A new Platform [Intro post~ August]

[voidtreckermods]

For those on the Train

"Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Apple." The train announces as always as everyone wakes up the morning of the sixteenth. "Due to your success on Hub World #5739 your team points have been updated on the system. The on train shop has unlocked new stock."

For those going to investigate it might seem like the boredom of the last two weeks will be alleviated a little. More so after a few hours when there is a second announcement.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void imminent."

By now they should know to hold on as the train jerks and jolts. There is only fog outside the windows but the train soon comes to a stop. The doors hiss open.

As they exit into the fog they may notice Hibiki exiting from the luggage carriage door. She hasn’t been seen since the Hub World and they might be forgiven for believing she stayed behind. But here she is, backpack on her back as she walks through the station. She heads no call, reacts to no words and cannot be stopped as she walks to the ticket barrier and disappears through it.

It is impossible to follow. But you soon may be distracted because this platform is far from empty.

For new arrivals

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

The platform is not very large, but it hold twelve figures all facing the tracks, all wearing similar clothing, even if one of them is a spider. The tracks stretch left and right into steam, or perhaps fog. Nothing can be seen to either side. There is a wall around the platform and the only entrance is a ticket barrier. It cannot be open, nor do there seem to be any staff.

What there is, is a train. Jet black and gleaming where it stands on the rails.Voidtrecker Express is emblazoned in the engine in gold. There is a hiss as the doors slide open.

Out step a selection of people, wearing clothes just like yours.

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.

Once on the train there is plenty to explore. A new sleeper carriage has appeared as has a medical bay. Neither were there before those already on the train had disembarked to meet their new travelling companions.

Each ICP shows the same message. The food stores have been topped up with new fresh food, though it seems that eggs are still predominately on the menu.

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. Those who boarded two weeks ago will know what is coming next.

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

platform

[happyends]

It's a little disorienting when one moment you're in the middle of what feels like the end of the world - chaos and rubble everywhere - and then the next you're suddenly.. on the platform of a train station. Not to mention it's even more disorienting that this had to happen at the moment when Madoka had finally, finally decided to make up her mind on what to do.

Now it feels like she's back at step one. What's even happening? She quickly glances around. Can't she find Kyuubey somewhere and ask him what's happening? Can't she make her wish anyway and just get on with it? And where is..

"Homura.." The name comes across her lips as the young girl stands there on the train platform, looking completely lost. What is this even? Is this part of Walpurgisnacht's barrier as well?

She feels so confused, but Madoka knows she can't just stand around aimlessly. There's no time for it, she's got a witch to defeat and a world to save! So no matter whether you're another fellow new arrival standing on the train platform or one of the people stepping out of the train, you may find a tiny teenage girl suddenly rushing up to you, looking oddly determined.

"Um..! Please, you've got to help me! Have you seen something that looks a little like a white cat around here? It's really urgent!"

[tinkerheart]

Feanor lets out a sigh. What a commotion... And all because of a lost animal.
How anything involving a cat could be urgent is beyond him but the girl is insistent so he relents.

But not without questions.

"Where exactly did you lose your kitten?"

[happyends]

"I.."

Madoka quickly starts to reply, but then words seemingly die in her throat while thinking about the answer. Mostly because.. well, there is no answer. No good one, anyway. She doesn't know how to describe the situation she was in only a moment ago, nor does she know where this place is in relation to it. Her cheeks grow a little pink in embarrassment before she's able to try and form an answer.

"I'm.. not sure, actually.." It sounds dumb. She sounds dumb, right? Madoka is worried about getting judged in this situation, but she doesn't want to lie either. So instead she goes with the truth, even though it probably makes her sound a little pathetic. "I don't even know where this is.."

[tinkerheart]

She is worried about being judged? Quite correctly. Feanor just rolls his eyes. Children and animals...eh

"I cannot help you if you don't even know where you left your pet."

[happyends]

She's taking a critical hit straight to the little self-esteem she actually has here at the very sight of that eyeroll! The price of being good and honest.. She wants to be honest again and say it isn't her pet, but that would probably just prompt questions she shouldn't answer.

"It's-- It's not about leaving, sir! He was with me one moment, and I was somewhere else entirely, and then I was suddenly here and he was gone.. I know it must sound strange, but that's what happened to me."

Re: platform

[runs_on_batteries]

Another one? Dear god, how many children were getting abducted by this damn train?

