voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post December]

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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!

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There's a sliiight moment of contemplation, but it doesn't take very long at all before Inigo just says: "Sure."

It's not like it could hurt, right? Even though he has absolutely no idea of what he'll find once he's looking through the odd device.

So he moves to sit down, leaning over to look into it, one eye closed, and--

"W-What's this? It doesn't even look like a leaf!" It's hard to tell if he's impressed or confused with that tone. Maybe it's both.

"That is entirely a leaf, that's just what it looks like when you look at what is normally too small to see, on a cellular level." Senku was pleased by his tone. Confusion was fine, but the impressed tone heartened him a little. He would stand by, forever, the adage that science was cool.

"A cellular level?" He repeats, clearly confused.

Though that really was an instinctive reply. It's proven by the fact that Inigo raises his face from the device a moment later, looking at Senku with wide eyes. Sweet Naga, he knows what he's about to unleash. So Inigo quickly waves his hands in a dismissive sort of way, and says--

"W-Wait, no, don't explain! I think I'm fine not knowing!" Because any scientific explanation from Senku may just cause Inigo's brain to leak straight out of his ears. He won't be able to take it. He's not smart enough for it.

"What else would you want to look at like this? What is it telling you?" Maybe that's something he can at least understand.. As long as Senku (hopefully) keeps it simple..

He chuckled at Inigo trying to head him off. "All you need to know is that living things are made of cells. Even you. You can see them with the microscope."

That was nice and easy wasn't it?

"What's interesting about that, in particular, is that it's different from other leaves I've seen. There's something different about Irivar and while I don't understand what it is yet, I can tell that much. That makes it interesting on that reason alone."

...

That's an easy explanation, but also a terrifying one while he doesn't know what these cells are. He doubts Senku means prison cells, but then what kind of cells are they, and why are they named the same way?! And why is Inigo made out of them! By Naga, he really has to ask Roland about it sometime, at least he can usually put these things in some sort of way that doesn't terrify Inigo..

"I see I understand that.." The latter part, he means. If you can really see some difference using this machine, then of course Senku would find that interesting. That seems exactly like something that'd be up his alley.

Though thinking about that seems to make Inigo realise something else.

".. Ah, right. You wanted to take a look at my blood too, didn't you?"

"Oh yes!" He brightened at that and pulled out a couple of slides and he hums.

"I need a drop on this piece of plastic here. It's called a slide." He pulled out his knife and pricked his own finger and dripped it onto one of the slides. He puts another piece of plastic on it to press the blood between the two plastic rectangles.

"Have you got a knife or something?" He hadn't made a bone needle yet, so the knife had to do. He was avoiding sharing one though, if at all possible.

"No, but it's fine."

Yes, it's fine. Don't mind Inigo casually just summoning his entire sword forth out of his Arms Band. This is cool. And fine.

There truly is no reason to panic though, since Inigo is skilled enough with it to be careful. He peeled apples back home with this thing! He pokes his finger, and though it's more a very tiny cut than just a prick, it's still small enough to not be a bother. Yet big enough to easily squeeze out a drop onto one of the slides.

"There. That's good enough, right?" His sword disappears again, and Inigo puts his finger into his mouth to suck off the very slight excess blood.

"Perfect." Senku complimented and slid another plastic slide over that one. "And don't do that. Your mouth has all kinds of bacteria in it." He advised and then clipped his sample in first to take a look.

"This is what my blood looks like under the microscope." He said after a moment and stepped out of the way. "Elevated white blood cells at the moment, but that's not surprising I had a bad allergic reaction a week ago."

There's a mumble from Inigo - really not something anyone could understand, since he's talking around the finger he's still got in his mouth, despite Senku's warning. But he's probably trying to say something along the lines of 'but I always do this'.. then again, much more basic hygienic rules are already lose on Inigo, so maybe this is just a lost cause.

At least he seems content with how it stops bleeding a moment later, and he leans over to take a look into the microscope as well the moment Senku steps away.

"How can you see that?"

The white blood cells thing, he means.. Are they literally white? Are these more of the things they're made of? This is all so confusing for a simple medieval boy.

"They are the ones that look different from the red ones." Senku explained. "The red ones are red blood cells. They do different things in the body, so depending on how many white ones you have it can tell you different things about what your body is doing."

He leaned against the table, letting Inigo look as much as he liked.

"It's a tool people use in medicine to help diagnose what's going on with their patient." In the modern times anyway.

He seems to quietly contemplate the information for a moment. Or at the very least the parts of it he can understand. And after that quiet moment, he gestures from the microscope with Senku's blood under it over to the thing that currently has his own blood.

"Is something wrong with me if it looks different than yours?"

Because that's kind of how it sounds when Senku puts it like that. But Inigo doesn't think he feels any different than any other human being would.. Probably.

