Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

[voidtreckermods]

They are on world world#27462947582 for about five hours, helping, ushering people out of the city, fighting monsters, keeping guard. All seems well in the city itself, peaceful even except for the slight panic of people being told to move south.

Wherever they are, north in the desert, travelling through the countryside to the south or still in the city itself they will notice from their peripheral vision a darkening of the sky. Looking up they will see clouds. Strange clouds, appearing in the blue sky out of nowhere.

Their SCA’s start beeping, rapidly, flashing red. The clouds are too weird to be clouds, dark shapes in the sky. It might be that the Voidtreckers heed the warning and tap their SCA to evacuate to the train. It might be that they do not.

If they don’t then there is a moment, a moment of absolute stillness as those around them notice the shapes. A confused pause. Children stop their chatter, people stop their complaining, even the monsters seem to sense something and pause in their attacks.

The remaining voidtreckers are yanked away, even without pressing their SCA, they glow gold and disappear.

They all appear in the luggage carriage and not even a second later, with no warning the train lurches, flinging everyone off their feet as it enters the void.

It’s not really easy to tell speed in the void, but they will get the sense that they are moving fast. Faster than before, leaving that world and whatever those shapes were behind.

(OOC: Information on this event is here and part one is here)

Comments

[irrationally]

On a slightly deeper level Alice understands that her frustration with this particular aspect of what happened isn't just born from what the train is doing to them or has done to them, but also just because of all the things that happened back home. But at the very least the fact that even his - probably - more rational explanation still makes the train's decision make no sense whatsoever allows her to feel justified in her anger all the same.

"It doesn't seem to care about effiency in the slightest." Which would be odd to any rational person. After all, if the train sends them on these missions, wouldn't it want them to be as well equipped with information as possible to handle them? But to Alice, who's way too used to beings being entirely random and cryptic, it feels like the same old deal. "It's merely making us the subjects of its every whim. We seem to be little more than toys or tools to it."

[rieper]

47 found that he agreed with that assessment as well. There could have been more efficiency with a better format to all of this. If they were tools to be used then clearly they were of the disposable kind. Short usage time, and then thrown away. It kept with the way some people were just on board the train for a short amount of time.

How then did one become indispensable? What made some people last longer than others? Their own efficiency through this chaos? A stubbornness of will? Or just an interesting life to watch while stuck on this train? Maybe they were just here for someone's entertainment.

"Perhaps we weren't intended to be anything more than that. Maybe we simply represent an anomaly to be studied or a mistake to put aside and forget about."

Except the tales in the books and from various locals told another story. And yet, what if they were never intended to be the Voidtreckers spoken of in tales? Or more curiousier, what if there were more trains out there with similar purposes? How did they operate?

There were too many possibilities and not enough information to go on. The longer this conversation went on, the more frustrated both of them were likely to become.

[irrationally]

Oh, she hates that thought. She really, really hates it. It just comes much too close to a lot of terrible past experiences. Even without those Alice would know that she'd hate being treated that way, but already having been looked at as little more than an experiment, a subject for potential research, even having been thought of as little more than a doll or a toy--

She can feel her stomach turning. It's sheer determination of not wanting to completely lose it in front of everyone here that keeps her from retching.

How many tims does she have to be trapped in situations like these for fate to finally be done with her?

Alice sucks in a shakey breath, desperately trying to calm herself down.

"I am.. going to grab some tea." In the kitchen. Far away from all the people and chaos here. It's too much right now. "Thank you for your insights, though they're awful."

... Adding that last part slightly diminishes the thanks in the first place, huh. But she does genuinely mean it. It's just hard to be properly appreciative when you feel like stabbing something.