voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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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!

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"Many things." She sighed, surprised she had gotten so close to him. She can't even take it as a victory, because it is clear it is a failure on his part rather than a success on hers.

She scrambles up into the hammock to join him. "It has been being a stupid day."

"Not good for you either, huh?" He glances over at her. She's not usually too bent out of shape when platform day hits so something must have happened. Had she seen someone from home? Couldn't be because as far as Peter's aware she likes the people she was living with. It must have been someone that left. Or did she run into Mr Stark and realize he didn't know who she was?

"I don't disagree. It has been pretty stupid."

"Did you be talking to him yet?"

She jumped in with two feet. Never one for particularly beating around the bushes.

"He do be being purple, no red. So he must no be being the same mister Stark."

She hadn't approached, she needed information first.

He's not too surprised that she'd seen Tony, nor is he surprised by her perceptiveness. He knows she's smart, after all. He lets out a sigh rubbing at his temples.

"Yeah, a little bit." He admits, pulling his hands down again. "He's uh... I mean he's still Mr Stark just... from early on in the timeline-you could say. He hasn't even met me yet." Which stung a little, but it wasn't like that was Tony's fault. "So he's from uh... 2010, I guess."

"Two thousand and ten?" Right. Those numbers meant nothing to her, in her world the year was 721 since the Great Reckoning.

But the numbers weren't the important part. "He does no even be knowing you?"

Peter shakes his head. "No, he doesn't meet me until 2017-he hasn't even met the other avengers yet-which is weird." He leans his head back, running his tongue over his teeth in thought. "By his timeline I'm still like... an unhealthy kid that has have a breathing treatment like once every three weeks-nothing special."

"Anyways, what have you been up too all day?"

Oh. She wrinkled her nose. That was weird. He didn't even know Peter. How did? Was Peter alright with that?

He wasn't leaky eyed at least...

"I did be thinking. Wen Qing did be leaving. Priestess Lightning did be punching the train."

Peter is not okay with that but he's not unaccustomed to people leaving him in some form or fashion so right now, rather than deal with it, he's ignoring it and playing on his DS. Or, he was.

He winces a little at the news and bites at his bottom lip, unsure what to say in this instance. There are moments where he wants nothing more than to scream and yell and break everything in his path but they're fleeting and he's quick to remind himself how unhelpful that would be to anyone. "Yeah, I've been doing a lot of thinking, too." Sorta-it's far more off and on. "Do you ever kind feel like.. I don't know. Nothing's really within your control and you're just like... free falling through life waiting for that inevitable splat at the end?" That's probably a little dark and deep for eleven year old.

"...Sorry, that's kinda... forget I said that."

She blinked at that. Went very still as she watched him. Because yes, she felt like that.

Felt like that all the time. She never used to. Once she had been confident in her purpose, in her service to the shadow god, of her obedience to her guardians. Once she could face the world and whatever it threw at her with strength. Once any sorrow was soothed by the smile her sister. Once any pain could be healed by a honeycake. Once she could see a clear path, where they would eventually become warriors like Kant.

But then Taiwin had put her own dagger in her hand and ordered her to prove her loyalty. From then she had been alone. A day, perhaps two of not knowing if she would be killed as well, locked alone in the room that they had once shared. The emptiest room, echoing with loneliness and fear.

Then she had been told she would be leaving, to the temple. Leaving all she knew, the ruined remains of the life she had known. The moment she had wished for given to her twisted and covered in ashes.

But even then, she had instead ended up on a platform and on this train and since then. Since then not one thing had made sense. It hadn't all been bad. But it hadn't made sense. She was surrounded by light followers, people who believed in goodness. People who she knew would turn on her if they knew, if she let even the smallest part of her truth shine through.

She's exhausted. It's been ten months. She's been falling for so long. She knows she will go splat eventually and she's been fighting it, but it's hard. Harder still to know she can't go back. She can't. No one will believe her. She will be thought a runaway. She can't return. She's not even sure she can call herself a servant of the dark anymore. After all. What had she done these last ten months? Saved worlds. Helped people..

She hadn't killed, not one person. Monsters yes. But in the name of protection. But if she's not a dark servant than what is she? She's free falling, tumbling down and trying to make the best of the fall before she goes splat. Before everything goes splat.

"Yes."

Her voice is very quiet.

Peter wasn't expecting her answer. He'd honestly expecting some snarky response or for her to mention his poor training. He didn't think she'd actually felt that way. He knew and he'd known for a while that her life wasn't all sunshine and roses and he had some very serious suspicions about the environment she'd grown up in so maybe it's not as surprising as it seemed moments ago.

Maybe surprising wasn't the word-jarring. He hates the idea of her feeling like he does for even a moment. He bites his lip again and represses the urge to pull her into a hug-he knows how she usually responds to one and he doesn't want to make things worse.

He wants to tell her it'll get better but he knows better. There's a reason they both feel like this and Peter knows from experience that maybe it gets better for awhile but it always gets bad again too. Nothing is ever fully in someone's control no matter how much they might think it is.

"I'm sorry..." He says instead, feeling like his heart is bleeding on the inside for this poor girl. She didn't deserve to have to feel like that. No one did.

"...Are you okay?" He asks. " 'Cause you can talk to me. You know that right? There's nothing you could say that would make me change my mind or want to stop being your friend-ever. This-what you and I have?" he gestures between the two of them. "It's unconditional, okay? We are unconditionally friends. Anything you tell me doesn't get repeated."

"Of course I do be being okay." She pulled a face at him, but her hearts not in it. Not when it feels raw, like his words had found a crack in the armour she held around herself.

