To Climb

[voidtreckermods]

Preparation

Just after light on the seventh day since boarding the train everyone’s SCA glows with the colours of the void before showing a message. A briefing for the mission to come. No one gets much time to process this before there is a shaking, like turbulance before there’s a jolt and flash of colour.

”Welcome to Hub World#5739. Our next stop will be Ciyesia in a few hours.”

Outside the windows the void is gone. The train is winding through a mountain range. The mountains tower up around them. The sky is a beautiful blue though every now and again there is a swirl of colour, like the void is trying to break through.

The countryside wizzes by, sometimes you go past settlements, small villages of wooden houses. Sometimes you pass farmers in fields. Sometimes herds of animals, horses, camels, strange animals with six legs and curled horns.

Eventually the train slows. ”Now arriving at Ciyesia. Passengers must wear their Safety Control Apparatus. Please ensure you take all equipment needed for your mission with you when you leave the train and take extra care when you step from the train to the platform. Next stop Ciyesia.”

Arrival

And in a billow of steam the train comes to a stop. The doors hiss open and there is indeed a rickety wooden platform, fallen into disuse. Sat upon it were two children, a boy and a girl who were staring at the train with open mouths.

Before the doors were even fully opened they were off running, “Ma! Ma!”

The platform is in a clearing, surrounded mostly by trees but down the path the children took a building can be seen. If you follow the children you will find it a large homestead, with a sign outside. The Weary Wanderer. The children are on the doorstep talking to a woman and gesturing towards you.

As you approach she smiles, a little nervously. “Well. This is not something I thought I would see in my lifetime. Welcome Treckers, I offer you the hospitality of my inn.”

She gestures them in. Inside is a large common room with wooden tables. There is a fire place but the day is warm enough that it is not lit. At first glance it looks old fashioned to anyone from a modern world, even fantasy-esque for those who would recognise it as such. Indeed her and the children are dressed in simple layered, loose tunics. But then you may notice some of the candles are battery powered and! there’s a coffee machine on the bar.

“Maia can you ask our guests what they would like to drink?” The woman hands the little girl a slate and chalk before she begins rummaging around on the bar for mugs and glasses. “I’m sorry, it’s the quiet season so we aren’t quite guest-ready.”

They become guest ready in an impressive amount of time. The little boy runs off and returns a short while later with a plate of oat biscuits that he begins handing out.

Sheltered and soon to be fed it is time to learn more about this land and plan for your journeys ahead.

(OOC: Information for this event is here and the initial briefing is here

Comments

arrives late with purple starbucks, OTA

[siriusly]

Manabu Yuuki is of more than two minds about this.

Change from the boring, suffocating state of affairs within the train was absolutely welcome and maybe he hopped outside a bit too fast for someone who knew better than to...do that...but still. That info-blurb? No name of where the commands were coming from, no contingencies, still no med bay. For a guy who practically makes a career out of being a pin cushion for punches and bullets, Manabu's quickly starting to realize how much of a drag that's going to be when there's no one about to keep him upright.

More than that, a task where he has to go out and help people is great! But...what is all this rolling up into? Is this going to be an ongoing thing?

Man. He does't have the attention span to really figure this one out!


o1. Night one, outside
The inn's location is pretty cozy for a story book, but as far as finding waypoints, it's a bit lacking. With the last of a biscuit stuffed in his mouth, Manabu hefts himself up a low oak branch, wobbling and testing its weight before making it a proper perch. He very slowly straightens up, ducking another branch and squinting up to see the next one that looks sturdy enough to hold him.

This is the perfect set up to scare the hell out of him, be it on purpose or otherwise.

Just saying.


o2. Look at all those chickens (with teeth)
This looks like the right way... Manabu's almost pretty sure about it. He's not really sure what a professional herding trail is supposed to look like, but this looks pretty trail-like, and there's lots of animals around. So, one can just assume...!

So...wait. Clear the path of hazards, right? Manabu checks his device with a frown, rubbing the back of his head. What hazards? Everything's so peaceful!

...Sure, that goat looks like it came straight from hell, but it's just sitting there!

Manabu kicks at a stick as he huffs, planting his hands on his hips and squints around.

"I don't really see any-- uh?"

He feels something bump his ankle and squeak. Slowly, he looks down to see a cute, fuzzy little ball with ears and big ol' eyes.

