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

[bakegarasu]

Aw. Cute...

He understood the need to be wary. There was a reason he carried a sword - offense in case he needed it, defense to deter anyone from fucking with him. It just seemed common courtesy to state it up front.

"Pretty much, yeah. I can direct you to people if you need healing, there's a few people who can help with cooking if you're not good at it, and the only thing you're missing there is that we get 'point's. No one knows how we get them, but they show up on the roster. We can use them at the shop to buy things like stuff from home or clothes or booze."

Right, he should mention. "You get a few points off the bat. You can buy a snack with it and give it to the spider-girl in the dressing carriage, and she'll weave you up an outfit. Most people don't like the one they start out with."

[bodyoftheseus]

Healing was the last thing he needed right now and was something he probably wouldn't be needing; though it was definitely something he wasn't going to accept. He didn't trust anyone but a ripperdoc to touch him. Help with cooking was something that he was going to need...

The shift in his expression at the mention of ordering stuff from home and booze? Something he was definitely interested in, though that was probably true for anyone here. Who wouldn't want to get their stuff back? He's quiet for a moment as he considers this, and a thought occurs to him.

"If we earn points to buy things, then isn't that just like eddies? Where I come from if you do a job, you get paid." This is so painfully simple to him. The specifics of what particular actions net points doesn't matter in the slightest.

"So if points let us buy shit from home, or booze, or whatever, then isn't whatever is running this show paying us for doing our job?" Granted none of them necessarily wanted this job, but here they were.

[bakegarasu]

"I meah, I guess. Seems like we get a weird variety of points, though. I got a ton of points and I didn't do too much, someone else might get less. No idea who decides what the distribution is." Obviously they get paid for their work, but why he got so many isn't somethng he knows.

[bodyoftheseus]

V considered what Otoha said for a moment, taking the time to also examine the man before him.

"If you didn't do anythin' special then maybe whoever makes that decision thinks you're handsome." It rolls out of his mouth so naturally, so unabashed. There's a beat before he continues. "With some contracts I could earn extra for doin' somethin' special." He shrugs. "Hard to say without more info."

[bakegarasu]

"I -" His entire train of thought just stops completely and he slowly blinks a few times in surprise. "... I'm not handsome, I'm a monster." He's always been told so. Between the scars and just how he looks naturally... he's not attractive.

"I -" Nope, brain still completely derailed.

[bodyoftheseus]

V was maybe ready for things to be a little awkward - it seemed a 50/50 shot if someone could roll with it or were awkward about it. He wasn't ready for the poor guy's OS to crash.

"You're not a monster. Least, not anymore'n I am." V particularly considered himself one ugly mug and Otoha was nowhere close to the mess that was V's face.

If he is still 404ing with that comment, V would gently touch his shoulder just to draw his attention back to reality. A quick and fleeting motion that was only meant to break whatever spiral he was currently going through. "You okay, Otoha?"

[bakegarasu]

The touch does jerk him out of it, though he blinks and stares at V. "... No one's ever called me handsome before." He clears his throat a little. "... I'm fine. Uh."

What were they talking about? ... Points, right. "I know some people talked to the train itself at one point, but I dunno how to do it."

[bodyoftheseus]

The comment about never having been called handsome tells something to V that he kind of expected from the reaction. There's a certain pity for the man, but rather than make either of them endure more of that he kept his mouth shut so Otoha could move the conversation on.

"Talked to the train? You mean the conductor?"

[bakegarasu]

"No, I mean the train. Apparently it's somehow sentient." He shrugs. He has no idea either, okay. That's just what people tell him. "As far as I know, no one's seen the conductor."

[bodyoftheseus]

"Sentient? It got an AI on board?"

If nobody's seen the conductor then maybe there wasn't one - there was an entire fleet of taxis run by an AI entity in Night City, having one drive a train wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

[bakegarasu]

"I don't... know? I'm not good with computers." He'd never really needed to be. He's not one of the guys who handles any of the paperwork.

[bodyoftheseus]

Well... Either the conductor was very sneaky and figured out a way to communicate without showing themself, or the train had an AI on board a la Delamaine.

