A New Platform [Intro Post May]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Like clockwork, the Voidtreckers are awoken by a familiar message this morning.

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Llama. Points have been updated on the system."

With points updated, everyone can spend the morning shopping. Most people will 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 air is sticky and warm, the windows almost immediately dewing over with the humidity outside.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Azula, Prisoner, Amery Vallet, Dyme Graydon, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Yoite, Piccolo, Bulla Brief, Xie Lian, Kurosaki Ichigo, Hua Cheng, Renee Corbin, and Ran Mouri; all pass through the platform, not looking back before they disappear through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

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 find themselves on a platform, rich wood and pale stone forming a natural, tree-like structure overhead. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single set of tracks extending both ways into thick fog. The air is rainforest-hot, and the sound of frogsong can be faintly heard over the drip of the artificial canopy.

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 fog begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform isn't large, and seems smaller with twenty-eight figures scattered around, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. Then there is 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 pours a strange assortment of people, over a hundred at least. 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.

Behind them, the doors close, and the train is cloaked in the same fog that hides the world beyond the platform.

The Train

After a short time, the fog clears and 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 several crates of nori, the ingredient of the month of Llama, as well as all sundries.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. For each member of Purple Team, a small silver box with their name on it contains a glittery cupcake.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, but at least they won't be alone in their confusion - since the sleeper carriages are now double-decker, and experience isn't going to avail the passengers in finding their rooms.

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.

The new double carriage's transfer ICP is active, allowing people to move to a double room should they meet the requirements with another person, though they'll have to move their belongings themselves.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers taking advantage of the fresh air, and 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

[sciencegirl]

Investigating the Sleepers

This is incredibly fascinating! She knew the train was capable of spontaneous generation, but actually seeing the results of it is incredible. She's wondering if said spontaneous generation has something to do with thought transference and creation at this point since no one has actually perceived a change occurring to her knowledge.

It's difficult for a scientist to not observe what should very much have been observable, but all you can do is take in the before and after of a process that she didn't get to be privy to. That would have been so exciting but she'll have to just take this instead.

The sleepers have small hallways and are difficult to navigate, so someone making their way to their room might suddenly have a girl holding a scanner-tablet stilt up high on her hair, all the way to the ceiling, to make room for them to walk under her.

"Excuse me, sorry! Just taking new measurements."

Tiny Food in the Dining Car

Entrapta's sitting with a brightly colored smoothy that she made for herself, her head in her hands and her hair turning pages of her journal as she looks over some of her robotic designs for Claudette. She should be able to install her First Ones crystal sometime soon! It's incredibly exciting because after that Claudette should be able to self-repair.

Which she's more hesitant to inform some more fearful people over, but she's still much more sure the flesh and blood people are prone to corruption than the robots with simple failsafes. Squishy brains are more confusing for her.

She has a half-eaten sandwich beside her- actually, a full sandwich is the wrong term, because she cut the bread into squares and added the ingredients to each individual bit like she was making four tiny sandwiches. It's not one whole sandwich that she cut apart. And she has three small teacups of soup to go with it.

A questionably hearty meal to fuel an eccentric mind. The straw makes an obnoxious bubbly noise as she notices someone come in, and she gives them a sharp but friendly, "Hi!" and if they're new to the train? "Kitchen and food are that way." She points with her hair.

Tiny Food

[motherofresistance]

Leia smiled at both the greeting and the directions, giving the younger woman a little nod and apparently not surprised at all by the fact that the directions were being given with mobile hair. "Always good to know, thank you," she said. "I was just headed that way; been working my way up the train from the rear to get the 'lay of the land' so to speak."

Upon getting a little closer, she noticed the plans Entrapta was looking at. "Planning to build a droid?", she asked.

[sciencegirl]

"Don't worry, it's pretty easy because it's a straight line. Which is possibly the most boring part." Says the girl that lived in a labyrinth for much of her life. "Otherwise there's a rich and helpful collection of knowledgeable and experienced crew from various worlds."