"Not at all." Senku shook his head. "And there's nothing actually wrong with me, all that it indicates is that something was wrong with me, at some point, in the near past. I know what it was, so I don't have to worry about it. If I didn't know what it was, it could be something active and I would have to worry about it."

He hummed. "You're from a different world from me. Your blood could look the same, or it could look different. I'm going to guess it will look different because you said some of it was dragon blood, right?"

".. it is."

Though Inigo has no idea if that'll make it look different or not under this odd device. He's assuming it would, since it's not like his and Senku's blood is the same, but who knows..

"It's Naga's Holy Blood, so please, do be careful with it." It's not like Inigo knows if it's still holy even outside of his body, but it can't hurt to be careful, right.

And if Senku does bother to put it under the microscope and look, he will see that it really is different from how Senku's blood looks - even different from how Senku's blood would normally look. There are some similarities, sure, but it's still very, very different.

"No problem." Senku took out the slide with his blood on it and then carefully slid the next slide into place.

He was very careful with his science equipment anyway. He couldn't help it, he leaned in to look through the eyepiece.

It's so much more different than he could've imagined and he's absolutely delighted.

"This is just fascinating." He grinned. "Take a look." He leaned back so Inigo could see for himself.

Inigo lets out a half-curious sound when Senku says it's fascinating. And when the other lets him look, Inigo does so. It's not quite as fascinating to him, since his brain can't really wrap itself around the implications, but at the very least he can tell that it looks really different from how Senku's did a few moments ago..

Well, at least it makes him feel a bit more reassured that he really was approved to be part of the royal family by Naga. At least enough to share her blood.

"It really is different," he just says at first. Then he finally moves back again so Senku can look at it once more. "Why is it fascinating though? Do you just like seeing how different it is?"

"That's exactly why I find it fascinating." Senku agreed with a nod. "No one in my world's blood would look like this. All of their blood would look like mine for the most part. It's really interesting."

He had strange hobbies, perhaps.

"Oh.." At least he seems to kind of grasp the idea. It doesn't even seem like too weird of thought to him, not even odd enough to put into the 'one of those Senku things' category.

Instead he just nods.

"I guess that makes sense. Honestly, blood from most of the people in my world may look more like yours.." They're just regular people, after all. Although maybe even regular people blood is different across worlds? Inigo never even really thought about it before. "Only the royal family has this kind of blood where I'm from."

"That's possible then if what makes your blood unique is tied to being in the royal family." Senku hummed and took a look again just because he could and that was interesting.

"Really fascinating. I spent a lot of time studying biology and medicine so I was interested in seeing if we had a different makeup in our blood, which we do. Now I'm wondering if it's like that for other people on the train."

"You should see!"

It's a pretty easy thought to jump to after Senku says that, right? Especially since Inigo now knows first hand that it's not like Senku needs a lot of blood for it or anything.. He doubts people would mind pricking themselves like this.

"Do you know if Gen's is the same as yours?" Those two come from the same place, right? So their blood would probably be the same, unless something is up with either of them.

"Well, I've never looked at his blood personally because I have only had a microscope for a small amount of time and it's never come up. He's not sick very much or anything, but I would assume it's like any other human of my world's yes."

He hummed slightly. "Blood was fairly standard, so there's an entire branch of medicine around studying blood called hematology."

Inigo quietly takes in the information, seeming to consider it to himself for a moment.

"Studying blood.. So that's all those people do as their work?" He doesn't sound sceptical of the idea necessarily. Senku has no reason to lie to him about this, after all, but it still sounds so.. odd. Inigo can't imagine something like that at all where he comes from. Even before the world went to shit and there was hardly time left for anything, let alone various studies.

"That's right. Humans discovered that a lot of diseases and illnesses showed through changes in the blood." Senku explained as simply as he could.

"So what I was talking about, in the basics of mine..." He swapped the slides deftly, but carefully so Inigo could look if he liked. "You see the white blood cells that are kind of clear with a little dot in the middle, and you see the red blood cells which are the red dots. Normally, I'd have less of the white ones. When you have too many, usually it means there's some kind of infection or inflammation. If it's particularly high, it's likely something is going on right now. Mine's only a little higher than normal meaning most likely that it is something that happened recently, which it did."

...

This is still a little hard for Inigo, so give him a moment to process it here. The upside of it is that it is still relatively simple enough for him to grasp the concept, but he may be trying to connect some things in his head here. Trying to think of what this could be useful for here on the train.

"You know.. That voidsickness thing they talked about before."

Inigo gestures over at the slides.

"Do you think that's something that could show up in blood too?"

"That's an interesting theory. It could." Senku confirmed with a bit of a nod. "Like other illnesses but I'd need to do more research on that. We'd need more hard data."

It was an interesting proposition.

Slowly Inigo's expression changes a little from the thoughtful one of a moment ago. It's like a light is starting to shine in his eyes.

"W-Wait, you mean that? Did I just say something smart?"

He may be sounding a little bit too happy about that.

A New Platform [Intro Post December]

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