The In-Betweens

[unfavorableinstigation]

(Because I don't think there's anything specifically jossing this as an option...? Not that I saw, at least. And book 11 for her canon still isn't out yet, so visits home are not something I'm comfortable writing by-and-large.)

Nita had expected her second journey to take months - her time in Nautilus had taken anywhere between five years and no time at all, depending on how you defined 'travel' - but not getting to even be conscious for more than half of the time she'd been away had seriously thrown her off her game.

On the upside, she could state for certain that, if the Powers would grant her a one-way timeslide exemption for any reason, it would be for something this big. As such, it didn't matter when she went home, just that she did.

That many of her friends had already headed home - to old ones or new - was no surprise, and she wished only that she could have said goodbye to those she'd known who had left.

But she'd given much of her time trying to help out in the wake of the destruction of System 1015... and now, here were people of that very system, and Voidtreckers at that. So long as they were willing to talk, she wanted to learn more about them!

She wanted to learn more about the ministry, as well; how had remembering System 1015's contributions changed them, if at all?

But most of all, she wanted to learn more about the Voidtrecker Express, now that it was slightly more communicative - and now that it was clear that at least some of its silence had been because of the unstable time loop, and the damage dealt to its core processes. That made it easier for her (and the peridexis, for those few on the train that were sensitive to outriders) to try and understand.

People wanting to talk to her could find her most often in the library, of course, but with so many new carriages she'd found herself wandering, observing what had been contributed by one now-gone passenger or another, with some level of wistfulness on her face.

She might be asking for your story, or making tea, or sampling music half-heartedly in the music carriage, or (very frequently) meditating wherever she could.

Hopefully, she could find her way in all of this. Maybe all of them could.

Bonus: Something that does not require Nita, or the rest of my lot

So, you decided to go home, but not to seal your world. Good for you! Now you get to stay in touch with your friends - but, not everyone has the time to visit, and it's not as if you can speedrun achieving a fully up-to-date void active world, no?

And so, some months into your return homeward-bound, you receive an SCA-like device that allows you to 'dial' your fellow ex-Voidtreckers!

(Yes, dial. Like an old-fashioned telephone!)

Fortunately, it comes with data storage, as well as compatibility with other devices to allow for text, video, etc. - though you and your conversation partner have to match format, and you can only have one conversation 'live' at a time.

Unfortunately, whether it be an error by the assigned Void Ministry personnel, or because your team is somewhat cursed, the provided directory only lists world numbers, not names!

You'll have to figure out who's-who the old fashioned way (unless you're one of the people who sought to memorize the numbers, in which case... congratulations?): trial and error!

And if you're waiting to be called, hopefully one of your fellow ex-Voidtreckers doesn't decide to prank you somehow.

Can you call the Voidtrecker Express? No, but you can receive calls from those who remained with the Voidtrecker Express, as well as those who remain on void hubs or in similar places. Maybe someone moved to a void-active world, you never know!

Good luck, and happy hunting!