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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"All day long," he says, utterly cheerful and equally unrepentant. "Why? Is it annoying you, sir freaking boss battle wearing down my aheuhpee with that bullshit attack dropping me to one before my heal rate regenerates?"

Not verbatim, but one of many phrases he's been jostled out of sleep by when it came along as a sharp shock of shared emotional outburst. Gaming. What is it even? Something decently interesting when not stealing his required sleep!

"It's 'HP'. And 'MP'. And 'Stamina'. I've told you this before!" Come on, Jingyi, get it right. You've heard it enough by now that you should. "And it was a bullshit attack! My health bar was still in the 80% range! It's cheap to do an single attack that big!" Wait, hold on, that's not the point of this all right now.

Chicken was, Idia munching down on the piece he took, then, oh yeah, he nudging over one of the things he had been working on. "Take it." It's a small item, easily fitting in the palm; a little plastic device with a button on it, which when pushed puts out a light. It's basically a key-chain light, however Idia's done his own little flair on it, having decorating them in details unique to each person he was planning to give them to. In Jingyi's case one side is decorated with a intricate dragon design.

The other is a cute chicken design. Very kawaii. Very chibi. Totally designed as a mascot character. Idia's own little joke about Jingyi's love for chicken as a food.

"Yeah, but when you do that to one of the Enpeecees you crow about it, why can't it happen in return?" When arguing with a man who knows only a certain amount about what gaming nuances there are, he doesn't get why things would only be rigged in one direction. Battles go both ways, right? Sometimes you're taken out and your comrades and friends need to win back the ground you lost and save your life.

Granted, the game doesn't need that logic, but still.

He's distracted from further bickering by what's nudged over to him, glancing down at it and canting his head. His tail curls up, fur brushing against Idia's side.

"Hey!" He grins, licking a finger clean before pointing to the device. "You put a chicken on it!"

... Because that is the side facing up simply for the reason of allowing his amusement.

"I mean, there is games like that, that are designed to be as difficult as possible. But that's the entire concept of that game! Not just randomly throwing a difficulty spike in with no warning and no way to grind to level past it!" Well done, Jingyi, you get him ranting about it out loud and via that link. Aren't you lucky.

And look at that, that brief physical contact only gets the slightest tensing from Idia, not jumping like he used to, answering, "I mean, you know," He pointing a finger to the food Jingyi was bringing around to everyone. "Seemed to fit. Oh, I put a dragon on the other side too." You know, cause the chicken was a joke, the dragon was more serious and taken more time for him to paint up.

"Push the button." It would let out a light, but also as a way to annoy Jingyi in particular Idia had given it a sound effect too; a rooster crowing. Hey, Jingyi annoys him enough as it was, this was meant as a joke back to annoy him right back.

Jingyi can tune out the out loud better than the link, but the double sound and feeling of it has him groaning and leaning his shoulder into Idia in a laid back attempt to get him to s t o p.

"You did what?" He says, reaching out with his clean hand to turn the object over, eyes lighting up at the dragon. "Hey! That's me!" Or as close as one might get to a representation of him, but also, more accurate than say, his dragon sleeping pillow the departed Lan Xichen had given him to help with his nightmares.

He's still pleased with this, tail twitching happily behind him, when he follows the demand to push the button.

Then it crows.

The thing makes light and crows.

Jingyi starts cracking up, hand coming up to cover his mouth in a poor attempt to disguise the laughter. Sure, if this came from a stranger, he'd be offended for this or that reason, but from Idia? It's just funny.

"It crows? I'm not born the year of the Rooster," he protests, still more amused than anything else.

"Yeah, well, I donno what sound a dragonkin like you make, plus it's funnier." It's half mumbled out as Idia shoves another piece of chicken in his mouth, holding it between his teeth so he could still talk. And smile a little, glad to get that reaction. He hadn't really considered why he was doing this, or what reaction he would get... but he's glad it made Jingyi laugh.

Then, "If it does get too annoying, there is a way to turn off the sound," Leaning over to point at a nearly invisible, tiny, button on the side. "Hold it down for three seconds to turn it on or off." After all, a feature that can't be turned off if you don't want it was a pain.

