A New Platform [Intro Post June]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Like clockwork, the Voidtreckers are awoken by a familiar message this morning.

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day sixteen 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. They will be glad, when the doors open to find it is plesantly warm. A breeze flutters through the platform and the sun shines in patches through the fog.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Alleyana Tabris, Asriel Dreemurr, Dr. Otto Octavius, Evangeline A.K. McDowell, Homura Akemi, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Phineas Mason, Riku Replica, Saash, Sam, Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, Steve Rogers, The Doctor; 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. 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 warm and there are some flowers growing in pots near the barriers, bright blooms of colour within the fog.

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 eleven 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.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds with their new roommates.

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.

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

[yondu]

Suddenly he remembers something, when she says that, and he starts to get up.

"Stay here! I need to get somethin' to show ya. If you really remember all that an' that's part of what ya do, it's important."

He takes off back towards the sleepers then at a jog. He really wishes they had some damn teleporters. But finally he comes back with his train journal, but it's nothing about him. Instead it's filled with stories from the Catacombs.

"One of the missions we stopped at? We was assigned to move through catacombs. I wrote down as many stories as I could in case we failed. I didn't want 'em to be forgotten." He holds it out. A solid half of them are just mundane lists of deeds from housewives or children with too-short lives. He'd paid as much attention to them as he had the valiant heroes.

[acapriciousthing]

Death takes the time to read every page. "Ordinary lives of people who mattered to other ordinary people."

She never changes her pace, no matter how mundane the list becomes. Or how exciting. "You're right, this is important."

She would carry these with her just like her own people.

[yondu]

"Day before I came to the train, I saw someone I used to care a whole hell of a lot about. Still pissed at me for a real dumbass thing I did... I deserved him hatin' me. Maybe even deserved what he said. He and nobody else were plannin' to go to my funeral if I died." No Horns of Freedom. No Colors flashed from his old found family. Nothin'.

It's still what he's sure must have happened when he ran out of time.

He pauses. "It got me to thinkin' that I should try to keep track of some of these. Was thinkin' of addin' a few train stories in there but I reckon I gotta ask a few folks before I do that. Don't want someone else findin' it an' then someone rippin' me a superfluous asshole for somethin' I didn't really mean harm by."

[acapriciousthing]

"It's never been my place to get into deserve. I'm there for everyone." She does hope that someone would be there after all. "But I like you."

It's a good idea, though he's probably right. "I think a lot of people would want it. To know someone is remembering."

[yondu]

Hell of a compliment coming from Death, and his dumbass brain doesn't know how to read it for a second. But then he decides that, well, she's been decent by him (as far as the personification of mortality goes) and he needs to appreciate that he's been making more friends than enemies and is free to do so.

At least Death isn't judging him for being soft or nothin'.

"So many of 'em are so young that I hate what they done ain't gonna get told properly."

[acapriciousthing]

"Everyone seems young to me. But I understand what you're saying." Even if no one can match her for age and everyone always finds their life brief, there are still distinctions within that.

"One of my favourite things about people is that instinct to look out for each other. It comes in so many forms." She's still flipping through the journal, taking note of everyone. "You see it in here too."

[yondu]

He actually wonders for a moment if it's the stories that he wrote down, or if it's that he wrote the stories down at all.

"I didn't see much of it," he says, either way. For about ten years of his life he did, though. He had people that he loved and that loved him back. "Maybe that ain't true... But it was a long time ago."

He got so used to watching for threats those good moments were harder to hold onto.

"I guess I didn't expect Death to wanna remember ever'body. That ain't real fair of me but still... Seems like there's a bunch of different takes on all kinds of things." He does sound a little apologetic, but really he hadn't had much of a chance to think on different deaths at all.

[acapriciousthing]

"You figured out how to act on it though." They did, after all, meet when he was watching over people who were making themselves vulnerable to try to help the people of another world.

She's not offended. She knows what people expect and it's not entirely unfounded. "I've been doing this job for a long time. It took longer than it should, but eventually I realized either everyone mattered or no one mattered. Maybe it's selfish, but the version where everyone matters is a lot more fun."

[yondu]

"I'm a killin' machine, not without feelin's." He jokes with tragic reality. The way he'd described it to Soldat is that he had a hole forcibly chiselled into him that all those deaths could fall into. Still could, if he wanted them to. But the fact he was capable of caring was saving lives.

His expression softens up about as much as that rugged face can soften up.

"Hope you're right. Cain't shake the idea that I shouldn't have mattered, though. My boy woulda been best in somebody else's hands." That his role could have been better played by someone else. Every time someone likes him, he's sure they'll figure out someone that'd make them happier in the role.

Being hated but generally fear-respected was almost easier 'cause he didn't worry about how good he was at it on some personal level. That persona had been a better hiding spot than he'd given it credit for.

[acapriciousthing]

"I've never met anyone who didn't matter." Not even once. And she's been at this for a long time. "He would have wound up someone else, if he hadn't had you. Not the person he is."

Whether that's better or worse? Not for her to judge. There's no such thing as better or worse in her eyes. But it wouldn't be the same.

[yondu]

It's a shame the voice on that world has convinced him that there's a world that would be better for everyone he gave a rat's ass about only if he weren't in it. But he does appreciate that Death is being tolerant enough to endure the talk. He at least spares her of having to endure too much more of it.

So he just veers away from it.

"I really think an old teammate of mine woulda dug that outfit, by the way. Aleta was her name. Not quite as peaceful-natured, but still. She woulda liked the look." Aleta had, notoriously, been an aggressive madwoman. But he'd appreciated it at the time.

[acapriciousthing]

"My brother complains about my taste in clothes sometimes. Doesn't think it's traditional enough." Sometimes she thinks he does it just to remind her she's not the oldest. "I like the goth look though, when human fashion isn't too far off from it."

[yondu]

"It's a good'un. Makes ya look all stark and stand out. An' makes me feel extra colorful." He swipes his hand over his face with his sharkish grin.

"What's your brother?" He doesn't say 'who', he says 'what', 'cause he's assuming he's another concept.

[acapriciousthing]

"I have six siblings in all. But Destiny's the only one who would ever comment on my clothing choices." For one thing, the younger ones didn't exactly tend to dress formally themselves. "Something about being the oldest. OUr littlest sister gets to be the colourful one. Delirium."