voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

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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

Well, isn't what Xander is saying a true mood. That sounds like exactly the sort of thing Alice herself could have said when she was the one standing around on the platform last time the train stopped at one. She manages to overhear it right as she's standing by the doors of the train and watches him approach, curiosity piqued by his words.

"What, are you trying to negotiate with it?"

"I don't negotiate with terrorists," Xander said airily. "Or I suppose it's more kidnappers in this case...I didn't go to sleep here, even though I've been known to not go to sleep in my bed back home!" More like he'd fall asleep on the top of a building after a night of roaming around.

He gestures for her to enter first, if she's wont to do so. Otherwise he's worried he might accidentally slap her with a wing, and that would be rather embarrassing...

She doesn't look too eager to get back onto the train. On the other hand, Alice knows better than to be a reckless idiot and try to resist the train's pull this time. So after staring between Xander and the train for a moment, she just sighs heavily before moving to board it. The young woman does make some room for him to be able to get inside, but she's still staring at him from inside the train now.

"So instead you're obeying the kidnappers. Well, I do suppose it's a good survival strategy." It's what they're all doing, more or less, after all. "It's not as if we have much of a choice, either way."

"I'm not sure I'd like what happened if I actually tried to actively resist the mental compulsion," Xander admitted frankly. "Besides, I can't say this would be the first time I was technically kidnapped...they don't experiment on you here, do they?"

He realized that was a strange thing to ask, but this girl at least seemed like she'd been riding the rails longer than he had, so...couldn't hurt to ask.

... Oh.

Oh. Well.

Although Alice seems surprised, it's not a totally shocked kind of surprise that any regular person might show when suddenly confronted with a question like that. If anything, the surprise quickly fades into something a little closer to exasperation, though not with Xander himself.

"Not as far as I'm aware," she says, with a tone much more wary and tired-sounding than it should for a girl her age. "But I wouldn't get complacent just yet."

"Oh." Xander sounds...resigned. And there's likely a good amount of soul-weariness there, too. "You too, huh?" There's no happiness in his tone; what the actual fuck is wrong with people? His lips thinned, nose wrinkling as he grit his teeth together. He wasn't angry at her, but at the situation. He thought he'd left that behind, damn it!

"Got it, though. Thank you, I appreciate it." That, at least, was honest.

There are plenty of people who would have cheered Xander up in this situation. Said something more positive, or just generally tried to comfort him.

Not Alice though. She's not good at these kinds of things. He may respond with anger, but without any clear target for it, it doesn't bubble up within Alice herself. There's just a quiet kind of sympathy as she tries to think of what to say. She's never had someone to relate to over this, and so she just doesn't know how to do it.

"If it helps, most people here aren't like that." 'Like that', as if it's just a simple way to sum up all those horrible things. "Or they don't seem to be, either way. They're so bright and cheerful."

Not just gloomy like her. Although now she's looking at him, Xander does seem to be a bit more lively than she is as well, if not just for the anger.

Well, he has a bit of color to him, too--at least, if you count the wings. Deep emerald green--and it does look like he could fly with them, if he so chose. And if they weren't on a train that might prevent such things...

It's actually somewhat refreshing to not get platitudes that might not actually be meant. He'd gotten plenty of that at home--oh, no doubt his friends there meant well, and did everything within their power to suit actions to words, but it didn't make Xander very happy to put them in danger merely by existing, for example.

"So you're the little raincloud, then?" he asks, clearly teasing, though the anger's drifted off for now--perhaps bubbling beneath the surface, but since it is directionless, Xander's content to stew. "I hear most people aren't like that. Guess the Artificers were just...special."

There's a certain sort of disdain in his words.

That name doesn't ring a bell to her. Her natural curiosity creeps up on her, wanting to know more, but Alice knows better than to prod at other people's tragedies when she'd throw someone off the train mid-ride for doing the same to her.

Besides, it helps that there's a distraction in the form of his first words. Alice gives Xander a look as if he decided to grow an extra dragon head the moment he starts teasing her.

"The little.." She starts repeating, but then her voice trails off. She's frowning, but it doesn't seem angry as much as just confused? It's teasing in a different way than she's used to from the Cat, and she's unsure of how to handle it for a moment before she manages to regain her sense of speech. "Well, I do suppose you're unlucky in having ran into me of all people right away while boarding this train, mister radiating angel." Two can play at this nickname game! "Having to deal with the sole raincloud among these bright suns. Anyone would say you have terrible luck."

