A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Two days after they return from their mission they are awoken as usual "Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Egret. The shop has been updated and points have been applied to passengers tickets."

Those that go to check the shop terminals will find they have indeed updated, with the option to buy larger items and also animals. The morning goes on until just after noon there is a second announcement.

"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. Though the fog is thick, thicker than usual perhaps, there are patches on sunlight shining through and it is pleasantly warm.

The doors open and the first few to disembark do so with rucksacks on, hoods pulled up, silent and almost blank faced. Cu Chulain, Dio Brando, Disreputable Dog, Heiji Hattori, Loki Maedhros, Maglor, Naruto, Thor, Tobias Fangor.

They walk to the barriers, show their tickets and disappear.

But on the platform itself there are once again new faces. 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 as people begin to shift or call out it will become apparent they are not alone.

The platform is not large and it holds eighteen figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. It's warm but foggy making it hard to see much, but there are clearer patches bathed in sunlight found across the platform. 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, in case the passengers weren't bored of them yet.

Passengers who are not brand new will notice that the train has gotten yet longer again with a sixth sleeper cabin for new arrivals.

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

[draconite]

platform

[ When she first becomes aware of the fog around her, Bryn's first thought isn't steam -- it's fire. The weather hadn't been right for mist and something this thick could only be caused by fire. But just as quick as she has the thought, she dismisses it. She knows too well how hot and choking smoke this thick is, but this is cool and wafts gently against her face. So it must be something else.

Or, she abruptly realizes, somewhere else.

Bryn's head swivels just as the fog begins to clear but even though she can pick out a few other figures here in this weird space with her, none of them are faces she recognizes. Her brow furrows in confusion for a moment. She definitely doesn't remember coming here and she's alone... And though she knows she should probably be concerned about this, after a moment, her face quickly brightens with the obvious glee of someone who absolutely cannot keep their nose out of things it doesn't belong in.

So it's with a... perhaps misplaced degree of good cheer that Bryn sets about looking all up and down the platform for her friends. If she's here, then it stands to reason that they must be too. If she comes across someone else then she'll bound up to them without any apparent hesitation. ]

Excuse me! This is all quite overwhelming, isn't it? [ of course, she says that, but she looks like she's taking it in stride. ] You wouldn't happen to know where this is, would you? Or where I might be able to find my companions?

[ If you happen to also be wearing an orange hoodie, though, Bryn's face lights up and she says– ]

Would you look at that! We match! I'm not sure I prefer this to my armor, but it's certainly comfortable.

train

[ Like any new arrival, Bryn busies herself with getting to know just what's going on here and she's quickly snatched up one of the leaflets to go over as she wanders around. The only problem is, she's got her nose right into the leaflet and it's pretty likely that she's just barrel right into you. Rude, tbh. ]

Oh, I had no idea anybody was in the way! [ no duh ] Isn't this all so exciting? I've never seen a train before, but I just say, I'm warming up to it quite quickly!

[ Once she's absorbed the pamphlet though, Bryn sets about to just exploring and seeing what she can find in the train – surely there's something here she can entertain herself with.

At first, she settles herself in next to one of the ICPs and does her best to figure out how to use it. It looks like it should be easy, but Bryn's got her brow furrowed as she pokes hesitantly at the screen, clearly not certain of what she's doing. It's... charmingly hapless. Like a tiny old grandma trying to use Facebook.

She also gets distracted in the standard coach by the library and proceeds to plop herself in front of the bookshelves and start going through all the books. This is... maybe the longest stretch of time she's been still and quiet since getting on the train? Amazing. Unfortunately, thanks to where she's sat, she's liable to end up tripping someone up if they come walking by. Whoops.

And if you're passing through the gym today then... You fool. You absolute walnut. You've made yourself a target. ]

Look out!

[ That's all the warning anyone gets before a ball comes screaming over with the force of something fired from a goddamn cannon. Thankfully for everyone involved, Bryn's aim isn't exactly fantastic (that be the fucked up depth perception) and the ball instead tanks into the wall of the gym where it promptly pops apart with a bang like a gun going off.

... Bryn has the decency to look sheepish, at least. ]

Ah. Perhaps I threw it just a bit too hard...

[ YOU THINK????? ]

wildcard.

[ A super quick wildcard prompt for anything goes! Bryn will be heading to her sleeper car eventually, so this is a wildcard for her roomies and Team Orange teammates to catch her and introduce themselves. ]

Train - the Gym, because sometimes I am cruel to Nita

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Luckily, Nita has a shield! There's a brief flash of blue in a bubble around her-]

Ow!

