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

[theimpatientone]

"We're rooming together? That should share much pleasure."

Is there a mother? Does this child have a mother? The child should have a mother. These are Merwen's priorities.

"I should probably introduce myself properly, then, if we are to be neighbours. My name is Merwen the Impatient One. Are there others staying with us?"

[knifewithnoname]

"Merwen the Impatient One?" Is that a curse name? Or just one of the many, many strange things in her world. She's purple, she doesn't wear clothes and she speaks strange. It would only follow that the names are different too.

They weren't far from the room now so she led her over and showed her the screen outside. "Masumi Sera do be living with us too and I do be being Unnamed Female Human." She pulled a face, "But you can be calling me Buttercup or B if you do be wanting to."

She scanned her ticket and the door opened. "It do be nice to be meeting you." She remembered her manners last minute.

[theimpatientone]

"'Merwen' is my sea name, that my mother gave to me on the day of my birth. 'The Impatient One' is my selfname, which I chose when I became an adult."

She looks around at the room, trying not to frown. It's... Unfamiliar. Kind of unwelcoming, to her eyes. But it's probably home now, too.

"Do you mean to say you were never given a name?" She sounds a little scandalized. "I will call you Buttercup, if that's what you prefer."

[knifewithnoname]

She gave herself that name? That was strange, interesting strange not bad strange. She clambered up onto her bed, the top bunk and gestured at the empty pair of bunkbeds on the other side.

"Masumi do be being below me but both those beds do be being free." She explained and then shrugged. "I did no be needing a name until I did be coming here, you can be calling me Buttercup."

She didn't much mind.

[theimpatientone]

Merwen sits on a bottom bunk, almost experimentally. It's... more comfortable than she feared. More comfortable than her experience has led her to expect from imprisonment, anyway. The clickfly flaps off her bag, clicking to itself, and retreats to an upper corner of the bunk, where it starts to spin itself a little nest of black silk.

"It's a good name," she says, though admittedly she doesn't know the word "buttercup" has any particular meaning. "Names are important to have."

[knifewithnoname]

She watches the small creature, wondering what it is. It's small, spinning a web but it doesn't look like a spider...

"They do be being?"

Names were useful sure, "It do be being useful to be having one here. Does everyone in your world be giving themselves their own name?"

[theimpatientone]

"Oh, she's a clickfly. She seems to be with me. We have many of them on Shora. They are useful. They send messages, or remember them for us. Without her hive she must spin her own home, poor thing."

Merwen clicks her tongue at the insect, which clicks back and then continues what it was doing.

"On Shora, where I am from, when someone decides she is ready to be considered an adult and join the Gatherings, she gives herself a selfname. A selfname should be a sister's greatest weakness, and by giving herself that name, she acknowledges it, and commits to trying to outlive it."

[knifewithnoname]

A clickfly, messenger insects. She watched it spin its web as Merwen explained about self names.

"You do be calling yourself your greatest weakness?" That sounded terrible, the most stupid thing she had ever heard.

"Why would you be telling everyone your weakness, do they no be using it against you?"

Surely if you were to give yourself a name a strength would be better, something to hide behind rather than giving people a target to aim for.

[theimpatientone]

"It shows we know ourselves. To know yourself well enough that you can identify something about yourself that you aren't proud of, to admit to it, to show you're trying to not be that anymore, this is a mark of wisdom and maturity. It shows humility." She smiles. "And yes, sometimes you might be reminded of your own name when you behave foolishly. I certainly have been. In naming myself the Impatient One, I remind myself to be patient. I am a better person for it."

[knifewithnoname]

Shows they know themselves, to identify something they weren't proud of because they were wise and mature.

So she was impatient but when she said that and remembered it she was more patient...

"Will you be being called that forever, or will it be changing once you do be learning to be patient?"

[theimpatientone]

"Forever, probably," Merwen says. "If I truly wanted to take a new name, no one would argue with me, but most of us keep the same name for our whole life, even if we outgrow it. It's a journey that takes a lifetime, usually."

[knifewithnoname]

"You do be seeming pretty patient to me."

Accepting a name that will last a life time, a change that will last a lifetime. A lifetime could be a long time. It could be a short time but the woman seems to have lived quite a while already.

[theimpatientone]

Merwen gives a little chuckle. "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. I have had many years of practice at it, by this point."

And hey, maybe her eldest daughter helped with her patience a bit. Can't say that out loud, though. That wouldn't be nice.

[knifewithnoname]

She nodded, she meant it as a compliment so it was good that she took it as one.

"Well if you do be needing anything you can just be asking me, if you do be being hungry I can be showing you where the kitchens do be being."

[theimpatientone]

She smiles. "I'm very lucky to have someone willing to share their knowledge with me," she says, without a hint of irony or patronization in her tone. She genuinely will appreciate advice from a child. "Thank you, Buttercup."

[knifewithnoname]

"You do be being welcome."

She grinned, "I did be being here a long time, so I do be knowing lots."

And it felt good, to know things, especially on platform day when so many people didn't.