So much data to be gathered!

"I have been building one. She's going to be a protection and combat bot to provide orange additional coverage in missions. I'm still completing the base structure, though, I'm going to have to put in some additional effort if I want to have her done by the next mission."

Any indication that someone might care about her love of robots ends up in Entrapta becoming an endless spout of unnecessary but delighted information.

[motherofresistance]

"Most forms of public transport do tend to be on the 'boring' side when it comes to interior design," Leia said. "The designers tend to go for efficiency before artistry, and making them difficult to navigate generally just isn't practical."

Regarding robots, while Leia wasn't quite as passionate about them as some, she did have several droids she considered friends, which prompted enough interest that she was willing to indulge in a bit of cheerful but unnecessary conversation about them. "You're expecting a mission to happen soon, I take it? And does orange team frequently have dangerous assignments that necessitate extra protection?"

SLEEPERS,

[philosopherspotato]

No excusing is necessary as Potato comes by. Frankly, she's just bouncing.

"Everything moved..!! The train got longer, but everything moved!!" Oh, so she noticed that!

[sciencegirl]

It's the inexplicable magical battery!

"Hi Potato! And yes, it's very strange." She says from near the ceiling still, as if that is the appropriate place for her to be to carry on this conversation. Honestly, it might as well be. She's less in the way here.

"Have you seen the bigger sleeper cars? I'm tempted to rent a room so I can observe the contents. I think I have cleaning this month though! I forgot already, I'll have to check again."

If she does, she is on that.

[philosopherspotato]

She's back at it again!!

"There's bigger ones?! Are they even taller than this??" Not quite in that regard. "Wait we have to pay things for them..? That sounds like the hotel in Vancouver Island..."

One from a similar earth may wonder; does Potato actually know what town her hotel was in?

The answer of course, is No.

But something else Entrapta said has caught her attention- "Oh yeah, someone said we're supposed to do chore things..."

Tiny Food

[armsistice]

At the sharp, but friendly greeting, Otto twitches, a bundle of nerves with that fresh meat appearance, looking earnestly embarrassed even to be alive for a moment, before nodding. "Ah, thank you, I'm not quite hungry yet, I'm just finding my way around."

They'd planned to keep themself completely withdrawn and harmless-appearing until they could establish who, or what, was running this train and commanding its occupants. They'd planned to keep their metal limbs, retracted tightly to their harness in a way that felt like tensing muscles, absolutely quasi-hidden unless absolutely necessary.

But the way this woman sits there and pages through her notes with her hair, her organic hands seeming to go less naturally, or perhaps equivalently naturally with the duties required of them, it makes Otto reconsider. It isn't just the way her hair moves, of course, but that's part of it.

"...Have you always been able to do that? With your hair?" There's already just a germ less of fearfulness and a germ more of burning curiosity.

[sciencegirl]

"Oh? My hair. Yeah. But I wasn't very good with it when I was younger." Now she can multitask like a pro, though. Taking a bite of one of her tiny sandwiches with her real hands while flipping book pages with her hair. Another lock brings her drink closer so she's politely taking less of her table up.

"Don't worry! Everything is in a straight line. Which is kind of boring but it's convenient for learning one's way around. You can generally assume if you go in either direction, you'll get there."

She yawns, stretches her hands out in front of her with a squeaky grunt like she's working out a sore back (she's been working on Claudette for a while) and her hair does a little frizzle as she does it. When she settles it does, too.

[armsistice]

Amazing. With everything else going on, the way she casually operates several extra limbs, out of hair, is fascinating and the perfect distraction. The rest of the train isn't going anywhere, and neither is anyone on it.

Otto smiles a bit at the logic of the 'straight line' comment. "Boring, indeed," After a moment, they risk asking, "Do you think I could sit here?"

