voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post March]

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A New Platform [Intro Post March]

On the Train

Luckily there are no more crises after the strange dreaming, except the ones passengers created for themselves and soon the month is turning. "Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Egret."

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 in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." 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 it is not raining this time. However it does seem to be quite blustery.

The doors open and the first few to disembark do so with rucksacks on, hoods pulled up against the wind. Amery Vallet, Steve Rogers, Darth Vader, Peggy Carter, Bran Corbie and Ash. They walk blank faced to the barriers, show their tickets and disappear.

But on the platform itself there are nineteen new faces, or rather seventeen new faces and two that some people have definitely seen before. All are stood, waiting for the train.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is 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 ninteen figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. The air is cold and the wind is strong, blowing their hair, if they have hair, across their face. 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. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

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 with an abundance of onions! Any of blue team who who go to check the luggage cart will find a parcel containing rainbow macroons. One for each of the blue team, including new members, come share in the reward!

Passengers who are not brand new will notice that the train has gotten yet longer again. A transparent domed carriage, with a grass aisle and soil beds, ready for the passengers to do with as they wish. Crates contain bulbs and seeds ready to be planted and there are all the tools a budding gardener would need for this task.

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. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

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 the Void!

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It was tangled up in his antennae for kami's sake! This was the worst. No, the worst part came when he heard the door open and someone ask him if he needed help. So embarrassing. His ears turned purple for just a second before he got his emotions under control and reigned in the blush of humiliation.

"I'm fine. It's just this webbing! I forgot..."

He trailed off in his returned embarrassment of the situation. At this point he was sort of just standing there awkwardly with his hands at his head but paused in their endeavor to get the sticky thread off. Most of his face was clear though and he was looking down at her with a clear line of sight. What was left was mostly on his hands and antennae now.

For a moment she pauses where she's standing. Piccolo is pretty obviously embarrassed - Madoka is embarrassed so often that she can tell as much so easily. Maybe it would be better for his dignity to leave him alone to sort it out by himself, but on the other hand, it would probably go more quickly if she'd help.

Offering that help to a stranger is pretty daunting to her, but she's trying. Madoka takes a few careful steps closer until she's right in front of him.

".. Do you.. need some help trying to get it off? I don't mind helping.." At least that's true, despite how meekly she says it. "If you bend down a little, I think I can get it off really quickly."

Because.. let's face it, there's no way someone as tiny as Madoka is going to be able to reach up to those antennae otherwise.

Piccolo stood tall for a moment, his face stoic. He wasn't trying to be intimidating; he just needed the moment to think it over and, more importantly, convince himself that it was okay to accept help when it was offered. He was so flustered he didn't really notice that he was a daunting stranger to the small girl in front of him.

"Y-yeah, you're right," he finally managed. He bent one knee to kneel down and bowed his head. "If you could just...get it off my antennae." He lowered his hands a bit but the webbing stuck to them would pull on his antennae if he moved them too far so they still hovered near his face awkwardly.

Madoka definitely can't hold back a small sigh of relief when he gives in.. It's so terribly hard for her to be stared down stoically by a daunting stranger. But thankfully he doesn't seem to be so bad despite his appearance - not with him actually getting flustered and now even accepting help from someone as unimpressive as her.

After a moment the relief even turns into the tiniest (although awkward) smile.

"Thank you.. Don't worry, I'll-- I'll be careful."

And she is true to her word. As she reaches out towards the webbing on the antennae, her fingers do manage to get the strings off it, but very gently so. She has no idea how easily those antennae could get hurt, after all, so Madoka is being very cautious. But after a few moments it's all at least off his head.

Of course this means it's now stuck to Madoka's hands as well, but she seems to have found a way to deal with it, bunching all the webbing together until it's a ball resting in his hands.

".. there. I think it's okay now."

Piccolo was immensely thankful for her gentle removal of the web from his antennae. He didn't want to admit it but they were easily the most sensitive part of him despite his fierce strength. Like any other body part he could regrow them in an instant were he to lose one but the process of losing one and regenerating it would hurt like an inappropriate word. Least to say, he rather tended to avoid getting them caught up in anything other than his turban. Or Pan's hands...but there was no helping the machinations of small children. He didn't have the heart to growl at her so he just endured it whenever she decided to hang off him by his antennae.

Madoka's gentle actions didn't end up hurting in the least and for that he was grateful. A small rumble of appreciation emitted from his throat as she finished up. "Thank you. That's much better."

