A New Platform [Intro Post October]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

The train continues its journey

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day sixteen 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. Asch, Ayumi Uoshida, Cleopatra Selene, Della Duck, Ghost, Hanuel Min, Jaisyn Solo, Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood, Nie Huaisang, Vermouth; 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 four new faces. Wearing hoodies, three in purple one orange, 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 relatively small, a brick wall behind them and cracked flagstones on the floor. It is cold, icy cold but the wall at least shelters them a little.

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, freezing 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 four 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'). The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, including yadon tail, 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. 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

[fivemilesdeep]

It's almost odd to hear that healing in someone else's world requires touch, at least in some circumstances - he's become terribly used to being the odd man out in that regard that it's a nice change.

"I'm sure we can figure it out as we go along." There's a beat, then his smile turns just a touch mischievous. "I promise I won't hug you without asking."

(To note: that's not an if; that's a when.)

[controlsthedie]

"There's no escaping Death. Even on this train. There are two of us."

That was a joke too, or a poor attempt at one. Thanatos was never very good at those, and he hasn't been in the mood to be humorous. But he tried?

"Although, I didn't necessarily designed them to do that. It just... is." Perhaps his mother had designed Chthonic Companions that way, and in trying to make his own based on that, he unintentionally included that in their design.

[controlsthedie]

"I do. ... Is... that all right?" Insecurity rears its ugly head within Thanatos's heart. Alice had seemed uncomfortable when he complimented her, even without using her name. What if this is too much despite what she's done and her fondness of Mort?

"I also I have a Keepsake that--I need to put more power into it before I give it to you." It's something that should have a use should the worse ever happen. Thanatos avoids looking at where the finished piece is waiting for him to focus upon.

... Or is that only going to make this situation worse?

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos looks at his culinary creation. He really doesn't see the issue. Bread tastes good. Toast tastes good. The spreads others have made taste good. And putting them together doesn't change that. What's the problem?

"You can ask someone more experienced to make you something. The train doesn't consider who would be best for a chore, and the Red Team is smaller than the others already."

Meaning that even if he doesn't know much about cooking, he'll do his part while also trying his best not to waste food due to his inexperience. Thanatos comes from a winter famine world, after all.

[controlsthedie]

"You forget that I don't have any power over life as you do. What they need is something I cannot give."

No matter how much he wants to. He doesn't decide who lives or dies, when or how.

[jingyeets]

"Do you want me to make a list."

He mostly jests, but it's just so Inigo, and so not how Jingyi does things, that he's amused by it. No, regrets can't be stopped from feeling, but choosing to live to minimise the number one chooses to accumulate? To Jingyi, that seems obvious.

And it's where he thinks Inigo is when he's saying, just talk. Even while Jingyi is circling around to come in lower, banking toward the train he uses as his landing space when the platform is too dotted with people to have reliable open spaces for him.

"Come over whenever you want me to talk, then." He can talk just fine, he knows it. "Or call out on the ICP, I'm surprised people don't do that more often."

[jingyeets]

Jingyi laughs regardless, because it's literally true, yes, but more darkly: one can't escape through death either. He doesn't mention that, when it was a dark sort of thought, and not one he personally held, but it was still true.

Die, and be resurrected by the train. Perhaps securing a tether ever tighter to your spirit, so the train has more and more of it, one way or another.

"Better be friends with both of you then. That way, at least you're always running into a Death you already know."

A bad joke on his part, too, but neither of them are operating at top humour, it seems. Jingyi hums speculatively over the statement on it being an inherent truth of their creation, and his being.

"Some things are like that, I guess. Working the way they do just because it's the way it works, not because anyone said it should work that way."

[fennu]

You don't have to tell me! I've been living with them!

[ To be fair, he has been avoiding one over the other, getting closer to forgiving the one he knows as his brother and dodging the one he doesn't, but it's not going to last forever. He'll have to confront the spirit possessed version of his brother sooner or later, but he's content with not forcing himself through that level of emotional hurt at this point.

It doesn't help that the sheer number of Lan Wangji there are also leaves him at odds, not sure what he ought to do, which of them he can respect and trust and which of them are going to irritate him to no end. Jiang Cheng has never found it easy to get along with any version of Hanguang-jun, and his lips purse a little as he recognises that it might be just as difficult for his nephew.

A-Ling is too like him for comfort at times.

The next thing makes him hesitate for a moment but - he realises he cannot keep it too quiet, not around a-Ling, and he ought to find the other one to confirm it with him, too. ]

Another thing. I've gained a new power here.

[jan_ken_hacking]

[Kiyoiri, mentally, is drawing a rather short list.

Admittedly part of the shortness is due to the fact that she's taking into consideration how capable they've been at actually doing anything except worse when comforting someone.

...still it's A list, so Kiyoiri eventually nods.] ...right. ...I...