As tentatively as they had asked, one tentacle ventures out from their harness to tap on the table, as an organic finger might tap to indicate 'right here'.

investigating

[flatteries]

It's a good thing that Inigo is starting to get increasingly more used to Entrapta and her.. well, let's say antics. Otherwise he may just be startled anywhere he goes about the train by her doing something ridiculous at any given place.

Or, right now, suddenly speaking from up above him. Any other voice definitely would have surprised him, but with what he's hearing now, Inigo just takes two steps forward so he can turn around and look up to indeed see Entrapta up there, balancing on her hair like she's carrying out some circus act.

"Measurements?" He asks, curiously. "What are you going to do with those?"

Entrapta, you have so much data!!

[sciencegirl]

He speaks as if there can be enough data.

Inigo, you fool. There can never be enough data!

"I wanted to compare cabin dimensions. The rooms and ceiling to floor have maintained size, but there is a proportionate length to the staircase. Orange is cleaning this month! This means I get to observe the new rooms! Isn't this exciting!"

But she chooses to come down to the floor then since it seems easier to talk from down there.



OOC: HAHA I was just thinking i have to talk to Tidus about the radios and I typed his name like a loon.

[flatteries]

"I'm glad you're having such a fun time," he says, a slight smile on his face.

(Mostly because Inigo doesn't think it's all that particularly exciting, but as long as Entrapta is having a good time, there's no way he's going to shoot her down in the middle of that.)

"I bet you're excited to look at the new double rooms too, huh?" To see what's different about them. And to.. collect data on them.. somehow. Look, Inigo isn't good with this technical stuff, but he's pretty sure Entrapta could somehow find data in anything and find it exciting as heck.

Tiny Food

[worthallthis]

The food is what catches Soldat's attention. While they've seen her and her magic hair around, they somehow haven't managed to catch her making these things before, and now they're kind of baffled. "Do you prefer your meals in smaller pieces?" they ask, vaguely concerned. They'll do it, if it's something she needs, though at least she's not on one of the teams they have to make mission meals for.

[sciencegirl]

"Mmhm! Well, I actually like tiny food in general. It's so cute! And it's easy to eat while I'm working."

She finishes what's basically a ham sandwich slider. "My staff used to make them but I'm having to figure out how to do it myself."

Sometimes she just finds smaller plates to serve herself food on. Like it's a full meal each, but on three saucers. She chooses then to introduce herself. "I'm Entrapta." She's given up on mentioning the 'princess' bit for now. No one from home has shown up.

[worthallthis]

"Nice to meet you. Officially." Since they've definitely seen her about and heard her on the ICPs. "I'm Soldat. I didn't know you liked your food small like that," they admit. Time to start learning how to make in miniature, they guess. It doesn't look too complicated, at least not for sandwiches. "I didn't know people made food small like that," they add, kind of baffled by the concept. (Honestly, who cares if food is cute? She does, apparently. It is cute! Of course you'd have an opinion on something stupid.)

Tiny Food

[intelinside]

By the time Phineas is passing through it for the third time, later that evening, Entrapta's a new sight in the dining car. Not an incredibly strange one -- he's seen weirder than unusually active purple hair -- but something about the way her hair moves gives him pause anyway.

He returns her friendliness with a smile, though. "Thanks. I probably should get food instead of just more coffee."

As he's passing by he does notice the robotic designs, but doesn't say anything immediately. When he comes back with his own soup, he nods to her. "Mind if I sit here? I don't want to interrupt." If she's busy working, she might not want to talk right now. He knows how that can be. But he's definitely intrigued.

[sciencegirl]

"Sure!" she offers, still smiling a little as she reaches over with a twisted lock of hair and pulls out the chair for him politely. She picks up one of her cups of soup to take a sip of it.

"We usually don't have to worry about food. The train updates the stores at every platform. There's technically a finite supply but we've not had any trouble with it, even with a bunch of teenagers around. Considering their caloric needs far outweigh those of adults the train has done a great job of sustaining them adequately."

