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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bewildered is understandable, frankly.

"At the engine wall, yeah," Nita agrees.

"Though we've done attempts outside, too, and here in Standard. Not much seemed to vary in its response, though."

... Then, at a particularly intense memory surfacing, she made a face.

"Then there was what happened on that aborted mission, though it didn't use words then, either."

Aborted mission? Tidus thinks, but then vaguely recalls in Light's mission notes...

"Oh yeah, something about--shades outta nowhere?" Wasn't that it? "What happened there?"

Both the mission and with the train, but Tidus is here to listen to anything Nita has to share.

"Given what we've learned about void sickness, they may not even have been real," Nita says, worry fully surfacing in her voice.

"Or they represented something worse."

Like 'oh, hey, sometimes the void EATS worlds! :'D'

"But five hours into the mission, where we'd been told to get a kingdom to evacuate away from one of its gates, something showed up, and if we didn't evacuate to Luggage ourselves the train yanked us back to the carriage of its own accord."

She was already cross-legged, or she'd be pulling her knees to her chest right now as she remembers.

"I tried to talk to it, and it knocked me down with- I'd call it a wave of pure fear? It was afraid, almost primally so."

"Afraid?"

He echoes the word, surprised to even hear it, harder for him to imagine, or to know how to. Whatever picture he's had in his head operating or running things around here has been mostly a blank, more of a feeling for him to point his frustrations at in his own head.

It fearing though--that's not an emotion he's considered, and it has him quiet for a second or so.

"And then... it went back to being silent, like usual? You didn't learn anything about what happened back there."

Nita nods - there had been no mistaking that emotion for any other.

"Yeah. It wasn't reachable at all in the aftermath of that; a friend of mine checked for me."

And got mentally swatted-at in the process.

"We were moving pretty fast all the way to the next platform, too."

He wonders what it could've been, meant; what part of the mystery had to do with what the void sickness did, or something else.

Curling his arms some so his hands tuck on the inside of his elbows, he asks:

"So whatever happened, it didn't have anything to do with the mission? It just showed up outta nowhere...the same way the train gets around?"

Maybe?

"That's what it seemed like - though if you've heard, some of us do get visions before each mission, and the one we'd had before landing on that planet featured those shadows."

So not quite as much out of left-field? But still a jolt to the heart in several respects.

"And yeah, there wasn't any overt warning on that planet something was up."

"So the visions--what, people see the future?" That's what that sounds like. ...which he isn't sure if they're handy or not. He hasn't been getting any weird visions, or didn't before the last mission...

There is a further question he has, but he wonders about her answer first before switching any gears.

"Yeah - though, what with the spiritual-power suppression going on last mission, it's not a surprise there wasn't a vision for that one, in retrospect."

That may or may not have answered his unspoken question. Nita uncrosses her legs at last, sighing again as she pulls one knee in to rest her arm on, followed by resting her head on that.

Maybe he'll be a clairvoyant after all...!! (no)

He makes a small sound of acknowledgement, a thoughtful thing, a frowning playing on his frown as he watches how she moves in, appears in that position. His own arms drawing in closer, and he lets himself lean more on the back of the seating.

"What do you think about it? The train, I guess," he clarifies...for as much as that can be one. "What it's doing or...all of this."

Nita's answer does not come quickly this time - partly because she knows she doesn't know everything about the train, far from it - partly because she doesn't want to give Tidus a half-answer, either.

"I can't say it's less inexplicable to what I'm used to, as a wizard... but that doesn't make it infallible, or free of criticism."

She drops her arm, looks up to Tidus to meet his gaze.

"We are helping people, but that doesn't mean we have to settle into our roles in this train. What I've learned from the Powers back home is that everyone deserves to be held accountable, and that even when picking a side is obvious, life is rarely ever just a matter of black-and-white."

Tidus hums this time, his acknowledgement longer, more agreeable in tone.

"Some people like the idea of helping out, but they could be gone the next day. We don't know why anything happens, or what the end goal is."

He's speaking as he's thinking, though some of those thoughts relevant to him now, maybe to others who've lost people to the departure on the platform. The way they go without a response, and who knows the reason, the cause.

"Do you think people are going back home when they leave?"

The question slips out before he really considers what he might be asking, the ways it can be taken.

"And the people who hate being here, or get themselves into trouble, seem to stay," Nita replies, then sighs again.

"If it is a train, though, why would it necessarily have an end goal? The journey may be its whole purpose."

If it could be said to have one for itself.

"... I don't know. Some people come back, but don't remember the train - or don't remember leaving the train. That's not exactly grounds for an easy answer."

Ugh, like certain trouble needed to be brought up, and there's a brief pull of Tidus's lips before it leaves.

"Not an end goal then, I guess, but... what, does it plan to just pick people up and send them off on missions, switch people out, that's it? No trains I've heard about acts like a multi-world saving force."

It's certainly no normal train.

"But there's something all of us have to be forgettin'. We all show up dressed the same -- and the way it knows things about us. We're not just getting dumped on the platform with a bag and nudged to go in."

If that's the train or whatever else. It's all the same in Tidus's mind, the options.

"That depends on if the train's solely responsible for whatever's up with us - or if it is being remote-controlled in some fashion."

