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

[blitzcheer]

"You're on!" Well, who cares who Tidus thinks this guy is supposed to be? He's being offered a free soda, which he'll take off Roland's hands happily - but he will add after a moment's thought, when not consumed with the possibility of free treats: "I'm gunning for the dad. Why else give them all those prosthetics? You only do that if you wanna make them unrecognisable."

It's like, the movie number one cheat. Zanarkand wasn't much better about their clichés.

"A cake would be fun," Tidus agrees when the suggestion comes up - luckily the poke to his leg doesn't register much, a small head swivel and then Tidus looking back to the big screen. "So one order of...how about different cakes? If it'll let us." That is, the train. "Then the food to go with it."

Or would buying by the small items work out better? The price didn't matter so much as just getting everything they needed, and the train could be a stickler. But going down that road reminds him of another particular point, and he knocks the back of his hand on Roland's arm, leans in without looking away from the screen.

"We should put together that party trunk!"

[adregem]

"How could that be Lydi's dad? She had a dad in the opening sequence! He died in the big mansion explosion, that's definitely somebody else." Roland whispers back at the conjecture offered, but there's waning interest even as things begin to pick up, an undercover operation starting to unravel because Lydi's powers suddenly go haywire. Turns out her intuitive detective skills weren't just because of a strong sixth sense.

Anyway. The more important thing to take note of now is that the movie has taken a back seat and Roland is beginning to grow more aware of Tidus's conversation, and the point being made on cakes and treats. He rests his finger under his chin, eyes roving between the screen and his companion, lingering on the latter. "I think it will. The more specific the order, the more chances you get what you paid for. I know the cake at Senku's party was pretty darn good, so no reason we can't get different cakes for the kids to decorate with."

If not, then Roland has choice Words for the train on the feedback terminal again. Not that he's compelled to waste his time and energy on a stubborn thing like that, but it has its cathartic uses.

Suddenly, a flash of bright light indicative of the Arms Band being put into play temporarily fills the cinema car's limited spaces. A notebook is out, and a pen nestled between pages bulks up the spine. Even in the dark, Roland is adept at writing, scribbling a note that one might only be able to glimpse if they squint hard and close enough. Something about the party trunk, bullet points detailing what should be inside, and what needs to be ordered. What are items to replenish, what can be recycled...

"Hm." The movie is temporarily forgotten despite a big reveal - Lydi saved by the mystery cyborg man - in favor of tapping the pen against his cheek, making notes for the upcoming children's bash. "What else...What do you have for decorations? Are we asking for the stars we folded?"

[blitzcheer]

"It's her daaaad," he drawls dismissively, Roland's evidence not easily dissuading him. "He's got all those transplants now! And then there'll be a big touching moment where he dies towards the end just after the woman figures it out."

That's how you do these things, come on. Movies trying to trick you and then pulling out the big tearjerk moments. Not that they're a tearjerker for Tidus specifically, oh no. This movie won't get him!

But the flash beside him is unexpected, a small jump that's hopefully covered by the shade of the dark, keeping it a secret between Tidus and the cinema carriage. He's a furrowed brow beside Roland in trying to figure out what he's up to, even once the scratching noises begin to sound beside him. ...wait-

Writing? Right now? Ugh- only Roland, huh.

"I haven't thought about it that hard," Tidus pipes up, somewhere between amused and judging. Slapping at Roland with the back of his hand thereafter. "Watch the movie, planning can wait! Stop being a multi-tasker."

He needs time to think of what people even have at for a kid's party, and anyway, the drama is forever ramping up in this movie - a movie which will decide if Tidus gets a soda or not!

[adregem]

"They're just reminders in case we forget. One sec." His mouth twitches for a split second before it falls into its trademark straight-line, his right hand going faster and faster until half the page is filled, bullet-points unbelievably aligned despite the poor lighting. And since he's been caught and called out, Roland disappears the journal and pen back into his hammerspace as if they were never out at all. A show of hands, empty now, shaken twice in the air side to side. "Done. Happy? Heh."

Also, hardly multitasking by his standards but he'll take that as a compliment, thanks very much.

