A New Platform [Intro Post March]

[voidtreckermods]

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!

Comments

[bethereprompto]

Prompto stares in horror as all the cards go tumbling and the poor guy is just lying in the middle.

He opens his mouth but at first nothing comes out. He feels so bad! "I- I- I'm sorry! I .. wow.. uh.. maybe we can do it again?" He offered weakly.

[flatteries]

In some situations Inigo might have helped Prompto out before the other freaks out even further. But right now he's way too busy being a drama queen to even consider it. He just lies there, groaning as if he was mortally wounded in battle.

"I can't believe it..! Years of my life!"

(He was working on it for an hour or two at most..)

Inigo moves his hands up to cover his face. "It's all gone now..!"

[bethereprompto]

He'd be giggling at that very impressive melodramatic performance if he didn't feel so terrible. He hesitantly came forward and knelt down next to him. "N- not completely? I have a picture of it?"

He turned his camera around so maybe the cute drama queen could see the image (it was the first one before the subsequent ones of said tower falling but still..).

"You were worried about the base, right? That means this time we can make it better and uh... maybe double up on the bottom cards?"

[flatteries]

He shakes his head, his face still covered by his hands. At least he's not crying..? That's rare by Inigo standards. "It's too late! There is no way it could ever be.."

.. slowly he seems to realise something about what Prompto is saying. Inigo doesn't pull his hands off his face, but he does spread his fingers just wide enough so he can peek through them. And that's when he sees the image on Prompto's camera.

He lets out a surprised sound, suddenly fully pulling his hands off his face as he sits up, some stray cards falling off him as he moves up.

".. What kind of magic is this?! It's as if you've captured the tower in here!" He taps the camera. Can it come back out of there too? Sure, Inigo has used and seen the ICPs, but those seemed like moving, transient images! Like a looking glass! This is just his tower!

[bethereprompto]

Prompto almost drops the camera when Ingio flips from being horribly sad and depressed to excited and jumping up to see his device. Hehe, those cards dropping off him were funny! He was definitely giggling at him this time. It wasn't mean though.

"It's photography!" He was about to ask him if he didn't have cameras where he was from before realizing that was stupid. Obviously this guy didn't have cameras or he wouldn't be acting like this. "It's not really stored here exactly it's just an image of it- like a painting! It's fun. You just point the camera a something you want to see later and hit this button here and-" The camera goes off again and he shows the image he just took. Which was of their feet, but whatever.

"Wait that's a stupid picture let's do this instead." He put his arm around Ingio's shoulders (they just met but this was totally fine) and held the camera up for them. "Smile!" And click, he took another picture.

[flatteries]

The very moment Prompto says the word smile, Inigo smiles. It's almost comedic how he goes from looking totally confused and surprised to a huge, seemingly very genuine smile the moment the camera clicks. It disappears just as quickly again too, like it truly was just some dumb instinct at the very mention of the word smile.

But at least he doesn't seem bummed or anything even without the smile. Instead there's still a hint of excitement - or maybe even just curiosity as he leans over to try and see how the selfie turned out.

"That's amazing.. It's us!" His mind is being blown here. "I can't believe we don't have something like this where I come from.. It could have saved me hours of having to sit still!"

Okay, so maybe he hasn't had to do that in years, but he's forever going to carry a grudge about how stupidly long he had to sit still for the royal family portrait anyway. He was such a small kid, you can't expect them to be able to do that!

[bethereprompto]

Prompto found that to be a sign Ingio was awesome if that was his natural instincts. He'd have to try it again later just to see if that was a fluke or if it was an all-the-time thing.

The amazement was fun but his comment about sitting still had Prompto frowning. "That would've sucked. You have to just stand there while someone paints you?" Although it might be fun to see a canvas painting of Noct or someone. Maybe the artist could use a picture though instead of needing the real thing. Was this Ingio dude that important back home?

Anyway, he hit a button and after a moment a picture gets printed from the button and he hands it over (ooc- think Polaroid). "Here you go. Your very first camera picture!"

[flatteries]

Inigo takes the picture from him, his attention momentarily completely devoted to it rather than Prompto himself. Inigo is turning it over, looking at both the back and the front, even holding it up, as if the image might change somehow. He's mostly just marveled by the very existence of the thing..

Although he does at least bother to reply - despite still looking at the picture - after a moment or two.

"Oh, yes, it's much less quick than this. It was a very long time ago, but from what I remember I had to sit there for most of the day. It was dreadful."

Inigo finally stops turning over the picture to actually look back at Prompto. "Could you take these of anything at all?"

