voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2022-03-01 05:33 am

A New Platform [Intro Post March]


PLATFORM STOP: MONTH 17
(QUICKSAND)



BEFORE ARRIVAL

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day 1 of the month of Quicksand. Points have been updated on the system."

The voice of the Voidtrecker Express welcomes passengers at the same time as always, sometime after breakfast. With points updated, everyone can spend the morning shopping. Most people will be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later, as the colours of the void outside the windows blur more and more.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. The weather is cold and damp. 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.

ON THE PLATFORM


1. THE ARRIVAL

At first, all your character can see is steam billowing around them as they come to their senses. But as their eyes adjust, they find themselves on a platform.
It is cold, a slush of ice and rain on the ground underneath their feet. It's not currently raining though. The platform is made of black cobbles, slippy under their feet, dark stone gates serving as barriers giving the impression of a severe and grim place.

They stand in clothes not their own, in a style they might not even recognise. They're carrying a rucksack on their person, and for a moment it seems to just be them, alone on this platform. Before the fog starts to subside, and they'll see they're one of eleven figures: all facing the tracks, and all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies, the latter in one of four colours. Purple, red, blue or orange.

But then there's a roaring sound to get their attention, and out from the fog arrives a train. A sleek black, it it reads The Voidtrecker Express in gold lettering on the side. Every one of the doors hiss as they open automatically, and out pours a strange assortment of people, over a hundred at least. Some are human, some less so, with a majority wearing the same hoodie of four colours as they do, though some sport outfits in a variety of styles.

The train doors close behind them, and the vehicle is cloaked in the same fog that hides the world beyond the platform. A group of people head towards the gates of the platform, their expressions blank and unaffected by their surroundings. Ansem, Connor, Curufin, Elle Days, Freddy Fazbear, Margulis, Murderbot, Potato, Vexen, Will Stanton and Yota They disappear through the barriers, but no one else can - all people can do is wait until the train re-emerges, finishing whatever changes it's making.


2. BOARDING THE TRAIN

After a short time, perhaps ten minutes or so, the fog clears and the doors hiss open again. Everyone will feel a pull when they do, a need to board, and those from the train may encourage new arrivals to board. This feeling grows into one of apprehension and turns worse the longer they stay off-board.

For those that do board, they may find themselves in a few different carriages, but most likely the standard coach. A row of seats sit available, with a few tables between each. More likely than not, some cookies have been set out with jugs of drink, and cups available for pouring.

For those that don't, however, they're likely to attract attention if they're spotted. And if that fails... an unfortunate end will await them.


3. DEPARTURE

Do a little exploring, if you will. But people will have half an hour total from the train's arrival before a second horn sounds, encouraging any stragglers taking advantage of the fresh air to board. After five minutes from this, the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train begins to rumble with activity, and the platform starts to disappear into a fog as the voidcraft moves. A female-coded artificial voice echoes throughout the train.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express. 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.


ON THE TRAIN


1. EXPLORING

With nowhere to go but through the train's carriages, this is a good time for newcomers to explore. For veterans, it's back to your everyday life aboard the Voidtrecker Express.

¤ New arrivals will notice a screen and console in every carriage sharing the same message, and a stack of leaflets in holders by them offering further information to the curious (see 'Publications'). There are lavatories available on each carriage on one end, with another console with a deposit box under it at the other. This is the train shop.

¤ It'll take some time for newbies to figure out the layout, even if there's only two directions to go in. Go one end, and you'll find the food stores and washing utilities. This month's key ingredient is pineapple, and you're sure to bump into others curious about what's in the stock.

¤ Go to the other end, and you'll find the sleeper cabins. Plaques sit on the wall by each door with the names of their occupants, and one of these will be yours - hopefully, they'll figure out that swiping their ticket against the doorpad will open it up to them. 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.

¤ At the farthest end in this direction is the luggage carriage, where passengers who have bought items from the train shop will find their purchases. There are also medical kits for every one, each labelled with their full roster name. These are scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags, but there's also a small fridge and kettle here with bottled water, for those who want a quiet drink.

