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

[runs_on_batteries]

It was one of those topics where he literally couldn't give a flying fudge, so no. He didn't know or care what her specific age was, at least in this conversation. If he got curious he'd refer to her questionnaire.

His smiles gets a little warmer when she rolls her eyes. She was humoring him and he appreciated that kind of response. However, it wanes to a curious, slight confusion. "As far as I've been able to tell, there isn't anything hostile on board. We haven't had an opportunity to interact with whoever brought us to this train, but otherwise you're safe. If that feeling changes, let me know. I'll do whatever I can to help protect you."

He'd just been kidding about her being a member of the military, but that last remark gave him the distinct impression he'd missed something important about her. "People from your world are trained for something like that even at your age?"

[pleple]

That's a very fair way to look at it. It's not as though Ple Two thinks much about her age, given that the role she was put into was a very adult one.

"I'll keep you updated, but it's nice how... calm it is." No wars, no power struggles, just people surviving without ideology getting in the way.

She looks down a little at the last question. "No. Not normally." How many details to just tell him? "I'm not normal, though."

[runs_on_batteries]

"It is," Tony agrees, knowing exactly how choatic and devastating war could be. He'd been grateful of the reprieve that had allowed him time to heal here, even if he'd been too distant with Peter for part of it. That of course had come back to bite him in the ass.. but that wasn't her problem.

Any humor he'd had before was gone on his face, noting the hesitation in her answer. "It's okay. I'm not going to press you for answers." Not yet at least. "From what I've been able to gather about the people on this train, none of us are what our world would've claimed to be 'normal'. The train's correspondence calls us heroes. Whether that's true or not for all of us is yet to be seen, but we're certainly not normal. So if you aren't normal then you fit right in."

[pleple]

Ple Two just lets that sit between them for a moment. She's never met anyone like her, because it's hard to say that she's even 'met' the other clones, who were just popped open and given the most brute-force mental conditioning possible to make them immediately obedient and useful. Here? With such a variety of people? She's already met Buttercup whose circumstances seem adjacent to her own, at least.

"Heroes. I'm not sure they're vetting us very closely." If being a hero is what it takes to survive, then she can fake it. Possibly until she makes it. "I could probably fake normalcy better around more normal people."

[runs_on_batteries]

"Maybe not, but you might be more extraordinary than you realize too." He wouldn't be having this kind of talk with an adult. He would be far more sarcastic and probably agreeing with whoever it was that they were here under the wrong pretense. However, there was enough 'lost' in some of Ple Two's expression to make him treat her a little more gently.

"If you're looking for normal, we're in short supply. You're welcome to look and fake it if you choose. It'd be easier on you, though, to simply be whoever it is you are and let the chips fall where they may. But.. that's just the advice of some fellow you just met. So it's completely up to you what you do with it."

[pleple]

As strong as she is - as she's trying to be - Ple Two has no idea what she's here for, what she's supposed to be doing, what she wants to do. Her life was confusing enough back home. "I don't believe any moral character is what's extraordinary about me." And again, nothing for her to pilot here.

"I don't feel like you're lying, at least." He could just be wrong, to be fair. "As long as no one here is bothered by me being myself then I'll do that."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony shrugs. It wasn't his measuring stick they were using for this decision. "It's some entity that thinks it's fine to abduct people from their universe and time. It can't have a normal set of ethics."

He smiles when she concludes he's not lying, which he wasn't. It was fair to assume he might simply be wrong, even if he didn't think he was. He'd been wrong many, many times before when he was so sure he was in the right so it was always a possibility.

"Why would you think others might be bothered by you being you? You don't have Tourette syndrome do you?" It was a joke, but he actually found the affliction rather amusing in others. No one ever said he had the moral high ground on humor.

[pleple]

"Mm. Its ethics could be entirely alien to us, in fact." As has often been theorized about a possible first encounter. It's not happening anywhere inside of Saturn's orbit, though, at the very least, unless they're being sneaky.

"Nothing like that. I'm more likely to withhold information than to blurt it out because of some... condition." Not as though she had a lot of knowledge in that area, either. It certainly wasn't ideal in a soldier though. "I'm just... odd, I know. My maturity level is very uneven."

[runs_on_batteries]

He likes this girl, she's clearly smart. He could get along with that, even if she was one more of this train's strange occupation with abducting children.

And.. that was an odd thing to say. "Most people your age have uneven maturity levels. They're brilliant one minute and neanderthals the next. It comes with the brain chemistry." Although the fact she was so self-aware was quite unusual. "Unless of course you're referring to something else?"

[pleple]

Abduct children, let them save everyone anyways. It's easy.

"I was... conditioned. Mentally. No childhood, just whatever lessons would benefit me as a soldier." Some of those lessons were still social, of course; when you were planning on restoring the aristocracy, everyone had to know their manners. "I guess I'm not alone in not understanding my emotions, though."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony frowns hearing this clue into her life- her world. As he was learning with others, he shouldn't be quick to judge but it was hard not to. Then again he'd let Peter fight and he was still a kid, so who was he to say anything?

"I don't know what to say to that," he admits after a moment. "But no, you're not alone." And he wasn't just meaning with the fact she was confused about emotions. "If you need anything, I'll do what I can to help." He was pretty sure he'd already said that, but what else did he have to offer someone like this?

[pleple]

Her life was a mess. Her world was a mess. A few good people caught in battles between slightly more evil and slightly less evil.

"Thank you. I'm not sure... how much you should even treat me like a child. I'm not sure how much of one I feel like." How much of one she wants to be at all.

[runs_on_batteries]

At the very least, that gave him an idea on how to respond to her. His frown turns to a very small, reassuring smile.

"Don't worry. I'd be saying the same thing if you were thirty or three. We all need to know we're not alone and that someone is an ally. But, thank you for sharing that with me. It'll help in the future, I'm sure." He stretches and looks toward the door. "Room 1:C, if you need anything."

[pleple]

Any idea he has is better than the nothing she can offer for ideas.

Ple Two nods. "I'll keep that in mind. I'm glad we had this talk." Without getting too deep into her issues. "...thank you."

[runs_on_batteries]

His smile grows a bit both in size and warmth. With a nod, he leaves, still thinking about the interesting girl. Although, with a sigh he knows he's already doomed.

He liked her dammit. Her name was being added to the growing list of vulnerable people he would protect at any cost.