voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post June]

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A New Platform [Intro Post June]

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How did they manage to create metal so thin? Thanatos could imagine Hephaestus could do such a thing, but this is a mortal creation with a purpose of containing... a snack? Huh.

Thanatos nearly refuses the snack. It was meant for another, someone who needs to eat or is much more deserving of the treat. And well, he's a god with no power here. He doesn't need little offerings. He can't do anything for anyone. The mission seemed to show him that.

Still... that's... not what Yondu meant by the offer either, and though his instinct, his habit is to refuse... he takes one of the biscuit sticks. Thanatos takes a tiny nibble from the frosting tip. It's not as sweet as he expected, but that's fine to him.

"Shackles bring up bad memories. Memories the last mission liked to use against me." To Thanatos's surprise, admitting he has a problem with shackles or being grabbed is coming easier. He doesn't need to go into full detail, reveal the other dangerous part of that knowledge.

That's not surprising. It's a rough reminder, that myths exist for a reason, that larger than life beings still have their trauma and even if he's not familiar with Thanatos's specifically.

"Well... I had a good man save me from my shackles a long time ago." Someone that's been weighing heavily on his mind thanks to that damn aggravating kaleidoscope bastard. He's hyper-aware of the pedestal he has him on at the moment. Even people telling him that he shouldn't have him up there can't convince him to put him down to ground level. "He also showed me how to get out of 'em should I get caught in the future. Figured I'd pass it on."

So other people might have that feeling of control returned to them. Sure, they can't leave the train. But he'll do whatever he can to maintain whatever shred of freedom he can reach for. Even if it's knowing how to get out of a jail cell.

He looks over the various sets. "What kinda precision do you got with your abilities? Or are you good with your hands with any small kinda artsy stuff." Funny questions to ask death. "Even if we started from scratch I think I'd be able to show ya somethin'."

"I appreciate it. I... didn't even consider that learning how open them by other means was a possibility." The chains he got from Hades were magical and divine in nature. The only way to open them were by Hades's decree. However, that's not the case for others Thanatos may encounter.

At Yondu's question, Thanatos reaches into his hood and pulls out Mort. He sets the plush mouse on the table, out of the way of the shackles but close enough that he can see what's going on. "I've made keepsakes and sewn Chthonic Companions like Mort here. Not Mort, he was made by my mother, but ones like him."

If the package of Pocky mysteriously has fewer sticks in it later, Mort may have eaten a few when no one's attention is on him.

Yondu's momentarily distracted by Mort, suddenly sitting up a little straighter. "He's a cute li'l' bugger!" Then with more seriousness. "Alright, well, means you can do some detail work. So, take somethin' like these basic ones? Each side's got a lock. You wanna get at least one side open. The other can wait until you've gotten somewhere discrete."

He puts a key on the table beside the Terran cuffs. "Try unlockin' 'em regular. Watch how them parts move an' I'll let ya try with my lockpick set."

He might be glancing over at Mort occasionally.

"Early on cuffs made me kinda nervous. After I got used to handlin' 'em, plannin' on how to get past locks in general turnt a good way to settle my head. Now I got myself all worked up over some stupid shit so it's been helpin'." He chuckles at himself like it's not that big a deal and he's being ridiculous. But it is, he's never had a goddamn talk like this in the whole of his life.

Mort squeaks a few times (without any prompting from Thanatos) and doesn't move. He simply appears to sit there, looking cute.

Thanatos takes the key and the cuffs, though his hands still tremble as if the cuffs would snap open and bite down on his wrists. He would be able to break these just with his own strength, he thinks. However, that's not what the purpose of this is for. Yondu will be able to see Thanatos give his due diligence with, studying it from multiple angles with and without turning the key.

"If this also quiets my head, I'll be grateful," Thanatos says though the anxiety he feels suggests it'll do the opposite.

"S'alright, just a li'l' puzzle to solve. Pay attention to one bit at a time if ya have to. Ya got all the time in the world."

He does his best to alleviate some of that apparent anxiety. It helps to be calm when working stuff out, he's found. Though he's completely forgotten he's trying to talk to a god of Death here.

"So you said you make things, right? Well, these are somethin' someone else made, no matter what their purpose is. They put 'em together. They can be taken apart. Just gotta see how they work."

