A New Platform [Intro Post May]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Life returns to somewhat normal, though the train still seems to be moving faster than before. Eventually though it slows until they wake one morning to a familiar announcement. "Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Fiddlesticks."

Those that have been on board a while know that new months usually come with new people and also new points, indeed when they check points have been updated and the shopping spree can begin. A few hours later another, expected announcement sounds.

"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. The sun is shining and they will find it pleasantly warm when they disembark.

The first to leave the train though don't seem to notice the nice weather. They notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Padme Amidala, Terra, Ianto Jones, Happy, Hibiki Shikyoin, Shikeo, Elfangor, Bailey Morello, Will Stanton, Primrose, Prisoner, Aaron LeBlanc, Miles Morales, Rustling Paper all reach the barriers, show their tickets and disappear through, vanishing into the fog.

But on the platform itself there are many new faces. Once again the largest amount of newcomers to date.

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 the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large and it holds twenty nine figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. The air is warm, pleasant even. 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 and bacon has taken over onions as the food of choice! Any of orange team who go to check the luggage cart will find a parcel containing chocolate eggs, each the size of a chicken egg, filled with caramel. One for each of the orange team, including new members, come share in the reward!

Passengers who are not brand new will notice some changes to the train. There are now seven sleeper carriages. The kitchen and dining carriages have changed, one whole double carriage dedicated to each one. The kitchen has huge ovens and preparation space downstairs with a row of sinks and more preparation space upstairs. The dining carriage has two floors as well, each one with a long wooden table that fills the length of the carriage, benches to either side.

There is also the long awaited cinema. There are hundreds of films, some slightly familiar to those from worlds with films, others strange and unusual.

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

[hotheadwarmheart]

((OOC: For Lea on the platform, check out his joint intro post with Xion right here))

I. Exploring the Train

OK, it was official; this was the weirdest train Lea'd ever been on in his life. Of course he hadn't been on a ton of them, but he was reasonably sure that none of them could fly. Or travel through what they called 'the Void' here, but looked an awful lot like Betwixt and Between to him. Still, it probably said something about his life that despite the train's unusual features, it was fairly middling on the scale of general strange things he'd experienced.

Leaving Xion to rest in the little cabin for now, he'd set out to explore more of the train they'd found themselves on; it was easier for one person to roam around than it was for two, given the relatively confined area. It seemed to be quite a long train though, and he'd heard someone mention a cinema? It would be great if he could find that, but for the moment, he'd focus on locating more basic things.

II. Kitchen Car

Now this was more like it. Lea honestly wasn't sure what the meal schedule was or even if there was one, but the kitchen car seemed to have all the basics at least. Thus, he set about making some sandwiches for himself, Xion, and whoever ended up rooming with them. Nothing fancy, but a plate of peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches tended to suit most basic occasions.

III. Cabin 6-B, for Roommates

Eventually, Lea returned to the cabin he'd been assigned, a plate of peanut butter and jam sandwiches in his hand, four individual bottles of water in his backpack (he'd unpacked and tucked away most of the things in it before going out to explore the train), four folded pamphlets and corresponding questionnaires in his pocket (along with a few pens), and a bit more information in his head. "I'm back," he said, figuring at least Xion would be there. "I come bearing lunch. Or maybe it's dinner? Not sure what time it is here, honestly."

III of course

[nobodys_puppet]

"How will we know when sunset is, then?" she asked, focusing on the important question. As soon as she had been left alone in here, she had changed back into her uniform, familiar hood up around her face; since there were four of these odd bed like things, she was guessing there were meant to be four of them in the room. She might be glancing past him, in hopes of spotting Roxas. She... might have failed to notice the names outside the door when she walked in earlier...

So to those who might not know, she was now in a long black jacket, hood up, black gloves, black pants and black heeled boots. Because she is tiny and needs all the height help she can get when one of her best friends is so tall.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea folded down the small table and set the plate of sandwiches on it. "Well," he said, "given that sunset requires a sun, and we're not likely to see one of those until we find a proper world again, I think sunset is on hold for the time being. I might be able to find some ice cream though; they had a whole bunch of food in the storage car, and I didn't really have time to check over all of it."

And she could keep glancing, but there was a decided lack of Roxas following in his wake.

[nobodys_puppet]

Her shoulders slumped a little. How could there not be a sunset? How would they know when to get together every evening once Axel found the ice cream? "What are we going to do?" she asked him softly, looking down at her gloves.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Well for now," Lea said, setting the backpack with the water bottles in it down on the cabin floor, "we're gonna eat some sandwiches while we wait for the other two people who're going to be rooming with us to turn up. Then we can decide who gets what bunk."

