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

Beau Lionett | OTA

[flurryofbeaus]

I. Platform
This isn't Zadash. That isn't Beauregard's first thought as she comes back to herself surrounded by sticky heat and billowing...steam? Fog? It is, however the first thought that doesn't amount to a string of expletives. She turns in a slow circle, squinting through the dissipating clouds of clinging, damp vapour, straining to make out a familiar face in the slowly-resolving collection of humanoid figures.

Or a familiar anything, for that matter. The platform is like nothing she's ever seen, the wood-and-stone tree like something she'd expect in some pre-calamity ruin, save for the fact that it's in astonishingly good repair considering how wet everything feels.

Her brief search is disrupted by a distand roaring, and her attention jerks back towards the tracks as she drops into a defensive stance, clearly anticipating something more hostile than the...

She has no idea what the thing that roars up to the platform is, and the fact that it opens to disgorge a pack of strangely dressed people into the damp heat before shrouding itself in vapour again doesn't do much to narrow it down.

"What," she asks of no one in particular, "the fuck?"

II. Still the platform
After the initial jolt of shock has abated somewhat, after she's attempted to follow one of the blank-eyes departees to no effect, after she's found - thank Ioun - her wizard, after she's rifled through her rucksack and found her gloves, Beau still has a lot of questions.

And so, in the brief time period before the fog clears and everyone is ushered aboard the train, she'll stalk up to one of the people she'd seen exit the giant metal monstrosity and greet them with an abrupt, "The fuck's going on here?"

III. Upper 5B
Beau doesn't hesitate in lobbing her rucksack up onto one of the top bunks in the room she's been assigned, nor in vaulting up after it. If more than one of her roommates also wants a top bunk, too bad. Should have been faster.

She doesn't precisely ignore anyone, but does upend her rucksack on her bed to sift through the items she's been given, sorting them into useful and not immediately useful. In amongst the latter pile are what appear to be the sleeves of the hoodie she's currently wearing, which. At least she kept the fabric?

Once she has the items sorted, she cracks open her notebook and spends the next few moments scribbling something in a cramped hand.

IV. Exploring
Once the train is underway - and damn does she have questions about that, most consisting of 'what', 'why', and a varying array of expletives - Beau sets out to familiarize herself with the rest of the train. On her first pass, she doesn't linger overly long in any of the carriages. Just long enough to inspect them, to poke and prod at unfamiliar devices - which is to say, almost all devices - with a look of wary bafflement, and to perhaps set something loud and obnoxious playing in the cinema car entirely by accident, before moving on.

There are a couple of cars she doubles back to - notably the library and the training gym - and it's in those cars that she can most readily be found over the remainder of her first few days aboard the train, either leafing through some book that's caught her fancy, or attempting to pummel some unfortunate training dummy to dust with her bare hands.

IV

[miseris_socios]

When Beau wanders into the training gym on the second day there's a sign taped to the door in a messy hand.

NOT a real gun, don't freak out.

And true to the sign's words there's a gunshot as she walks in, Nemesis appearing with the sound of breaking glass and a swirl of blue fog. The smaller figure behind her waves his hand and the creature spins, lightning appearing and striking the center dummy in a line of three. She disappears and he walks over towards the dummies, intending to inspect them, but -

"Oh. Um. Hi." There's a backpack and a very sharp-looking spear lying against the wall as well.

[flurryofbeaus]

That sure sounds like a real gun, but fortunately, Beau's distracted enough by the...giant clockwork-looking thing to register such details as where the not-really-a-gun is pointed. Shock and awe: a solid counter to even her perception score.

"Whaaaat the fuck," she says more than asks, staring at the spot where the apparition had disappeared for a moment before her gaze jags to the kid who'd been controlling it.

Which is a very different kind of what the fuck moment. These assholes kidnap kids. That is not okay.

"Hey. So your gun shoots monsters? You might've buried the lede a little with that sign."

[miseris_socios]

He lowers the 'gun' and shrugs at that statement. "Most people rush in when they hear the gun, and that's when they attack her. So I was trying to stop people from rushing in."

He crosses his arms, falling into what's probably a somewhat familiar stance to Beau. Chest puffed out slightly, legs planted solidly , gaze almost a glare. He knows what a lot of people think of him fighting. He's tough enough to take care of himself.

