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

[sensitiveapple]

She shakes her head. "I've never even heard of it. Is it like a tauntaun?" She asks thinking of the unusual riding beast that is used on colder planets. They're native to Hoth, but maybe his world is cold?

[flatteries]

The words "droids" and "tauntaun" are both foreign to him. He can't help but wonder if maybe that's just what horses are called where she's from, but usually he's able to understand others just fine.. So maybe not?

"They're animals. They are kind of.." He pauses. It's weird when you have to describe something so commonplace to you, so some thought is required. "They're usually taller than humans, and you can sit on their back to ride them. Usually there's enough space for someone to sit behind you, but that's it. They're too narrow for more than one person to fit side by side."

He sighs.

"But I suppose many creatures that can be ridden could be described that way. Forgive me, I've never even had to try and describe them before. Everyone knows what they are where I come from."

[sensitiveapple]

She cocks her head to the side, curious and wanting to ask many questions. "Are they quadrupeds like fathiers, or bipeds, like tauntauns?" She asks, curious. Because, maybe if she keeps saying these words they'll finally hit on one that he recognizes.

She doesn't like going to the fathier races. the inherent sadness of the creatures is weighty and she doesn't understand why other people like them. But she goes, at the behest of the Mistress, if necessary.

[flatteries]

"Qua.. drupeds?" Give him a second, okay, Inigo has had a lot more to do in life rather than learning fancy terms for things, so it takes him a moment to even realise it's a word he does know compared to the weird other ones she's saying. He's pretty sure Laurent used that word at least once..

"Oh, yes! You mean they walk on four legs, right? They do, and their legs are relatively thin compared to their body. And they have a tail and a mane-- that is to say, hair growing out of their neck."

[sensitiveapple]

It's not fancy at all. It's just a different way of saying things. She has to learn the biological names for things, it had been in her training. "Then, they are like fathiers." She says, decisively. "But fathiers don't have hair on their necks, I don't think."

She doesn't really know, she's never seen one that up close and personal.

"And you use them?" She doesn't like the fathier races, and doesn't think them kind in the least.

[flatteries]

He nods.

"Of course! I personally don't use horses to get around a whole lot, but I could if it was an emergency." Not to mention there just weren't a whole lot of opportunities to ride them anymore once the world turned into a postapocalyptic hellscape.. "But a lot of people I know ride them all the time. Some people even ride them into battle in order to have a mobility advantage."

He scratches behind his ear. "I don't think I have seen a horse though ever since I ended up in this place." So that doesn't give him a whole lot of opportunities to show her exactly what they are.

[sensitiveapple]

The boy is cruel, if he thinks that proper use for any creature. She'd heard of people riding certain beasts into battle, but it made her stomach churn.

"That's cruel." She says, firmly. "No creature should be made to fight." She understands that it sometimes doesn't work that way, but sentient beings that don't have a choice are different. Just like the horrible fathier races.

[flatteries]

That's honestly such a weird idea to him. In his world it's such a normal thing - cavaliers, pegasus riders, wyvern riders.. They all take their companions into battle, and no one has ever indicated there was something wrong with it. If anything, he always thought the people who did that always seemed so close to the creatures, like Gerome.

"Then what do they use to fight where you're from?"

He can't imagine any battle being fought without them, after all.

[sensitiveapple]

"Droids and machines." She says, firmly. "The Empire had a whole list of machines they used, without using animals to do their bidding.

She's a little naive in the way things work, sometimes, but she means well.

"And then there's all the ships, too."

[flatteries]

Machines..? Sure, they had ballistas, but he can hardly imagine those just fighting out a war by themselves without anyone steering or controlling them. He's not sure he prefers that kind of war to the one he is used to - although he'd clearly prefer no war at all.

"It seems our worlds are at completely different ends of the spectrum." Inigo scratches the back of his head as he speaks. "Not just with this-- I mean with everything."

[sensitiveapple]

She cocks her head to the side. "You don't have droids do you?" She asks, shrewdly. Every backwater has droids. She can't imagine one without them!

Honestly, this is strange. He doesn't know about the ships, or the droids... what kind of world is she on?!

[flatteries]

"Not at all. I haven't even heard of that word before."

Not even on this train, which is surprising. He's heard a lot of things he's never heard of before showing up here in passing while moving around the train. But droids have never been one of those things. He doesn't even think they have anything like that on the train, surely he would've noticed as much by now...

"Although you may find other people who know about them if you would ask around on the train. Everyone has knowledge of different things, considering we all come from very different places."

[sensitiveapple]

She cocks her head to the side. "I'm sorry, you must come from a horrible backwater of a system, to not have droids." She can't fathom it. Even rubes on Jakku at least know what droids are, even if they don't have them.

"Could you point me toward my room?" She asks. "I think we're about ready to leave."

[flatteries]

Thankfully Inigo is not one to easily take offense, so when she calls his world a horrible backwater of a system, all he does is awkwardly rub the back of his head as he thinks about what to say to that.

Although she makes that a lot easier by starting about something else. Inigo turns to the train for a moment before looking back at her.

"I think it would be better to first just look for any chair once you get on board. The train's departure can be rather.. rough, especially when you experience it for the first time. You really have to be seated for it."

[sensitiveapple]

She sighs. Well, that's one question answered. "Thank you for the information. It was very nice talking to you." She curtsies as is proper, and heads for the train.