A new platform [intro post September]

[voidtreckermods]

For those on the train

“Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Bassoon.” The train announces the morning the month changes. It seems the train counts months in days of thirty. Team Points have been updated on the system.

The day continues as most days do, chores, eating, getting ready for another day. But those who suspect that a change of month may bring something else are correct. It is only an hour or two later that there is another announcement.

“Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void imminent.”

By now they should know to hold on as the train jerks and jolts. There is only fog outside the windows but the train soon comes to a stop. The doors hiss open.

As they exit into the fog they may notice Evie exiting from the luggage carriage door. Much like Hibiki the last time they were on a platform. She leaves the train, backpack on her back as she walks through the station. She heads no call, reacts to no words and cannot be stopped as she walks to the ticket barrier and disappears through it.

Strange. But even stranger still is that there on the platform that whole time is Evie. Dressed in purple, backpack on back, with her are others. Waiting for the train.

For new arrivals

At first all they can see if steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on your 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 very large, but it hold twelve figures 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 ticket barrier. 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.

Out step a selection of people, some less human than others, wearing clothes just like those worn by those on the platform.

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.

Once on board there is lots to explore. Passengers both old and new will hopefully be delighted to see the boredom of this train journey is somewhat alleviated by the introduction of a game carriage. Plenty of games, both familiar and new to play with your new travelling companions.
Each ICP shows the same message. If Red team go and look they will find a box in the luggage compartment that contains their prize. A dralite themed cake lolly each. There are enough for the new members of Red team too, share in your teams previous success!

The food stores have been topped up with new fresh food. Salmon has taken over as the primary ingredient of choice. Hopefully everyone likes fish!

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 to encourage any stragglers and the doors slide shut. For those who boarded two weeks ago they will know what is coming next.

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."

Hopefully someone warns you that you really want to heed that warning because a moment later there is 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 voidspace.

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

"Ah, I see. You were thinking that being a witch, she might be responsible for your being here. But I guess there's another cause."

He considers Kaito and then smiles. "We're both garbed in this brilliant orange color. Very out of the ordinary for me. You'd think I was a painter or a road crew worker rather than a warrior!" Grin.

"My name's Curufin Fëanorion. Who are you?"

[stealsyourheart]

"She's been responsible for weirder so..." S H R U G.

He grins back - this guy seems pretty friendly.

"Nice to meetcha! I'm Kaito. Kaito Kuroba."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin grins back.

"Nice to meet you, Kaito! I wonder where this VoidTrecker Express is going? Well, obviously, the Void. But there are worlds out there."

[stealsyourheart]

"You sound like you've had some experience with that sort of thing." He says curiously.

[so_dark_a_road]

"You're right, I have!" he admits. "I haven't managed to visit ALL of the worlds out there, but I've been to two besides my own, and that's if you don't count the off-road paths and the half-worlds and the special worlds that are tucked away in places most people can't get in."

He smiles.

"But what about you? Are you newly come from your own world? Or have you been elsewhere?"

[stealsyourheart]

"Huh! That's cool." He says admiringly and shakes his head.

"Nah. I'm just a schoolkid. I've only left Japan once, and now here I am not even apparently on my own planet?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin thinks its cool, too. Though it absolutely isn't the destiny he had once believed he had. But that is life for you, always unexpected!

"Just a school kid? What grade are you in? Is this the only time you've left Japan, or did you leave it once before this time?" He chuckles. "Yes, now you can say you've visited another universe!"

[stealsyourheart]

"I went to England, once - but another country is kinda different to another world, you know? This sorta stuff is for fiction, not reality."

[so_dark_a_road]

"You went to England? Did you like it? Yes, I agree that another country is different than another world, but it's not fiction, is it? Here we are, standing on a train platform in a world that is definitely not mine and can't be yours either." Smile.

[stealsyourheart]

"Yeah, once! And I suppose it was alright? We weren't there very long. I would have liked to have actually explored it a bit."

As it was, he was there for *cough* "work"

"So you're just as lost as I am, then?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"Nothing like exploration, in a new place! Too bad you didn't get to stay for a while. I have heard of this England place, though I have never been there."

Nothing like a working vacation.

"I'm just as new to the VoidTrecker as you are. I've been out of my own universe before, though, so at least the idea isn't new to me."

[stealsyourheart]

"Maybe when I'm older." He shrugs. "My old man used to travel for work too - if I get famous enough, hopefully I'll be able to do the same!"

HE eyes him curiously. "Is that a normal thing, in your world?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"If you get famous, what would you be famous for?" Curufin asks curiously.

"No, it isn't normal in my world to be able to travel the universes. A few of our sages speculated that there might be other universes, but the others laughed at them for this theory. Ha! Turns out the minority opinion was the correct view. The only reason I know it is, is because I was snatched out of my own world some time after my death, and I got to see first hand that such things were possible. Have you ever met anybody in your world who claimed to have been out of it?"

[stealsyourheart]

"Magic!" He grins. "Dad was an international superstar - the best magician of his generation. I'm going to be even better."

He listens curiously. "Huh. So you're... dead? And no, unless they were high on drugs, maybe."

[so_dark_a_road]

"A magician!" says Curufin, with a smile. "Sounds like it's the family profession? I wish you the best of luck in this."

Old history. "I died in my own world and wandered as a spirit for a while. I was working on re-embodying myself, and having some success, when I was kidnapped by a world called Arda Marred, which looked like my world, but if it was, then it must have been about four or five thousand years in the future. Anyway, that question of whether or not I'm dead is not such a simple question. I'd say no, if being back in the body is the most important criteria."

He smiles again. "Your world has recreational drugs, I take it. Users think they've been kidnapped by aliens?"

[stealsyourheart]

Well technically thievery is the family profession but...

"Yep!" Kaito grins. "I'm going to be the greatest magician of all time. Well. Of my generation, anyway."

He boggles. "Uh. That seems really weird. Yeah, we do - and they're a big problem sometimes. Aliens is probably a common theme though."

[so_dark_a_road]

But Curufin doesn't know about the thievery, so he'll imagine top hats and fancy jackets, and cards and pigeons and other interesting objects appearing and disappearing, to thunderous applause and cheers from an audience. Not such a bad ambition, really.

"Yeah, world-hopping is weird. It takes a while to get used to it, but it never starts seeming ordinary. What kinds of problems does your world have besides people going crazy from bad drugs and imaginary alien kidnappings?"

[stealsyourheart]

Curufin is not wrong, even adding in the thievery...

He shrugs. "The usual. Murders, mugging, thievery. Natural disasters. Terrorist attacks, Secret Criminal Organisations ...."

I love the Kaito icon you just used, btw. XD

[so_dark_a_road]

"Sounds exciting! For the people who get to try to stop such things happening, or to mitigate them, but not for the people who are the victims."

lol

[stealsyourheart]

He winces a little. "Eh. I don't know about that. Most people have very little to do with that."

[so_dark_a_road]

"And you're a magician, so presumably you won't be involved in opposing any secret criminal organizations." You hope, anyway.

[stealsyourheart]

Hahahahahaha.....sob.

"Yeah. I'm just a kid, after all. Still in school!"

[so_dark_a_road]

Ho ho.

"Yes, you're not even out of school, so it shouldn't be your responsibility to oppose all the evil activity in your world. That should be for the adults to deal with."

[stealsyourheart]

ORZ

"Yeah. So. I couldn't say."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Well, don't get kidnapped by any aliens or find yourself opposing an international criminal organization with only a deck of cards in your hands!" Ha ha funny, though there's just a pinch of dark humor in the mix.