"I picked up some pamphlets too," he said pulling one of the folded papers out of his pocket and handing it to Xion. "You can read over that when you get a chance; they've got a bit more information about what's going on here in them. And there's a questionnaire attached to it that it'd probably be a good idea to fill out at some point; it'll help things go a little more smoothly and might give those in charge more information that could help us get home."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Do they want to?" she asked, quietly, looking at the papers. She looked up at him. "Is this like being at Daitu? Are we still at Daitu and this is some weird research effect that is going to go away? Or are the people in charge here more like..." more like what they were used to, from before...

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Well given that everybody on they train currently was brought here the same way we were, yeah, I think their desire to get everyone home is on the up and up," Lea said, taking a seat on the opposite bottom bunk from Xion. "And I think it's safe to say we're not actually still at Diatu."

"As for what the leaders here are like, I'm not sure." He pulled out another copy of the pamphlet from his pocket. "This thing mentions a leadership council made up of different people from the train, and leaders for specific teams. So I think it's a lot more likely to be like Diatu as opposed to the Organization; even if one person on the council was terrible, the others would probably kick them off, or at least make up for it."

"Hmm... It looks like that Curufin guy we talked to is part of it, actually," he said, "which pretty much cements the whole 'not like the Organization' thing. He was way too nice to be involved in that kind of thing. And there's someone named Yuffie on it too. I think Sora might have mentioned knowing someone named Yuffie at one point, but there's no way to know if this is the same person or not without actually asking them. Don't recognize any of the other names."

"Looks like our team leader is somebody named Ignis," he said. "That's what the colors of the outfits we were wearing mean; you, me, and Roxas are all on the blue team. So we'll still be working together, even though we're not rooming together."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Some people were friendly. You and Roxas," she pointed out. So one nice person didn't really tell them anything. But she listened to the rest of what he had to say. Then she frowned. "Did I mess something up by putting back on my coat then?" she asked, peering up from under her hood, voice small with fear.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Yeah but me and Roxas weren't in charge," Lea said. "The ones who were in charge- Xemnas and Xigbar- I think we can all agree were pretty terrible."

"And nah, the coat's probably fine for now. Might want to change back to the hoodie before we start work, though. And since it'll probably be crowded in here by then, I'll show you where I can change; they have a car with specific little changing areas in it."

[nobodys_puppet]

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Yes, she did learn from the spell, and was trying to talk to him more, rather than just bottling it all up inside... but she had a feeling that saying what she wanted to - that Saïx had been more in power than Xigbar from what she'd seen and that Xigbar had been nice to her - was not going to be the right thing for either of them. At least not until they found where Saïx was. She knew Axel would be worried about him. And while she was slowly coming to terms that maybe with a heart he was different and didn't hate her, back then he had been far meaner to her than Xigbar ever had been.

"Will I get in trouble if I wear this instead, when we get to work?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea was operating from a position of someone who knew how much of a creep Xigbar actually was, and who had experience enough to tell how much of his supposed kindness was really condescension. But even had Xion chosen to speak up, he probably wouldn't have argued about it just then.

Lea considered Xion's question for a moment. "Probably not," he said. "But the colors help identify us to our team leaders and others, so it'd probably be best to wear the hoodie instead, at least for the first few days. Just so everybody knows what team you're supposed to be on, you know?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She thought about his answer then fished the hoodie out of the bag and looked at it. Then she tried to pull it on over her jacket, to see if that would work as a compromise. She'd never worn two hoods at once before, and as she struggled with the sleeve, she found herself wondering what that would be like. Would it hide her more? Or just press her hair down?

[hotheadwarmheart]

OK, Lea couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I really don't think that's gonna work, Xion," he said. "Besides, you'd be way too warm having what amounts to two coats on. I know you like your old coat better, but you're gonna have to get used to wearing other things too sometimes. Especially if your body grows like a human's does."

None of the 'Sundered' had really seemed to age at Diatu, but now that both that restriction and the magical link formed by Sora's memories was gone, who knew whether Xion's body would respond like a normal human's. Or whether Roxas' would for that matter, since it was technically a Replica body now too, if he understood everything right.

i

[blitzcheer]

It's in the quiet coach that Tidus spots the guy--rather, he's checking out one of the empty glass cabins to begin with, paused in a moment of exploring. The entire structure of the train is curious; he knows about trains, but Zanarkand didn't really have them either, the closest kind of vehicle the trams in the deeper sections of the city. Otherwise, it was all trucks or boats.

Basically, there was nothing with this assortment of carriages to it.

But Tidus sees the guy walking towards him--or down the corridor he's on--and decides to ask with his chin lifting, a gesture meaning to catch his attention:

"Oh, hey. You see a place for drinks that way?" He jabs a thumb in the direction the redhead came. "Don't know if I'm going in the right direction."

He wants to say he feels like he's going in circles, but, well. Train.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea turned to face the person who addressed him, then shook his head at the question. "Nah, not back that way," he said. "Though there is a garden and a movie theater, of all things. Plus the sleeping cars, though those are further back. I'm guessing the dining car and kitchen must be further up yet."

