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

naruto uzumaki | naruto: shippuden

[thinhammer]

[ ooc: i'll match to prose if you'd rather write that way! ]

01: on the train
[ Naruto has worked his way through all the reading material at his disposal -- which is pretty impressive for a guy who finds the act of reading kind of a waste of time when talking is so much quicker -- and his main takeaway from all of it seems to be acceptance. He kind of shrugs, nods his head, frowns at a few words, but for the most part settles into resignation with his lot. The leaflet answered a lot of the questions he was immediately about to ask, so instead he looks around with a kind of curiosity that isn't outwardly accusatory or confused, more open to possibilities. ]

01b.
[ To anyone - literally anyone - wearing even the slightest bit of blue, Naruto will approach to tap them on the shoulder or as close to their shoulder as he can reach being the short-stack he is, and when they turn his announcement is: ] You're doin' meal prep, right? Do ya have to make the stuff they tell ya to, or are ya open to makin' other stuff. I've got some suggestions is all.

01c.
[ To anyone who might pass him by as he's reading up, you might overhear him trying to sound out a word he's apparently never heard of before. ] Ecks.. Exti... Gyush... Guish... Ext--ing..wish...er. Estangishire.. What the hell is an Isinagashare?? An' what's it gotta do with a fire?

02: sleeper cabin
(locked to anyone in sleeper 4 cabin A... unless you want him to have wandered into the wrong cabin by mistake because he absolutely would do that.)
[ Blanket apology to anyone who's gotta share a room with this guy, because while he's a very supportive friend to have, he will not sacrifice his chance for the top bunk of a bunk bed (or as close to a bunk bed as a train's sleeper carriage can get) for anything, or anyone. The minute he's through the door his eyes lock onto the leftmost upper bunk, and in seconds he's scrambling up there like some kind of monkey-boy. ]

This one's mine! I'm callin' it! I got here first so it's mine, y'know!

03: departure
[ Naruto is already sitting down and peering around at the other people in the carriage when the second horn sounds, and he watches as the doors shut with a kind of blank expression. Everything has started to settle in, and though it's weird to be very much Not Where He Was, this place is so different from what he's used to that he's just kind of taken aback by.. everything?

He does what he's told, he stays seated and waits for the train to do what it's going to do. He definitely, however, is not expecting the zoom upward, or the lurch to the side, and though tranquillity follows it, tranquillity is not what Naruto is experiencing in his stomach. ]

Oh shit- [ He garbles before he claps a hand over his mouth. A moment or two of tense sickly silence, and then he exhales a shaky breath and says to whoever is closest to him: ] Has anyone ever thrown up on this train before?

03: departure

[kumoko]

[ there wasn't a spider in the carriage at the beginning of take-off, but there definitely is afterwards, and she's staring at him in vague anxiety. Please don't throw up, she's thinking as hard as she can, it's Orange's job to clean the rooms this month. She just checked, and everything.

She thinks, though, about his question. You know, from a theoretical standpoint. No? No, she hasn't seen anyone throw up. Which is kind of impressive, if you think about it!

The small bin under the seats is promptly pulled out and set in front of him. Two of her other legs are occupied messing around with her shiny new gadget, which is now hanging around her neck on silk thread, and promptly informs him in its bland machine voice: ]

No. You would be the first.

[thinhammer]

[ Naruto isn't paying so much attention that he really notices the bin moving -- or the massive spider somehow materialising into the room where before there certainly was no massive spider. He's seen his fair share of creatures in his time, and as far as he's concerned once you've seen a guy stretch his neck out like bubble gum and open his mouth to reveal a tongue longer than any tongue has the right to be, you've see it all. This though, is quite a surprise, as he makes quite clear when he double takes at the owner of the voice speaking.

That sure is a gigantic spider.

He jumps onto the seats, which does not help his stomach situation at all, but who can blame him, really? He sticks out an arm, making a sound like a creaky door as he assesses. The spider isn't rearing to attack - in fact it's being kind of helpful and answering his question - but it's also a giant goddamn spider, so Naruto is pretty torn on how to react. ]

I, uh. That's....!

[ Just say what's on your mind, kid, you can do it. ]

You're. You're a spider.

[ Wait a second, hadn't the leaflet said something about a giant spider? And how it was.. intelligent and friendly? Naruto had thought that was a joke or something but uh, clearly not. Intelligent and friendly. He repeats it to himself like a mantra. Intelligent and friendly. ]

I.. I uh. [ Sheepishly he gets down from from the seats. ] Sorry, you kinda surprised me.

[kumoko]

[ New station, new screams to add to her saved audiobank.

Kidding, she's not gonna remember shit. But at least she's so used to the reactions that she just thinks, ah yes, a vintage Surprise B Edition, and goes back to pushing the bin towards him when he clambers back down from his perch.

Taptaptap. Another voice clip. ]

Just don't puke on me.

1c

[flatteries]

[ Naruto, please. When Inigo is just innocently wandering through the train and suddenly hearing those words, he almost wonders if someone is trying to chant some sort of spell or something? Those words definitely don't sound like normal human words, and it's slightly concerning.