[flurryofbeaus]

Oh, she definitely recognizes that stance, though she's more used to being on the other side of it. The kid's expecting her to give him shit, which means it's probably the least useful possible response.

Not least because it's not like any of them chose this.

"I kinda get that," she admits. "Not always easy to tell that the magical monster belongs to someone on your side if you don't have a heads up. You usually have her summoned longer, or is it kind of a one-shot deal?"

[miseris_socios]

"She usually shows up for one attack and then disappears before I summon her again. I can try to keep her out longer but it's not worth it when I can just do it again. I don't really know why they work the way they do." He shrugs and tucks his Evoker into his pocket. "She's called a Persona. A part of myself I summon to help fight. Pretty much the only thing that can kill the monsters that lurk around in my world."

Sure, stabbing them works, but not nearly as well for the more powerful ones.

II.

[wisdominshadows]

"Would you prefer your answer to be succinct or comprehensive?"

The blonde, elven-eared girl she's approached looks at her with a calm visage and a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I can provide either, but at this point the latter might be tricky before the train departs."

[flurryofbeaus]

Elves. They always manage to make Beau feel a little grubby, even when she isn't in wholly unfamiliar and entirely too warm attire in the middle of a fake jungle.

(Elves would explain the whole stone tree thing, if it weren't for the fact that most of the other people she'd seen come from the enormous metal monstrosity were distinctly not elven.)

"That's the construct that coughed you all up?" she asks, suppressing shudder. Beauregard Lionett is far from a coward, but that thing is daunting "I'm not really interested in going anywhere until I know what's going on, so let's go with comprehensive."

[wisdominshadows]

"That would be the one," Zelda agrees wryly.

"Unfortunately, the first thing I have to tell you is that you won't have much of a choice in the matter. We are all, unfortunately, tethered to the Voidtrecker Express and the connection cannot be broken by any means we have access to. The train itself, when it deigns to answer questions, claims that any departures are caused by a disruption of that connection."

She tilts her head toward the barrier, where the blank-faced line passed into the mist.

"What that means for you at the moment: yes, you've been kidnapped. No, no one on the platform has the power or authority to send you back home. And should you attempt to stay here while the train leaves, you will instantly die and find yourself resurrected on the train the next day."

[flurryofbeaus]

"That's convenient," Beau says dryly, though her gaze lingers on the barrier, something uneasy blurring the edges of her expression.

"--Has anyone tested that, or are we relying on handed-down stories of staying behind meaning certain death?"

Which is actually the easier part of the story to believe. There are spells that can kill nigh-instantaneously. Resurrection, though - that's harder, and even less a sure thing.

IV - a day or so after they've gotten moving

[darknessinzero]

It's when Beau enters the library that she finds the two of them together; downstairs at one of the tables, but with books clearly belonging upstairs in nonfiction. There's also a paper between them, having appeared to be handed back and forth as one or the other writes notes or makes a sketch upon it, and they're in mid-conversation-

"-then, it makes sense that this train can not only cross clusters of realms- realities, as it were- but that there must be some sort of level 'above' from which more entities like it reside." Higher than Caleb's Gods, even.

[katzenpfote]

"Perhaps, though I'm not certain what can cross the Divine Gate. If it's some sort of deity, maybe it has some measure of control, but to take so many and so quickly...." He's not so sure. "There was some incident about twenty years ago, but I believe a lot of the records are sealed, and -"

Hang on, his Empire Kid senses are tingling. He glances up and waves Beau over, where their diagrams are sketched out - Beau will instantly recognize a very cramped but familiar layout, squashed to half a page.

[flurryofbeaus]

Beau saunters over, pausing to lean over the table and study the paper before she drops into a chair with the sort of studied gracelessness that couldn't be anything but deliberate.

"The Chained Oblivion, maybe," she says, of things that could pass the Divine Gate unchecked. "I mean, that's the nightmare scenario, right? It gets free and brings the whole thing down. --Hi." The last, belatedly, is to Ansem.

[darknessinzero]

"Perhaps we should use another term, then, other than 'deity', to describe the train and her kind..." Ansem trails off as Caleb invites another over, glancing briefly towards her before back at his companion. "The friend you spoke of, I assume?" he ventures, as she promptly, well. Invites herself to the conversation.

(To his credit, he seems more amused than offended.)

"Hello- I take it this 'Chained Oblivion' is one of the entities of your world?" It certainly doesn't sound very friendly, not by the way she's speaking.

ii

[flatteries]

Well, that sure is one way to be greeted on the platform.

