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.
Cabin 1 C
She acted casual as she went through her things, until the weird metal long ship set off, the announcement startled her, the lurch sent her flying off the bed, and on top of the man who had likewise fallen out of his bunk.
Lucky for her he cushions her fall, lucky for him she's small for her age and scrawny. Less lucky is the boot hitting him as she clambers off him, shoes are new and unwieldy, she scrambles across the floor until she is under the table and crouches there, watching him.
She should have scrambled the other way, he's between her and the door. Hopefully he's not too angry. Or injured enough that she can evade him.
no subject
There had been a chance right when he'd first landed on the ground that he could've gotten back up and found his bunk again. That chance ended when a little kid, who he hadn't even noticed in the room, dropped on top of him.
He cried out more in shock than in pain. It wasn't nearly as loud of a shout as it would've been otherwise had there been any air left in his lungs. Gasping for air as he was kicked by the scrambling girl's boots, he tried to catch her flailing limbs but wasn't fast enough. As she hid under the table, he panted a moment letting his lungs recover. Angry, frustrated words were building in his mind as he pushed himself up onto his elbows and glared at the girl.
Then, the anger ebbed away as he stared at her and putting a hand on his chest where she'd unintentionally kneed him, he asked, "Are you alright, pumpkin?" He winced as he rolled slowly to one side and tried to push harder to get some more distance between himself and the floor. "Dammit!" He muttered as his arm gave way and he dropped onto his back again.
This was so humiliating.
no subject
"You do no be being alright though." Boots shuffled closer, though not too close. She didn't feel guilty for landing on him, it hadn't been her fault. But it also hadn't been his, the train had done... Something.
"Can you no be getting up?"
CW: Endgame Spoiler
He looked back at her and his eyebrows rose a degree that she'd come a little closer to him. He found himself giving her a small smile despite feeling like crap. "No. I'm.. uh.. having some trouble with that. I'm.. I'm Tony. I have a daughter a few years younger than you. What's your name?"
no subject
"Do she be being here? Your daughter?" The girl got closer and crouched down and sighed. People seemed very obsessed with names here. "I do no be having a name. Do you be needing help getting up?"
She can probably help, he's bigger than her but she can probably manage it.
no subject
And yes, he was very much disturbed. However, the girl was pretty cute and it was calming him down trying to keep her calm.
"No name huh? Well, then I dub you Pumpking, Sweetheart, or Buttercup- your choice- till further notice. Which do you like?" He asked, keeping a smile on his face. He didn't want to scare her. He must not have been doing a terrible job at that either, as she offers to help him up. "Please? I've got too big of an ego to fit in this small of a space." Oh, she might not understand that joke. "I was just in a fight."
He holds out a hand, but doesn't get too close to her. He didn't want her to change her mind on him.
no subject
She wrinkled her nose at the joke, but in amusement rather than anything else. He was funny.
"You do be looking like you did be losing a fight." She held out both hands to grab his and stepped backwards to use as much of her weight as possible to pull him to his feet.
She was still thinking about that name, it was a big decision, took some thought.
no subject
He had to laugh at her concluding the fight he was in, he lost. It wasn't untrue, he just knew Peter wouldn't have had the audacity to say it outright. He really liked this girl.
The humor fades as he let out a ragged groan, getting to his feet. He has to catch the upper bunk with his free hand to keep steady. Heavily, he slips back onto the bunk he'd claimed to sit on the edge. After a moment of being out of breath, he gives her a smile. "You're strong, thank you." His first impulse was to reward her with something, but he had nothing to give. He had only barely looked through his rucksack, but it didn't seem like he had much beyond bare essentials.
"Where are you from, kid?" He looked down and noticed one of her laces had come untied. "Here put your foot up here. I'll fix your shoe for you." He patted at his knee. It didn't seem too high for her if she was okay with it.
no subject
She did as she was told, balancing as she raised a foot to put on his knee, watching to see what he would do. "Gauig. The city," Rather than some desert outpost, "Where do you be being from?"
She was still thinking about the names he had given her the choice of. Buttercup was a flower, she wasn't sure she liked that. But then again they were pretty deadly...
no subject
"If you don't keep them tied like this then it's easy to trip and fall." He was still careful not to make her uncomfortable or nervous as he reached out and slowly tied her shoe. It made him think of his daughter again. "I'm not familiar with where Gauig is. Is it a big city?" He asks, drawing little bits of information from her. "I'm from a city called New York. It's on Earth, if you've ever heard of that planet." It feels really strange to say it that way, but after the last few years, he knows better than to think they were the only world out there. "What sort of things do you like?"
no subject
"I did no never be hearing of it." Earth or New York. "What do a planet be being?"