Except the timing is too well-done for it to have been anything but cosmic coincidence playing tricks on them. The running bet on Lydi's relationship with the cyborg man is revealed a little too soon when she declares that she's met him somewhere before...bordering on lovey-dovey until the said object of her affections point blank shoots her in the shoulder, before walking away into his spaceship.

'N-No! It's not you! You can't be him! The flower, the flower is - !'

Roland makes a jerking motion with his arms, the grimace from his face fading at the weird twist. Lydi's partner is trying to keep her conscious, but it looks like the second arc is ending at her fading to black, memories playing out slowly in the background. Not one man, but two! In silhouettes!

"Mistaken identity. The guy has a brother. Lydi's into the brother, but the brother is dead and the other guy is taking over for him. He was probably caught up in the explosion that killed her family."

Roland sounds so sure that he's even more invested in the movie, the web hammock swaying too forward as he juts his head and neck closer to the screen as if that'll do anything to advance the plot. Or their party planning.

[blitzcheer]

Yeah, you better put that thing away! He doesn't acknowledge it beyond a quick eyeroll that can't be caught in the dark, eyes that return to the screen ahead than the man beside him. And crap, his bet (well, not a bet--guess) is going sideways with the way the music and the mood of the scene shifts, up until the few seconds before the shot to her shoulder.

Ouch. Tidus's mouth tugs to a side, but, well, it's not like he's been paying big attention to the show. Nor really paying well attention to what's said beside him when Roland speaks up, and Tidus meets his comments with confusion.

"Wait, the guy's her brother? Two brothers? That didn't look like brotherly love to me."

Unless this is what happens when you watch movies from other worlds. But no way, they wouldn't have a relationship like that anyway. Right? Right?

[adregem]

"No, the guy probably has a brother. See, there was a scene right before she passed out. Like a flashback. Noir movies do this a lot, they cut into important bits to lead you into a false narrative. Then, it'll hit you later with a big reveal. Lydi's narration is faulty. She doesn't know what she's getting herself into, so when she talks, it's all from her perspective."

Which is precisely the scene that follows, her voice filling the small cinema car in not-quite-surround-sound, though the rest of the screen is black. It casts a strange light against its two audience members.

So there I was. Stuck in a loop. Without answers. This man, this...Jakob. I know him. But at the same time, I don't. There had to be something connecting him to the drug deal, but more than that it's his face that I want to recall the most. His real face.

I've seen it somewhere before...But where? The clues are getting hotter and hotter, but what crime do I really want to solve? The one I was assigned to...or the one I want to crack?

"Gah. This is corny dialogue, though. I've heard better." Not sure what he was expecting from what seems to be a blatant knock-off of different, pastiche crime movies of the olden days. At least, the ones he knows from Earth. Though the thought of a series gets him to remember something from a long time ago, back when he was auditing for Tidus's things in the stores. A darker season of train life, but they've moved past it. Hopefully, Lydi can solve the mysteries plaguing her detective life in the galaxy too...

He nudges Tidus back, craning his head to look at him before the lights on the screen return, a new scene in full play. Making this quick so he can check what's being established now -

"Didn't Romeo have a favorite show? You bought him that lady toy, right? We can get him more of that for this birthday day. I have some points to spare if you need it." Goodbye 1 point Roland! Never again!

[blitzcheer]

Ohhh follows Roland's explanation, a moment taken after for Tidus to think to himself that wait, don't all movies mostly follow the protagonist's perspective? A thought that doesn't go very far when he tries to do better by actually watching what's happening on the screen, the dialogue dramatic even when nothing is happening.

Unimpressive to Roland, while Tidus huffs in amusement.

"Isn't that how they talk in these things?" Mystery films with any type of detectives. Which speaking of- Tidus isn't expecting the reminder of another series of the same (or similar) nature, a small "hm?" escaping him when Roland first prompts him, but- oh yeah, he knows what he's talking about.

"You want me to ask him what he likes?" He folds his arms, frowning. "I should. Tell him he needs to make a list of his favourite things so we can buy stuff! Give him a bunch of presents! Alfredo too."

[adregem]

"That's right. It's a good start to any party. Plus, what kid wouldn't wanna get their favorites as gifts? It'll put a smile on their face, festivities aside."

