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

[wewillwewill]

"Yes. Though in this case, I will make use of the clock you already possess." Setting down the pencil, Elidibus reaches for the clock he'd been given to examine.

Ah the missing 'time'. "Do you refer to the time between the final hour and when we awaken in our beds?" That was disconcerting to say the least when he first experienced it. "...What exactly are the measures for each of these sections? Or at least its total?" The Ascian studies Tidus a moment, before then turning his observation to the clock.

"Do timers and clocks belonging to passengers normally mark the missing hours? Would this device be special in some way and stop during the missing time? I can take this into account, but please be as accurate as you can."

[blitzcheer]

Was he going to take off the clock front? ...well, Tidus wasn't against it, if it meant a better way of telling time than "mop and bucket o'clock". But he should have expected the following questions, particularly about timing. He starts humming and hawing, before sitting down in the seat opposite Elidibus, bringing out his notebook with a, "Wait, lemme see... ah..." and starting to flip through it.

He's got the times here somewhere. Senku sat and counted them for him!

"I think other clocks count all the time, but I can't be sure. I got one clock, my first one, and it started at a different time each day. Senku thinks it was doing that because of the time we sleep? But this clock-"

He stops his page flipping, looking over to the small alarm clock.

"I just got it. I...don't know what it does when we're asleep." His eyes go to Elidibus. "Let me grab the times?"

Maybe they count the sleeping time too - he wasn't exactly sure of anything with the clocks, other than them being good for some form of scheduling. But giving the time, he'll be manage to find the page he wants, and turn the book to Elidibus, jabbing a finger at the numbers.

(There's other random notes on the page, nonsense, written in a particular hand. 'ingots? 4 weapons - quila', 'fire gem any gem', 'more smoke bombs', 'blitzball bomb', 'capsules no good 4 food'. )

I mean FFXIV isn't one to talk but FFX script looks like someone havnig fun with the skew tool.

[wewillwewill]

"I see," Elidibus muses. The times are given a brief look over and added up. "So the clock does not denote the time spent asleep, but it can remain accurate."

The Ascian gives the remainder of the writing on the page a once-over. At least he doesn't comment on using '4' instead of 'for'. But his gaze might linger a moment longer on those particular phrases.

"...So the Warrior of Light is crafting a weapon for you as well? What did you ask for?"

While he's waiting for an answer to that, he studies the clock before him with peculiar intensity, as though he can just learn its secrets by staring long enough. Maybe he can; at the very least, he does want to be precise about the power supply and the clocks ability to keep accurate 'waking' time.

i looked, ffx had way more fun. ffxiv looks more 'medieval'

[blitzcheer]

Please don't dunk on a guy's slang way of writing. It may not really be a '4', but it's certainly a slang equivalent for 'for'. Because who needs to write in proper Spiran when you can save yourself 0.5 seconds not writing correctly?

None of which Tidus is concerned about being judged for, even potentially. Instead, when Elidibus says what he does-

"Eh?" Eh? Tidus looks at him blankly, then tries to peer over at his notebook, though not in a way that helps. "Who? Who's that?"

It's been so long, that he doesn't remember the notes; and certainly doesn't remember 'Warrior of Light'.

But good luck understanding the ways of the clock, Elidibus. I don't know anything about it. The clock is a mystery to me.

It does have that medieval script feel doesn't it?

[wewillwewill]

Ah. Right, Elidibus has that habit of not using peoples' names when he speaks to or about them. Titles? They're just fine.

"Q'uila Sunrise. She is from an alternate timeline of my world." Timeline, reality. They have about the same connotation to the Ascian. The point is, the current Warrior of Light wasn't a miqo'te with pink hair.

It's fine I totally asked Katy so many questions she totally answered best ever. Returning his focus to the clock, Elidibus takes a few minutes longer before nodding to himself. "Yes, I see." He spares Tidus a brief glance.

"Pray remain silent, I must focus." It's a simple task, but one where straying thoughts are dangerous and may produce unexpected results.

It's probably good that some warning of 'be quiet' went out, however. What Elidibus does is probably far from what Tidus was expecting. There may be the sense of energy being manipulated; pulled apart like so much unravelled knitting. But it is the clock that begins to break down; the building blocks of aether that comprises its makeup is undone and gathered in its base form; for all the world a bundle of energy, possibly not too dissimilar to what Tidus is comprised of.

That was easy enough. But using that energy to create is where the need for focus truly lies. Though his calm facade doesn't change overmuch- no joy or excitement that is to say- he seems more at peace in the moment. Creation, this birthright of his race, is in its own way soothing in its familiarity. And doing something like this, not needed for some world saving machination or as part of his driving duty but just to shape something to make life better for a community is comforting on an instinctual level.

[blitzcheer]

"Oh, sure, yeah! Oh yeah-" he's remember now, with a look to the book again he can't quite see. "We talked about making weapons for the train, for people to use. I had to buy some stuff for her. That was a while ago."

Around the same time he got those numbers from Senku's clock experiments. There wasn't anything more to it than that for him, but he could have said more.

Maybe later, when he isn't being told to be quiet. Speaking of: Did someone say 'be calm and wait'?

That sure is a simple request. An easy one too, when Elidibus begins to do the last thing Tidus was suspecting. Do something with a clock? Sure. Start dismantling his clock into ... pure energy? Which, Tidus can only guess it's being turned into, even if it looks nothing like what pyreflies do probably. Eyes widened, the display is enough to silence the guy.

