voidtreckernet | video/action

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video/action

[Video]

[ Della's face pops up looking... well, like everyone else - exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. She smacks her beak a bit, before speaking. ]

... So. That sucked.

[ Fully aware that's the understatement of the century, Della draws a breath, and tries again. ]

I think we could all use a nice, long breather after everything... and, gosh darn it, as Train Mom, that is my sacred duty. Hugs? Head on the lap? Head-pats telling you that you did a good job? A shoulder to cry on? Venting out all your feelings without judgement? I'm right here.

[ She slaps her chest, then slaps a small sign on on the sports/gym car. It reads

EXHAUST PILE WITHIN

But as she does this, Tidus enters the scene - Della jumps, surprised, almost forgetting his presence.

He just smiles, holding up two cups with steam coming off them, then addresses the video feed as well. ]

We're also making big batches of cocoa too. Any of you that're gonna stress bake? There's room for that room - s'long as you don't need a nap first.

[ It's a small chide though, his smile small but sympathetic. ]

I've gotten out some incense pots from the supplies - you guys who got your head thrown into a blender by that aash-- uh, that jerk, [ he takes a swift glance at Della, then back ] --it'll help you relax. Just some, but better than nothin'. I'll set some off in Momma Duck's air nest, but if you're not doing great and you think you need a pot? Tell me. Raven made a lot of good stuff for good nights sleep if you need any in the medcar, too.

... So, yes. Cocoa. Incense. Hugging. And if you want to sleep with friends for a couple nights, we got air beds and extra pillows in here. Nobody has to get up and go until they feel ready.

And if that's not enough, that's fine too. Maybe next month we do something a little more organized, if you have any suggestions - movie night, sleepover night, big eat night, whatever, I'm listening. And I'm here for you.

[ Action ]

And inside the sports gym, the pair can be found. They have a few airbeds blown up, but there's more that still need airing up if you pop in straight after their message. There's also a tremendous amount of pillows. If you want to help, get blowing, and make these airbeds look nice and comfy!

The transgate from the standard coach has mysteriously been moved to the sports gym's outer hallway. Who did that? But it makes it easier to bring in the cups of hot chocolate from the kitchens, and for anyone who wants to bring snacks to do so. Take a seat, remember to bring your sleeping bag and whatever else you want. Plushes, your own musical instrument to offer some de-stress medication of your own with a melody.

And there's an area where small incense pots burn away, a gentle mist rising up. It won't heal the mind completely, but it will offer it some peace. And if you're worried about nightmares, a few of Raven's sachets and teas are available.

So come get a mom hug. Come and offer hugs. Just come and get something out of the company, whatever it is. Tidus and Della - and others - will be here to give a hand.

The life you had might've been fake, but the people around you aren't.

((OOC: consider this a mingling post, where everyone is free to tag everyone else! be the comforter, the one offering comfort, both, whatever!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tidus can sympathise. Why didn't the train let everyone have magical storage space anymore? There were work-arounds at least, and he's about to mention a name, when another gets shared with him first -- or rather, a hand does.

Which gets a bit of a surprised look, but he takes it with a funny smile, not unaccustomed to shaking hands or anything. Just rare, and he gives Xehanort a nod all the same. "Ted, huh? Name's Tidus! And say, if you're interested in getting one of those, Wangji - he's one of the Blue leads. You might bump into one of the other Wangjis on board? There's one or two." Or three. "--but he can help you out. Maybe if you make a trade?"

It's somewhere to look in any case, especially if the guy's that interested. Though he nods to where Xehanort's notebook has been placed. "Unless you're saving up for anything already. What're you into?"

Did the notebook have anything relevant to Xehanort's interests? It's Tidus's way of trying to learn more about the guy, all the same.

"If there's multiple Wanjis, is there anything that makes them obviously distinctive from one another so I know which one is Blue team's lead?" He's curious at least, and that's always worth checking out if only to soothe curiosity. Whether or not it was followed up with a trade or request.. well, it would depend on a lot!

