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

[hashtagparkerluck]

He's still really not sure about this. Sounds fake, but okay. Evil spirits are the reason behind back pain? He should tell Mr Stark about this. Although, it's not like money means a damned thing on this train. Not that Peter's complaining because it means he's not exactly poor here.

"May says our family's cursed with bad luck-we're not really cursed but she calls it Parkerluck. It basically just means that, for whatever the reason, the multiverse really hates my family."

[internetsexsymbol]

“What? You seem like a good kid, though...so you’re right, I doubt any actual curses have it out for you. Unless you or your great-grandfather did something I don’t know about to piss something off.” Life’s just unfair sometimes, as Reigen’s painfully aware, but usually people felt better having some sort of reason to attach their problems to. Most of the time he would make up something easily fixable, like ‘your argument with your wife is weighing you down, go resolve that’ or ‘you clicked on too many pop-up ads and now your wrist hurts’. General constant misfortune is a little harder to find a certain answer to. How is Reigen going to remedy Parkerluck?

“You do have family and friends, right?”

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter shrugs. He knows it wasn't his dad and he knows it wasn't uncle Ben that royally pissed on the universe. He'd be more concerned about it but he really just thinks it's more that his family is meant to be a prime example of Murphy's Law. Although, May never seemed to be affected unless burning like everything counted. Did that count?

"Uh.. I have a few friends-more here than uh.. back home. But Aunt May's my last living relative. And Mr Stark is like family at this point."

[internetsexsymbol]

Ok, the last living relative being his aunt thing is a little depressing. Reigen very briefly wonders if he should have called his own parents more often, but that thought passes quickly. He's focusing on the positives, and he's focusing on Peter! Positives of Peter Parker, so to speak.

"Well, I'd say that's the key to living with a family curse. If you have people in your life to rely on, you can recover when your bad luck does catch up with you. Don't be afraid to ask your friends for help."

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter just offers a nonchalant shrug. He's been to therapy and apparently Mr Stark is gonna make him start up sort-of-therapy again. He knows his life is depressing, it's way more depressing than he's let on but no one really needs to know about all that.

"Yeah, sure. I mean I tend to just try and keep going. That's about all I can do-you either live with the bad stuff or you don't. And bad stuff is gonna keep happening so might as well enjoy the good stuff while you can and just keep going."

[internetsexsymbol]

Reigen grins, seeming satisfied with that answer. Honestly, he's glad that it looks like someone's told Peter all this stuff before now. The kid looks like he has more self-awareness and responsibility than Reigen did at that age, which can only be a good thing.

"Yeah, sometimes that's all you have to do. You've got a good head on your shoulders, kid." That was enough pep talking a kid he just met, though. Man, did he have a track record for that now? "Anyway, supernatural trains still have coffee, right?"

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter's not sorry to change the subject, as much as he's used to his life being not always super great, he doesn't typically like to talk about it. Which is probably why therapy is a thing he'll have to deal with.

"Yeah, just in the kitchen. It doesn't even cost anything." He nods, gesturing in the direction the kitchen is in. "It's that way."

[internetsexsymbol]

"It's free?! Holy shi--" Reigen clears his throat to cut himself off from cursing in front of a teen whose guardian might be around the corner. Still, he's always down for being able to get things for free.

"I mean, that's good. Last bit of advice, if you're going to be dependent on any drink, pick coffee."

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter gives him a weird look for censoring himself. Peter uses that word all the time and May has certainly said worse.

"Uh... Coffee's great and all but I prefer energy drinks." He admits. "Man, what I wouldn't give for a red bull or something."

[internetsexsymbol]

"They don't have energy drinks here? Well, they're basically caffeine and sugary flavorings...we could probably experiment and make our own." Reigen has relied on energy drinks for a boost of caffeine as well, and he may or may not tried to replicate that boost for half the cost before by combining a 5-hour energy with some leftover orange juice and diet cola. Not one of his proudest moments.

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter's eyes seem to light up at the suggestion and he nods his head vigorously.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't think of that-there's a drink in the store shop-uh.. I think it's just called Purple? But we could like... use that as a base and add coffee and sugar and other stuff to it. It could be like a purple flavored energy drink. I mean, I haven't actually tried it but I guess I should."

[internetsexsymbol]

"You're a genius, Peter! Consider this a new frontier in the realm of energy drinks!" Reigen looks equally excited at the prospect of free energy drinks (and a future patent if Peter wants to make some quick money). "It's called...purple? What would the color purple even taste like?" He's probably going to drink it anyway, but still.

[hashtagparkerluck]

"I am?" He blinks, momentarily forgetting he has a scholarship to a school for geniuses. "Awesome! But the Purple drink is three points so it's not really free. I mean, I've got plenty of points I can get one and experiment I guess." He shrugs.

"Uh.. do me a favor and don't tell Mr Stark this is a thing we're doing. He's super not down with me drinking energy drinks for some reason. So you know, what he doesn't know can't hurt him. Or me."

[internetsexsymbol]

"Three points, huh? We'll have to start saving up if this turns out to be a success." A point system here? Now this is an economy Reigen can work with: he'll have to find some of the best codes for points or whatever.

"But don't worry, I'll keep this out of Mr. Stark's knowledge." Unless something went wrong and he needed to call what he assumes is the closest thing to Peter's legal guardian. He figures there's no harm in letting the kid have fun and potentially make something cool though. This 'Mr. Stark' he keeps hearing about needs to relax.

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Yeah, though I'm not super sure how you get more points but I'm sure there's some method to it." He shrugs.

"I don't know why Mr Stark is so against me drink energy drinks, really. He was glad the train didn't have any." He sighs. "Well, anyways. Guess I'll get some of the purple stuff and start trying to figure out how turn it into an energy drink."

[internetsexsymbol]

"Was he? Well, he's probably just concerned about your dental health and all the chemicals they put in those drinks. Bad for your heart if you have too many." Like Reigen is one to talk about caffeine dependency, the absolute hypocrite. "But hey, we'll know what's in the custom ones, so it's automatically better than the store-bought stuff."

He pauses in thought for a moment, debating for a moment. "That sounds like it could take a lot of tries. You don't want to drink all the purple stuff on your own. I'll test them out too." Reigen is considering this taking responsibility for what happens, in his own way.

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Nah, my dental health is fine." He knows that for certain. He also remembers Tony's reasoning being something along the lines of him having too many allergies and they're bad for him or something. Whatever, Peter loves them anyway.

"It's cool. I have like a super fast metabolism so it might be better for me to test them." Since if they accidentally put too much caffeine in, he's the least likely to die.

[internetsexsymbol]

"Well, what if I just want to try one? My metabolism is perfectly fast. I would show you medical records if I had them on me!" Reigen is not budging on this one. Besides, with how much caffeine he was used to consuming, he probably would have died already by now. It's fine.