VoidTrecker Express Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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voidtreckerexpress2021-09-01 05:54 am
voidtreckermods) wrote in voidtreckerexpress2021-09-01 05:54 am
Entry tags:
- alice liddell (am) [ou],
- allen walker [crau],
- elidibus [ou],
- ienzo [ou],
- inigo [ou],
- jaisyn solo [au],
- jake peralta [ou],
- kabuto yakushi [ou],
- kairi [ou],
- kitty pryde [ou],
- koumyou sanzo [ou],
- lan sizhui [ou],
- little one [ou],
- madoka kaname [ou],
- nell ingram [ou],
- romeo [crau],
- sonya blade [ou],
- taiki [ou],
- thanatos [ou],
- tidus [ou],
- yondu udonta [ou],
- yugi mutou [ou],
- ~x~alvin murphy [ou],
- ~x~bucky barnes [crau],
- ~x~cleopatra selene ii [au],
- ~x~demyx [ou],
- ~x~freeza [crau],
- ~x~prompto argentum [ou],
- ~x~rui ninomiya [ou],
- ~x~senku ishigami [ou],
- ~x~wen sizhui [au]
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!
"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!
no subject
But Madoka doesn't voice that protest. Instead she just lets out a soft sound when her hair is being faintly ruffled, and then speaks again.
"Isn't it strange though? Or bothersome? You don't even know me all that well.." Which doesn't mean the problem is that Madoka feels weird about sharing personal stuff with people she might not have known for long. The problem is absolutely burdening said people who might not know her deeply with really big and deep problems!
no subject
"Isn't this one way to know a person better?" Listening, and he's used to listening, is what it comes down to. Not that many have decided to particularly talk to him like this over recent... well, months, he can't say years. Or can he? He'd been somewhat apart from the Wens in the last year before he died, not because they didn't care for him, and he for them, but because they were perhaps too aware of what he was giving up to keep them safe.
"Everyone has thoughts that burden them. If my shijie taught me anything, learning how to listen to those thoughts, and figuring out how to share them, were some of the lessons I try to remember even now."
no subject
But apparently it's not something she can make a decision about so easily, especially when she's got to weigh a lot of things against one another here. So after staring down at the food for a moment, Madoka slowly looks over at him.
And rather than asking anything too deep just yet, she just opens her mouth to say:
"Your.. shijie?" It sounds like someone important to him.
no subject
If that's not hitting at the top of the deepest of icebergs, well, then we're not sailing the Titanic today, are we.
no subject
"You must be very fond of her, to talk about her here." Even if she does note the wording he's using here, calling her Jiang Cheng's older sister, rather than his own. Is it because he and Jiang Cheng aren't biological brothers? But even so, if they're brothers, then that woman must be like a sister to him as well..
".. and to listen to her. You know, he said that you never listen when people tell you something."
no subject
"He would, wouldn't he? And I won't say he's entirely wrong," he says, leaning in toward Madoka. "There are many stupid people I don't listen to, or stupid opinions I don't pay attention to. I'm better at listening to what people mean, these days, but when we were younger, there were things I didn't know how to ask him, and things he didn't think he could stand up for. Shijie could bridge that for us, but... she couldn't solve everything. When she died..."
He smiles, shifting back again. Then he takes a sip of water, the ache in his heart a sharp, clenching thing with teeth. No, he needn't say anything about her death, his part in it, or how he'd taken it to poor extremes. Too much loss, too much guilt, and... well then.
no subject
Not that she doesn't get why he isn't saying it. The girl's expression is very sympathetic. If there's anything she's glanced from Jiang Cheng whenever he talks about her, it's that while there's so much fondness for her, there's also hurt. And who could blame someone for feeling hurt when they have to miss someone that important to them?
Especially through something as tragic as death?
"So.. how has it been for the two of you here..?" For the two of them, having to somehow deal with each other without that buffer between them.
no subject
Not because he'd wanted to live. Quite the opposite, at the time.
"Oh, you know. Lots of me annoying him, butting heads, arguing, tears, and oh tears are the worst, you just want to stop them but A-Cheng has so many and his nose runs, but really, what can you do?" He smiles and shrugs, not apparently bothered by any of this, or that he's telling a young woman any of it; he'd have to think it something to be held against any of them to not say. "We call each other brother again. That's incredible, if you ask me."
