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

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[motherofresistance]

Leia never could help a twinge of envy at that particular ability. Rude, Clef, floating like that. Where's your short person solidarity?

But regardless, she smiled just as brightly upon seeing him, clearly recognizing him. "Clef!", she said. "It seems I'm not the only former resident of Nautilus to end up here. Good to see you."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[guru_clef]

He would be happy to teach you! And he's... not proud... of the things he's done to deal with how short he is. Especially in the Storms. This one, at least, took skill and practice.

So much relief on his face.

"Far from it. Zelda is here, though she has no memories of Naut, and I do not even know if she is the same Zelda we knew, given the odd cycles on Hyrule. Link is here," huge beaming happy smile when he said that. He wasn't even aware of the smile. "And he remembers. Nita was here," the smile vanished, then. "She did remember, but oddly did not have her Bending. You just missed her by about a month, however. There might be others here as well, but if there are, they are people who rarely come into the library, as that is where I can be found between missions. Come, I have a comfortable rock set up in there for us to sit upon and we can talk. I can explain what I know if this place, and perhaps you can help me solve a few mysteries that have eluded me thus far."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[motherofresistance]

Leia nodded at Clef's explanation. "It's also entirely possible that Zelda is the same Zelda, just the version of her who never Woke," she said. "And it's too bad that I missed Nita; I'd have like a chance to catch up with her."

"As for Bending..." Experimentally, she held out her hand and Bent up a flat, rectangular, palm-sized metal box adorned with images of small blue flowers. "It seems I still have mine. Though I think think I may have lost the power boost we all got after defeating the Isis shard; it doesn't feel quite as powerful as it has recently." She slipped the box into her pocket for later; it would be handy to keep her hairpins in.

And she wasn't at all surprised to hear that Clef had setting into the library once he'd found out that the train had one. She did wonder though, why he would choose to sit on a rock, even a comfortable one, when most libraries- even ones small enough to fit into a train car- had proper chairs. "I'll be sure and stop by the library later, but I'd rather take a look around first, meet some more people."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[guru_clef]

He shook his head lightly. "We are further from the chaos here. That takes some getting used to, but it is not onerous. And we will have ample opportunities to practice," he added, dryly.

When she saw the rock, she'd understand. It left him eye level with most average adult humans when they walked in and lacked arm rests that would get in the way of floating books.

"I look forward to catching up with you there, when you do."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[motherofresistance]

It was still a rock, good sir. Even if you needed to be taller, there were much better seating options that could be Bent up.

"That may well be it," Leia said. "Or possibly whoever or whatever brought us here likes to limit the potential damage, should someone they bring in get a bit too rowdy."

"And no sense in delaying catching up, if you'd rather talk now. This platform might be a bit louder- and more humid- than the library likely is, but we can certainly get caught up on the basics at least. Like, for example, how've you been?"

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[guru_clef]

Most of those other choices are to pretentious and make the height reasoning too obvious. This just added to him seeming odd. Also... they rarely got to go outside here. So he brought a bit of the outside inside.

"While that is possible, given the amount of energy it apparently costs the train just to communicate, it does not seem likely. But we can theorize, and hopefully from there we can figure out how better to work with the train and regain our ability to travel on our own."

"If you wish." He sat down on the grass inside of his bubble and left his staff standing beside him. "I have been learning much. Yourself?" Probably not quite what she meant by that question...

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[motherofresistance]

No, not quite what she'd meant. But very Clef. She smiled a bit. "I've been helping the first crop of new Wakened get settled, and explaining things to them," Leia said. "It's a bit different than before in some ways, but in others it's just like it was in Nautilus. Thankfully they've all been settling in fairly well, so my vanishing shouldn't cause too much of a problem. That is, assuming the oddities of time between there and everywhere else don't make it a moot point."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[guru_clef]

"That was always an unpredictable factor, even there," he agreed. "I hadn't been aware that staying had been an option, though I suspect we would have left for a time even had we known. Zelda had an idea, and I had promised Link a trip both to his world and mine."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[motherofresistance]

Leia nodded. "And another unpredictable factor," she said, "this place seems capable of bypassing the normal rules regarding leaving Nautilus or Kaliste. We still have our memories of it and our Bending abilities, but we're not detached from this world. I didn't think that was possible, for some very good reasons."

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars (Wake CRAU) | OTA

[guru_clef]

"This is also true. I take solace in the lack of flaws, but there is still much to learn. And the library here is not quite so robust as what we have become accustomed to."

[motherofresistance]

"Yes, I don't think a train car would quite be able to compete with Yggdrasil's library in terms of storage without some spacial trickery," Leia said. "Still, something is better than nothing. And I think we're all grateful for the lack of flaws." Still, best not to overuse Bending where they could help it.

[guru_clef]

"I would not put such spacial trickery as beyond the capacity of the train, all things considered. However size was not the only way in which the library is lacking. There are few books, and space for an order of magnitude more. I have spent much of my allotment of points towards purchasing additional tomes."

[motherofresistance]

"Ah," Leia said. "Well that's definitely something we can work on then. Since I assume we're all here for the foreseeable future, much like in Nautilus."

[guru_clef]

"That does seem to be the case. I set up a spell to allow me to copy any book I read as I read it, so that the train has a copy and I have a personal copy. I can teach you the spell, if you wish."

[motherofresistance]

"That may be useful at some point down the line," Leia said. "But I suspect that what the train needs is more unique books, not copies of existing ones. Besides, outside the library, I imagine that storage space for books is at something of a premium."

[guru_clef]

"I am spending my points to purchase new books. And the copies are not so that the train has duplicates but so that I can keep copies for myself absent any guilt," he admitted with a grin. "And for me, storage space has never been an issue."

[motherofresistance]

"It would be for me, though," Leia said. "So I think I'll pass for now. But it's good that you're able to get new books as well. Any particular genre or subject you've been focusing on, or is it random?"

[guru_clef]

"A lot of the same things that I have been studying in Naut. Ways to keep the chaos from changing who I am, and who I understand myself to be. Anything else I can learn as well, but a focus on that."