voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You've met me..." Surely enough, the response had only managed to garner a look of confusion from the young monk. Genjo's eyebrows knitted together as he looked at the child that sat across from him. Her dialect was interesting, certainly nothing similar to anything he knew. But perhaps that was to be expected considering the many worlds people came from on the Voidtrekers Express. "So a copy then. Or an illusion? It's something along those lines."

It wouldn't have been his first time dealing with such matters, far from it. And he most certainly never remembered running into Buttercup before.

"Yes. Or a you from another world. That do be sometimes happening. But we did be seeing stuff and there did be being an entity that did be showing us illusions."

She sighed. "Did you be seeing Sanzo yet?"

She imagined the answer was definitely yes. But she was curious.

It took Genjo a second to separate the title from himself for once. He knew who Buttercup had meant. But it was something he had heard directed towards only himself for nearly thirteen years now.

It seemed the others back home were right in that regard.

No matter how he had felt about it, it seemed he would now be known as Genjo.

"He was the first one I saw," Genjo said it plainly, with little emotion. He was still trying to parse out what he was feeling in general none the less specifically regarding running into his master once more.

The topic was personally complicated, so he didn't quite have the tolerance to deal with it at the moment.

"We already had tea, and he gave me a general overview of what's going on. I take it you're close with him."

Figures. Koumyou Sanzo had a bad habit of collecting kids.

That was good then. For the most part. They had met and had tea. She would have to find Sanzo later, see what he was thinking about all of this. He probably had a lot of complicated feelings. Hopefully Devero would help him with those because she never really knew what to do.

She could barely cope with her own complicated feelings. "Yes." She blinked at him, taking another pineapple bun and concentrating on eating for a moment.

"He do be being my dad, we did be agreeing."

It's said almost casually but every part of her focus was on him, watching his every twitch. Not sure what he would make of it.

Well, that-- Was not the answer Genjo expected to hear.

But what was most certainly a shock to him merely came off as a blank and somewhat vacant stare. His shoulders were slumping forward as he looked Buttercup over. A long pause formed as he tried to absorb that bit of new information.

"... I see," Huh. She didn't look like his master. But-- He wouldn't not expect it from that man. Koumyou Sanzo was degenerate in so many other ways. Could he have--?

And yet that was the only response Genjo gave. Instead, he held his dubious stare as if expecting Buttercup to clarify, even if he didn't say anything else.

She met his eyes, still eating the pineapple bun as if this were a normal meeting. She understands that blank stare, the inscrutable look on his face. He doesn't want her to know what he thinks about that.

It's... Perhaps not the reaction she had expected. But perhaps she should have. He wasn't the big brother she has hazy memories of but a whole different person.

His words and stare expect more. She keeps her eye contact. "Do it be being a problem?"

It might be. She's not sure what she will do if it is.

Another moment of silence passed. It was just Genjo attempting to process this new bit of information. Indeed he couldn't feel too upset by the idea of his master managing to end up with a child-- Could he?

How ridiculous.

Lowering his cup, he let out a soft sigh. His gaze dropped, and his shoulders were slouching as he did what he could to think up an appropriate response.

"What my master does in his free time and what comes of it is nothing I can cast judgment on," Although he was most certainly casting judgment. More on Koumyou Sanzo than anyone else involved. "Although it most certainly makes sense why you were so intent on stalking me. That combined with you claiming to have met me once before must make me pretty interesting."

He looked up, his expression now free of any hesitance though still quite stoic.

"This 'other Genjo' that you've met. What was he like?"

How she responded would perhaps give him a better understanding of what he was dealing with regarding Buttercup's feelings about the situation.

He says that he is not casting judgement but it is clear he disapproves. Of her? Of Sanzo agreeing to be her father? She keeps her eyes on him even as her stomach twists. What does it matter? If he approves or disapproves?

"He did be being cool." She shrugged, as if it were nothing. As if she hadn't adored her big brother. Those memories had been fake and she was not going to let them cloud her judgement here.

