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]

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.

[sciencegirl]

"I am!" Says the woman who can get excited over a set of measurements just for the sheer joy of observation.

"Oh, I definitely am. The chores are really in my favor. I can have Sandra do them while I scan the rooms for anomalies!" And she is most definitely taking Sandra to help 'cause she is 100% sure that married couples are going to be doing married couple things in there. They don't need to be as discrete. Sandra can be handling that and she will sterilize her afterward.

"Have you noticed anything else different?"

[flatteries]

He seems to think for a moment, but then slowly shakes his head.

"It mostly seems to have messed with the sleeper carriages this time, right?" Even those new rooms for hire.. quite a few of them seemed to be private bedrooms. Like there's some sort of theme going on.

But even after he answers that, Inigo is still thinking for a moment. He wants to be helpful to Entrapta, so if there's anything else he can remember, he'll gladly share it with her.

".. oh! Right! Have you seen the new ingredient of the month? It seems rather.. odd to me."

(They sure don't have Japanese food where Inigo comes from.)

[sciencegirl]

"Actually, I haven't heard of it, either!" She's suitably distracted, then, pulled away from taking observations.

"Let's go look!" she decides, whether or not Inigo comes with her, and starts scuttling off in that direction. Eventually she moves from walking on her hair to actually using her feet. Apparently this depends entirely on her mood.

[flatteries]

".. you could've waited a moment, you know.."

It's a weak protest though. And nothing about the way she just starts moving off without him really repels her from following, apparently, since a second later he's already jogging to try and catch up with her. At least he knows it's nothing personal - that this just is the way Entrapta Is. Easily distracted by the possibility of new discoveries.

Which is why thankfully Inigo doesn't look like a totally kicked puppy for once while he follows. Instead he tries to look a little amused.

"You really have ten people's worth of energy, don't you?"

[sciencegirl]

"Probably! Most of it's in my hair." That's only partially a joke. Her hair is very magically enhanced.

She wiggles hair "fingers" at him, in the shape of hands, wearing a mischievous look. "It's easier to save up with that kind of multitasking."

[flatteries]

Inigo may not have a great idea of how human anatomy works, but honestly, he'd believe it if there was some secret energy source in her hair. It'd explain how it can move and do all of those things by itself - and also why Entrapta is just so amazingly Entrapta.

"I don't know, I feel like I might pass out if I did as many things as you in one day." And even though he's smiling, and there's a joking edge to the words, Inigo doesn't mean it in a bad way. He thinks Entrapta's work ethic is something to be admired, though he isn't always sure if it's being used for the right or best purposes.

(He is, however, not lying that he'd definitely pass out. That's just too much for him to keep up with.)

"I'm half surprised you haven't managed to transform the entire train yet with the things you make." Like that robot she was making.

[sciencegirl]

"I know I do a lot, but I divide myself up between projects and do a little at a time. I don't know how long I'll be here. I see people leave all the time. So I want to have a chance to touch what I can while I can because I don't want it and everybody to be taken away before I lose my chance to get to know them or get to see things finished."

It's a very real concern for her, losing people.

"I've never had this many friends before. Especially friends that try to understand me."

She's had a few friends, just not quite this many. Not many people like her. Of course, she'd have less friends if she hadn't learned from her previous ones not to put special interests before the emotions of those around her or more importang goals. And she in turn had to learn to ask people to be blunt with her. It's made her time on the train much easier.

But still, even if she goes home, she doesn't want to lose what she has here! "I want to think when we have to go, we get to keep everything we've learned. I really want to keep everyone I've met here. So I just... I do a lot. Because doing things with people lets me get to know them, and I can do something I like with them, and if I have the energy to do it then that's what I would like it to go towards."

[flatteries]

"I'm glad to hear you have quite a few friends."

It's what, in Inigo's opinion, has to be said upfront. First and foremost. Because it's just true - he really is glad to hear it. Entrapta made something for him right after the first time they spoke, after all, and it's cemented her in his mind as a kind person, despite her eccentricities. But then again, the people on the train all tend to be a little weird themselves, or not minding things being a little weird, so Inigo isn't too surprised to hear about people having taken to her.

It's good. No one should have to be alone, especially not in a place like this.

"Though.. yes. It's difficult, the way people constantly leave." Oh boy, does Inigo ever know about that. And while his tone is a little wistful as he says it, he manages to keep most of the emotions about it down, instead smiling slightly. "But it's good that you're choosing to do something productive with it instead, I think. Still.. if you ever need to talk about it, you can come look for me anytime, alright?"

