Event: Expulsion (Day 24)

[voidtreckermods]

"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.)

Comments

[happyends]

Madoka is just beaming a smile at this point. If Ple Two was trying to make sure Madoka felt helpful, then that sure as heck worked, since she seems so happy with her handiwork right now. She did a good thing! She helped out!!

"You're welcome! I'm sure you won't have trouble with it catching on anything.. You seem so cool, I doubt you'd have any trouble getting around like this."

And no, that's not flattery in return for the thanks. Madoka is just a compliment machine by nature, trying to look for the good in everyone.

[pleple]

Progress! She could make people smile? This was a strange power to have, and it seemed to have carried over here. "Cool... I suppose so. I'm just used to moving weightlessly." By life experience, and by nature. "Anyone here could learn it, and you will if this lasts for very long."

The real concern was how little input they had into it.

[happyends]

"Ah.. Do you think it'll last for long?"

She doesn't necessarily disagree with the rest. Madoka is also unused to it - wouldn't anyone be, unless you lived on the Moon or something? - and she also thinks that you'd probably get used to it if you were exposed to it for long enough, but the last part seems to be something she hadn't considered yet herself. The mention of it potentially lasting long totally catches her off guard, making her look kind of worried again.

"Don't you think they'll fix it soon..?"

[pleple]

"The trouble is that we have no way of knowing. We can't access any of the machinery. They aren't giving us any updates, assuming that there are any." Just let them in on things! "It could be hours, days, weeks... for all we know." All they know is NOTHING and it's infuriating.

[happyends]

Infuriating is definitely what some people might think of it. Most people, probably. But Madoka just seems unsure and worried more than anything else as she listens to all of it.

"That's no good, just imagine what it'd be like if we had to live like this for weeks.. How would we even be able to sleep?"

[pleple]

"Strapped down somehow, of course." How do you think people sleep in space? "We can start working on solutions if this lasts too long."

[happyends]

Madoka has no idea, she's never been in space! Until she turns into a literal god, anyway. The idea seems to make her look slightly.. apprehensive, to put it mildly.

"A.. Ah.."

That's the sound of Madoka realising that's probably the only solution, but also an extremely unpleasant one.

"I guess you're right.. Although I'd rather hope the issue is resolved soon and we can all just sleep normally.." Instead of like they're test subjects in some evil scientist's labratory!

[pleple]

Space is pretty easy once everything's set up though. Even without super powers.

"It's a bit more comfortable sleeping with gravity." But you do what you have to. "Otherwise, if we had properly designed handholds, I'm comfortable like this." Buuut of course she'd be fine turning the gravity back on for everyone else's sake.

Just don't make her admit that.

[happyends]

"I was right, you really are cool.."

Not even just because of the omitted part that Madoka doesn't know about. No, it's amazing that someone can be this calm under the current circumstances. Madoka couldn't even imagine herself ever being like that.

"It's really amazing how well you deal with all of this."

[pleple]

"It's just... what I'm used to. You should see what happens when people like me have to live on Earth." Granted, she was woken up there after being carted around in deep freeze... "It takes time to acclimate to full gravity."

"Now look at you... you have no idea how to even handle it, and you're still trying to help people." More selfless than Ple Two is sure she could be.

[happyends]

At the last part of what Ple Two says, a faint shade of pink starts to crawl up Madoka's cheeks. "Ah, that's.." It's as if she doesn't know how to deal with a compliment herself, despite doling them out to others as if it's nothing. She glances left and right with the blush on her face, as if that might give her an idea of how to accept those words. "Someone just asked me to help hand out blankets, so.. I just did that."

Quickly wanting to turn the attention away from herself though, she instead continues-- "What do you mean though, 'people like me'..? Did you always live like this back home?"

[pleple]

Well that's kind of adorable getting Madoka to blush like that. She's sweet. Too nice.

If anyone should accept compliments, it's an actually kind girl. "You're doing a very good job of it, Madoka." Honestly. She's trying very hard.

"I am more used to living in space. Rotational gravity on space colonies is usually less than that of Earth's surface, and of course, small vessels don't have it, so I'm accustomed to floating around." So she could just do this. Forever.

[happyends]

Thankfully the whole situation with this train is making casual statements like 'I'm used to living in space' feel a lot more normal. If all of this is possible, then worlds where living in space is normal surely are as well. Still.. Those worlds are so out of the ordinary for Madoka that she still can't help but admire the other's calm.

"In that case.. do you maybe have a few tips you could share about how to deal with this..? It's all really new to me. Um, if you have the time and don't mind helping, that is..!"

[pleple]

It's just not even something she'd think to not say - it's perfectly normal for billions of people to live in space. Giant spiders and elves, though? Now that's weird.

"It's mostly just... practice." Like most things. "Don't over-correct, or push too hard. Pick a straight line, and take it with confidence. When catching yourself, don't hold your arm stiff."

[happyends]

From the way Madoka seems to be counting something on her fingers as she mumbles a few words to herself, it seems she's taking the other's advice very seriously and is trying to commit it to memory. She can use all the help she can get in this situation, after all.

"With confidence.." That part is going to be hard for her. Welp. But she has to try! "Thank you for your help. I'll try my best until everything goes back to normal."

[pleple]

This might be a lot of information but she'll be fully expected to memorize it for the day or so this actually lasts. Maybe it'll be useful again someday.

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Possibly bump her head into a few things in the process, but that's fine.