But when he gets close enough to see Naruto peering at extinguisher, he just. Stares. Because it's totally not what he expected, so he's super thrown off for a moment. ]

.. I don't think it's pronounced that way.

[ Not that he's an expert, since he also is unused to this modern technology. But he knows this much! Mostly! ]

[thinhammer]

[ Naruto looks up from the information he's trying to take in and gives the stranger a withering look. ]

Yeah, no shit, I ain't never heard of what it's tryin' to say before, obviously.

[ He huffs, like the situation is pissing him off though it's more that he's severely embarrassed. He might be kinda dumb, but he doesn't like attention being drawn to the fact that he's dumb. Unfortunately when he goes around being dumb loudly that outcome is hard to ignore. ]

Go on then, smart ass. You tell me how to say it.

[flatteries]

[ Fortunately for Naruto Inigo is an idiot as well. So when he's called a smartass and is being sassed, his cheeks start to grow slightly pink in embarrassment already. Why is he so bad at this, curse his natural shyness! ]

I.. It's an extinguisher, of course! [ That might have come across better if he didn't stammer, huh. ] If there's a fire, you can use that to put it out instead of having to find the most nearby water source..!

1B

[myblueskies]

"Yes sir!" Romeo spins around to grin brightly at the man in orange who has come to talk to him! "We can make whatever we want though we just got what's in the store rooms but there's always lots and lots of food! What is your best food?"

This boy is obviously new and Romeo knows what tasty food is a very good way to help keep peoples spirits up when they are feeling scared or lost!

[thinhammer]

Perfect, Naruto thinks. This kid looks to be a similar-ish age to him (which, to Naruto's skewed sense of age, could mean he looks anywhere from a middle aged man to a literal baby) and therefore has a lot more of Naruto's respect and trust than is warranted for a first meeting. So Naruto has zero intentions of holding back. It's honestly kind of a surprise it's taken so long for this particular buzzword to feature.

"Ramen." He says bluntly, not thinking for even a moment that anyone might not know what it is. "I dunno what kinda ingredients you got, but I'm not fussy what kind. Tonkotsu is my favourite, though. If you've got the stuff for that."

[myblueskies]

"I know ramen, sir!" He grins and nods, he knows how to make lots of different types of ramen even though some of them are a bit tricky! But Elfnein's temple had had a whole shelf of books on cooking with different types of noodles and so he had made sure he could make a few different dishes! He tries to remember which one Tonkotsu is.

"I'm not sure if we got the right meat! But we can go look in the store carriage if you want and if we don't got it you can just choose other things you want in your ramen!"

01C

[deductionrival]

[Hattori was just that person who was wandering by when he overheard someone struggling to pronounce a word. Leave it to Mr. Know-It-All to stop to help. If Naruto is familiar with Japanese dialect at all, he'd notice an accent (and to be frank, it's a little 'country').]

Fire Extinguisher. It's an emergency device in case of a fire. It's that thing over on the wall there.

[He points in the direction near the entrance of the carriage where a red canister is hanging on the wall. The other fellow looked pretty lost so with a resigned sigh, he gave up on his trek back to his room and moves closer.]

I'm Hattori Heiji.

[thinhammer]

[ He looks at the fire extinguisher and all he can think is that it looks.. clunky. Like it would be a hassle to pick up and wield in the event of a fire tearing through the train. He's seen fire before, okay, he knows how fast it spreads.

Naruto picks up on the accent, but since Japan isn't a thing where he's from and all he knows is the shinobi world, he obviously assumes that Hattori must also be some kind of ninja?? That sounds right.

To test his theory Naruto sidebars his studying of the reading material on board and instead leans over the table. ]

There's a lotta stuff here that seems kinda pointless to a shinobi-- like fuh.. first aid? Healin' and stuff, right? People can't just do that already??

[deductionrival]

Shinobi?

[Hattori gives the young man an odd look at that. He knows the word- he knows everything, he's a detective, after all!.]

You're a shinobi? I could use some help keeping my kendo sharp if you're interested. I'm the champion at my high school back home.

..

What do you mean first-aid is pointless?

2

[anewhero]

Marcus sat on the bottommost bunk looking up, looking over his Plasma gun from his world as he heard the man above him with some sort of purple outfit on. "Whatever, just don't bother me. I don't need to sleep anyway."

He said all this with a grunt.

[thinhammer]

Naruto honestly hadn't even noticed Marcus there upon his clambering to the top bunk, so when he hears a voice he looks around for the source of it, and then has to hang his head down over the side to peer at the guy sitting below.

Naruto has never seen a gun before, and if he had he might perhaps be a little wary of this spooky guy who doesn't sleep and wanders around brandishing a gun. But he's not, even a little bit.

"That's kinda weird. That ya don't sleep, I mean. Sleepin' is great."

He apparently did not hear the part about not bothering him.

[anewhero]

Marcus might of been wearing a blue hoodie and trousers but it didn't make the guy any more imitating that he already was.