He doesn't want to ask the particulars of his trauma while he's handling them. But at the same time, maybe it'd help if he asked who helped him out? "Down in the labyrinth, you have folks lendin' you a hand?" Of course he did. He doesn't know him well but the train is small enough quarters to know he has a shit ton of friends. But it's an attempt to remind him that they're around.

Someone put these together, so they can be taken apart. These were put together by a mortal's hands, so they can be taken apart, he corrects. There is another solution besides the key. However, Thanatos stills in his study as Yondu asks about who helped him. Mort gives a worried squeak as if he knows Thanatos's thoughts on it.

"... Yes. I did," he says after a long pause as he resumes fiddling with the cuffs and kee. Thanatos hasn't been around his friends much after the mission. His friends helped as much as harmed, and he helped as much as harmed too.

He almost wonders if it would have been better for everyone involved if he had remained lost in an illusion while others moved forward.

That's a very curt answer, and he can tell there's something painful behind it. And Yondu for all his strengths is very awkward.

"...I ended up carryin' these little things I collect in with me? A couple of 'em what my friends gave me." He pulls out his ugly, ugly frog and his windmill, sits them not too far in front of Mort.

"This one came from a girl who took a liking to me. Hell if I know why, but I ain't gonna complain. This'n came from a good lookin' fella I gotta talk to today." And that's followed by a disgruntled noise.

"They ain't the biggest things but I ended up holdin' onto 'em for dear life sometimes when I was down there. Scarred up old Ravager captain clingin' to his toys to get 'im through." He pulls a bit of a face, not good at this kind of thing. He's a mortal, sure, but he should be better than to trip up over his emotions.

A frog and a windmill. ~~Does Thanatos even know what a windmill is? That might be after his time or something Daedalus might have created.~~ Thanatos looks at them as Yondu explains their origin.

However, Mort squeaks in a tone that almost conveys a disbelieving "Really?" at Yondu's sentiment about toys. (Which he is not one!) Thanatos doesn't translate, but he does offer his own explanation. "Those are just keepsakes, and keepsakes have power. Maybe they're weaker because they're from mortals and not gods, but they're still keepsakes."

He's not about to judge when he has given Chthonic Companions to some of his friends and other keepsakes he's made. Does Yondu want to judge Death Incarnate for carrying around a plushie?

"I never thought of 'em like that, to be honest." He spins the little blades on the windmill again. Honestly, Siebren mostly gave him something he could fidget with and never realized it.

"You ever thought of yourself like that, by the way? That if keepsakes got power, an' you were makin' 'em, you were givin' out your own little kind of power with them?"

It's not being Death, sure, but someone's allowed their helpful hobbies to go with their important job. Y'know, if you're a god and have the time for it, he guesses.

"That was the intended purpose." Thanatos had tried to imbue the keepsakes with a hint of his power. He can't give favors or boons like the Olympians. He knows he's limited on what he can actually do. (And in some case, he feels like doing something actually made things worse.) However, maybe he could help keep them safe when he wasn't around--pay them back for what they've done for him.

Thanatos pops open the lock on the cuff a few more times before putting it down. "Although, I do not know whether or not they have actually worked." The last mission was more mentally taxing, and Thanatos's keepsakes worked more against physical threats.

"It's good of ya," he comments more openly, rather than dancing around it.

"Considerin' there's nothin' particularly magic about mine an' they helped me, I would say they probably did. Especially if it was a personal kind of thing. Mine have carried me through big battles... Well, they ain't done shit for me in normal situations, but if I got somethin' big I always want 'em with me."

He fusses with his Kree military cuffs. The ones he's not figured out yet. "My boy, name is Peter Quill, is the true son of somethin' called a Celestial. Sorta like a god. When he came across his powers, he didn't know how to use 'em. Ego, said Celestial, didn't teach 'im right. So I told 'im, 'I use my heart to fly my arrow', or something to that effect. It worked. Gave 'im the strength to focus when he had somethin' to fight for and he figured it out. People need their heart to fight decent in my opinion."

He frowns to himself, just kind of musing. "Don't know if he'll get his own powers one day now that he kicked his old man's ass. Last I saw 'im he lost them. ...He was tryna come after him so Quill had to defend himself." Yondu feels the need to explain. He didn't want someone to think Peter lost his shit for no reason.

True son... If Yondu was like a father to that Peter, then he was his father, and that Peter was Yondu's true son. Thanatos sighs. Did that Peter run away from his family to chase someone he never met? Although, unlike Zagreus, that Peter seemed to have ran away to someone unlike Persephone.

