voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post July]

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A New Platform [Intro Post July]

On the Train

Luckily for everyone the final couple of days of Fiddlesticks are quiet and mostly uneventful. Eventually though they awake to the announcement. "Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Grasshopper. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train a while will be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." A lurch and a jolt and they are soon surrounded by the fog that means they are at a platform. Also a loud pattering sound, which they will discover once the doors open are hailstones. They might want to grab their raincoats.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Ann Takamaki, Drizzt, Geralt, Huehuecóyotl, Ignis Scientia, Ivy Wakefield, Jiang Yanli, Lan Sizhui, Maebhrin Tillinath, May Parker, Nie Huaisang, Osomatsu Matsuno, Raven, Roxas, Shaw, The Iron Bull, Ultimo, Wei Wuxian, Yuki Sohma, Yuffie, Yukito Tsukishiro

But on the platform itself there are many new faces. Wearing hoodies and waterproofs, in various states of confusion.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. The second thing they will notice is it is cold, hailstones rain down around them, though they don’t last long on the platform ground, melting into slush.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large and it holds nineteen figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. Both left and right the tracks disappear into the mist. Then there is a roaring sound and out of the fog arrives a train. Jet black with gold writing on the side. The Voidtrecker Express. There is a hiss as the doors slide open and out into the cold step a selection of people. Some are human, some are less so. Most are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple though some are sporting different clothes in a variety of styles.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would not be a good thing. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

Indeed whereas usually there is plenty time for people to be met and brought slowly onto the train, the whistles blow a lot quicker this time, as if hurrying the passengers along.

Each ICP shows the same message and next to the screens there are stacks of leaflets written by those on the train, with further information. The store rooms have been restocked, it seems carrots have taken over the bacon, though there are plenty of other staples.

Those from blue team who go to investigate will find a box of biscuits. There is enough for the whole team, including new passengers. Join in your team's success!

Those who are not new will quickly discover some changes made to make the train accessible to those who can’t see, including Braille translations of all the signs around the train.

There is of course the new music room to explore. A double carriage, the downstairs has instruments to learn and practice with, as well as a series of music screen points. Those who play around with the screens will soon discover their SCA’s can now store music and can choose their favourites to listen to around the train.

Upstairs is a performance area and holds a piano.

New passengers will find their tickets allow them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight 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 hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn sounds over the noise of the hail stones to encourage any stragglers and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "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 begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

A shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and 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 kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

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"It is..." Taiki was still looking for Inigo and he had no idea if he would be in the greenhouse carriage but he was also looking for somewhere a little out of the way. The platform had been as chaotic and crowded as usual and he needed a moment just to think.

He often spent time here, near the kouji. Today he was surprised to see someone there already, looking at the tiny white flowers.

"They are, aren't they." He smiled softly at the man in the mask.

Pink cheeked, Gerome looked up sharply when someone spoke close by him. He hadn't heard them approach... Had he been that distracted? Surely not...?

He was feeling distinctly out of sorts. Part of him wanted to go and find Inigo again. Perhaps to shake him and demand to know the answers to the riddles of this place. Partly because he was familiar. And in this place full of strangers, strange sights and smells, a little of the familiar was much needed.

But he didn't. He had wanted to walk through this place on his own, after Inigo's initial introduction. Perhaps that had been a mistake to do so soon?

"... Yes." Gerome had been caught. There was no point in lying about what this man had heard. "Do they have a name?"

"Kaihaku... Though they are also known as kouji." He smiled softly, "They are very pretty but it is the fruit here." He pointed to the budding fruit under the flowers. "That makes it so special."

His smile grew a little. "Once the fruit is dried it can be burned, it burns as good as charcoal and is a lifeline for those who do not have easy access to fuel, it can be grown anywhere. It doesn't even need good soil."

"Useful." Gerome commented, he'd never heard of a flower like this before. One that could look beautiful but could be used in so many different ways. At least, ways that weren't healing. To be used as a source heat was an interesting use he would never have considered for the plant.

