voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2021-04-01 06:00 am

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!
yondu: (1 0 1)

[personal profile] yondu 2021-04-10 10:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe... I guess you're the one bein' pushed into it, ain't ya?"

Finally he just outright asks. "What's goin' on with all that? Them soul gems gettin' dirty, where'd y'all get 'em, all that?"

He needs to ask, because they were wrapped into a special sort of hell and they're all little girls.
happyends: (better than the rest)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-04-10 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
.. oh boy.

That's a story. And it's not necessarily a story Madoka minds explaining to people when they ask, but she knows it's kind of a big story, and kind of complicated too.. Though maybe an adult like Yondu would have less trouble wrapping his head around it. Maybe she can tell him it here in bits, making sure he understands each part before moving on to the next, she thinks..?

"Well.. We got them from this.. creature." It suddenly feels a lot harder to describe Kyubey now she knows what he's really like.. "He kind of looks like a white cat, but a little odder than that. He was going around on our planet, asking girls our age if they had a wish they wanted to have granted, and become a magical girl in turn by making a contract with him. When someone makes a contract like that with him, their soul is taken out of their body and put inside one of those Soul Gems.. so that's where those come from."
yondu: (1 5 1)

[personal profile] yondu 2021-04-10 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Their soul? ...So that's just their soul-"

And suddenly he puts it together. That thing Mami said a while back. Kyoko showing him her gem. Maybe not why them gettin' dirty was so bad, but he still understands they need to kill witches to clean it up. And the biggest witch was comin', one only Madoka had a big enough wish to deal with.

"Y'all really ain't too different from all these other kids around here that got their bodies all messed up for someone else's damn cause, are ya?"

He reaches up to touch his own fin, the heavy and unsightly scar around it mostly. Whatever was there before now completely gone.
happyends: (the ancient magic i dreamed of)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-04-10 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm sorry, mister Yondu.."

Madoka doesn't say for what. But it ought to be obvious, right? Just as obvious as it is to her just why he's saying that and then touching that spot on his head. Someone did something like that to him too. Maybe entirely different, since the whole magical girl process isn't as physical, but.. it's similar enough that he can understand it.

So that's it. Sorry that it happened to him. That he had such a rough time, even though his heart is so good deep down, undeserving of that treatment.

Usually Madoka would remark something more about not putting her into the same category. Because she doesn't deserve it, she hasn't suffered the way they have, so it's fine-- but she doesn't mention it. She wouldn't want to interrupt the rest of this.

"But.. you are right. Kyubey.. He wasn't doing it to help anyone. He didn't care about people's wishes. He just wanted to gather the energy that was being released. When he talked to me.. he talked about humans as if they were just cattle."
yondu: (0 1 9)

[personal profile] yondu 2021-04-10 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't be. It weren't your fault an' it happened way back when I's only a li'l' older than you. I turned it into somethin' that was mine, an' I hope y'all do too. But it weren't easy an' I couldn'ta done it without help."

They're going to need help. Even Madoka does. But it's hard to look for help when somethin's takin' advantage of you.

"There are a lotta species with that attitude." He almost mentions having been property, but he's sure that he's already mentioned too much. "It ain't right. I mean, you already know that. But it bears sayin'."
happyends: (the ancient magic i dreamed of)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-04-11 08:52 am (UTC)(link)
She nods a little. She gets at least that Kyubey is bad news - that's something she already figured back home by herself, when that creature snuck into her room and started trying to convince her that exploiting young girls was somehow a good thing.

If you ever feel like dying for the sake of the universe, just let me know.

Madoka shoves down the memory of that statement as far as she can, instead shaking her head to clear her mind before she speaks.

"Still..! What you went through isn't right either, even though you came out of it okay since you're so tough. You're a nice person, and nice people don't deserve to have bad things happen to them."
yondu: (1 0 4)

[personal profile] yondu 2021-04-11 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, I ain't that good a person, not by a reach, but uh... I already figured out I didn't deserve none of that early stuff. You don't gotta worry about that."

He reassures her.

"And neither do y'all. So what can ya do about these little critters? Just what you got planned? Sounds like they made a big ol' mess an' are just refusin' to clean it up."
happyends: (better than the rest)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-04-11 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't think there's any way Kyubey would just go away by himself.." Especially since he's apparently been doing it for so long on Earth already. Even if Walpurgisnacht wouldn't be threatening the entire planet, Kyubey would just continue his terrible magical girl practices until way in the future, Madoka knows it.

"That's why I'm going to wish for all witches to no longer exist. That way he can't make new magical girls either. It's the one way to solve everything.."

The whole problem with Kyubey, the whole problem with Walpurgisnacht, the problem with all the suffering her friends have gone through - all of it will just be gone, Madoka hopes. If her wish works out the way she hopes it will.