voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post January]

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A New Platform [Intro Post January]

On the Train

After a very quiet latter half of the month of Catfish the calendar clicks over. Passengers wake up in their beds as usual to the passenger announcement. "Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of domino.".

Those that have been on board a while know that new months usually come with new people and so the message a few hours later will not be a surprise. "Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void imminent." A lurch and a jolt and they are soon surrounded by the fog that means they are at a platform.

It will come as a relief that no one leaves this time, no one with packed bags to walk silently towards the barriers.

Added to that the platform itself holds more people then it ever has before. Twenty one figures, all the colours are represented. The ground is icy and their breath pools in white clouds around them.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see if steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large and it holds twenty one figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. The air is cold, the ground icy beneath your feet. Both left and right the tracks disappear into the mist. 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 into the cold step a selection of people. Some are human, some are less so. They are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is 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 not be a good thing also it’s very cold out on the platform. The train is warmer.

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. The store rooms have been restocked and it seems that water chestnuts are the month of Domino’s ingredient of choice! Any of orange team who who go to check the luggage cart will find a parcel containing gingerbread snowflakes, decorated with icing. One for each of the orange team, including new members, come share in the reward!

New passengers will find their tickets allow them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

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 and you will hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view 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."

Hopefully someone warns you that you really want to heed that warning because a moment later there is 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. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to voidspace!

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The haze, so aimless across most of the platform, swirled with rather more turmoil at the far left of the space. First it roiled and churned as though caught in some unseen current, and then all at once rushed down and away from the helmeted figure as though swept away by some great unseen hand.

The soundless shriek of cold, furious energy followed after. Spread through the space, saturating it. The columns closest to him creaked so very faintly.

He did not know where he was. Had been in transit from Sullust to Endor aboard his flagship, in fact, supposedly unassailable within the coils of the hyperdrive. He was planet-side, perhaps. He was in no immediate danger, possibly.

As he considered, he took in the uniform clothing of his... fellow abductees. Lifted one arm, took in the blue fabric covering the suit. If he had bothered to engage his vocoder yet, his hiss would have been audible. Never mind the unfamiliar location, the apparent impressive capture of a Dark Lord of the Sith from the bridge of the Executor from hyperspace, something had held him unaware for long enough to dress him. Even the familiar weight of his cloak was gone, replaced with-- he unshouldered the bag he felt, and the contents spilled out into the air obediently for his inspection. The clothes he replaced, the toiletries he huffed an angry laugh at. The notebook, a confection of paper and animal hide, he flipped through and likewise discarded, finding it empty. Was there nothing--

Ah.

His lightsaber alone he snatched out of the air. It ignited in a snap-hiss of red that turned the fog around him a satisfactory bloodied hue. Understanding through power. Very well. He would get answers.

He stood unimpeded, unconstrained, yet he could reach no further than the limits of this small platform. There were skills that could cause such a thing, creatures, materials that could stifle one's access to the Force, but he saw none of those here. Just people, unfamiliar, and the twenty sunspots of disorientation within their minds.

Two of those people, children, burned much more strongly, and he considered them as potential conspirators in his situation. One was untrained: her presence reached for his instinctively, easily brushed away. She was only a threat to herself. The other... the other was familiar in a faint way that he began to dissect, turn over in his mind, and if the boy did not also reek of pain and confusion, he would have already begun the quick process of dying, so clearly Jedi was he.

One presence, a bright star. He shied away from it - her - his aura flaring magnesium-harsh until he would have blinded a lesser sensitive to the Force. Like a blow to a phantom limb, like someone else's pain, he almost staggered. How could she be-- Who would dare--

The train arrived, and with it, another star.

He has had much to do, much to think of, and many people to consider like so many insects. But her presence has been a thorn in his mind since he first became aware on the platform, and now he intends to do something about it. Her fear and sorrow is a beacon in the Force, as constricted as it is; he foresees no problems locating her now or later.

So it is only a minute later that he looks down at her, tucked away as she is in this distant corner of their crowded new prison, and engages his vocoder with a soft click.

"Your name, child."

She'd noticed him too. His presence is hard for her to ignore, spread out as she is. She's like water lapping at a beach in the Force, even if she doesn't know it. But him... he's like a tumultuous storm, tamed only by sheer will. It's weird, and she doesn't like it.

But, manners are ingrained in her. She snaps to her feet and performs a perfect curtsey. "Misa, sir."

She doesn't look up. Men don't like a courtesan that will meet their eyes, unless they are Mistress of a house.

