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

"Maybe not." Duo laughed and lifted a hand to rub the back of his head in a slightly nervous gesture. It was so damn weird just coming out and saying stuff like that after years of hiding it.

"Different worlds. Timelines. Universes. Whatever the hell it is I don't know. I'm no scientist so I've no idea how any of this works. Weird that our two worlds would have mobile suits but not Gundams though."

"We have... mobile suits called Gundams, at least. Some people place significance in the name." Mostly, it just meant 'we put a cool head on this prototype and gave it to a psychic teenager accidentally'. "They're just mobile suits like any other. And they... how do you have some of the same concepts, but others are so different?"

No, 'I'm not a scientist' was not a good answer dammit.

"Oh... Wow, just like any other? Not where I come from. Gundam's are way superior to mobile suits." And he wasn't bragging in the slightest, though he could easily have done that. "Specialist machines built by the best in the business with tech that no one else had. They were the only ones of their kind." Till that asshole Khushrenada built the Epyon.

Duo groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, whether it's different worlds or the same world and different time lines, I've no idea. How the hell could I know if... some guy two hundred years go picked coffee instead of tea and made your future and when he picked tea it created mine? I don't know!"

"Let's not even start with butterfly effects. Dammit." What nonsense. "The first Gundam wasn't even unstoppable by the end of the One Year War, were it not for the pilot." A bit tanky still, but that's about it.

She just had to accept... this. Universe upon universe, until they found worlds in common.

"Not where I come from..." Duo replied and he had to laugh. This was amazing and he didn't understand why he was having to justify himself. Though he had to admit there was a little professional pride at work where he wanted to argue that his Deathscythe was kick ass, dammit. "They were feared were I came from. To the point that, when the war was over, we were forced to send them into the sun so they couldn't be used again... Except hell broke loose and we needed them again." Duo shook his head, a brief look of pain and sadness flitting across his expression for a moment before he cleared it away with a smile. "Before I came here I'd just blown mine up. No one was getting their hands on my Gundam."

"...that's a bit extreme." Sure it was technically the most effective way to dispose of anything, but you could, you know. Just take it apart? Were they really so much more powerful that you couldn't trust anyone to do that?

"I suppose it's a good thing we don't seem to have access to them here, or you might find yourself regretting that." Ple Two, on the other hand, would love to have any of her personal mobile suits.

"If I had access to my Deathscythe..." He flashed her a wolfish grin. "I could raise hell."

Is that supposed to be some kind of joke or...

"Well it's got an intimidating name, I'll give it that." Compared to Zeon mobile suit names, which are largely just... nonsense.

Little bit of column A and a little bit of column B!

Duo's smile chilled out as he laughed. "Yeah, He does, doesn't He? But listen, I've a friend knockin around here. Trowa his name is. Can't miss him. Tall with bangs that don't stop!" He lifted a hand to mimic how Trowa's hair fell across his eye on one side. "He'll vouch for my story. Just say Duo Maxwell made you ask. Maybe he'll even be able to give you some smart explanation for the whole thing?"

"Or he'll be annoyed at you for sending me to him." Ple Two could already imagine it. "I suppose I'll have to greet him just to make sure you aren't screwing up your end of this anyways."

"Trowa? Nah. He'd be more pissed I'd gone and told someone about Gundams than anything..." Maybe? Duo wasn't sure how free and easy his friend was being with that information. "Hey, I take offence to that! I've been completely honest here!"

"It won't matter here anyways." Probably. Hopefully. "...just because you're honest to the best of your knowledge doesn't mean that you know everything either."

Duo's smile fell then. He'd been trying to be nice. Had been trying to give this girl the answers she clearly wanted. Now he was just getting pissed off. His eyes narrowed. "Look, kid. I never said I knew every damn thing in the world. You've not exactly been a fountain of knowledge yourself. So if you don't mind, back the hell off." He kept his voice low and even, though there was clearly anger behind them.

"Think we're done here. It was nice meeting you." Duo, not wanting to say anything more and dig himself a hole, decided that retreat was the better option here. And maybe find someone who wasn't going to be a major pain in the ass. So off he went. On his merry way.

"Hm." Ple Two shrugged.

Perhaps talk of things that resembled home... wasn't terribly good for keeping her from being overly sassy.

A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

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