voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post October]

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A New Platform [Intro Post October]

On the Train

"Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Horsehoe. Points have been updated on the system and new stock is available."

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. The first thing they may notice is that this platform is inside a basic shelter, making it warmer than the last couple at least.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Adora, Alex Hashimoto, Catra, Cloud Strife, Elizabeth Midford, Feanor, Gerome, Gladiolus Amicitia, Glimmer, Ifrit, Isabella D’Oro, Maru, Nari Reno, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum, Scorpia, Siobahn Chereshei, SXT-2, Tamamo-no-Mae, Tony Stark, Uta, Zidane Tribal

But on the platform itself there are many new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours 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 gloomy, even without the steam and fog. They are in a wooden building, open to the tracks on one side. It in a creaky shelter, cobwebs hang from the rafters and there is a peculiar whistle as wind finds its way through the cracks.

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 gloom 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, with… teddy bear shaped luncheon meat being the main ingredient to be found. There are plenty of other staples.

A new carriage has been added, those that go to investigate will find a room full of lockers, designated as the Armoury. Even for passengers without weapons it is somewhere to secure possessions. There are instructions on how to use the lockers and enough for everyone to claim one.

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 braving the snow 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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"Yeah..." Honestly, Tidus wasn't sure if he wanted to know either. Well, he was curious, but right now-?

"Know what a better magic is?" How about a switch of tunes here, Tidus leaning back in his seat.

"The magic of music! I'm fine sticking with that today!"

What she is getting from this explanation was -- she can make anything as long as she knows how. Does that mean there is a limited supply of ingredients? It shouldn't be a problem if it was the case. "I'll have to do that, then. Look at the pantries and see what we have. I'm used to living in a limited manner and inventing recipes. My country was poor, you know," explained Nike in a thoughtful tone of voice, remembering the times she had to go hungry sometimes and learned to even steal from other relatives.

With the mention of bread with a unique ability, Nike will perk up because "I never heard of bread that can do that!" She already knows bread was delicious, but with a power like that? Could it help? Tilting her head in thought, "...it'd be a waste to use it that way though. The issue is to keep my body full for as long as I can. My body burns food and energy faster than the average person." But as long as she doesn't sing to a large crowd, summon any aspects of the weather, or create her water entities, then she should be okay. "Who makes this interesting bread? I'd like to meet them once I know who they are," added Nike with a small smile growing because she was curious to know who to ask for bread whenever missions pop up.

As curious as she was about the contents of the rucksack, she felt the other item was far more important and was willing to learn more about it. It has a rather odd name: Safety Control Apparatus? In other words, another contraption!

"This thing sounds amazing! It does the job of both of my most important items," commented Nike while touching her ears to find it wasn't there. Not only was her white dress missing, now her earrings too. No wonder she was feeling uncomfortable, or was a few moments ago, before meeting Nita, and she will continue to listen before allowing herself to panic, "But you mentioned, to keep this on when we're in a world, does this mean I need to keep it on in this metal contraption as well? And is this thing going to take us to a world?" She means the train as the metal contraption, it's obvious she wasn't too eager about the thing they were on.

"Sadly, no, I'm not as talented as my other relatives," explained Nike thinking about those who had very little talent to summon the rain learned to use the instruments instead, "But I am a singer! It'd be nice to have somewhere to sing without disturbing anyone." To sing just for fun, not to absorb other people's negative emotions, would be nice especially with there being no sky to stare at.

"Oh, right, I totally forgot to ask for introductions, huh?" replied Nike forgetting her manners, but "Just goes to show how comfortable I feel around you!" With all that said, she'll introduce herself, "My name is Nike though. What's your name?"

"That sounds...hard." Unhelpful, but Roland knows he wouldn't have suggested that if it wasn't at least a challenge he was ready to take on. His brows furrow in thought. "Well, I'll go with whatever you think is best. Here, let me - " His hand immediately summons the folded blueprint handed to him before the start of the Irivar mission, and in his second hand, the pistol in question.

Roland sets the blueprints down on the nearest surface first. Then with a practiced ease, as if he could do it with his eyes blindfolded, the pistol is stripped such that it would be impossible to hurt anyone even if the trigger was accidentally pressed. The lock is in place anyway. He's nothing if not safe.

This is placed on the table, on top of the blueprints. "Guess it's time for the handover. Like I said, I'm following your lead on this one. What you say goes, for me."

"Concerning?" repeated Nike, it was clear this may be the first time anyone may have ever said those words to her. Livi and everyone else in the Sun Kingdom only accepted the situation for what it was. None of them cared about the issues with her body unless to force her to lose an absurd amount of weight to be able to fit in with the kingdom's beauty standards.

Even if Alice's voice was deadpan, there was still an ounce of concern in them, not to mention the way she asks her next question. Nike may just be left flabbergasted. She didn't expect this!