[bethereprompto]

"I think I'd rather fit daemons.." There were very few things he would hate more than having to remain completely still for days. That sounded like the ultimate torture. People must've just shriveled up and died from that horror! "I'm glad you're here then."

The question had him grinning and he nodded. "Yeah! Well.. the only time I wouldn't recommend it is if there's like a dark room and one really bright light, like a window? That kind of contrast can make it all dark but otherwise yeah. Want to try it?"

This was a big deal. Inigo didn't even know how big. Prompto still felt bad about knocking over his card tower though so letting him try to use his precious camera seemed the least he could do. From the other reactions of the other boy, he assumed Ingio would be careful with it.

[flatteries]

He most definitely has no idea just how big of a deal it is that Prompto is making that offer at all. In Inigo's mind it's just about on the same level as lending someone else a fruit knife for a second or something.. not a big deal at all. Maybe it's for the better though, so there's no distraction with Inigo getting touched by the gesture or crying like a big baby.

But that doesn't mean he isn't excited about the possibility of taking pictures though. A rather excited grin spreads on his face as he looks over to the other, already eagerly holding out his hands.

"Can I?"

[bethereprompto]

"Sure!" He handed it over. "Okay so what you want to do is hold it there and- yeah, just like that- and then this finger goes here. And you aim at whatever picture you want and then click that button right there. See?"

He bounced back a couple steps and lifted his hand with his index and middle finger curled for the 'okay' sign. "Okay now try again with me!"

When he looked back at the screen, he grinned. "You're a natural!"

[flatteries]

Woah, hold on, this is suddenly all going very fast. Especially for someone who's hardly ever used anything that involves actual buttons before, especially before arriving in this place. But he's trying really hard to keep up with Prompto's explanation, and before he knows it, he's already taken a picture.

.. even though it makes him look surprised. The speed at which that happened is so wild.

"Is your world full of things like these?" He points at the camera, but doesn't mean just specifically cameras. More like technology in general. Inigo can't even imagine what a place like that would be like, honestly. "The way you live must be so strange!"

[bethereprompto]

"Pictures? Uh, yeah, sort of. Like it's on my phone and everything too, but I don't have that here. Then there are movies, which are sort of like pictures.." He had no idea how he was going to explain movies if a camera was a novelty though.

He playfully looked affronted by that comment. "Whoa, dude, my world isn't strange. Yours is the weird one!" He laughed and clapped Inigo's arm lightly. "Just kidding! I'll bet all of our worlds are weird to other people. Maybe we can find a way to get you a camera for yourself?"

[flatteries]

It's probably to not start on movies for now. Inigo's brain has had enough to endure. He can't even imagine what Prompto's world must be like if it has all these things people have never even heard of where he comes from.. No, it's probably for the better for him to just focus on the one thing that immediately makes Inigo perk up in surprise.

"Do you think we could?" Now that's a thought that's more than enough to make up for Inigo's sad fallen house of cards. "There is someone I'd like to take pictures like these of.. I wonder if the train shop would have--"

He suddenly seems to realise something mid-sentence, letting out a groan as he slaps his hands against his face while putting them on his cheeks. "Wait, I just spent my points on those bears..!" Why is the world making him suffer for doing a good deed.

[bethereprompto]

"Um.. maybe? Is there somewhere we can.." He got sidetracked from answering that question with another question when the cute boy mentioned a 'train shop'. That answered him on if there was a place to go shopping. He would think they'd have a disposable camera at least (don't ask him how the pictures were to get developed with those).

All his musings stopped though when Ingio abruptly looked upset. "Bears? Like the snow bear Namine had?" That was a big animal. Why had Ingio wanted those on the train? Clearly he was missing something here.

[flatteries]

It's almost as if Inigo doesn't even hear Prompto's question. For another few moments he's just busy rambling on to himself. "Ugh, I can't believe it! And he even said that there might be something to buy in the future, and yet I still-- why am I such an idiot?!"

At least the melodrama stops when he drags his hands down his face and spots Prompto, remembering that whoops, right, he was in the middle of talking to him. It's almost amazing how quickly the dramatics switch is flipped off in an instant.

".. oh, no. There's these bears you can buy from the train shop, people have been handing them out to the kids that show up here so they won't be lonely or feel so bad. They're just plushies, but they're real cute, you know?"

[bethereprompto]

Wow this guy was really upset. Prompto put a sympathetic hand on the other guy's back. "Hey.. it's okay. You didn't know. A- and is there a way to get more points? I think I have three if you want to have them."

Obviously he had no idea how these points worked, but if they made this silly (and cute) boy stop being so upset with himself he'd gladly hand them over. Besides, he was pretty sure if he needed something Iggy would get it for him. That's what Mamas were for, right?