For a moment her tiny hands were in his much larger ones as she rolled up the webbing into a neat, harmless ball and he waited patiently, if awkwardly, for her to finish. It was a clever trick and again Piccolo found himself in her debt her for kindness in helping. He examined the ball of thread curiously for a moment before tucking it away somewhere surreptitiously to deal with properly later. It seemed politer than tossing it carelessly to the side.

"You're welcome."

There's still a hint of shyness in her voice, but she smiles up at him. Her hands still feels a little sticky after touching all that stuff, despite the webbing now being gone, and she can't help but idly wipe her hands on her pants in an attempt to get rid of the feeling.

"We're part of the same team after all, right..? So it's important to help each other out." Even if his little spider incident here might not exactly have been a major thing. But still Madoka sounds like she really believes in those words.

Speaking of teams, that suddenly makes her realise something.

".. oh..! Did you maybe also come here to get the prize..?"

"I suppose that's true," Piccolo replied. He didn't know what the missions were going to be like as he hadn't gone on one yet but it seemed like most of the train tried to get along. That was good at least. And he could sort of relate with his friends back home being the same way. They always offered to help with things.

"Well, I don't know what it's all about but I did hear there's something for Blue Team in the luggage carriage." He was still worried it wasn't worth all this trouble to get though.

She slowly nods as he mentions hearing about there being something for their team. So even though the nuance is slightly different, he did come here for the same purpose as her. Which made sense, really. It's not like a whole lot of people travel all the way to this end of the train otherwise.

"I'm not sure what it is either, but I'm kind of excited to kind out."

Even though she's trying to contain her excitement a bit since she's around a stranger, Madoka is young and can't fully do so. It's obvious just from the look in her eyes.

"Shall we go look?"

Piccolo's expression turned a little soft at her subdued excitement. Well at least one of them was looking forward to the items left for Blue Team.

He nodded once. "Yeah, let's go see."

He wasn't as enthusiastic but he was willing. As he stood up he remembered to keep bent far enough to stay out of the spider webbing this time. It was a tad awkward but it did the trick. He made his way to the opposite door and headed through it.

Thankfully it's so much easier for Madoka to make her way through the carriage with how tiny she is.. So they manage to make it to the luggage car without getting stopped in their tracks by spiderwebs this time. The girl curiously looks around when they arrive in the other car, but it's not that hard to spot the parcel labelled for the blue team.

"Oh, that has to be it..!" Apparently they're not the first to have found the reward, since it's already been opened. Madoka takes a quick look inside of it before letting out an excited gasp. Apparently her shyness around strangers has been forgotten entirely for a moment in favour of basking in the reward.

"It's macarons!"

"It's...what?"

Piccolo looked as perplexed as he sounded. The hell was a macaroon? He didn't have the faintest clue. Whatever it was, it certainly left the little girl in a state of delight. Could it really be something that good?

The green skinned alien walked over to where she was and looked down. At first all he saw was the rainbow color. He squinted at the macaroons suspiciously.

"What are those?"

"Oh.." She seems a little surprised as she looks up at him, which makes her excitement dim slightly, although it doesn't fully disappear. At least she can understand why he might not know what they are. Surely there are some worlds out there that wouldn't have them.

And if you never saw one before, then these rainbow-coloured ones sure would look mighty suspicious, huh?

"They're food!" So that's probably the best thing to say first. "They're really yummy! I wonder if there's enough for everyone.."

"Oh."

He sounded instantly disinterested but at least his suspicious look disappeared, too. He glanced at her as he considered her last words.

"You can have mine, too, if that helps."

He wasn't really interested in food. Plus, if it made her happy...

The very idea that someone could be disinterested in something like this is completely new to Madoka. It's why she doesn't pick up on his tone as much, instead just giving him a surprised look when he offers her his share so readily.

".. Huh? A.. Are you sure? You don't want to try it?" It'd be far from her to withhold such a delicious experience from someone, after all.

He stared at her with his usual stoic face for a moment but it must have occurred to him that she wasn't used to his serious demeanor and his expression softened after a few seconds. He nodded.

"It's fine. It sounds like you would enjoy it more than I."

"Well.."

She can't really deny that. He doesn't exactly look like the kind of guy who would like sweets, especially with how serious he looked for a moment there.. But at the same time, she doesn't want to take this new experience away from him! But she also doesn't want to be too pushy! Life is hard when you're overly polite..