Softened tone, as that was not what he expected. Not at all what he thought he ever could deserve.
no subject
"I think that's incredible too," she adds. Maybe exactly because Wei Wuxian's tone is so soft as he says it, like there's an emotion underneath it threatening to break through, and so Madoka wants to give him some confirmation, some validation. It comes naturally to her.
After all, technically this shouldn't mean anything to her. They're from different worlds than her own, she only met them on the train, and even then not as long as some of her earlier friends. But even so.. she can't help but feel for them, and everything she's heard about their sad fate.
How could she not want these brothers to be happy, when they seem to be nothing but kind to her?
"It's incredible that you both have each other here in general.. I'm so glad you can be there for each other."
You know, even if it comes with bickering. But that's what siblings do, right?
"Especially since things can be so hard here sometimes."
no subject
"Did you want a hug?"
Since yes, indeed, things here can be very hard sometimes. Platform days one important, heartbreaking aspect of exactly that.
no subject
Her first instinct is to react with surprise. After all, she didn't quite expect to be offered a hug here, no matter how nice it is, and so she stares at the man for a moment with her eyes a little wider than a moment ago.
"I.. um.." She stammers, as if Madoka has trouble with something as easy as accepting a hug that is literally being offered to her here. "Do.. you want a hug?"
Maybe that's the way she can justify it to herself.
no subject
"I like hugs," he says instead, keeping his arms open in invitation. Permission granted, twice over, if she needs it; his sons have taught him how to hug where otherwise he mostly knew how to embrace the injured to help them walk, or embrace a child to carry them at hip.
Jiang Cheng had always been a better hugger than he was, more honest in that, even if his mouth tended to paint pictures otherwise, and they were brothers as prone to exchanging all kinds of blows meant without true harm as the other kinds of reassuring touches. Arms over shoulders, or hands to upper arms, or any of those ways they'd communicated once, and are relearning now, day to day.
no subject
Maybe it's since she's so close to Jiang Cheng, and he's so important to that man as well. Or maybe it's just since he's seemed nothing but nice and gentle whenever she's spoken to him.
So she just remains in that hug for a moment or two before she softly speaks up: ".. I hope this is a good hug.."
Is she worried about whether or not he might like it, even now?
Yes. Yes, she sure is.
no subject
He pats her back in a way he thinks is reassuring, since his childhood self had perceived it that way when shijie had comforted him all those years ago.
"It's a good hug." Bad ones, he thinks, involve more stabbing. "If you want more practise anyway, I can always use some."
Sizhui can't (and no longer is) the only one testing his deficiency in hugging.
no subject
While Madoka doesn't move out of the hug, she does move her head enough that she can actually look up at his face. In her eyes is the expression of someone who's definitely considering a plan right now - and that plan might involve hugging him every time she sees him.
It's a work in progress, though, especially for a girl as shy as Madoka. Constantly touching people without having to be reassured each time that it's really okay is hard.
"Then maybe you should tell more people to hug you..!"
no subject
"I wonder... who would you recommend I tell?"
Please say Jiang Cheng, he thinks to himself. Please watch him tell his brother to hug him more before that devolves into laughter and something like the regard they'd held for each other when younger men.
no subject
He's already onto it.
Because it's obvious who she's going to mention, right? It's not like she's entirely sure who else he knows. There's the Wangjis, who she knows that he knows, but considering just how many of them there are, Madoka isn't sure if that might not.. get a little awkward.. She doesn't even know which one of them is married and which one isn't at this point!
But his standing with Jiang Cheng? That much she knows, and she figures it can't hurt too much to make the suggestion. It's the safer option.
"But.. your brother could use a lot more hugs too, so you could get two problems solved in one go there, sir..!"
no subject
This is now his plan of action. Congratulations, Madoka, for being part of Jiang Cheng's beautiful suffering!
no subject
Innocently. Not aware of the potential suffering she is causing right here and now.
"Yeah!" Because in her opinion it's just a good thing! Please, Jiang Cheng could totally use more hugs. And wouldn't it be nice if said hugs came from Wei Wuxian? Wouldn't it be a good way to get their brotherly love fully going again?
"I'm sure he'd be really glad if you hugged him! It's an easy way of showing you really care about him..!"
no subject
Which is true, but simplified, with how much they're still working out with regards to each other and the fractured way they come back together.
"Ah... feels like we're being called back to the train, now. Better get everything collected and ready to go—" Hup, but it's time to collect the water and plates and blanket for the return to train times. No need to chance staying back.