voidtreckerexpress | A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

On the Train

Despite whatever Voidtreckers may have learned or how they feel about those revelations - or reminders - of the precariousness of their situation, the train flies ever onward.

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Poi. 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. The weather is dry but there is a chill to the air and a strong breeze." 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. Dairine, Okada Izō, Rapunzel, Satoru and Siebren; 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 thirteen new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours and 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 with a grassy mound behind them. It is blustery and the air is cold, they will be glad of those hoodies.

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, windy platform; then the fog begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

Thirteen figures, 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, with cans of corned beef lining the shelves.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. Those from purple who go to find their prize will find a large box containing a gingerbread train for them to share. Plenty enough to go around, even for the largest team.

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.

Snow Time: Rock Garden

Winter seems to have followed from Osiga and nested in the rock garden. There's a chill that nips in the air and a light snow (real snow) fills the air. A thin cloudy haze at the top of the carriage seems the source. Yet the kaleidoscope of the void will assure that this is no timely world stop.

People might have seen it occurring the night before. Snow falling heavy before tapering off with an odd precision, leaving a heavy blanket over the carriage 'ground'. By morning of Platform Day, a miniature winter has descended, ripe for snowforts, snowballs, angels and snowmen.

It's not just the climate that's changed. Many statues and rock features are missing or moved. Digging below the snow reveals soil now frozen but providing a barrier between the bare floor of the carriage. Keen eyes will see changes are made with safety and available space in mind. The fountain has been emptied but the pond and streams are frozen solid, allowing intrepid spirits to try slide-skating over the surfaces without the risk of breaking through. The mosaics are still around, and enchantments are in place to protect paintings and paper decorations from damp. Any plants have been sent to sleep or taken to safety.

The benches are still around. Paths and bridges are covered with fresh snow, but, as the day goes on, it's trampled down and or scattered. Najaran's woodfolk may be glimpsed near Jingyi's shrine or hiding in the shadows of rocks and statues still present, perhaps even buried in the snow and peeking out. Shy around humans, though those with pointed ears or Hylian lineage may find an easier time interacting.

There are signs on both doors of the carriage warning of the change and mentioning the dressing carriage will have winter gear, and it does: with hats, scarves, gloves and ice skates in a variety of sizes. Dispensers with warm drinks such as coffee, hot chocolate and hot water for tea are available in the Games Carriage.

Early the next day, the snow will be gone and the gardens returned to how they once were.

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!

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She huffs out a breath, clearly not pleased to be called off like that. But Stone Free's disappearing again, at least for the time being. It's better to keep the Stand close when she's not entirely sure about this whole thing, anyway. She's a lot more effective like that.

"Can't say I entirely believe that, but I guess if you say that one's fine..." She trails off, she's not about to let her guard down on the train until she determines that's the case herself. But can he really blame her for being like this after everything?

"You want me to put you down or nah? I don't mind either way." She'll let him choose since god knows if she's allowed she wouldn't be letting him down or out of her sight any time soon. "And yeah, I'm not in much of a mood to spar anymore, anyway. There'll be a next time or some shit."

"....there's probably a mission in a few days, so there's definitely a 'next time'..." he nervously laughs. A deep breath though. A bit more confidence, just a little. "...But...yeah. I'm sure. I've been on the train for... ...a while," he admits with a small gulp.

"....a few months, actually."

...

"I'm okay like this." It's probably helping her at least right?

"That's right. And he's been here longer than I have..." He shakes his head a little bit. Man... he's been here for what feels like forever, even if he knows it's not. "We can spar later, yeah."

Hm. "Has anyone told you about the missions and shit that happens here? I should probably... do that, if they haven't. Red Team leader and all that."

Some days he wonders why he even stepped up for that.

~~Emotional support child.~~ It does help keep her mostly grounded in what's going on at the moment and keep her from lashing out at people. Luckily she's aware of her strength and to not accidentally crush him or something, because lord knows she probably could.

"A few months..." Jesus, that sounds horrid already. "Nah, no one's told me shit yet. I've just been hanging out here since this shit showed up. Guessin' these colors actually fuckin' mean something?" Says the one that's blue, but that's totally beside the point at this juncture. "What are these missions, some kinda team building horseshit or something?" If only she knew.

"Sort of? ...I don't actually normally go with the Orange Team...normally they handle technical things, and with Weather I can help with combat more so..."