Luke was filled with a sort of restless energy he was better at keeping contained than this. Yes, the train rarely had anything to keep him occupied outside of responsibilities to his team, but he was better than this at keeping his impatience from showing. Now, though, it felt like the Force was humming around him, buzzing with the promise that something was going to happen.

He was bouncing on the balls of his feet as the train came to a stop, trying not to glance at the other team leaders to see their reactions to his restlessness -- he could sense their amusement well enough anyway. The Force wasn't helping either; he couldn't sense anything beyond the walls of the train, but there was still the buzzing hum of something is here. Something is here right now.

Once the train stopped, Luke was the first to emerge, trying hard to focus on what he needed to do: gather up everyone wearing purple hoodies, brief them on where they were, give them the welcome packet, and help them on the train. Unfortunately, he got about as far as half settling into a parade rest on an empty spot on the platform when that familiar presence hit him, sucking the breath right out of his lungs. All his unconscious military demeanor went right out the window, and he was a vulnerable kid, his eyes desperately scanning the crowd as his heart did flips in his chest. He hadn't seen him in months. He was beginning to give up hope he ever would and...

He spotted him in the next second, easily a head taller over everyone else, naturally. He looked straight at him, always knowing he was finding his eyes through those black lenses, and couldn't help but stare in absolute wonder and disbelief. He looked utterly ridiculous with the blue hoodie, and he could sense the bubbling anger rolling off of him, but that didn't matter at the moment.

Luke's face broke out into an unrestrained, brilliant grin, the care he'd been taking to maintain the image of the person everyone thought he was flying out into the void.

"Dad!"

It was never "dad"; it was always "father" or "my lord", always said with affection but still as formal as their respective stations demanded. He couldn't help the outburst though; it had been months since he'd seen him, heard his voice. Even when he was in the Academy, he'd never gone that long without at least a call from the Dark Lord.

And no one was keeping him from him either.

Responsibilities forgotten for the moment, Luke hurriedly pushed his way through the crowd, desperate to get to his father and cling to him with every bit of strength he had in him.

This man has very few feelings towards courtesans, but he is no fool. He recognises the movements, trained as they are. He wonders, acerbically, why she has been spirited away to this place.

If it is to continue that distasteful servitude, he will rip the train apart himself. If it is for her untapped power, he supposes she would be a powerful weapon.

He doesn't particularly want to give his captors more weapons.

"What do you know of the Force?"

It is the glass walls of the carriage that finally jog his memory, make that final connection to a boy over a decade past with his droid, his conflicted master, and his defiance.

He does not bother to remember a name, if he even noted it at the time. He doubts it. What is more interesting is that, to his knowledge, the boy hasn't aged a day.

As greeting, he curls mental fingers around the exploring droid, and lifts it up between them in a rattle of displaced pebbles. Just a few feet, enough to display to it recollection of its previous daring.

"You are a long way from Nur, Jedi."

Romeo is making sure to help everyone knows where they are going and what rooms they are staying in and how to work the doors! He know it can be tricky at first and everything on the first day is confusing.

He hadn't found it as confusing as when he had first arrived in heaven, but that was because he had memories of heaven and it wasn't just his first new day knowing nothing but his name!

But it was still a bit complicated and a lot of people had never been to a different world before! Even though Romeo had been on the train for two months now there were still things that took him by surprise.

Like this little metal creature. He crouched down. "Hello! Did you just arrive today too?"

Romeo hopped down off the train and looked around. The platform was really cold today and he pulled the hood of his blue hoodie up around his ears. There were a lot of people on the platform this time! More than even last month!

His eyes looked around for anyone who might need help and he spotted a man who was looking very worried about the train.

"Hello sir! Are you alright? Have you seen a train before?"

She blinks impossibly long lashes, breaking the rule and looking up at him. She's a curious child, and she wonders why he wears a mask. But that's not important.

"Nothing, really." She admits, easily. "I know the Jedi use it. That they were once peacekeepers, before Emperor Palpatine." She likes reading history. She's also read enough... "fiction" to get a few ideas about the Jedi, but she doubts he's asking about those.

"I know that, the traders say that only one Master is left." She shrugs. Other than that, she's woefully ignorant.

It is perhaps lucky that the person that Misa snapped at is one of those younger and smaller than her. Unfortunately it doesn't mean she takes it meekly.

"That do be being my own business." She sneered back, looking the girl up and down with a derisive nose wrinkle. There's not much she can tell about the girl on first glance except she is in the orange team and looks a bit like a noble girl, all perfect faced and acting like she ruled the world.