There was more information than he really needed to know. But perhaps it wasn't unwelcome.

"I'm Entrapta, by the way." She extends another lock of hair, forms it into the shape of a hand, and offers it to shake instead of her real one which is now feeding her another bite of her sandwich.

[intelinside]

The way she uses her hair as extra limbs without a second thought is definitely familiar, and he returns the smile with a, "Thanks," as she pulls the chair out for him.

And more information than he needed or not, it is good information to have, that food isn't going to be an issue. "So whoever conscripted us is making sure we have everything we need," he notes. Except, from what he's heard, information. At least certain information.

Then Entrapta is introducing herself, and the way her hair takes the shape of a hand is actually more surprising than the fact that she's offering it to shake in the first place. He only blinks for a moment, then takes it, shaking it about as easily as he would a hand. And it does feel like actual hair, not wire or anything synthetic. "Phineas Mason. I noticed you're working on something. A robot?"

obligatory food post because i mean it's cherry

[fightcreamsundae]

Cherry was finally doing her part to explore the train and see what all was different and what all was the same. She had been up and down the train, as well as generally all around. She'd run into people and talked, maybe ducked her head and avoided some. She was now curious what the food of the month was supposed to be.

She stopped when she saw Entrapta, though. There were more dishes around her than she expected. Cherry knew just enough about Entrapta that it was probably going to be okay if she got a little bit nosy.

"Hi Entrapta!" She grinned as her tail twitched cheerily. She leaned over to look at what was left of the mini-sammiches, the soups, examined the smoothie, then she sat down across from Entrapta.

"Couldn't decide what you wanted? Or maybe wanted all of those and didn't want just one? That's really smart! When I get back home I'm gonna have to remember that so that when the kids are being super indecisive I can just make them all of what they want! ...And maybe next time I'm being super indecisive I can do that too so I don't have to make something and then get tired of it halfway through... But what all did you make!?"

[sciencegirl]

"Nope! I just like tiny food!" She declares, picking up one of the teacups of soup to drink from. "Mostly I just made some little sandwiches. And tomato soup and cream of mushroom soup and this noodle soup which I've already mostly eaten. I could add the nori to it!"

She isn't a great cook. Most of that was canned and warmed up, the rest saved as leftovers. Luckily the train is full of teenagers and she knows those leftovers will vanish in a timely fashion.

"In my castle I had a mostly robot staff, but the human staff I had made my tiny food. They were all talented and experienced chefs. They left the castle when they thought I was dead, though, and that made me sad. I swear, you disappear for five minutes and people think you're dead!"

Though it was actually much more complicated than that, but now is the time to occupy her mouth with tiny sandwich instead of words.

[goingthroughaphase]

A bit surprised, Kitty ends up phasing through the other girl to avoid running into her, turning back to look at her.

"No, that's okay," she said with a small smile. "Sorry about that."

[sciencegirl]

"Hi, Kitty!" Entrapta greets her with her usual enthusiasm. "So what do you think? There's absolutely no further room in our cabins and the carriage is only increased in length enough to accommodate stairs. But! I haven't measured the new cabins yet."

She 'walks' after her on her hair. "How are you doing, by the way? Met anyone new and interesting yet?"

Tiny Food

[firewalled]

"Hey." Rich gives Entrapta a small smile, one a little more genuine than the last time they talked. He seems to be in a better mood, at least until he sees the designs she's looking at. His eyebrow twitches a bit, but he tries to keep the fear out of his voice.

"What's that you're working on?"

[sciencegirl]

"Oh! Hey. This is going to be Claudette!" She still sounds delighted, even if Rich is a little afraid. "She's my newest robot! She's meant to protect Orange Team on missions and help people in the gymnasium with their training sometimes."

She pauses, though. Right. Rich's experiences...

"...Don't worry, not all robots are dicks. Her personality is going to be more like a friendly pet. She'll benefit from being friends with us, not from being enemies."