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

[scionsacredflame]

He wasn't sure if he's worthy to be this one's brother considering he was blamed for stolen his family for the version that was gone in his world. But there's a brief blush, a warm tingle to his cheeks hearing that, and maybe the train brought them together for a reason.

"Brother...that makes sense to me." It makes sense since every fonons in his body molecularly is made perfectly from his original, down to the very atom, that every fon is exact down to the very DNA. He doesn't want to be a burden to him and be a reminder of what the both of them loss, but maybe he could make up to him.

"I'm sure you do whatever it takes to stop him. You're that determined. I remember...that only one of us can go through the door to go face him and I'm the one who went through. By the time it's over and he's gone, it's too late. You're gone too." He shouldn't have regrets, because it needs to be done to stop Van. "I would have come back for you." But Asch gave up his life and a part of his life force exists within him, so his sacrifice isn't in vain and the planet is saved.

With a nod, "Anyway, let's take it one day at a time." For the emotions to settle it and they can form a bond too, that of a family and heal. "Tell me what your world is like and I'll tell you mine, and we can compare notes." So they can find similarities and differences and make sense. "And we can find something in the kitchen since I'm hungry and heading over there anyway."

[oncedriven]

"Kitchen. Right." He's perfectly willing to follow Luke there, but... "I don't think there's any way I could eat right now." Not with the shit his stomach is still pulling. Not with how exhausted and wrung-out he feels, already, from the fact of who's in front of him, from the mere mention of Van, from keeping Jade calm even before that.

He's not handling this well. He's not sure anyone could, certainly not any blade (fuck, Luke isn't going to realize how stupid blades get about siblings), but even by that standard, Asch thinks he's probably not doing well. After burning yourself to dust for someone else's sake, who would?

"Sorry," he says quietly, almost like a warning, before he darts in - too quick to be human, or at least most humans, Auldrant's Sync might have been able to keep up - and throws his arms around Luke's shoulders. It's a sudden embrace, tight and lasting the space of two or three breaths, just long enough to ground himself a little better, to let the reality holding him up be something other than shaky scaffolding. And then he lets go, stepping back, and just, exhales, clearly more settled. His posture becomes something a little more business-like, mission-oriented , though still not as harsh, if you were to compare him to Auldrant's Asch side by side. "Okay. Kitchens, let's go."

[scionsacredflame]

With a nod, it felt surreal for Luke to be speaking to him, a different version of Asch who is going to be his brother, his kin in a way. Taking it easy and slowly, there's a lot to unpack and explain.

"It's okay. Maybe we could find something to drink...water perhaps? Tea? I'm sure we can find something." He mumbled, and suddenly felt shy and awkward. His relationship with Asch was already complicated, and this one is just as complex.

"Don't be." He was walking further down the hall when the embrace is very sudden, and the emotions hit him hard like a meteorite made a sudden impact. Emerald eyes widen from the shock, but it's comfortable. "Asch, what-..." He's about to say something, but stopped mid-way, hearing his breath, trying to contain a semblance of self-restraint.

Even though the both of them are very strong, wielding swords and artes well, without saying a word, he lets him hugs him for as long as he wants, as much as he needs, to feel assured and grounded from anxiety and fear. The connection between them is warm and appreciated. Whether his Luke remains alive or not, remains unknown and uncertain, but in every way, the resemblance is striking and uncanny, and Luke knows he's not a replacement for a missing link, but rather the other misses his brother.

How lonely... He thought. He thought about his own loneliness and his promise to Tear, the others, his parents. He knows he must return to them someday, but for now, the train brought them together for a purpose.

Once he lets go, he looks into the eyes and seeing a pair of emeralds just like mirrors to each other. The other isn't so alien as he thought, but rather a similar sense of kinship. Putting on a smile, "Asch, it's okay. Let's just try our best."

[oncedriven]

"I don't know how to do anything less," Asch mutters, a brittle truth - he could play with the ice in it if he wanted, but not right now. Ice is the opposite of what he wants to feel.

(This Luke is human and so only human-warm, not the radiating heat of a fire blade at rest. It's a reminder, even if a less than pleasant one.)

"Tea sounds better," he says instead, brushing his hair into some form of order with his fingers - it droops over his forehead, in a way Auldrant's Asch would probably never allow. It softens the edges in his face, a little. "Something warm. I've had just about enough of ice ether for the day."

Jade certainly isn't going to be someone he can go to get a warm drink with, in this situation. His stomach is a little more settled, anyway.

As they start to head towards the kitchens, he says, "Right, to start on explanations - Does your world have blades at all?"

[scionsacredflame]

"I think it gets some time getting used to." The warmth of the hug still lingers, as it felt a little surreal to hug him, especially when it's not quite the Asch he knows, and yet it's him, but different. This can get some time to get used to.

"Yeah, definitely tea." He agrees, and once they found it in the kitchen, and help himself to a cup, mixing it with sugar and milk, he's open and more relaxed to be in his presence.

"Do you mean swords?" No Luke, he doesn't mean swords. "Yeah, we have swords." But then he caught himself. "But probably not if you're from a different world."

[oncedriven]

Asch, for his part, takes his tea with only a generous spoonful of whatever sweetener is easiest to grab - he prefers honey, but at this point, he's not choosy. It gives him something to do with his hands, stirring the sugar in.

Do you mean swords is enough to startle a laugh out of him, even if it's only a tiny puff of one. "No," he says, "I'm fairly sure swords are universal." Another stir. The sugar is probably mixed in, now.

"Blades are a kind of being made up primarily of elemental ether," he says. "Some are human-passing, like me, but others very much aren't. Ultimately, we're all just energy wrapped around a core crystal."

[scionsacredflame]

With a nod, "I think I sort of get it." But Luke coming from a world where elemental ether or fonons works quite differently to Asch. "We don't have crystals back home in mine, but we have fonons which is like the elements of ether too. I would summon fonons in my spells and through my sword attacks."

"I met Jade, however he's not the one I know. He spoke of this ether too. Back home, we call it fonons." He said. "So if you call it ether, I think Jade comes from your world, right? Do you two come in together at the same time on the platform?"