Event: Brace the Storm

[voidtreckermods]

"Attention Voidtreckers. Brace yourselves for a voidstorm. Remember to stay strong and stick together. The Voidtrecker Express apologises for any distress this might cause."

It's not all that much of a warning, but it definitely explains the bouts of turbulence. The colours of the void outside the windows whirl and deepen, the train rocking unsteadily. A song usually confined in the spaces between carriages wails within their walls. Emergency lights switch on as the main sets flicker, and anything that could be a danger is shut down, locking the lab and armoury and limiting access to the medical bays to those who truly need to be there.

This may be for the best, as when the voidtreckers move through the train, they will find things to be... peculiar. The stream of choral singing has stuck around, bringing about a general feeling of unease in passengers. Stranger than this is when they move between carriages, and don't always find themselves where they were expecting. They know that the quiet coach should lead to standard, but instead, they end up in the music car, or library.

And within the carriages themselves, all is not as it seems...

The storm rages for three days, colours lashing at the windows, a ghostly song wailing through the walls. The train itself is able to steady after an hour or two, even if the bizarre effects throughout the carriages continue.

Be it as small as colour changing in the music room, emotions getting high over a board game, or even their minds being swept away into stories of other worlds, it will be all the passengers can do to follow the scant wisdom of the train. Stay strong. Stick together.

All storms eventually pass.

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BRACE THE STORM

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OOC NOTES. Remember that the event takes place during Orchestra 7-9 (13-18 November). The ooc information for this event is here. Have fun!

Comments

General Amaya | Purple | OTA

[the_aunt_general]

Stories, Kitchens and Dining

In these cars, well, she has some advantage - she has long since mastered gesture and body language to convey thoughts without words. But she's also on a space train, upon which there are thoughts that cannot be expressed the same way. Thus, the first thing she grabs onto is a pad of paper, because her SCA glitches ferociously in these cars.

And only when she bops it into functionality does she realize, of course, it's writing everything in Katolian, which nobody else can understand.

So it's back to games of charades and 'guess the drawing', really.

Stone Garden and Greenhouse

This carriage...does not go well for her. She sees so many enemies, dancing as if in a fog. Viren, in all his cruelty, appears and disappears. Her sword is in her hand, ready to fight, but how does one fight ghosts?

Worse still is the glimpses she gets...of her sister, her family, twisted in dark amusement. That much she knows can't be real - but that doesn't mean it isn't being caused by somebody.

Occasionally, she slashes at something that looks more real than the next, seeking to end this - and prevent the torment of others.

She can also be found in the Training Gym where all sorts of odd shenanigans might occur, and in the Dressing Room car - where every time she silently sneezes, she either shrinks or rams back up to giant size. Usually back and forth.

Kitchen and I am sorry

[sirentologist]

Oh for the love of science, how did she end up here, she just wants to find somewhere quiet where she won't be bothered and yes, that is a tall order at the best of times, but why?

And of course there's someone in here because there's always someone in here and she just never gets what she wants. If she believed in some kind of god, she would definitely think she was being punished. As it is, she can at least admit that it's starting to feel like something is doing this to her on purpose. Because really, this is far too many coincidences in a row.

"Excuse me but could you kindly take yourself somewhere else,?"

*Gasp* Tannis! Very happy with them meeting. This will be a thing, with a wide range of outcomes :P

[the_aunt_general]

Naturally, she can't hear any of the tone in her voice, but she doesn't need to. Nor does she need any help with the basic fact that her usual lip-reading is pure gibberish in this case. Body language is easy, there.

And so she very deliberately points to a cabinet, in which there is bread. She makes a gesture with both hands as if putting two slices of bread together, then another side to side movement as if putting a spread on it. Then she gives Tannis the thumbs up with both hands, a bright look...

And then makes a universally understood rude gesture, the same smile on her face.

omg if I'd known you wanted to meet her I'd have tagged her sooner XD

[sirentologist]

"Well, that is just uncalled for." She'd just asked a question. Or made a demand, but really, there's no need for that sort of thing. Everyone is so rude for no reason! She just wants some alone time! Which never happens anymore anyway, but she's still going to try!

"There's no need to be so childish, it's not as if I asked to borrow a limb." Or just took it, which, if she were honest, was far more likely.

I love the character and you write her fantastically! Also think this'll be a fun mix.

[the_aunt_general]

Babble, babble, babble. She proceeds to begin making her sandwich. She's not rude by nature, but she doesn't take well to peremptory orders or people not using basic courtesy. Besides, a sandwich is a sandwich. She has discovered peanut butter on the train - and now it's something of an addiction. One day, she'll discover that one can pair it with jam.

For now, she gets the one sandwich done, then points to the bread and uses her hands to sign. She doesn't expect an actual response - even if non-verbal communication still works, she probably won't get sign language - but it's worth a try.

Want one? Or are you just trying to sit there being a jerk to strangers? It's unbecoming on pretty ladies.