'Radiating angel'. That made Xander laugh, amused. "Au contraire, my lady, even flowers need the rain to live! Bright sunshine is all well and good, but too much and they wither and die. Let your raincloud blow in! Its rain and wind is refreshing!"

Okay, maybe he was laying it on a little thick, but for all that, he was honest.

The tiny white lump clinging to his purple hoodie shook itself, lifting its head to reveal tiny, oildrop-black eyes and blinking as its nap was interrupted by conversation.

"Oh, excuse me, Princess Puff," Xander said, chuckling. "Sorry, this is Cottonball, my familiar. Guess I disturbed her by breathing!" More likely talking, but he shrugged.

His dramatics are so confusing to her. Especially when coupled with the memory of what he said only moments ago. It sounds like he must have gone through something at least vaguely similar to what she's been through, yet he somehow still has the spirit and energy for this? Also, was he trying to give her a compliment there?

She opens her mouth even as she's still trying to figure out how to properly respond to that, but then.. oh no. There's a cutie.

It's so obvious how distracted she is by it too. Alice's gaze immediately drops from Xander's face to the tiny creature, almost as if he's no longer present. This Cottonball has her full attention now.

"Why, hello there, little one." There is actually even a near-smile on her face as she speaks to it, the corners of her lips tugging up just slightly. You have no idea how rare of a sight you're witnessing here, Xander.

If anything, it's a type of spit-in-the-eye energy. Like those mysterious Artificers he mentioned could take him back and do...whatever they had been, all over again, and he'd go down flipping them all the bird--assuming he didn't go down fighting.

But Xander knows when he's overshadowed--though he's used to having that happen with something else besides his familiar! Still, his lips twitch with amusement, and he really doesn't want to open his mouth and ruin the moment!

Still, he does. "Go on, she's friendly." Who exactly he means by this is hard to say, but he may have meant the bat herself, as she launches into an unwieldy wobble of winged flight towards Alice. "She won't bite--she prefers fruit, but she shouldn't be hungry just yet." Maybe later, but he was sure there'd be something Cottonball could eat, here.

He's smart to stay quiet, since that really does keep the moment going for longer. She looks so instantly endeared by the creature, especially with how wobbly Cottonball is! Some people may be scared of bats, but Alice doesn't look worried in the slightest. She thinks it's just the most precious thing, and holds out her hand in case the bat might want to sit on it.

If anything, it's the words about biting and fruit that makes her snap out of it, since those definitely are aimed at her. Alice looks up from Cottonball, looking almost startled for a moment as she realises oh god, Xander is still there. She wasn't all alone. And he saw her smile like a dork at the animal.

Alice is trying really hard not to blush, but with how pale her skin is, even the slightest hint of one shows up so quickly - so there is something faintly pink about her cheeks, even as she tries to regain her dignity.

".. right. We could go get her some from the kitchen just in case though, if you want." Yes, let's focus on practical matters here! And not the way she looked just now, okay.

Oh, Cottonball is determined to sit on Alice's hand and be cooed over and petted--she knows she's the belle of the ball, at the moment. Not to mention she's not the most intimidating of creatures--a tiny white puff with yellow ears, a yellow nose in the shape of an upside-down heart, and tiny oildrop eyes. Her wings have a yellow-gray tinge to them, too. She just regards Alice solemnly, and settles in.

As for Xander? All he has to say for the moment, is, "She likes you, clearly."

He's aware of Alice's embarrassment, but he's not about to make a point of it. He also knows that Cottonball understands words, even if she can't respond in human language. "What do you think? Do you want some fruit from the kitchen?"

It's definitely practical to find the kitchen from Xander's perspective, too. He's a teenager, and it's been a bit since last he ate--even if Cottonball didn't dance in place with excitement, which was a clear 'yes'? He wouldn't mind a bite himself--but he'll let Alice concentrate on her.

Alice practically has to fight back a smile when Xander says she likes her. Even if the train may not be nearly as dangerous as London, the asylum or her own twisted Wonderland, there's still no way she can feel at ease enough to smile in front of others without worrying about it being used against her somehow. No matter how relatively harmless Xander seems.

.. granted, it's not like she knows he can feel her fondness for this tiny creature all the same, but still.

