A New Platform [Intro Post February]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Three days after the Voidtreckers return to the void after their adventures on the biosphere world, they are awoken by a familiar announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day Sixteen of the month of Jelly. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed, and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train for a while will also be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." A lurch and a jolt and the windows fill with the fog that means they are at a platform. The fog seems thicker than usual and as they step out onto the platform they will find it is cold, very cold. Icy fog sticks to their clothing, makes it hard to see very far; the atmosphere is dark and gloomy.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Alexis Rhodes, Elfnein, Itsuki Myoudouin, Ken Ichijouji, MT, Neku Sakuraba, Nike Lemercier, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Rainbow Dash, Rei Saotome, Taichi Yagami, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Yuri Tsukikage and Zechs Merquise all pass through the platform, not looking back before they disappear through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

But on the platform itself there are new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours, in various states of confusion.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam, billowing around them as they come to their senses. As their eyes adjust, they will see they are on a platform, glass and dark stone rising in sturdy arches around them. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single track extending both ways into thick fog.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own and a style they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze; then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large with sixteen figures scattered around, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. To both the left and right, tracks disappear into the mist. Then there is a roaring sound and out of the fog arrives a train. Jet black with gold writing on the side. The Voidtrecker Express. There is a hiss as the doors slide open and out step a strange assortment of people. Some are human, some are less so. Most are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple, though some are sporting different clothes in a variety of styles.

The Train

After a short time, the doors hiss open again. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there's anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would lead to something terrible. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

Each ICP shows the same message and next to the screens there are stacks of leaflets written by those on the train, with further information (see
'Publications'). The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, including several crates of avocados, the ingredient of the month of Jelly, as well as all sundries.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches full of spare blankets and pillows.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers braving the freezing fog, and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view again as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog-filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

A shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding. As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady itself. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Comments

Platform daze

[crimson_rain]

He's departed from the train from one of the cabins. He is on the platform to give his legs a stretch after feeling cooped up for a while. It's a rare day they get to be outside of the train for some fresh air.

He noticed a fellow cultivator (or rather take a lucky guess he is a cultivator and his lucky guesses are always accurate) wearing a blue hoodie and is giving a train a curious, friendly pat. He grins, deciding to tease him.

"Be careful. It might bite or if you touch in the wrong place, the engine might burn you." A fair warning.

[weifinder]

He blinks, smiling a beat late with an affable sort of laugh, short lived as it is. An unfamiliar face, but most every face on this platform has been. At least this one comes paired with features that feel familiar, compared to the riot of colours and assortments of shapes likewise milling about.

Not that he's paid overmuch attention yet. The train does have its driving allure.

"Aside from something that runs hot, what, exactly, is an engine?" He pointedly lets his hand linger, because the concept of metal biting seems absurd when a single firm surface ran under his hand, nothing particularly lingering that he can sense. Then again, most everything is a confusion at present, solidifying only slowly as people speak with something other than the same air of confusion he has.

[crimson_rain]

Hua Cheng laughs back, good-naturedly as he lets the other explore in wonder. "I'm only teasing you. I'll happily explain." He gestures with his arms toward to the train. "This machine you see before you it's called a train. It's a big vehicle like a carriage that can carry a lot of people and it serves as a temporary home. As for you, you're new here. I am one of the passengers, a crew member on the train and I want to orient you."

He never typically cares for humans or bow to them, being a ghost king, but to this one, he senses this cultivator has an interesting power and he recognized the other version of this one and he respects him and the husband. Being polite, he cups his hands and bows.

"I am Hua Cheng, by courtesy name. This entity...I'm not sure if it's a spirit or not, but the train uses its power to bring you here over the barrier." He points to the barrier beyond the fog. "This train pulls people from different worlds to go on a journey. It's best not to linger here on the platform for long, so you must get on board soon."

He gestures to an open door.

[weifinder]

Shifting his attention to watch Hua Cheng, a name he feels more inclined to attempt to recall than not at the moment, given his helpfulness in a situation of no context and no sensibility to it, his gaze flicks past him to the platform and the people streaming back toward the train. He tests the word out, "Train, train, train," rolling the sounds across his tongue to savour them and test their flavour.

He cups his hands in turn, offering a bow as well, polite enough meeting people where they're meeting him at. "Wei Ying, courtesy name Wei Wuxian. I'll be troubling you, Hua Cheng." His hands lower again, and he purses his lips, trying to parse all this information at once.