To get at least part of that across, she points at the bread, then at Tannis, making a gesture for making a sandwich again.

A-awwww thank you ;; I will certainly tag her more!

[sirentologist]

Oh. Oh. Well that makes much more sense. It doesn't explain the rude gesture, but while she doesn't understand the signs, she at least knows what that means. She's half tempted to just talk in her head, but would that even work? Do people have to actually be able to hear in order to understand that? Another to add to the list of experiments she needs to do! One day she might actually get through it!

She would still prefer no people, but at least it's sort of quiet. That's already an improvement.

"No, I would not like a sandwich. Do please continue with reckless abandon." The woman understands her somehow, right? Enough to make rude gestures. She does shake her head, though, just in case. At a time like this, she is not at all hungry.

This is a wonderful conversation.

[the_aunt_general]

Good she didn’t, really. Amaya had been born deaf, the sudden arrival of sounded thoughts in her head was invasive. An alien violation. It’s been tried, and had not gone well.

But for the moment, she shrugs and takes a bite. Eat when you’re hungry, try to be regular - but she’s had to grab nutrition on battlefields. She isn’t fussed about this sort of disruption. It’s better than army food, after all - and nobody is firing ballista bolts at her.

She shrugs, putting down the sandwich to sign again. Suit yourself. Also since you can’t understand a word I am signing: wobble, wibble, sun, moon, Katolis, left right, pumpkins.

Pretty sort. Definitely an alchemist of some variety. They came in two flavours, really: intense and unconscious.

Stone Garden

[crowneddragon]

He wishes the train would stop messing with him. The gardens are the hardest; a face he'd been so desperate to see, staring in twisted agony- the first time, he'd almost punched the carriage glass until it cracked. Only for her lips to shift, her eyes to take a cruel, mocking edge, mocking him for failing to reach her. She'd never been cruel for a day in her life, and though the knife twisted between his ribs, he... he couldn't think her here anymore.

A fleeting dream. A haunting nightmare.

'Dians, he'd thought he'd been getting better.

The train is taunting him, he thinks, rattled again. Every time he tries to reach the sports gym, he gets shuffled back here, either garden carriages just as dreadful as the other. Faces in the glass that he can't afford to look at.

Ghosts of people he loves and has loved.

It's hard to see another just as stuck as he is in this haze, and their sword sweeps sharply across thin air, blade sharp. He does not want to be caught up in it's next swing, so he calls, loudly to cover up the faint scratching of almost-there whispers; the shifting tension that something is trying to speak to him.

"Hey there!" He's trying to be bright, but it's a bit harder for him to be under the situation. "Maybe stickin' 'round isn't the best idea? Wanna come with me?" he offers, though he doesn't approach because that might get painful real fast.

[the_aunt_general]

Which, of course, she can't hear - she sees her sister in the shadows again, and sheathes her sword long enough to sign at the shadows, frantically.

What do you want?! Are you real?!

In her world, this is entirely possible. And very distressing.

Sarai, if you're in there, please, tell me if I can help you!

Permission granted to hurt him, he's expecting it.

[crowneddragon]

He wonders briefly if the ghost might have a different hold onto people than they do on him. It makes some vague sort of sense; his father did say he might have some resistance to forms of magic? But he's not sure. Still, he's not about to leave not when he can read such tension in her shoulders.

He's actually surprised when the sword gets sheathed. There's movement, her hands whipping through the space in front of her-- right handed. She's right handed. Okay. Okay, okay. He calls, one more time, briefly wondering if it's a matter of train shenanigans, like the quiet carriage, but he can hear his own voice, so he's not actually sure.

"Hey! Um, lady?" She's right handed. And she has a sword-- a sword she very much knows how to use. She's going to be quick, and probably lethal. Esteban can only brace himself for the fastest dodge he can-- or likely to get a new set of bruise. Just when the one from his arrival was finally fading.

He reaches to tap her left shoulder, hoping to the Guardian Spirits he has just enough reflexes to duck.

[the_aunt_general]

It is, 100%, the wrong move to make. Working into her eyeline would have been much more effective - this just sets off all the instincts in her as she's been waiting for something like that contact - that whatever is behind the spectres would make an appearance.

So without hesitation, when she feels something on her shoulder, she wheels with a punch.

Usually, she knows when someone's behind her. But the spectres ensured that didn't happen - so instinct unfortunately takes over.

Sorry for the swearing >__<

[crowneddragon]

Fuck, she's fast!

He doesn't have the time to think-- he doesn't get the time to dodge entirely. Breath sheathed, limbs shift. Go with the flow.

The punch burns, even as a glancing blow. His head snaps with the movement. He tries his best to absorb it, to minimize damage, but Fuck!

He's backtracking blindly, feet shifting quickly, so that his center of balance remains low. There's training in his footwork, but his eyes are closed and he curved inwards to protect his face, where she's hit him. His cheek and eye are already red, but he blinks rapidly, and there doesn't seem to be any damage to his eye per say. Still, that fucking hurts!