But now he wants to know if all these Wangjis are identical or that's a surname and there's a whole family aboard or what.

'Tidus' though, is going to be filed away. Guy had access to a special pocket of reality called hammerspace, and kept all KINDS of things in there, and seemed decent enough. There were surely other mysteries. He shakes his head. "Not currently saving up." He has his tablet, it's good enough! "I'd been very keen on science and study until arriving here, but apparently that ends in entire worlds being destroyed.." There's an exaggerated change in his expression and posture, as if it's a shock every time he says it - but it's so exaggerated that it MUST be deliberate. He's too tired and bitter to be truly shocked by the thought today. "So I'm looking into other fields. Illusion kung fu maybe, those monks a week or two ago thought I had a knack for it."

Though he didn't think they'd be going back. "What about you? Besides keeping interesting things in 'hammerspace'."

'How to keep Wangjis distinct'. Please don't mind as Tidus sits there for a good second squinting to the side as he racks his brain. How does he tell? ...Magic. Or just incredibly good luck so far, but he'll eventually come to a semi-helpful reply.

"Mmm, he's the one with the rabbits. But I'd just ask for him over the ICP if I were you. 'Team Lead Wangji's' a good way of getting his attention, yeah?"

Maybe there weren't even that many Wangjis except one now, but Tidus doesn't want to think about it. Thinking on the multiples of people who know one another was a giant headache his brain wasn't made to handle.

Hobby talk though? Hobby talk is fine. ...maybe not so much as the way Xehanort starts it, but! Even with that bizarre start, he won't be dissuaded.

"Uh, well, I like sports. Used to be a pro 'til I showed up here - so I guess we're in the same boat." (Save the destruction of worlds part.) "I can't play the one I was good at since it was underwater. And you can't play for real without a team."

More than just one team, even. A team to go against too!

This stretch of silence tells him they're all identical basically, and that's going to complicate things. He can't even request they wear nametags, because their names are the same! And if these rabbits weren't always around..

..Well he'll burn that bridge when he comes to it. "I'll try that out if something doesn't turn up sooner."

Bags that hold all kinds of things inside beyond their capacity certainly sounds awfully useful.

He leans back a bit, thumping a little against the wall for proper relaxation. Sports. Not really his thing, though it could have been. "And a second team. Ideally a lot of teams so you're not competing against the same people over and over." That'd get boring! "I can't think of any sports played underwater though. What did you play? What was your team's name?"

There's a hum that could be a laugh, lifting a corner of his mouth - he's had this conversation before, plenty of times. "Zanarkand Abes. We played blitzball - a game where you're in a pool getting as many points you can shooting the ball in the other team's goal 'til time runs out. It's big where I'm from! Never met anyone here who knows or plays it though."

But that was the way it went. They'd have to deal with how-many Wangjis, but not get another other single blitzball player. Boooooo!

"You ever been into sports? Spoorts and science never really matches."

At least, the people interested in one rarely care to be into both.

"...I've heard of a game kind of like that but it's played on a field." The idea of it being in the water was ... odd but probably really helped with the sweatiness issue! And obviously some sort of spell was involved so nobody drowned. "Did you have special equipment for playing underwater? Swim fins?"

Of all the sports he's ever heard of this one is at least temptingly different. He didn't mind the water! And all the unpleasant side effects of terrestrial exercise simply went away!

But he does shake his head in the expected negative. "Not that I know of. Some... eight months ago or so I lost all memories except for my name, and I don't have much idea of what I did before that point. I think I must have been very keen on something physical, but ...." He shrugs. "I couldn't tell you now. Sorry to say, blitzball doesn't sound familiar even if it sounds more interesting than most sports."

"Nope, it's all natural. Some people have eye-goggles for the water," since not everyone was great with the water swishing on the eyes thing, "but you learn to hold your breath and everything. Though, sphere water is easier to move and breathe in than normal water."

He'll make that clear, since it's fair. But the training is still not.