"Let's go, then." It's not just said for Cottonball - she actually glances at Xander too as she says it. Usually Alice doesn't tolerate company all that much, but despite how guarded she is, she does feel at least the faintest kinship with him after the mention of experiments. Enough so to want to be there to tell annoying people who might harass him on their way to the kitchen to shut up.

And so she starts walking down the corridors of the train, occasionally shooting small glances at the most adorable ball of puff on her hand. This bat really is too cute.. It's too powerful.. And it's also earlier to talk to another person without having to look them in the eyes.

"You can grab food here whenever you want. There's seemingly enough of it to go around." She's not too sure how used he is to that or not, if his background is anything like her own. It sure was a surprising fact to her when she first showed up.

Not that Xander isn't perfectly capable of telling people off himself. He is, it's just not his first reaction--he's used to trying to be more of a peacemaker. His twin is the prickly one, back home. Xander smooths all the feathers that Alex ruffles, literally.

He follows casually enough, furling his wings tighter so that he doesn't bump into anyone. Well, as best as he can--this train isn't as spacious as he could hope.

Glad he didn't have a bad case of claustrophobia, though...

"Really?" It might seem stranger, save he'd been adopted into his brother's foster clan, and if nothing else, they had food in copious amounts, available any time. "That's pretty cool, but where does it come from? Or did we just come from a restock station?" The latter concept made sense to him, at the very least...

"Much like most other things on this train, you will find the answer is mostly a mystery." As far as she's been able to tell from her - relatively short - stay on the train, anyway. But it's also not like Alice has been looking too hard for answers either. After all, back home in Wonderland very little made sense either. She's just learned to roll with it at this point.

"Whatever-- or whoever is in charge of this train, they at the very least seem to not be planning on letting us starve." One small step up from the streets of London. She wonders how much it compares to Xander's situation. Most people didn't seem to think too much of the readily available food on the train, after all. Most people were probably actually properly fed back home. "I suppose it's one of the few upsides about our current situation."

"That figures," Xander says, snorting just a little. He's more used to getting answers...but then again, he's also had the proper people to ask. Here, being such a recent passenger...he doesn't know who to ask.

That was a step up from the streets of Spectrum City, too. Xander knew enough about living on the streets that while there were places to get good food for cheap, because the proprietors were soft-hearted. Most of the time, the problem was getting the copper for it.

Well, save for him, with his powers...better than stealing, really. "Really? Yeah, I'd have to say that's an upside, all things considered."

An upside Xander is just about to discover, since they make it to the kitchen right in time. And with Cottonball being an absolutely adorable distraction, it means that of course Alice first starts to look for a piece of fruit to feed her. Sorry Xander, one day you'll probably win her attention from cute animals, but today is not yet that day.

Once she has found some fruit though to give to the adorable creature, she finally glances back at Xander.

"Do you want something to eat as well?" Well, at least she's nice enough to ask as much instead of completely ignoring him. Maybe it's the slight sense of solidarity, knowing he's been experimented on as well.

All in all? He's okay with that. Xander's canny enough to know that Cottonball has somewhat disarmed this girl, and so he chooses to be very careful in what he asks. She's been through a lot, that's clear, and having also had to deal with a lot of crap in his life? Well. He understands, and isn't terribly inclined to take advantage.

"If they have sandwich stuff in the cooler, you can wrangle her for me? Please? I mean, you're feeding her, so she should be okay, but at this point, if I was trying to get food for me without that, she'd be trying to eat my food too. And meat is no good for her--but try telling her that!"

He laughed a little, but the look of concern he gave Cottonball, and the shake of his head, probably spoke volumes. But she seemed content enough to let Alice feed her, and that trust was enough for him.

"So do you want me to make you one while I'm at it?" Because honestly, she was whipcord-thin...Alice could decline if she liked, but maybe she'd eat just because he and his familiar were both inclined to snack time...

"Of course," she simply replies to the initial request. Alice may not be super inclined to fulfill requests for strangers or people she's only just met (or so she likes to think, anyway, considering she still ends up helping out people like some sort of hero when they request her help half of the time with her hero complex..), but considering it's for his cute bat's wellbeing, she's totally up for it. She's so easily completely wound around a cute animal's finger. Or.. well, wing, in this case.

It's only when he asks another question that Alice actually does bother to look up from her little feeding session with Cottonball. If not just so she can give Xander a pretty confused look. Making food for someone is not that grand a gesture, everything considered, but it seems to be to her.