"I can see how that would be useful." He continued with a nod of understanding. Where all the strange plants growing here of secondary use, he wondered.

"It is." He nodded as well and looked around the carriage quietly.

"I don't know a lot about plants though, I am sure many of those growing here have uses I have not thought of."

Gerome looked around also, curious despite himself.

"I know very little..." And what he had known, he didn't believe would apply to any of the plants here, since he couldn't readily identify many of them. "... I am sure you are correct."

He just looked down at the kouji and nodded slowly. He didn't know much either, except about this one plant. Even then his knowledge paled in comparison to most people.

He looked curiously at the boy, though the expression was hidden by his mask. Gerome thought about his silence, about what he should do. This was supposed to be an awkward situation? Maybe to others, but Gerome didn't mind silence. Sometimes he was happiest when he didn't have to talk.

Gerome sat himself down upon the grass properly, legs crossed, hands resting upon his lap.

"My name is Gerome... I am new here."

"Um... It's nice to meet you." He sat down as well, with a nervous smile, "I'm Taiki. I've been here a few months. It's nice to meet you."

Gerome inclined his head in acknowledgement.

He was... not good at small talk. Chit-chat. He wasn't sure just what to say now to this person who had sat beside of him, aside from introductions, what was there to say? There was no weather to talk about. No war to comment on.

"... A few months." Gerome could see Taiki out the corner of his eye. "... Would you know the ridiculous flirt, then?" He asked. "Inigo."

He looked around in surprise at the question. "Inigo is a flirt?"

He sounds actually surprised. Then a moment realisation hits him. If this man had such a strong opinion of Inigo then he knew him, he wouldn't have such an opinion of they had only just met on the platform.

"You are from his world?"

Gerome also looked a little surprised. Harder to tell of course, but he was.

"Of course." Wasn't that well known here? Inigo was a huge flirt. Always panting after girls. Dragging him off to be his 'wingman' whatever that meant.

"... I am." Now that question was, possibly, the strangest thing he had heard thus far. And it made him realise, quite all at once, just how out of place he was. 'His World'... Inigo had said that he had been alone here. And now it was the two of them. Two among so many from many different worlds. It was mind boggling.

"Oh." Maybe he was then. Though until recently he had had Yuki and so perhaps he had stopped the flirting so much. That would make sense. People didn't flirt so much when they had a partner.

"It is good that you are here, I am sure he was very happy to see you."

Inigo needed more friends and those from his world, who already knew him. That would be good. Inigo might think he was a disappointment to those back in his world but Taiki knew that was not true.

It better not be true. If this boy turned out to be someone who would hurt Inigo Taiki would not be happy.

Now he was puzzled. Had Inigo really changed that much in the few months he'd been here? Was he actually telling the truth about how long he'd been here? Inigo was fond of downplaying certain things, after all. Had he actually been there for a year or more?

Maybe he would need to speak to the flirt.

"..."

He was pulled from his thoughts by the other man's continued words... and despite himself he could feel when his cheeks pinkened. Happy? He'd been tackled to the ground. Gerome was sure he had a bruise. Not that he would have informed Inigo of that fact.

"... I believe he was." He looked away, back down at the flower and concentrated on willing the warmth from his cheeks that had no right to be there in the slightest.

Taiki smiled at that, relieved. To have such a reaction must mean they are indeed friends and Taiki is glad that about that.

"I'm glad. He's had a hard time recently so it is a good thing you are here."

Dare he?

Gerome gave the other a sidelong glance. He was not good at subterfuge. He was not subtle. Innocence was not a tone that came naturally to him.

"... Has he?" He did make a conscious effort to keep any harshness out of his voice, to keep it curious and simple. Oh, Inigo had a hard time, had he? Tell him all about this hard time. Because he had a feeling something was wrong, and it hadn't just been because Inigo had been alone all this time. It was becoming very clear to Gerome that he had not been alone...