Thanatos has really complicated and varied feelings on family. It comes from his own family being large and complicated.

Maybe it's little wonder Thanatos doesn't know how to actually do anything for his friends. Look at where he comes from. And Thanatos believes his friends only thought of their keepsake or companion when Thanatos was there--it was then more for Thanatos's benefit than their own. That's not what he wanted at all.

But... enough about himself; he needs to answer Yondu's tale. "If he follows what you've shown on the train, then perhaps he will. You were his father."

Yondu's been careful, in a way, to not actually call himself by the name "father" or Peter his "son". He's just called him his boy because that felt noncommittal enough to get away with. Like if Peter Quill or some variant of him might appear, Yondu'd not have over-stated their relationship on Peter's behalf, as he knows Peter didn't actually like him all that much (rightfully).

But he did love him like a father. Quill absolutely was his boy.

"I did the best I could with him, back then. I don't know how good I've done here," he says honestly. Mostly he's just kind of looked out for people and listened every once in a while. "I keep thinkin' that if he did keep 'em, y'all'd do a good job of showin' 'im how to use 'em." Even if, on one hand, he desperately doesn't want to deal with the emotional aftermath of having died in his son's arms. "You and your close buddy," Zagreus, he means. "And Persephone and Crowley and just generally-"

He makes a motion because it's hard to class 'greater cosmic entity' in his kind of rambling, folksy way.

"His Ma passed before I started to take care of 'im. I never met her but from the sound of it she kept him good. He turned out a decent person thanks to what she taught 'im," not because of anything Yondu did. "She gave 'im somethin' that he kept for a long time. This uh... 'casette'? Had a bunch of music on her that she picked out that was her special favorites, meant to help him remember her. He'd listen to it when he was feelin' put out or wantin' to get wound up."

He tips his head to Mort. "You probably kept a lotta people goin'. Just sayin'."

Thanatos wishes he could believe Yondu's words, but each time he tries to latch onto them as a possible fact, he recalls the mission. He can't help but to criticize his performance and how he failed. "They could probably teach him more about using his powers than I can, but if he does arrive, I would help keep him going just like anyone else." Hopefully. At least with the manadrive.

He tries not to blush when Yondu calls Zagreus his close buddy. Just how many people think he and Zagreus are together? Especially when Thanatos is trying to not change the current status of things between them. For Zagreus's sake.

"Mort has helped me a lot. I'm glad he found his way back to me."

"Fair warnin'... he's real dumb. He postures at the wrong kinda people an' falls for women what'll stab 'im. He's got a good heart but he's just..."

Yondu shakes his head with the expression of a long-suffering father. If there's ever a moment that it's obvious that he's Peter Quill's dad? It's that one. Just him muscling through the fact his boy has next to no survival instinct.

The great misfortune in Thanatos's reaction is that Yondu assumed they were very close friends, as he's not interacted at length with the both of them in the same room. But there's just enough awkwardness to make him think something happened there. And being his own variety of dumbass, he just finds himself really glad he doesn't blush. His blood is practically black. Nothing good would come of it.

Now he is assuming that they're together. Which leads to the worst question for the worst possible person on the worst possible day. "Hey, can I ask your advice on somethin'? ...Wait did Mort eat some of that? ...There's a stomach in there?" Okay there were many idiot questions there but only one was a prelude into a cursed line of questioning.

... Yondu's description of Peter sounds very familiar. Very, very familiar.

(Also, his ichor is gold, so Thanatos blushes gold. It's very embarrassing, and Thanatos has been doing it more and more the longer he's on this train in close contact with... people. Not just Zagreus. Though mostly concerning Zagreus.)

"Hm?" Thanatos looks at Mort sitting among some crumbs and a package of Pocky that's half empty. "Mort, those are for other people. You can't eat them all."

Mort squeaks like he's offended when Thanatos picks him up and puts him back into his little spot in Thanatos's hood. "He... eats and drinks sometimes. I've never seen him do so, but he's eaten a slice of cake bigger than him before. I don't know where it goes, honestly."

There are some things about Chthonic Companions one does not question. Divine creations can be very confusing.

He's starting to get that. His lucky that his coat, which is likely something that could be considered an unholy creation as it's made by a demon on the train, doesn't have its own unique bothersome qualities.