"Dragon Souled," he says, making it come across primly when he's very, very rarely prim at all. "And all you had to do was ask, I'd roar for you anytime."

Literally, it's just a draconic roar, it'd be loud trapped on train, but doable.

"Got it. Why three seconds?" Because he programmed it that way, Jingyi can guess, but he's smirking as he asks, since it is pointedly an insufferably unimportant question.

"Dragon Souled." Idia corrects himself as he munches away, wiping at his mouth with the back of his wrist when done. He also seems to be assuming what would happen, lip pulling up at that idea. "Eh, too loud," Although... "Though if I wanted to start my own sound library for future games, then maybe. Could make a dragon themed game." That could be fun.

Smirk or not, Idia actually explains why as it wasn't actually a bad question to ask, "'Cause if I made it just a press it could accidentally change it when you don't want it to, and anything longer is just too long. Three seconds is a good amount of time that isn't too annoying to hold it, but enough time if you change your mind and don't want it to change." See? Simple.

"What would a dragon themed game be like?"

Lifting his brows and giving his friend a curious look, because he knows some of the shit that wakes him up when Idia's mentally yelling about it, and he has no idea how that'd translate over to dragons.

"Go around tasked with quests or missions to level up your strengths and fighting bosses along the way when you're, I don't know, saving your sect or something?"

... Biases.

Meanwhile, snorting and looking back down at the little thing. "Of course you have an actual answer. Do you still not get why I keep asking you about technology nonsense?" Idia's always had that drive to explain even if it was, as far as Jingyi could tell, simply because someone was wrong to start off half the time. Most the time. Maybe all the time.

Idia listens quietly instead of answering that question right away, allowing Jingyi to go on... before smirking and letting out a 'pfftt' from the side of his mouth. Yeah, real subtle. Clearly no connections to anyone at all, huh? "That may be a bit much with what I got to work with right now, but yeah, I could. Donno if anyone would find that interesting though." Teasing Jingyi back with that.

Then a shrug of one shoulder, "Eh, if you donno then now you do." Simple as that. "Would you had rather I just made some BS up and lied instead?" And no, no clue, other than just needing someone who knows this stuff. And Idia knows his stuff when it comes to tech.

"People with excellent tastes will," he says, both brows arched. It's almost prim sounding, if his lips weren't quirked at the corners.

"No, I want to know. Feed me bullshit and I'd be shouting at you way more than I do." Generally speaking, he doesn't shout at Idia for more than going the hell to sleep or eating a meal, because he doesn't usually have reason to. Just imagine if he thought he did.

It'd be like having a second Sebek around, only he is the dragon. Or something.

Idia's little, deep, 'heeheehee' giggle from deep in his throat as he goes back to poking at what he was working on before Jingyi showed up. "If I get time to make some assets up for it, I can look at putting something together." Then pausing to think. "I need to get some points together to get a decent computer to work on sometime. Would make things easier." Because clearly he will have plenty of time to do that, right?...

Plz don't, Jingyi, it's bad enough putting up with Sebek. "Eh, I mean, I could, but what's the point? If you're seriously asking for info on tech, why should I lie? It's good to learn new things." It also means if he ever disappears suddenly then Jingyi can still work his normal stuff even with Idia gone.

"Which is why I keep asking you things," Jingyi says, shrugging his shoulders and nudging more chicken Idia's way. Eat. "So I don't get why you think it's surprising I'd say you're good at explaining."

Was that even what either one of them said? At this point, he's stopped tracking the particulars.

Idia looked at the nudge, before shaking his head, "I don't want anymore." Not because it wasn't good, but because Idia rarely eats anywhere close to a full meal normally. He's a snacker. He grazes through the day and night, not actually sit down and eat a full plate of food.

"...I'm not used to... that kinda thing." He's more used to being insulted. And even when he is complimented, Idia doesn't deal with it well. He either thinks people are mocking him, or he can't deal with it and it goes to his head and he ends up insulting others around him without realizing it. It's almost like the boy was raised with no social skills at all. "You actually need anything else?" Or are you just distracting him now?

"More for me!" He grins, using his finger to drag the bowl back toward him. His tail gives a contented little swoosh behind him, and he tucks the device away into his robes, as to not end up accidentally forgetting it later.