Taiki nodded, looking at him for a good hard while. Wondering if he should say, if it was his place to tell this person who was Inigo's friend from home.

But he knows Inigo and knows that if Inigo can get away with it he will pretend nothing is wrong. He will hide his hurt and pain. He will wear a smile and try and fool the world.

"One... Did you see the people leaving when we first arrived at the platform?"

He sighed, "One of them was a boy named Yuki, he was very close with Inigo. They dated for a while but... Something happened... I don't really know... And now he is gone."

He looks sad, he knows how much it had hurt Inigo and even now Inigo is upset about it.

Gerome had seen people leaving, though hadn't taken much notice of who or what they were. There could have been a boy in the mix but he couldn't bring an image of those people to his mind. So they never came back after they left? He'd thought about following them. Would he have been allowed?

The other was still talking and Gerome refocused his attention on that, just in time to find out that Inigo had been dating...a boy. Not a girl. But a male.

He couldn't quite stop the way his eyebrows raised in surprise, though once he realised, Gerome did his best to school his features into something more neutral.

Inigo... had been hiding that from him? Why? Was he ashamed? Did he believe Gerome would judge him? Maybe he wasn't important enough to know these things? Perhaps Inigo just didn't want to include him in this new world of his as much as he had claimed? And why... did that bother him so much?

"I see..."

Taiki nodded, "He... Well if you are his friend you know how he is. He doesn't talk about things."

Taiki is pretty sure that if he hadn't literally walked in on him crying Inigo wouldn't have mentioned Yuki rejecting him at all. Just pretended everything was fine.

"... Not anymore. No." Once upon a time he used to. He could remember days when Inigo would come crying to him about one thing or another. Anything from a scraped knee to finding a baby bird fallen from a nest... or a bad dream. As they had gotten older, Inigo has stopped crying and used a smile to hide his hurts. But Gerome had used a mask for the same thing, so could he really judge?

... Yes. Yes he could. Did it make him a hypocrite? Of course. But people like Inigo would wither away keeping all their hurts inside.

"He was more open as a child. Growing up changed that." Gerome said, giving voice to his thoughts after he realised sitting in silence was probably not the best idea to further a conversation. And he did want to converse with this male. Maybe he could find out what was bothering him so much... Was it this Yuki thing? Was that the sadness and pain he had seen behind Inigo's eyes earlier?

"Ah. I understand." It was much easier to be open as a child. Growing up changed many things. He nodded silently though he didn't speak again. He hopes that now he knew that Inigo was upset this friend from home might get through to him, better than Taiki had.

He had tried but he's not sure he actually helped.

Gerome also fell quiet, lost to his own thoughts. They chased each other around. Should he confront Inigo or let it go? If he waited, would Inigo ever tell him these things? He sincerely doubted that somehow.

Mentally he sighed. He would have to say something though, as much as he disliked the idea. Now that he knew, he could not let something like this go...

He was silent for a few more moments and then reached out to touch Gerome's arm. "I am sure if you ask, he will speak with you."

He might not open up completely, but now Gerome knew the truth he would know how best to ask him about things.

After all, he would know Inigo better than anyone here if they were friends from home.

He tensed slightly at the touch, but as there was no threat to it, he soon relaxed again and gave a brief nod.

He nodded... but did he believe the words? Not in a million life times. Inigo was a master of hiding his feelings. Most of the time they were ridiculous things he had blown up in his mind to seem bigger than they were. But the more he kept those things inside the bigger they became and the more obvious it was he was keeping things hidden.

"... I... I will try." Gerome finally sighed. It was all he could do. He felt the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders, being trusted to do this thing. Emotions and feelings were not something he was the best at dealing with... So he supposed if he messed this all up he could blame this small man for making him do it in the first place.

Taiki nodded, "All you can do is try."

And the more people who tried the more chances they had of getting through to Inigo. Of helping him.

A New Platform [Intro Post July]

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