'It's complicated, you wouldn't understand."

01c

[filmnotyetrated]

[ Wade is slinking through the halls of the train, certainly not following anybody specifically, when he hears someone mumbling over one of those little pamphlets they gave out. ]

It says 'extinguisher', shortstack. You use it to put out fires.

[ He assumes that was the word, anyway, that's what it sounded like. He's never actually read any of the information about the train himself. ]

It's real important you know how to operate one, just in case somebody- definitely not me- sets something on fire. C'mon there's one over here. What's your name there, Spikey?

[ Wade is already halfway down the hall, snagging one of the red canisters from where it's stored. ]

[thinhammer]

[ See, this is what Naruto needs. A good, responsible adult who doesn't mess around with laughing at the way he pronounces things or berate him for being loud, just tells him what he needs to know with no nonsense or fuss and even shows him something cool for his trouble. What a blessing Wade is.

Naruto gets up and follows without question, scurrying past to catch up with Wade's head-start, till he's peering over his shoulder to get a good look at this ""extinguisher"". ]

Oh- I'm Naruto! Who're you? Are ya like.. a leader or somethin'?

[ He knows they don't have jounin here, and probably not teachers either. They certainly don't have Hokage, so 'leader' is the only word he can come up with that these people might understand. Wade is clearly responsible enough to be teaching him important things, therefore he must be in some kind of figure of authority... right? ]

[filmnotyetrated]

[Now where has he heard that name before? Wade hums as he taps the nozzle of the extinguisher on his chin. ]

What like that ninja kid? All the weird hand stuff?

[ Wade grins suddenly behind his mask as he hears someone coming down through the carriage. He ducks back in the hallway and grabbing the kid to pull him back as well. ]

Nah, I'm not a leader, by the way. Names Wade, or Deadpool, or just hey you. First, you pull the little pin out. Doesn't work if you don't do that. Now...


[ He pops the pin from the extinguisher and nods down the hall at the serious looking man approaching them. ]

That's the guy in charge here. So what you want to do, really, is just point and aim and pull the trigger. Got it? Normally, with a fire, you're gonna wanna aim at the base of it to put it out. But we can make an exception here.

[ Without waiting for acknowledgement he aimed and fired right at the Supreme Train Overlord, Tony Stark, starting the drench centered on his chest. ]

Hey kid, you a fast runner?

Departure

[marriedanidiot]

Oh dear... [ The tall red-haired lady murmurs and reaches for a bucket to offer him ]

Not to my knowledge, youngling, but the view of the outside is often said to bring headaches.

[thinhammer]

[ Naruto shudders as the train calms down it's weaving, and gratefully accepts the bucket to cuddle it against his chest. ]

Blgh- [ Is his answer at first, as he's pretty certain he's juuuust about to throw up-- but again, nothing comes. ]

Aah, I dunno about that.. There's nothin' out there worth lookin' at anyway.. but how do people get used to this thing throwin' itself around like that, huh?

01

[sweetnessandfight]

"So, no questions?" a cheerful voice asks. He may have to look down--Sarai isn't the tallest of females at 4'9, so she's definitely looking up at the young man.

"I'm Sarai, one of the Purple team leaders." As if he couldn't tell by the polo shirt she's wearing. The garb's still somewhat unusual to her, but the outfit Kumoko had given her was both a gift, and not incredibly practical for train daily life.

"Anyway, if you need any help, I'll be around!" She laughs, tail twitching, and waits for a moment, clawed hands tucked behind her back.

[thinhammer]

"Uhh," Naruto mumbles, because it's been maybe fifteen minutes since he was very much in his own world and everything is. Surreal, to say the least. A cat girl definitely falls into the 'surreal' category for sure.

Naruto is also wearing purple, but he has zero intention of wearing purple for long and so when she mentions she's a leader of all the people who wear purple, he kind of scrunches up his nose.

"How did ya become leader?" The question blurts out of him, but once it's hanging in the air he finds himself genuinely curious. He's got designs on being a leader in his world, after all. Call it homework.

01c

[democratically]

[Padmé has been busy investigating herself. She's not exactly technologically minded, of course, as politics are more her strength, but she is familiar with some devices. Enough that she can understand how to get things to work, even if she doesn't understand how they work if they are broken.

His attempt at saying the word is what draws her attention, and she shifts towards him, coming to a stop.]

A fire extinguisher. In case of a fire. It puts it out. Extinguishes it, so to speak, with an agent- a substance- inside. It's easier than always trying to have, say, a bucket of water handy.

[thinhammer]

[ People being smart at him usually raises Naruto's hackles, but something about the way she says it - explains it in a way that makes the word not only make sense but also memorable - cools his jets as he looks up at her with all the patience of a teenager learning something new; not much, but enough. ]

I never needed 'em back where I'm from, but I guess in a place like this they're pretty useful.

[ A memory or a thought reaches him and he laughs suddenly. ]

If some of the people I knew were here, the place'd be on fire every day, y'know.