Breach!

[voidtreckermods]

Day twenty of the month of Domino starts as a perfectly normal day on the Voidtrecker express. Passengers work on chores, or play games, bicker and read. The usual ways of relieving the slight tedium that come with being stuck on a train. Even a train that is hurtling through the void.

It is about mid morning when the whole train tilts, suddenly as if it has been hit. It is enough to knock passengers over if they don’t catch themselves quick enough. For those in the games car there is a loud bang as something hits the window. A small black object is stuck in the window for a moment before it dislodges and disappears as quickly as it appears.

The window doesn’t smash but cracks appear around the impact site. Almost immediately sirens begin going off. "Breach. Breach. Warning. Breach."

Hopefully passengers will remember what they are to do in the event of such an incident. For anyone in the kitchen they will see that the oven, water and other appliances switch off. Doors begin closing around the train, in an attempt to seal carriages.

Those in the games carriage won’t see much of that, they will barely have time to register what has happened before they feel dizzy and sleepy, falling to the ground where they are. This spreads throughout the train, the further away a passenger is from the games car the longer they will have before they succumb but within fifteen minutes everyone on the train will be sleeping. Even including those who usually do not sleep or even those who cannot sleep.

Because this is no ordinary sleep.

For some passengers they will sleep the whole day and night, solidly and dreamlessly. But for others, for most, their sleep is anything but peaceful.

They will dream, strange, wonderful or terrible dreams and walk those dreams with their fellow passengers. Tumbling from one to another with no sense of where one ends and the other begins they will dream the whole day and night, though it will likely feel much longer and perhaps much shorter.

Their dreams may come from themselves, they may come from their fellow passengers and there are a few dreams that all may find themselves dreaming.

Infestation

The train is filled with dralite. They are everywhere, in every carriage. Flying through doors, in your bed. This dream takes the form of a stress dream, every time you think you have emptied a space of dralite there are more.

They aren’t aggressive creatures, just annoying and the ever shifting dream means that every time you remove one from hugging your head another appears. The train shifts and warps, carriages muddling as you move through it trying to contain all of the creatures.

A Distant Light

It is a dark night, though there are stars in the sky. In the distance there is a bonfire lighting up the area. Around it there are figures, they are too far away to make out any features but in the flickering light you can see they wear hoodies in the colours you know well by now.

There is the sound of singing and laughter and you want to approach. But no matter how long you walk the fire is always in the distance, never getting closer. You feel a great longing to be at the fire, but it is out of reach.

Flying

Flying is such a universal dream and so it is not surprising many of your dreams will incorporate this. You fly, over mountain, across rivers and seas, through forests and through the debths of space itself.

But most often you fly through the void, the ever shifting void around you, diving through colours that swirl and dance around you.

Dream well Void warriors!

(OOC: The plotting and information post is here. Characters will wake up on day 21 and there will be an ooc mod post detailing that on the 10th February.)

Comments

Nita's Dream-a's! (Possible CWs: Death, Grief, Manipulation and Anxiety)

[unfavorableinstigation]

Infestation

If Nita wanted her dreams to be filled with animals, they could at least be those she knows.

To this effect, sometimes the dralite look more like cottonballs, with just one pair of wings. Other times, they're squirrels, and there's a black-furred mutt with a look of absolute Goodness in His eyes to help you, though he'll still spend more time chasing them than actually herding the beasts.

And sometimes, they're literal anxiety-manifestations of her friends. If you could just stay in one place, PLEASE! seems to be the theme of the hour.

There's a faint presence helping her, too, finding itself stifled at every turn but still striving to help-

A Distant Light

Nita gets the feeling she isn't alone out here, either... but no matter how much she looks around, she never finds anyone to comfort, or comfort her.

Until she sees you, maybe? Though maybe she thinks you're her shadow - and if you are her shadow, you have company.

Flying

If Nita had full presence of mind her dreams, she'd wonder if this is what it feels like to be the train.

As it is, though, the void is beautiful - and hey, sometimes there are worlds, familiar like old friends! She'll swoop down to say hello...

Prompt Me!

[Aka the Wildcard option; anything else we plotted on having yours see of Nita's canon, hit this up!]

infestation

[flatteries]

Excuse me, did someone mention a Good Boy? An adorable mutt? Because Inigo is totally here for that - even though not of his own volition, since he didn't exactly ask to dream like this. But he's in this dream before he realises it, and before he even notices literally anything else about the dream, he's all over this dog. Oh god, it's so cute. It's the cutest dog.

"Aren't you adorable?" Yes, he's totally just sitting on his knees now and cooing at the dog, squirrels be damned.. "Who's a good boy, huh? Is it you? It's you!"

Apparently he's not going to snap himself out of that...

