voidtreckerexpress | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Unlike other gods, Thanatos has never appeared as anything else but himself. He probably could change his shape as other gods do, but he hasn't had a reason to and no desire to try. His work, his purpose never required such a thing.

Thanatos almost wants to ask what she senses of him, but he fears the answer. He's Death Incarnate. Only Death. Death for a world struggling with Life. A now deathless world because he's here not there. A broken, incomplete world. And why? His powers of Death have been little use, wouldn't have a use if Zagreus hadn't arrived. Thanatos can still knot his fated thread back together and keep him going.

Now another Death is here. (Because he's somehow failed? Because he's not enough?)

He sharply turns his head away. "Well... You should know death works strangely on the train. Many have died and come back. Some more than once." Blood and darkness. What if she wants to correct it? His heart beats uncomfortably in his chest, and he sputters, "There's one from the same world as me. Please leave him be."

People do die and come back sometimes. Usually when superheros are involved. Or foolishness with gods.

"I can't say that tends to end well." Not due to any action on her part. It just... doesn't tend to end well. She really had hoped it would work out for Orpheus.

"But no one here feels... mine." And unlike her siblings, usually everyone is hers.

"No, it doesn't, but mortals don't always understand the role death plays in the world."

When Death says what she feels, Thanatos's heart stops beating so rapidly. He won't have to worry about his friends. He won't have to worry about Zagreus and his very complicated Fate-defying connection with dying. Thanatos knows he could only make a solid argument for Zagreus if it had come down to it. He's glad he doesn't have to, doesn't have to stand up to this powerful being before him. (He would have tried.)

"I've been here for two months now, and I haven't gotten a single assignment. Maybe that'll be the same for you."

"No, they don't." She doesn't seem bothered by it. Mortals are going to mortal. They don't have the right perspective for it and very few of them will ever get it. They have their own delightful approach to things.

"Assignment... that's an interesting way of putting it." She's never really thought of her work that way. She just knows.

"I do not choose who dies, when, and how. That is decided by my eldest sisters, mostly." Thanatos just gets the brunt of the anger because he actually appears to people.

"Sometimes, I get my assignments directly from Lord Hades and Mother Nyx, but I am not the one deciding things."

SHe nods, noting more information about how his role works. He's not like her, exactly, that's clear. "I don't decide either. But I just know." It is and she's part of it. She could in theory decide someone wasn't going to die.

But she doesn't.

Well. Almost never.

If he learns someday that Death herself also has an exception of her own, perhaps Thanatos will stop feeling so at odds with his own. (He never regrets it, but it still weighs on him.)

"... Maybe your power will be of more use here," he says softly.

"My power's not really intended to... be of use." She can do many things. It's generally best for everyone that she doesn't. Cleaner. Freer.

"..." Thanatos is quiet for a long moment. He understands, but... he's been here for two months. He hasn't done anything he felt has been worth stealing him away from his home, putting his world in great danger. There's nothing that he's done that someone, who doesn't have his job, could do.

"Maybe you were brought here for a different reason then," he finally says.

"I'm concerned that anyone would have a reason to bring me here." People who try to call her someplace don't tend to have the best intentions. Or at the very least don't tend to fully grasp the consequences. "I don't think they really thought this through."

Yeah... Death doesn't want to get stuck, shackled in a chest for a month. Thanatos does not recommend the trauma to both the world and himself.

"No. They did not. For all of their intentions, they didn't think enough."

"They're not the first to think something like this is a good idea." She pauses. THere's one key difference. "The first to succeed even a little."

"..." Thanatos goes quiet again, and longer this time. This is not the first time for him. Does he say as much to this ancient and power being of his domain?

In the end, he can't bring himself to admit of the humiliation he faced at the hands of Sisyphus and the failure of his responsibility. "If you ever need to find me, I'm in Cabin 4:A." (Soon to be lower 2:A) "Lightning is the Red Team's leader, and there are chores assigned to each team by the train. We should have a mission soon. It'll be the next stop."

A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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