A New Platform [Intro Post September]

[voidtreckermods]

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!

Comments

[Wildcard!] Even Later In the Night... -Closed to Xehanort

[wewillwewill]

As time has passed, Elidibus and Xehanort have fallen into a... not friendship, exactly. But certainly quiet familiarity. Passing words, for instance. The occasional collaboration. And the hour doesn't particularly matter unless the other had previous business.

Hence when the message comes to meet in the dining hall carriage, Elidibus arrives in his typical fashion of not bothering to walk from wherever he once was. A tasting experiment (research?) is something that will draw him from mundane tasks, particularly if it might promise something he hasn't tried before.

Tragically, the bread he had baked a little earlier in the evening hours has likely been swarmed and is gone; he'd announced its presence over the comms after he'd concluded his own ah... research.

What he arrives to see is a line of mugs full of a pleasantly steaming dark liquid. The scent of coffee is strong in the air; something he has found has a surprisingly appealing smell, even if his very limited experience with it so far has not been particularly noteworthy.

Elidibus walks toward the setup well before the billowed darkness has time to fully disperse. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to understand the focus of the evening's experiments. If Xehanort is present, he'll be addressed.

"Good evening. Tonight's efforts will be focused on coffee? What are your plans for it?" Eager isn't the right word for the undercurrent. Interest is, however.

[mustknow]

Friendship isn't an easy thing to pull off, with Elidibus OR Xehanort. But there can be a companionable sort of presence, a lack of startling at the riot of Darkness that was Elidibus' every waking moment, and a certain surity that if there's judging going on it's going to be because he's making stupid mistakes now, not stupid mistakes he MIGHT make.

Speaking of stupid mistakes, one is brewing in neatly lined rows. This has taken a fair bit of effort, and each one is subtly different. It's easy to tell the differences beteen the very first and the very last but the rest..

"Seeing what is most agreeable, in taste, texture and temperature." He sounds as cheerful as he ever gets, this isn't something he's putting a WHOLE lot of serious thought into, even if it's helpful. "It's only really served a couple of ways back home, and before that.. who knows? Someone asks you, 'what do you like?' and your range of experience is limited, it becomes hard to answer. So I intend to answer it."

With enough coffee to obliterate most of Orange Team itself, it seems. "And then I realized you don't particularly have a lot of emphasis on your body's senses and preferences, so if I'm at it, you might as well be too. See what you enjoy." Next week: tea.

[wewillwewill]

This is not a stupid mistake. This is reasonable exploration. Never you mind how many cups of coffee that is at a late night 'hour'. A moment is taken to consider whether this is a task to remain standing for or to take a seat. Finally the latter is chosen and he settles in.

It might not have a lot of thought put into it, but Elidibus does tend to adopt an attitude that most anything he's interested in is to be taken seriously and with proper attention to detail.

"Are you using the same type of coffee for each this time? I understand that like tea, there are varieties even if the train doesn't provide them." One cup is lifted and given a scent test. A little more on the bitter side, this particular one.

"Thank you for the invitation. If not for my personal needs, I would at least like to be knowledgeable when it is part of my assigned team's tasks." And through that, he's gained some interest in the experience of personal enjoyment.

"I can't remember the last time I experienced taste, much less cared. So long as it properly sustained my host, it was enough." Of course this implies that now it isn't.

[mustknow]

"Of course. There needs to be a baseline to contend with first." And then the variations! Of which there are surely many but the train hasn't seen fit to provide hundreds of different forms of beans.

There's a long moment's pause as Xehanort is forced to wonder exactly what it is red team does that knowing different coffee flavors is important.

Maybe it's their primary energy source. "It sounds as if you have much to catch up on then. If you're planning on living amongst mortals for any length of time including your stay here, it'll be good to know the answer to 'which one do you prefer'." A jug of icewater and two cups are set out. Palate cleansers might be required too! "And being trapped in a mortal shell for now, it's also good to know exactly how THAT particular vessel reacts to this food or that drink."

An entire new set of cups is set out, one by one, and with it.. a sugar bowl. What hasn't been added yet: all the variations of black with sugar to heavy cream with sugar. He sets to work making them, expression one of vague dislike. "Even if immortality is the way it goes, the universe is large and full of new experience. It would be a shame to pass them by."