"If it's a spirit, shouldn't there be some trace? Then again I suppose if this were an array or a summoning of any kind I'd recognised, I would have seen or felt signs of it in the process... assuming any of this magic follows the rules of what I know." He looks back toward the fog, and the barrier hazily visible within it. "What a curious situation to be summoned into." A longer pause, and a start, eyes widening a fraction. "Wait, how long is this journey? How long are any of us held here?"

This isn't helping him get on board. He is, in fact, now standing there with some visible distress he's shoving aside at the same time, because there's a difference between the journey one elects to take, and the one someone else elects you to be on. Disappearing on Lan Zhan, Lan Sizhui, Jin Ling, Jiang Chang--okay, he's not sure his former shidi is going to ever allow himself to know he still cares, but he owes something to him still, for the things he can never change--the point is he can't abandon all the handfuls of people who he cares about again. Once it'd been his decision. This wasn't! This absolutely wasn't!

[crimson_rain]

What a curious mortal. "It's no trouble at all." In fact, he likes the troublemakers. He's pretty sure he has seen him on the train, but what's he doing on the platform? Did the other one left? He has to pester his team leader, Lan Wangji later. He gives him a few moments and space to orient himself as he examines the sights and sounds, but this is only the platform.

"I do not know. Its source is a mystery to me and the length of the journey in days and months is unknown. All I know is the train pulls people from different worlds, and then it travels through the void, through space to other worlds in different dimensions. Its mission is to save worlds and the train is asking us to use our powers for that purpose."

Sensing his distress, "I recommend that you don't panic. You do have family members and friends here. One being is Lan Wangji. I think he's onboard, and he can answer your questions if you can go to meet him."

[weifinder]

Saying as much as he does without blinking at the apparent absurdity of it all is what keeps a splutter confined to a sound of protest, Wei Wuxian only shaking his head in unthought denial before Lan Zhan's mentioned. Saving worlds, multiple worlds? Saving handfuls of people was often enough beyond his capacity, the absurdism in asking for help saving far more than that is boggling. As long as what this person says is true—in part, or whole.

"Lan Zhan's here?" Confirmation, perhaps, but that's alarming for other reasons, just as it's reassuring for yet more. He lifts a hand, bringing it to his forehead and pressing the tips of his fingers against his skin, hard. "This is more than I bargained on waking up to today, I, ah, saving worlds? Using our powers." Asking a man who works with the resentment of the dead to save worlds isn't ridiculous, but he feels the situation is to an extent. "Hua-gongzi, if it's not too much to ask, how long have you been on this train vessel assisting in the saving of worlds?"

Running off to find Lan Zhan can wait for a moment. He's apparently not going anywhere, and so information, something historically difficult for him to get out of Lan Zhan, comes first.

[crimson_rain]

"Yes, he is here. He is the leader of team blue. You will find him on board, I'm sure. He's very quiet, plays the guqin, and keeps pet rabbits." His team leader isn't terribly difficult to gain information, but then Hua Cheng knows how to talk.

He listens and this is getting curiouser and curiouser. "You just woke up today?" Connecting to his knowledge with the other residents. Then it could be there's another version of the Wei Wuxian he knows from a parallel universe?

To answer his question, "I lost track of time, but if I'm correct, I had been on the train for nearly a month and a half and so far, I helped the teams to assist one world experienced a crisis and the objective is to bring a balance."

[weifinder]

He smiles, shaking his head. Yes, that sounded like Lan Zhan, but it's most amusing to him hearing that of all things, he was a leader (or the leader) of the team blue. A simple naming structure, but given the colour coordination, it made enough sense.

Lan Zhan is an outstanding person, and cultivator. Yet it also brings to mind he has to have been here for some time, and that feels outright worrying.

"I... guess you could say I did. I woke up yesterday, and hope to wake up tomorrow, too, but this is the first time I've ever seen this," he says, gesturing to the train. "Or been here," he continues, gesturing to the platform and its assortment of peoples.

This whole concept of time being lost or hard to track has him hesitate, considering. Just as much as he's distracted by the summary of the world being assisted, like that's somehow normal. Coming in, doing what needs doing, leaving again so no one has to deal with the gratitude fallout for that assistance.

Maybe it makes more sense than he likes. "Did it work as intended?"

[crimson_rain]

He listens and nods, "So today is your first day. I see." So indeed a parallel version from a different timeline.

"If you come on board, the train will take some time to travel through the void, and then seek a planet that needs our help. You have to work with your team or the other teams and work together as a cohesive unit. But yes, it works as intended. It's my first one, so I haven't heard of a failure or a mission gone wrong. I do think passengers can die and end up resurrected in the luggage car if you're not careful. The mission can be dangerous."

With a smile, "But you can always stay on board. It's not mandatory. Saving worlds, that's what the train expects us to do, but we don't have to do."