Aw. It kinda looks like a pokemon! Or an obsese hamster! Or a thing that's biting his ankle!

No, wait. It's biting his ankle.

"GYAH! HEY! OW! Get-get off! Get! OFF!"

Manabu bounces on his other foot, kicking his leg in the air, launching the fuzzball at...you. Sorry.


o3. This is fun
This is not fun.

He's done this trek maybe two times in the span of five days and while finding his way has gotten easier, the climb hasn't gotten much better. How many animals can one spot have, anyway?!

Manabu's perched on a wide bit of rock about ten minutes' worth of climbing to the summit, slugging some water and fidgeting with a handful of collected rocks. When he hears one of those distinct eagle owl cries, he squints around, then lobs one of his rocks in its general direction to keep it from landing nearby while some of those herd animals lumber along their climb.

Whee.

Fun.

o2

[knifewithnoname]

The girl had picked up a dralite on her way up the mountain and was currently learning lessons about how annoying they were. It had already knocked her off balance five times with it's stupid disproportionate wings, tried to eat her hair and frozen her in place with it's annoying screech.

Like now, as the furry monster flies towards her it screeches, stunning her in place. It stuns the chinchilla too but it has no effect on momentum so the thing crashes into her, sending her and the dralite flying.

"Darkness be taking your eyes! You do be being the most stupid thing I did ever be meeting!" She yelled, scrambling to her feet, dagger in hand to face the new threat. A moment later she realised there was another person there and her eyes flickered up to him. Oh it's Manabu.

[siriusly]

"GWAHHH-!"

Being in earshot, that awful bird's cry sent a paralyzing jolt up Manabu's spine as well, and, since he was in the process of kicking, there was just no chance of staying upright. Down he goes with a confused grunt, cut off by the wind getting knocked out of him on impact. The offending kicking-leg bounces down last, ankle bone hitting hard enough to, er, counter-jolt the paralyzing jolt and give Manabu the chance to sit upright.

And see a kid with a knife!

"Whoa! Whoa, hey!" On impulse, his hands lift, his eyes on the pointy for a beat longer before looking at its owner. "Bu...Buttercup? Wh...?"

[knifewithnoname]

Buttercup was currently in the process of prising the stupid dralite off her head where it was trying to wrap around her face. The Chinchilla had recovered and was looking even angrier than it had before it had been kicked and paralysed.

"Be watching out!" She called to Manabu as the chinchilla launched itself at him again. Finally succeeding in throwing the dralite off she rushed after the chinchilla. She's not sure if Manabu can fight. He should be able to but she hasn't seen him with a weapon.

[siriusly]

Right, so. The fuzzball is a little big, but it is round...like a baseball! Manabu doesn't know animal handling, but he does know baseball. And his monkey brain, having to think fast on impulse, accepts that this is just really stupid baseball.

So when the little murder-mouse bounces up to try and gnaw at his kneecap, Manabu snatches it in his hands, having to do a bit of hot potato with its furious scrambling to avoid getting too many fingers bit before getting a handle on the scruff of its neck, winding up...

...And just fastball pitching that sucker clear across the field. The doppler effect on its angry squeak is both hilarious and satisfying.

"THERE." Manabu huffs, finally releasing pitcher's pose and turns back around. "...Ow." He frowns at his hands. Those teeth were no joke! "Jeez. Everything here is so...bitey!

"You alright, Buttercup?"

[knifewithnoname]

Okay. Even if he wasn't a fighter that throw was impressive and she grinned as the fur monster flew away with an angry squeak.

"Yes, I do be being fine. You do be being bleeding."

She dropped her rucksack and began looking through it, it was mostly full of crumbs from the biscuits she had taken from the inn but she had thought to grab a couple of bandages from the box of medical things on the train before they left.

"We can be stopping it, the stupid goats probably can be smelling blood or something."

[siriusly]

"Ye-yeah. Right..." Those goats... Manabu makes a face, holding his bit-up hand out without really thinking much on it, letting the girl have a look. His eyes flicker to the offending bird plopped on the ground nearby.

"Those are the things they want your team hauling around?" he asks, not impressed. "They seem more trouble than they're worth..."

[knifewithnoname]

"They do no be being for my team but I can be doing it anyways." She was regretting it, honestly. "They do be being more trouble than they do be being worth." She sighed began bandaging the hand. It wasn't too injured luckily and so she was able to bandage it up without much difficulty.