If Roland were to be honest, the movie was losing a lot of its steam from the opening sequence. His assessment falls down to the lack of cohesiveness, and how the story seems to always shift from Lydi's narrative to someone else's. Whereas movies of his childhood, the great film noirs that he can probably still recite to this day, were able to balance character arcs among a series of compelling tales that led to a big showdown and reveal. Lydi is floating...and the plot is a pastiche of stereotypes. It wouldn't be a surprise if both of their bets ended up being true at the same time with the way every shot is being set-up. Now, a revelation; Lydi has powers that the man named Jakob seemed to mirror. Which meant that -

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Roland can't help the loud groan that passes his lips, the most he's expressed since watching the movie. "Where did that come from?"

His frustration is clear when the climax of the movie portrays Lydi and Jakob as long-lost twins, and that Jakob had indeed been in the explosion that destroyed her family home and turned her into an orphan. The drug deal was to suppress powers across the galaxy such that accidents like that never happened again...

...only to put Lydi back into the spotlight, as the woman who caused the explosion in the first place. Convenient amnesia, I see. Jakob was the man who took her in, but in secret, hiding his scars from her and raising her from the shadows. Hence the strange energy between them despite their familial connections, and the recognition beyond cybernetic facial features.

Roland groans a second time, arms already crossed in clear displeasure.

"Don't show this movie to the kids. Ever." He warns Tidus, comedically too serious for the discussion at hand. "This is terrible. I wouldn't watch this again."

[blitzcheer]

Lydi is floating. Why is she floating. And when did these powers even enter the equation!? What.

"I think you picked a bad one," Tidus remarks, just as Roland voices his own disbelief for whatever it is they're seeing on the screen. Tidus knows he hasn't been entirely focusing on this movie, but he wasn't that distracted, was he?

But by a point, Tidus isn't even watching any of it. He's hanging around just to see it through to the end, allowing the movie to continue to go over his head. Was he going to get a drink out of this? He really doesn't know anymore, and he figures not to bother reminding Roland about it, scoffing when he speaks up, raising up a brow.

"I'm not showing this to anyone." Seriously. "It's okay, I won't tell people you have weird taste."

[adregem]

"Me? Please. I've got great taste. But the cover title of this was misleading."

He'll die on this hill, thanks. But at the end of the movie, in which Roland only keeps watch of to get closure of a terrible B-rated noir film that doesn't hold a candle to the greats, Lydi and Jakob decide to keep in touch though it seems Jakob is more inclined to be a lone wolf so as not to hurt her. Typical. Lydi on the other hand, is still finding it in her heart to cling unto the guy as if he had all the answers when clearly, he might have made a couple of mistakes along the way...and then of course, there's the kicker which forces the most unpleasant expression out of Roland.

'No, why are you taking the payload? All alone? You're staying here?'

'Lydi...I have to. It can't be anyone else. Your guilt is already too great.'

'But last night you said-!'

'Last night I said a lot of things. And one of them is how you told me you could rely on me to do the thinking for us both and right now, this is the only thing I've got in my head. Get out of here, Lydi. This case is closed.'

Roland feels like this is straight out of another noir movie from his childhood, like the void just knows how to mess with what's familiar. He shakes his head and another flash of light distracts, fills the space of the car but is otherwise left unnoticed. He summoned something out of the Arms Band, but he isn't saying much about it, eyes back to the final scene.

'You know you'll regret it if you don't let me do this. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, one day down the line, you will. Don't make this mistake. Go.'

'But...But I just found you again. What about you and me, Jakob? What about us?'

'We'll always have The Pink Tulip.'

They definitely don't reveal anything else that seems important apart from lingering glances, and it's Lydi's weird powers that get her back to her spaceship and into the unknown void cosmos ahead...with Jakob staring at the fleeting dot of her ride growing more and more distant in the sky. Then, text on the screen that reads how Lydi will be back for another adventure in another distant planet. So too, will Jakob. They're setting it up for more movies. Roland sighs tiredly as the credits begin to crawl.

...

...

...

"I'm getting us both drinks."

He reaches for something to the side of the hammock, the weight heavy enough to dip into the net. But the rest of his body still obscures it. The back of Roland's hand nudges Tidus's knee for attention.

"As promised. Wanna see what this is here or do you wanna move to standard? I think that's enough movie watching for now."