[Which doesn't save her hearing. Ah, well, can't win 'em all.]

Hope Inigo didn't see that...

[For all she knew, he'd fight for the fallen ball's honor, if only to get all those involved to crack a smile.

Shaking her head, and debating whether persuading the blood vessels in her ears to heal up faster would be worth the energy, she says:]

It's okay; I think we get more?

[draconite]

What a relief! [ She nods, more to herself than Nita. ] They seem to be quite fragile... any sort of horseplay and I'm sure we'd be down more than a single ball!

[ Is she just playing down her own hand in this? Is she really that oblivious? It's basically impossible to tell. ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita's still speaking loudly, but she's trying to mitigate that... though that also means she's not getting close to Bryn yet.]

Honestly, that's probably true. We've got a lot of strong people on this train. So between that, and Princess the pippi...

He's an animal, small and pink, but he packs a punch.

Train

[pleple]

[ It's typical, Ple Two tells herself, for new passengers from places with little technology to struggle to figure out the ICP. No matter how intuitive it seemed, not everyone would just take to it if they weren't used to any computers to begin with.

Nodding to herself, she stepped up alongside Bryn. ]

Would you like a bit of help?

[ Ple Two looked pretty young - and she was - but offered help with calm neutrality. ]

[draconite]

I... think so?

[ She answers without looking up from the ICP and her tapping becomes a little more haphazard. It's probably safe to say she has no clue what she's doing here. ]

I can tell it's a little window of some kind and you can use your hand... but I'm not sure what the point is.

[pleple]

You can use it to look up information, and communicate with others. Let me show you.

[ She's now pushing into Bryn's personal space. ]

platform;

[polterguide]

[The first thing that strikes Bailey is the rose in her eye - they immediately assume she must be some sort of nymph, or dryad. They've never met one before, living in the city, but they've heard of plant-like people living in some of the towns just outside New Lodgins. Of course, plant-like doesn't mean plants just grow out of them, but that's...a minor detail.

And then she mentions armor, and they blink. People don't wear armor, not unless they're in movies. Not even agents wear anything that could be classified as "armor".]

Comfortable, but not as much protection.

[They glance around the platform, before their gaze falls back to Bryn.]

But I'm afraid I don't really know what's going on here... It's not - I'm just as confused as you are.

[draconite]

[ She laughs merrily, which is... maybe not want you want to hear in a scenario like this, but Bryn seems to be in reasonably good spirits despite everything. ]

Two heads are better than one, I suppose! [ Even two confused heads... apparently. ] And it's a bit less concerning if we're not each the only one in a strange situation like this. It's remarkable, isn't it? One moment I was where I expected to be and the next, there was nothing but fog and here I was, in these strange clothes. Is that what happened to you?

[bornebygrace]

[ Aaron, just passing through, stops as he hears the ball screaming. He looks up as the ball sails past him - close enough to make his hair ruffle - and into the wall, popping. He looks to the woman who threw the ball. ]

Ah, well, maybe. I think the train should get us more durable toys if they're picking up people with an arm like yours.

[ He approaches the ruined ball and holds his hand over the ruined ball. They emit a rosy golden glow, and the ball mends itself back together. He picks it up with a small smile. ]

No harm done, though. I won't tell anyone if you don't. [ He gives her a wink. ]

[draconite]

Oh, I'm sure we'll be fine if we have someone like you around! Being able to fix up things so easily really must be useful.

[ Does she look even slightly ashamed of having already started busting things up on her first day here? Nope! She seems to be taking it in stride with the easy good cheer of someone who's very used to having people around to clean up her messes. ]

And it's not as though we're really given much room to exercise... really, it shouldn't be a surprise when things like this happen!

Platform

[springforth]

Oh, yes. We definitely match.

[Persephone is wearing the polo rather than the hoodie but still! Matching colors. Her hair is even sporting clusters of orange flowers for the occasion.] There's quite a few of us oranges. Not usually my color but I prefer to some of the choices.

[Pause]

I'm afraid that unless you're very lucky, your companions probably didn't follow.

[draconite]

I see... if that's how it turns out, that will be a shame...

[ And she does indeed seem a little subdued upon having this realization, even if she does very visibly make herself perk back up only a moment later. She's just arrived in a brand new place with so many new things to explore – no time for being sad about it! ]

But! I'm sure if we could all our ways here, then our companions won't be far behind. Wouldn't you say so as well?

Platform

[swansongs]

[He expected most, if not all, people who'd just arrived on the platform, to be wary, confused, maybe a little frightened, but this girl seemed pretty cheerful. Not that that was a bad thing, just unexpected--and maybe better than trying to comfort someone who was freaking out.]