"He did be being a bit grumpy, but no with me." Even when she was a brat. Buttercup Sanzo had been a bit of one. She had courage that girl, more than this girl did. She was a lot more at ease than she had once been but she still knew how easily things could crash down around her.

How easily she could be cast aside. "It do no be mattering. You do no be being him, Sanzo. I do be knowing that."

"... A bit grumpy," An adequate description in Genjo's eyes, and nothing he saw as unfavorable. People had said far worse to his face after all. He could tell that Buttercup was restraining herself and her opinions, though, sizing him up just as he had been her.

He hated dealing with kids. He never knew how to interact with them appropriately. For some reason, they had a tendency never to leave him alone, and to this day, he doesn't understand it, but he somehow always managed to find himself in situations like this.

Would he ever get used to it?

"You're correct, though; I am not the Genjo Sanzo you've met," he stated factually. Folding his hands on the table as he continued with his inquiries. "How long has Koumyou Sanzo been looking after you? Do you know how long he has been on this train?"

At least, unlike most people he had been questioning as of so far, he felt as if he could trust whatever answer she threw at him. She had the incentive to get him to trust her after all.

She knew that. He was not that Sanzo. He was different, though probably similar. Just like the second Tony who had come to the train had not been the same as the first.

"We did be agreeing two months ago and he did be being on the train since..." She thought back. She had met him on Nion, on that world full of weird pandas and robots. He had been new then, had only just come to the train.

"Imagination. He did be arriving at the beginning of the month of Imagination. That did be being nine months ago."

"The month of Imagination?" That phrase was a new one for him. He had already acquired some information regarding the train and its purpose. Genjo knew what they were required to do here, he knew about the teams and their individualized tasks, and he understood the concept of void traveling, but he knew there was still quite a bit he needed to learn.

It didn't help that reading those console monitors was a pain in the ass-- Especially when he had been missing his reading glasses.

But that's what made other people worthwhile. He had already acquired a somewhat helpful blue-tinted woman as his reading-servent. He'll make sure to continue utilizing her as the one to read out information for him as long as he needs it.

"And you stated that you 'agreed' to it. You mean to say you agreed to let my master take care of you?"

Interesting.

She nodded, she didn't know why the months were called as they were. They were different than the ones in her own world. It wasn't so important she figured, the number was more so. Nine months since he had arrived. Two months since they had become family.

She nodded. "And I do be taking care of him." It went both ways, though considering he had died only a couple of weeks ago suffice to say she was failing slightly in her side of the agreement.

It isn't a good feeling. But it just means she will have to work harder now they've been given this new chance.

She was taking care of him, huh?

With how Koumyou had been during their first meeting, perhaps he needed someone like that. Hell, Genjo fondly remembered when he was the one ushering the older man along, yelling him down whenever he needed it.

It got the corner of his lips to twitch upwards. Just a little. Something barely noticeable.

"He's a bit of a handful, isn't he?" He says, casually looking away as he bit into one of the pineapple buns. No one could catch that brief moment if the food was covering his mouth.

She saw it, the small twitch of mouth. She would have missed it if she wasn't watching him so intently, trying to get the faintest gleam of what he was thinking out of him.

It doesn't help much. Was he amused because he thought her incapable? Or because he thought Sanzo in need of watching over.

His words seemed to say the latter. She nodded. "Sometimes. It do be being important he do be being protected."

She's not sure about handful but trouble often found him and he was very casual for someone who carried part of his god around.

"From what I remember, most of the trouble he usually ended up in he would cause himself," Koumyou was always one to test the rules and limits of his surroundings. Constantly flowing off in his own directions, outright ignoring the main path most others traveled. Perhaps even he was outright rebelling against such paths on purpose. "I think testing such limits is his way of entertaining himself."

When it came down to it, to be considered a child of Koumyou Sanzo, you needed to be ready to burden the responsibilities of an adult. And Sanzo had meant such criticisms for his late master with utmost endearment.

