A New Platform [Intro Post January]

[voidtreckermods]

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!

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"It'd offer an insufficient flow of mana power," Zetta said, apparently finding this question the most reasonable thing this guy has asked the entire conversation. "An Overlord and a Netherworld exist in a sort of symbiosis. Their powers are connected. This train, even given all its special stuff, doesn't have anything on an entire world for potential power. It also helps significantly to have lots of living creatures in the Netherworld who accept or at least don't actively protest the Overlord's rulership. My own mana power may be immense, but without the ability to write in the Sacred Tome I can't translate it directly to reality, so I need a strong mana flow to fix this. Maybe even several."

[rieper]

That was definitely troublesome. 47 knew what it was like to follow orders. It was basically what he did. However, it had been a long time now since his full autonomy had been taken away from him and forced compliance was instilled into his very fiber. And even then he had rebelled with the help of one of his brothers.

If there was one thing that could cause the barest of emotional reactions out of 47, it was the memories of his past. It was odd. It left him feeling strange and he couldn't quite understand it.

"They only showed themselves on the train the once, correct?" He did some basic math in his head, knowing how long he'd heard from others this train had been in operation under its current basis. He wondered if they would keep a schedule or if they would keep it as random as possible to show their force.

47 glanced at the armored man again and then decided he had a better question. "Were they robotic drones or humans in metallic suits?" The assassin figured he could kill them either way but the method would be different. Then there was the part where he'd have to figure out what sort of component they were using to control people... and combat against that, first.

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes. And I did be coming here when the train did be being empty." So there had been no other times before that. She had never seen them before.

"I do no be knowing what a drone do be being. But I do no be knowing if they did be being human. They did be speaking but their voices did be being weird. We could no be seeing their faces because they did be wearing masks and then did no never be taking them off. Everything did be being covered so I did no be seeing any skin."

She might have never heard the word drone before but she knows robot and she can figure it out, not human. Not a person in a metal suit but a metal person completely.

[happyends]

"I'm glad to hear that.. It might be a little while before we'll stop somewhere though."

Although it's been a while since they were on that last world, so maybe it won't take super long for there to be another mission, Madoka thinks.. but she tries to smile a little while the other girl looks outside the window, even if there's a hint of something awkward about it.

"Until then there's not a whole lot to see outside. Just.. pretty much only what you see now."

[signseeker]

Will frowns.

"But isn't it possible to do all of that without committing crimes?"

[signseeker]

Will frowns thoughtfully. "I often hear music when there is any great working of the Light."

[stealsyourheart]

"Probably. But what's the fun in that?"

[marriedanidiot]

She tips her head consideringly.

"Perhaps you hear it too, then. The Song."

[usernamesarecool]

"I dunno. Maybe. Depends on which planet's jurisdiction we're under." The Doctor just shrugs as though it's not alarming in the least.

"Now you see, that's what I'd like to know myself." He says casually. "Space trains are one thing but a void train? No one's supposed to be able to go into the void."

[luckybucky]

Bucky's expression is somber and thoughtful as he nods, even humming his agreement before he replies. "Then I guess you're fucked," he replies simply. Which is what he'd been saying from the beginning. This book didn't even have a suitable plan except waiting until the train spat him back out.

[flatteries]

"So you've heard of this void before?" It seems plausible to him that someone might, especially since tons of people seem to have heard of this space concept too that was also entirely new to Inigo. Maybe the void is just a known existing thing in other places.

"What else can you say about it? Or does no one know much about it because no one can enter it?"

[deductiongeek]

He moves on into even trickier maneuvers. There wasn't enough space here for much, but he practices making sharp turns around obstacles, and stomping down to send the skateboard jumping into the air and then landing without losing any speed.

[usernamesarecool]

Of all the answers the Doctor expected the kid to give him that was actually pretty low on the list. Maybe top twenty. He helps Will back on his feet and even brushes his shoulders off for him.

"Well, that was quite a rude response. You did remember to say 'Please' didn't you?" He asks, mostly as a joke but it's really hard to tell. "Anything interesting?"

[usernamesarecool]

The Doctor stops his half-distracted tinkering with this and that before looking up. This is going to be a bit complicated to explain, or so he expects.

"There's only one void-or at least I'm pretty sure." Which, coming from him means that he's probably right. He's been known to be wrong on occasion but not normally. "The Void is... er... Think of a wall in a house-the void is the space in between the walls-except the walls, in this case, are the different universes."

[usernamesarecool]

"Oh, life's no fun if you always know what it's going to throw at you. Big reason why I travel so much is to see new things. Running out of new things to see but I'll take a void train. Should be good for a laugh-maybe."

