voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post December]

Entry tags:

A New Platform [Intro Post December]

On the Train

It's only been a couple of days since the Voidtrecker Express took to the void once more, and many of the passengers are still recovering and recuperating after a very hectic end to their latest mission. Nevertheless, they are awoken by a familiar message.

"Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Imagination. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed, and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train for 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 the windows fill with the fog that means they are at a platform. It is warm outside with a pleasant breeze that flows down the platform, rustling the light spread of leaves that litter the floor.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Akemi Homura, Alfred the Poisoner, Donatello Versus, Chie Satonaka, Joscelin Fitzthomas, Ronan Lynch, Rose Tyler, Tangle the Lemur, Trowa Barton, Wester Mazaki and Whisper the Wolf all pass through the platform, not looking back before they disappear through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

But on the platform itself there are 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 the swirling leaves at their feet, moving in flurries and rattling against each other softly. As their eyes adjust, they will see they are on a platform, cement and packed earth forming a very practical, plain-looking shelter. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single track extending both ways into thick fog.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own and a style 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 eight 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's 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 lead to something terrible. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

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 (see
'Publications'). The store rooms have been restocked with more jars of honey, the ingredient of the month of Imagination, as well as sundries.

A new carriage has been added right next to the luggage carriage. It is a second medical carriage, or triage carriage. Downstairs is more open with beds and chairs, upstairs are two surgical bays for those that need immediate attention.

For those intrigued by the claim of a parcel for every passenger they will find several large boxes filled with small blue bags. Inside each bag is ten dark blue coins imprinted on each side with a silver snowflake. Each bag has a small label with a passengers name. On the other side of the label it reads: Keep these safe for now.

Of course for any passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage as well.

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 taking advantage of the pleasant weather and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view again 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!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Demyx was watching him, he had the urge to go through his own bag, but he didn't know what he was going to find and he wasn't sure he wanted to do it where people could watch.

Instead, he watched the stranger dig something out...he still didn't know what he was looking at.

"Is that like a phone of some kind?" Demyx was familiar with the gummiphone. At least, he knew how to push one button and call one person, but details.

"Not really, no," Alley flattened her hand against the side of the train, looking up at it.

"I suspect I won't have much choice, though."

This was either the Fade, which was her best guess now, or she'd somehow been... sent somewhere else entirely.

Either way, such places had a way of forcing one to do what it wanted.

Edited 2020-12-02 04:42 (UTC)

"I promise not to work on it." Senku said with a chuckle and approached to take a look.

"Show me where you're stuck." He didn't mind sharing information anyway, he rather enjoyed it.

She raises her hands to her head and groans. The day for the most part had been good, but this was important.

She groans, and makes a sound that even the train can't translate. The emotion is there: it's the deep frustrating sound of someone who is putting a bit too much pressure on herself and has hit a wall.

A sharp inhalation of breath later and she's mostly to her even-tempered self. She nods, fixing her gaze back to the device as though staring at it would reveal some unknown solution.

"There's a meeting among all the teams in a couple of days. I wanted to return this leg to its owner by tomorrow." She frowns. "At this rate, I don't think I'm going to meet the deadline." And, if her setting of time was right, the night cycle would be starting in about an hour...

Maybe she bit off too much than she could chew.

He seemed to be parsing that for a moment and he nodded. "Ah, you mean like a smart hookup with artificial intelligence, that sort of thing." Senku said, considering it. "I would say nothing like that, but it's a matter of debate the role the train itself plays in that sort of thing, but it's not a network where it communicates with us or anything."

Senku was definitely not a kid, but some people might guess his age wrong anyway, either physically or actually.

"I know." He said with an amused smile. "It's quite possible that Webmind is hooked in too, but I've only talked to the guy once, so I've got no idea."

There were buttons, as far as Senku knew, on the screen of his own SCA before it was broken. He didn't know if she would find some other way that it functioned. He wasn't really aware of any accommodations being made for any of the other passengers in regards to equipment.

"It would be like that but with everyone who has one of those wristbands. On the train they don't do that though, you just have the intercoms in the train cars."

Eight showed the small hydraulic system that had been causing her trouble. The system looked mostly functional, but... "It's a hydraulic joint for the knee. The pressure inside isn't staying consistent. It either loses too much pressure or locks up."