It's enough for a part of her that had been hiding since she left Gauig to surface. She had ran with street children and it was a part she played quite well.

"You do be being new." She pointed a finger at her. "So the bigger question do be being. Who do you be?"

The settling feeling of total unreality only grew, thicker than the dissipating fog and twice as disorienting, as his son stepped from the train. A hallucination, he thought wildly, the atrophied sense of Skywalker still reaching for her even as he turned to face the young man hurtling towards him. The Dark Side shuddered around him, both empowered by the sudden passion in its vessel and battered down by those same emotions, until it whirled back up and about him, controlled once more.

( "Dad!" )

The only reason he did not impale Luke on his saber in an instinctive parry was his incredulity at the address he had chosen. The lack of suspicion or fear. The warm, foreign joy - relief? - dancing across his mind.

Not even a good hallucination, then, he added to himself. Allowed the embrace from an immediate curiosity in what, precisely, the source of these visions thought they would gain from a scene so outlandish - noted, also, with a narrowed interest, how naturally he avoided touching the vital components of his chest piece. This trickery was achingly precise in some aspects and so utterly clumsy in others.

He felt a mild regret that the first time he had the boy acknowledge the bond between them was part of the latter.

Very well, he would play along. He cleared his throat in a rattle of filters. Rumbled, "Son."

Ah, so she knows nothing at all of relevance. He considers her, considers the 'one Master', and decides that here, in this place, that he does not care.

Still.

"Before their betrayal," he corrects with an almost automatic sarcasm. His master had very little to do with the destruction of the Jedi in the end. But, again, irrelevant here. "You indeed know nothing. It is how you have survived until now, but that ignorance will not serve you here."

Luke couldn't keep the ecstatic grin off his face as he buried his face in his father's shoulder, for once not caring how ridiculously short he was in comparison. His father was here; he had that familiar physical warmth every time he hugged him pressed up against him, a clear indicator that some semblance of his suit was working as it should despite the ridiculous hoodie. He would worry about what, if anything, was done to alter it later, when he could get a private moment when him to make sure everything was really okay. Right now, he was happy to be in his familiar dark presence, like a super nova silently churning in the darkness, and...

...and it felt different. Cold. Distant.

Luke froze at that, his joy slowly ebbing as the reality of the situation started nudging at him through the Force. It was a moment before he could pull away, peering up at his father with concern, not even worried about the fact that his lightsaber was still lit, and more worried about why he felt so off.

"...father?" he asked softly, a small apology in his voice, like he wasn't sure if why things were off was because he had been so informal. That couldn't be the only reason, right?

Marcus's last adventures were spent literally fighting gory terminators sent by one Parnell. He lifted his hand, trying to look through the fog and he swore he was by himself for a while, until he batted at the fog, trying to see the others. Marcus was a half human and half terminator but the cold on the cyborg's skin he could feel. He didn't feel it too much so far but the blue hoodie was new.

Marcus inwardly cursed "That wasn't what I was wearing earlier.."

But at least he had one comfort of "home" he held in his sack, right?"

Train

Marcus eyed his new bed arrangement in the new 4A blue car looking around for his area and saw nobody had taken the beds yet. He didn't really need the sleep to be honest. Cyborgs didn't need to sleep, just eat and drink.

"So this is where my place is, not bad, a bit better than John Connor could offer me."

{ Platform | Semi-Locked to Clara first }

He must have nodded off. It's not something that usually happens but it has been known to happen. Before even opening his eyes he knows he's not at the TARDIS. He can't here her familiar humming or gentle rattle of the engine. He's also leaning against something-someone. He his cheeks is pressed against something warm and silky. He opens his eyes in a snap and sits up, his eyes moving to see who he was using as a pillow only to see Clara there and automatically he feels a sense of relief wash over him.

"Clara?" He says gently, shaking his shoulder to rouse her. It's then that he takes note of how she's dressed-blue hoodie and khakis. Huh. Not her usual fashion sense. He glances down at himself and notes the red hoodie. "M bow tie's gone!" He exclaims, feeling for it on the collar of his new hoodie.

Kidnap him and drag him to some, as of yet, unknown place? Sure, fine. He can deal with that. Bring his companion along with him? Yes, good. Always makes for a fun time. Take his bow tie? Oh, it's on now. He pats himself down in search of his screwdriver but it's not in any of his pockets. "Well that's annoying."

His voice might sound light, but he really is annoyed at the lack of screwdriver in his pockets.