Inigo even seems to do a double take as he hears those words. He immediately stops walking and stares at her, his eyes wide. Then he shakes his head, as if to shake his thoughts back into order, and it's only then that the boy seems to be able to find some words.

"Ah.. Please, milady. I understand that you must be.. very confused." To put it lightly. "But trust me, all of us are stuck in the exact same situation as you are."

Not that it's necessarily a good thing, but.. he's just trying to say they're on the same side, because this person sure looks ready to hit him over the head or something. Pacifying first, answers second!

[flurryofbeaus]

"Uh-huh." Her eyebrows lift in an expression of clear skepticism, and she crosses her arms over her chest as she looks him up and down. It probably looks like she's weighing whether or not she can take him in a fight.

Which, to be fair, she definitely is. She may have agreed - sort of - to avoiding immediate violence, but that doesn't mean she's not going to scope out the nominal other side.

"So you, what, just woke up after some creep shoved you into new clothes, but you did it in the belly of...that?" She jerks her head towards the solid wall of fog where the giant metal monstrosity presumably still lurks.

[flatteries]

The main saving grace is that, while Inigo does recognize that expression, he has so much experience with it that it's not quite enough to immediately send him running for the hills. This is exactly how his female friends looked at least half of the time back home...

Women are so terrifying.

But he manages to keep a smile on his face, though perhaps a tad more awkward now, as he shakes his head and explains.

"It happened to us earlier. You see, all of the people you saw coming out of that train found themselves on a platform much like this one at a given point in time. And all of us had no choice but to board that train, since there's no other way to leave these platforms." Inigo pauses, his smile shrinking a bit as he seems to turn more serious. "It's already been.. what, I think nine or ten months ago for me now."

[flurryofbeaus]

"So what about the people who headed out there?" she asks, jerking a thumb towards the barrier. "They looked like they were under some fucked up charm spell, but they were definitely leaving. What happened to them?"

It's possible there's a hint of concern hidden under the blunt interrogation, but if it's there, it's buried very, very deep.

I

[labcatte]

"That," says the orange and black probably-a-tabaxi standing next to her, "is exactly what I'd like to know."

[flurryofbeaus]

Beau glances over and up, scrutinzing the felinoid person beside her for a moment before blowing out a slow breath and remarking, "Shit. Someone's really going all out on the colour coordination."

Which may not be the most important issue at hand, but seriously? Sticking a tigerish tabaxi in an orange hoodie is a little much.

[labcatte]

"Yeah," they say, huffing a loud sigh. "I mean, I like orange, but this is way too much for me. I'd have rather they put me in blue or purple. Some cool color for contrast."

IV

[dragoonrouge]

Over her many years as an Adventurer Q'uila has developed something of an eye for those who would make excellent sparring partners and what she sees of Beau as she enters the training room ticks practically all of them.

"Hello there!" Q'uila calls across the room, "Are you a Monk per chance?"

[flurryofbeaus]

Beau doesn't answer immediately, delivering one last series of strikes to the dummy before bouncing back on her heels, out of the way of any retaliatory strike that might have come were her opponent not entirely inanimate.

"Yeah," she says. "Cobalt Soul."

And only then does she turn towards Q'uila. "Whiiiiich probably doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

People come in many shapes and sizes on Exandria, and animal features are far from unheard of, but the particular mix of feline and humanoid isn't anything Beau has ever seen or read about. All things considered, it seems like a pretty good indication that they're not from the same world.

[dragoonrouge]

"I am afraid that that is not a term familiar to me but your form is similar to what I have observed of those who practice the monastic arts on my world."

Q'uila's head cocks to the side as she regards Beau, "When you fight, do rely on pure physical strength or do you augment your attacks to deal more damage to your foes?"

[flurryofbeaus]

"Speed and precision," Beau replies. She blows an errant piece of hair out of her eyes, then bends at the waist, sliding into a cooldown stretch, though her head remains tilted up so she can keep an eye on Q'uila. "Pretty much the first thing we learn is where and how to hit - get the right pressure point, and you can lock the asshole you're fighting up like a suit of rusty armour. It's pretty cool."

She grins, her teeth a brief flash of white. "But I can augment my strikes, yeah. Comes in handy fighting something that thinks it should be intangible. Guessing you've dealt with some weird shit in your time?"