"All you'll need is a thank you, and you're welcome. Easier than worrying over what you should or shouldn't say, or if you're too humble or too proud." Such are the ways he's been taught, the precepts to navigate social truths, and what pride is wrought when a Lan. Too much of it is deadly, too little is disrespectful.

Helping, kindness, those are precepts too.

"Why, you got some level to beat before we hit the eye of this storm?"

Hmm, yeah, guess he should, but of course in an Idia way, "Thanks, gg." That'll work.

Though taking some time to consider that question. Really, all he was doing was mucking around here, he didn't really have a new project to work on right now. "Hmm, I did start doing speed runs of that rogue-like game in the gaming carriage, I could try beating my last time." That might be a fun way to pass some time. "I donno, don't got much planned right now." Sigh then a grumble, "Wish I had more points to buy more stuff. Would like more mangas. Or parts to work with. I still haven't had a chance to make my air walking shoes I drew plans for." While he's dreaming, "Ooh, or a full anime series to watch. That would be fun."

"You've already watched everything in the theatre?"

Jingyi looks mildly impressed... and mildly disbelieving, because he'd think Idia would probably avoid it to more hide himself away.

"Hm?" Idia asks then considers it, "I doubt it, I only used to go there when it was quiet, which was at night, and you would shout at me so," Ending it in a shrug. They both knew what that resulted in.

"I prefer to watch stuff in my room with my headphones on, but I haven't grabbed everything from the theatre to watch yet. I normally like doing something when I watch stuff, rather than just watching something. Why?"

"You feel things really loudly," he says, as if he also does not feel things really loudly. Or think things really loudly. They both do, on completely different topics.

"There's a lot of that stuff available there, I know 'cause they have romances too. The art styles were different enough I had to adjust? Some were like. The people all looked wrong."

Turns out some aesthetics are just hard to adapt too when they go too much into the Clannad styles of facial distortion for visual effect.

Hm, Jingyi was most likely not used to films and the like, right? Short of some surprising technology that may had been hidden in the brief look Idia had gotten of his world via his memories, so it makes sense it would look weird to see people on a screen. "Eh, cameras don't capture light like the human eye does, so things will always look different. Got different lenses which can help with it, but that, plus editing on top of it with color correction and stuff, it can look weird at times."

Oh, wait, or is it something more simple than that? "Or do you mean how everyone looks like they're perfect in films? Like perfect hair and skin and make up and all that?"

"... No, I mean whoever drew these people never saw what an actual person looked like, or at least never looked anyone in the face. Including themselves, in a pond, or pool, or mirror."

The weird perfectness isn't so strange to a man from cultivation as a background, considering they all get great, pure skin as part of their cultivation. It's an effect, he assumed, because he knows the moving stories aren't usually true at all, but that was the least startling.

More strange were the clearly not teenagers playing teenagers, but that's fine, right? Weirder things happen, and people look all different ages. He just assumed that was the case in those films, too.

Ooh, "Oh, you mean how stuff is over stylized? Oh yeah, I get that. The history behind how it's developed is actually really interesting." It's interesting to an otaku like him, and no doubt Idia can give the full history on animation and anime and how it's developed over the years and it's origins. "Short version, someone did it and their style got a lot of attention, so everyone started copying it and adapting it to their own thing."

He stars at Idia for a long moment, then rolls his eyes.

"Can no one be original?" He was, clearly, not a fan of whatever particular style of over-done whatever he'd come across.

"Those aren't your favourite kinds, are they?"

"Not until someone goes all counter culture on it, then that becomes the thing, then people try to go against that, and rinse and repeat." Come on, Jingyi, that has to be a thing in your world too. That art follows a trend then changes and everyone follows that instead.

"Plus originality doesn't sell. Even if it's cool." Experimental media and all that. Some of it was great. Some of it was just weird.

"Hmm," Idia thinks for a moment before answering, "I like to try everything and not get stuck in a trope or style. There's so many topics that manga and anime and gaming covers. I like some better than others, but I try and understand them all. Broadening horizons and all that." A shrug to go along with it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Into the Unknown Part Two

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