Re: infestation

[unfavorableinstigation]

Ponch is, in fact, the Goodest of Dogs - and if you look into his eyes, you can see stars!

Literally; it happens with his coat, too. A Good Space Dog!

Nita, meanwhile, is not amused.

"Come on, Inigo! These things teleport as soon as look at you, I swear..."

She's just trying to move things around, and keep them in one place, but they won't stay put!

[flatteries]

"But just look at him!"

How could anyone be in some place and not want to devote all their love and attention to this adorable space doggo? Inigo has no idea. So he picks the dog up, holding it up as if to show Ponch off to Nita.

"He is so cute!"

.. there's definitely a squirrel right in Inigo's hair as he says it.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Ponch is a very silly dog, as silly as he is Good. He doesn't look like he should be picked up so easily, but he doesn't mind the lift anyway.

He gives Nita a doggy grin, and she just shakes her head as wings tickle her face.

Then Ponch jumps for the squirrel, licking Inigo's face along the way.

"Oh, Ponch...!"

The dralite swarm, and the squirrel disappears into their midst.

[flatteries]

"W.. Woah!" Maybe Inigo should have seen this scenario coming the moment he decided to pick up that dog. And yet it seems like he didn't anticipate it at all, because the moment Ponch suddenly wiggles from his grasp and jumps after the squirrel, the weight shift from his arms to his head tips Inigo's balance to make him fall face first on the floor.

Thankfully he doesn't seem to be actually hurt, since he's already picking himself back up a moment later.

"What was that?"

If there's anything from the plotting post you want added in, let me know!

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Squirrel," Nita explains, pointing at the flurry of wings even though it's probably a useless gesture now.

"Ponch goes nuts for them."

Fortunately, the dog is calm now, and still happy. That's the important part, yes?

i would definitely be up for something involving dead mother issues, if you'd like!

[flatteries]

Inigo doesn't get up from the floor just yet. Instead he's just sitting there and letting out a sigh as he looks up at the creatures scattered everywhere.

"Okay, then.. adorable dog aside, do you have any idea as to what is going on here exactly?"

Wildcard [[Like we discussed on Discord]

[anewhero]

[Marcus's terminator and human dreams are strange.]

Marcus finds himself staring at the rouge AI itself, except with a very different face nearby, not only that but much, much scarier than usual.

Marcus growled "Who are you?!"

Skynet eyed its prized pet: "What do you think I am, Marcus?"

But this wasn't Skynet at all, but a weird mix of computer AI and someone very different. Something was very off about this Skynet.

[unfavorableinstigation]

The personified AI looked at him - looked at him with more than webcam eyes, which really should have been a warning all its own - with darkness in its eyes.

"Hey!" Nita called, somehow in the room with Marcus, a glower on her face.

Then, something occurred to her.

"Stay close!" she said, bringing up her shield with the forces set to maximum.

Whatever Skynet was planning, nothing could get to these two! Of course, that wasn't all that merited protecting...

[anewhero]

Marcus turned and noticed Nita standing next to him. He was dressed in white clothing as he looked over at Nita. He stared at the computer screen again. He should of noticed the more reddish glow of the eyes of the computer but there was more. Blackness made Skynet's face all the more imitating and scary.

The half terminator looked over at Nita and stepped close to the shield. Skynet's voice blare d out in a very strange and twisted voice "You think you can stop me from doing Skynet's job?

Marcus frowned as he turned "You aren't going to kill anyone tonight."

The voices combined and blinked, "Yeah, I could kill Connor and win for Skynet, but there's much more prizes in this room."

/slides into dream logic

[unfavorableinstigation]

Ah, the duality of white and black. Very on-point when fighting the Lone Power.

"Talking in the third person," Nita mused. "Think we've got a case of overshadowing on our hands."

Which might have been funny, but this was not a time for laughter-

"You're not winning any prizes!" Nita retorted.

"Don't you know that trix are for kids?"

And of course, the thought made perfect sense to her.

Re: /slides into dream logic

[anewhero]

Marcus was getting more and more annoyed at whatever was taking over Skynet's own body as their own.

"What the heck are you trying to get at?"

Marcus stared at the odd new combo of Skynet and turned toward Nita.

The white ex-criminal just stared again at the computer gone weird.

"Are you going to do something or just scare us, Skynet?"

Re: /slides into dream logic

[unfavorableinstigation]

"It's our adversary, of course. It hates being laughed at, right?" she asked, aiming a glare again at the screen.

The weird computer just rolled its digital eyes.

Hostile Takeover (NIGHTMARE - CW: manipulation, possible body hijacking, the LP being a dick)

[unfavorableinstigation]

The train never had this many trees on it before - so many they block off the ceiling. Those sensitive to such things can even hear them whimper, as if in pain.

