Echoes in a Void

[voidtreckermods]

"Good morning passengers, today is day twenty of the month of Horseshoe." The day begins normally at least. Passengers wake in their bed, perhaps get up, begin to start their morning.

It is perhaps less than an hour after waking that the first problems occur, turbulence making the train shake and roll. It's not quite bad enough to throw most sure footed passengers off their feet, but it is not very pleasant. Anyone near the window will notice the void looks different. The colours are bolder and shift more violently than usual.

"Passengers of the Voidtrecker Express, please brace yourselves for a Voidstorm." The announcement is not that useful, but a moment later the ICPs all show a message.

The void continues to shift and swirl, violent and mesmerising.

Outside

It might be that the strange effects of the void draw them to the windows, or it might be that they hear a voice. A friend, a lover, a mother. Calling them. Soft and sweet, high and playful.

Join us. It's tempting, faces show in the void outside, pleading and cajoling. Passengers might even see places, a home, a land long lost. Just outside, not out of reach at all. All they have to do is join them, enter the chaos of the void. Or at least stay close, watch through the windows, stare into the void...

Inside

The shapes outside the train are not the worrying thing, as the storm progresses people will start noticing that the train seems fuller than usual. An empty carriage becomes full in a moment, people eating and playing or reading. A friend passengers thought long gone walking down the corridor towards them. Or perhaps it is not a voidtrecker that they know, but a stranger in uniform going about their business, seemingly normal until they pass through them, leaving them chilled and weak.

They gravitate towards those who are alone, following them, gathering around them, sapping them of energy.

Safety in Numbers

Sticking together is the safest course of action. Being together, physical contact or just shared activities will make the echoes leave them alone. Start a game, encourage a beanbag reading circle. Anything to keep people distracted and together.

Stay strong, Voidtreckers, the storm shall soon pass.

(OOC: Here is the ooc information for this event. This post can be used as a catch all, or you can start your own posts set during this time.)

Comments

Cool. Thanks!

[nobodys_puppet]

She isn't. Starting to drift off she actually uncurled and rolled onto her back, falling into a deeper sleep in her usual sleep pose, unaware that her hood fell partially off as she rolled, exposing her face to them for the first time.

o7

[ramengroupie]

--She's young. Wormmon skitters out of Xion's way as Ken observes her descent into slumber. Perhaps it's just the effects of the day, but she seems even more frail now that he can see her features...

Though that pose is more relaxed than her earlier fear had been. Is that a good sign? If this were a dangerous sleep, would she have uncurled like that?

Once Xion has settled, Wormmon crawls forward again. Just to do a breath check. He's pretty sure everything is OK.

But Ken-chan worries!

[nobodys_puppet]

Unless he wakes her, she'd sleep like that for days. Which means until the train moves her to her own bunk. He... might want to try to wake her.

[ramengroupie]

"Ken-chan, now what?"

Wormmon looks up at Ken with complete faith his partner will figure this out. And Ken...is thinking. His bunk is one of the upper ones; she's currently on the Professor's, and while the man seems considerate, Ken would also feel responsible if his actions caused someone to be out their sleeping place. Moving her here had seemed like a solid idea because it met the criteria she wanted, but...

...She'd fallen asleep so quickly. Above all, that's concerning.

Kneeling, Ken moves to slowly try and place a hand on Xion's shoulder. He doesn't want to startle her awake, but if he can gradually make her aware of the outside world...

"Xion....chan....?"

[nobodys_puppet]

Her eyes fluttered slowly. "Axel? Roxas?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling. Her head slowly turned towards him and her eyes went huge as she saw him and she tried to pull as far away as the narrow bunk allowed, face making it clear she's terrified.

[ramengroupie]

....He succeeded, and yet failed. Well, the most important objective was managed. Ken keeps his voice soft.

"I apologize for frightening you."

....And for frightening Wormmon, who skittered in the opposite direction as Xion when she made her sudden move.

"Resting up is important, but you might want to try to stay awake. The void storm has been putting people to sleep."

He'd have fallen victim right alongside her, if it hadn't been for her. So Ken has to do what he can to assist Xion.

[nobodys_puppet]

"The storm is....?" She shuddered. She was so tired. She still didn't realize that her hood was down.