[usernamesarecool]

Something he hasn't seen yet? The idea seems incredibly ridiculous and also promising. There's so much out in the universe he probably hasn't seen everything yet.

"Perhaps." He offers with a tilt of his head. "Unlikely but not impossible-I'll give you that."

[usernamesarecool]

"The wood would certainly explain why the sonic is getting mixed signals." He says thoughtfully, trying to analyze the taste still. "Still, could just be something that tastes like wood-that can happen." He says casually before dismissing that subject in favor of the other one.

"Yes. Every time you do it punctures a hole in reality and if that hole isn't plugged up then the whole of the two universes-the one you left and the one you're entering-could collapse and and bleed into each other. Now I imagine the express has worked out some way to repair the damage but I'd still like to speak to someone about it."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Maybe the train's builder used charcoal to add carbon to the steel, to make it a harder alloy? Except that the level of technology the builder must have had access to, in order to construct such a vehicle, would seem to make such methods obsolete and unnecessary." But he'll drop that subject too, as the other is more interesting at the moment.

"Really? Then you think that any means of travel between universes creates such a hole? Strange, I never noticed any such thing in my spirit wanderings through the Dark Between the Words. I'd hate to think that I've damaged reality with my method of travel. And I'd hate to think that we Void Warriors of the VoidTrecker might have done even more damage to the worlds we have tried to help, on our missions. But I'm thinking that again, the level of technology required for the train to enter or exit the Void must also include some way to close up the holes. I certainly hope so. But I'd like speak to the train authorities about it, too."

[faithfulson]

Luke rolled his eyes at Tony getting defensive, sparing Ignis a small smile, before he pressed his hands together before him, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Such a thing is... different, for certain people," he began softly, his gaze zoning out as he continued, like he was looking at something beyond the void. "Calls to heroism like that are different for different people. It could be because of a person or an ideal, or because everyone else is doing it, so why not you? But the people in purple I find just... do such things, not because they need to, but because it's the right thing to do, the right way for them to live their lives. Even if it's only heroic in their own mind..."

He paused, before shaking himself out of it, turning a heavy shade of red.

"O-or I'm just. Spouting nonsense," he fumbled, embarrassed. His mouth flailed for a moment, trying to come up with words, but ultimately giving up on it. "I-I've been neglecting my responsibilities. Please excuse me."

[democratically]

[She isn't familiar with the term shuriken, although something pointed is what she guesses, given his description, is what Padmé comes up with. Her eyes do drop, watching with fascination as he starts to make that globe, before he just as easily lets it go.]

I've never seen anything like that.

[If the Jedi can do something akin to it, Padmé isn't aware, which isn't surprising. What she has learned about them has mainly come from Anakin. There is a soft chuckle though, giving a shake of her head.]

No, nothing at all like that, or anything you have described. If you need a hand with anything written or verbal, that is where my skills lay. I know my parents would have liked for me to show an aptitude to music or art, but I'm passable in some instruments, and I won't even speak of my attempts at art...

[A wry smile. She has no qualms. Padmé was not good with painting, drawing, sculpturing, or anything of the sort.]

[democratically]

"I've yet to find any situation that isn't complicated by some means." A hint of wryness to her voice, as Padmé was well aware that politics gave most people headaches. Dealing with so many different perspectives, needs and desires did make it difficult to make everyone happy, even if only a little.

[democratically]

Her face scrunches again, and she gives a little shake of her head. "The Jedi? What happens to them?"

It is clear that her confusion has only deepened. Had something happened with the Force? Some plague? Had their numbers been weakened that they couldn't continue to the keepers of peace? Would Anakin- She draws a breath in. "Sorry. This- this is all utterly perplexing."

[democratically]

"Or to see what it is that we desire." But she nods, glad for the information about this, knowing that she would be interested in seeing what the results were, if any. "I suppose we will hear about it anyway, as the requestors likely would share the results of their requests being fulfilled."

[inquiryguqin]

"Yes, a month. Time passes differently while we're on board. This train travels through the void, through space, and to another dimension. I've been told we will be visiting another world soon. It feels like a dream, but it's quite real. Since you arrived, we have to find you your own cabin room."

With Sizhui, it's a matter of finding out which cabin he will be assigned to and getting him comfortable with the way of life on the train, starting with the team's assigned chores.

That is important. "You only saw me a few days ago? What did you last remember before you board...? Wei Wuxian is here on the train with us as well."

Re: Departure:

[misterhappy]

Happy laughed at Evie's suggestion, shaking his head at the girl now sitting in front of him. "You know, you remind me of a friend of mine. He always had a way to spin things," He pauses to compose himself. "Most of the time anyway," He clears his throat softly.

"Happy Hogan," He said, offering his hand.