voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post November]

A New Platform [Intro Post November]

On the Train

The train continues its journey

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Orchestraa. 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. Agent 8, Ai Haibara, Ea-nasir, Hajime Aikawa, Ienzo, Jade, Jon Snow, Merwen , Ryu, Son Goku, Takato Matsuda, Phil Connors, Wen Sizhui; 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, two in purple, two in red, 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 long but narrow, a brick wall running across one side. It is not quite enough to shelter them from the torrential rain that falls around them.

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, rainy 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, hoodies and waterproofs. 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 or just the fact it is pouring down- the train might be alien but it is dry at least.

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, it seems the food of the month is octopus.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. For those from red team who go and investigate they will find a box of miniature pumpkin cakes. There is enough for one each including the new team members.

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.

They won't be the only ones looking for their room, it seems that Sleeper Carriage Four has disappeared and those who were living there have been reassigned, their new room is on their ticket and they will find all their belongings safely stowed in their rucksacks in their new room.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers braving the tain, 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!

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Tidus isn't heading to that particular cabin, but he's in the hall where the guy is, messing with his ticket and the door, trying to get the two to work together. It's a recognisable sight even at a distance, that he doesn't even get a close before he calls out, though walking in Esteban's direction:

"Do it above the handle. The silver part, sticking out?" His hands are empty, and so he tries to mimic tugging on the handle, pointing to the space above it. "Swipe it there, with the side with your name and stuff on it. You'll hear it click."

He'll be with him in a second if it doesn't work (and, even if it doesn't), but maybe that will help?

He surprises the young half-elf, as he'd been focused on the door; but the instructions are clear at least, and less vague than he had understood so far. The red-head rechecks his ticket, sets it right-side up, and swipes it delicately, brightening when he hears the tell-tale click.

"Oh!" The door yields, and Esteban's sunshine smile is bright as he turns to his companion. "Thanks a bunch! I've never seen techs like these here!"

He has some concept of technology, but it seems to be just a little off from what he saw in here- and he hasn't noticed entering a city-field within the train. He actually hadn't expected the magics to work without it.

"No problem," Tidus waves a hand. "You're not the only one! You'll have to deal with that bed though - rooms are tiny!"

Which Esteban will see the state of, and decide for himself if he peers into the room. Two beds stacked together on one side, two beds on the other. Just enough room to walk down the centre. And who knows what additions the current roommates have made of it?

But Tidus is now level with Esteban. He could continue, but he does stop somewhere near the doorway, without being too in Esteban's space.

"You bumped into anyone you know on board?"

"That happens?" He's seen so many strangers on the platform, it seems even odd to think that he might meet someone he actually knows around. But then-- didn't he get here? Without... knowing where here is?

He has a brief flash to the few people he has around at this time, friends and family, people he's met, even parted with. But no-- nothing that stands out to him; none of them were on the platform and he holds back a sigh of relief.

It's one thing for him to be here; he's excited, he's happy-- but then he's a traveler. A wanderer at heart. Adrian and Red would not have appreciated this nearly as much.

Anywho!

"Nope; haven't seen any," he affirms, a smile quickly replacing the slight furrow in his brow. "But it's fine~ I'd rather that." It's a little easier this way.

"An' I'm in pretty neat company anyways~" It's lighthearted, but it gets the point across. Or maybe the wink might; he's not shy about it.

"Hang on!" thought chatting is nice and all, he'd been meaning to get in here to drop off his stuff and get out of his hoodie after all.

He doesn't mind leaving the door propped open, and his bag hits the ground first, before he pulls the thicker hoodie off, the sleeves humid in great purple splotches. But the back of it was mostly covered by his bag, and so, didn't suffer as much. The clothes underneath are fairly fine otherwise-- a bit wet at the hems, but still perfectly wearable.

The remark with the wink gets a light laugh out of Tidus, humoured, taking it to mean nothing more than it is. You met guys like this on their first day, or Tidus has, so the easy laidback attitude to being stuck on a train wasn't so bizarre to witness.

