voidtreckerexpress | Intro: Into the Void

On the Platform

At first all you can see if steam. Billowing around you as you come to your senses. You are standing, in clothes that are not your own, styles you might not even recognise. You are carrying a rucksack on your back. For a moment it seems to just be you, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and you realise you aren’t alone.

The platform is not very large, but it hold ten people all facing the tracks, all wearing similar clothing. The tracks stretch left and right into steam, or perhaps fog. Nothing can be seen to either side. There is a wall around the platform and the only entrance is a security gate. It cannot be open, nor do there seem to be any staff.

What there is, is a train. Jet black and gleaming where it stands on the rails. Voidtrecker Express is emblazoned in the engine in gold. There is a hiss as the doors slide open.

Boarding, it seems, is the only option.

The Train

A horn sounds and anyone not on the train will feed the need to board immediately. The train is empty. But it seems ready for you. The stores are full of food, the carriages are all clean. Every screen on the train is showing the same message.

The luggage carriage, strangely, seems full of luggage. Or at least the cases. Suitcases, bags, trunks. All empty. But it at least will make good storage for your own bags once you have unpacked.

Carriages

Just like the message reads, your ticket is required to enter your cabin. The names are written on screens outside each cabin but once you are inside bed choice seems to be up to you. It might mean there is a fight for the top bunk.

Room is right 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 find a pillow for each bed as well as extra blankets, in case it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn, to encourage any stragglers to enter and then the doors slide shut. It seems, for good or for ill you are riding this train to… wherever it is going.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. The train begins to move, shuddering along the tracks, fog obscuring the view from the windows.

"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 tilts, the movement changes. It seems, as impossible as it might seem to some, that this train is flying.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated."
A shudder runs through the train. A lurch to the left, a jolt to right, the feeling of going far too fast and then a flash, bright colours that are almost 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 multicoloured ever shifting void.

Your journey has begun.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Manabu scratches at his cheek slowly as he thinks about all this, frowning more and more as he does. His memories are so muddled -- was he really just trying to get up and go to work before this? It doesn't fit into the framework as easily as he'd initially thought.

Before he can get too lost in his own worries, his gaze moves back to the little girl atop the bunk. If matters are weird for him, they certainly can't be any better for her. His mouth quirks with a hapless sort of smile.

"Looks like we're in the same boat," he declares. "Er--train. Ha. But! But it'll be alright; I know my way around trains of all sorts. It's part of my job. So I'll figure it out, and get you and your folks along where you need t be going, alright?"

"You do be being a sailor?" Or whatever the train equivalent was. Someone that sailed a train. That of course begged the question of who exactly was sailing this long-ship train. Because it wasn't them, the ten who had been on the platform. At least she hoped it wasn't them. She didn't know how to sail a ship and this doesn't even have sails!

But if he's a sailor then that's probably a good thing. "I do be needing to be going home. They will no be knowing where I am."

Unless they had sent her here. But if they hadn't they might think she had ran away. She would be in big trouble...

His mouth curls with an amused little smirk at the suggestion. He won't correct it right away -- his title's not important right now. What's more pressing is the fact they don't know where she is.

"Wait." So much for that smirk. This is serious. "Are you saying your parents aren't with you on this train?"

"Do no be having no parents." She shrugged, seemingly not bothered about that at all.

"But I did be just being on the platform. I do no be knowing anyone else."

Peter obviously knew his Mr. Stark and she thought the two monster-people knew each other but everyone else seemed strangers.

Gosh...that changes a lot. This kid's been left all on her own, now stuck on a train no one can identify? This is more than a minor work inconvenience now. Manabu rubs his chin, shifting his weight from leg to leg as he considers this. Protocol for missing children aboard SDF-secured vehicles was clear, but what isn't clear here is how that process will work: he hasn't seen any security installations or arrays along any of the cars in his first pass, so all the more reason to do another, more thorough sweep.

His eyes flicker back up to the girl. He'd hate to leave her unattended, but...well, it is a moving train -- not a whole lot of places to go and get lost in, honestly.

"Tell you what." He lifts his head, trying to perk up, convince himself and her of his certainty. "I'm going to be having a closer look around and see if I can't get a hold of another officer. From there, I may be able to get to the bottom of this and we can get you home, alright? Sound good?"

So he did know something? More than she did anyways but if it meant he could figure out a way for her to go home, that was a good thing.

"That do be sounding very good. I do be hoping that you do be finding an officer."

Was it possible that this was some huge mistake? That seemed strange even as she thought it. How would she accidentally end up on a flying long-ship in clothes that weren't her own. That was too strange to be an accident.

Yeah, me, too, Manabu thinks. Instead of voicing the grim thought, he just grins up at her.

"Mm! Don't worry, we'll sort it out. And if you have any other troubles, you can ask for me. My name's Manabu. Manabu Yuuki. How about you?"

"Do no be having a name either." She would evade, but he's being helpful so she just smiles at him. "I will be remembering yours though Manabu Yuuki." A strange name, but this is a strange place.

She's just glad he seems to know a bit more about what is going on.

"Eh-?"

He blinks, immediately confused. No name? But...

"Aa, thank you, but...then...what do you go by? A, a nickname, at least?"

"You can be calling me whatever you do be wanting." Another shrug, she really doesn't mind what he calls her, hopefully he will find a way for her to leave this train soon and so it won't even matter.

Well, this won't do at all. Manabu frowns a little more as he regards her with more care. She doesn't seem to be perturbed at all! Was it normal for her? Who does that to a little girl? How does that even work? What do they call her when calling her down for dinner?

...If it's not parents, who's they, anyway?

He's not sure he likes where wondering about it is going.

"Well, no, I...I think I'd rather call you what you want," he says, tilting his head. "Isn't there a kind of name you think would be fun to have?"

That, at least, would be good, right?

"Fun to have?" She wrinkled her nose. She really didn't mind what she was called, mostly...

"Just do no be calling me brat, I do no be liking that." He had asked, so she answered. Hopefully he was being serious and she hadn't just handed him a weapon.

She picked up the next thing in her bag, a nightdress, and folds it to put on top of the clothes. She has no idea why she has so many or where they came from. Hopefully she won't need any, if this Manabu could find a way for her to go home.

"O-of course not!" Manabu declared, looking troubled by the concept. Why would he do that?

Well, aside from if she were being bratty, but...but that's not the case!

"But...Wouldn't it make you happy to come up with a name of your own? Not a lot of kids get that chance." He tilts his head, looking hopeful. "I bet it could be fun. You could try different kinds until you find one you like, and--oh--"

A stray sock, rustled by the girl's folding, falls off the bunk and Manabu reaches out to catch it, holding it up for her.

Come up with a name of her own? Why would she do that? It wasn't as if she needed a name to talk to herself. She shifted on the bed and then moved to try and catch the sock that fell off. That was the problem with beds it seemed, things didn't like staying on them.

"I do be thanking you." She smiled, "And I will be thinking about a name."

Maybe. If she didn't find something more interesting to think about. She had just ended up on a long-ship train and had no idea how to get home, making up a name was the least of her worries.

"Alright, good!" It's not a complete win, but Manabu will take it. "If you need ideas for names, you can ask. I'll help think up some! But right now, I'm gonna go check around and see if I can find some answers, okay?"

He gives her a grin and a wave, backing up and then disappearing down the corridor, of to go break the floor in his cabin and stuff.

"Okay. I will be seeing you soon." He would think of names? He's a strange man. But hopefully a helpful one. She hoped his mission was a success and they would get out of here soon!

For now though she continued digging through her rucksack, looking through the things she had arrived with.

Intro: Into the Void

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