But then his words, he would be her friend no matter what? Really? She's not sure she believes that. No one could say something like that. Not when he has no idea what she might say.

There was no such things as unconditional friends. She is pretty sure he has just made that up.

But he hadn't hated her when she had stabbed him and he was always so... So Peter. Could she?

Could she tell him anything? Not everything, of course. But she remembered what Alice said, it was okay to confide in people, but probably not to tell one person everything.

She was silent for a moment, staring at the hammock. "I did no never be telling you before, but it did no always be being just me." She glanced at him, drew her legs up to her chest.

"I did be having a sister. A twin." She'd learned that word, "She did be looking just like me."

Peter is far more perceptive that most people tend to give him credit for. It works to his advantage quite a bit, actually. He has a unique way of looking at things and other problems that get thrown his way and it typically gets the job done. That being said, a twin was not what he was expecting. He supposed Buttercup had never explicitly stated she didn't have a twin sister and he'd never asked. Probably because not only was an orphan but he was an only child so in his mind he thought she was probably an only child as well.

A twin though. He's heard rumors that twins are extremely close and some people even believe they have some kind of psychic connection. There are so many things he suddenly wants to ask but he could tell by her tone and the way she curls in on herself that this is something monumental that she's revealed to him. Her words are extremely telling though 'Did be having.' There are still some moments where Peter has to repeat what she tells him in his head to figure it out but past tense is still past tense-she lost her sister somehow.

Again, he just wants to scoop her into a hug and protect her from all the bad thoughts he knows she has.

"A twin." He says, trying to fight the way his eyes are starting to water a little-he can't even imagine- "That's cool."

That's a lame thing to say but he's doing his best to not break down and cry for her because he's pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate it. "M-maybe... I mean time doesn't really work the same here, right? Maybe-Maybe you're sister will turn up. And you can give her a name-maybe something to match yours, you know? since your sisters? What about like... Lily or-or Daisy?" He really needs to learn how to not ramble.

Edited (your vs you're ugh. ) 2021-03-14 17:02 (UTC)

His words are casual but she can see his eyes starting to go leaky. She scowls but true to his word he doesn't... It doesn't change anything. He doesn't make a fuss about it and he doesn't ask any nosy questions.

But he does... She scowls again. Her sister turning up. She can't even think about how that will feel. How that would be.

"No one did ever be coming from my world before." She pointed out, because that was easier. Better than thinking of names.

Her sister wouldn't want a name to match her.

He isn't asking any nosy questions but about a million thoughts are running through his head. She's clearly not for talking about her sister because that was a defection if Peter's ever seen it. So, no talking about the twin thing. Okay, he can do that. However, more and more is starting to become clear and he's fairly certain by her reaction that she hasn't really had the chance to mourn her sister-or rather, feels like she can't.

"You know, to be honest I kinda thought you were gonna tell me you're actually like some kinda assassin in training or something." He says calmly. "Which-you don't have to be worried-I kinda knew that." He did know that because what eleven year old girl was given a knife? Protection against people in the Inn? Then what was all that emptiness stuff for? No, he's sure that someone's been grooming her-he mentally shudders at the thought- to be their personal weapon. That's not on here though-that's on her guardians. "I should have told you but, I wanted you to open up to me. So that I knew you knew you could trust me when you got there."

So far so good. She had told him something, he hadn't been too nosy. Perhaps it was alright, to tell people things, a bit at a...

He was still talking and then he...

The moment he accused her, her hand went to her dagger, she went very still. She doesn't want to kill him. She... He's her friend. But if she needs to. She will.

He's fast, he has his webs but she has been watching him, studying him from the moment they met. She knows how he moves, she knows how fast he is and she knows his weaknesses.

But he would just come back. That was the biggest problem. On this train you couldn't silence people by death, they just came back louder.

He's saying he knew, had she been that obvious? Had she failed that much? There's no way out of this.

Her hand is still on her dagger but she doesn't move. She is very, very still.

Peter pauses a moment as there's a slight prickle at the back of his neck and he frowns, glancing around to make sure nothing dangerous is about to attack them. That was weird-he notices then that he's gone eerily still and he knows he might have just shoved his entire foot in his mouth. How does he get out of this without getting stabbed? Because that would be preferable.

"Hey, hey it's okay. I'm not-that's not-I'm not mad and I'm not gonna tell anyone." He rambles out quickly. "I told you, you can trust me." He's careful not to make any sudden moves because he is aware that she has a knife on her somewhere. He needs to make sure she knows he's not a thread because he wouldn't really like to avoid getting stabbed again-that shit hurt. "I haven't told anyone because you obviously didn't want anyone to know."

It's probably too late to deny it, he took her too much by surprise. She had stumbled. How long had he known?

He's not mad? He's not going to tell anyone? Maybe. People here are weird. Mami hadn't told a soul about what she had seen in her memories, at least no soul that had confronted her. She had kept that promise, and she had known Mami not very well at all back then.

She knows Peter. Does she trust him?

Perhaps. Yes. He hasn't told anyone so far. But...

But it's Peter and his mouth is bigger than a frog's. He can't even help it, he just opens it and words spill out.

She leaned forwards, until her face was only an inch away from his and made sure to look into his eyes.

"If you do be telling anybody you will be wishing you did be being born without a tongue." Her voice was quiet, serious, cold. A peak at a side of her she had had no reason to show anyone since she had arrived on the train.

A heartbeat, two. Then she turned and hopped down off the hammock, flashing him her sweetest 'little girl' smile.

"Be enjoying your game, Peter."

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A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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cw: small child assassin thoughts, (implied) mentions of child murder, existential crisis

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