VoidTrecker Express Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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voidtreckerexpress2019-07-01 06:05 am
voidtreckermods) wrote in voidtreckerexpress2019-07-01 06:05 am
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.
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.
no subject
A beat. "I hope. I can remedy the cookies in a bit, however. Not in time for this tea, sadly."
Ah yes, there's a proper tea pot. She fills that with steaming water and prepares the tea ball--that's a little unwieldy, as she's used to linen bags--but this is rather a convenient little thing!
"They seem like Thanalan tea leaves--which is good, Shroud tea's more bitter." Not that Shroud tea wouldn't work here, it'd simply take more doctoring. That done, she pours out the water she'd had in the pot, puts the tea ball in it, and then adds more boiling water.
Three to five minutes, likely, to steep, but best to ask. "Do you prefer your tea stronger or weaker? I'm Sarai, by the way."
no subject
A tea ball, hm.....Not a completely unacceptable method. Not recognizing the names of the teas Sarai mentions confirms to Hibiki they hail from other primensions, but, so be it. It seems tea is a constant. A small good fortune.
“You’re the train’s chef, then?”
Let the chores list say what it will. Sarai has plans for the larder and is handling the tea situation thus far. Hibiki isn’t about to consider the kitchen coming under the control of someone unqualified.
no subject
Just not in the kitchen, at the present. That would be more than a bit crowded for them, if he were!
"I'm actually a bard, sort of a jack of all trades and mistress of none." Sarai chuckled a bit, then, as she kept working and let the tea steep. She actually was toasting thin slices of bread--a proper tea needed things to nibble on, after all, and she had some leftover avocado. No need to let it brown up in the cold chest, when it'd suffice to make some avocado toast to go with tea. She'd make cookies later, when the rest of the train was occupied elsewhere.
"So what do you do, Hibiki? When you aren't here, that is." They were all proverbial fish out of water, here!
no subject
She’s calm enough now, then, to consider the ideal response to Sarai’s inquiry. What she does....? Hah.
“Words and such insufficiently describe my full genius,” Hibiki replies, as matter-of-fact as if she’d said “I’m also a performer” or “Mostly I walk into places and declare myself in charge of them” (both of which are, incidentally, true). “Once this train arrives at a station, I’ll unveil my true magnificence for you.”
Sarai deserves a special favor for her cooperation, after all. And if performing happens to so wow Hibiki’s audience that the locals find her alternate transportation or her fellow passengers awaken to their errors, well! Why should someone of Hibiki’s excellence be forced to settle for achieving only a single objective?
no subject
"Tea should be done!" But first, she whisked the tea ball out of the pot and lidded it again, pushing both the pot and a cup towards Hibiki. And the plate of avocado toast, as well.
"Save me a cup, please? The sugar is in that small pot--I'm going to take care of this, first. No need to let it sit, it'll make future pots bitter if the residue rests too long." So she was going to clean it, now. May as well make certain one's tools stayed in good condition!
Sarai knocked out the tea leaves into the trash to the best of her ability, wiping the rest out with her fingers. She rinsed the ball, then washed it with a bit of soap and water, and then rinsed it once again, setting it on a drying mat, then nodding to herself with satisfaction. She'd wait until Hibiki fixed her own tea before even attempting a cup for herself. In truth, she did want Hibiki's opinion on it--nor did she think it proper to make it for her. Yet. For now, she'd keep an eye on how the girl prepared it. Make notes for later, perhaps.
Or in case Hibiki ever got sick. Sometimes, these things happened.
1/hibiki
2/hibiki
Yes, this is the fittingly elegant way to take tea, even tea found onboard this sorry excuse for a tr—
3/hibiki
hibiki/4
And smiles, her palpable relief at odds with her haughty words. “Well. It’ll hold its own without sugar.”
A lone sparkle, out of nowhere, twinkles to shoujo life just off to the side of Hibiki’s head. She doesn’t acknowledge it. She’s too busy drinking more tea.
It is possible that Sarai passed.
no subject
"Only sugar cookies for now, I think--and white sugar! Practically tasteless except for sweet! We don't have this at home." Sarai was a bit awed by that, but not in a bad way.
"I'll have to try to get almonds when we stop next," she mused to herself. "Between regular almond cookies, and macarons..." More plans for the larder, yes. But she dimpled over at Hibiki, again, once she finished her assessment.
"So I pass muster, at least a little? That's good!" She chuckled a little, good-naturedly. "I can't say I really plan to do anything terribly exotic, yet--it depends on what's in stores at the moment, but I can always attempt to keep treats around. Like cookies, or pastries of some sort. I'm a fair hand at cappucinos, too, if that interests you at all."
She wanted to find fruit, if she could, as well. If only to make jam, if nothing else. That would keep, if it wasn't possible to freeze it or keep it in the cold chest.
no subject
“Nutritional balance is important,” she points out - one possessing her high standards must observe such facts. “Should excess sugar exist, make gateau chocolat.”
Sip. There is no way anyone would ever suppose Shikyoin Hibiki has a sweet tooth. No. Not her.
no subject
Different words for different things. They called cacao kukuru in Eorzea. "But nutritional balance is important, you're right. I'm a bit concerned with what this train gave us to start with..."
Sarai wrinkled her nose a little. "I mean, I can manage, everyone should remain healthy, but I can't imagine anyone not being bored with the provisions if we don't stop eventually!"
Don't mind her, this is 100% the chef throwing a tantrum over the conditions they're being forced to work in--and as such things go, rather mild.
no subject
Yes. They’ll stop. They have to stop. If they don’t stop....
If such an unspeakable breach of genre is committed........
Hibiki drowns the stray thought in tea. Begone!
no subject
"We also do need to resupply. We've got quite a bit, but that's not going to last us forever. I can stretch if I need to, and I can also eat less, but if I don't have to..." It'd be a good thing. She can get a little cranky when off her feed, Sarai can.
no subject
But what form would an ideal solution take? Hibiki considers this question.......after having already assumed assistance. Linear thinking is another conceit above which geniuses abide.
no subject
"I have no problems assisting you in that matter, assuming I can."