voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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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!

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He laughs. Not loudly, but just a little bit. Just enough to try and keep the mood relatively light as Inigo shakes his head.

"No, it's fine. I'm no good with that." Dancing? Sure, he can do that. But Inigo isn't exactly the type who has dabbled into trying to play an instrument.

Besides, it's not what's important here. It's not what he wants to focus on.

"Having a bit of trouble on this platform day?" Even though what they're saying is really vague, Inigo feels that it kind of implies something like that.

They hitch one shoulder in half a shrug. "Not trouble, really. Just a couple friends left today." They know Inigo knows how that feels. Given the strength of Inigo's reaction to the whole thing, they actually feel a little ashamed for feeling badly over a couple people they only knew for two months, and probably weren't even properly friends with.

"Ah.."

It's a sound of realisation. And more than anything, it's a sound of understanding. Since it's true. If there's one negative emotion Inigo understands more than anything else, it's this exact one. That terrible strong negative feeling that weighs down on you every time you have to watch people leave on this train, knowing you might never see them again. Not even being sure they're really going home.

Inigo smiles, but there's something sad to it. Something sympathetic.

"I'm so sorry," he says, as if this isn't some problem he deals with all the time himself. He really just wants to focus on their pain instead of his own here. "It must have been so hard to watch them walk away."

He shakes his head a little. "Do you want to talk about it? I can't imagine sitting here and thinking about it over and over by yourself is making you feel much better."

Soldat gently plunks another couple of keys down, ones they've determined sound nice together, making what amounts to a major triad. "I've lost a lot of people, Inigo. Back in Beacon. There were only thirteen of us, in the end. And everyone I ever knew from before, back when I was a person with a family and everything, they're all dead." Except Steve. And this isn't even quite his Steve.

The point is: "I should be used to this."

Now isn't that a familiar sentiment.

They're words Inigo could have spoken himself, and that realisation hits him like a truck. He pauses for a moment, though he's masking the impact of the words by casually moving to lean on the top of the piano, like he's thinking about them.

"I think that the moment you fully get used to it, and don't get sad at all anymore.. That's when someone stops being human."

After all, aren't their emotions what makes them human? What makes them who they are? No matter how much Inigo at times pretends to be unaffected by things, he knows that on the inside he feels every little thing.

"Even though it's hard, and even though it sucks to constantly feel those things.. At the same time those feelings are proof that we aren't too far gone yet."

Soldat breathes out slow, then chuckles faintly. Inigo continues to remind them of Sora. That sounds exactly like something he'd say, which frankly doesn't help the homesickness and sense of grief. At least Sora they feel like they knew long enough to warrant that kind of feeling.

They play another trio of notes, this one a key higher. "I know what it's like for those feelings to go away," they agree. "It ain't pretty. I'd rather have this, even if it's hard. I just wish there wasn't so much of it, sometimes."

"Too much of a 'good' thing, huh."

Inigo says iwth a slightly wistful smile on his face. He knows exactly why they know what it's like for those feelings to go away, after all, and so he can imagine why Soldat would be glad to at least be able to experience his own feelings. Able to feel freely.

Even if that means the things you're feeling aren't always good.

"I really get it though. It's why I also wish this place worked differently." If there's anything he's been wishing for, ever since Inigo found himself on this train in the first place, it's that. "It's so unfair to keep seperating people like this. It brings so much hurt."

"Yeah." They understand, they do. And maybe it doesn't help Inigo, but it helps them to think: "At least here we know they're going someplace. That it won't be too dangerous, wherever they're going." People in Beacon who disappeared died. Again. Or turned into the more typical Beacon spirits. It's a little harder to blame themselves for Prisoner walking blank-flamed away from them than it was to blame themselves for not protecting a friend from the dangerous dead world, out there.

He pauses.

Because this moment feels so awkward to Inigo. Since the very problem is that he isn't sure they know that they're going someplace at all. Them walking off the platform like that would indicate so, but-- the answer the train gave him still sits uneasily within him, forming a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The train doesn't know where people go when they leave.

"Y.. Yeah," he slowly answers.

He can't voice that. Not when Soldat's only hope is aimed at the very fact that it's not like Beacon. Inigo can't ruin it by suggesting maybe the same happens to people when they leave here as happens there.

"Maybe you'll see them again sometime," he instead suggests, trying to smile despite how tight his chest feels. Thank Naga he's gotten good at believable smiles even when he feels crappy. "After all, people have showed up twice here on the train before. Multiple people. It's not even that rare."

"Prisoner had already done that, yeah. Gone once, come back." They're not going to hold their breath for seeing him again, honestly, but. It's all right. They'll manage. They always do.

They aren't entirely fooled by that smile, not after the hesitation, the shaky answer. They move their hand from the piano keys to reach over, clearly telegraphing the motion, and grip Inigo's shoulder, warm and bracing. "I'm sorry. I know you've got your own troubles about this shit."

Inigo shakes his head. The words 'it's fine' almost roll across his tongue and out of his mouth, but he swallows them back up at the last moment. Most likely since he knows that isn't going to fly with Soldat - they're going to see through it for sure, given the other conversations they've had.

But he still doesn't want this to be about him here, especially when he's enduring this platform day relatively well in comparison to the other ones. (Which is to say, still not great, but at least he's not as devastated as they were looking a moment ago.)

