voidtreckermods: (sparkly train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2021-05-01 07:50 am

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!
killer_rhythm: (Bracelet)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-14 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
What.

"Is that a name you took for yourself or are you actually the anthropomorphized concept of death?"

What? He reads.
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-14 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
She smiles. Most people jump to god or need it clarified somehow. It's nice to get to skip over that part. "Actually the anthropomorphized concept of death. I have plenty of names."
killer_rhythm: (Stripes)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-14 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I can imagine." He feels like he should be having a lot more trouble with this idea than he actually is right now, but that could possibly just be the shock talking; it's been an eventful day, and he thinks the fear center of his brain (if... his brain even has a fear center) might possibly have just shut down and rebooted for his own sanity.

Which is probably good, because otherwise he'd be panicking at the fact that the anthropomorphized concept of death is stuck here too, and that would be extremely unhelpful. "Whoever or whatever brought us here must be powerful then," he says.
acapriciousthing: (No please)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-15 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
She nods. "It's... troubling." Altogether too mild a word, but she's trying to keep calm.

"For the universe's sake I hope it's only a part of me." She knows what happens if she's not there. It's... bad. Very bad.
killer_rhythm: (Stripes)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-16 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Haneul does not like the implications of that. "People wouldn't be able to die, would they? Or... their souls wouldn't be able to pass on properly, maybe? I don't know how that really works for you."

God, this whole conversation is incredibly surreal, and he really wishes Josie were here because he'd probably be better at not asking the exact kinds of questions that would freak himself out, like Haneul is doing right now. And then he feels bad, because why should he wish Josie was stuck here?
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-16 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
"They wouldn't die." She is the transition. "I've seen where that leads and it's a mess."

She was never letting that happen again. Not if she had any say.
killer_rhythm: (Stripes)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-16 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
"I've... seen ghosts who couldn't move on," Haneul admits. "Which is bad enough, but if they're still tied to their bodies with no hope of relief..."

He knows that's probably only the tip of the iceberg, but it's the aspect he's most familiar with. Some of the ghosts he's encountered have been in horrible shape, both physically (as much as ghosts are physical) and mentally, and he can imagine how much worse off they'd be if they were still trapped in their corporeal bodies. To say nothing of the ensuing strain on hospitals, and... he should probably not let that thought go any further before it starts bringing back memories of the lab, and his fellow experiments who hadn't survived.
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-18 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
"It's worse than that," she says bluntly. She has to believe the rest of her is still out there or the universe will be in complete disarray. "Nothing dies. People, insects, bacteria, ideas, nothing."

No one ever really thinks of how much death is actually required for life to exist. Except the ones who have to.
killer_rhythm: (Bracelet)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-18 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
His first thought is cancer cells, but then he supposes it would be.

Ideas, though... "Are ideas anthropomorphized in your world too?" Not that certain unanthropomorphized ideas aren't bad enough.
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-19 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
"The big ones, yeah. I have six siblings." Which makes for some colourful dinner parties. It's so easy to become dysfunctional after a few billion years.
killer_rhythm: (Bracelet)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-20 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Six?" He's not sure whether he was expecting that number to be higher or lower.

He considers for a moment. "Are there others that aren't your siblings, or are you all interconnected?"
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-21 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
"OTher personfied forces aren't quite on our level. We're the fundamental things that can't help but exist." Which is why they're not gods, thank you very much. "Destiny, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium."

She's said the list often enough that she doesn't even hestitate over Destruction any more.
killer_rhythm: (Bracelet)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-21 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
That's a lot of Ds.

"Not... creation? Or would that stem from... I guess all of you in various ways? And... be kept in check by all of you in various other ways." Creation unchecked would probably be disastrous in its own ways.
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-22 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Creation is Destruction's domain." It makes perfect sense to her and maybe to no one outside the family. "Just like Dream defines reality or I define life."

You can never have one without the other. It doesn't make sense to separate them into different beings.
killer_rhythm: (Stripes)

[personal profile] killer_rhythm 2021-05-22 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Haneul considers that. "You provide the boundaries," he says after a moment. "Having one without the other would be meaningless." He pauses, thinking of what she'd said earlier about the complete absence of Death, then adds, "And dangerous."
acapriciousthing: (Default)

[personal profile] acapriciousthing 2021-05-24 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Exactly." Most people don't grasp it that quickly. Then again, most people at this point are still trying to accept that she is what she is. "It's not possible to separate any of them."