And it's never smelled this strong before - of motor oil and coffee, primarily, some of which can be sourced to the ground below your feet, which bubbles and oozes perilously. Oddly, you don't feel any pain, and if it is acid you are immune to it. Curious.

More important are the blocked-off doors - bolted shut, somehow - and the fact that something is calling you, from the direction of the Train's own engine.

Do you follow? Do you resist? Do you seek out fellow passengers, who may yet be trapped in other rooms, in other carriages?

Re: Hostile Takeover (NIGHTMARE - CW: manipulation, possible body hijacking, the LP being a dick)

[darklighthero]

Jak looked around, the train covered with trees. Jak was on his guard, carrying his morph gun but suddenly had a strange smell on the ground. He looked down. There were bubbles coming out of the ground.

Something about this dream... or nightmare was strange and Jak was about to find out what that was, whatever that was.

The voice was calling Jak's name from the engine room. Jak growled back, "Who's there?! What the hell you want?!"

Every time someone called to the eco warrior, something bad happened.

Re: Hostile Takeover (NIGHTMARE - CW: manipulation, possible body hijacking, the LP being a dick)

[unfavorableinstigation]

The voice was a long way away; if there were words, they were tauntingly out of reach.

If Jak wanted answers, he needed only to continue forward.

But there were noises coming from behind - not cries of distress, but something more menacing.

Would he stand and fight, or press forward?

[darklighthero]

The eco warrior kept close to his morph gun, opting to shoot if something happened to be right behind him. "Who's THERE?!"

The eco warrior had his Vulcan fury in hand, opting to fight "Who's there?!" He growled again, expecting a answer.

[unfavorableinstigation]

There was a sort of scorpion-spider being, which screamed when hit - as did a fair number of the trees, also within blasting range.

The voice, meanwhile, kept whispering, just beyond comprehension.

Don't you want to find out... Jak?

There were no further encroaching enemies.

[darklighthero]

Jak looked up at the scorpion-spider being and blinked, trying to get Jak to get closer.

/Great, it knows my name./

The eco warrior grasped at his Vulcan fury and aimed at the creature which seemed awful familiar to him. The sounds did anyway.

[happyends]

Maybe one should get used to how weird all these dreams are after a while. Not Madoka though. Every dreams feels like an entirely new one.. and this one doesn't seem particularly good on top of that. She jumps with a little yelp when she notices how the ground - if you can call it that - under her feet looks, before realising that it isn't hurting her despite looking so odd.

The trees also get a sad glance from her. Madoka shivers, wrapping her arms around her. This place seems so.. eerie.

And usually something calling her is never good. At first she wonders if it's Kyubey, but this definitely does not seem like him.

After a moment of hesitation, she slowly starts heading in the direction the call is coming from without saying anything. The girl is definitely not looking like she's having fun though.

[unfavorableinstigation]

No, the voice is not Kyubey's - if she had called for him, however, her only reward would be cruel laughter.

As Madoka approaches, from converted carriage to converted carriage, the scenery transitions from the pained trees to an ominous cave complex.

The only noises here are faint skittering sounds, a noise the magical girl may find familiar.

Do you dare keep moving, Madoka?

Can you turn back? Do you want to?

This way, this way... the King is expecting you! Bow before the Great One!

[happyends]

Moving forward definitely doesn't feel good. Especially not with those skittering sounds, they only put her more on edge. Briefly Madoka glances over her shoulder, but then realises.. even if she would walk back, where would she even go? It didn't seem like there was any exit.

More than anything she just wishes she wasn't alone right now. Her friends would know what to do. Her fathers here on the train would. She's not good at making these kinds of decisions for herself.

But after hesitating for a moment, she does slowly start walking forward again. It's very cautiously though, like she's afraid something could get the drop on her at any moment.

And when she hears those words, she finally repeats out loud: "The King..?" As far as she knows, the train doesn't have a king.

I feel like this should be tagged with Train Horror or something??? IDK.

[unfavorableinstigation]

As Madoka walks through the caves - which, though winding and sprawling, only seem to go in one direction - the echoes of that un-voice intensify.

Eventually, she comes to a door; she should recognize it, as it's the same wall to the engine that is usually at the end of the Stores car.

But if Madoka touches it, it has more give than it would ever belie in the real world. And the sounds behind it, while they too indicate a live engine, also seem to imply something... more. And worse.

Her question is unanswered, but if she wants answers, she need only open the door.

[happyends]

This is a bad idea.

This is such a bad idea.

Madoka knows it. She's well aware. She should just turn around and go hide and cower somewhere until this is somehow over and everyone returns.

But she's never been good at letting something deter her just because it's a bad idea. She feels very much like that time she found a Witch back home and no one was around to fight it, and she was the only one who could save those people. Maybe this time she's the only one who can bring everyone back..?

So after swallowing and steeling her resolve, Madoka opens the door.