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]

It's almost like he has a slightly shorter, slightly softer featured near-twin running around with the same mannerisms...

"It really is carnivorous?" If anything, he steps closer, bright eyes turning to regard the plant again. "How strong is it? Enough that any healthy adult person would struggle getting away if it got a hold on them? Or when you say it's not tremendously dangerous to any adult, what do you mean, specifically? Can I touch it? Can I help feed it sometime?"

In the many things that exist where he's from, and dangerous plants are not beyond it, this up close and personal is indeed new.

[wisdominshadows]

Well, it isn't as though she might have a not-dissimilar problem one day, theoretically...

"Very much so," Zelda nods, surprised and a little amused to see someone stepping forward in the face of a plant that would eat him if it got the chance.

"It's usual prey is small forest creatures- rabbits, squirrels, mice and the like. A full-grown Baba could probably kill a child in three or four solid bites... fewer if it was fortunate in where it struck. See?"

She moves forward, grabs the base of the Deku Baba's head firmly, and presses the head so that her questioner can get a better look at its teeth. Charming, aren't they?

"Come, touch if you like; this one won't be full-grown for a few days yet. A trained adult won't find them so troublesome, though nothing is entirely certain. In the wild, some Babas grow in groups and among other types of dangerous creatures. That can be tricky to navigate."

Zelda keeps her eye on the newcomer, still marveling at his enthusiasm. "I confess, I never expected to be asked if someone else could feed it. Whether I was mad for bringing it on board, certainly, but not that."

[weifinder]

When you're an irresistible franchise loved over the decades...

He comes closer still to look at those teeth, which are impressively large enough he shudders in vague recollection of what dog's and their mouths full of teeth had felt like to him as a child living on the streets. Nothing more than the initial impression. These plants look nothing dog-like in and of themselves.

"Then it's called a Baba?" Wei Wuxian reached out, touching the "head" of the plant in question. It feels surprisingly plantlike underhand, and he's not sure what he expected otherwise. "It's incredible it can be that strong and flexible at the same time, it looks like its stalk would be too thin!"

Not that it was, when he thought about it. The plant's certainly dangerous in and of itself, but a part of him notes that these missions, these ovens, all sorts of things here can be incidentally or otherwise.

He laughs, pulling his hand back again and glancing her way. His sense of curiosity wasn't usually allowed the free reign he'd given it in his younger years these days, but it was still alive and well, regardless. "You brought it on yourself? Has to mean something, if you'd bothered. Either way, it's a living creature, isn't it? I can't be shy around another predator when I've hunted often enough to feed myself and others. Keeping things from reaching a point where they'd become more dangerous seems reasonable." His shoulders lift, not quite a shrug, but close enough.

[wisdominshadows]

"It's proper name is a Deku Baba. An old description, not quite accurate- Deku is a name given to the sentient plants of the wood, and the Baba is not... quite that."

It snaps, punctuating the little lecture.

"Though it's not hard to see why the old scholars made the mistake," Zelda adds, with a wry little smile. "I brought it onboard, yes. The dried buds of the Deku Baba have an effective stunning effect when they make forcible contact with a living creature, and I find it comforting to keep a pouch of them with me when I leave the train."

If he looks, he'll see such a pouch attached to her belt- nothing special, but reliably at hand in case of emergency.

"And I'll admit, it's a little reassuring to have something from home at hand. Even if it does come with certain headaches. If you wish to feed it some time, then of course you may do so."

[weifinder]

He perks up at the mention of the Deku Baba's functionality, clapping his hands briefly. "How long is the life cycle before they bud?" Though he pauses, quirking up an eyebrow. "They don't show any sign of that before then?" He wonders why, eyeing the Deku Baba, then reaching out to pat it firmly on the head again even as it tries rather deftly to nip at his hand.

"Looking for the familiar, headaches or otherwise, that seems normal to me. Hah! What've you been using when you feed it?"

[wisdominshadows]

"To full growth? A few days, here. Faster in Hyrule; I've seen the same plant regrow within a day."

But then, she'd never seen the Baba grow under normal circumstances; the death of the Deku Tree, and especially the corruption of the Forest Temple, had likely led to the rapid growth of the more dangerous sort of foliage.

"It depends on what's in the kitchen. What we have to hand is largely at random-I've used seafood, when we had an excess after a few missions. And there was a month where there was some kind of... strange meat trail ration. Stamped with a bear mark of some sort."

Being from a world that hasn't developed Lunchables, Zelda finds it very hard to describe.

"That was useful, while it lasted. Certainly no one was going out of their way to eat it themselves."

[weifinder]

None of what she describes is familiar, but it does make sense to a degree. The supplies were apparently one of those inexplicable circumstances of replenishment, and after he'd found not a smoker, but instead a cold box, he could understand how once in two weeks was enough to keep the whole of the train from starving or sitting around on spoiled goods.

Why he can remember that in all the deluge of information shoved at him was anyone's guess.

"You can harvest as soon as it's grown?" It's nothing quite like lotus blossoms, but he wants to know, regardless. Something concrete to focus on, and a bit nippy, in a fun, don't play bite-me-if-you-dare when you're tired way.

"Is that all that usual? Ending up with food supplies people agree as a group can't be... eaten?" Is there that much of an excess at times? It's reassuring if so, considering circumstances of his own he's lived through.

[wisdominshadows]

"I've had luck with quick harvests so far," she nods. "Which is fortunate, all things considered. I don't think anyone's tried to tame one before, but then there was never any real need in Hyrule."

The mind and memory work in mysterious ways.

"That was the oddest. Each month the train seems to emphasize one specific ingredient over others, but the rest were more familiar, One month's was honey, for example; another's was onions, a third's carrots."

[weifinder]

He considers this, then gives her an equally considering look. "What would be the benefit to taming one, do you think?"

Would he try? He's had worse projects he's put his mind to before, and bizarrely, the snappish plant is a lot easier for him to swallow than the whole demonic cultivation train.

"I'm beginning to wonder if that's not what we should be calling these platforms, retrospectively." He's only half serious, but it would be one way of marking location, outside of the oddity of the month naming system here.

[wisdominshadows]

Zelda raises an eyebrow. "Some measure of peace in the garden?" She offers with a small smile.

A joke, really; taking this thing on board is never going to be quite peaceful, and she knows it.

"There wouldn't be any point to taming them in Hyrule, not with how quickly they can grow- at least, not unless someone has an eccentric taste in horticulture and a willingness to risk the lives of any visitors to their home."

Which- well, plenty of farmers do keep cuccos, after all.

"But if I would prefer to have Deku nuts on hand, and I do, it's only fair that I attempt to keep their producer civilized in company. There are pets and other creatures which travel about; it's only fair to ensure that they're not eaten the moment they wander too near."

She considers that suggestion. "It's as good idea as any," she says with a nod. "Perhaps more likely to take effect should we ever see more of a world than a platform, though."