voidtreckerexpress | Event: Expulsion (Day 24)

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Event: Expulsion (Day 24)

"Good morning passengers, today is the twenty fourth day of the month of Apple." The morning announcement sounds as usual as dark turns to the ever shifting colours of the void outside the train windows. Some passengers may stir. It might be that they are an early riser or bad sleeper and get out of bed the moment the announcement wakes them or perhaps they roll over and go back to sleep.

Either way the morning rolls on for a few hours whatever they might be doing. Until a sudden judder runs through the train, followed quickly by another. Much like bad turbulence. Really bad turbulence. A third follows and there is a crackling sound before an alarm starts going off blaring loudly, the lights begin flashing red, white and red again.

"Warning. Void engines failing. Warning. Void engines failing. Warning Expulsion from void imminent." More shaking, worse each time, enough to knock them over and then a bang, the train plummets into darkness and lurches, sending everyone flying...

… They never crash land. Instead they float, suspended in the air. In the darkness it is hard to orient themselves or even understand what is happening. There’s a roar in their heads as pressure builds, their ears pop. "All systems critical." Breathing is hard, for one terrifying moment there seems to be no air to breathe.

"Oxygen levels stabilising." They can breathe, the pressure in their heads fades, their ears eventually stop ringing. "Pressure levels stabilising." They are still floating, suspended in darkness. "Gravity systems critical".

Emergency lighting flickers on finally, a red glow from either end of each carriage, in the cabins and along floor strips, enabling them to move without bumping into anything. If they can figure out how to move at all that is. Outside the windows is dark. Not the blackness of the void at night but the deep vastness of space. A few moments pass, enough time to just about process that fact before the voice over the speakers is heard once more.

"Passengers of the Voidtrecker express, due to technical issues we are currently experiencing void engine failure. Thank you for your patience as we endeavour to continue our journey as quickly as possible. We ask that all passengers help in securing the train for re-entry into the Void and on behalf of the Voidtrecker Express I apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Then there is silence. Broken only, no doubt, by the passengers on this now stranded train.

(OOC: Event information is here.)

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It should not be a thing where people just...just kiss you out of nowhere, and yet here's Manabu, tallying up two instances now. This is not a habit he wants to form, dammit!

He huffs, trying to keep from outwardly flustering about it, because a second look Tony's way shows this wasn't a very...er...sober circumstance. He grimaces.

"I'm not a doctor at all," he shoots back, stabilizing himself by grabbing a handful of privacy curtain. "You didn't have anything else in your system when you popped those pills, did you?"

Edited 2019-08-17 22:13 (UTC)

Tony watches Manabu for a moment and a lot of his humor fades. His expression takes on a much darker, sadder tone. He looks 'down' which was sort of off to the side technically. "No. I uh.. I had the sleep aids.. and.. oh my god.. I did it again, didn't I? I was just.. you were there and there was a good feeling and like we were friends and.. like with Buttercup. She got so mad because I hugged her. I didn't mean anything by it. She'd just give me a present and I was.. I don't know. She's so guarded, I thought we were like- making progress? Like, becoming friends? And.. now she hates me. I crossed a line I shouldn't have.. I'm not like that. I don't do that.. I just.. she reminded me of my daughter and you're like Peter.. but I shouldn't have.. "

He trails off, feeling a bit ill. He was a lot of things but crossing those particular lines had never been a part of who he was.

Manabu's eyes wince as Tony's talk spirals off to lamentations of the oversharing sort. Oh, god. He's drunk. Er...high? Drug-drunk? Is there a term for this he doesn't know? Maybe. Manabu has no idea; he just knows that when his pal David would get too far into his cups, laughing would turn to sighing, and then suddenly he's draped all over you all misty-eyed blubbering about the eternal bonds of manly friendship.

"I-it's fine, Tony, it's fine, just--" He looks around the remaining medicines and things floating about, trying to catch a quick glimpse at the offending blue jar, wherever it's gone. "Just as long as we're not burning your brain out, mixing medicines, okay? It's fine. I'm not mad."

...Well, he's a little mad. But not, like, taking it personally kind of mad. Just...this situation could've been avoided with a bit of light reading-mad.

Tony's mood had definitely tipped downward and he wasn't sure how to come back from it or if he was even supposed to. Everything he touched seemed to become destructive and bad. What if it had just taken him this long to realize he was actually the evil one? Maybe Buttercup had sensed it on him somehow.

