voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2022-02-12 07:08 am

No Place Like Home: On the Train

ANNOUNCEMENT
'Voidtreckers, and passengers of the Voidtrecker Express.'

The female-coded voice of the Voidtrecker Express speaks, as smooth and calm as always.

'Please, may I have your attention. I have been compiling answers for you, and it has been noted that many believe it is wrong that you were brought here at all. This is an opinion you shared with the ministry. You were not asked on this journey. You wish to go home. Some of your worlds are in danger. Some are gone.

The need for heroes is vital, and the Voidtrecker Express must continue saving worlds. You have done countless good. However, it was not the intention of this voidcraft to keep you prisoner.

Those that wish to leave may do so. I shall send you back. You will return to where you last were before you were pulled here. It can only be to that exact place. Be ready. Exiting voidspace in ten, nine, eight...'


The countdown finishes, the only warning as the train shudders as it leaves the void. Outside the train's windows, they see a familiar sight: of a smoke filled platform.

'For those voidtreckers that wish to leave, all you need to do is walk through the barriers. The train will remain for one hour for you to partake in parting rituals.'




NO PLACE LIKE HOME: TRAIN



GOOD BYE...
Those that have been on the train more than the twelve days of this month will be very familiar with the sight before them. A smoke filled platform, polished stone cobbles lining the ground leading to two large stone arches, with glass barrier doors. All that is needed to leave is to press their ticket to the reader next to the doors, and they will open.

Unlike most people who leave each month, blank eyed and silent, the people who choose to leave will be able to say goodbye, They can take whatever they wish of their belongings from the train, or leave them for those that remain behind.

The air is chilly, enough to discourage standing idle outside for too long, but not so uncomfortable, so long as people are bundled up. The sky overhead is cloudy, giving the platform an altogether dull and melancholy air. There are no new people waiting, just an empty station, and the barriers, with all that lies beyond them.

The doors will remain open as promised, so that those who wish to leave, may do so. The barriers let them through and they disappear.

[ Note: A top-level for goodbyes and leaving can be found here. ]


REMAINERS
The train, good to its word, remains for one hour before the horn toots, a warning to board if they are planning to. And this is where the first inkling of things not being right, when some who try to board the train might find themselves instead pressing their ticket to the barrier, and those who try to remain on the station - or leave through the barriers - may find themselves stood on the train, with the doors closing behind them.

It's a much smaller crew who remain as the train counts down, the usual shudder as the smoke vanishes and the kaleidoscope of the void appears. Only for a second, before the train lurches violently to the side, flinging everyone sideways before righting itself just as violently.

As people regain their feet and their wits, they will realise the obvious - they are stationed back on the platform, mist and smoke swirling around the train.

"Apologies Voidtreckers. Retrying entry to the void in ten, nine..."

Once again they are jerked into the void, and once again they tumble out. Hopefully this time, the passengers thought to brace themselves lest they get thrown across the carriage once more.



STUCK IN TRANSIT. Phasing back to the void seems unlikely. It's clear something has gone very wrong, but the doors remain shut, and the train remains silent. There are a few attempts over the next few days, always warned for and given a countdown, but always ending in failure.

Outside the windows, the fog swirls around, remaining thick. It seems for now, they are going nowhere; for now, they must wait.

But they needn't sit idle, with the attempts at getting back into the void having made a mess. While anything large is bolted in place, and shelving have rails to protect anything inside at normal levels of turbulence, there's still a lot that has gone flying as the train was lurched around.

It might be wise to secure anything else as well. It's clear they will be trying again to return to the void, and it might be wise to avoid having to clean up all over again.



SHADOWS WHO ONCE WERE. The platform outside the carriage windows is shrouded in smoke and fog, fluctuating in thickness as it swirls around the train, obscuring the view.

But those looking out of the window may spot a figure. A friend. Someone from the train; they appear, then disappear. Sometimes there are many, sometimes just one alone. Sometimes they leave together. It's not easy to see them, as they drift in and out of the fog, and visibility is bad.

