voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2020-11-13 04:28 am
Entry tags:

Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day seven of the month of Imagination." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation

They have about an hour to prepare, a little less than usual but perhaps expected, given the urgency of the task.

The cupboards in the dressing room are open to reveal rows of tents, in all four team colours as well as some basic camp cooking equipment. They are in bags that should be easy enough to carry.

"Shortly arriving on System #6416. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world 6416. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train rocks and lurches, bright colours of the void filling the space and then fading as they fly downwards towards a very green landscape.

Arrival and Initial Task

The train lands in a clearing, curving round in an attempt to fit. Once everyone who wishes to disembark has done it flies back into the air, vanishing from sight.

The air is heavy and humid, though it is not currently raining. The clearing is open to the sky and looking up will reveal a worrying sight. The sky is an angry red colour, colours shifting as if the clouds themselves were on fire. It's an unnerving sight.

Their SCA's show three points, one Orange, One purple and one that is half blue and half red. The three control centres. Each are a few hours treck through the jungle and it certainly feels like there is no time to waste.

Those that don't want to treck through the forest can start setting up camp, though the darkening sky might be a little distracting. As time goes on flecks of fire drift down, though they extinguish before hitting the forest floor.

Orange are to travel to the north, Purple to the south and Blue and Red must travel together to the west. Each route takes them through thick and unrelenting jungle. Flying is difficult here unless you can get up past the canopy layer, which means vision of the ground is severely hampered.

The control stations themselves are half buried in vines and require cutting into. If voidtreckers are unlucky they will meet their first security robots here, firing on the intruders. They might even meet their first giant Armadillos, the creatures are curious and may wish to investigate. They are not helpful or constructive to trying to power up the stations and prevent the destruction of the planet.

The control stations are simple enough to operate, but there's quite a lot that needs to be done in way of repairs and clearing. It will take a team effort to get it in working enough order to activate the shield.

The shield itself, when it is activated, is mostly invisible but there is a loud humming sound. The meteor, which has gotten more visible throughout the five hours, hits the shield and splinters, fire enveloping the whole sky. It is visibly terrifying, but no fire falls to earth, no rocks get through, the planet is safe.

Ongoing

Once the planet is safe the voidtreckers deserve a rest. But once the next morning dawns it is time to start with their next tasks, to make sure that this planet stays safe from future threats.

Red

The robots at the control stations are not the only malfunctioning security robots around. They roam the jungle, or are more often stranded in the jungle, powering up only when faced with a new threat.

Some are benign, terraforming machines whose only crime is using up precious power. These need to be dismantled so that power can be saved for the shield system. Others are security robots that will attack the intruders to the planet.

Though the machines are scattered they are often obvious, emitting warning alarms or flashing lights. Their SCA's will show some areas where there are larger clusters but machines can be found anywhere.

Purple

Their SCA's are filled with hundreds of purple dots, each a solar stations that needs cleared and brought back online. It's not the most glamourous job, the stations are deep in the jungle, the treck is difficult and most of the work needed is weed clearing.

But once the weeds have been cut away they will need to patch up the station, doing basic maintenance to get it back online. In some cases wires need to be patched back together but it shouldn't take any great feats of engineering to get the stations up and running.

They may run into some of the security automatons, needing to fight their way into the stations before they can begin the clean up operations.

Orange

Like the red team their SCA will show areas where there are clusters of the small insectoid automatons that need to be rescued and restored. However they can be found anywhere throughout the jungle, they are not too suited for the terrain outside of the stations and so they have gotten tangled in vines. They can be found powered down, stranded and in dire need of maintenance.

Tools and spare parts can be found in many of the solar stations that purple team have been locating. Actually repairing the robots takes some engineering knowledge but once they are restored they will go about their tasks in the stations. They will need help getting to the further flung stations as well as the main control centres.

They are very basic in design and follow pre programmed instructions rather than being able to hear and listen to orders. But once in the correct place they are very effective at their job.

Blue

Once the shield is up there is a faint humming that can be heard throughout the jungle if they listen closely and find it among the sound of rain and insects. But once they hear it, it is obvious where it is louder and more prominent.

Their SCA will pin point some of the larger control boxes but there are truthfully too many to show on a map. Not all of them have attracted Violet Pandas, but many of them have.

They are curious creatures, both of the power boxes and the voidtreckers. They are protective of each other but not so much of territory and therefore it is not difficult to move them on. Keeping them away is another matter, the power humming is interesting and they will unearth wires and chew through them. It doesn't seem to do them much harm, there is clearly safety stops in the system for such eventualities. It does however cut power off to entire solar stations and require a lot of patch work.

Good luck voidtreckers!
irrationally: (we've not sung before)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-07 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
See, this is even a good opportunity for her to see the girl fight. Especially since Alice knows just exactly how long those robots will remain stunned this way, so it's not even like she's just putting the younger girl in danger - Alice may be slightly odd, but she'd never do that.

