voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post April]

A New Platform [Intro Post April]

On the Train

Once again passengers are awoken by the morning announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day Sixteen 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 after lunch. A lunch that may be a bit sparse: between the big eaters and the stress bakers, the stores have been stretched thin the last two weeks.

"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 steam is thin, with blue skies seen above. The sun shines brightly down, warm light pooling on the platform.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Cassie Lang, Glorfindel, Jessie Custer, Olivia, Paddra Nsu-Yeul, S’reee, Thea Queen, Wei Wuxian.

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, open, with a vine-covered wall stretching high either side of the barrier. 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 eighteen 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 doors close behind them.

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 plenty more tomatoes.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. There is a suitcase stocked with spare wash kit items, for those who are running low as well as a box labelled Do Not Use Yet that is full of small 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 who are making the most of the sunshine. 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

That sure does look like an alarmed person, even if he sounds kind of weird to supersoldier hearing. Soldat, an objectively large man dressed in an absurd amount of purple with their dark hair currently pulled back, picks themselves up from their sunning spot and approaches, hands up peaceably. The metal hand is clearly visible, though the rest of their arm is covered up by sleeve. "Hi. Hey."

Ghost hasn't managed to get his phone out yet - there's a pile of polo shirts across his knees and one arm is up to the elbow in the rucksack. He uses the other to acknowledge Soldat with a small wave, his gaze not leaving the other man even as he goes back to rooting around in the bag. It's working by feel and possibly a bit of telekinetic cheating at this point, really.

That sure is some staring. Ghost gets maybe half a second of eye contact when and if he tries for it, then their eyes slide away, down to his hands in the bad. "Looking for something?" they guess. "We only get to bring one thing from our worlds. You might not find it."

It's more staring in their general direction, but hey, Ghost can take the not doing eye contact thing easily. He holds up a finger in a hopefully-understood gesture for 'just a second,' gives his bag one last shake, and yanks his hand out holding a smartphone.

"I kind of need this to have any kind of conversation," comes a voice from the phone as he holds it up. "So it's a damn good thing it is here."

Oh. ... huh. Another mute person. Soldat is at least familiar with that, though the voice-from-the-phone is new. They look from phone to Ghost, then nod. "Yeah, guess that would be. Though it's possible the SCAs would let you do that, too, unless it's a. A specialized program, or something. They translate for the rest of us."

"It's kind of specialized," he says, waving the phone briefly before attaching it to his waist with the clip on the case. "And I wouldn't want to fight with a voice synth that sounds different, anyway." It would be kind of unsettling at best.

They're not going to question it. Guy seems a lot more put together than he had a minute ago. (Being able to be heard is probably pretty important. Yeah. I guess it probably would be, huh.) "Sure," they say, settling back on their heels. "Are you okay? I know this is pretty weird."

Having his main mode of communication is definitely a boost in emotional security, yeah, things are like that sometimes.

"I haven't had a not 'pretty weird' day in my life, but this is probably top three material," Ghost agrees. "I'll manage, I guess." He's good at managing. Would be better to know even one person, and to know for sure that it's real (physically), but those kinds of insecurities can wait until at least later in the conversation.

He's certainly doing better than Soldat did, their first day. No panic attack here. "Well. You don't gotta manage alone," Soldat offers. "I can show you around. Answer any questions you have."

To be fair, most of Ghost's triggers are more specific than just showing up in a strange place.

"Thanks. It's good to hear that." Because really, he hasn't ever been completely alone, the way he feels in this crowd. Shoving the last couple of random items (socks, it's always socks) back into the bag, Ghost pulls himself into standing. "There's a lot, so how about what's the thing you wish someone would have started with when you got here?"

Pushing up to their feet, too, Soldat thinks a moment, eyes distant across the platform. "Don't know if it'll help you any. The things I want are. Kind of weird, I think. But knowing I'd have good work to do. That'll help people. I think that would've helped from the start."

(~~You're so pathetic, sometimes.~~ Shut up, Pit. Wantin' something to do that matters isn't pathetic, asshole.)

"...That actually does help," Ghost says after a minute. "More because I'm sort of one of those people who handles having nothing to do by inventing things to do."

And not all of them are good ideas, really.