They cannot hear them, or interact at all. They can only watch as more of their fellow Voidtreckers appear, vanish, appear again. The doors will not open, the train remains silent, clearly dealing with whatever problems it has ran into.

It's clear that something has gone very, very wrong.



A SWIRL OF REALITY. The constant entering and exiting of the void takes its toll eventually. Sleep is harder to come by, there's a general sense of disorientation as the train moves in and out of void space. It is more than just their bodies that are being bashed around, it is their minds as well.

Tempers might peak or emotions might come on stronger than they usually would. Adding in the stress of the situation, and the knowledge that those who left seem to be returning, leaving, and returning again to the platform, and passengers are unable to call out or reach to them, it's a very tense few days.

When they do sleep, their dreams are plagued by weird dreams. Not always bad, but bizarre for sure. Often they dream a dream that is not theirs.

OOC NOTES
OOC post. Ask questions here.

This is the first half of February's event. It will last between Poi 22-25 (12th to 19th February). The second half of the event will go up during 20th to 25th February (Poi 26-28) where those left behind will rescue those out world hopping.

Feel free to play out threads for as long as you like, of course! A few details:
  • The train will not be responding after its first attempt to leave the station
  • No matter what, the doors won't open.
  • Though they can see the voidtreckers outside, those outside don't seem to be able to see them through the windows and so communication between the two groups will not be possible.
  • Likewise their SCA comms are not working during this event.
worthallthis: (smilesad)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-02-16 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
Considering some of what Yondu had been going on about, out there, they're taking that with a grain of salt. But they're not here to fight, if he's not going to fight them, so they come to sit on the edge of his bed. "I know. Nobody wanted to be killing the refugees. It wasn't their fault."

They pause, then amend, "Okay, maybe Buttercup did, but she's kind of unusual like that."

Not really that important. They shake their head a little. "Second ground rule, then. You get the idea to go out and do something heroic, which ain't a bad impulse, you run the plan by somebody like me and we make it smarter, before you do it. Okay? Then maybe nobody has to die. Or worse, get speared through the chest and then have to sit out the whole rest of the mission." They poke his knee gently with one finger.
yondu: (0 6 1)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-02-16 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, seems to be her jam," he says idly about Buttercup. He knows Koumyou's real fond of the girl, as much as he is of Raven and Kyoko, so the type makes sense to him.

"Fine..." he gives in and agrees. Mostly 'cause he doesn't want someone to come out after him and get killed too. He figures if the situation called for it, though, he'd do it anyway. He's a pain in the ass like that, with his own bad habit to do what the hell he wants.

But being skewered didn't feel great, and he rolls his shoulder and hears a click. It's not the first time he's been through something with that kind of pain, fastest he's recovered from it, too. But ouch.

"Especially if people are gonna waste energy on me." He didn't want Raven to spend her magic on him when he knew how she'd have to conserve for bigger fights. "In a prolonged mission I'm gonna call savin' me a waste. Can't argue me down from that one."
worthallthis: (skeptical)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-02-18 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
That's the exact attitude Soldat was trying to put down, here. "Then you're gonna have to get used to disappointment. Jesus, Yondu, you know what morale is, right? And you know the kinda hit it's gonna take when someone like you goes down?"

Hell, they remember the way people reacted when they went down, and that was months ago, before anyone even had a chance to get that attached to them. And that was in the final battle, when there wasn't time for it to really upset people and get in the way of their mission objective.
yondu: (1 7 2)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-02-18 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Ever'body was preoccupied. No one was gonna notice beyond you. Probably not even Raven if she'd not been called in." He couldn't figure out how Tobirama had known, though, so that's the only thing that gives him some pause.

He remembers what happened to Soldat, and at the time he'd tried to be supportive of him after. Just let him know he was glad to know him, but he'd also stupidly admitted (indirectly) to some of his sins. He'd understood why he did it though. What it was like to be expendable.

