You can't stay idle, and your hands and brain need to be at work! What can you manage on this train?

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EYE OF THE STORM

Finally, all of it stops. The colours, the emotions, the compulsion of dramatics; their minds go from being caught in the storm to completely calm (or, as calm as they ever are). It is much like waking from a dream, or going from one very noisy overwhelming place to complete silence.

A second passes, and then another, and then... there's a feeling. Fear, terror - even those who normally have no ability to feel the emotions of others can feel it, emanating from the train itself.

With it comes an invitation. Hard to describe, but a tugging at their mind. They can push it away no problem, but if they accept...

They are looking out. The familiar colours of the Void are all around them, but they can't turn to look. Ahead is a hole where space should be, nothingness curving and spiralling out from a point deep within that wound in reality, tearing and tugging at the unfortunate observer. The chaotic nimbus at the edge of their vision spins inwards to meet it, and vanishes at the edge of the hole. A void within the Void. And within that terrifying chaotic darkness there are shapes.

The train rocks as energy rushes past it, tossing the craft from side to side. It spins, lurching out of control, the connection snapping as everyone is thrown back into their own awareness as the train starts vibrating to at full speed.

But the tell-tale signs of movement isn't there, and a creaking of metal can be heard. The train shakes more as the view outside the windows shows them inching forward towards where the hole had been, and parts of the roof start to bend inward, water pipes burst and the electricity fails in multiple carriages.

Until there's a rush, a shaking and twisting, and the void flashes violently in the windows. The ever distant choral singing becomes a roar as a kaleidoscope of colours fills the interior of the train itself.

Then there is stillness. It calms, and there is no storm, no terrifying darkness. Just the void, as it ever is, ever changing.

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OOC NOTES

NOTES: They will be in the storm for three days, each layer takes about half a day.

Comments

Xue Yang | OTA

[xue_yang]

Layer One
He doesn't understand fully what is going on but the colors of things around him are changing. Most of it is just washed out of all color. But every once in awhile he encounters something with far more interest. The candy he keeps in his pockets are still bright colors but almost seem to shimmer gold. The rest of the train is all shades of gray until he walks through the garden car where the plants he has grown himself stand out against everything else.

"Is this permanent or just the fact we are going through something crazy?" Does it really matter either way?

Layer Two
He doesn't immediately notice anything different. Mostly because he tends to avoid talking to very many people. So anyone who does happen to encounter him better be prepared for an unexpected mouthful.

Fear
Xue Yang doesn't believe he is afraid of anything. But he definitely is feeling something as they reach that place in the void. He won't fully admit it is fear but it is probably written across his expression.

layer one

[sharpeyes]

The tall, normally purple-haired man straightens up from where he has been observing the axolotl in the water basin, and chuckles slightly.

"I am afraid that I will be among the least helpful with the answer to that question. Would you wish it to be permanent?"

Hythlodaeus is curious.

[xue_yang]

"Yes. It makes things more interesting." His years on the train had started to make him bored. He wasn't one for simply sitting around waiting for the next excitement to start. The missions lately hadn't involved enough actual combat and it was frustrating. So to walk around a train and not be sure what he is going to be seeing is a lot more exciting.

"You never know what color something is going to be."

[sharpeyes]

"Ah... it is a tiny bit less unpredictable, for me, but I do find it beautiful. Some people enjoy it far less, however, I believe."

Those less in touch with their emotions, specifically.

[xue_yang]

He looks at him curiously. He doesn't really understand that this could be different for everyone. "Why is it less predictable?"

Perhaps this one has a special ability that makes things change colors whenever he wants or something like that. These kinds of things don't really surprise him any longer since he has met so many different types since being on the train.

fear

[knifewithnoname]

He's not the only one feeling fear when he shouldn't be, nearby there is a soft whimper as she instinctively drew close to him. She doesn't even think of going into the emptiness the feeling is too intense.

Her eyes are wide even as they come back to themselves, with the train shaking and the lights flickering. She seems almost frozen, not able to shake herself out of it yet.

[xue_yang]

He doesn't like feeling things that almost seemed forced upon him. it's like he is being controlled and made to feel it. Perhaps he deserves to feel fear and know what those he has killed have felt.

As it starts to fade he finally looks down at her. Not sure either of them were comforted at all by the vicinity of another soul going through the same thing. "What was that?"

[knifewithnoname]

"I do no be knowing..." But she does. She saw it with her own eyes and he saw it too.

Just figuring out what it meant...

"I do be thinking it did be being an answer."

[xue_yang]

"We better not have to go through that again." If they had to come into this place and feel that...then does that mean they will feel it if they leave this area? He doesn't want to think that it will happen again.

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes, we better not be needing to be going through the storm again." That would be stupid.

She sighed. "What do you be thinking it do be meaning, the shapes do be coming from here?"

[xue_yang]

"I don't know." And that troubles him. He hasn't paid attention to the scientists of the other worlds. He doesn't care what they say and he doesn't trust them. But now he wonders if he should have at least listened to some of what they said.

"Nothing good..."

[knifewithnoname]

"It do never be anything good." She sighed, he was not very useful, not even knowing.

She didn't know either but she was twelve. Sometimes it was not her job to know.

"We should be asking someone."

Someone smart.

[xue_yang]

"The people who would know are back on that other...planet." Is that the word he wants to use? Wherever those scientists are located. That thing is where they need to go.

"No one on the train probably can help explain." If they could they would have found a way to keep people from dealing with it.

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes, we should be asking them when we do be getting back."

She knows what he means, even if it's not really a planet. But all these terms are new and strange.

Layer One

[theverymodel]

"Insufficient data." Mordin is fascinated by what he's seeing. It's almost inevitable that his fascination manifests in his own skin beginning to take on bright colours. He's always excited when something weird was happening. "Phenomenon appears to correlate to entry."

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang wouldn't mind if things stayed this way. Makes it more interesting to see things in a different color then he might be used to. And his years on the train have started to make him feel bored with the normal.

"So it will all go away when we leave." that's almost sad.

[theverymodel]

"Effects of void related reality effects not previously permanent." He pauses and considers. "Some lingering impact from Diagad, but more localized."

He still doesn't know how exactly.

[xue_yang]

"That might be true but something about this feels different. We don't often have things happen to us while still on the train."

It does happen on the train but it is rare. Usually this kind of thing is saved for the worlds they end up on. This makes traveling just a little more exciting.

1

[shadowcourage]

"Just the fact we're going through something crazy," Shadow said, his own color mostly just a flickering of green around people. There's not a lot, his general protectiveness isn't exactly Robust, but it Exists. "Colors like to come up a lot for something crazy. Nice plants."

[xue_yang]

He stares at the plants and seems to just shrug it off. "They are plants." Nothing more. At least that is all he will admit to. The fact that he actually grew something instead of killing it is a sign of self growth. But he doesn't think most people would understand that.

[shadowcourage]

"Yer the one with feelings about them," he said with an idle shrug. It was why he noticed them at all.

[xue_yang]

He huffs a little bit, not wanting to admit to any such thing! He hasn't quite realized that the colors are indicating feelings and are giving him away without saying a word.

"I planted them. I don't have feelings about plants."