Could evil be a scent? What would it smell like? He had completely forgotten Manabu was there as he semi-sat/ floated hanging on to the hinge. Maybe it was just better without him? Like, after whatever he does at home maybe it would improve without Iron Man? Maybe this train would be. Rainbow over there sure would be. Then he wouldn't get forehead smooch-saulted.

"Uhhh...Tony?"

Wow, he sure is...sulking over there, isn't he? It looks a bit goofy in zero-g, but it definitely comes with that moody, grim aura that Bruce used to have. Best not to let that fester too much; Manabu has no idea what he'd do if the man started crying or something! Think fast, Officer Yuuki.

"Toooonyyyy..." He stretches out the vowel sound for the length it takes to drift back over, turning in a lazy corkscrew motion as he goes. It means by the time he gets back, nearly bumping the man with the top of his head, he's facing the ceiling like a swimmer on his back.

He blinks up at him.

"Hey. Did you zone out? You went all quiet and broody." He flashes a peace sign. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Hearing his name, it sadly helped that it was drawn out like that, his gaze slowly shifts to the man coming towards him. It takes a moment of watching before he even recognizes the fact Manabu is going to collide with him and even longer to do anything about it. He puts out a hand to catch him before he gets headbutted (lightly).

The question though has him sighing. He supposes 'zone out' was as accurate a phrase as any. He looks kind of annoyed at being asked about the fingers, but the annoyance quickly turns more frustrated when he keeps staring at those fingers and.. "I uh.. will you hold still?" He grabs Manabu's hand and continues to stare. Were there two? Four? He blinks and can't figure it out. "What's going on with me?"

...Yeah, that's not a great sign. Manabu frowns with growing worry as Tony struggles with what he'd thought was an easy, somewhat childish action.

"Maybe we should...actually get you checked out. In case you took something weird on accident. We're already in the medbay, after all..."

"I don't know.. what does it take to make good intentions become evil deeds?" Tony asks, ignoring completely what the young man had just said. "Like if you intend to be helpful but it's damning the person you're helping.. what does that make you?"

He definitely either took something weird or is having a weird reaction to it. "What if we crawled around in the floor to get to the engine?"

Manabu blinks.

"Uh."

If he's honest, that's something he's considered before. The drop-floors were spacious enough despite the piping, right? But hearing it from addle-brained Tony right now makes it sounds like a not-so-great idea. Funny, that.

So, yeah. Maybe just...see if there's something in this car that can help the guy get his wits back? Maybe test his blood pressure...with...the device that needs power to run. Or maybe a brain scan! ...With the machine that needs power to run.

Dammit.

Still floating upside-down, Manabu writhes so he can tilt on one side and peer past the curtain at the other side of the room. More floating swabs and packages of gauze, countertops, a sink...

Hey--

"Hey, uh--why don't we get you some water? Maybe, uh, wash some of this stuff out of your system? Yeah?" That's how it works, right? Yuki used to remind the crew to hydrate all the time, so maybe that's why?

Tony looks down at the floor, wondering how they had gotten to boards up last time. Why weren't the panels just floating away like everything else? Bad floors!

His attention goes back to Manabu when he starts talking. "Uh.. sure. How is it going to stay in the cup? Or.. is there a cup? Ever wonder how you pee in space? Or god forbid, the other thing."

"There's...methods for that," Manabu replies slowly, his tone flattening. Good god, he hadn't thought about that. He's trapped in a train full of passengers who have zero space-based travel experience that involves that much; someone's inevitably going to be making a mess...

"But don't worry about that right now, okay? I'm going to grab a bottle-- that's the easiest. So just, just sit tight for a second, yeah? I just gotta run to the kitchen car."

"Methods for.. peeing?" Tony asks, looking highly amused at this idea. He was working on thinking up his next joke when Manabu says he's going to leave to get water.

There was some apprehension in the idea of being alone again, but he didn't say anything about it. "Sure. You go do that. I'll wait here." Maybe. He might find something else to do or sees something shiny. Perhaps he'll try that nap thing.

If he were to stop and think about it, this really isn't the weirdest thing to happen aboard a train in crisis, right? No plant-based alien invaders, no vending machines rigged to explosives, no ghosts...

Yeah. This is probably fine!

Granted, he'd love to be able to meet up with Lightning to problem-solve about that engine, but...but not without Tony being of securely sound mind first.

