A New Platform [Intro Post March]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Once again passengers are awoken by the morning announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day One of the month of Kazoo. 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 is thick, the air is warm and humid and there are rumbles of thunder, the air heavy with the promise of rain.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Alfredo Martini, Daia, Enna Alchiba, Lord El-Melloi II, Natsuno Yuuki, Nita Callahan, Saku Gyousou, Sakura, V and Wen Qing

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, and seems smaller with twenty-seven 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.

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'). Those not new to the train will note the addition of an eighth sleeper carriage. The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, it seems the month of Kazoo is defined by the tomato and there are plenty of them.

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 as thunder rumbles further and the storm threatens to break. 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]

"One eye open... is that an idiom?" She likes it, if so. "If you mean is it safe here, then yes, this is as safe a place to sleep as can be expected in a place like this, where none of us are here by choice."

Merwen sits on the edge of her own bottom bunk, hands folded in her lap. The concept of a secret name is new to her, and it's kind of fascinatingly different from what she knows, but she's also aware that if it's a secret, maybe it's not to be spoken of openly at all. "I don't want to share offense, but am I allowed to ask why your name is secret?"

[shitcopper]

"The reason it's secret isn't itself a secret, so I don't mind. The abridged version is that if people knew my true identity, they could use it to their advantage. And where I come from, that's the difference between life and death."

Most Servants were heroes of great legend, unlike Ea-nasir, and knowing their identity would mean knowing their powers and potentially their weaknesses. Not quite Ea-nasir's case, but still, knowing who she was would mean an opponent could figure out that she specialized in lies, misdirection, subterfuge, and bartering.

Which, while apparently no longer the case here, still meant it could put people on their guard around her, which was still unideal for her.

"Hopefully I don't have to worry about being killed too casually here."

[theimpatientone]

"No one has hastened the death of another while I've been here," Merwen says, mildly shocked. "And I hope it stays that way. Do you really have to share so much fear, where you're from?"

That sounds terrible. That sounds like a nightmare to her, and not even an entirely unimaginable one.

[shitcopper]

Share fear, huh? Interesting way of putting it. She doesn't comment on it for now, simply setting it aside for later examination.

"Yeah, everybody was out to kill everyone else where I come from." Well, that's one way to put it. "It didn't quite work out, since I'm not much of a fighter and my Master is a big ol' pacifist. But hey."

[theimpatientone]

"Your... Master?"

Merwen blinks several times, uncomprehending. There's a lot here that she doesn't understand, actually, but let's start with the word 'master,' which she literally does not understand. "What do you mean, your 'Master'?"

[shitcopper]

"Hooo boy, you really do come from somewhere different, don'tcha?" She could tell there was some auto-translation in effect here - a bit superfluous since Caster already spoke every language - but asking for clarification meant the word wasn't even in her home vernacular.

"A Master is somebody who... gives you orders, I guess? In my case, my Master is the mage who summoned me. We formed a team - one Master, one Servant. And my Master was a big ol' whiny baby who kept going on and on about finding a 'good ending' where nobody had to die even though we were supposed to be fighting."

[theimpatientone]

"I can't say I share disagreement with your Master on that point," Merwen says, cautiously, "but you seem to. If your Master thinks one thing, and you another, why do you follow her -- or his -- ideas?"

Something else occurs to her. "Does your Master rule you?" She says the word 'rule' in a tone that suggests it's a word in a foreign language, and one she isn't sure she's using correctly.

[shitcopper]

"I can't exist in the world without a Master, actually! So cooperating is usually in my best interest." She pauses for a moment. "But that said, I might think my Master is naive, but I do respect her. Her goal is a naive thought but it'd be nice if the world worked that way, wouldn't it? And then at some point it became my job to make the world comply."

[theimpatientone]

"I think the world can work that way, but if you intend to meet violence with peace, then you should be prepared for pain to be shared."

There's a lot in this conversation she's struggling with, and maybe this is a good time to point out that her native language doesn't even have an imperative tense so "make comply" and "order" are, at best, foreign concepts she's had to learn with other tongues, but at least she knows the cost of peace well enough.

"Why can you not exist without her?"

[shitcopper]

"The full answer to that is long and complicated."

And honestly the way things were going, she wasn't sure how much this naked lady would grasp. Culture shock was expected explaining to normal modern Earth people, let alone this.

"The short version is that I died thousands of years ago, this body is a false one constructed with mana that I was summoned into, and it needs a constant supply of mana from my Master."

....Yeah.

[theimpatientone]

Merwen looks at Caster blankly, but at least this is more just bizarre rather than utterly incomprehensible. It helps that she's already met several self-professed gods here. And elves. And probably a few other types of people that she's not even aware of how weird they are.

"You died and were reborn, but not in a natural way," she translates. "You remember your life, then?"