[wewillwewill]

Oh surely it's because red team.... No, he's just curious and really thorough. And when you have almost no baseline for food taste and are trying to cook for people you do, well. Maybe, just maybe he wants to be sure there's no judgement from mortals of all people toward the results.

It could also be a primary energy source. One never knows.

"It didn't matter before. Or I've forgotten if it did," Elidibus admits. He wasn't trapped in a train with a lot of very public living. Though he frowns a touch. He's not trapped in the body. He doesn't voice that, for there's another thing he'd been given pause over. "You're not just referring to food alien to this vessel, are you?"

He had forgotten there might be something native to contend with. He shakes off the thought as Xehanort brings up the unique opportunity presented to them both. "As long as I am on this train, I've time to take interest in these experiences." It might be a small bump in the life of an Immortal, but it still has value.

He watches the effort, though the expression is noted. "What of you? How many of these variations have you had a chance to test before?"

[mustknow]

"Food the vessel knows but you don't," he amends. "You don't know if that fellow can eat or drink everything, or if he might... need to avoid eggs, or breaks out in rashes if he eats a nut. I've been working on that one for about six months now." So far: no allergies! But he's being careful regardless, he's not sure what might happen if he kills the body he wears.

The new row of cups is going to seriously begin tasking exactly how many the train even had, but these are portioned out precisely as the others had been, but now with exactly one spoon of sugar in each. He's going to need.. multiple rows for multiple spoons of sugar.. "There's always time, even if you're not here. We don't exist merely to rush from point A to point B constantly, missing everything in between in pursuit of that goal." And that much he's certain of.

The Ascians had broadly, at some point, forgotten what it means to live as opposed to merely exist. "Mm. The castle vastly preferred sweet and blond, but I'm not overly fond of sweet. You take it as it's served to you, in the company of royalty." So this is as much a test for him as it is Elidibus!

[wewillwewill]

Existing and living are two different things after all. Though some probably did it better than others. And, when playing the seamless part of someone else every time one takes a physical body, it's probably no surprise that there might have been a loss of who they were when living.

Elidibus pauses to consider before answering, "Nothing experienced in this vessel's life seems to have caused him problems." Allergies-wise anyway. Taste was another matter but that's the price of adventure. "But I will need to pay more attention to the exotic food this train provides."

Always time. Certainly, as long as the balance was kept, they would always have time. ...He would always have time. Immortality had its perks, even if he must continue on alone henceforth. Elidibus shakes his head free of such thoughts. "You may be right. But here, I will have the leisure to think over what I can do when I return."

But for now there is coffee. ...And sugar and milk. It doesn't take a genius to know what Xehanort refers to by 'blond' or royalty's choice. "Ah, yes," Elidibus agrees. "Your King does have extreme preferences." He speaks from brief, personal experience.

The line of cups however, is beginning to bring to question the full scale of the intended research. "Might it be better to note what we have and test another batch at a later time?" Elidibus proposes.

[mustknow]

"You can tell everyone you tried forty or fifty different kinds of coffee, when you return." Which is clearly a goal one must pursue, with sobriety and determination.

Lots of milk and sugar is just how it goes in the castle!

And icecream and sweets. He didn't really much like any of them, but it is endured simply because that is what's required. He could enjoy what he wanted on the side, in private. "Master Ansem is certainly fond of sweeter tastes. It makes guessing what treat he might enjoy much simpler."

It's not all bad! "...hm, do you think this many will be hard to finish?" Waste not want not, and all that.

[wewillwewill]

Tell... everyone.

"Yes, if the memories hold, there will be much and more I can share at journey's end." Was that a touch of the melancholic in the ambiguously worded answer? Pay it no mind. Elidibus is moving on.

"There are two of us," he points out mildly, also physically pointing at the rows of cups already lined up. "And your vessel doesn't appear to be particularly adapted to retaining this much liquid in one sitting." Nor is his own. The Ascian considers the problem set before him.

"There are a few options before us. We may drink samples of each and dispose of the remaining. If the samples were poured into smaller serving, the remainder can be offered to the other passengers. Else we could invite others to take part in the sampling." Many hands make lighter coffee consumption and so forth.

"Too much and we might come to dislike the beverage by association. And that would ruin the desired outcome of the experiment, wouldn't you agree?"