middleofsomewhere | 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

The tea remains tea, taking on whatever colour intensity correlates to in Wangji's mind.

"You're staring," he says with a hint of an awkward smile after a moment. "What, are you turning me green?"

He slowly shakes his head, lowering the cup back onto the table. "Wei Ying sparkles like gold." Precious and rare. Whether he meant to actually say that out loud or simply think it is unclear.

But he does try to lower his eyes very slightly so that he isn't staring and making his companion uncomfortable.

He pauses, then laughs.

"You've a kind heart, Lan Zhan," he says, because he finds it true, and it adds warmth to his features, deepens the colours he generally wears, because that's Wei Wuxian's affection. Somewhat distant, but through no particular fault: awareness, yes, of mortality, and his having met his own twice over.

Lan Zhan, for the first time perhaps, given a haze of warm, vibrant red to the edges of his robes.

The smile on his lips is soft. If colors were normal he would probably have a small touch of it to his ears. He has been praised by many in his lifetime but compliments from Wei Ying hit much deeper and are far more treasured.

"I'd give Wei Ying that heart if you would have it."

A soft confession with eyes still down turned. He would give Wei Ying anything. The man only ask it of him. He held onto regrets for sixteen years. Regrets of things not said or done and even more regrets for things he did do. He shouldn't hold back any more then he already has.

There are ways being on the Voidtrecker Express has turned him into a man who has peeked in at what his life is, from other views, and how he is as a person, from his own gaze leveled at a version of himself he's an imperfect reflection of. He resents none of it, and he thinks he understands better the depths of Lan Zhan's heart in a way he wouldn't have been ready or able to see clearly back home, not at the time he first arrived here.

Even now, it's hard, albeit for different reasons. He reaches out with one hand, fingers settling on Lan Zhan's sleeve. Just one small tug, and he smiles, voice pitched low and warm.

"You should ask the me living in your world, Lan Zhan, once he's back from finding his road."

When he knew who he was, away from the morass of the world they'd grown up in. When he'd found his footing as Wei Wuxian was starting to on his journey, but had not been able to find before he ended up here, ended up serenading Chaos and seeing worlds he'd never dreamed of, technologies he finds fascinating and frustratingly difficult to reproduce at the same time.

"That's the me who needs to answer. He's the one who can hold a heart, if he's learned how."

He wonders if he would ever be able to say those same kinds of words to the Wei Ying on his world. The things he has seen on the train, the knowledge of the kind of lives his alternative versions have lived...he wonders if that is what prompts this confession now. Or perhaps some other power that draws the words from his lips. If he doesn't have the same kind of courage, will he ever be able to tell the Wei Ying of his world the same things?

And will he ever get the chance? It's not like they know when they will return home. He was denied any sort of closure about how his world is doing without him there. He didn't get the same opportunity that others got to check in on things and so he has been left wondering. How much longer will he have to wait before he can walk that same road as Wei Ying?

"All Wei Ying deserve to hold a heart." And he is sure that every Lan Wangji would give it if he could. If he was prepared to present it. But even this Wei Ying that is on the train and walking this path deserves to feel loved. His other hand comes over to try and cover the one that has found his sleeve.

He doesn't dodge the touch, nor duck away from the words. He smiles, and judges that they know each other well enough for the tiredness there to be seen, for the warmth of colour that flushes Lan Zhan to only be met in turn by what colour Lan Zhan gives him.

"We do," he says, "And we've held many. Hold man. Not all in... not all as romance, no, but Lan Zhan. Even I've felt loved."

By a brother, a son, a series of soulmates who saw him, by the dead and the living on the train, by all these things.

"It's not a narrow bridge anymore."

Not isolated, alone, and rejected. The things which aren't fine aren't ones either of them can fix, and it's not in his nature to be distracted in pursuit of a cause. Yet he can hear, and believe, and trust, and say again:

"Remind me of that. And tell me the name of that song, finally, when you wake, ah? You're the slyest man in the most unexpected ways."

"Good." It gives Lan Wangji's heart a feeling of ease to know that Wei Ying's path has found a wider bridge to travel across. That he knows he isn't as alone as perhaps he has once felt. He cannot erase the mistakes of his own past but at least he can rest assured that he hasn't let those mistakes continue. Wei Ying has found a version of his own peace because of the family and friends he has found since his return.

He lets out a soft hum, reminded of that song that he wrote and the name that is so important and precious. He doesn't feel that sly but he knows he was never terribly forthcoming about it and the reasons he never gave the name. Perhaps that is the door that needs to be opened in order to let those feelings flow more freely then he has been willing. To finally let the name reach the ears of the Wei Ying he knows best.

"I will." There needs to be no more hesitations. Should he ever return then things will need to change in himself.

"It is a good name."

Into the Unknown Part Two

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