"That doesn't mean I can't listen to a friend when they need help."

.. It's okay to call Soldat a friend, right? Inigo sure hopes so, though it makes him shyly duck his head slightly a moment after.

"It's just.. bad, because there is so little we can do about it. Other than talk, and hope that helps even slightly." Hence why he's here, trying to listen to Soldat.

It's totally okay. Soldat gaze, not quite on Inigo's eyes but close, does soften at it. "I guess that's why I wasn't. Didn't think about how it upset you, at first. I'm pretty used to not having much I can do about things." Beacon helped to some extent, sure, giving them a little more feeling of control over their own life, but it's easy to fall back on that helplessness.

"Yeah, I.. I know why you'd say that."

He knew Bucky back when the other was on the train, after all. And everything he's heard about Soldat so far does seem to line up with that guy's experiences. So of course he would never have been able to decide things for himself before - or not for a long while, anyway.

"At least that's one good thing about these places, right? I mean.. they're still bad in a lot of ways, and they put us through so much, but.." Inigo shakes his head, staring down at his feet for a moment. "They do give some people chances."

"No system like this is going to be perfect," Soldat agrees, "and I don't wanna think about what would have happened to me, if I hadn't been dragged to Beacon when I died. At least here we've got a purpose and people to help. And friends." They reach over, slow and careful, to wrap the flesh hand around Inigo's wrist just once, and just for a moment. Taking hands is awkward, the angle is bad for a shoulder grab or a hair-ruffle, and it's not the right feeling for a fist-bump. So wrist-hug it is.

It's a bit of a surprising gesture. Mostly since Inigo himself is so physically affectionate that he does the traditional gestures to people all the time. Holding people's hands, hugging them, often without any hesitation.

So this odd wrist-grab-hug is a little weird, and at first he doesn't seem to get it.. But then it seems to slowly dawn upon him.

He smiles a little at Soldat.

"It's sometimes hard to remember all the things you can be happy about when you encounter stuff that makes you sad." Like the people leaving. ".. but I'm glad you remember."

Soldat only holds it until Inigo seems to understand, then lets go again. "Me, too." Then, with a bit more of a smile, "I call that a wrist-hug. Misty was teasing me about actual hugging, which I. Kinda can't do unless somebody's bawling and needs the comfort. So I did that and called it a wrist-hug. It made her laugh." Speaking of happy memories, and all.

"I've noticed that a lot of people here have trouble with being touchy."

Though he can't exactly blame Soldat of all people for it, knowing what they've been through. Hence why Inigo says it as a lightly joking sort of thing, rather than an actual complaint, with a small smile on his face.

"It makes it hard to get by at times for a touchy guy like me. Thanks for meeting me in the middle."

"I'm working on it. Or. I was, before I got pulled here." They look back down at the piano keys and frown a bit. "It's harder here. I haven't been with all of you for so long." It's not safe. No one here is really safe, not yet. Maybe when they've been here for a year... god, that seems like so long.

They sigh, and finish: "But I'm trying."

He could easily make a joke about it. Jokingly say that they do seem like a shady bunch or something, but he's afraid it'd push them a little too far. Soldat has genuine reasons for having a hard time trusting other people, and while Inigo himself is an idiot who trusts anyone who tells him one nice word, he's willing to respect Soldat's different attitude towards it.

He knows it doesn't mean they dislike him.

"That's alright. Just.. try at your own pace." That's the important part, and Inigo smiles a little. "Don't push yourself too hard. You'll get there, even if it might take a while."

"Yeah." They stare a moment more at the piano keys, then make an effort to shake themselves out of it again. Misty'd hate to see them all maudlin. So would a lot of people on this train, even. "I should remake my reminders page. I had a. Aziraphale taught me about New Year Resolutions, and I wrote a few up, and kept it on the fridge. I should make those again, hang them in my cabin or something." The reminder would probably do them good.

.. okay, Inigo can't help but think that's a pretty cute way to keep yourself to your own expectations like that. He's never done anything like it himself, but still..

"Did you manage to live up to any of the old ones yet?" Since he did say he wrote up a few before. "Or are you going to have to write all the same ones down again?"

"Everything's still in progress," Soldat admits. "Though I guess a couple of them were still kind of open-ended, so maybe you could count them as lived up to." They run a hand over their hair briefly, thinking, and recites: "Regain more good memories, stop shut-down, never forget again, and get better. They're kinda big goals."

"Those aren't just big goals, they're huge goals."

In fact, Inigo isn't sure if anyone ever fully completes those goals. It's more a thing you constantly keep working on in your life. (And he very much recognizes a few of those goals already as stuff he could stand to do a little bit more too. Geez.)

"Though I suppose it's good that you keep working on yourself, even though you're getting stuck in all sorts of places." Beacon, the train.. "It shows you're pretty determined about it."

Well, stopping shut-down is pretty tangible, and will hopefully have an end-point. Soldat might have a tiny hope that "get better" will have an end-point, that maybe someday they will actually be better, and won't have to worry about the slog towards being fully functional again. "I guess I don't do anything by half-measures, do I?" they ask with half a smile. "They're important, though."

It won't be quite the same if they're not on the same paper as Aziraphale's very silly resolutions, but wasting the points to get the actual page seems dumb. They'll just rewrite it.

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A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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