"I don't have a very good claim on being normal, either," he offers with a shrug of one shoulder, as though that wasn't obvious from the talking-through-phone thing.

"I'm the kind who winds up pacing around restlessly because I'm really bad at inventing things to do," Soldat says with half a smile, though it sounds like at least they're coming from the same urge to work. "C'mon. I'll show you the train. She won't leave you behind even if you try to stay."

"She?" Yes, because apparently that's where we're going with this. The eldritch superbeing on the edge of his senses (that he is DEFINITELY trying to ignore) may as well have a gender, he guesses.

Just gonna gesture like 'lead the way' over here.

"Yeah, the train prefers being called a she. Or so I've been told." They lead the way to the train, keeping their face half-turned back Ghost's direction. "She doesn't communicate well. We can send her messages, but she doesn't talk back much, really."

Keep your eyes where you're going, Soldat, he can follow along.

"Duly noted." It's not like he wants to be rude, after all. "Have you been here for a while, then?"

"A month and a half," Soldat says, maybe a little dryly. Don't worry, man, they're very good at situational awareness, and deftly avoid somebody else without actually looking at them to start climbing the steps. That's the point where they turn fully away. "It feels like longer, though."

"Extended stressful situations tend to do that," Ghost agrees. He's close but not too close behind. "Even if it's just... waiting for things to go to shit."

"I'd like to say nothing has gone to shit yet. But there was a fire in the kitchen this morning that made a gigantic mess. And I did kind of die a couple days ago." Enjoy that bombshell, Ghost.

And the whole flooding-the-platform thing hasn't even happened yet! Inside the standard car, Soldat gestures. "That way is the dining car, kitchen car, quiet car, and storage. And the engine, but nobody knows how to get in there. Everything else is this way."

... Yeah, no, there's a definite internal error noise and the stop of the footsteps behind Soldat at that bit.

"Okay, no, you definitely can't say 'I died a little bit but it's fine' casually and expect me to just accept it and move on. What." Hey he's. A little distressed about this, thanks Soldat.

"The train brings us back," Soldat explains, pausing to properly look back in Ghost's direction, now. "Whole and healthy. I woke up the next morning in the luggage car." Which they can say a lot more calmly now than they were at the time, because waking up in a dark, enclosed space happens to be one of their many triggers. "Besides, I'm already dead, anyway, technically. What is death to a dead thing."

The last comes out almost wry. It was the mantra of the spirits in Beacon, and they do kind of understand it a little. More than a lot of the still-living people around, anyway.

"Absolutely none of that was as reassuring as I think you think it is." Soldat is just getting an incredibly flat look. "Like, okay, I'm just going to put that over here and touch it when I can process it beyond 'that's the third most fucked up thing I've ever heard,' which is actually an incredibly high bar."

A beat. "Actually, maybe second most fucked up. I have to give you points for the delivery."

They blink, then duck their head, looking sheepish, before starting back down the train car again. "Sorry. Everybody in my last place had to die to get there, and we could be repaired there when we died, too, so I'm. A little out of the habit of treating that as serious. I know I'm pretty weird that way."

There's still a lot to unpack there - 'my last place' springs to mind immediately - but, nope, putting that in the box to fret about in the middle of the night sometime when he runs out of other things to worry about. Which will not be today and probably not even tomorrow.

"I guess you really can get used to anything," is what Ghost says, dryly, instead. He follows it up with, "I'm the last person who can give anyone shit about their circumstances making them weird. There's still some people who don't think I'm fit for human company."

"You seem pretty okay, to me." They've got friends who are actual mutes, friends who only speak in wordless song, friends who are giant psychic cat things. Talking through a phone is nothing. It's actually impressive that the phone manages so much tone. (More than you do, Asset. No.) "You'll probably find people here are pretty accepting. We've got. A giant spider. A talking book. An angel and a demon. A lot more former assassins than you'd think for such a small population. Whoever you are. You'll probably fit in okay."

A New Platform [Intro Post April]

Better days - platform

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someday we'll be tagging at the same time but that's not today i guess

well now I feel like I gotta prove you wrong

well GOLLY GEE /ignores my other tags for a hot minute

:B

(un)fortunately for you i am now caught up

unfortunately I had to drive home and buy groceries

food's important

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