That the void ministry had only considered the latter and not the former raised red flags for Nita, but not enough to dismiss the notion of a third party in all this somewhere.

"It's almost like our worlds are all in a database somewhere... not just by system number, but all the people in each world."

It reminds her, eerily, of the Mobiles' own plans to 'back up' the worlds - though she doubts Dairine's creations would think up something like THIS!

"You think? Doesn't it make more sense that we're..."

Hold on, he needs a second to figure how to word this nonsensical idea, shaking his head slowly side to side.

"Getting dragged from our worlds to somewhere, and we're agreeing to go through with this? For some reason? 'Cept we all forget when we reach the platform?"

A random pick and mix to join an interstellar galactic....voideroo.

"Technically, I've done the sort of open-ended agreement that would get me into situations like this," Nita admits.

"But Nautilus relied on us choosing to follow the Call, and in terms of back home the Powers aren't even reachable here, so it seems simpler somehow that all the usual measures were bypassed."

Since none of their worlds had known of the void.

"It's like- hold on, I got a magazine this month that's related to this, I'll fetch it."

She gets up, then, and when she's back she opens Great Trains of the Void to a picture of an all-black train with a red V on it.

"We're not from any void-active worlds, right? And this train went around revealing knowledge of the void to cause chaos in those places."

She's going somewhere with this, Tidus.

Edited 2020-07-04 16:04 (UTC)

There is someone smart and actually capable of an intellectual conversation about this subject and hint, it's not the guy who initiated it.

Because Nita starts talking and Tidus is easily lost, and glad when she says she's got a magazine because that means reading, some extra help, and magazines rarely mean a wall of text that a book might.

Tidus hangs himself off the back of the couch more, expecting maybe to be handed the magazine. Regardless, to the words she said:

"Uhh... it revealed the void to worlds that don't know about the void, you mean?"

Or to void knowing...people? Sorry, he's a little slow and Trying.

"Yes; it doesn't say who was running the train, just that and how the Void Ministry took it down."

Though not with as much focus on the 'how' as Nita would like.

"So while it may be regulation that only void active worlds send trains out on void missions, it's not unthinkable that someone would focus on recruiting - or 'recruiting' from non-void active worlds instead. And they don't have to worry about the rules, that way. Like consent."

She hands the magazine to him to flip through.

Edited 2020-07-04 16:12 (UTC)

Tidus is slooowly attempting to digest what she's saying while taking the offered magazine. His brow furrowed hard as he uses that thing called a brain. He may need to lay off doing that and reading though, by the way the words (even if they're not a wall of tiny text) become scrambled in front of him.

"So... it's revealing void travel to people who don't know about it, and picking out people from those places too so it can work outside the books." He's repeating her for his own benefit, to make certain he's understanding right.

"Why do you think it's doing that though? I guess I get grabbing people the Void Police aren't looking at," or the Void Ministry, same deal, "but what does sharing about void travel do?"

She'll give him a couple minutes just to go through the magazine - giving the boy a break, because she DOES know she just did a big ol' infodump there.

"Yep."

As for why?

"That's just a matter of course, I think; we don't exactly get a primer on what the void is when we arrive. As for those other worlds... some places are pretty self-centric, thinking themselves the center of life in whatever universe, so when someone else shows up with definitive proof, well."

Tidus can probably imagine.

"Wizardry's a secret on the Earth I'm from, overall, and that's because most societies there aren't ready to handle the paradigm shift. Telling them about void travel would be similar in scope, and consequence."

'Tidus can probably imagine' hah that's what Nita thinks!!

Even with the time taken to make sure he's following her, it's an entirely different playing field from what Tidus is used to, that he's not certain he'll feel any smarter by the end of this. ...but maybe he'll end up taking the book, and hoping it helps.

"So kinda...giving someone the middle finger for keeping this a secret, just 'cause? But going on world saving missions too?" He pauses, thinking he's finished, except another thought attaches itself on the by the way his expression shifts and he tacks on:

"But...have the planets we've been hitting been just void, uh...knowing planets? Or a mix?"

Oh Tidus. XD

Nita is fine with him keeping the magazine, though, and makes no moves to take it back.

"That might be it. Kind of sounds like there's a lack of trust of the void ministry going on here, put that way."

Though who's not trusting whom is up in the air.

"And I'd say mostly they don't know of the void. I can think of two exceptions, and both of those missions involved normal-space travel as well, but we haven't encountered other voidcraft yet."

Then she frowns.

"And we were in a real big hurry to leave after the space mission I was there for, and that planet did have a void ministry outpost."

Huuuh. Tidus sits in a new silence, letting his head laze from one side to another again, a frustrated but low hum between his lips. Voids, ministries, weird nonsensical choices...

"...this stuff's too confusing," he concludes with a huff. "If it's gonna go out of its way to do that, the least it can do is help the people it's taking, you know? I can think of one guy whose world can do with having people go in and giving the jerks there what they deserve."

"Same here," Nita agrees wryly.

"If those visions could be more easily directable, it might save us all a lot of trouble, literally."

She leans against the car's wall, humming as she thinks it over.

"I know that's not an easy thing to ask for, though."

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