voidtreckermods: (sparkly train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2021-05-01 07:50 am

A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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!
ballseeker: (12)

platform

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-05-02 12:04 am (UTC)(link)

Bulma has always been, perhaps, a bit too curious for her own good. It means that despite all the din of new arrivals and seeing if Bulla had, in fact, been returned to her world, she catches a hint of an instrument being played and decides to go and see what this is all about. She supposes an instrument is the least threatening thing that could be around on the platform and, really.. with Vegeta around?

She could scream and have things dealt with that easily.

Anyway - she approaches Zelda with a little smile, listening for a moment and waiting for a pause.

"That's beautiful. What's the instrument?"
wisdominshadows: Zelda in three-quarter profile (forty two)

[personal profile] wisdominshadows 2021-05-02 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Why, thank you," Zelda bows her head in greeting.

"And this is called an ocarina- kin to the flute or recorder, but with an enclosed body. It's a popular instrument in my homeland, particularly amongst travelers."
ballseeker: (04)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-05-02 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)

"Interesting. I've never heard one before." Of course, she could have heard a version in her world and it just didn't look the same, but let's face it - Bulma wasn't necessarily a classic music type either. Still, the mother in her takes over, and Bulma pauses for a moment to warn -

"Just don't get caught out of the train when it announces it's getting ready to leave. I've heard it's pretty unpleasant."
wisdominshadows: HW: looking forward (thirty nine)

[personal profile] wisdominshadows 2021-05-02 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"You're not the first person here to tell me that," Zelda looks amused. "Strange, that something so common on one world would be so unusual in others."

There's a moment when she almost seems to start at that particular tone. "Of course, ma'am. I've no wish to injure myself in pursuit of something futile."

She gives a slight shrug, and a look around. "And I assure you, becoming stranded is the last thing I want to do. I only mean to stretch my legs a bit."
ballseeker: (Default)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-05-03 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)

"We might have a version of it - to be fair I'm not exactly an ocarina music kind of girl when I listen to music." If anything it's something electronic in the end, meant to keep her moving even when she's tired and spent countless hours in R&D trying to finish up this next little tidbit or something or other.

"I totally get it, trust me." She laughs lightly. "I'm used to running after two.. well, three - kids all the time, running a lab and everything else. Being on a train is practically a vacation with all the straight lines I walk instead."
wisdominshadows: adult Zelda (thirty seven)

[personal profile] wisdominshadows 2021-05-04 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Does your world have something closer to the screens in the music carriage, then?" If nothing else, Zelda's been getting better at guessing who's from the higher-technology worlds.

"Unfortunately, in Hyrule things are much simpler. The only music available is that which we make ourselves." Absently, she turns the little instrument over in her hand.

"You have children? Ah, that explains the voice."
ballseeker: (01)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-05-04 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)

"Oh, if my world only had something like that, then my dad and I would be falling behind." Bulma laughs at the thought. Of course, she's the woman who has a capsule to hold her entire toolbox in one much smaller, much lighter container that she can fit in her pocket. Worlds are insane things, she's found.

The differences can surprise even her.

"There are a lot of people from similar worlds I think. So you're about to be on a whole new trip technology wise. If you need any help just let me know.. this stuff is pretty basic for me." Genius brain and all.

"The voice?" Bulma questions even though she can sort of guess, wondering what she means by it. "I have two. My daughter was here until recently but she's been returned to her world. So now there's only my son, Trunks."
wisdominshadows: HW: looking forward (thirty nine)

[personal profile] wisdominshadows 2021-05-07 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"I've been trying to learn more while I've been here, but filling in the 'hows' and the 'whys' can be rather more difficult than I would like. Thank you for the offer; I might take you up on it."

It would be practical to learn more, given Team Orange's frequent posting to high-technology missions.

"Mistress Nerdanel had three of her sons on the train when she was here, and she sometimes used a similar tone when talking to them. Or to many others here, really," Zelda explains.

"And I'm sorry for your loss. It's difficult when the presence of the people you care for here is so precarious."
ballseeker: (Default)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-05-09 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)

"Things around here are much more simple than what I make at home, so just let me know." And, it would appear, they are on the same team, so Bulma is quick to also offer : "We're also on the same team, so we'll be seeing each other fairly often I would think. If you ever run into a boy with purple hair - he's my son. He can explain these things too if you're in need in a pinch." She would offer Vegeta's time, but she also knows that her husband is not necessarily the friendliest man in the world, and so that would become an odd offer.

"Ah, yeah.. never thought I'd have the mom tone not all that long ago, and yet -" Bulma laughs, thinking about it. Sure, they hadn't planned on Trunks, but here they are anyway.

"I'm glad that I know she grows up to look exactly like me, still." Bulma laughs, vain as always, and finding it easier to think back on things with a happier tone than be sad to see Bulla go. Maybe she's soaked up a little more from Vegeta than she's willing to admit. "She'll be okay in her world, though. So, one day I'll be living with a girl that gets mistaken for me all the time again."