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

Daze

[achickenformylove]

WangJi was fairly recognizable even as he moved through the crowds on the platform. He had his white robes from home and his forehead ribbon. A certain someone had taken his blue hoodies so he no longer had those to wear on platform day. It didn't bother him much, but it made it harder to pick out as a member of the blue team.

But spotting a blue hoodie made him come closer and he was certainly... shocked by who he saw.

"Wei... Wei Ying?"

But... he was still supposed to be on the train...

[weifinder]

Wei Wuxian turned around at the familiar voice, both surprise and heavily conflicted when he saw who approached through the crowd. He was familiar enough in most ways that the smaller details, perhaps in the way of his forehead ribbon, perhaps not, didn't register straight away. He was already moving toward him, holding his arms out to show off the horror of the hoodie he was wearing. "Lan Zhan, can you imagine? Someone seems to believe I should be dressing in blue."

More jest than serious, and the half grin that led the statement fell away soon after. "How long have you been here? Where is here? Why are you properly dressed and the rest of us are walking around in what feels like our sleeping clothes?"

Why was he here and not back home?

[achickenformylove]

WangJi looked down as WuXian showed him his arms before smiling ever so faintly at that. "Yes, the train does seem to have a sense of humor like that. I am on the Blue Team as well."

Leading it actually along with someone else, but semantics.

"I have been here for a few months now. Currently, this is the platform for the Voidtrekker Express which is just over there. It is what is called a train and it can travel between planets. I had my robes in my qiankun bag. For others this style is normal, but even if you don't have yours, a spider on the train can make you proper robes."

[weifinder]

Looking Wangji over, he quirked up his eyebrows. "No fair," he complains, but it's less a whine and more a sigh, followed by a shake of his head as his arms dropped back down to his sides. "Nothing about this is flattering." Plucking at the front of his hoodie, he gave him an inquiring look.

"Did you say spider? You're not just talking about a particularly skilled seamstress, are you?" Lan Zhan wasn't given toward those kinds of poetic turns of phrase over the mundane too often, but having seen the overwhelming variety of souls that had spilled across the platform when the doors to the vessel had opened...

He shook his head, stepping closer. "You're saying all sorts of things like you know them, but a train, traveling planets? I can piece that together, Lan Zhan, but can we slow down for a moment? Are you okay? You've been here for months but..."

Small differences slowly made themselves known, but it didn't matter. Lan Zhan was Lan Zhan, above and beyond all else. Months here, no mention of any missing chief cultivator back home? No sense of real unease here either, and he was studying Lan Zhan's face intently. "Really, Lan Zhan, you've been well here all along?"

[achickenformylove]

"We can get you better clothes. You might have them with you and not know it."

Since the qiankun bag would be in his pack if it had come with him.

"She is both. A skilled seamstress who is also a very large spider." Yeah, no this was not poetic. It was literal.

He nodded his head at the request to go slower. "Yes, I am well. I have not been seriously injured on any of the missions we've been sent on. Time does not operate the way it should back home. I was here once, left, and then returned but I did not remember being here. There are those from different times in our world."

And since he is starting to realize this might be the case... "There have also been multiples of the same person."

[weifinder]

As luck would have it, he came ready with... Chenqing. All their flute needs would be immediately met, and none of his fashion dreams.

"I... oh. I may have seen here." He vaguely gestured toward the rest of the platform, teeming with people who'd been made to exit the now closed train. It was all so strange, but that strangeness distilled down to an improbability even more ridiculous than the last ten of them: there have also been multiples of the same person.

Why that, over anything else, captured his attention was hard to say. He was relieved hearing Lan Zhan was okay, that he'd handled the missions (missions, he felt, were more like tracking down the source of the sword spirit's unrest than a simple and singular night hunt) in his time here without serious injury, that time was messy had a dryly familiar ring to it, that he didn't remember even more so, but multiples?

"Oh." A longer pause, and a shallow, short lived laugh. "You don't think..." He pointed toward his own chest. Not the only logical leap he could make, but he could at least get that one out of the way.

[achickenformylove]

"I believe that is entirely possible," WangJi remarked, assuming that he was referring to the multiples thing. "The you who was on the train with me this morning did not leave it the way others do."

Yes, he might have gotten off the train to greet new arrivals, but that was different. So far as he knew, he was still on the train.

[weifinder]

It was some mix of delightful and overwhelming to think of there being more than one of hm. He breathed out and ran a hand over his hair, flashing Lan Zhan a slightly uneasy smile after. "That's... great! Can we meet him? I mean, you know him, you, uh, you know me, probably, I think, but I'd love to meet myself and oh this is already a headache. Two of us?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "Please don't tell me your uncle's here."

Lan Qiren would be the most hilarious person he could imagine being confronted by two Wei Wuxians.

[achickenformylove]

Yes, breath, Wei Ying. He wasn't going to wander off somewhere.

"Yes, we can go find him so that you can meet yourself."

Not a phrase that was said every day, but then again this was not an every day sort of location for them.

"Uncle is not here. My brother is."

[weifinder]

If he did, chances are Wei Wuxian would trot along at his heels, trying to catch up to his side. He was the only reassuring part of any of this so far.

"Zewu-Jun?" He paused, pursing his lips for a moment, then nodding his head. "How is he?"

[achickenformylove]

And he would be perfectly fine with that. He had never complained about WuXian following him around.

"Physically he is well. Mentally, he is still not in the best state."

[weifinder]

It'd been a while for Wei Wuxian, but months of this or that still played out to a trust he inherently held for Lan Wangji, and always would. With regards to Zewu-jun, he nodded, sighing after.

"These things take time. Or so I assume, it's what people generally say." He forcibly doesn't allow himself to linger in memories over the unpleasant things, but some betrayals were on scales difficult for even him to do that, if he'd been in the same place. At the same time, it did tell him something about timelines. A concept he was only... now entertaining.

"Jin Guangyao is dead?"