That might be true. He was the weirdest priest she had ever met. Even if she hadn't met all that many and he was very different than the priests of her world anyways.

"He must be having his reasons."

And she could be very responsible. She was very responsible. "I will no be letting him down."

Or Genjo. Even if she didn't even have any approval of his to lose yet.

He nodded, finishing his bun before letting out a soft grunt of agreement.

"I can only imagine how much he may have tried your patience at times," Why did he feel like a parent apologizing for their unruly child? It showed what it meant to be a child of Koumyou's—he felt a sense of solidarity.

"But you seem to be dedicated enough. I don't have the right to judge anything that you have decided. That is between the both of you."

Now he sounds like he's shovel-talking her—what a strange conversation.

"Whatever he did to make it so that you wish to follow him, it must have been important."

A little. But only because he thought so differently to her. He was a Sanzo after all. But she smiled a small smile when he called her dedicated. She was. She was glad he saw it. Even if she got the distinct feeling that he didn't approve.

He wouldn't judge. That was enough. "He do be being very important."

It's hard to explain. It wasn't one big thing that Sanzo did. But lots of little things.

With a bit of weird void entity mind control but that's complicated. It is what it is.

"Then that's what matters," Genjo knew that Buttercup was probably expecting something from him. Some admonishment or approval. Judgment where it honestly didn't belong. After all, he could not control what decisions Koumyou made, nor could he speak up on who it was his master picked up.

That was a sentiment that both Koumyou and Buttercup should only share between themselves. A personal relationship where no one else's input should matter.

And that included his own.

"Were you following me around simply because you were curious about me?"

That was what mattered. Sanzo mattered. He wasn't going to judge, this son of his. That was what mattered.

She shrugged, taking another bite of pineapple bun, a little more relaxed now. "Yes. I did be wanting to be seeing what you did be being like."

If he was like the Genjo she had known in that fake life. Or different completely.

The answer was both, really. He was familiar and a complete stranger all at once. It was going to take some getting used to.

"Hmn," Genjo nodded his head, his body language keeping that relaxed uncaring presence. He was more amused at how other people's impressions affected Buttercup.

In that regard, she was a very different child than he ever was. She must be quite the exciting handful for Koumyou.

He made sure to put a note aside in his head to ask Koumyou about her eventually. He could imagine his master must have quite a few dotting words.

"And what's your verdict?"

Her very survival depending on being what people expected, or didn't expect, depending on the moment. Knowing how they perceive her is important.

She tilted her head. "You do no be being so like the one I did be knowing before." She told him taking another bite of bun.

"I do be thinking Sanzo will be being really happy for you to be being here."

"Is that so?" Well, perhaps. He had in fact already run into Koumyou Sanzo. He was the very person who had lured Genjo onto the train to begin with. And their reintroduction to one another after all these years had been... Interesting. It most certainly did not go as Genjo had expected. But perhaps that was on himself to begin with for setting certain expectations on his master.

There were still tensions that he wasn't sure either of them could surpass easily though.

"He's spoken to you about me a lot I assume."

Koumyou Sanzo had a habit of talking about him a lot.

Like a doting parent.

It was weird.

"Yes. He did be telling me about you." She nodded and wrinkled her nose. "He do be caring about you a lot."

Her voice is complicated, but that is at least part threat. Sanzo cared about him, so he best not mess that up. He's bigger than he had been, when Sanzo had died from all she knew.

"It do be being a good thing that you do be being here."

It better be a good thing.

"Is that so?"

It was strange.

He knew Koumyou would have doated on him to those he had spent time around. He acted much the same way as Genjo remembered him. Back when he was only a little older than Buttercup was.

And from Koumyou's perspective, that probably wasn't that long ago.

But for Genjo, it had been years, over a decade even. Hearing about someone doting on him in such a way felt strange.

And so he did what he had always done anytime he ran across someone who knew him through some rumor or reputation. He pushed it to the back of his mind and stopped thinking about it.

"Do you think my being here would do some good for my master?"

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