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]

Right, getting to the important things first! Madoka carefully tries to pluck one of the items she's been holding onto free so she can hand it over to the other girl. It's probably safer to do it one by one that way so she won't accidentally let go of some things, right? And once they've got all the things in the crate, she'll probably be able to move around more easily and actually hold on to the crate with more than just her foot.

"Thank you.. It's all thanks to your help. It's nice to work together, don't you think?"

[knifewithnoname]

She took the items carefully. One at a time. Dropping them would definitely be a disaster, especially if they went bouncing off all over the place.

She nodded at the thanks, "It do be better then if we did be doing in on our own. No having gravity magic do be being stupid."

And she's used to sharing tasks.

[happyends]

Despite the slightly awkward and pretty difficult situation they've found themselves in, Madoka can't help but laugh a little bit at that last part. Maybe since it's kind of cute how gravity seems like magic to the other girl, but also just since the sentiment is so.. on point. In a way that Madoka herself could never say out of fear of being too rude.

"It really is, huh.. I wonder how long things are going to be this way. It's going to get really difficult to do chores.."

Because that's clearly what anyone should be thinking of first in a no gravity situation, right.

[knifewithnoname]

"It will be being difficult to be doing anything. I do no even be knowing if we can be eating."

Any cleaning that needs water would be impossible. She can't even imagine how liquids react without gravity magic.

"Maybe we can just be doing the very important ones until the gravity magic do be working again. It can no be being broken forever."

Can it? She hopes not.

[happyends]

"R-Right!"

Is Madoka sure about the gravity being something that can be fixed? Not really, because she really has no idea how these sort of things work. It's really beyond her understanding. Sure, she knows how gravity works in general (kind of), but how it works in this train is a mystery to her.

Still.. This girl is younger than her, that means Madoka has to be the one to reassure her!

"I'm sure it'll go back to normal soon.. And um, if there's something we have to do before it's fixed, like eating or something.. Maybe we can make a game out of it instead."

[knifewithnoname]

"A game?" She wrinkled her nose. Games were for babies and alright the game Peter had taught her had been fun and her and Madoka had spoken about games before because this train was often boring. But why would you play a game in an emergency.

"Why would we be playing a game to be eating?"

[happyends]

"To make it more fun, of course.." But there's no real determination in those words, because Madoka's self-confidence is so fragile that it can be crushed in an instant by a small child questioning her life choices, apparently.

Honestly, she thought the girl might find it fun too, but apparently she really isn't just a typical child, huh...

"It makes it easier to bear things when things are hard."

[knifewithnoname]

"Oh." Another confused nose wrinkle. "I do no be thinking eating do be needing to be fun. It do already be being tasty."

Games made things easier to bear when they were hard? It was a strange concept.

"I did no never be hearing of that before."

[happyends]

Well, at least that does make more sense. Even if she's not good at seeing the fun in things, she's at least good in.. seeing the tastiness in food? That's still something to enjoy in life, so Madoka will say it counts.

But it's the latter remark that makes her a little more curious. "Didn't you play games back home?"

Even if she didn't know what board games were, there still are a lot of games you can play without needing anything special at all.

[knifewithnoname]

She wrinkled her nose again. "Sometimes, I do be knowing how to be playing dice and cards. I did be working in an inn and people do be liking to be playing those when they do be drinking."

And she was good at them, her and Taiwan had had quite a scheme at one point. Made a bit of money from unsuspecting customers, money for Taiwan and extra honey cakes for her. But Junia had caught them and put an end to that.

"But I did no be playing games like the one Peter did be teaching me."

[happyends]

.. Wait, an inn? Drinking? What kind of places has she even been around to be able to talk about that stuff so casually at her age? The girl's world sure must be very different from Madoka's own, she can't imagine that happening in her world...

"Ah.. I see. Where I come from, most people would consider those games more like games for adults.." If not just because gambling often is involved. Especially in the kind of settings she's talking about.. "Kids play all sorts of different games instead. Like the ones Peter taught you too, probably."

[knifewithnoname]

"I do be thinking they do be being games for adults in my world too but I do be being very smart." That was why it was funny, when adults didn't expect her to be able to win.

"But I do no be knowing any other ones. Did you be playing games about eating then? In your world?"

She's still unsure about that, it seemed strange but Madoka seemed to know what she was talking about.

[happyends]

"N.. Not often? But sometimes.."

It's a pretty trivial thing to be saying with so much hesitation, but Madoka really, really feels outdone by someone younger than her here. Madoka doesn't even know how to play adult card games.. She never even bothered learning those.. She never even thought of it!

"Sometimes it's fun to have those sort of games at parties, after all.."

[knifewithnoname]

"You did be going to parties?" Madoka's world seemed a strange one but she really didn't strike her as the type of girl who would go to parties. She tried to imagine her in layers and layers of skirts and her hair all twisted and pinned. But the image was funny and she wrinkled her nose.

"I did no never be going to a party but I did be... seeing some." Clumsy, foolish. She reined in her tongue.

[happyends]

Madoka nods, completely oblivious as to what kind of parties the other girl is imagining. She herself isn't thinking of those formal kinds of events at all, after all - just much more simple birthday parties teenage girls would have together.

"I sometimes held parties with my friends. Like for my birthday, or their birthdays. I always thought it was really fun, even if we just ate cake or played some simple games.."

But despite the thing she's describing being fun, somehow Madoka doesn't seem super happy about it. Which could be chalked up to their current not-so-comfortable zero gravity situation, sure, but that's actually not the full reason. It's kind of hard to look back on these things when now all your friends are dead.

[knifewithnoname]

"Eating cake do always be being fun." Madoka didn't seem to happy about it though. But that could be for many reasons. Maybe she was sad she was here and not back there, perhaps she had not liked the parties as much as she said she had.

Or maybe another reason. She still didn't understand all the reasons people might be not happy about things. "Lets be putting the rest of the things in this crate."

That was easier than thinking about why Madoka might be not happy.