voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's weird, isn't it?" Duo said conversationally as he stepped up beside the guy he'd been eyeing from afar for the last minute or so, trying to decide if he wanted to approach or if he wanted to take a wide birth of the guy with wings. Wings meant angels. And angels meant god. And Duo didn't believe in god. At least not the merciful god that most others subscribed to. Nope. The only god he knew was the asshole who enjoyed killing off his friends. So this guy with wings puzzled him.

"I don't want to get on it, but I know I gotta. Kinda pisses me off!" He continued without a single trace of anger in his voice, just friendly good humour.

Not this guy. His old man might be an angel, but if there was a place to sign up for that, Xander really wasn't interested. Even being half had caused him enough problems in the past.

"Yeah, I hear that! I'd like to tell it off, but...seems like a bad idea, if it wants us to get on it. What if staying off is worse?"

He couldn't particularly think of how, but then again, sometimes being unimaginative was a good thing. (Even if Xander wasn't particularly unimaginative...)

"Probably is." Duo replied, still with a friendly smile, still in that same conversational way of his. "I dunno how it would be worse, but I don't really like to challenge the Power of Worse, has a habit of biting me on the ass!" Which was a bit of an understatement but he wasn't about to go and launch into a detailed account of how his ass had been bitten.

Xander arched a brow at that, one corner of his mouth tugging upward into a smile. "That could be...interesting, at best. Do you like being bitten on the ass?"

Did he really just ask that? Xander snorted at himself, but he kind of wondered if this guy was flirting with him, talking like that. A little bit of a rejoinder wouldn't hurt, right?

Duo blinked and then he started laughing. He hadn't actually meant it like that at all. But he supposed if you were going to take things literally it would.

"Dunno, man. Depends on who's doing the biting!" He shot back with a wide grin.

Well...at least the guy was laughing, though Xander wasn't sure he'd've been sad if a punch had been thrown. Still, it wasn't the right way to make friends, he had to admit.

So he just grinned a little, at first, though his eyes widened at the comeback, and he clicked his teeth together. "I think I could be persuaded--but we just met! I don't even know your name!" But he was laughing now, too. "I'm Xander Woods, most recently of Spectrum City, Artepus. Don't ask me the solar system, I don't know it." At that, he offered up a hand. "Oh, and this is Cottonball," tilting his head to indicate the tiny bat on his shoulder.

"Duo Maxwell. Uh... L2 Colony, Earth Adjacent, Milky Way." He grinned, he'd always thought the name of their solar system was kind of dumb but at least he was able to name it, though whether the guy knew where the hell that was, Duo had no idea.

He took the hand to shake and lifted his other in a little wave to the bat. "Nice ta meetcha both!"

That made Xander smile a little bit. "My mom's originally from Earth." Really, it was a long story, but Jade called herself his mother, so... "I've seen pictures of the Milky Way from Earth. It's pretty, at least, right? Even if it's only adjacent, your colony. Can you see it from there?"

Cottonball at least realized what that meant, she gave a little chitter back at Duo and blinked her eyes at him, even as Xander shook his hand. "Likewise. At least there's a silver lining to this grey cloud, huh?"

"And your dad's from somewhere else? Hn... So you're half from Earth? The good half, right?" Duo grinned playfully and then laughed. "Yeah, the milky way is pretty. Can't see it from inside L2, but outside?" His smile softened a bit now. "I've a friend... he used to say space was beautiful. Used to tease him about that. But he's not wrong. It really is."

"Yeah, there's always a silver lining if you look hard enough. And if not?" He grinned again, it was back full force. "You damn well make one of your own."

"You might not believe me if I told you, but I do have wings--dad's an angel. Camael, Angel of Courage, Strength, and War, according to some sources...Divine Love according to others. There's a lot of apocrypha." Xander shrugged at that, lifting his wings a little.

"Considering there were an odd number of them hanging around Spectrum City--angels, that is--I assume there was at least some truth to it--though it begs the question as to why they were coming to hang out in the mortal realm. Maybe they were getting a bum rap up in the firmament."

Duo's next words had the nephilim laughing. "You're damn right you do!" he agreed. "Hold it down and make it happen, right?"

Duo cocked his head to the sided and eyed the guys wings, then looked up at him. "Really? I'd not noticed." Total lie, more of a tease if the twitching of his lips was anything to go by, a twitch that soon became a smile. "An actual angel, huh? I knew a guy who'd be yelling 'I told you so' at me right about now..." Father Maxwell has gone on and on about God and angels watching out for him. Apparently everyone had a Guardian Angel. Duo suspected someone had shot his thinking it was a pigeon.

"That's the one." Duo nodded, kinda liking the guys laugh. It was nice to make someone laugh. It was hard with the group of friends he had, though Quatre was the easiest out of the lot of them. Sometimes he thought the blonde was just humouring him though. "Hold it down and pummel it into submission. It'll give up it's silver lining sooner or later!"

A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

The Train

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