Weather, impossibly, seems to be preening. He isn't- he's just standing there. But there's a sense of pride. "But, Hermana, you've been recruited by the train for rescue missions is what's happened. I actually..." ... "...I didn't think it would be possible to see you here, if I'm honest." The boy manages a smile all the same. "...I'm glad I was wrong. ...Donatello was here for a while, but I didn't think anyone who was already gone could..."

He doesn't clarify immediately what the difference is. How could one dead person return, while another couldn't? Regardless. "I used to go with the Red Team more, but right now I've been helping Purple, anyway...it's been kind of fun, actually. There's a lot of different planets out there..!"

And he gets to see them all. "...And I'm not sleeping in a piano, either!"

Don't worry about that one Otoha.-

"Orange tends to be technical, blue tends to be protection, red tends to be pure combat, and purple tends to be everything else. We get a bunch of different sorts of missions. Usually we get sent to places that have serious trouble."

He nods at Emporio. "But you're not required to stick with your team. A lot of red team tends to stick with us just because of our personalities, but you really don't have to. We're pretty flexible with who goes where. But yeah, usually red team fights whatever there is to fight and blue tends to protect civilians. In general, though - we've had some switchups on missions before."

Rescue missions. Of course she got recruited from one shitshow to another. That would just be her luck. But it's better than being dead, she supposes. Though she's quiet as she takes it all in. Orange is technical, blue is... protection (yeah okay), red is combat, and purple is catch-all. Sounds simple enough to her. Even if she's wondering how the hell they even pick that shit.

"Of all the people they coulda brought, they picked that one? I can't imagine him having been interested in helpin'." She can't imagine any of that trio having been interested in helping anyone that wasn't themselves. And it's fine, don't worry about it, no need to clarify what that even means.

"Depends on what's going on, I guess. Stone Free ain't all combat, after all. So guess I'll just see what's up and go from there." She's not exactly elaborating, mostly because she knows Emporio knows the kind of bullshit the Stand can do. "And I'm guessing there's some kinda consequence for not goin' along with this?"

"He wasn't that bad..." Then again, he was kind of lonely as well.

"But there really isn't. If you don't want to join on the mission, you're allowed to stay on the train; you just won't be able to contact anyone off-train until they come back."

"Yeah. I'm not excusing the kidnapping or the cramped space, but overall the train's pretty nice and lenient on us. We're allowed to do what we want - as long as we don't end up killing each other, most things are just sort of... whatever."

He tucks his hands into his pockets, the trenchcoat still around him despite the train's comfortable temperature. "Though red and blue are constantly the smallest teams, so helping out would be useful. There's no penalty though, like he said."

Otoha, you are making this hilarious to her. She contemplates it for a moment before shrugging and looking towards Otoha in particular.

"Dude, this is still better than prison was. So, like, I ain't even that mad." Is she a little mad she doesn't get to see other people? Yes. Does she know what happened? Not really. But it could be worse, she guesses.

"So it just. Takes care of everything else and all you really gotta do are these missions? Shit, that's a lop-sided deal, ain't it?"

"Pretty much. I actually asked it if I could s-"

Emporio cuts off, realizing something. Realizing something for both of them, in a sense.

"...Jolyne... ...the last thing you remember...it was...that, right? ...when you tied me to that dolphin, to get me away, right? ...After that..."

He swallows.

"...After that, there wouldn't have been a body. ...There wouldn't have been anything!" he chokes, shaking. "...Hermana...I know a lot of people here have homes to go back to, but..."

...

"...it only really works if there's a body, too..."

"Yeah, it does. And I -"

But then Emporio starts talking and he goes quiet again, trying to absorb whatever it is that Emporio is trying to get across. No body... so... ah. "Yeah, I'm... not the best person to explain the tethers that tie us to the train. I'm not the smartest guy in the world and I'll admit it."

He's just going to try to gently... sidestep that minefield of a statement that Emporio dropped right there. He is not qualified for that.

"Yeaaaah?" It's fine, it's fine. Until she's stopping and realizing what his words mean.

So that means. That the priest's bullshit did sort of work. But then he killed him. And that she... they...

Fuck.

Deep breath, keep calm.

"So it's a comfier prison, is what you're saying."

"I still wouldn't call it a prison..!!" Yikes! He just.

He breathes. "...I don't know what new world there is. ...I killed Pucci, but when he moved time, he started the world over...and he was able to keep you and the others from coming back in it. Maybe...maybe in the world that happened without Pucci, I have a body still, but even before I knew about Tethers... ...I knew that no one was there. ...Everyone I knew, they would be gone. So I asked the train if I could stay- somewhere I could meet new people, help people, and see new things. But there's a 'ministry' for the Void that was chasing us, and they finally contacted us to talk about the 'tethers'..."