It was the last major obstacle in her path, and it was the most important one. She's not sure if Senku could figure something out without touching it, but she was open to his expertise.

"How surprising." Eight couldn't help herself. If anything she'd be surprised if this guy worked a day of his life.

"We're all in the same boat though. What are you going to do, not do anything the whole time you are here?" She growled.

I. Platform
Out of the fog, he is the last one to appear after the others. But if only, he takes a moment to change and shape-shift from his true appearance, before anyone can see. As the steam clears, he changes his form to appear as a handsome youth. Among the figures as a part of the group of arrivals, he is wearing a blue hoodie and a rucksack on his back. He preferred red, but it will do. Usually, he's picky with his fashion. He'll figure what's going on later.

He has long black hair and wears a pony-tail. Golden eyes sharp and clever like that of a fox, a casual stance, and a polite smile for the others.

He can be seen accompanying with the other man, wearing a purple hoodie, and wearing a large, wide brimmed straw hat on him, speaking the same language from their homeworld with much excitement about a vehicle that travels to other worlds.

He'll be the last one to leave as well, as once he's certain he's onboard the train and he hopped on, following in suit, not looking back to the fog unceremoniously without a care.

II. On the train
Once he's certain that Xie Lian is all right, settled in, and he's exploring and being of help in the kitchen (warning: his food is deadly as Wei Wuxian's cooking), he relaxes, being casual, hands behind his head, crossing his legs, and he's always within close range, never far from him.

Whoever is sitting next to him, "So this train. It's a vehicle of sorts? And it can travel through space?"

Whatever starts the conversation to get to know his crewmates and passengers better.

III. Kitchen
It may not look like it, but he does have a helpful side. In the kitchen, he's trying to be of help to the humans for reasons. His partner Xie Lian ruins the food during meal prep, and he knows it's deadly for human consumption. He quickly replaces the ruined food, so the humans on board don't notice and works quickly without Xie Lian knowing.

"Give me a moment. Here." He hands over a dish of noodles, rice, of foods he knows from his homeworld, freshly cooked and gentle on human stomachs.

IV. Wildcard
[He's wherever exploring the train. He's not human. Being a ghost-type, he's passing off as human so your supernatural being may not be able to sense his spirit energy, but let say they could? What then? xD]

Edited 2020-12-02 05:10 (UTC)

"A phone?" He actually laughs, although it's a short, harsh sound. "What, have you been bingeing period shit set Before?"

His hands close around the device, twist, and spread apart again. What looked like a phone suddenly splits open and rearranges itself, opening up into a much more delicate-looking piece of technology. In his hands its purpose may not be immediately obvious, but when he lifts it and fixes it on his left ear, it becomes clear it's some kind of headset.

"Oh, that's better," he sighs as his Interface boots up. He looks back up at the stranger and then makes a deliberate, obvious flicking motion of one hand in the other guy's direction. He watches for a response-- well, an electronic response, but he is just kind of squatting there and staring intensely.

Wei Wuxian whistling while walking through the train, twirling his flute when not immediately adjacent to another person. He nodded politely when he spotted her. "Hi, welcome to the train. Strange place, right?"

In the kitchen, he's trying to be of help to the humans for reasons. His partner Xie Lian ruins the food during meal prep, and he knows it's deadly for human consumption. He quickly replaces the ruined food, so the humans on board don't notice.

He saw the child staring at the raw ingredients on the counter, and he stood there without saying a word, but he intuitively knew what he wanted.

Smiling kindly, "Hello. I'm cooking. What do you want to eat?"

"The first thing I'd try is to consider the oil's viscosity, maybe it needs a bit of a blend to get it moving a little smoother." Senku said, without needing to touch it at all.

"Aside from that, check the wiring to make sure you don't have it snagged somewhere where it might be catching accidentally and causing sudden changes in the flow."

"This thing requires a physical key to operate!" He sounds so. affronted. He reaches into his pocket and removes the ticket, the one that had been in his hand when he first 'woke up' out there on that creepy train platform.

He stands back and to the side a little, so she's able to see as he inserts the ticket into the slot on the side of the screen. The display changes immediately, loading the passenger roster. "Oh, hello," he says, genuinely surprised to see something useful. "Look at this."

"Glad to hear it, uncle. Fresh air is good for you," Wei Wuxian said with a grin. "It's nice to see you out and about."

