voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So it's kinda hard to miss a naked purple lady walking around a train for the past few weeks, even if you're not personally acquainted. It comes with never being able to get off the train regularly, and all that fun stuff.

And Tidus's solution whenever he sees her? Is to blink, stare for a second, and then set his eyes elsewheeeere in the car.

Today, that doesn't happen. Actually, she catches him while he's looking out the window of one of the cars, surprising him with her offer. It's the purple lady!

"Oh." Oh. He starts to look down at the plate--and then bounces his gaze back up, just in case. "U-uh, maybe later!" he quickly stumbles out, putting on a smile (on an otherwise flustered face). "You decided to join the cookie baking gang for the platform stop, huh? You cook much before coming here?"

"Well, yes and no," Merwen says, leaning back against a nearby wall. "I've cooked plenty, but many of the ingredients and equipment in the kitchen here are unfamiliar to me. I've never made anything quite like these."

She returns his smile, trying to put him at ease. Everyone is just so flustered around here. Maybe it's nerves.

"Oh yeah?" he says, that light tone still sticking with him. "You from somewhere with less wires, less machines?"

That's usually the case of what they mean by unfamiliar equipment. Has experience with that lifestyle even before the train, though it still pops around the vehicle often.

"That is precisely the way of it," Merwen says. "No machines, no stone. Everything we have is either living or was living at one point. Shora is all sea, and the only stone is too far down to dive for." She looks around them, gestures vaguely. "Nothing like this."

"Oh, the sea..." It's a little mumbled, curious, half imagining a world like that - and now imagining being here, without it. It touches easily on things that he misses, packed away in the train, that it's easy to follow up with, even almost making him forget his earlier flusterings-

"Do you miss swimming?"

"Very much." The look she gives him is a sad and slightly strained one. "And when I walk down this train, I miss the sway of the waves under my feet. There is some small water here, and I certainly lie under the water, close my eyes and pretend, but it's dead water, without life. It's a poor substitute."

Merwen sighs. "But that can't be helped."

That he can understand; maybe not as well as her - he didn't grow up in total water - but he still misses it, often. The water, the sea; even just hearing it and smelling salt drifting in the air.

The offer on his mind doesn't feel worth it when they're talking about the real deal, things his offer can't give, but...

"Well," he starts anyway, slow and unsure, "it's not the ocean, and it's not really alive, but uh- a friend told me a pal of mine should be able to make enough water appear to take up the sports gym. That really long one, next to medical and standard?" If she doesn't exactly know what a sports gym is. "He control it and make it disappear, without a problem. If it works out- you know, I think he'd be happy to help! He's some kind of water spirit. Came from a city by the sea, or in it. He's big into water too!"

Is he making assumptions through all this? Sorta. Roland was adamant the water spirit could make so much water to satisfy him and the swimming he misses, but Tidus wants to believe it more in this moment. Smiling, even adding:

"We just need a good time to do it. But even half of the gym shouldn't be bad -- and no one uses that gym like they do the other one."

Not these days. Plus, what's controlling a flood in one section of a room once in a while gonna harm anyone?

She takes a moment to try to imagine this. It's... hard. "If you do that, share it with me," she says, disbelieving. "It would be good to have the experience, if nothing else, and it makes me wonder."

A really odd idea has popped into her head, in this train world of little individual rooms. "I wonder if a carriage full of sea is possible. Water, coral, fish. Those who eat flesh could sometimes have some fresh squid for a meal."

"It's...possible. If you ask." Though even as he says it, there's a hesitance for a reason. The unsure look that he wears.

"But you need a few people asking for it - and then it'll get put to a vote, against a bunch of other cars. That's how we get them sometimes - if the train doesn't just make one appear anyway."

Like a few of them have.

"It would be handy though... that or a pool car. You met S'reee?" Well- "You've probably seen her. Looks like a whale?"

A mini whale, but a whale.

"I have! I was very astonished."

Merwen laughs a little. "I thought -- we have something similar, on Shora, but they are not people in that sense, you know. Only animals, if vast ones. S'reee was delightful to share meeting with. Still, I take your point. It isn't a car that many would see a need for."

"I'd like it!" For whatever reassurance that gives, even if he knows as he says it how futile it is. "I bet S'reee would too, but the whole train... well, I know you can buy in coral and shells, but..."

He exhales, not quite a sigh, but rather submissive all the same.

"Maybe one day? Even just a pool... a lot of humans like swimming."

And humans made up the majority of the train, always.

"It wouldn't be the most popular choice," Merwen translates, with a knowing nod. "I understand. I'll continue to lie on the bottom of the small water in the spa car instead." She sighs, but it's the sort of sigh that's tinged with a dark amusement. "And I will hope for something on a mission."

A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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