...and. Well. "...Normally, a tether has three points- body, to soul, to craft. The train creates the bodies we have here, and keeps the real ones healthy through that connection. This way, we can travel through the void, and if anything happens...even death, it can bring us back. But if the train is destroyed, that means we go with it. That's why the train never stays on planet during missions; if it isn't safe, neither are we. But that's a three point tether. For anyone without a body..."

Emporio lowers one of the three fingers he was holding as he explained. "...There are only two points. Your soul, and the craft. There's nothing to go back to, and the connection is more unstable. The ministry offered to help with these, but..." Hm. "...Even if I trust some people from it...I don't know how much I trust them, not right now. I want to make sure things are safe...but it's hard to trust a government that easily. Especially one that took so long to understand why the train was running from it."

That's... a lot, Emporio. He's going to have to ask about this 'Pucci' guy later. He hadn't meant to dump the explanation on Emporio, but he nods.

"He's got it right, as far as I know. And yeah, there's a Void Ministry. We've only recently gotten in contact with them. The train's been on the run since... well, before we got here. It lost its old crew and its world got devoured by... something. It's taken this long to get them to fuckin' listen to us."

Did she hear all of that? Yes. Did she understand all of that? Absolutely the fuck not.

"So what I'm hearing is Void Ministry is bullshit. These tethers are going to potentially fuck me over. That if I die it's questionable if I come back. And holy shit this train is A Criminal.

Gotcha."

THAT'S NOT WHAT ANY OF THAT MEANT AT ALL, JOLYNE.

"It's not that straight forward- there are people who want to help us from the ministry; I talked to one myself, they were the one who explained how tethers work. They're worried because of how the train has to tether people in the first place. Normally it's a process that involves consent- people agreeing, and joining. We're being pulled from different circumstances, in situations where...something might not be left behind. If you die here, you'll come back if the train is okay; but if you push that, it might not work completely, because there's only so much there," Emporio explains calmly.

"The problem isn't so much the tether as it is now...it's what happens if it's strained; if it breaks...hermana, you could be stuck here like a ghost, if anything. The person I spoke to wants to find a way to strengthen the tethers, and then find options for anyone who doesn't have a body to connect to. The problem is what gets in their way...even if one person within a force like that means well, that doesn't change what the people in charge want. They could make it really hard for us to get anywhere before it's too late."

...

"...Really though... ...I'm glad it grabbed you. ...I don't think... ...I don't think you were able to exist anymore, after what happened against Pucci. ...I didn't think I'd see you again...ever. ...this second chance...even if it's a risk, I'm glad it's there."

"I didn't talk to the ministry person, but Emporio did. If he trusts them, I trust his judgement." He's a kid, sure, but he's a kid who's been through a lot and has a lot of good sense. More than him, on most days.

"... And for that matter I'm glad he has someone from home that he trusts here. A lot of people have tried to look out for him, but that's not the same as people who know him from home." As painful as that might be to admit, it's true. It's not something that's going to come true for him - besides Yurine - but it's true.

"If Pucci's horseshit isn't going to keep me down, then I don't know why some tether shit or whatever is going to do it." She sounds way too confident about this, but she's not going to push the fact. It's more to put on some kind of brave face at this point, some sort of confidence. Even if she's pretty sure she won't be able to figure things out like she has to.

Ah. Someone to look after him, someone from home. "It just... kinda worked out like that. But I'm willing to throw down if someone tries to fuck with him, you know?" It's not a warning. Yet. Or a threat. Yet.

You know, just pure and simple fact.

"I'm a scrappy bitch, I ain't goin' nowhere." She is going to set Emporio down finally, probably better for everyone involved. "But, god, at least this shit is less of a pain in my ass."

There is a flinch at Jolyne's words- in a sense after all it did keep her down. But Emporio does his best to not show it...or at the very least, mute it as much as possible until he's set down.

So instead he holds quiet until he can laugh at something, even if quietly. "...It's definitely less dangerous than Green Dolphin," he assures with a nod. "It was almost...weird, actually."

"Yeah. I mean regular prison's already dangerous enough, let alone whatever shit you guys had to deal with. ... I've never been, but I grew up in the yakuza. Knew lots of guys in and out of it." The only reason he'd stayed out was because he was sent after other yakuza and never really went into any crimes that could hurt civilians.

Cops didn't give a shit if other criminals killed each other, apparently. "You'll have time to get used to it. I take it you've found your room already? Or did you just immediately start looking for shit to punch?" No judgement either way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

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