But as Xehanort speaks of himself, losing your memories is - wow, a lot more than just losing access to your favourite sports game or research. He blinks at Xehanort a little wide-eyed, but does slowly look away.

"Wow..." Huh... "Was it a...toxin or something? Were you out swimming?"

His thoughts are being quickly pulled in a certain direction; not hopeful for it, but what if? Was it a similar case to what happened with Sin and people who got too close? Did that happen in other places?

"I feel like this would have been very, very popular on that fish world we just went to." Except how could it be turned into an exercise at fending off the Void? He wasn't sure he wanted to know, that would suck the fun out of what should be a game, even at professional levels.

The memory loss issue is a major ongoing problem he tends to obsess over but by the shrug that follows, one might get the impression otherwise. "Nobody knows. It's all missing. What I'd been doing, where I'd been going, what caused it. Whatever it was certainly was rough, I had some incredible bruises and injuries." It's dismissed entirely after a moment, of all the things to dwell on right now that's not one of them. "Your questions seem oddly specific though, are you used to dealing with toxins that just.. erase lives?"

Whoof. Someone went out on a night of roughousing and woke up into an amnesia plot.

"Kinda," he admits. "They had a big guy where I came from that made your head all foggy-like if you got too close to it - Sin. I don't think it's that-" because a lot of people weren't big on the 'do science' thing in Spira, "--but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. Though... it's weird nobody recognised you. You didn't get washed up too?"

Started at one place or was on a boat, then ended up somewhere else. That's what it sounds like, doesn't it? If no one could help the guy remember anything else but a name.

'Sin' doesn't ring any bells, but then again a lot didn't.

Things that can be inferred from this: Sin is a thing that could either erase memories or move people all over AND erase memories, Tidus has experienced it or knew someone well who has, and it involved the ocean and maybe toxins.

There's a lot of water connections in Tidus' life. Even his name was waterish.

"...I don't know." There's a certain repetition here. "The only person who'd know, the one who found me, isn't on the train to ask. As far as I have ever encountered, the only people who know my name are from the future, not the past, and everyone wants to kill me." Xehanort prods his notebook sourly, there's tons of questions and no answers and even finding out could go badly. "Seems like you've come across something similar before. How'd it turn out?"

Well. That's something to be connected to - everyone wants to kill me. Rather, Tidus figures that Teddy here wasn't referring to that, but given the mood he seems to take on after it, losing his memories and apparently having people from the future less than pleased about his existence...

"Uhh..." Give him a second here, to take it in, or - try to. "Well, I didn't have anyone after me..." Or didn't know anyone in that situation, but this seems less about him anyway, and more about a guy lost, confused and frustrated. Tidus can pity that.

"Is this about that science thing you mentioned before? You do something and it makes a big mess out of everything?"

They're here to give people some company, and support. He might as well see if he can give that here, now. ...try to.

Xehanort's sudden grin is full of teeth and things that suggest it's anything but a happy gesture. "You'll never guess what else I don't know!" It fades almost as quickly as it appears, back to sobriety. "I just know it happens, they won't give me details."

And for a good reason, because timey wimey ball. "...Rewind a minute though."

What Tidus felt was important and what Xehanort did are apparently different things. "You lost your memories too, I take it?" There's a brief small gesture. "With this 'Sin' of yours, and washing up in strange places? Since you're here I can't imagine it's resolved.."

"It's not like what you're saying," he hurries to clear up, hands coming up and waving some. "It's more- I ended up far from home, somewhere real different. I didn't forget anything, it was more- culture shock! And knowing nothing about where I was. I didn't forget who I was - it just it didn't line up with how everyone else lived."

He hasn't no idea if that makes sense, but getting into his deal is weird enough. And he's not the guy all frustrated about his lot in life. There isn't much of a life left for him, after all.

"You've got way more serious stuff going on me," he says, dismissing himself with a wave of a hand. "Sin and that's over with. But you... I can't imagine forgetting the past and then having the future breathing down your neck. But hey, you know... here, it's about what you do now most of us care about." His brow lifts some, and he realises:

"Someone might be able to help you around here someday - with your memory. All kinds of people come through here."

