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

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou beams up at him after the kiss, expression just so fond. Both his hands come up over Devero's shoulders to card fingers through the bigger man's hair, and he goes up on his toes again to also steal another little peck of a kiss.

"That sounds like a good idea to me."

Look at these boys and their communication! They're so good at it!

"Do you want to dance some more, then?"

[subcircuits]

Oh yes, he's quite happy to have Koumyou's hands in his hair. Devero closes his eyes in obvious appreciation, smiling against Koumyou's lips as the priest smooches him.

In lieu of a spoken answer, Devero gestures the music back on. Then he takes up Koumyou's hand, places his other on the priest's waist, and when Koumyou's ready as well, he leads them back into it with a new bounce to his steps.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou is more than willing to be swept along into it, and beams up at Devero.

After a few rounds, the sutra stirs as well, lifting off the stage to whirl lazily around them. Just the one strand this time, but it's very long.

"I feel like we should do this more often, just to do it."

No sutra required.

[subcircuits]

One long, lazy strand Devero can handle. (Or maybe that's just a benefit of his suddenly buoyant mood?) In fact, the way it whirls makes him want to follow suit, meaning he leads Koumyou again into tighter, faster steps, sharper turns, and even a dramatic spin or two.

He's catching Koumyou up close, absorbing the momentum of the latest spin, when the priest says that. His breath catches in his throat for a moment, then releases again in a delighted laugh. "Oh, could we please? I would love that."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Well now we simply must," Koumyou laughs in turn, pleased by how much more relaxed Dev seems to be now. Even with the sutra!

cw abuse trauma

[subcircuits]

How can he help but be? Physical intimacy has always been so important to him, more than he ever realized-- maybe more than he even consciously realizes now. Not only had Valdana starved him of genuine, loving touch, but she'd turned his need for it into one of the chains she'd used to warp and constrain him.

Having the uncertainty of intimacy sitting between them had been worrying him more than he knew.

Not that he needs sex to be happy with Koumyou. He'd meant that, when he said it. He'd just needed to know, one way or the other, if they could still bang on the if it was still on the table. Now that worry has been put to rest.

"Thank you," he breathes, smiling down at his boyfriend. "--I'd sort of... stopped dancing, back home." Because it was another thing that Valdana had commodified and used to control him. She'd sucked the joy out of it, just like she'd sucked the joy out of every other part of his life, except maybe jockeying Babysitter. "Here, I'm remembering how much I enjoy it."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I'm glad you're remembering, then!" Koumyou is quite pleased on Devero's behalf, here.

He lets them dance quietly for a while, sutra weaving patterns around them but at more than enough distance that they won't run into the ever-lengthening ribbon of holy paper. It stays mostly at the edges of the stage for this.

"While you're in such a nice mood, I suppose we could talk magic? Or will that ruin it."

[subcircuits]

As they dance, and especially as they fall into a set, consistent pattern, Devero stops watching their feet and starts watching the sutra. With just one strand in play, and with that strand mostly keeping its distance, he's able to... to actually appreciate the patterns it weaves through the air. It's almost starting to feel private in here, like the sutra's becoming a wall to keep the rest of the train out.

(Which isn't too far off from what Koumyou had offered just a few minutes before, really.)

Maybe it's because they're enclosed in their own little basket-weave of paper that he's able to remain easy, smiling at Koumyou. "We can talk magic," he says.

[its_dad_sanzo]

The sutra matches their tempo perfectly too, twisting and whirling its patterns while never quite interlocking with itself. It's almost like it's a screensaver for Koumyou's mind, while his focus is elsewhere.

Koumyou smiles up at Devero at that response, relieved to not be ruining the other man's good mood. "The most important and also very first step in chi use is the ability to build and retain focus," he tells Devero, "meditation is usually where that starts, to get a feel for it. Have you meditated much?"

[subcircuits]

"I haven't," he admits. "I think we probably tried it out in wellness classes in creche for one of the mental health units, but I never really picked it up seriously for myself."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Oh dear. Koumyou takes that in stride, though, and says cheerfully, "Well... there's no place to start like the start!"

Someone's going to learn meditation!

"You might find it useful in general anyway, I certainly do. The ability to hit a... reset button of sorts, when my mind tries to run off on itself? It's come in handy on many an occasion."

Koumyou doesn't have a Valdana in his background; no one person to really stand out in his history, but he has plenty of trauma from his life. And his death.

It's a different kind, but what helps him might help Devero, too.

Which wouldn't be too shabby for a side benefit on the way to learning something bigger, would it?

[subcircuits]

"Seems to me like the start's the only place to start," he says. "...That does sound nice. Probably a healthier way to deal than getting high or hitting the booze." Or the gym, or the training field with Babysitter, or staying at the machine shop late into the night with Morraine, anything to distract and occupy him until he's so exhausted or intoxicated that his mind shuts down. Can't run off on itself if it's in standby mode, now can it?

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Yes," sorry Devero, but yeah. Yes. "Anything in excess is bad. Even meditation, but one has to try pretty intentionally to over-do that."

Speaking from experience. What had he been doing in the stores room the day after their fight? Not existing. Waiting for the next mission, or for the train to move him again so that he could repeat the trek to the front of the train once more.

[subcircuits]

"Wellness is all about balance, isn't it?" That's another thing he'd learned in creche, although this one has stuck with him.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I suppose so," but hey, Koumyou's failed at that too, so. At least he's not judgy about it?

"Most of the train could do with learning to meditate, I suspect."

[subcircuits]

"Given how stressful this situation is, I suspect you're right." He squeezes the hand he's holding as they pivot through a turn and grins down at Koumyou. "Maybe if I pick it up okay I can teach people the wonders of the Koumyou Sanzo-sanctioned meditation technique."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Perhaps so!" Koumyou laughs, "Maah, you have such faith in my ability to teach..."

It's light-hearted, joking. But also not? There's a twinge of anxiety hidden in there, palpable in the way his fingers tighten on Devero's in turn. Not even enough for the gesture be conscious, but it's there.

[subcircuits]

It's there, and as attuned to Koumyou as Devero is, he feels it. One-two-three-four one-two-three-four and he scoops the priest up close again, planting a quick kiss on his forehead, just above the chakra. They finish the turn and he lets him back down for the next repetition of the steps.

"I think you'll be surprised," he says with-- yes, perfect faith, and perfect sincerity as well.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I suppose we'll see, one way or another."

He's going to try, at least. And try not to disappoint Devero too much.

"Why didn't you take to it, before?" Koumyou has to ask, and makes a guess, "Too many things tugging you in every other direction, as a student?"

[subcircuits]

"Pretty much exactly that," he says with a laugh. "What kid thinks he's ever going to actively need to manage his emotions, right? Why waste time sitting around trying to be calm when there's so much to do?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Calm is only one effect meditation can have! And it's a useful one! But for the purposes of using chi, it's more about learning how it feels to really focus. You gotta learn to turn your mind into like... a spear."

He accompanies that mental image with his free hand reaching up to poke Devero's forehead with a finger.

"But not too hard, that would make it brittle! It'll make more sense when we actually get into it. I hope!"

[subcircuits]

"I'm sure it will," Devero says with a grin, squinting and crinkling up his forehead where Koumyou poked him. "Focus but not hyperfocus, right?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Just so," Koumyou beams up at him, hand settling back on Devero's shoulder.

And unless Devero has questions or something, he's more than happy to just focus on the dancing for a while, his sutra coiling its weird patterns around them.