Maybe more was the request to hold on, Tidus not saying anything immediately, watching the guy go in the room. He sees him drop the bag as he leans on the outside wall by the doorway, a brow raised.

"What, you want me to give you a tour of the place? Or you got some questions?"

Tidus doesn't look or sound impatient though, arms folded, leaning comfortably.

"Oh, but where'd be the adventure in a tour?" Esteban quips, beaming when he grabs his bag real quick. He'd have been more careful if someone wasn't waiting on him. He hadn't been sure whether their conversation-- trains, people, some vague indication of what was going on-- was going to keep going, but now that Tidus has mentioned it, he doesn't want to keep him rooted around waiting for him.

He ends up overturning his bag over a bed which seems free as far as he can tell, and once the clothes and things are out of it-- Oh, he still has his practice poi. That's a relief!--

"Okay; got it, sorry!" Bag and hoodie in hand, he turns back to the door, showing them both to his companion. "Got anywhere I can dry these out? I can manage for the rest!"

Well, relatively. He's under no illusion that he's going to be calm and composed throughout his explorations, and he's not about to subject anyone to keeping up with him.

Tidus gives a glance at the contents as they're spilled out, but they're about the same as any other to be found on a new arrival, apart from one peculiar addition. But it's the hoodie and bag that's brought up in question, and Tidus tugs his mouth aside, thinking.

"Huh - best bet's the laundry room, at the other end of the train." He nods his head, in the direction of the majority of the carriages. "You'll wanna use the floating gates to get there quick - but if you're after an adventure, you can just walk all the way 'til you get to the last car you can get into. They might dry out on the walk!"

He spreads out his hands, joking. But now he's back standing proper on his feet, moving away from the door so he isn't in the way.

Both are an option. Esteban considers them briefly, wondering, but... well. He's had enough trouble with a door so far, he'll get to more technology when he thinks he can handle... well, it. There's a time for learning, and right now is a lot even without adapting to a whole other system he isn't familiar with.

"'S there spells to keep things dry in here?" He'd find it surprising for clothes to spontaneously dry within the train, it's pretty niche magic... but not impossible. But also an odd allocation of... technology?

Later.

"Nevermind. Think my head is going to explode if I start askin' too many questions." There's an easy grin to that, and Esteban steps out of the cabin, closing the door behind himself.

"Gonna get there with my own two feet for now. Maybe I'll ask you 'bout-- floating gates?--" There's an uplift at the word, a bit of a question just to make sure of the term, before he goes on. "-- some other day?" If someone else doesn't beat them to it.

There's a small chuckle, and Tidus steps more out into the hallway, away from the now closed door, but not too far.

"Sure. But I'm going that way too-" Tidus points in direction of the hall leading the way he told Esteban about. "To a few cars away. So I can tell you about the wonders of hanging clothes to dry along the wait. 'Til we split."

He grins, happy for some casual conversation, so long as they don't end up making Esteban's head go off as threatened. He points a thumb at himself.

"Name's Tidus. And sorry, but the guy I knew who knew how to magically dry clothes left a few stops ago."

Funny; for all their back and forth, names hadn't cropped up yet, and Esteban snickers a bit, his nose scrunching with mischievous laughter.

"Nice to meetcha~ Name's Esteban! I'm new here!" Like that hadn't been obvious from the moment Tidus had stepped up to help. Oh, but there are mages here! It's nice to ascertain this, a little nugget of knowledge that helps the world he finds himself in feel just a tiny bit more normal, more okay. Or were. He did say a few stops ago.

"Are the clothespins that hard t'handle? They're not gonna bite me, are they?" It's a silly, almost stupid scenario, but it allows the playful banter to linger. Plus, if the worse he has to expect in the next few minutes are bits of wood with a nibbling kink, he thinks he could handle that.

Tidus nods at the name, filing it. Esteban, huh? Didn't meet many of those!

But as for those pegs- "Nah, your fingers are safe!" Tidus assures with a playful cheer, but then adds mischievously, "--so long as you keep an eye on them!"