A few similarities, but not enough of them. One day surely he'd find someone who'd been through the same nonsense, and offer suggestions on what to do about any of it.. but at least Tidus had a solid grip of how strange it was to wind up somewhere completely new and not know what to expect from that foreign place.

"More or less serious, there's not much I can do about it at the moment, and dwelling on it doesn't ...sit well." Especially since he's got some concerns that remembering might directly lead to all the mayhem he's accused of.

It's going to be pursued anyway, the need to know outweighed the risk on many levels. "Someone else's life, all the stuff you've been through.. it's something new, isn't it? New to me, at any rate. I suppose it's somewhat heartless to tell another person their life is a nice distraction from all the other problems going on, isn't it?"

He gestures out his hands. "I like hearing about other worlds all the time! Not any different from that, is it?" Jovial, simple. He can move on this easily, though he does think to say:

"And if you're here, you might as well learn whatever you like. I didn't do a lot with the fighting those monks were teaching though, so can't help you there." Ah. He folds his arms loosely, nodding. "But if it's just about going up against illusions -- Wei Wuxian. Did you hear about his lessons? He's still resting up, but he's good to ask."

...

...but then his brow dips. "Um, the Wei Wuxian in a room by himself right now."

Sorry, Teddy: there's multiple of this guy too.

"I didn't either." Sourness returns, but it's of a completely different sort. "I was too distracted with those ... rigged tests." Oh, he's definitely still annoyed about that entire situation!! But it is at least not really a mystery, a lot of people came out of that one irritated!

But the fishing had been good. He can acknowledge that much, at least to himself.

There is a long, looong unblinking stare when it becomes obvious there is more than one Wei Wuxian too.

He spoke to ONE of them.

"It was more for the exercise than fighting illusions; if we encounter our rainbow foe again I dare say I'd volunteer to go with It instead of fight It. Which Wei Wuxian is afraid of dogs? And how many people on this train share the same name and face? Is there a list??"

"Passenger roster." Which is a list! A list that Tidus saw the names and faces of everyone yesterday, and then promptly forgot the number of multiples! "And, uh, you'd have to check it. There's - three three? Three Wangjis, three Wuxians?" An exasperated scoff. "I don't know, it's not my family! But- upper four, I think that's the cabin car. If you visit before we stop, you should get the room."

Because most likely, he wouldn't stay the sole guy in the room once they hit the platform.

"But if he doesn't know anything about it - how about ordering a book? If you're into reading - give ordering it a try! Like... 'void mind training'." Very good keywords. "Did they have a funny name for the exercise?"

That's also probably good to look up.

He's going to have to find out, when moving didn't make him feel like he was going to immediately fall over. One of them was on the network, and mentioned dogs. It had directly interfered with his plans to get a dog!

"....And when are we stopping." Because if it's tonight that's just not going to happen!

Xehanort waves off the idea of void mind training. "No, no. Not that kind of exercise. Not a.." He thinks about it for a moment, expression blank. "Not still working on the illusions problem. I don't care about that." They should all care about that given what other people went through, right?! "Normal exercise. A lot of martial arts are really good just for burning energy and beating people up, keep you from turning into a ball from sitting around too much."

"Eh... 'bout, two or three days from now?" Give or take??

About that long, anyway, though Tidus doesn't count down the days - just waits for the usual announcement to come about the points, and there they are. But he gives a drawn out 'ohhhhh' when it clicks what Xehanort's after.

"So just any exercise. But with fighting on top? You could try asking Trunks or Cassie if you want the fighting part too, they teach. Uh... and I think Soldat teaches? He's James I think, on the roster. Toby used to teach different kinds of exercise, but he left."

Was there anyone who just did exercise-exercise?

"If you didn't want the fighting side of it," he says as he remembers something, "--I got a dancing holo-coach. You know what that is?"

