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]

He clasped hands to her arms in turn, his momentum enough to end up half turning them both as wide, teary eyes weren't processing what he saw so much as his desperate need to go that way, the way which was definitely away from the horrible canine creature.

He should recognise her, and some part of him does beyond the first panicked blurting of, "Save me!" Followed shortly thereafter by, "Wen Qing?!"

Surprise mixed with terror, and he tried to fully turn them both so that she would now be in the line of potential pursuit, because he could not imagine any canine being so fool enough to think they could mess with Wen Qing and win. He also couldn't imagine getting away with that himself, or how to handle actually looking at her. Panic didn't simply cancel out, so he was still looking around her to check that nothing was in pursuit, trying to make himself small and harder to see.

Congratulations, Wen Qing, on procuring one Yiling Patriarch in full blow confused panic.

[radishlobbyist]

She does have somehow caught herself a very panicked Yiling Patriarch, that is a realization that sinks into Wen Qing's mind as well, right after another barking a car or two in the distance gives her context as to why she has been positioned as a human shield.

Only, none of this explains why here, why now or how the hell Wei Wuxian got himself misplaced in space and time.

But. First things first. She doesn't let herself think, doesn't let herself feel, doesn't let herself do anything but deal with the panic attack.

"You are safe," she says firmly, "there will be no dog attacking you as long as I'm here." And then prods him, pushes him to herd him further down the car and into the next carriage, with another door between him and whatever dog-shaped creature he had run into.

[weifinder]

"Promise?"

Without the mental energy to wrangle too much with her improbability, he simply moves where he's pushed and prodded, eyes wide and teary and breathing too fast. The stop gap between carriages seems to help some, too, with the darker space feeling safer as to all creatures looking to hide, so by the time she's herded him through to the following carriage, he's at least trying not to desperately grab onto her arms and duck down to hide. She's shorter than he is, he has to duck so he's not seen!

The cut off of noises helps, but he's still shrinking back. It would be one thing in an open area, but the train's self-contained: he knows it, and his hindbrain can't be convinced that anywhere without a barred door is necessarily safe right now. "Don't tell me dogs were abducted too! No one mentioned the dogs on the platform!"

[radishlobbyist]

"Wei Wuxian." Her voice is quiet but firm, as is the hand that grasps his forearm, squeezing slightly in further demand for his attention. She seeks his eyes again, trying to make him focus only on her, on her presence, on the safety she tries to give him.

She's never been very good at being comforting even when she so desperately wants to - but scary, scary she can be on behalf of her loved ones, even when she is so terribly confused.

"Wei Wuxian. Look at me." There are canines on the train, no denying that, no promising he won't ever run into any. "Look only at me now. Listen to my voice. You're here with me."

But why the hell is he here at all? How is this even possible!

[weifinder]

Being firm and demanding with instruction is enough that he can, in listening, follow and obey. This is one of the few times he's so biddable, and it's an instinct to listen when part of him knows so and so can protect me. It's not a comfortable thought after, just as it hadn't been when he'd leapt into his shijie's arms when he was younger, seeking safety from the dog that ran at his heels.

"..." He clears his throat, offering a smile that's a touch lopsided as he straightens up fully. He's tense, and while he tries to play that off, he's also twitchy and his pulse at his neck beats too fast for him to be truly close to calm yet. He's simply rallying, making himself let go of her, swallowing back another whining cry about dogs and their tendencies to be toothy doom. They're far enough away that he hears nothing, sees nothing, can start to believe for the time being nothing is after him. Time enough to have the confusion of thoughts from running into her, the tightening in his chest, and the heat in his eyes give way to questions formed: "Wen Qing, how is this even... No, I know it's possible. Xiao Xingchen, Jin Guangyao, Xue Yang."

The dead, living. A shortlist of them to which he can add her name, and later, A-Qing's, when he knows.

"You, how long have you been here? You're real? Really real. I'm not hallucinating on a train, I refuse to believe there's enough resentful energy here right now to do that."

[radishlobbyist]

And there goes her distraction.

With Wei Wuxian a little more himself rather than the fear-riddled mess she so hates to see him reduced to, he is asking the same questions she had been shoving aside herself - and apparently, he has also run into more people from their world on the train. That could make it easier. Could. It could also make it worse, she can't possibly tell.

All she can do is brace herself with a deep breath and then just finally permit herself to really look at him. To feel the solidness of his arm, the warmth of a living body, right here and not just one of the hallucinations and specters they had been tormented with in the past.

"I don't know," she admits, her voice shakier now, a little choked even. "I don't know how or why or... I don't know why I'm alive," she blurts out. "But you." She lifts her hand to his face. Real. He is so real. She takes a deep breath, brows furrowing with emotion. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that at the end... I'm not sorry I tried. But I'm sorry it wasn't enough."

ARTEMIS YOU CAN IGNORE THIS BUT I WANTED TO GET IT TO YOU STILL

[weifinder]

He stares at her and is torn in so many directions at once. To smile, which given he's teary eyed, and wants to cry for an entirely different reason now, is almost a feat in and of itself. Should he laugh? Cry and laugh? This is beyond any expectation, because unlike Xue Yang, unlike Meng Yao, Wen Qing is someone he's dearly, deeply missed; someone else whose death was so incredibly unfair, her life and talent rare flames suffocated ruthlessly far too soon.

He's going to end up stabbed for this. Part of him relishes the thought, but it's also the only thing he can think, when she is touching his face, when she's apologising for not having her sacrifice, the Wens sacrifice, be enough, until he doesn't have to think about it any more.

He's a terrible hugger. He knows this about himself. He still steps forward and tries to squash her in a hug, because the catch in his throat and the burn at his eyes is a different sort of emotion than his blind panic from earlier. "I'm sorry," he says in turn, and he does seem to breathe that out as a half-choked sob trying, desperately, to sound more like a laugh, "I'm so sorry that no one was willing to let any of us live."

Because he understands her trying. He understands it, and hates it, because he understands it. And he's sorrier that their series of sacrifices amounted to ashes on the wind, and a missing body, and pain that echoed down the generations, along with so few beautiful things, but oh, there had been those too. A-Yuan living, Wen Ning surviving even in that horrible puppet-forced state. A future for them, if only them. Another cleaning of the ranks, if it changed nothing of the past. "And thank you," he says, and he's aware he's crying, voice tight, "For having tried. Even if I'm mad you went!"

He's not. He's sad, and that anger which had been tied into his fear of loss has already been morphed into later stages of grief, had been the implacability of his features when he sat on the roof and listened to Jin Guangshan justify his ruthlessness on the back of some two dozen hardworking people, with only two cultivators, one a noncombatant, among them. Everything else he's learned, the machinations, the way his loss of control was not only his doing, but egged on further by one man's shadow games for power, all of that doesn't need saying right now.

... And he's still sure, somehow, he's about to get needled, and he can't imagine anything more weirdly reassuring in all this metal encased world.