"I.." She stops. Pauses. The requests throws her off so much that she doesn't seem quite sure of how to respond. It takes a moment or two before Alice shakes her head and continues. "I suppose some food wouldn't be bad."

Is she answering it so indirectly on purpose? Yes. Directly requesting that from another person just feels too weird. So weird, in fact, that she glances back to the bat. It feels easier.

"Do you often make sandwiches for others?" Why else would he offer it to her, right?

"Well, considering the place I live right now--well, before I came here? It's with a big family. Parents, five kids of their own, and then my brother and I and Carolyn's friend Aya...there's a lot of us. I pick up and help where I can, so I mean, I do, yeah. But I mean, here I am going to have some, and you're helping me by feeding Cottonball. If you're hungry, since you're taking care of her, I can help you out and make you a sandwich too."

Because otherwise, he knew Cottonball would try to get into the peanut butter OR the jelly, or both, and she'd make a mess. Of everything, including herself. And Alice was distracting her in the best way.

"Why do you ask? Is that kind of weird where you come from?" Xander is not the best at history, so Victorian England is not a place he's on top of, as these things go. Likely he'd be horrified to learn about conditions there. He'd also probably make absolutely certain that Alice got to eat. Even if that meant grabbing her a plate when he got his own.

Even if she didn't want him to.

Now she's paying more attention to him than to Cottonball, there's a few things she can't help but note from what he's saying. Mostly the way he describes the family he's living with - so they're not his family. Or not his parents, anyway, from what it sounds like.

But before she can think too much about it, there's a question being returned to her. It makes the confusion fade from her face, but instead it's replaced by something rather wry.

"It would most definitely be considered strange. There's usually so little food to go around in London that it's every person for themselves. Even the children at the orphanage I was staying at barely got fed."

Hence why Alice is looking like a zombie with her extremely pale skin and panda-levels of dark circles around her eyes.. Lack of sunlight, nourishment and an absolutely atrocious state of your mental health will do that to a person. Yet she manages to say those words so calmly, as if it's just the natural state of being for things.

Not that Alice's description makes Xander very happy about any of it. He stares at her for a long moment, but stops and goes back to making sandwiches before it can get really uncomfortable for either of them.

"Call it strange then. Call me strange, it's not a big deal. I mean, there's not even that many nephilim where I'm from--you can pretty much count us on one hand, and most of them, I know." He'd call them cousins, though he's been told repeatedly that angels aren't related, it's more a brothers-in-arms thing than actual brothers when they mention that.

"There's plenty of food to go around on Artepus, and even if there wasn't, Drake is..." How to explain it? "He's an experienced mage, though he calls himself a Scientist. I'm not sure of the difference." He offers a self-deprecating smile, there, and shrugs. "He's got an entire section of his home that grows wild, and I'm sure he's got food growing there too, it's just finding it. Apple trees, all sorts of things, I don't even know. I wander through there, but I don't know everything about it." Mostly because it was a LOT.

He bustles around the kitchen a bit more, pouring milk and even cutting up an apple like he might for Nicky, the youngest of the clan back home, and slides everything over to Alice.

"It's just peanut butter and strawberry jelly 'cause I like strawberry, but it's something." Something's more than nothing, at least in Xander's mind. And he knows well that there's something important in food made with care, even if it is just a simple sandwich.

Something is most definitely more than nothing. And Alice doesn't seem to be looking down on his sandwich at all. Honestly, even something this simple is so much better than anything she's had back home - and she hasn't been on this train for quite long enough yet to be entirely used to all these new and different kinds of food.

So after eyeing it for a moment, the young woman takes it, taking an experimental bite while gently petting Cottonball with her free hand. Apparently it's good, since she just continues eating without any sarcastic remarks. (Which honestly is Alice's way of saying it's good, really.)

It's not until she's a few bites in that she looks back over at Xander, at least bothering to swallow and not speak with her mouth full when she speaks up.

"I don't think your looks are strange." To other people the nephilim part of him may be the strangest thing, but honestly, a person with wings? It doesn't even register on the scale of oddness Alice is used to. "It's your personality that's strange."

.. Maybe that's not the nicest thing ever to say to someone, but Alice has never been good at this. There's at the very least no real malice or even a harsh edge to her tone - it sounds more like she's making an objective observation.

A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

the train

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