"A-Ah, well," began to stutter Nike before admitting, "I...I don't know how this train or the void will affect me. I can't say for sure if I eat a lot that I won't be in starvation mode the next day." How to explain this? Her green eyes will look to the side, in a thoughtful way, "You see, one of my core abilities is always 'on', I can't turn it 'off' unless I grow too weak to connect." How to explain she can connect with nature, worlds, spirits, and people in general? "I'm known as a Rain Summoner back home. My abilities are not just connected with rain; I can control the weather, absorb negative emotions to create purifying rain, create water creatures, and use hypnosis by singing. To be able to do so, I need to connect with my surroundings, be it the world, nature, spirits, or the very people living there. I can hear and sense their emotions as a group, I can hear when someone's life is coming to an end and can see and communicate with spirits."

"Not hard at all, just time consuming." Senku hummed, shaking his head a little bit.

"I do need a bit of time with this." He admitted, because it would take time no matter what he ended up doing, and a bit of tinkering to set everything in place. A bit of testing as well, to see if it would work.

"I'd like to promise it in an hour, but I'm not like, a pizza guy or something." Senku snickered.

Thankfully, the standard car is not lacking in seats and benches. He leads Xingchen to an empty spot, seats facing one another, with a slim table in between. He carefully lets him feel out the edge, then helps him to seat. When it's clear he's comfortable, Roland takes the opposite spot.

The female voice that rings out of the whole train signals the start of their journey. Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express. 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. This is when Roland reaches out over the table, just to let Xingchen know what to do with his hands - that is, to grab on to the edge of the table. "Brace as soon as you hear the countdown, okay?"

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 -

"Now." And he braces himself, the lurch into the void space unpleasant and jerking, but something he's used to already. Roland keeps an eye for the newcomer instead, making sure he's steady as the train gains its usual speed before lulling steadily stable. "Are you alright?"

"You're really amazing at this whole 'forgive and forget' thing."

Maybe a little too amazing, to a point where it loops around and just becomes a really bad idea.

But surely Senku knows what he's doing. He's a smart guy, right.

"And you're sure they won't sneak in another attempt when you least expect it?"

INTERNAL DEATH GURGLE. There's a girl touching his hand. Alert! I repeat, there's a girl touching his hand!

The odd curve to her smile seems to go over Inigo's head entirely just because of that one fact - there's a girl touching his hand. His brain is just going completely blank at that.

"I- I, I, I.. Inigo!"

Somehow he forced that out. It's a small miracle. How did his attempt at making things get less awkward only fluster him more in the end?

"It is.. n.. n-nice to meet you, milady! The pleasure is all m-mine! If I can do anything to make up what I did to you, please j.. just let me know whenever, alright!"

[ He looks around, surveys the set-up. Of course the main console isn't, and the screen is connected to what it needs for power. But the VR set itself definitely was. So is the controller. He nods. ]

Seems that way. Hm...Ah. Hold on. I think I remember.

[ At least, he hopes! Roland moves to touch the middle button on the controller, and then proceeds to turn the console on. The screen lights up, and voila. That simple?! He shakes his head in amusement. ]

You'd think I'd be able to figure this out faster since I came from a world with bluetooth tech anyway. Heh. [ He offers a hand for her to shake, smile amicable. ] You're new? I'm Roland. Thanks for the assist.

He shakes his head. "There's no need to apologize for that. I always worry about my friends."

And he already considered her one of them.

"Heh, I don't forget anything, but there's no real point in getting mad about it. Anger's not really constructive and besides, picking a fight with one of the few humans left? I'm outmatched anyway."

Senku hummed a moment. "Ten billion percent sure." He was a useful guy, killing him would serve no purpose, would it? "But, if I'm wrong, I'll deal with it then."

[SO POLITE! SO CUTE!

This may just be the first time any cute girl has been so kind to her without lashing out in anger or annoyance after staring at her chest. Or in Luna's case -- grabbing them.

Nike's eyes will begin to sparkle greatly as she feels completely enthusiastic to unleash her powers without realizing 1) her red earrings were gone and 2) she wasn't in her world.

Taking a few steps away from the other girl, Nike will raise her hands.]

Stand back as I make it all disappear!

[All she has to do is relax her body by taking a few deep breaths, concentrate on her surroundings, and begin to chant a spell that will sound similar to the hiss of a snake in a language without translation. It was odd she could not feel a connection surrounding her and yet she can feel the area was willing to cooperate all the same. Almost as if it has to. Which may have something to do with Nike feeling fired up in wanting to impress her new friend. A little too much because the gust of wind will come off stronger than intended. It may slightly push her friend back but not enough to get her off her feet.

In no time the fog will disappear revealing the wooden building they were in that strangely looked like a platform while revealing more people.]

[ Madoka is still considering this whole thing in her head. What can big cutesy worm creatures eat? What couldn't they eat?

But before she can reach an answer, it seems that they have reached something else instead - the kitchen. The door opens up for them, and Madoka immediately points to a big machine sitting on a counter at the side. ]

Ah, look! That there's the soft serve ice cream machine. All you have to do is press a button and it'll come right out! [ She smiles a tiny smile at the duo. ] You just have to grab something to put the ice cream in.

[ You know, unless Wormmon likes eating off the floor?? ]

Wait! How did he do that? Can she do that now too? Or is it his ability at work!? Nike may just copy the way he was holding the basket a moment ago and try to concentrate for it to reappear or imagine it to or wish for it to appear, believing if she believed hard enough it'd just work only to realize, "...hah. It didn't work..."