{ Train - Exploring - OTA }

The Doctor would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little intrigued by all this. He likes anything new that he hasn't seen before and he's definitely seen space trains before but he's never seen one that kidnaps people in possibly the nicest way possibly. At least they're all given rooms and accommodations.

There are quite a bit of people on-board and he's looking forward to talking to each and every one of them. Come to think of it, he has done a thing where people from all over where kidnapped before but that was to a hotel-not to a train. Too bad they didn't get put on a train. A train is much more fun, if you ask him.

Of course he makes his way through the train-the jerk from departure and into the void isn't even that unfamiliar for someone that regularly travels through the Time Vortex. He finds himself at the engine wall and pans his screwdriver over the wall before checking the readings.

"Well... that's not quite what I expected." The Doctor says, squinting at the reading.

Arrival
The steam was so thick that not even Paper's devil or witch sight couldn't help him see through it. As such, he called his longbow pact weapon to hand. It was not quite as tall as he and made of an unidentifiable material: pure black, as if that section of reality had been deleted from the very fabric of reality. There were pinpoints of light that were reminiscent of stars along the shape of it, though upon closer inspection it looked as if they might be eyes that followed your movements. He lazily made the motion of nocking an arrow and one appeared, but he wasn't drawing the bow as much as getting ready just in case something happened.

The bow and arrow stayed, though he still didn't raise the bow as the steam cleared. He looked around at the motley crew on the platform, eventually desummoning the arrow he had nocked and putting his bow over his shoulder as someone approached and as he started to walk about.

The Train
Paper was familiar with complex machinery, but he'd never seen a train directly. He'd seen the flying ships from Icarus Corp and chatted with Argyle about how they worked and how they could fly, so Paper thought maybe this was something similar. He couldn't find the Icarus symbol anywhere, though, so someone else seemed to have made this one. Cool!

Find Paper as he looks around for the device that makes the train fly - some sort of levitation engine, or magically enchanted core, or something like that.

He can be found at some point in his room - he seems to have claimed a bottom bunk because of his short stature - performing some ritual regarding his bow. When he finished it would be a small Paper-sized dagger, of the same strange vantablack material dappled with stars. At the ricasso of the blade was a larger star - or was it an eye? When done he would ditch his hoodie and don his robe of elven kind instead, and keep his knife on his hip.

Departure/Wildcard
(Find Paper wherever on the train doing whatever - he'll definitely be getting into the food at some point, he'll be wandering around and trying to open up panels to see what's inside, and he will read the note saying not to hit the wall of the conductor and then proceed to follow its advice. Legit just pick a car he's been in it and looked around. He's never seen video games and will be quite intrigued, and he will love the rock garden and probably float some rocks with telekinesis.)

Edited 2020-01-01 17:16 (UTC)

She stares at him, brown eyes wide. "But Jocko always has protected me." She says in a small voice. Is he... Is he suggesting that she has the Force? It's utterly ridiculous of course, only heroes had it. She was, is a Courtesan-in-training. That's all. She's no one of import.

"I don't understand." She says in a small voice, lowering her eyes away from him. She really doesn't understand. Help her Darth Vader, you're her only hope.

"It's rude to point." Misa says sharply. It's something she'd learned at a much younger age than this girl appeared to be. "Obviously, you were not trained correctly." Not raised, trained. There are many things in her life that she doesn't understand, but surely common politeness is, well, common.

Misa is still holding her knife, and isn't going to relinquish that anytime soon.

"Where is your Mistress or Master?" She asks. Surely an adult will get her back to the House. Though, this looks nothing like Canto Bight. Well, nowhere she's been anyway.

Romeo is ready to help everyone on the platform today! There's a lot of new people and arriving can be quite scary! So he hops down from the train, blue hood pulled up to keep his ears warm. He smiles at the man nearby.

"We all get these new clothes when we arrive sir! The colour is what team you are in so you are in blue, just like me!"

Blue was one of the smaller teams so it was always good when they got new people in their team!

She rolled her eyes, of course it was rude to point. That was the point of pointing. "I did be being trained perfectly." She snapped, wrinkling her nose again. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her training, except that it wasn't finished. But she was learning on this train and when they finally got back she would know things that her guardians could never dream of.

She has her eye on the knife, she has her own but she hasn't drawn it, not yet. "They do no be being here, neither do yours be being. That." Here she pointed at the train. "Did be taking you from your world. You do no be being there anymore and you can no be going back."

{ Morning-ish }

It's new arrival day! Peter's been on the train long enough he knows to expect that the first of the new month will bring new people. Well, and the second part of the month. It was more like every two weeks. Either way, he's excited of course. He's always excited to see and meet new people. However, today's a little different-his head feels like it's pounding, throat feels a bit like sandpaper and there's that feeling right at the tip of his nose like he's gotta sneeze.