She tries to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She wasn't stupid and she was educated, but in the last couple of hours she had come across more words she didn't understand than she ever had.
She focused on the question she could answer. "I do be liking honeycakes." That's a safe answer at least, "And climbing and reading." Sometimes, when the books were interesting.
"You can be calling me Buttercup." She had decided. She had no idea how hearts could be sweet and it was a weird name anyways, pumpkin was alright but buttercups were small unassuming flowers that could cause great pain. She liked that.
no subject
He nods easily at the news she hadn't heard of his planet, but pauses hearing she didn't know what a planet was. Her expression was similar to when Morgan used to try to shove squares into circle shaped holes in one of her toys. He sympathizes with her. This had to be a lot to take in and she ws terribly young to be thrown into all of this. He was going to have to do something about her language skills too, that was driving him crazy. "A planet is the area bigger than just a city. It's what you call all the cities on one world. It's like if you look at the laces on your shoe," he indicates which part is the laces. "The laces are like the cities but the shoe is the planet. It includes the cities but it's also the other parts too."
He listens with a warm, growing smile at what she liked. He didn't know where honeycakes might be on this train, but he was going to find some for her. Her other interests were equally difficult given their situation. He didn't know where she would go climbing. There weren't any trees or walls for her to play on. Reading required books. He'd have to look around and find if there was a library somewhere on this train too.
Nothing gets him smiling quite as brightly as when she finally tells him what she wants to be named. "It suits you."
no subject
Bigger than a city? So a country? But no, bigger than that. She looked down at the laces with a small frown. "So it do just be being another word for the whole world? The cities and countries and forests and oceans?" Altogether on a planet.
She smiles again. Buttercup was strange as something to be called but she liked it because she had gotten to choose and she was sure she would get used to it soon. A glance around showed her what she had missed when she had been distracted falling off a bed... The light had changed and outside there was no longer fog but instead colours.
She got closer, scrambling up on the bed that Tony was not sat on to get closer to the window. Colours, just colours shifting and swirling outside.
"This do no be being Gauig... I do no be thinking it do be being New York either." He was a big strange this injured man, but she doubted he came from a multicoloured swirl land.
no subject
His eyebrows rise as she scampers onto his bed, but relaxes when he sees why. He didn't like the idea of her shoes walking on his pillow, but he'd ignore that for now.
"You're right, we aren't ither places. I'm not sure where we are." He sighs, unhappy that there wasn't more he could say or do for her or anyone else on this train. Except, he just wouldn't be Iron Man if he didn't add.. "You don't have to be afraid, Buttercup. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, okay?"
no subject
She continued peering out of the window but his words made her look around and pull a face. "I do no be being afraid. I do no be being afraid of nothing even stupid long ship trains that do be flying."
He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her? He barely knew her. She had landed on him and hurt him and in response he had let her chose what he called her, showed her how to fix her shoes and offered his protection. It was strange, uncomfortable, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to react. He was definitely light blinded, which made him dangerous but he could also be useful? Also after the last few days, someone speaking kindly to her was... It felt good, like sitting in shade after running across hot rooftops.
But she didn't want him thinking she was scared. Kant said that it was alright to feel afraid, only fools feared nothing. But she should never show it. Showing it was weakness and on the weirdest day of her life, surrounded by strangers weakness could not be allowed.
no subject
He might also be projecting subconsciously.
He tries not to laugh. He really, really did. He was only human though and that reaction about not being afraid and her description of the train was adorable. "Of course, someone brave like you wouldn't be scared. I should've known better. But if you ever do.. just remember that okay? I'll help you."
That being said, he leaned back against the wall to one side of his bunk. He'd lay down but the kid was in the way. "Do me a favor. If you hear anyone mention alcohol let me know. I could really use a drink." Like, a gallon.
no subject
It made it feel less strange, if she repayed his kindness. Especially if it just meant going to steal him some alcohol. That was something she could do.
"They might be having some there."
no subject
"You really don't mind?" He asks, curious of her ease of accepting this favor. If she did this, even unsuccessfully, he knew exactly he'd find a way to repay her so he didn't feel any guilt about this. "Thank you, Buttercup. If you need any help, find my- Peter."
When she leaves, he is able to lay down again and promptly goes right back to sleep.
no subject
And it will be a good distraction from thinking about all the other things that have happened today and she needs to explore the train anyways, learn about this place in greater detail.
She slipped out the cabin silently, on her quest.