"Alright, Mr. Stark, here's some water. Let's see if we can't...uh..."

Returning to the car yields a whole lot of no Tonys. Manabu trails off mid-statement, frowning at the empty spaces ahead of him.

God. He didn't go off and try that bathroom stuff already, did he?!

"Tony? Toooonyyyy..."

Manabu tries to keep his search rather discreet for both their sakes; he's not sure he's ready to share with the class about how he might've had a hand in drugging Tony the hell up, with him either twirling around like a drunk squirrel or worse if the chemicals reacted badly on a longer timer. So he keeps his calls relegated to the spaces he's apt to poking his head in...

Those spaces are toilets. He just has to be sure.

But also, considering what Tony was on about -- engines and floors and whatnot -- he makes his way back up to the first sleeper car, propelling forward with use of the overhead rails.

"Tony? You in here, buddy?"

Tony had continued to think his idea to get to the engine and make all this annoying crap stop had overruled his vague memory of someone telling him to stay put. It hadn't been much of a fight, really.

Manabu reaches the doorway just as Tony cracked the panel back open with a loud bang. "Took you long enough Rainbow," Tony jokes. It also was helpful that everyone panicked and left their doors hanging open.

Unfortunately, getting the panel open had caused enough momentum that it was taking the older man a little time to right himself back in position to continue his plan.

"Gah! Tony! Stoppit!"

Manabu pushes off the door opposite the room and low-speed tackles him, and the two go spinning into the room until he can catch hold of the table bolted down.

"I told you to stay put, you know! Not...not tear up my room!"

Tony was just looking up to argue when he's abruptly tackled instead. "Hey!" He cries in surprise as they go spinning. Hitting the table, he groans and glares at Manabu. Whoa, all this spinning was starting to make his stomach feel weird.

"This was your idea! We're getting into that engine room!" It was most certainly not Manabu's idea. "And who died and made you.. uh.. what if we removed the pipes? Then there'd be more room in the hole."

"There'd also be less air in the cabin, probably," he retorts. He shifts so as to get his knees atop Tony to keep him in place on that table while he yanks the bottle of water out of his pocket and shoves it in one of the man's hands.

"Here, water. Drink so there's something else in your system besides...whatever the hell you put in there. And we're not crawling through the floors while the train's in low-power mode!"

Tony scowls and looks back at Manabu accusingly. "You said oxygen wasn't going to be a problem? Get off me!" He struggles underneath the younger, much smaller man and his fist connects with Manabu's cheek. The next move is to throw the SDF soldier and then chuck the water bottle at him.

"You're with them! That's why you don't want us to get to the engine!" He launches himself back at the opening in the floor, quickly trying to get into the underbelly of the train.

Wow. It's been a while since he'd gotten hit in the face! And, no offense to Tony's prowess, it wasn't nearly the sort of haymaker he's used to. Even so, not even the guy plagued with the power to get punched a lot suspects it coming and is rightfully surprised as he tips to the side with the momentum, lightly bouncing onto the lower bunk.

The bottle bonks his shoulder shortly afterward.

No time to stop and contemplate the universe, though: that crazy man's trying to scramble under there again! Manabu shakes out of the stupor and scrambles, launching himself off the bunk and lunging to snatch at Tony's legs.

"Oh, no you don't! Tony! Gah--hey!" Easy with the feet! "If you sober up! Right now! I promise! To not hold this against you!"

"No! Let me- hey get off.." Tony was trying to fight Manabu off when the room started spinning again. He was overly hot and disoriented again. What was happening to him? For someone who had been fighting so hard a few seconds ago, Tony was looking dazed.

"Kid.. I think there's something wrong with me." He didn't feel well. Fortunately it wasn't the 'not well' that was bothering his stomach, but still it was very, very wrong. For being in an area with no gravity, everything felt heavy and exhausting. He let go of the edge of the floor panel he'd been trying to hold on to and puts a hand on his head. "We need to get out of here." Where 'here' was exactly, he didn't know.

"Yeah, I'll say...!"

The lesson has been properly learned: Do not just toss random jars of pills at people who ask for them. Manabu's taking this one on the road with him, for sure.

When Tony releases the panel and lets it drift back into place, only then does Manabu's hold on his legs ease up -- not entirely, not until he's able to pull him a little further his way and get a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Let's find some place for you to ride the rest of this out, okay?"

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Event: Expulsion (Day 24)

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