But he's not sick. Of course not. Peter Parker doesn't get sick anymore. He hasn't in really long time and he's not gonna start now. It's probably just... allergies? Lack of sleep? Not even he believes himself but he's definitely not sick and the reason it feels colder than normal is because they turned the heating down. Obvious.

He coughs into his hand as he makes his way to the dinning car for what's left of breakfast and some coffee and thuds into a seat. His face is a little paler than normal, dark circles under his eyes and hair a mess.

{ Platform. }

Again. He's not sick. Spider-Man doesn't get sick. He has a super metabolism and that means he doesn't get sick. He sneezes harshly ,just barely covering his mouth in time and lets out a pathetic noise because he might not be sick but he feels pretty miserable. His head is swimming and-Yike. That Sure is a huge spike from his Spidey sense. It's enough to make him jumps up and stick to the train and survey the area. He sneezes again, the action feeling like it might have torn his throat up.

"Whoa." He scans the area and notices what is likely the cause his senses flaring almost immediately. Darth Vader. Freakin' Darth Vader is over there and wow. That's both so cool and also probably a really, really bad thing. His senses are just gonna be screaming DANGER at him the rest of the train ride. Awesome, that's not gonna get annoying. Now he'll never be able to figure out what his Peter Ting-AHEM-spideysense is upset about.

He takes in a breath and coughs, his breath somehow feeling like fire on his throat. He really hopes this goes away soon. He hops down from his perch and then the rush to his head as him nearly stumbling backwards. Not sick though!

{ Later in the evening, game car }

Okay.

He's sick.

He rubs determinedly as his itchy eyes, sniffles and then sneezes-his head pounding as he relaxes back in the bean bag he's taken over.

Edited 2020-01-01 17:03 (UTC)

Durable is a very subjective term. Sure, Inigo has survived a lot. He's been in enough battles, he's had blows. He's used to this kind of stuff.

But he doesn't exactly expect to be hit so hard while the train is departing of all things. And since whatever hits him - he didn't even see Bucky until the other slammed into him suddenly - is so hard, he's definitely letting out a loud yelp.

Even as the sudden pressure leaves him, he's moving quickly to rub his arm, only to wince at the touch. Geez, that's going to bruise for sure. And linger. Great. He glances at what inflicted said pain, only to find Bucky there. Inigo frowns, but in a way that's not nearly intense enough for someone who should be in a lot of pain - he's good at forcing these things down.

"How are you so hard?!"

Clearly the most important question here, right.

Oh man. Inigo knows that face. Or, well, he knows that expression on that face. That's exactly the kind of face he made when he first saw this train, he's pretty sure. But rather than making him worried, it just makes him kind of excited. Maybe this guy is used to a world similar to his own rather than having all these newfangled modern people around for once!

So he hops off the train quickly when the doors open, walking up to the other guy with a smile.

"Strange thing, isn't it?" He gestures at the train behind him, as if he didn't literally just hop out of it.

Marcus eyed his hoodie, thinking about things but he stopped when a brown haired kid looked up in a blue hoodie, much like him.

"So kid, you're telling me, they changed our clothes when we came? Blue team? So the kid was on the same team as him so they'd be sharing a adventure together in teams."

Marcus was used to kids but it's been a while since he'd been around Kyle and Star. "What's your name, kid? We should really get inside the train soon.. He didn't mean to rush their chat, but every moment outside, the cyborg could feel the cold on his skin, much like a human could. He'd feel bad if the other froze too.

Inigo is getting used to the fact that not everyone on the platform is as friendly as the next person. He can deal with that. But when he spots a girl obviously panicking on the platform and quickly gets off the train and heads towards her to try and reassure her, she's already snapping at him before he can even get a word out.

It startles him so much that he just stands there staring at her, looking totally speechless. Really, the fact that she looks so young even to a fellow teenager like him only makes him be caught more off guard by the reaction.

It takes a moment or two before he slowly seems to refind his ability to speak.

"I.. nigo...?"

He's almost answering it like a kid in a class afraid of getting scolded by the teacher if the answer is wrong. Despite him talking to a girl younger than himself.

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A New Platform [Intro Post January]

Platform, semi-locked to Luke initially

Departure

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exploring - garden

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Platform, OTA

The Doctor ( 11 ) and probably Clara

Rustling Paper, a perfect birb boy that I need to get icons for don't @ me it's new years

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departure

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platform