[...Hm. She supposes the best thing to say is-] ...Thank you.

[jan_ken_hacking]

It's probably for the best. Not that she's that awkward with hugs, but she's just awkward and stiff enough over all that it would probably make things somehow worse.

Besides.

He's being brave enough as is after all, so she just returns the smile a little more brightly. Even if that brightness is quite slight indeed.

"...Yes...Red team has to do cooking for now, so that should work at least... ...it's...better than this, you're right."

[blue_ice]

Seto feels an odd prickle on the back of his neck. There's a fight coming, possibly, so he needs to be very clear.

"I told you about Atem, didn't I? He was here very briefly---he was a pharaoh in ancient Egypt, whose lost soul was fused to Yugi's for a while. He and I had an intense relationship from the beginning. He's actually the reason I left the evil path I was on."

He paused a moment. There was clearly a significant connection here.

"We were entangled as rivals, and getting strong enough to surpass him, to prove myself to him...that became my driving goal. But then Yugi and his friends helped him return to the afterlife, and I wasn't invited. No final battle, no goodbye."

There's another pause. He knows this next part makes him sound unhinged. He was, in fact, unhinged at the time.

"I couldn't accept it. I excavated the remains of the puzzle, reassembled the pieces, ordered Yugi to bring him back. We fought bitterly about it---he was convinced he'd never see Atem again, didn't understand why I couldn't move on. But nothing I tried worked, and by digging up the puzzle I awakened another spirit fighting to stop me at all costs. It nearly destroyed the world, and only Atem's last-minute intervention saved us."

He sighed. "But I missed his departure again. I was sick of him avoiding me, so I built a device that would launch me into the afterlife. I made it. His face was the last thing I remember before the platform...but I know I shouldn't have. I was leaving my brother, what I could've had with Yugi..."

What he has now. What he won't leave this time. He reaches up to grasp the ring.

"I wasn't sure it was survivable. I know now the risk wasn't worth the possible reward."

[blue_ice]

Seto can hold onto this smile for a little while longer.

"I want to believe that. I just...know I have another hole to learn to live with."

A strange way of conceptualizing it, probably.

"Are you going to be okay?"

[namethattune]

...this is somehow both better than the Victor Frankenstein conversation and much worse. He keeps one arm around his son and briefly places his other hand over his face as he tries to process this. There are number of facts to take from this:

That Seto's dimension, or at least his particular iteration of it, does have magic, or at least paranormal phenomena, and a tangible afterlife;

That it is entirely possible that trip was not survivable, and that Seto is among the passengers who would be dead without their tether to the train;

And that Seto's upbringing, while it taught him much, left him without a number of life skills necessary for most people to function: in this instance, the ability to deal with grief.

He sighs and drops his hand. "Tell me your voidcraft plan is not simply more of the same." He sounds like he's learned, but Siebren needs to make sure.

[irrationally]

Thanatos?!

Alice doesn't even have a moment to be surprised at the fact that he wasn't even just thinking of making one thing for her - no, he was apparently planning on two. But maybe it's a good thing, since more surprised might just make his insecurity even worse.

And that's the part Alice is opting to zone in on for now. She doesn't want him to feel like she was rejecting the idea, just because she doesn't know how to deal with people being nice!

"O.. Of course it is alright!" She quickly says, though it sounds like she's stumbling over her own words. Oddly so, considering Alice usually speaks in a much more straightforward way. "I merely.. did not anticipate it, that is all. People usually don't make things for me.."

Quite the contrary, really. Most of the time they're too busy trying to insult or hurt her instead, which is why his gesture seems so wild to her. It's such a dramatic opposite from what she's used to. It's kindness that she doesn't even know how to place.

[flatteries]

Inigo's mouth slowly opens.

"Y-Yes, that.. is surprising.."

Of course, as always, Inigo is absolutely fully seethrough over here. Of course he's sounding nervous, because there's a very obvious reason he's not one to just shout for someone over the terminals - the main reason being that he's so super shy when it comes to speaking up where a lot of people can see him. It's so much easier to just walk through the entire train to look for someone, even with how long the train is nowadays..

B-But saying that out loud would be super uncool, right? And he can't ruin the obviously great, cool impression Jingyi has of him!

(Keep on dreaming, boy.)

He keeps on talking, holding on as the other seems to be flying lower and lower.

"Don't worry..! I'll find you either way! You can't escape me!"

[flatteries]

Cooking sounds like a pretty good outlet. Especially since it's something you have to keep paying attention to, lest something goes wrong!

So there's no protest here whatsoever. This is an Inigo-approved solution, apparently, because he just keeps smiling at her.

"Sounds great. Do you want me to walk you there?" Not that it's necessary, he thinks, but maybe she might feel a tad more comfortable with it, in the light of someone important to her having left. Not being alone.