"They do be being pathetic and they do be screaming whenever they do no be happy." Which seemed to be all the time. Right now the creature was mewling sadly, not okay with being left on the floor.

[siriusly]

If Bruce were here, he'd probably have a thing or two to say about natural selection. Actually, maybe Manabu himself has a thing or two to say about it himself, if that thing wants to send shivers up his spine again.

When she's done wrapping up all the scratches and bites, Manabu lifts and wiggles his fingers to test the flexibility of the bandages. It'll do.

"I guess no good deed goes unpunished, huh," he says thoughtfully, using the hand to shield his eyes from the glare of sun as he squints up toward the heights of the mountain. "You've got a ways to go from here... Need a partner? To toss any other little monsters out of the way, anyway."

[knifewithnoname]

"That do be being true." She nodded and after she was satisfied that the bandages were tied tight enough she went over to pick up the pathetic creature and put it back on her back, where it immediately clung to her, mewling.

"It do be being a long way, this mountain do be being very tall."

She tilted her head, she was trying to prove she could do this. But it had gotten boring walking up a mountain with nothing but a stupid bat creature for company.

"You can be coming with us, we will be stopping any goats from spiking you, you can be kicking away the fur monsters."

[siriusly]

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get this weird, screaming little thing up where it's supposed to be." His eyebrows lift as he tries to push a bit of optimism in his tone. "Maybe we'll hit some luck and be able to make it back down with enough time to get back to that inn?"

Not likely; the sun was already high up. So not unless they just fell the whole way back down, which is...not ideal.

[knifewithnoname]

"You do be wanting to be going back to the inn?" She wrinkled her nose, she's not to keen on that idea just because it means she will have to climb the mountain again. Or maybe...

"Do you no be planning to be getting back on the train?"

She supposed they could just... not go back. Try and figure out something here. But this wasn't their world and they might have a better chance getting back if they were on a train that could go to different worlds.

[siriusly]

"Mm?" He blinks, briefly confused by the question. It clicks fast enough, however. "Aa, yeah! Of course. I'm not ditching anyone. But it'd be nice to be able to get one more nap on a bed that I'm not liable to, ah...uh, fall out of so easily, you know? I bet even for you, they're a bit cramped."

He laughs weakly, quieting himself to avoid upsetting the stupid bird.

o3- Don't fall!

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony was finding this experience quite enjoyable, despite a few mild irritations. He'd been able to fly back to the inn every night so he could get dinner and a comfy bed and play shoot-the-goat during the day. He knew his fellow passengers didn't have it as lucky, but hey. It was good to be king Iron Man.

He'd just dropped off another set of dralite babies and was heading toward the summit when he spots Manabu sitting on a rock looking over it. As he was approaching, they seem to notice the eagle owl about the same time. It had become such a reflex, that Tony doesn't even hesitate to lift his hand and fire a blast. The bird was still a few feet from Manabu but abruptly all the feathers on one side of it's body and it's wing get scorched off leaving being giant burns. The animal falls limply down the side of the cliff, one fewer bird to harass the locals.

[siriusly]

Manabu's eyes, having been trained on the bird he'd lobbed the rock at, go saucer-wide when suddenly it just. Explodes? That isn't what rocks do! At least, not any rocks he knows!

They also don't make mechanized whirring noises, either, which is the third thing he notices. First thing: Rocks don't explode. Second thing: Holy crap, that crater; that bird is toast. Third thing: Did someone turn on an anti-grav engine nearby, or...?

"WHOA!"

The second Manabu even glimpses Tony's shape in his peripheral, he startles, arms flailing backward to catch and drag himself back away from the edge. He gets his feet up on rock before he stops to just gawk.

"What the hell!?"

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony smirks, finding Manabu's expression quite amusing. However, he's ready in case the other man is so startled he falls. Fortunately, the young man manages to regain his composure enough to stay on the ground leaving Tony to enjoy the reaction.

He hovers closer till he's at the same level as Manabu, just without anything solid underneath him. "Thought you could use a hand." Tony remarks, letting the helmet fall back exposing his smug face. "Are you needing a lift to the summit?"

[siriusly]

So.

Tony Stark has a flying power suit.

Okay.