Though at the idea of Mort eating a piece of cake bigger than he is, Yondu's face pulls a 'confused as royal fuck' stunt. If there's anything about having a lifetime and a half of wear on one, it's that every facial expression has plenty to help exaggerate it. "S'alright, I got a lot of 'em." He's not mad about the mouse whatsit eating stuff just very confused by it. He expects strange things out of life at this point, though, so the surprise ebbs pretty quickly.

"So, I don't know if y'all are... somethin'... it seems like you're somethin', you and your other god-buddy, ya might not be somethin' so if you're not, disregard. You get along somethin' special when you're around, though. Anyway, I got somebody I think a whole lot of, but I'm doin' it to the point I'm makin' myself act kinda foolish around 'im."

'Kind of' doesn't really apply. He acts like a dumbass. He forgets words and tells him he smells good and tells him he likes that he's big in public. He's eaten his whole damn foot from sheer lack of experience and his brain just short-circuiting.

"I'm gonna tell 'im up front an' just get it over with. I never was straight with the last person what really caught me up. It probably ain't likely but I ain't got a clue what to do if he was interested. I spent my life takin' care of business and my kid, not much time to do anything but that."

Sometimes, kids during Art Day decide that Mort needs his own slice of cake, and sometimes, Mort agrees and eats the entire slice of cake as soon as no one's looking.

As Thanatos listens to Yondu talk, his brows furrow with his own confusion. Something? Not something? Something special? He tries to parse what Yondu says about him and Zagreus. At least it sounds like it's supposed to be about them. Or is it about Yondu and someone else and just what Yondu is trying to say?

There's a long pause as Thanatos stares, unblinking at Yondu once he finishes. Thanatos tries to recall everything he just said, and he has no idea what Yondu is on about for the part about him and Zagreus. However, the latter part....

"Are... you asking me... for relationship advice? I'm the God of Death, not the God of Love."

"Yeah, but you're still a person."

As if anyone here did exclusively one thing. He shrugs it off easily, though. "I'll figure it out, I reckon." Because, well... he's been pretty close to being one thing for far too long and now he's stuck without it.

"Apologies. I have no experience with anything you seem talking about. Romantic endeavors are not something Death Incarnate takes part in." Never have and never will. Thanatos has more important things to care for than his own heart.

"So you're stuck married to your job..."

He frowns, his expression not exactly sympathetic, but in that spectral range. "Well, still, you're person enough to talk to." And now that he's had a chance to talk without worry of being taken as weak or soft, Yondu knows he's done too damn much of it. Like a whole lifetime bursting him at the seams and turning him into a rambly old man. This certainly tempers the personal nature of it, though.

"Do you want me to treat ya like Death Incarnate all the time or just like a guy?" It's a miserably genuine question because of the baggage attached to it. "I don't gotta be personal with you or anythin', that's fine. I just admit, it's easier thinkin' of y'all as people when you spent the last couple of decades tryin' to fend somethin' like a god off from killin' your boy."

The long pause at Yondu's question says just as much as Thanatos's eventual words after. Thanatos opens his mouth to answer but stops. His gaze becomes a little unfocused, his mind not entirely present in this moment. How does Thanatos want to be treated?

Wouldn't it? Just to go back to how most everyone treated him back home? Everything was so much simpler before... Thanatos sighs. That before time will never be again, and in some ways, it's for the better. For Thanatos... he's not so sure. Does he truly have a choice? Back home, he's feared and hated by many, and even those who accept their deaths still have little reason to linger near him. He's regarded differently by family and coworkers, but he's also more dependable toward his duties than he is now. And Zagreus...

"It... would be easier if I was just Death Incarnate to everyone, but... treat me how you will."

Thanatos is still struggling with the whole personhood thing.

Easier, huh? Well... in a way it was easier to be a reviled Ravager captain than it was a friend, a teammate, whatever the hell he is here. Just some guy that sits at tables playing with locks.

He reaches back into the snack box and pulls out a stroopwafel, reaching it out to him.

"Offering to the death god? I ain't tried 'em yet."

Somethin' in between, maybe. Sometimes gods just look like they had a hard day. And they all had a hard day.

Thanatos pauses.

"Ah. You want me to leave." Why else does someone give offerings to Death Incarnate? They want him to stay away--the only favor he cave give. Well, Thanatos did say it would be easier for people to treat him like that. Now, he has to do the same. This is what he wants, right? From everyone?

Internal debates aside, he completely misunderstands why Yondu is giving him the stroopwafel.

A New Platform [Intro Post June]

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Sometimes short is the best

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