Hah. "There's a machine in there you can blow wind out from to help with your stuff, but uh- just ask someone, or don't worry about it if you can't work it. But it's the black round thing covered in mesh-" cue making a circular motion with a forefinger "-about knee high on the floor. It'll have this lonnnng..."

What's a good word? Let him think, as he tries imitating a lead.

"...Cord? A black cord, with a bit at the end. There's a place around the wall where some others will be! Following at all?"

Is his wonderful description abilities and mimicking helping in the least?

"Un hunnn?" Esteban hums a vague, slow nod of affirmation, but it ends up sounding more than a bit unsure. Still, he figures he can make it work from there, so long as he tries things out; he's learned a lot of complicated skills in his lifetime, surely he could handle a windy-blow machine.

He's not going to mention the door again, bad enough that he had needed help with it to begin with.

"Pretty sure it'll be obvious when I get there! So!" He beams, full of confidence and eagerness to learn. "There's a round thingy that blows wind that has a cord-- and the cord has a bit." This here, he's less sure of. It sounds like describing a thingamabob with a whirlygig, but the half-elf is determined to try! Besides, he doesn't want to be reliant on his teammates all the time, and he'll need to learn to manage without them.

"Right. It's just a... boxy thing, stuck on a cord. A long wire." He's trying to make a gesture of holding a plug, but he's having difficulty trying to compare it to anything, brows hunched close, brain rattling in thought. What else, what else-?

Ah. Tidus waves a hand towards the side of the wall with all the doors on it leading to other rooms.

"I'm heading to the music car; I'm pretty sure there's a plug in there, a cord with the piece you snap into the wall, so I'll show you it before we split!" He then huffs, something of a chuckle and sheepishness. "--I know this sounds way weird, but if you use any of the machines around here? A lot have these things. I mean, someone's probably gonna be in the wash room anyway. No one got a choice over not getting soaked out there! Even I went and changed."

Though, he didn't do anything with his hair, still rather damp. But he can deal with a wet head.

"Nah, no need to worry." Esteban chirps with a grin. "What's the worse that could happen?" He bounces a bit on the balls of his feet, picking up the direction from Tidus' handwave and starting on their trek.

"Round thing, knee-high, there's a cord, and the cord snaps?" he pauses, visibly pondering. "The cord goes into the wall?" Oh! A bit! not like a bridle bit, but just a bit, a small piece! "The bit goes in the wall?" OH! OH! He thinks he's got it!

"Yeah?" Just to confirm, he glances at his companion again, incredibly proud that he's managed to follow so far.

Whoa whoa, he shouldn't have said snap. That's a worrying word and he wants to fix it, but listening to the guy, it sounds not too worrisome. Still-!

"Yeah! It's got some prongs, and you fit them into the same place where you'll see the other cords! It's more like a click. You don't want anything to snap off-" He makes a cross motion with his hands, shaking his head.

"That'd be bad! Just put it in!"

And he'll make a forward motion, finger tucked close as if holding someone. There. No snapping!

"No snapping!" Esteban agrees, but his eyes are bright and his shoulders shake a bit with contained laughter. Still, he doesn't want to worry Tidus too much, and he promises again that he can manage it somehow.

"It's okay! I'll get someone else from around t' help me out; no breakin' anything. Promise!" There's a short pause in his words, before he shrugs an easy shoulder and adds a "worse case, I'll just hang 'em around. Betcha I'm not the only one that needs to dry stuff, an' someone might've set the room up already."

If there's already wind blowing through the room -- windy-blow, Esteban snickers again at the word he's arbitrarily chosen for whatever the blond was trying to instruct him on-- he'll just hang the clothes up and leave them be.

Ah, but--

"Thanks!" He's still grinning, bright and cheery, but there's more weight to his words as he goes on, a somewhat calmer lull in the tone of his voice. "Fer helpin' out."

Tidus didn't have to after all; but Esteban is really, truly thankful that he didn't have to puzzle things out on his own right now. Too many things all at once, but he's not abandoned in his clumsiness, and for that, he's grateful.

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A New Platform [Intro Post November]

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Fade to black/Split up?