He blinked at the startling speed Inigo snaps out of it. Does that remind him of someone? Hm..

"Aww, that's so sweet. That's a great thing to have spent your gil- er- points on. Just think of the scared little kid missing his mom you made happy."

[flatteries]

He's most definitely pouting now. "Yeah, that's why I did it.."

To make the poor scared little kids missing their moms happy. Because.. honestly, Inigo himself still is a scared little kid missing his mom deep down. He gets it. He just likes to pretend not to.

"It's quite alright though, you don't need to lend me any points." He's consistently been getting more, so.. surely whatever he's doing must be working, right? He can be patient and save up..

.. probably...

"I mean, you already let me use your.." He pauses. "Your.. camera!" He's totally stressing the wrong syllable as he says it. "That was fairly kind of you to do while you didn't even know my name."

[bethereprompto]

"See there? That makes you a really cool dude! How about I ask Iggy if he'll buy you one? He's been here a while so he must know how to get points right?" Prompto missed his family too, but that was pretty normal for throughout his childhood. "Do you know why they're bears though? Like.. why bears? Why not something cuddlier like uh.. chocobo?"

He giggles at the mispronunciation of the camera. "It's a good thing you're cute. It's camera." He goes to say something else when what the other guy said sinks in. "Oh yeah, I forgot! I'm Prompto Argentum. What's yours?"

[flatteries]

Holy Naga, there's just way too much happening there. Inigo's mind is still busy processing half of Prompto's rambling when it suddenly realises that wait, was he just called cute?! Inigo's face lights up as he's trying to come to terms with that and still give the other an answer at the same time.

"H.. Huh? Uh, it's Inigo.."

Was he just called cute quickly in the middle of the rambling there! He's still not over it! Maybe that's the question he should be persuing, but that's way too embarrassing, so instead he manages to sputter: "W-What's a chocobo?"

[bethereprompto]

Prompto totally called him cute! If you don't want to be called cute, you probably shouldn't be acting so cute. The blonde's hands were tied here. It's all on Inigo. As it was, he blinks a little at the other boy suddenly being so flustered. Did something happen? At least he wasn't getting proven wrong! Inigo was still acting cute.

"Oh! Only the best and cutest animal ever!" He flipped on the screen of his camera and found a couple pictures for his new friend. Yes, they were now friends. Deal with it!

"See? They have really soft feathers and they're the best to ride through rugged terrain. They're loyal and cool- oh here's Ebony, the little baby one we met! Isn't she cute?- And here's me at the Chocobo Festival!"

[flatteries]

"There's an entire festival dedicated to them?!"

Okay, this is a better kind of surprise. He's deciding to focus on this one rather than linger on the thought of being called cute, since the latter is just.. too much for him. These oversized chickens seem a lot more manageable to mentally grasp in comparison.

"You seem so fond of them.. Are you perhaps some sort of farmer back home?" Why would anyone else like chickens this much?! "The last time I heard anyone talk about an animal that way, it was back home when I was around Gerome and his wyvern."

[bethereprompto]

"Yeah! Best time of the whole year, man!" He showed a picture of his four friends with matching chocobo t-shirts and hats.

He paused as he was surprised by that question. "No.. I just lov- what a great idea! Maybe when I'm done with all this saving the world stuff I could be a chocobo farmer!" He playfully punched Inigo's shoulder. "What a great idea! Thanks!"

Then he registered the rest of what Inigo said. "What's a wyvern?"

[flatteries]

It's really hard to hold back a laugh when there's first that picture with the chocobo outfits (those hats!), then Prompto suddenly being enamored with the idea of starting a farm with those things, and then on top of it all him not knowing what something as common as a wyvern is. It's just too much. So Inigo truly can't hold it back anymore, letting out a snort.

"They have those things back where you're from, but not wyverns?" What did that world ever do to only earn giant chickens? "They're a kind of dragons, of course! You can ride them into battle, that's what my friend Gerome does when he fights."

Be glad he's at least holding back a joke about how Prompto should ride one of those chickens into battle. He doesn't want to actually endanger the guy.

[bethereprompto]

Prompto pouted a little. "They're not 'things', they're chocobos!" How dare you..

He slapped his forehead when Inigo says the word again and it clicks. "Oooh those things! I was still thinking birds." Don't mind him! He just forgot creatures on his own planet over here. "You can.." Okay, so maybe he needed to stop talking about chocobos now. Inigo wasn't acting properly impressed with their awesomeness and now it was starting to feel like he was belaboring the point. ".. that's cool." Awkward. "Uh, do you ride wyverns too?"