[ramengroupie]

She hadn't realized? Ken doesn't feel completely confident in his information, but he can share what he is sure about.

"I don't know how. But it's showing illusions, and they're dangerous to touch."

Ken smiles, somewhat bashful. "That's why you had to save me."

"Thank you again."

Wormmon is over his surprise now. And is really grateful! Really!

[nobodys_puppet]

"Oh." She looked down at her gloves and shrugged. "You're a Somebody," she said as if that explained everything.

[ramengroupie]

"....Somebody?"

Ken's sorry, Xion. But your response that explains everything

explained nothing.

[nobodys_puppet]

She nodded. That seemed all she was going to say. She glanced up and realized...

Her eyes went huge and she grabbed her hood in shaking hands, pulling it back up over her face, pale with terror on top of exhaustion.

[ramengroupie]

...She's more scared than he thought. Of him, or of something else? Why?

"Ken-chan, why is she hiding? She's pretty."

"We all have our own reasons," says Ken, who isn't about to put words in Xion's mouth but also remembers experiencing a variety of root causes for not wanting to be looked at. He can't help but glance at that hooded figure now, though.

She isn't going to fall asleep again, is she?

[nobodys_puppet]

Pretty? What did that... wait...

She stared at Wormmon. "You.... could see my face?" she asked, stunned and it sounded perhaps... hopeful. Not that she was aware she sounded hopeful. Not that she fully understood what hopeful even meant.

[ramengroupie]

Wormmon nods, not following why this would be a problem. "It's a nice face. You're a pretty human."

Ken watches this exchange, trying to make sense of it. They're missing something. Xion had very different expectations.

Why?

[nobodys_puppet]

"But I'm.... not human...." she said, still confused. "Axel said that my face might be visible here...." But was it, to everyone? Or just them like it was to Axel and Roxas?

[ramengroupie]

"You're not? Sorry."

In case taking her for a human was rude.

Ken has drawn a certain conclusion. "Xion-chan, can no one see your face in your home?"

There's something about her that makes her discount her own existence.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Roxas and Axel could," she said softly. "But just them. Maybe..." Maybe Xigbar. And Naminé. Naminé could. "One or two others, maybe. The rest saw me as a blank or a mirror or as someone else... and at the end even Roxas... stopped... stopped seeing me..." she whispered.

[ramengroupie]

"That's so sad," whimpers Wormmon. Ken also looks contemplative, like something about this is difficult to hear.

"A mirror...."

Is that what she meant by "somebody"? Does she think he's someone who presents as nothing but himself? There's an encouragement in that, given his history with self-acceptance, but it's outweighed by how much her plight troubles him.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Why is it sad?" she asked, confused. Sad was an emotion, right?

[ramengroupie]

"Because..." Wormmon looks for the words. "Then people can't get to know YOU! Are you really okay with always looking like somebody else?"

With showing up one day wearing your older brother's hairstyle, with your older brother's glasses as a mask. Acting in a way that makes you think you can surpass him, but in reality you've trapped yourself in a cruel parody of his actions.

Wormmon is, perhaps, projecting. A little.

[nobodys_puppet]

"It doesn't matter what I want, I can't change what others see or don't see," she whispered, trembling still.

[ramengroupie]

"But--"

"Wormmon."

Wormmon notices the trembling when Ken-chan interrupts him, and quiets down. Ken-chan is so KIND! This must be hard for him to hear too, but he is more worried about Xion-chan.

"There's likely something about this train or your world that cancels out the reflection," Ken proposes to Xion. "What's more pressing now is how to stay awake."

Talking seemed to work, but she doesn't want to be with others, and Ken doesn't want to push her.....

A conundrum indeed. He may take his own advice and focus on that so he doesn't end up thinking about Xion's greater predicament.

[nobodys_puppet]

Something about the train... Not about her. Maybe... Maybe that could be. she was still keeping the hood up to be sure, though.

"Do we really have to?"

[ramengroupie]

Ken's expression is solemn. "It's for the best."

Who knows what happens to the people who fall asleep. He's been fighting his own tiredness exactly because he doesn't want to learn that, not when there's a crisis at hand.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Why?"

Like most two to three year olds, this was her most oft asked question.