She'll look a little bum until he continues to explain about being able to collect clothes while going through the field trip. "A-Amazing. You have that much control over your powers?" asked Nike without a second thought. After all, for her to summon the rain, she needs to concentrate on each raindrop she creates, the formation of the clouds, and imagining the type of rainfall she wanted -- it took a lot of concentration and skill to do. Now imagine someone controlling their powers to collect things and teleport them elsewhere. Well, that was her hypothesis on how it works.

Nodding her head, Nike will add, "Let's go. I'm right behind you. Watching you. Very closely." Watch her uncover the way his powers work!!! She was now watching him intensely!

The moment he gave his consent on not minding the company, Nike will be taking a seat right next to him without a second thought, all smiles while doing so. If there was a sky above them, she would be laying down next to him while turning her attention to above. It's unfortunate all she can see and feel is the void.

"Then I'll be taking this seat!" declared Nike in the next instant. It won't be long until she adds, "And the name is Nike! I'm too much of a savage to be referred to as milady, you know. The nobles would have a riot if they only heard you." Although in front of Livi, the World King, they will act outwardly politely while between themselves they'd refer to her title sarcastically. "What about you? Are you a noble, by any chance?" asked Nike next noticing his manner of speaking was very formal. It reminded her of Livius when she first met him.

He shrugs lightly. "Maybe. There's a lot about how the train and the void works that we can't predict. Though regardless, I'm not one to keep the people helping your cause in the dark about what's really going on. Especially when nobody here had a choice to begin with."

Missions off-train can get pretty intense, after all. It only seems fair to ask for more to go on apart from 'save worlds and don't ask questions.' Or maybe they were saving just one world - the old Voidtrecker planet? Who knows. It's not something Roland can bring up to someone who just got on the platform, so he'll hold back.

"We should start heading inside. Maybe get you acquainted with your new home?"

Earrings, at least, would be easier to explain!

Nita nodded. "This 'thing' I'm standing in front of is a train. You don't have them on your homeworld, then?"

This was going to be another of those people who had a lot to learn, weren't they?

"And yes; it's taken us to several worlds, and is sturdy enough to travel through the void between them."

[There may be a pause at the mention of death metal. What genre of music was that again?

Ah.....

Right......

It's the screaming one. The ones her sisters would sing whenever they break up with one of their boyfriends or get absolutely furious about something.]

Wanna check it out? It'd be nice to be able to scream at the top of our lungs! Get all of it out!

[All spoken in a louder tone of voice to showcase Nike's genuine enthusiasm to the idea.]

It may just be what you need!

He's quiet. Inigo has a really hard time thinking of himself and the soon to be born Inigo as the same. Sure, they're the same person, but they don't share the same life. Inigo is getting a second start, he does believe in that, it's just..

What about him then? Who does that make him? In the end he can't get over the thought that there can't be two Inigos. And if his mother and father acknowledge the other one, then.. it's not him. Then he isn't Inigo. Then he needs to become someone else, but he doesn't know who, or where. Or if it's even worth it in the first place if he's going to be all alone.

"This train ride isn't going to last forever though." What good is a second start if there's already such a definite end to it?

"Now why in the world would I get bored in Blue?" Roland replies, returning part of his attention the billy bear meat omelet he's trying to create...to little success.

Exploring? Is that what you call it when you just walk back and forth? [ OKAY, ALICE, MAYBE CHILL OUT A LITTLE. Don't bully the newbies.

Apparently she seems to catch onto the fact that it's not the nicest thing to do a moment later, since she exhales and actually says: ]

Look, if you're trying to find something, you could always just ask someone. People on this train are quite overly eager to help, I've found.

Roland stifles a small chuckle.

"Too bad. I thought getting my upgrade late meant it's on the house." A joke he makes refreshingly, not having the chance to exchange jabs like this since not everyone would have understood. Different earths, different worlds, and all that jazz.

"Tinker away. I'm in no rush to receive it back. Mission's just ended, after all. I appreciate it a lot, Senku." He nods determinately. "Thank you."

Roland realizes what the woman is trying to do, and his suspicions are confirmed when she begins to watch him like a hawk! There's some misunderstanding here, which Roland addresses quickly with a shake of his head.

"That's...not going to work for anyone unless you've got an Arms Band equipped." He says, revealing said item wrapped around his right bicep. "It stores weapons and items. Magitek. You can actually buy it from the store, but let's take it one at a time, shall we?" So Nike can actually continue to watch Roland closely, since this was an educational field trip to help a fellow passenger get acquainted. He'll move out of the cabin, not wanting to linger in the event someone else walks in, moving instead to the direction of the standard cars. Though ICP terminals were going to be littered across most cars, regardless.

"So, let's start with the basics." He stops by a wayside terminal and gives Nike space to maneuver the device with his general direction. "This is the ICP. It's found all over the train and is our main channel for communication, and other functions. Do you have your train ticket on hand?" Roland will gesture with a palm in the air, a slight wave for emphasis.

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A New Platform [Intro Post October]

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