[tactlesstantei]

As sad? [She's trying to think of what might have happened to make her less sad, but nothing's coming to mind except-

-wait-]

...Was it a calm feeling? Or something like that?

[Please don't tell her she kept that power...]

[averyusefultray]

"It's good to do what you can." There are certain responsibilities with great power. "But you still should have help. Do you think there's a way to make the inventions... explode less?"

Explosions are generally the sort of things that only solve specific problems.

a brat and then less of a brat wahaha

[deferences]

[at some point, he'll ask jin ling about fantabulous mister fox, wei wuxian, but jin ling's just gonna have to excuse sizhui for checking out those aforementioned wolf ears and tail every few minutes. they're obviously real, there's no doubting that at all, yet he can't stop wondering if he'd get away with holding onto jin ling's tail the way he's done with his father's before.

to be frank, even if he could hear them talking right now, he'd likely still be too distracted... which isn't necessarily a bad thing when it's good for jin ling and the whole taking things at his own pace.

it's fair that he's surprised by her immediate attention-seeking gesture, but xixue's a vulpix who knows what she wants and attention is definitely one of those things. she does shift around until she's sitting near jin ling's leg, close enough that she can lift up on her hind legs and plant a single paw on his knee. any awkwardness aside (which xixue wouldn't care about anyway), the many-tailed creature tilts her head, examining jin ling with those large eyes, like she's attempting to peer into his soul. calling her a fox will do fine for now, although sizhui's certain a-qing shall return one day.

also, if not ‘interesting,’ then what would he call it? invasive, yes, that's for damn sure, but it would've been stating the obvious.] Night-vision would be convenient, most definitely... but is it like super-strength? [something else helpful so long as jin ling's got the ability to control it.] Not that it's not convenient as well, of course, just that strength isn't something entirely new to us like seeing in the dark.

Hmmm? [a bit long-drawn-out than he means but he does momentarily stop petting fairy to glance up, eyes widening whenever fire alights jin ling's fingertips.

he blinks once, twice, mouth falling open in a soft oh! whereas xixue shies away slightly from the heat.] Goodness, that seems like an advantageous ability to have when fire might be necessary.

[deferences]

And hold on he does; both of Sizhui's hands clench, his legs tighten a bit more then he dips his head down as they turn, keeping his face close to the warmth of Jingyi's fur. Continuous motion aside, it's more comfortable this way, at least until they get turned back into some form of proper uprightness, which is only when Sizhui will lift his head to acknowledge the play on words.

“All types of scales?” Oh, he can guess who, there's no denying that, but his curiosity could use a little more satisfaction.

With a mildly disappointed sigh, Sizhui nods, “I suppose so.” As much as he'd like it if they could stay out on the platform for more than fifteen minutes, it's not the case and something tells him the train won't give them longer minutes anytime soon.

[acapriciousthing]

"You don't need power over life for what they need at the moment of death. You just need to understand how they feel so the experience is less frightening." THere were no powers to what set her apart from her siblings. It was just a matter of trying to see things from a mortal perspective.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi may finally understand cool as slang, but of the people he'd apply it to here... as part of their personality? So far the number is low. Fond as he is of his friend, very, very few of those he calls friend qualify as cool, outside of the way they take on and accept the world, in general circumstances.

"Inigo the Night Hunter," he sing-songs, bracing as he touches down on top of the train. As per his usual, his neck arches back until his forelegs slip forward and down to the platform alongside the train, ignoring whatever gap is naturally there between the Voidtrecker Express and the material of the platform. "Tracking down dragons across entire straight line vessels."

Lowering his head and neck again to give Inigo an easy time of slipping off to the solidity of the ground, at his leisure.

[jingyeets]

Leveled out again, hearing Sizhui quip back, Jingyi laughs.

"Every one accounted for! Except the reverse scale, that doesn't exist."

The mythological weak point to dragons, when dragons were only part of mythology, not living, breathing, co-existing parts of the world. The sort of power those dragons out of myth and lore managed was vast enough that having just as obvious a target to let the people who had to survive under their shadows take control over the monsters they worshipped and feared was only natural.

Jingyi's type of dragon, on the other hand, came from such a society that they dealt with their own in a final sense when needed.

Arcing toward the train, he sighs. Ah, but to have actual time for flight these days... just flying for fun, like he had on Aquafir. It didn't need to be far in the past to still be missed now.

[dragoonrouge]

Ah. [Q'uila gives Amaya a sympathetic smile.] I understand how you feel, a lot of the things on this train were beyond my ken. I basically had to ask a lot of questions of those who have travelled for longer, I doubt that I would be able to provide a decent explanation on half of the shite here.

[soldier_blade]

Sonya saw the flip coming (given her own skills how could she not), but only just in time to avoid serious injury. There's still a kick to her jaw even if she's able to get some distance.

She takes a few steps back, smirking even as she tries to rub down the feeling in her jaw. "Not bad."