Manabu looks appropriately stunned by this revelation, moreso than the fact that he just cooked a bird. No big deal. Part of the job? Maybe one of the hell-goats will eat the bird. Circle of life and all that.

"Where..." Manabu clears his throat as he starts to come down from the shock. "Er, did...everyone get a power suit? Or did you just find that one?"

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony raises an eyebrow and laughs. That's.. wow. Don't think he isn't thoroughly enjoying this reaction though.

"Ah, no. This is part of me, Manabu. I'm known as Iron Man back home. I'm one of the defenders of our world." He lifts an arm and aims at another eagle owl several yards away and shoots at it. The bird barely opens its wings before it's taken out.

And maybe he should care what happens to these birds and goats, but he doesn't.

"I built it."

[siriusly]

Manabu flinches and shoots a belated glance over to the smoking spot where a bird was. Jeez...thing didn't even have a chance.

The remark about building the suit gets his attention back in front of him.

"What-- really?" Manabu's the sort of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve, and so his surprise is plain on his face. And yes, Tony had mentioned being a superhero of sorts before, but he'd also mentioned that while being smattered with bruises and stuck in a wheelchair; it didn't give Manabu much to work with an envision.

It doesn't take long for his mouth to start to curve upward.

"That's so cool! You weren't kidding at all, were you! About superhero stuff."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony knew he liked this guy!

He gives a dramatic bow at Manabu's conclusion, a wide grin across his lips. He moves a little closer till he's on the rock platform as well. "It's powered by this arc reactor," he explains, tapping the glowing circular disk on his chest. "It has infinite energy by an element I discovered called Vibranium. What did you say you were again? Some kind of space fighter?"

[siriusly]

What the heck! This guy makes new elements to make a super-cool space suit that can explode alien birds? Manabu rubs the back of his head as he processes this, eyes drifting down to the constant heat from the boots keeping the whole thing aloft.

"Kind of," he echoes absently. "But we don't get stuff like that, that's for damn sure. Wow. It kind of reminds me of--"

He stops himself, blinking. This isn't the first time Tony Stark has nagged at his memory.

"...You...don't happen to know someone called the Blue Beetle, do you?"

[runs_on_batteries]

Okay so that last bit might have been a *tiny* stretch. He had discovered the element and for a while thought he'd created it, but later on found out it was actually already being used in Wakanda. Fortunately, not everyone knew about Wakanda and he doubts anyone on this train knows. Well, except Peter. He might need to have a chat with the boy to keep his secret. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd even bragged about that when the man was already so impressed with him. Egos will be egos.

At Manabu's glance at his boots, he cuts the power so he doesn't end up overheating the rock beneath him or Manabu's feet. He drops down on the solid surface with a clank, but not much reaction on his face.

Well, that was until the Blue Beetle is mentioned. "The what? Uh, I'm going with no. Who or what is that? I'm assuming you aren't specifically talking about a bug."

[siriusly]

"Ha, no, sir."

Manabu's gotten himself up, because it'd feel weird to just be sitting there with an imposing, metal figure looming overhead.

"I just..." How to explain. His expression scrunches for a moment. How to explain? The plain truth, despite complications? Best he's got.

"I've been, uh...pulled around other dimensions and things before this. And stuck in one for a long time, actually. Blue Beetle was there in that one. He had a power suit of his own. It made wings and weapons and things. Now I, I don't know if he made it himself or anything, I...I didn't know the guy personally---" So he thinks. "It just...made me realize..."

His hands settle on his hips as he finally looks past all the metal, out toward the landscape.

"How much of my memory's just been...fogged up of late."

[runs_on_batteries]

At least the imposing, metal figure looming overhead was on Manabu's side?

"You've been to other dimensions? Was it something like this with the void train where you just woke up there?" That was concerning. What must it be like for Manabu to be stuck in a place like this. He wonders just how long a 'long time' was.

His frown deepens. "Why didn't you tell me you were struggling with something like that? When did you notice you weren't remembering everything?"

[siriusly]

Manabu's eyebrows raise briefly, surprised at the level of concern. It causes his mouth to twitch with a crooked, sheepish smile.

"You know, we...had a lot more pressing things to think on these past few days, right?" He tries pushing a bit of a laugh in his voice, but it's a weak effort. "I mean, your assistant wasn't doing so hot, and we've got kids on board, and no sign of a conductor...those things are a lot higher on the list of priorities, in my opinion."