[sciencegirl]

She considers that, slowing down even more. It's not that she's forgotten the nori... well okay, she's starting to, because she's distracted. But she's now thinking about what Inigo said.

"...Do you ever feel a little guilty for being okay? Everyone here is hurting so much. Sure, I get sad when people go. But I'm usually okay. It's not that I didn't care and it may look like I didn't care, but I always am pretty sure I took something important away from knowing them.

"I've sometimes wondered if I'm just hiding being sad from myself, but I genuinely just feel like I'll be alright."

She's not great with feelings at all. They're confusing and they tumble over each other and she's so distractable and fixated she doesn't latch onto those ruminating thoughts the way other people would. All that sadness goes into productive energy. Emotions are translated into work. Her only way to deal with broken friends is to search for proactive fixits.

[flatteries]

(Don't worry, Inigo will remember the nori and get them there eventually later on.

.. probably.)

But right now it's true that he, too, is a little more focused on this conversation. Because he doesn't want Entrapta to feel bad, or feel like there's anything wrong with her emotions. Though, now he's thinking about it, he doesn't think he's seen Entrapta ever looking anything but.. well, her usual excited-about-science-or-data-nerd kind of happy.

"Of course it's not bad if you're feeling okay. Everyone deals with grief differently." And no matter how maturely Inigo is speaking about it right now, he knows he falls on the side of those who deal with it absolutely terribly. But he's good enough at brushing that fact under the rug in front of others that he can speak about it like this now.

"If you're able to actually move on, it's a good thing. It's admirable." Inigo looks at her. "Never feel weird or bad for the way you feel."

Okay, maybe that advice was a little hypocritical, but.. look, do as Inigo says, not as he does!

"But, just in case, I wanted to ask.. You're sure you'll be alright? If that ever changes and you feel like you might not be alright after all, that's fine too."

[sciencegirl]

"No! I'm okay. I'll let you know. I promise. I just have trouble figuring things out sometimes."

Her own emotions are a mystery to her. All the valuable stuff her parents should have told her she never learned- maybe she never would have learned it, either. Her parents were very reclusive and eccentric. But even if she had the normal capacity for emotion, a normal balancing of chemicals, she still grew up judging the behavior of others from the actions of robots.

She has gotten in trouble for her feelings, though. Or... maybe it was her priorities? And not her feelings? It's difficult, again, to tell what people mean. She thinks it was her priorities.

Speaking of which, because that conversation is confusing, she hefts herself up on her hair again. "Do you know how to cook? I'm not very good at recipes. There are too many unexpected variables related to ingrediant consistancy."

[flatteries]

"Uh.. well, I'm a master at roasting wildlife." Maybe not exactly the answer she was looking for, but he's just being honest. Inigo is not so great at regular cooking, considering that hunting wildlife and eating it was pretty much the entire extent of his cooking experience back home.. "But.. I can chop vegetables too by now?"

A true improvement.

(Truth to be told, he may be putting all of this in a slightly lighter and funnier way than he usually would - it can't hurt to make things a little lighter, rather than focusing on Entrapta's problems with emotions and how to figure them out, right? They can always return to that later.)

"A lot of the kitchen equipment is mostly still a mystery to me. We didn't cook like this at all back home."

[sciencegirl]

"Oh, good! We can both mess up the food." She's all for it. Experimentation often results in failure before success, correct? That's the way it goes.

This time she uses her feet to get to the kitchen, but she is short. So she just ends up quickly walking by Inigo. "And you've never heard of any of this before? I know Mermista would have. Buuuuut I'm from a mining kingdom. Mostly rock. Not a lot of ocean."

[flatteries]

"I.. Let's think a little bit before messing up the food, okay?"

Inigo may not have been too familiar with simple concepts like food poisoning back home. But he's been quickly catching up on it here on the train, and the last thing he wants to do is to have either of them poison the whole train like that. God, that would be the absolute worst. Thankfully it's not Entrapta's team's turn to cook. And by the time orange's turn rolls around, Inigo will just figure out something to distract her. It shouldn't be too hard. Entrapta is easily interested in things.

"But you mean the ingredient for this month? I haven't really looked at it yet." He shakes his head. "Is it.. fish?"

Considering the girl is starting to talk about the ocean.

And that's just about the only seafood Inigo can think of.