For those of Purple team who go looking for their reward they will find simple boxes of cupcakes to share out. There's a cupcake for all of purple team, even the new arrivals, share in your new team's success!


2. ACTIVITIES

But of course, there's also everything in-between those two directions, and the people in them.

¤ Areas of note will be the training gym, where there's always regulars training to pass the time. There's a training board offering services, but maybe you'll find someone who catches your eye in here. Or even its gear?

¤ Is your character used to the appliances to be found in the kitchen? Depending on when your character wanders in, they may find someone testing out a recipe, preparing for lunch, or even dinner time.

¤ The library offers a quiet place, with a fair selection of books from fiction to non-fiction. Is your character interested in learning more about the void? Picking up an action or adventure book? Wow, there sure are a few magazines.

¤ There's also media to consume, from the games car, the cinema, to the arts carriage. Ever played a virtual reality game? Wanted to learn how to fly? Have you seen a screen of moving pictures? There's now documentaries to be found in the cinema's catalogues, from How To programming, Void-related topics, and sports.


3. REST AND SLEEP

¤ Time is difficult to track in the void, even with the few clocks around showing a 21 hour time. But the windows allowing a view of the kalediscope void will shift to a pitch black once the time reaches 12, and keep for the rest of the day.

¤ Breakfast, lunch, and dinner time is usually announced by whoever's cooking that day, and when. Sometimes it's decided by the team chores; other times, it's decided by who wants to be cooking.

¤ But sleep eventually comes to all, even if they don't want it to. When 21 hours have finally passed on the train, all passengers, whether they need sleep or not, will see black - only to start a new day in their cabin beds, with the sound of the train's automated voice greeting them with a 'Good morning' message.


NAVIGATION ~ GAMEPLAY ~ SETTING ~ CHARACTER INITIATIVES ~ QUESTIONS
smithandwesson: (Smoke Break)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-03-12 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
[The confused expression Lea tossed Sanzo had managed to throw the monk off guard. He could have sworn he heard someone calling just now. Did he make a mistake? But it sounded so lonely and desperate.

His eyebrows were scrunching as he stared at the redhead with confused indignation.

No. There was no way he was wrong. This guy called him. He had to have.
]

Yes, you did.

[He said as if there was absolutely no room for argument.]

Where the hell are we?

[Only to immediately change the subject. This guy, he had to know something about what was going on, right?]
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2022-03-15 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Well too bad, because Lea was going to argue it anyway.]

No, I didn't. I really don't know what you're talking about.

[This could likely go back and forth for awhile if they let it. But fortunately he asked another question, so it was easy enough to shift the topic.]

As to where we are, you want the long version, or the short version?
smithandwesson: (Prologue)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-03-15 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, you did.

[Must this become a thing? No.

Will Sanzo make it a thing regardless? Of course.

Despite this, he somehow managed to remember the topic at hand despite the petty dispute between sentences. Continuing to stare down at Lea with a completely neutral expression, Sanzo so casually answered his question.
]

And whichever version you want to tell. Spare any bullshit but save the crucial details.

[He would rather get a full scope of whatever the hell was going on, but he also knew that he could only take whatever was said with a grain of salt. For all he knew, this sad sap was just as likely to be someone untrustworthy.]
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2022-03-28 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
And what do you think I said when I supposedly called out to you?

[Maybe that would be a slightly more productive road to do down.

As for the rest of it.]


Ok. Basically? You're a spirit-clone of yourself made by a living interdimensional train with good intentions, highly questionable recruitment methods, and often really bad timing. It brought you- and all of us- here to help save and protect other worlds that are having crises that are too big for the locals to handle. And you're stuck in this situation for the foreseeable future; a recent attempt to send people home ended up a total disaster, so no one's likely to try again any time soon.
smithandwesson: (Saiyuki 1997)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-03-29 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
A clone?

[Seriously? You're just going to drop that bit of existential crisis on him, are you?

