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

Re: Platform

[laurefindil]

"Nerdanel?" Glorfindel instantly recognized her, though it had been half a millenia since he'd seen her last. "So this is part of the Halls then..."

Re: Platform

[marriedanidiot]

She blinks, startled, and turns.

"Who...? I know you, don't I." She wipes her tears and studies his face. "I fear this is not the Halls, for only have I stood outside and railed at their Master, but never yet allowed within."

And she's far, far too stubborn to Fade.

"Forgive me, but I do not know if I recall your name."

Re: Platform

[laurefindil]

Glofindel's eyebrows went up. He wouldn't flatter himself that he was unforgettable, and it had been a very long time, perhaps, but this seemed different. "We have met, yes. My name is Glorfindel. I traveled with your sons...from time to time."

Re: Platform

[marriedanidiot]

"Oh!" Her eyes clear in recognition.

"Of course! Lord Glorfindel, of Imladris, yes? You followed Turukano, and then you were with dear young Elrond."

Re: Platform

[laurefindil]

He bowed. "I am honoured that you remember me so well, my lady," he said. "I thought perhaps you would only remember me as a youth, of my days in Valinor. I should have known better of Nerdanel the Wise."

He looked at the Metal Beast, then back to her. "How did you come to be here. Is the Void it speaks of...The Void?" That would be alarming. Morgoth was not someone to take lightly being so invaded.

Re: Platform

[marriedanidiot]

If she's honest, she only knows as much as she does because Elrond is just plain Good, and shows up to visit her sometimes and talk about Makalaure.

"Tis good kind of you to think so of me." She smiles at him. "Not all do."

Being Feanor's wife and all that.

"As to that... we do not think so. My Makalaure never said that he heard him outside. And it does not seem to be anything like our tales of the Void." Which doesn't mean they haven't all thought it at some point, having both Feanor and three of his sons all here until now.

"It is A Void, perhaps."

Re: Platform

[laurefindil]

"I usually use Nerdanel the infinitely patient," he admitted with a brilliant smile. "Is Makalaure here as well?" He did enjoy Maglor's music the few times he'd gotten to hear it. Elrond, in his cups, would occasionally wax nostalgic and make Lindir play those songs over and over until one of them passed out crying. Usually Lindir.

He nodded. "I appreciate the difference. But when you say, Outside, what do you mean? Do we board this strange ship?"

[marriedanidiot]

That actually makes her giggle.

"Well. That is accurate enough." Mother to seven boys plus one...

Her face falls, at that. "I fear you have just missed him - both Maitimo... ah, Maedhros and he just left us."

Gathering herself she nods at the train.

"Yes. That... is the Void Train, as folk have taken to calling it. Voidtrecker, to be precise, which is printed on the ticket you will find somewhere on yourself. Tis a strange metal carriage, powered by we know not what, and travelling by some impetus that escapes us."

A very useful concept, in theory....

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel turned to look at the gates where the people who had left had already been swallowed up by the mist beyond. "Oh. That's a shame, I would have liked to see them again, if only briefly." He sensed she was not okay with the departure of two of her sons. She never had been. "But we are elves, we always have tomorrow," he said, thinking of those he was counting on seeing again, once he returned to Valinor, whenever that would be.

"Train, hm? Like a line of donkeys or mules carrying cargo? That..." he looked at the train again, "that is rather apt. Who all is participating on this train? Do we know the destination?" He patted his strange garment, finding the pockets and the purple ticket inside. Did everything he now own match that?

[marriedanidiot]

"Perhaps." says the mother who knows that if her sons are condemned to the Void in truth that she truly might never see them again.

Still, she turns her attention to the train and to Glorfindel.

"Even so. I am told by several others that Men invent something very like this, but theirs run on tracks to set destinations, rather than... this. Our final destination we know not, but roughly once a month as the train counts time, we stop at new and varied destinations - to help, it seems. Sometimes, we are expected - summoned, perhaps, but in what fashion we know not. As for who is aboard - mostly Men, but also beings I have never met before, nor knew existed. My husband is also here." Fair warning. "As is Curufinwe." Also fair warning. "And young Findekano, as well."

A breath.

"It seems they come from different worlds."

[laurefindil]

"Different...? If they are your son, husband, and Fingon, how are they from different worlds?" he asked. Perhaps he misunderstood. "What do you mean by different worlds?" There was only Arda...wasn't there?

[marriedanidiot]

"They seem to be from different times, for starters." She grimaces. "But the Men here... they are not all from the same world. NONE of them are from Arda."

[laurefindil]

"Different...times." Glorfindel blinked. "That...makes me really wonder a lot about this place. And none of the Men are from Arda?" He literally took a step back as he let this concept into his head and it re-wrote his view of existance. "That...that's...how?"

[marriedanidiot]

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "But that is the conclusion all of us have reached. There... are multiple worlds, it seems."

[laurefindil]

"Huh. Do...they follow Eru? Or are their worlds created in some other fashion?" Glorfindel asked. He had a headache, or something. He hadn't had one since his first death, to be honest. He'd forgotten how painful they were.

[marriedanidiot]

"I do not know. I suspect theirs is a different Song entire."

Yep. Headache.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel took a deep breath adn looked deep within himself. Nothing she was saying resonated, but this was a strange place and Manwe might not be paying attention to one lone elf, so far from home. Or rather, two, but the distance was unknowable, as well. For now, nothing was screaming as being wrong, either, so he took another deep breath and smiled at Nerdanel. "Right, different Song. That...makes sense of a sort." He looked at her. "Are...there many different Song...Worlds, on this train?"

[marriedanidiot]

She shrugs at him. "Quite a few, yes. There are some from the same worlds, but there are more who are from different worlds."

[laurefindil]

"Like you and I are from the same world? That would make sense. Are...they quite strange, or more like the difference between us and dwarves, or hobbits?"

[marriedanidiot]

"Exactly so! I do believe... let me see, I think Peter and Tony and Gwen are from the same world. They're all human, but Peter and Gwen have unusual abilities - they are stronger than humans, heal faster, and can stick to surfaces. Tony is... well. Tony is, I think, rather like what Feanaro would have been like if he had been human. He has a suit of armor that flies and shoots beams of force."

Yes really.

[laurefindil]

"Tony is...a mechanical balrog?" Glorfindel was not sure what to think of that. After a moment he agreed that was exactly the sort of thing a human Feanor would have done. "And the others are...sticky? To the touch? That must make dressing difficult," Glorfindel added, looking to the side as he tried to imagine such a thing. "But these are...good people?"

[marriedanidiot]

"He calls himself Iron Man." Says the wife of one mad genius with tolerant amusement. "Apparently, he uses it to fight crime. And I believe they control their stickiness, else doubtless they would indeed struggle!"

[laurefindil]

"Ah. What a very...literal name. But then my name means golden haired, so I suppose I should not judge." Glorfindel said. "I am pleased to learn he is on the side of good, however. I have died fighting a balrog once, it is not an experience one wants to repeat, honestly."

"Controlled stickiness." He nodded faintly. "That is useful, I'm sure."

[marriedanidiot]

Glorfindel, look at what she named her kids and talk to her again about literal names.

"I would imagine not! You are quite the tale in Valinor, you know. You and Lord Ecthelion both." She shakes her head in amusement. "I'm sure it is, but mostly I've seen them use it here for playing games."

[laurefindil]

Literal names are an elf-thing, he's not about to point fingers.

"Playing ga...what kind of game would stickiness be helpful in?" None of the games he ever played would have benefited from such a thing, that he could think of at that moment.