There's some exasperation on Tony's face for a moment when he spots the little girl. He rolls his eyes to the thought in his head before approaching. He slows somewhat when he hears what the girl is saying. "I hate to break it to you but whoever you're looking for likely isn't here. As far as I've seen only one person has brought an animal with them from wherever they came from."

[happyends]

There's one good thing about this situation - mostly Madoka being right in approaching the guy she thought seemed like a capable and responsible adult. Because Tony really is giving her the most helpful answer possible in this situation, so her first impression? Right on the spot, as far as she's concerned.

The downside, obviously, is the answer itself. First her eyes grow a little wide in surprise, then she starts frowning in worry.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I.. came here." She pauses for a moment, obviously wrestling with figuring out what wording to use for that. Madoka has no idea just how she ended up here at all. "I just-- I was in the middle of something, and then I was suddenly here. As strange as that probably sounds.."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony sighs and nods, sympathetically. "Most of us were. There's something about this train we've yet to discover that is bringing people from other worlds and other times to this place. From what I've gathered so far, we were all plucked out of our lives in middle of whatever was going on and brought here. However, I can tell you that we're in this together and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you or anyone else."

He glances around at the people on the platform and back to her. "I'm Tony Stark, by the way. What's your name?"

[happyends]

While he does end what he's saying in a reassuring sort of way, Madoka's facial expression still very noticably drops as she listens to the whole thing anyway. But despite that, she does politely bow slightly during her own introduction.

"My name is Madoka, Madoka Kaname. It's nice to meet you, mister Stark."

Once she's uprighted herself again, there's an obvious worried look in her eyes. She can accept the idea of a train that magically pulls people to a different place considering how many strange things there have been in her own life recently, sure, but.. "Isn't there a way to go back to where I came from then..? It's really, really important." She hesitates, not sure how much she can spill about the reason to a total strange. Madoka is kind of supposed to keep it secret. "It's not just about forgetting to feed a pet or anything..! It's a lot bigger than that."

[pleple]

Pink. It's hard to put aside that her first impression is of Madoka's bright pink hair, and then her determined worry, and the fact that she's, what, the age of those pilots that Ple Two has had to deal with, give or take? Makes her older than Ple Two obviously, but she knows she's a special case.

"Something that... 'looks like' a cat?" she finally responds, raising an eyebrow. "But it's not a cat?" That's a bit peculiar, but no more so than the rest of this fever dream of a place.

[happyends]

"Well..."

Madoka looks a little awkward as she replies, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head as she thinks. It's not like she can explain what Kyuubey really is - she's supposed to keep all that a secret! Even though she feels like this girl in front of her might believe her more easily than an adult would, since Ple Two looks just a tad younger than her.

"It's a little complicated.." That's the best answer she can settle on without having to say things she just can't say. "He mostly looks like a cat, but it's like he has a second pair of longer ears? He's really unique-looking, so I think he'd be hard to miss."

[pleple]

That's already awkward. Has no one else pointed that out? She's not exactly hiding it when she asks it like that. Is it some kind of exotic pet? ...is owning it illegal? This girl doesn't look like a smuggler, though.

"So he's not a cat, but that's the thing he looks most like that you think we'd recognize." Okay, she can work with that at least. "And no, I haven't. This doesn't seem like a very safe place for an animal to suddenly appear."

[happyends]

She gives a quick nod at that summary. Yes, that's exactly what she wants to convey without getting into the whole 'actually-he's-an-alien-hellbent-on-continuing-entropy-by-destroying-worlds-and-i-need-him-to-become-god-and-save-the-world' thing. Since that's a very complicated and secretive thing.

"He's better at taking care of himself than you'd think, actually.." She still sounds awkward. Very awkward. Even Madoka is not oblivious enough to know just exactly what this sounds like. Not something very good, that is. "But he was right next to me only a moment ago, and he isn't the type to get startled and run away by this change of scenery.. So I can't imagine where he would have gone."

Re: platform

[knifewithnoname]

They were picking more people up? The station was very much like the one they had arrived on a few weeks before but now there were many more people. This girl had pink hair like Lightning but was much younger.

And talking to her. The girl tilted her head and wrinkled her nose. "No. I did no be seeing no cats. Maybe the spider did be eating it."

She is avoiding the spider, the others seem to have that situation well in hand. Sort of.

[happyends]

Madoka's eyes grew to the side of tea saucers the moment she heard those words coming from the girl. Kyuubey was so.. Kyuubey-y that she never even imagined something like that happening to him. Could that even happen to him, considering he died and then just popped up again before?!

