voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post September]

On the Train

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Nebula. 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 doors open. As usual, those who leave first notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. A-Qing, Atem, Beauregard Lionett, Casper LeBlanc Jr, Donatello Versus, Frankie Bacon, Ichiban Kasuga, Kumoko, Lena Sabrewing, Mami Tomoe, Mono, Peter Parker, Reno, Shi Qingxuan, Tobari, Wen Ning; all pass across the platform, not looking back. And then they're gone, disappeared 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. The platform is open to a bright blue sky, speckled with a couple of clouds. It's very warm, enough that they will not want to stay in those hoodies for long. Behind them through the fogs is a set of barriers, set in a brick wall and in front of them is a single set of tracks extending both ways into that same thick 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 on the foggy, blistering hot platform; then the fog begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform isn't large, but it is enough to hold the 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, perhaps ten minutes or so, 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'). They will also find a bunch of posters around the train and might notice the new clock in the standard coach.

The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, the ingredient this month is a strange meat, yaddon tail.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. There is a box labelled for purple team containing a stick of rock for each member of purple team, including those who are new. Join in your teams success!

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. In most rooms, the occupied beds are obvious, leaving the spotless, empty spaces for the newcomers. 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

"No. You get one thing that comes with you, from what most people have said. Sometimes it's a weapon if that's what you use, but sometimes it isn't. I had to buy back my spear."

Best to get the 'I'm a kid who fights' out of the way. "But you can keep stuff in there that you get from either points or other people."

Speaking as a toddler who fights-

She doesn't even blink at the spear comment.

"I think what I got was Gabriel? My dog came with me, but none of my stuff," she said. "Everything in the bag was new."

He pauses and actually turns to look at her.

"You... have a dog?" The frostiness in his tone is totally gone, replaced by open curiosity and interest.

Ah, the animal weakness. She knows it well.

"Yeah. He's sleeping in the room right now. Its been an exciting day for him," she said.

"Ah." He smiles slightly, before continuing on. "Koromaru would probably be the same way. He's... he's not my dog 0 he's enough of his own person to fight the same way I do - but I help take care of him."

"Oooh, that kind of dog. Yeah, Poppy could get himself worn out the same way Gabriel does, it was kind of funny," she said, smiling fondly. "Poppy was his own wolf. Gabriel is more dependent, though that might be because he's young. I think. I think he's a puppy."

"I don't really know how old Koromaru is - maybe five? He guarded the temple after his owner died. But he can summon part of himself to fight monsters just like I can." Might as well drop that now - he's given up hiding it at all.

"Summon part of yourself?" Razzy asked. Well, that was a newer thing to hear.

He nods. "Everyone has masks that they show to other people - you don't act the same way to everyone. But people with Persona can basically use one of those masks and summon it to fight. They all look different and they have names from mythology - we don't name them, we just know the names when they show up. Most people with the power only have one."

But then there's fuckery by the Kirijo Group, and also whatever the SEES leader has going on. "And apparently they change? Or they can. I used to have Nemesis, now I have Dike. She looks different, too. ... I'd show you, but um. I basically have to shoot myself? Or it looks and sounds like I do, even though it doesn't hurt me at all."

Ooooooh.

Yeah, okay, THAT part she gets extremely well. Well, not the mythology bit, but she figures it might be just how gods and spirits work in their world.

"Oh! So that's why her name was Persona," she said, fist hitting her open palm in realization.

"Gotta say, shooting yourself in the head does sound really disconcerting to watch," she said. "But I'm also half ghost, so...seen worst." She shrugged. To be fair, her fellow clones were all body horror. "Spirits usually mean something, so if you change, might resonate with that aspect."

"Wait, who was named Persona?" And the 'half-ghost' thing... "I think there's another person on the train like that? So people won't think that's weird. I don't change, but I don't really know what she'd count as."

"A goddess I know. Well, she was named Persona, a whole thing happened where she needed to change her name because weird existence stuff. But her domain was over the heart," she said, tapping her chest. "Emotions and memories and who someone is as a person. I thought she was just named 'Person' with an a to not sound so weird."

"There is. He's my cousin," she said. She hummed, thinking on it. "Hmmm, there's like....a thing called a familiar. Maybe its like that? Or maybe a patron, I guess its possible to just summon a patron."

"... Maybe, I don't know. But this 'Persona' person... what did she look like?"

He needs to know if he has to get mad or not.

"A white ermine usually. Sometimes a statue of a woman with long wavy hair and in a...tunic, I think its called," she said.

"... Okay, good. No one I know." He lets out a long breath. "Bad relations with another group in my world... they're led by a girl who can change Persona like Minato does."

"Oooh, I see. No, that wouldn't be her. She's literally thousands of years old and Sabra didn't have much in way of guns anyway. She uses keys," she said. "And she was usually about going in. She only brought things out a few times."

Listen. Persona absolutely had strong Persona Game Vibes. Because that made for fun games.

"She absolutely wasn't human. She was literally incapable of saying anything without it being a question unless she was real drunk."

"... There's a lot of questions there but... goddesses can get drunk?" He'd always figured they were above that kind of thing. Maybe they aren't. If they even exist - mm. No, they exist in other worlds. It's still hard to grapple with that.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't they?" She asked. They all could, being the Greco Roman type pantheon.

He shrugs and shakes his head. "I don't really know that much about gods, I guess."

A New Platform [Intro Post September]

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