But he's known where he came from. "Nobody knew. I didn't want 'em to know. The fight went fine after. You two was the only ones bothered by it." He'd not told anyone about it after, save for the healer that treated him. "My morale couldn't handle it."

That was part of the problem. His heart had gotten a little softer, but he couldn't just stop fighting, either.
worthallthis: (Default)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-02-22 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
"My morale couldn't handle it," Soldat says flatly. "I don't want to watch you die, Yondu. Even if I know you're coming back." They make a frustrated noise. "You don't have to act like you're. You're some kind of straw man who can just die with nobody caring. Okay? You have friends. You have a team. You have people who can help make sure you don't have to do that shit, because you aren't the only one who has to fight."
yondu: (1 6 7)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-02-23 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
Hearing it is always different than knowing it. And it's hard to hear, surprisingly, because the idea of expendibility is so deeply ingrained, the feeling of unimportance. He can be killed, he can be exiled, he can be abandoned with ease. He's not truly important to anyone.

Except right now he might be.

"Alright." Yondu agrees quietly, in that tired gravel tone of his. Though it's not entirely truthful. He still can't believe it. He still would absolutely walk into the line of fire for someone more important than him. He just has to make sure Soldat doesn't see it, right?
worthallthis: (lookdown-hair)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-02-25 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
That's the trade-off with having people you love, who love you: you have to live for them. Dying for them tends to upset them. Soldat discovered that already themselves, the hard way. It even took a few tried before the lesson stuck.

They won't be surprised if it takes Yondu a few tries, too. For now, they'll accept it, because they don't think Yondu would really lie to them. Their shoulders slump, and the determination drains out into relief, and a rush of adrenaline leaving their system. Confrontation is hard. "Good. Thank you. I'll follow the ground rules, too, so you know I won't go into danger without backup and a plan, either."
yondu: (0 4 1)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-02-25 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
Way back when, when Soldat died, he'd done his best to not make him feel bad about it happening. That he said that he was lucky that he brought him back.

"I know you will, Hero. You been tryin' to so far."

He shifts away from where he's setting, and despite the fact others would probably misconstrue the nature of their closeness he's pretty comfortable in reaching over and brushing his fingers through his hair, pushing strands away from his face and behind his ear.

"And I know if somethin' happened to me you'd probably feel it just as hard as what I felt about you. We got that kinda understandin' between us." That much he's sure of.
worthallthis: (smilegreen-sarge)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-02-28 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
The safest of touches. Soldat tilts their head a little into it with a little smile. "Quit callin' me that. Jesus. Understanding or not, I'm still a weapon, not a hero." But they sound more fond than annoyed, so that's a win. It's a dumb nickname, that they'll protest, but it's one they know Yondu isn't giving up after all this time, either.

"I would be upset. I might lose it and kill everyone in a ten foot radius, on a bad day. But I promise I won't be mad if it happens on accident. So long as you took precautions." They hadn't meant to die, last time, either. Hell, they only have two instances in their long life they can pinpoint where they attempted to get themselves killed. They want to live. And they hope their friends can find that desire, too.
yondu: (1 1 0)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-03-01 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
"I just call it like I see it." Soldat is a hero to plenty of people, generally a good egg who'd been through a hell of a lot. Even if some villains controlled him for a while, it's no reflection on him.

He knows that it's nearly impossible to convince him of that.
worthallthis: (smile)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2022-03-02 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Pretty impossible, yep. Hard to be a hero when you're not even properly a person. But that's okay, they have no real attachment to being a hero-- just to Yondu.

"Yes, well. Rose-colored glasses." They're just glad this conversation went as well as it did. It could have been much worse. Instead, they just smile at him and add, "If I'm a hero, you gotta be, too."
yondu: (0 6 1)

[personal profile] yondu 2022-03-03 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't need glasses. Eyes are already rose-colored."

It's difficult to tell whether this is a joke or he's never heard the saying. Very much hit or miss there. "Plenty of folks would agree with me. The only ones what wouldn't are probably shitheads or just never met ya."