"It's okay!" He's shouting, both hands held in front of him even as he hisses and quickly reaches to block the wound from view again. The pressure helps numb it down a bit, but not by much at all, and Esteban's hands are shaking a bit as he swallows breath after breath down. He hopes as all hells that this is just going to be a single attack-- if she's still lost to the ghost--

If she is, he's seriously fucked.

[the_aunt_general]

Her hands go to her face, shocked and upset. It's more than enough to snap her out of things - she'd been expecting an attack, and he clearly wasn't Viren or...anyone she needed to worry about really.

And it's not like her at all to make mistakes like that - the expression on her face relays her feelings on that, backed up by her hands starting to move, signing rapidly, her SCA racing to keep up.

I'm so sorry - I was expecting an attack from the ghosts or...or whatever they are. Here, let me take a look at it - we'll get you some ice to put on it.

It helps, in moments like these, that she can't hear the spectres around her, trying to pull her back in.

stone garden

[happyends]

It's hard to not stare. Even when you know it's fake, it's hard to not want to catch a glimpse of a loved one you haven't seen in so long - Madoka has been having trouble peeling herself from staring at the glass for exactly that reason, no matter the extremely eerie feeling it's giving her, like a shiver down her spine.

.. but a distraction does the trick. She glances away the moment she hears something cutting through the air, and when she turns her head to look, it's apparently a sword - and someone familiar is holding it.

It makes the girl's eyes grow wide.

"M-Miss!" She says, but then realises that won't do much for Amaya, so she instead tries to move herself in such a way that she's inside the other's field of view, but out of reach of the weapon. She waves her hands, as if to make it clear she's trying to draw her attention. "Miss!"

[the_aunt_general]

She catches that flash of colour in the world of grey - and that is absolutely the best way to overcome the situation. She frowns, her attention very definitely drawn in her direction.

[happyends]

Phew, that helps. At least Amaya isn't so far gone that she can't even notice the actual real people in the carriage - which is a faint relief.

And since the other is looking at her now, Madoka can say - slowly, making sure the other can keep up: "They're not real."

Sure, she figures Amaya thought they were at least shadows or something along those lines as well, but this goes beyond even that, Madoka thinks.

"They're just.. illusions from the void."

[the_aunt_general]

Illusions from the void.

That's...well maybe that's even worse. But it means, certainly, she can't fight them. She closes her eyes tight, so she doesn't have to see the twisted images of her sister, or her nephews in pain. Her fists shake at her sides as she takes deep breaths.

Finally, she exhales, opening her eyes, and trying to make her way towards Madoka.

[happyends]

Thankfully it's not too hard to make her way over. Madoka isn't standing too far away, and she doesn't move away - or disappear, which means that Madoka, compared to those images, is really here. An actual real person.

But that also means she saw the look that passed over Amaya's face just now, and it makes Madoka's eyes a little sadder with sympathy.

".. I'm sorry. Are you having a hard time looking at them..? We could move to another carriage.." And hope that whatever effect is going on there is less hard on Amaya than this particular one.

(Also, yes, Amaya is way older than her-- but Madoka can't help but fuss over other people regardless of their age relative to her own.)

[the_aunt_general]

She shakes her head, as if trying to clear the images away. Finally, she nods.

Getting out of here is the best possible idea.

KITCHEN...

[philosopherspotato]

Well, charades is always a fun game, even if currently, Potato is the one passing on a message. She's figured out the barriers, so now she's drawing...things. Things.

It looks like...a rabbit?

A rabbit eating..? "Bunny. Chow. Bunny chow..!"

She just wants the name to get across before they hit the really hard part, which is, actually making curry in a bread box.

[the_aunt_general]

She has to assume that Potato is trying to get her to help with that, else why bring it up? So she looks over the drawing - which is adorable if cryptic - and...ok, does anything in the pantry look like that?

She starts to work through cupboards and suchlike, looking for anything that looks the same.

[philosopherspotato]

Oh!!

Oh no!! "Um!!! Oh no!!!"

She needs to draw the ingredients, fast- pencil flying over the paper, she hurriedly holds it up.

Bread! ...Potatoes! ...Lots of...squiggly plant things?? "We need the curry stuff!"

[the_aunt_general]

Ok, ok, the first two...that makes sense. Plant things are a little bit harder. But she moves quickly to acquire the first two, holding up a potato and making the hand gestures for peeling it, with a raised, questioning eyebrow.

She'll figure out the squiggly plant thing after.

[philosopherspotato]

Potatoes, yes!! Potato herself nods. "Yeah!! Potatoes go in curry!!"

She proceeds to start searching about the place herself. "I don't know where all the spices are..."

[the_aunt_general]

She nods, getting to work assembling ingredients and, by accident, opening the cupboard in which spices are kept while looking for a peeler.

Coincidence is helpful sometimes.