So the girl just ends up standing there, very obviously waffling, before carefully taking two of the sweets out of the package.

"I.. In that case, thank you very much, sir!" She even politely makes a full on bow for him. "It's very kind of you.. I'll make sure to enjoy them."

He may have remained stoic throughout her waffling but her polite acceptance was so cute it managed to get a small smile out of him in the end. He supposed that was worth the trip down here then. Just as long as he didn't admit it out loud for anyone to hear, of course.

"You're welcome." He gave her a polite nod in return for her respect. "I don't really eat food anyway. It's better that someone else get to enjoy it."

If he hadn't run into her along the way, he probably would have just given his macaroons to someone else anyway. This solved all his problems in one go.

She would just have accepted that response and maybe even left, but there's something he says that catches her attention. It's probably not difficult to guess what exactly it is.. Especially since Madoka's eyes grow wide the moment he mentions not eating food.

"You.. don't really eat food?" She repeats, cautious but surprised. Sure, she knows people here come from really different places, but she doesn't think a lot of them don't have to eat.. "But don't you get hungry, sir?"

He looked almost amused by her response to what he said. He forgot how most humans didn't really know anything about Namekians. Despite the fact that the entire Namekian population had lived on Earth for a few months before their planet had been restored, Bulma's family had taken care of them entirely with their resources and the majority of Earth never even knew they were there. Plus, Piccolo was just used to the humans he knew personally and they already knew what he would and wouldn't eat.

"Yeah, I don't have to eat solid foods. It's not required by my biology. Namekians can subsist entirely on water for their dietary needs."

"Just on water.. that's amazing!"

But also mindblowing, judging by the fact that Madoka's eyes are growing big and round at the realisation. If only people could do that, it'd mean that so much less people would have to die of hunger!

".. although I guess it'd also mean that you miss out on a lot of things. Like how yummy some kinds of food can be." Sure, he said it's not required rather than them not being able to eat at all, but if he's willing to skip out on these delicious things being handed out here, then who knows what kind of delicious things Piccolo has never eaten before! This is clearly a serious concern!

Piccolo seemed to shrug without actually moving his shoulders. It was more a demeanor and tone of his verbal response sort of tell.

"I guess so. I don't generally think about it." When he was young he used to eat more but whether it was because he needed the extra nutrients to grow rapidly or because he simply followed his greedy parent's example of eating whatever he wanted or just a habit he picked up from the humans was up for debate. He did enjoy a few foods. On rare occasion. "I mean, Chi Chi's food was pretty nourishing after a hard training session so I ate with the Son family sometimes. Not too bad."

The girl makes a slight sound to indicate she's listening, nodding slightly as she processes the information. Nourishing, huh..?

There's something slightly hesitant about her, but then Madoka breaks through her shyness and politeness just enough to slowly offer: "W.. Well, if there's ever anything you want to eat here.. Y-You can let me know, sir. I'm not as good of a cook as my papa, but I wouldn't mind trying to make something for you. Eating together is fun, after all."

"Hmm."

The sound was thoughtful and Piccolo seemed to genuinely be thinking about the offer or at least some part of what she said. His lip twitched in a half smile for a brief second before he spoke.

"I've never thought about it that way before. But I suppose I can admit that social activity...isn't always a bad thing."

He was definitely a loner. But over the years he'd come to enjoy the company of certain people whenever he was invited to parties or just needed a break from training. It didn't hurt to watch others have fun once in a while.

The nerves never fully melt away that quickly with Madoka, but at least she seems happy enough at his answer. Some people might say it's a little underwhelming, but apparently that's not the case for this girl. She smiles as if he just promised her the world.

"Yes..! Especially if you're doing stuff together with nice people.. and there are a lot of those on this train." If there's anything Madoka is convinced of, it's that fact.

"Ah.. Sorry though, I think I've forgotten to introduce myself.. That's kind of rude, huh..?" She quickly, yet politely bows. "My name is Madoka, Madoka Kaname. It's very nice to meet you."

Oh, no. That's...cute. Piccolo wondered when he'd become susceptible to such displays but there was no doubt it was all Pan's doing somehow. There went his reputation as a grumpy green devil.

Piccolo's return bow was more of a deep nod than full bow but it felt respectful at least. "Likewise. My friends call me Piccolo."

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