[blitzcheer]

"Sheesh," is Tidus's first response to that. "A garden? On a train? I dunno if I should be glad for all the options, or get ready to hate the walk from car to car it's gonna take to get anywhere."

He knew the latter was going to happen, regardless.

"Guess that means you're new too? Welcome aboard." He lifts his hands with the welcome, flippantly said. "Know what your team is meant to do yet?"

Tidus himself was wearing a purple hoodie, and hadn't missed the very blue of the redhead's.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Honestly, probably a bit of both, in my case," Lea said. "I mean the garden is nice, cause it doesn't feel as closed-in as most other cars do. And I'm definitely gonna be taking advantage of the movie theater because I haven't had a chance to see a movie in practically forever. But yeaaah, it'll be a long way to walk to breakfast in the morning."

"Yep," he said. "The name's Lea. And I think blue is on cleaning duty, if I remember right. Not exactly glamorous, but someone's gotta do it."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus nods along in particular with the movie theatre, throwing in at the end, "Well you'll see me there. Last couple of months? I can do with some dumb fun."

The dumb fun obviously being the movies, and what he'd be looking to watch before anything tear-jerking or gloomy.

But as for the Blue's apparent job, Tidus shakes his head some in disbelief. "What, that's it? We get yanked here to be train staff?" But after a beat, he adds, "Name's Tidus. I heard something about us doing missions, but... don't really know anything more than that yet."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea chuckled slightly, but shook his head. "Nah, not just that," he said. "According to the pamphlets, every so often the train stops at a world that needs help, and it's our job to help the people there. But somebody has to keep stuff up and running in the meantime too, so..." He shrugged. He could deal with a bit of cleaning.

[blitzcheer]

Oh yeah, those pamphlets? Those pamphlets of which Tidus had one of, but had yet to take the time to sit down and read. The drink had been a part of that--get something to sip on, and then take a minute to read whatever awaited him.

"You sound ready to get into it," Tidus remarks, jesting as he asks: "This isn't your second time on a world saving train, is it?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Well the flying train part is a first for me," Lea said, gesturing vaguely at their surroundings. "But it's not my first time world-hopping, or trying to help save a world. Or my first time getting hauled across time and space by the seat of my metaphorical pants either."

"World hopping is something I used to do a lot back home, even though it wasn't by train. And the first time I got yanked off to another dimension, I was in training to save my world from this psycho old guy who wants to take control of a power we call Kingdom Hearts in order to basically end it. This train pulled me here from the dimension I ended up in after that, a place called the Tenscore Kingdoms. Not a bad place for the most part, but an unpleasant quirk of its magic meant that everyone that got pulled their had to attend one of their magic schools so we could learn to control the magic we had there."

[blitzcheer]

"Uhhh."

Give him a second.

"That's weird."

There we go. It was far more of an answer than Tidus was expecting, and then even that explanation went onto a different set of rails once it jumped over to the magic school. Brow knitted, he half wants to ask, hey, but what happened to the other place?, but decides instead to try and keep things....relevant?

"So you were in some other world...from another world? ... Is that normal?" By the way Tidus asks, it sure isn't normal for him. "I spoke to some other guy who talked about doing it, but it's pretty crazy, you know? For me," he admits. "I thought we were all..."

He cuts himself off, pausing the look around the car he started with his 'I', and looks back at Lea with a grimace.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea chuckled at Tidus' apparent confusion. "Yeah, I know it sounds weird," he said. "I'll try and explain it a bit better."

It took Lea a moment to figure out what that grimace meant though. "You thought we were all... from the same world, or...", he trailed off a moment before it clicked and his eyes widened. "Oh! No, no we're not all... we didn't all die before we came here, or anything like that. At least my friends and I didn't." Well mostly even that was complicated.

"Did you?", he asked, be fore quickly realizing that that might be kind of a personal thing to ask of someone he just met. "I mean, it's fine if you don't want to tell me, but I just assumed, since that was what you thought, you know..."

[blitzcheer]

"No! Nonononono," comes Tidus's eager and hurried reply. Head shaking, his hands shaking off the suggestion too, flustered as he goes on. "Ahaha, it was just-- what was I supposed to think, y'know? Showing up on some platform with a bunch of other people like we're ready to go somewhere together? I don't get whisked off to magic schools or different worlds--what else was I gonna think? It was either that or being in the past."

Which doesn't sound any less ridiculous (not to his normal person ears), and Tidus's hectic energy takes a pause for a second, a grimace still firmly etched on his face.

"We're alive," he states, as if it needs to be said. "And if we're not...ugh!" He shakes his head again, folding his arms tight against himself. "I don't wanna think about it."

Creeeeeepy.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Definitely alive," Lea assured him, feeling and looking almost as awkward for his part. "Though yeah, I guess given the situation, and if you're not used to other worlds... yeah."

He took a deep breath, then sighed, trying to settle himself enough to continue the conversation. "Anyway, you mentioned the past?", he said. "Don't tell me you've got time travel issues on your end too."