"Hey." Up until now he's been gruff and aggravated and intense, but there's a very palpable gentling to him as he turns on the chair to face Eight. He reaches out like he's going to squeeze her shoulder, but stops just before actually making contact.

"This isn't hard to fix, it's just a matter of having the right parts, yeah?" he says. His deep voice is still quiet and very sincere. "Why don't you show me what you've got for gaskets in here and we can see if we can find something that fits a bit better. Unless you don't have anything remotely appropriate, I bet we can get this functioning again by tomorrow."

The Inquisitor doesn't move any closer until that roster comes up. Her eyebrows go up, and she swears quietly under her breath as she comes up beside him to take a look.

"Vishante kaffas--" Maybe she would have to use the stupid thing, after all.

Maybe with no one else around. That could happen, right?

Right?

"That's a lot of people."

"Intercoms?" Look, this was all still very new to her.

"And where's your... wrist thing?"

Devero's turn to parse, lips pursed as he considers what he's just been told. "I just don't understand how this thing can operate without onboard computers," he says finally, a little helplessly. And he just means this thing as a vehicle in general, never mind the whole voidcraft aspect. He's not really aware of yet.

"Three, then," he corrects himself. "Maybe. What a nightmare." He presses a hand over his eyes for a moment, then lowers it and looks at the other guy. "I'm Devero," he says, and flicks his hand in the gesture that transmits his public cookie-- his introduction, so to speak-- to the stranger's...

Interface. Right. No one here seems to have one.

The screen in front of his left eye lights up briefly red in an error alert; he curls his fingers and draws his hand up to his chest. "Hn. He/him. Thanks for the info, even though it's terrible."

"Ink tank?" Gen had to smile, though, not just because it's the socially expected response, but because the Octoling was so excited, it was contagious. "I'm very happy for you, my friend, in all honesty. But I can't say I understand the significance."

"Will you be able to do some sort of art project with it?" he asked.

"That is a lot of people," he echoes in agreement. He scrolls the list with a fingertip, stopping it with a sharp tap when an intimately familiar string of numbers and letters appears. Given that almost everything else on the list is, y'know, actually a name, this entry kind of stands out.

"What the hell," he says, laying his finger on his own entry. "How did they get my EMID?!"

Eight looks over at Devero with a curious tilt. Was he... showing her kindness? How strange. She did not see it in him, but... well, it was a good quality to have on what seemed to be his first day here.

"We... if you are for eel, um..." She pointed to the edge of the work station, where a small shelf was stocked with a clutter of random metal bits and bobs. "This work station was once owned by a mechanic, I think. That was the last of what needed to be sorted. If there are any washers, it'd be in there."

"And um..." She paused, giving the man a good, honest look. "Thank you, even if we don't find any."

"Why, is it a secret, or something?" Alley glanced up and over, raising one scar-crossed eyebrow. "I'm assuming you didn't wander into this situation of your own volition, either, so I'd guess they got it the same way they got you. By being shitty and mysterious."

Her voice was improving with all the talking, just a little. The improvement was very subtle, but it was there. Damage and disuse were a hell of a combination.

"It could quite possibly have onboard computers in the carriage that is operating the train, but as we can't access it, I can't confirm that." Senku answered. "The door to the engine carriage does not work, from what I've heard, people have thrown all kinds of things at it."

Senku watched him as he decided what he was doing, thinking he might have wanted to shake hands, maybe, but he withdrew it before he could act so he didn't mention it. "Ishigami Senku. Everyone calls me Senku though." He paused a moment, since he'd been offered pronouns and returned the same. "The same for me, he/him." If that helped Devero classify things as clearly he was some kind of machine, at least in part. It was fascinating.

"I'm more the logical sort, not the kind to spin happy stories for the sake of them." His tone was almost apologetic. "No problem. I'm more interested in the facts I can find around here and there..aren't as many as I'd like. There are a lot of answers we don't have. Like you, I've been taken from my world against my will."

"Ah, my mistake, this panel on the wall." Senku said, going over to tap it gently.

He flushed lightly. "It's broken. I had lost it, they've found it, but it's smashed."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 12 of 129

A New Platform [Intro Post December]

no subject

no subject

no subject

she has MORE

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Hua Cheng | Heaven official's blessing | ota

no subject

no subject

II.

no subject

no subject

Re: Xiao Xingchen | The Untamed | ota

EXCELLENT

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject