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

[miseris_socios]

"They are." What he says next makes him furrow his brow in confusion, though. "What do you mean by 'blade'?"

[oncedriven]

"They're a kind of being of elemental magic - " At this point in his train adventures, he's stripped down the explanation a lot. " - that can look anywhere from almost identical to a human, to a large animal, to something like that."

[miseris_socios]

"Huh. She does electric, light, and healing magic. I wouldn't say she's made of magic though... is that what you are? Which element?" You opened this can of worms, Asch.

[oncedriven]

Good intuition, kid. Asch looks almost a bit approving.

"I'm a dark blade, but I can do some healing as well." He's not going to explain the whole thing right off the bat - if the kid catches him using another element, he can explain it then, if it even gets questioned.

[miseris_socios]

"Dark, huh... Koromaru's Persona is dark and fire attacks, but he also buffs our abilities, too. ... He's a very good boy." Yes, he's talking about a dog. Deal with it. There's at least a bit of a smile on his face.

[oncedriven]

You know what, the ywkon universe Yuri blade eater'd his dog, this might as well happen.

"I'm mostly infiltration or direct combat," Asch says. "The reputation dark blades have for sneaking around isn't completely undeserved." Not that this kid would know that, but it doesn't really matter anyway.

[miseris_socios]

"Mm. I'm okay at sneaking, but I usually did it in the part of the day where most people were - ugh, okay. Look. There's an hour of the day in my world between midnight and the minute after. It's called the Dark Hour and most people aren't able to be awake during it. Electricity doesn't work, so I could get by security cameras to steal food and supplies."

Pamphlet. He needs to make it soon.

[oncedriven]

"... Your world is weird." That's an objective assessment, completely reasonable. "And I say that as a kind of being that apparently doesn't exist in any worlds beyond my own."

[miseris_socios]

"Yeah." He's used to hearing that, and he honestly can't disagree anyway. "But it's what I'm used to. ... Your world's probably weird to me, too."

[oncedriven]

"Probably a safe bet. I haven't encountered anyone else that's even heard of blades, so far." Ken's not the only one who might need to write a pamphlet. There's only so many times Asch can stand to explain the same thing in a day.

[miseris_socios]

"Other than just the physical thing, yeah. Not familiar to me at all." Though it's not like his world has a monopoly on Weird.

[oncedriven]

"Saying 'we're beings made out of a crystal and a shitload of magical energy' is what I've been going with," Asch says. "It's weird having to explain it, so if someone wants the details they can ask."

[miseris_socios]

"That's fair. I don't really know exactly what Persona are made of, and I'm not about to run to the scientists who caused the Dark Hour in the first place to get answers. Or their lapdogs." SEES is just... made up of fools.

[oncedriven]

Asch snorts. "I know that feeling." He had to drag his own answers out of science types almost with his teeth, to learn exactly what he is compared to every other blade. "Even if you did, if it's new enough, they might not have answers to give you."

It took another nine hundred years after him for real artificial blades to be born, after all.

[miseris_socios]

"Yeah. They experimented on kids, so literally everything they say is invalid."

[oncedriven]

"I'd say experimenting on anyone who can't consent to it is fucked up," Asch says. He means it - vehemently - and shows that everywhere in his posture.

(He's good enough to not have so obvious a tell as touching his core crystal, but it sits heavily in his chest right now.)

"Unfortunately the methodology doesn't mean they didn't produce results," he says. "Hold it against them for eternity, but if the information already exists, use the hell out of it. Sometimes that's the only way to keep it from happening again."

[miseris_socios]

"I'm sure Jin's already hacked into everything they know, though I don't know how much the others haven't told me and how much they think I just wouldn't understand." He pulls an annoyed face. As much as Strega treats him like an equal member of the team most of the time, they still treat him like a kid sometimes.

[oncedriven]

"It's entirely possible that they don't understand all of it," Asch says. "Unless they're scientists in the field themselves, but I can guess from the way you're talking about them that that isn't the case."

[miseris_socios]

"No, they're not. But we can't exactly go to someone else and ask." Not SEES, and no university would understand it even if they did risk talking to them.

[oncedriven]

"Probably not," Asch agrees. "That's the problem with secret unethical experiments. A lot of the shit I've seen done to blades falls in that category too."