We sure do. [Match, that was; he was also wearing orange. It wasn't his favorite color, but it wasn't the worst, either.] Wait, armor? [And did she have a flower in her eye?]

Unfortunately, I have no idea where we are, or if there's anyone here you know, but I do know this is the void train. Though I'm not sure exactly what the void is.

[draconite]

Yes, that's right! [ She pumps her fists, clearly too full of bubbly energy to keep herself still. ] You can hardly just wander into unknown territory without some sort of protection. But I suppose right now, we really don't have much choice...

[ Though uh, she doesn't really seem that concerned about it? Whether she's confident or just oblivious is entirely up to you to decide, dear reader. ]

Is this what a train is supposed to be, then? I've never seen one before... it's so large!

Train - Gym

[mynameisallen]

[Allen was at least swift enough to move his head to the side and let it fly past. Although he might have lost a couple of strands of hair because of it. But that doesn't matter. What matters is the fact Allen was surprised at what he just saw.

He hadn't seen strength quite like it since Bulla and she was pretty damn strong that it scared him. this perhaps was going to be no exception.]

That's... a lot of power you put into that.

[draconite]

Do you really think so? [ She laughs, more to herself than at Allen. ] Really, I was just warming myself up a bit!

[ Terrifyingly, this appears to actually be the truth rather than any flaccid attempt at modesty on Bryn's part. ]

I wasn't expecting anyone to pass through, is all!

train

[irrationally]

[ Of course Alice doesn't recognize the girl sitting by one of the ICPs. But at the same time she also has no idea if this is a new person or not - she certainly isn't sociable enough to recognize everyone on this train.

But there's something vaguely familiar about the way Bryn is trying to use the ICPs. Honestly, it just makes Alice think of the way she must look when she uses them, since she's similarly bad at it.. She had no idea it'd look this lame. Good thing she usually does it when no one is around.

Maybe she should be slightly nice for once and spare Bryn from similar embarassment though. She approaches the other, folding her arms across each other. ]

Are you trying to figure it out?

[draconite]

[ When Bryn looks up from the ICP, it's with a slightly sheepish smile on her face. She gets the feeling this really shouldn't be as complicated as it feels like it is, but with all the lights and words and everything else, she's getting just a bit overwhelmed. ]

Oh, is it quite obvious? I suppose it would be. [ Her laugh is good-natured if a little self-deprecating. ] But I've never seen anything quite like this before... do all trains have things like this on them?

Train

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Hey!

[The one shouting at her is -- a book. Just a bigass book, floating in midair and glaring at her.]

That pamphlet is useless. Here, here's a better one!

[One of the vapid-looking minions idly playing rock-paper-scissors with a strange patchwork peg-legged penguin, and losing despite the fact that said Prinny can only really throw paper, perks up, then pulls a pamphlet out of his inventory and offers it over. "So You've Decided To Work for the Overlord", it says.]

[draconite]

[ A... talking book?

Well! This day's already strange enough and really a floating, talking book is actually one of the least weird things she's seen today. It's something she can actually understand. So she takes the pamphlet without much fuss – at least until she actually reads the title and immediately starts shaking her head. ]

Oh, I'm sorry! I think there's been a bit of a mistake. I haven't decided to work for anyone!

Platform

[alchemists]

[ Elfnein's wearing the orange hoodie hoping to find any new people that are arriving. ]

You're a new passenger on the Void Trecker, and it seems we're on the same team.

[draconite]

The Void Trecker... so that's what this vessel is called?

[ That's uh, a little ominous but she'll role with it. ]

And we're to be, ah, teammates, like you said?

Train - Gym

[lostwithinatrace]

[He's running out of places to look on this train, so... through the gym it is. And as he's making his way through, a look out makes him freeze, and a ball wooshes by him into the wall with an incredibly loud bang.

He just... stares. That could have hit him! Good God almighty.

As Bryn approaches, he stares at her, too. How did she hit it with so much strength?]

Trace?

[is all he can utter in the moment, not really paying attention to what she's just said. If Bryn can smell anything on him, it'll be the jasmine emitting from the SCA on his wrist, blocking his pheromones.]

[draconite]

Tr...ace?

[ Bryn just looks at him, with her brow furrowed in obvious confusion. She looks from the thoroughly exploded ball to Shikeo, to the ball and then Shikeo as if she can make any sense of the apparent non-sequiter and then she gives him an undeniably awkward smile. ]

Um... no, that was a ball.

[ It's already happened. We're two tags in and we've hit Peak Stupid. ]