Well, whatever. Sanzo felt like himself. So he had to be himself. That's all there was to it. He wasn't going to worry about the surreal concept of worlds and what 'home' could even mean to someone who was supposedly copy-pasted into an apparent--

He looked over to the large train parked at the station, rumbling and hissing its engine casually.

What could it mean to someone who was copy-pasted into an apparent inter-dimensional traveling sentient train?

Great.

Instead, Sanzo turned his attention back down to Lea. It had been a while since he last heard a voice like that. Not the first time, far from it, but he was never able to figure out what it meant.
]

You're saying we've been pulled out of our worlds to work for a train, with no say and no way to return.

[He turned towards the gate, the one he had seen a handful of people and creatures walk past.]

What about that? Just saw a bunch of people cross through there.

[He'll get to what he thought he heard Lea say later. For now, he needed to sort his thoughts on what was going on.]
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2022-03-31 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Hey, you asked, dude.]

Basically, yeah. There's worse places to end up, but overall not the greatest situation.

[And yeah, about them...]

Did you notice how they were just staring straight ahead, not reacting to anything? They weren't leaving because they wanted too. Sometimes people lose their connection to the train, and when that happens, they walk off like that. No one can leave willingly though, and if you tried walking out through the gates like they did, it wouldn't work.
smithandwesson: (... Hey. You're the one that kept callin)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-03-31 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
What? So they'd leave, but I wouldn't?

[Strange. Some portal magic, perhaps? Teleportation spells? What could it be that selects who leaves and who stays?

He looked back towards Lea, his expression dour as he took the weight of what they were talking about into consideration.

So that's how it was, huh? That made sense.
]

-- Crying.

[That's what he thought he heard.]
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2022-04-01 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Yep. They're not tethered to the train any more, but for better or worse, we are.

[And from what Lea had gathered? Who left and who stayed was fairly random. Which only made things more difficult.

It took a moment for him to realize what the other meant by his last word, but then Lea recalled his own earlier question.]


Well, I certainly haven't been crying. I don't think anyone else has either, though I imagine a lot of people are upset about certain people leaving.

[Unless...]

Wait... can you pick up on people's emotions?
smithandwesson: (Don't lie to me. I heard you calling me)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-04-05 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[There was a long pause of silence as Sanzo blankly stared at Lea with the assumption.

Really. Is that what Lea thought it was?

Well, perhaps. Truthfully even Sanzo wasn't entirely sure what it was. But this was far from the first time it had happened.

Who the hell knows.
]

I only heard you sulking about like an idiot, so I decided to shut you up.

[Those sorts of calls were annoying. It was best to nip them in the bud.]

So we're tethered to the sentient train as copies made by it of our actual selves?

[What a complex concept to accept. But, well, Sanzo was here. And this was all he had to go on so far.]

How long have you been tethered here?
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2022-04-11 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah if you can 'hear' people sulking when they're not actually talking, that pretty much confirms it. Or something like it, at least.

[With all the different world mechanics at work on the train, who knew how it worked, really? Certainly not Lea.]

Anyway, unfortunately, that's about the size of it yeah. And I've been here... [Slight pause, then a bit of surprise as he realizes.] ...11 months now. [Almost a year. He and Xion had been on board for almost a year.]
smithandwesson: (I'll take you with me. Since I don't see)

[personal profile] smithandwesson 2022-04-15 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmn.

[Well, that would certainly be cause for some sulking.

But Sanzo also had a feeling there was more to it than just the length of time in which Lea was here.

Well, whatever. It wasn't his problem. And he was willingly choosing to ignore the empathy thing. As confusing as the 'calls' had occasionally been, they were more often than not a nuisance. And a part of him couldn't help but feel as if thinking too hard about it directly would only make the whole thing more of hinderance.

He heard a voice... And now that Lea was talking to him it was subsiding. That's what mattered.
]

A year.

[At least, nearly a year.]

Are there people who have been here for even longer?

[He needed to get an estimate for how long he'd be stuck here. For how much longer it would take for him to complete his mission.]