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

[weifinder]

Certainly it wasn't like patting a rabbit, but perhaps just a little like patting a donkey. Wei Wuxian glances toward the one speaking when addressed, drumming up a smile and lifting both hands away from the train's surface for a moment.

"Getting in touch with reality. This whole thing, do you know what it is?" He gestured to the train as a whole, quirking up his eyebrows and straightening a touch from how he'd leaned forward to pat the metal encasement.

[comefadeaway]

"Yes." Yoite answered with a nod. "It's a train. We kind of live in it right now." He explained. "And it takes us to missions so we can save worlds."

That...was about all he knew.

[weifinder]

All those words strung together meant very little. He paused, appreciating this young man's answer, and left only slightly more informed.

"This train is some kind of vessel, then?" One step at a time. He patted the side of the train yet again, a firm sort of sound. "Hahaha, ah, I can understand something like that, I think, it's not too different from the longer voyaging ships, but hm, these missions? We're... you and me, and these people?" He paused to gesture toward the figures on the platform, mixes of features and colours and styles of clothing. "We, all of us, are taken on a vessel to save worlds."

Who and what universal will was currently laughing at the concept?

[comefadeaway]

He nodded slightly. "I don't know how it works..but it goes..." Yoite mimed with his hand, something going forward.

"We all have to go on the train. I don't know if it's like the train at home. I don't think so."

[weifinder]

He followed the motion of the young man's hand, looking off... to nowhere, since it wasn't actually about following his hand motion. So he nodded like it made sense, and picked out the words that made him pause all over again.

"We all have to go on the train? Why do you say that? Couldn't people just stay here and wait to be sent back?" He gestured to the platform they stood on the edge of.

[comefadeaway]

"I think you die if that happens." Yoite said softly. "And if you die, you still wake up on the train."

He was trying to be helpful with what information he had.

[weifinder]

That gave him pause. "How is that possible? When you die, you don't generally wake up again." He couldn't say, not in my experience, because he had believed himself to have died and yet did wake up again, with a sense of sixteen years passing and the lingering words of the desperate young man who'd summoned him from wherever he'd actually been.

[comefadeaway]

"I don't really know how it works." Yoite offered with a shake of his head. "It doesn't make much sense to me either. This place is very...strange. Also if you were dying, you won't die, the train told me that."

[weifinder]

He paused, opening his mouth, then closing it again. "The train told you? How? It's more than a vessel?"

[comefadeaway]

"I'm not really sure about that, how it works, but it let us ask questions." Yoite explained, as best he could. "And it told me I wasn't going to die while I was here."

[weifinder]

"Oh, well. That's kind of it," he said, at first weakly, then giving Yoite a look of concern. "No dying as in no one here is allowed to die, or not dying despite a condition that should be killing you?"

[comefadeaway]

"Um, both I think. If you die, it brings you back while you're here, but if you're supposed to die, it won't kill you. I even got a little better." Yoite admitted.

[weifinder]

He lifted a hand, then twitched his fingers and let it fall back to his side. "That's... unexpected and complex, but for your sake, I'm glad you're... better?" He shook his head, then nodded. "I'm definitely glad you're better, facing something like that, but I don't see the... the train has to need us something desperately to manage those kinds of magics. I wouldn't claim it possible anywhere at home."