Two or three days. Time would see how he felt then. Surely by then they'd all be improved from the current noodly state! He is never, ever going to volunteer for anchor position again.

Bemused silence falls, instead of ansswering the obvious question. He has no idea what a holo coach is, but it sounds like a train car that isn't really there to him. Xehanort studies Tidus for a long moment, eyebrows raised, before finally venturing a return question .. that has nothing to do with what Tidus just asked him.

"You're a fixer, aren't you? You encounter a problem.. or what seems to be one, you set out to fix it?"

That very much isn't an answer to what he asked, though he was maybe getting curious for a moment there, with the silence. A question that puts Tidus into a return one, making him figure out - but get - what Xehanort's saying.

"Mmmm, not really." Or so he thinks. Tipping his head slightly, a lift of the more exposed shoulder in a shrug. "But if I know something, I'll share it. 'Specially if it's about not being bored. People come and go, they stay, so some things change, but some stay the same. You get used to going, 'oh, I know a guy like that', or, 'this guy over here does something like that'."

He can't quite see it as an impulse. More of just a habit of talking to a lot of people, being around for a while. Sharing information, making connections.

"It's easier too, don't you think?" Tidus adds. "Approaching people's awkward, but it's easier to do if you can say that someone sent you. Then you get to know more people."

"Hm. I wonder."

Is that really all there is to it? Xehanort has doubts, but he also has an external perspective. "And yet here you are, pursuing fixing things quite relentlessly. Bringing people food. Pointing them at other people. 'Networking', my colleagues would have called it in Jinnjar. A good thing, right? Helping out, even though you've had it as hard as the rest of us." Fixing.

He isn't one of those people. Some are driven by such altruistic things, he ... isn't. "A lot of people here are going to have an easier night because of all your work, but you should be relaxing too. And no, running back and forth doing things for everyone is not relaxing."

That assessment - or is it the ending chide - gets a bark out of Tidus. A laugh, something deep from his lungs, genuinely tickled. Quick to turn into a chuckle, leaving a wide grin on his face. Saying, almost instantly after:

"Mann, you make me sound like an overworker! Is this you worrying about me?" Concerned, is he? "Don't worry, I'm not that nice. You get the sort here, but me? I like rest. But I like people too. Talking to people. That's all it is."

Well. He lets a beast pass, and, "Okay - maybe not all," he concedes, raising a hand, palm flat, as if to protest a rebuttal before it can be given. "But Della - she's a mom. She cares a lot about the people here. Back on Jinnjar, she didn't get to be one. So-" he cocks a head to the rest of the room. "--I helped her. 'Cause I like her."

He stretches in his back, hiding it for a second before he lets it release, an exhale taken; his shoulders slouching, relaxing after. Body at ease.

"If you're stuck here, you might as well enjoy it a lil'. "

His motto, if he ever had one.

"You're worrying about everyone else, it's the only thing you haven't gotten cornered yet." Self-care! Besides which, if his cold, more practical side had any opinion on the matter, being nice simply encouraged people to be more helpful in the future.

Della - he's met her at least over the comms, the duck related to Scrooge. She'd seemed.. highly energetic at least, and mentioned her kids. Woodchucks or something?

But she'd seemed nice. Her offers here were kind. She, like so many others, obviously meant well. "..Ah yes, some people think of it as being trapped here." It's an escape. Isn't it? "Especially if her children wait for her somewhere far away. It would surely be difficult."

Not that he knows personally, he considers himself far too young for that nonsense. If he can't decide most days if he wants to bother with breakfast, never mind what it should be, he's definitely not ready for families!

"Hey, it's nice." Tidus is grinning, amused - but charmed? "Not sure I like the idea being put with the fussy kinds, but I'll take your worry. Thanks."

Teddy cares. Tidus leans back on the airbed he's been sitting on, propping himself by his arms behind him. He doesn't miss the obvious in that remark there, though. Some people think of it as being trapped. But he knows not the sound judging when he asks, just curious:

"You don't mind being here?"

Would a guy who doesn't remember himself mind?

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