That was honestly too macabre for her mind to consider, let alone for her to talk about with a girl who seemed even younger than her. For a moment she had to hold the sides of her head, taking in a deep breath. Calm down, Madoka..

"No way.. S-Someone would have noticed that happening, right? I'm sure he's still just around here somewhere.. Maybe he's hiding since there's so many people."

[knifewithnoname]

"Maybe. It do be being very foggy." She shrugged and tilted her head. The girl seemed scared, holding her head and breathing like that. "I can be helping you be looking if you do be wanting. But it might no be here, they might no have kidnapped it."

Unless she's already seen it and it's ran. In which case there's no where for it to go except the train.

[happyends]

Kidnapped? Is that what happened to them here? But it sure didn't seem like any kidnapping Madoka could have imagined-- how could she even have been kidnapped from the middle of what was practically the end of the world?

Maybe it's just how this girl calls it? She tries to shove the worry and curiosity about that word down for a moment, deciding to focus on what's most important in this situation.

"Ah, you'd really help me? Thank you..! We should at least try to see if we can find him, right? Something bad might happen if I don't find him soon!"

[thebiggestguy]

Oh no, another kid. This was starting to get worrisome -- how many children did this train think it needed to throw into danger?

Dread looked (way, way, way) down at the girl, offering his best smile. "Sorry, no. Though it may have arrived with the rest of us..." He didn't sound like he thought much of the odds, though.

[happyends]

Madoka's expression dropped a bit as she looked at the man. She expected that as odd as this whole situation was, surely a responsible adult would be able to help her out in this situation - or at least help her find Kyuubey, which meant she could get back to what she had been doing before.

But it seemed that those hopes were dashed for now, leaving her feeling pretty bad instead.

"Do you have any idea where a creature like that might be around here..? I-- I really have to find him quickly. It's super important."

[thebiggestguy]

"On the platform, if anywhere." Dread took half a step sideways to turn and gesture at the shrouded station around them. "There's only 'on the train' and 'going to be on the train' here, if our joining up is any precedent."

[happyends]

"I see.."

At least that might be kind of a good thing. It narrowed down the area to search by a lot, so she wouldn't have to run around in some huge place she didn't even know to try and find the creature. (But on the other hand, it meant that if she couldn't find Kyuubey anywhere on the train, she'd be in deep trouble.)

But after considering that thought for a moment, some realisation seemed to hit her about it. Madoka's eyes widened a little as she looked at the man.

"Wait, does that mean there's nothing around the train?"

[siriusly]

Where did she go...?!

Manabu didn't know Hibiki well beyond a name and a face, yet seeing her pick up and vanish left him shaken and uneasy. A new place, a new platform...and impenetrable fog. No matter how far forward he wants to go, it seems no good; there is only the train and this platform, and all the new strangers within.

The chime of a young girl's voice suddenly calling out beside him gives Manabu a startle, and he whips around, wide-eyed and confused before he blinks and fixes on the girl. Seeing the concern on her face sobers him out of his own.

"A cat?" he echoes. "Did you show up here with it?"

[happyends]

Maybe it's the fact that he looks as confused and startled about the situation as Madoka herself does, but she manages to scrape a bit more of her courage together and actually seem determined when she speaks up to him. It's just.. she really has to fix this problem, okay, what if the whole world will be destroyed in moments just because she didn't make a contract?

"I'm not sure, since I didn't see him.. But he really has to be around here somewhere! And I have to find him quickly!"

(Granted, Madoka's determination isn't too impressive, considering it's coming from a tiny 14 year old girl.. But she's trying.)

[siriusly]

"O-okay, okay--" His eyes wince. Poor girl. She didn't intend to get wrapped up in any of this, and now missing a pet? If it were him, he'd be pretty banged up about it.

"I can help look. All white, you said? Does he wear a bell or a collar?"

[happyends]

She shakes her head. "No.."

It's doubtful whether it even registers with her that it might make Madoka look like a pretty irresponsible pet owner to say that, but she just can't really think of that thing as a pet anymore after what happened back home..

"But he's really unique-looking, so you'd know right away if you saw him. You see, he has.." Madoka pauses for a moment, looking like she's hesitating. She's at least aware that this part is going to make her sound weird. "Um.. It looks like he has two sets of ears..?"

Totally normal cat, right!