middleofsomewhere | Into the Unknown Part Two

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Into the Unknown Part Two

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.

INTO THE UNKNOWN: PART 2

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

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?

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.

OOC NOTES

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

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All prompts take place in the library
Layer 1

Clef had of course come back to help. But until he knew what he was supposed to help with, he had retired to his usual place in the library to study up on chaos magic and Storms. After all, those from Naut should have an advantage here.

He was so lost in his studying that he didn't seem to notice that the pen he always uses, the one his son made for him, was now outlined in the same colours as his usual shield, and that all of his books and notes and his staff were all lined in a rich parchment colour. As for the mage himself, he was lined in a shining bright white.

Someone's ego might be showing more obviously than usual. But of all the things lined in coulurs by the minimage, only one thing is lined in colours he associates with protection. His pen. Because that was given to him by someone he loves more than he has ever loved anyone else before. His son.

Layer 2
Woe to those who enter the library... for Clef is ready to talk through his findings. He will babble. A lot. On a very technical level. About Storms and Chaos as an element, and other elemental affinities. And any other topic that comes to mind. He really is well versed on a number of subjects....

Layer 3
With most people this one will be simple enough for Clef. He's somewhere between actively indifferent and mildly appreciate of most of the other people on the Train. There are exceptions of course. Link most of all. But also Leia, Shadow, Zelda... They might get a bit more emotion than they are used to from the miniature mage. And a lot more articulation of emotions. Of course he still isn't the best at understanding how to put his own emotions into words. Well, okay. To be fair he isn't the best at understanding emotions. Full stop.

Layer 4
He's been studying how not to lose himself in a Storm, how to reconnect with his son when Link went missing. All manner of interesting topics. And now he had a way to put them all together. A gift to make for his son. A tether so that if one of them left the Train the other would follow. Or maybe the one that remained would anchor the other. He wasn't sure yet, maybe Leia could help him figure out a safe testing environment. He'd have asked the Doctor but the poor man seems to have hit his head or something.

So anyone venturing into the library could find him creating a tether. It has a physical component as a base, though that will be gone by the final model. Until then, you might want to ignore how much it looks like a bright green and gold leash....

Or, perhaps later, he is working on something for the train as a whole. You might come in to find him tinkering with a huge machine over his head, floating under it, guiding tools to do their job like a competent version of Mickey Mouse in Yensid's hat....

Eye of the storm
Someone will be throwing a metric ton of magical energy into trying to stabilize as much of the Train as he can. And the stress of trying to do so much is finally starting to show. He is down on one knee on his rock, staff held planted in the stone before him as his shoulders shake with effort, as if what he was doing was physical rather than magical....

Shadow isn't much different on the largely indifferent area. There's been faint sparks of green around most people, a general, if extremely low level, amount of protectiveness. As for feeling others emotions...

Well. He's not the worst at that. Being the other half to a hero type but still separate, it makes it easy for him to keep things in order. Mostly.

Still, with emotions being all over the place, he's pretty sure its a good idea to check on Clef because if there's one person who can't handle emotions, its Clef.

The library was, of course, one of the first places he looks for him.

And Clef was of course in there, working on his studies whenever he was unaware of others in there, fighting the urge to go out and find people. Thankfully people generally came in often enough that he was able to resist so far.

But then Shadow was the one who came in. And everything flared forward. Shadow was outlined in the same light as the pen. He still loved the boy, of course, probably always would. But he'd been doing his best to be cautious in his speech around him. Trying to get a sense of what Shadow thought of him, what was safe to say.

Which was why he was shocked and horrified at himself as he blurted out "No matter what else happens or is said or what we decide... I will always love you, Shadow." And he wished at once he could claw the words back. Nit because he didn't mean them, he did mean them. But because he was sure they were the words that Shadow very much did not want to hear.

As Shadow approached Clef, the colors around him finally changed. A mix around Clef, of green and blue and black and so much purple. He's not surprised, Clef was too many emotions at once.

Shadow grits his teeth at the words, but he also expected that as he sighed dramatically as he sat on the table nearby. "And I hope one day ya'll say those words and actually mean them to me over the idea of me."

"I do mean them to you!" he protested. He was trying so hard to shut up. He really really was.

"No, ya don't, but that doesn't mean I still don't hope," he said, and a flash of pink surrounds Clef briefly. "Have ya seen Link since this all started?"

"I do. I don't want to argue with you and I'm trying not to say things that will hurt you because I don't want to hurt you but I can't seem to stop talking." He blinked. "Ah, I suspect I have a theory that the nature of this Storm is not limited to colours..." Not how he wanted to find that out.

"Neither do I, and luckily I'm used to dealing with intrusive, negative impulses," Shadow said. "And of course its not just colors. Its feeling and compulsions, and that's why I wanted to find you before Link did precisely because ya have a serious case of foot in mouth most of the time," Shadow said.

"...though maybe if ya weren't overthinking, it'd go better..."

"I had really hoped this Storm wouldn't be that easy. And I do my best! I am always doing my best! And I have been trying to study up on how to do better, but the Train has few books of use on the topic."

Overthinking is Clef's default state, Shadow. He doesn't know how to not.

"Ya know what the definition of insanity is, Clef?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have read multiple definitions across multiple world sets, which specific definition are you referring to?"

"The one about how doing the same thing and expecting different results," Shadow said, twirling a finger in the air.

"I am not doing the same thing however, I am checking different books."

"Clef, the answer ain't in books. There ain't even any books on a thing like me in Hyrule," Shadow said. "Normal shadows got a few, not freaks of nature."

"I was looking up books on interpersonal relationships, actually."

"And those are highly limited, especially when dealing with said freak of nature," Shadow said. "Vio only knew how to manipulate me because he knew his own dark impulses, but it didn't let him see what I was really about for a while."

"I'm not trying to manipulate you!"

"No, but ya can only manipulate people if ya understand people. Some people are easier to understand then others," Shadow said with a shrug. "Because they're more textbook, but then the rest ya just gotta read people well."

"I read books well, not people."

"And ya refuse to really learn how to try," Shadow said. "Or like...find good ways to fake it. 'cause sometimes people ARE just bad at it, but then ya gotta find the work arounds, but ya aren't willing to do much of that."

"I have been trying! For you!" He... had not meant to say that bit out loud.

"By continuing to just read more books and never listen to me about me," Shadow said.

"By trying both! But whenever we try to talk about you we wind up arguing! I love you, I want to understand you, but we just keep arguing!"

"Because ya never listen. Ya never want to accept that at one point, I was a monster," Shadow said. "Its like ya can't believe monsters can grow to be better."

"I am very well aware that people can change! You are who you are now!"

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shadowcourage - 2022-08-29 06:19 (UTC) - Expand

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guru_clef - 2022-08-29 06:40 (UTC) - Expand

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Into the Unknown Part Two

Clef | CW: You may be bored to tears, he hasn't paid the phone bill in three hundred... er.... um...

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