--but he also wants to speak up, badly. Even just to say, 'What?' But he manages to keep it back, just. Is he supposed to stay here and do nothing? That's probably for the best. Some might find it interested to watch pure energy at work, but for Tidus... it's a bit too out there to keep watching. He doesn't' want to distract the guy, knows he can't do anything here, so what does a fiddly guy do?

...he quietly takes Elidibus activity book (tries), the book flipping open to a page in its slooow drag to Tidus's side, one of the patterns exposed and in view of Elidibus before Tidus can turn it around to himself.

He is being very behaved.

[wewillwewill]

"I see," Elidibus says. Perfectly reasonable. And perhaps something he'd like to look into more detail regarding later when he's not trying to work on something decidedly non-weaponlike.

Which leaves the clock and recreating it and how he forgot to mention not to pace around. Or rather, not to make distracting movements.

Or move at all. Well, lesson is learned for the future.

Probably not looking exactly pyreflies, since it's not wisps of energy. Elidibus is keeping it contained so that it doesn't disperse into what exists of the train's flow- or for that matter, into himself or Tidus.

[Would clock aether make Tidus more timely? Such mysteries will go unsolved alas. Also it doesn't really work like that.]

It happens as just the barest shift of eyes. Something so miniscule that it may have not even been noticed and the perfect repose of Elidibus solely focused on the creation of the clock and Tidus' clever efforts at trying to obtain the book to distract himself from asking questions is a complete success.

But something as basic as this doesn't take long to create at all. And a minute or two later, the outcome makes it clear what might have occurred. Something that could have passed as a last minute addition to the blank clock face originally proposed if it didn't suspiciously match the pattern the book had initially flipped open to.

But there it is. Rather than a squat table-top alarm clock with a basic series of pictures separating the hours, a thinner wall-clock is in the Ascian's hands. The same mechanisms and power source at its base to ensure the timekeeping method remains the same; the changes have been cosmetic but profound even so. All for a small addition of his own aether to what had been derived from the clock to cover any true variance in mass or material.

Tidus won't be judged for his actions. Elidibus is at fault for not mentioning movement after all. But he does receive a resigned look along with the polite inquiry and offer of the clock; now segmented into the twenty-one known hours of the day with triangular markers denoting the half-hour points.

"I believe this will be sufficient."

[blitzcheer]

Let's not give a guy like Tidus more means of speed, now.

A few minutes it may be, those are a few minutes that were definitely worth grabbing that book. Though Tidus won't know the 'error' caused by it, the miniscule of a distraction - even when it's staring him in the face. Or, the clock face.

For when it's finally completed, even with the look Elidibus gives him, he sees the work come together, and he's far more amazed at what he's seeing instead. Tidus takes it from the man, with both hands than the singular one it used to nearly fit in. He makes an astonished sound, holding it up, but not in a way that obscures Elidibus from sight; he needs to be able to look at the guy wide-eyed, then back to the clock. Freeing a hand so he can point at it, with a glance taken to the book.

"You even decorated it! That's so cool!" And he wants to say so more, but he's looking at it again, then turning the clock to face Elidibus, along with Tidus himself - and the smile on his face. "This is way better, right? This is what I've wanted for ages here! A way to tell the time! You can have any get together, and not have to make random guesses at the time anymore!"

And, 'cause he really can't forget- "Thanks!"

[wewillwewill]

Elidibus feels a pang. It's not entirely pleasant; watching another face light up with surprise over the use of the creation gift. It reminds him on some level, of how heartrending it was in the beginning to be elevated as gods over something so basic.

It's a fleeting moment. Surprisingly, it's followed by something akin to satisfaction, particularly in the face of the excitement and gratitude.

Neither are allowed to immediately show on the Ascian's expression, though it may be a beginning of something nonetheless. How it is shown is in his answer, even if Tidus may not be aware of it.

After a pause, which could well be a moment's effort to restrain the impulse to answer with brutal honesty (and indifference), Elidibus inclines his head.

"You are welcome. It was a simple matter." He then holds out his hand. If there is confusion, he will prompt, "Was there not another clock?"

At least this time, he can focus on the first to make sure he doesn't have his intentions altered. Should it be handed over, it will take perhaps as long as the first.

[blitzcheer]

The extended hand makes Tidus wonder, does he want a handshake? -- but no, Elidibus corrects his thought, and there's a 'oh, yeah!' as he sets the changed clock down. Holding out his right hand with the gold band around it, in it appears a clock of the same make, and Tidus doesn't delay in holding it out for Elidibus to take.

But he asks, as it's handed over: "Is there anything you want? In return. I can buy something - I've got the points."

Maybe another book? A better book than how unsure Elidibus sounded about his current one.

[wewillwewill]

Elidibus shakes his head after the question's asked. "Pray consider it a contribution to the well-being of our fellow passengers. As I didn't ask for payment before, it would be rude to do so now."

In the future, the story might be different. But his intent to waive any form of payment this time is sincere.

"If there is nothing more, I believe you have clocks to place. And I would like to get back to my study."

Yes, he means the activity book.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus nods, and he slips out of the chair he's been in, Elidibus's book in easy reach, and the two clocks taken back.

"No, thanks a lot. There was something I wanted to talk to you about, but maybe later - you've done a lot as it. Have fun with your book," he says sincerely, and with a smile.

"I'll see you around."

[wewillwewill]

Elidibus draws the book back across the table. And he looks up as Tidus makes mention of wanting to speak to him.

"Tomorrow then, if you have the time. Once the arrivals have settled in."

Platform day is surely always a little hectic, even once they're on their way.