"Ah, I see." The idea of someone not being particularly fluent with computers was very strange but he honestly felt pretty bad about earlier, but it was fine. "It have anything interesting to say?"

[bakegarasu]

"It's not really participating in the question and answer thing right now. There's some magic involved here but that's also not my specialty." His specialty is making things dead, fast. "Senku might be the one to talk to - he's been here a while and he's pretty smart."

[bodyoftheseus]

"I'll have to seek him out at some point then."

V crossed his arms. It's less about walling himself off and more about posturing. He was shifting gears.

"So what's the deal with the sword? You a samurai?"

[bakegarasu]

He snorted. "My brother liked to think that he and the rest of the group were modern samurai in a way, bu no. Former yakuza - organized crime, if that's not a term from your world. I used to be an enforcer." V probably didn't need much in the way of explanation of what one of those was.

"Not anymore, though. Now I'm the guardian of my city. ... Literally. Supernatural stuff. Which I also didn't think existed a bit more than a month ago."

[bodyoftheseus]

It’s the way he used the word samurai that was more confusing than anything. In Night City they were corpo mercs. It may be the case that the Japanese still remembered the ancient ways, but by how Goro spoke of the bakeneko and youkai? Probably not. The yakuza was still very much an active force globally, with V having a few run ins with them in his time.

“I’m familiar with the yakuza. The Kanzaki’s and I are, uh, acquainted.” If you caught his drift.

“You mean like ghosts ‘n shit? Things that go bump in the night?” It’s clear he has some doubts.

[bakegarasu]

"Some people don't know what the yakuza are so I always clarify." He's had to do the explanation one too many times. "And yeah. Yokai and that kind of stuff exist too, which I didn't know until I got pulled into being the city's guardian. I have to protect them, too."

He knows that look. "I know that sounds insane, but apparently that's true in my world."

[bodyoftheseus]

V supposed it made sense that the yakuza may not exist in all places, but they had become such a global force that it was also a little hard not to imagine them in a place. Ghosts might have been a surprise, but they just took a different form in Night City...

"Why you gotta protect them? They're dead, aren't they?"

[bakegarasu]

"They're not dead, they're on... it's sort of like another layer of reality on to p of the human one? Most of them were never human in the first place, I think there's a few who were." As far as he's aware, anyway. He still has a lot to learn about them.

[bodyoftheseus]

The only way V can kind of reconcile this is thinking of the net and it's with that it almost kind of makes sense.

"So what are you protectin' 'em from, then?"

[bakegarasu]

"Hurting each other if needed, humans hurting them if needed. Mostly trying to keep them alive with the whole humans not believing in them thing. They live off of human belief... so if people don't believe in them, they get sick and die. My... uh. The guy who had the job before me tried to solve that violently. And I'm usually the sort of person to jump at a fight, but it wasn't the way to solve that."

What is the way, he's not sure.

[bodyoftheseus]

V listened to what Otoha had to say, then took a moment to consider it. When he spoke again it's slowly as he tried to figure out how to better word what he was asking, but he couldn't seem to find anything elegant.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive or stupid, but why does keeping them around matter? Why work so hard at keeping them alive?"

[bakegarasu]

Oh boy. How to put this... "They're as much people as anyone else. If they're not hurting anyone there's no point in wiping them out. And from what I've been told... it'd just make things hollow. A city without anything to believe in just seems to be going through the motions. It's... right, more things that sound bullshit."

Part of him is yelling that this is stupid, but also he can turn into an armored warrior and a car and a jet so what the fuck ever. "D'you know what 'qi' is?"

[bodyoftheseus]

It does sound a bit far-fetched, but V's doubt did not on his face. Otoha definitely said what he was thinking, though.

"Heard the term, don't know any specifics."

[bakegarasu]

"Supposedly it's like 'life energy'. If you think of the yokai as whatever life energy's needed for a body, 'cause they're spiritual, you can think of the humans as water. Karas are like blood, going where we're needed and carrying the ability to stop infections. All three are things you need in a body. Take away one, and your body just won't work."