But it's nice to see. The way she jumps, the way she uses her dagger. It's skillful, managing to seek out the right point to attack it right away.

Alice waits just a moment to take it all in, but then she lets the teapot in her hands fade as she instead pulls out her metal hobby horse, swinging it straight against a second robot's 'head' - or what would pass for a head on a human, anyway.

It sure leaves a nice indentation in the shape of the horse's head as the robot topples over.

"That's two." Between hers and the girl's.
knifewithnoname: (listening)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-09 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes." She grinned, that hobby horse really was useful! "You do be doing good."

She was a good robot smasher. "We do be doing the last one together."

It would take no time at all. She grinned and ran towards it.
irrationally: (Default)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-11 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Together, huh? It isn't something Alice is entirely used to, but of course she's not going to deny the girl that if it's what she wants.

"Fine. It seems these things too slow either way to do something about us before we do something about them."

She does know, however, that it means she's going to have to be a whole lot more careful here - Alice wouldn't accidentally want to smash the girl alongside the robot. It's something she's unused to, but she could probably manage if she really tried.

So she makes sure to pay close attention to where the young girl is heading, her exact trajectory. So Alice can make sure that when she swings her hobby horse a moment later, it's striking exactly a different part of the robot than the part the girl is targeting.
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-12 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
She trusts her not to hit her, trusts that she is a good enough fighter. She is small and quick and between the two of them the robot is no more.

Once it is down she looks around, no more for now, and begins prying the petal apart. "The man with a number for a name did be showing me what parts do be being useful." She explained.
irrationally: (and set sail for dreamsy)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-13 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
"A number for a name?" She asks, curiously, though not stopping the other girl whatsoever from prying open the robot. A little curiosity for kids is good! Go on, look and see what's inside of that weird robot thing.

In the meantime Alice just squats next to the girl and the remainders of the robots, seeming to think about those words for a moment. She doesn't recall hearing about anyone with numbers for a name..

"We have someone like that on the train?"
knifewithnoname: (I dislike you)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-13 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes." She nodded, "He do be being number forty seven on the roster, right at the bottom. He do be looking like this."

She pulled her liniest line face, such a face she would never dare pull if he could see her. But as weird, dangerous and often wrong Alice was she wouldn't tell on her.

She hoped.
irrationally: (now i can't sing; i can't feel)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-15 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
For a moment Alice just stares.

But then - for all the ideas this girl may have about her - she does something unexpected. Not telling on the girl, no, of course not, but.. she can't contain her amusement at seeing this odd little girl of all people try to imitate someone Alice now obviously recognizes, just from that iconic face.

So she actually starts laughing. It doesn't even have a meanspirited edge to it, it's just genuine laugher ringing out. So much so that Alice's shoulders start to shake, her hand moving to cover up her mouth, like a polite habit that somehow hasn't been stomped out of her over the years.

"Oh-- Oh no, that looks exactly like him!" And it's hilarious.
knifewithnoname: (nose wrinkle)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-17 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
She's never heard Alice laugh before. It surprises her but not in a bad way. It's not nasty laughter, she's not laughing at her. Or she is, but not in a cruel way.

She smiled, breaking her line facing face.

"It do be." She agreed, she knew she could do that face because Kant often had exactly the same face.
irrationally: (now i can't sing; i can't feel)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-17 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Even by the time she's no longer laughing out loud, the amusement is still reflected in Alice's voice as she speaks.

"He does always look like that, doesn't he? It's quite odd! As if he may die the moment he cracks a smile." Says the girl.. who never smiles either.. But look, at least she proved she can now!
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-20 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"He do always be looking like that, I do no even be thinking he do be knowing how to be smiling."

Even Kant smiled sometimes, not often. But she had seen it happen. Then again she had only known the man with a number for a name for a few months and she had known Kant for the whole of her life.

Alice was someone else who didn't smile a lot, but now she had proven she could.

"But I did no be knowing you could be laughing."

Laughing and singing, many things she had learned about Alice today.
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-20 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, of course I can! Anyone can."

Though she - at least - doesn't sound like she thinks it's a totally ridiculous thing for the girl to say. Alice can kind of figure out where it's coming from. Even though she may be better at facial expressions than the guy they were discussing, it's not exactly like they often skew to the happier side of the emotional spectrum. It's more often than not fifty shades of annoyed.

"It's just that some people don't have as much to laugh about as others." Like Alice. It's been a rough, rough life. And it's been a long time since Wonderland was enough of a welcome retreat for her to be able to laugh there.
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-26 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"That do be being true."

And some people were too serious. They didn't laugh because things were bad. But things were always bad and she knew no rules that said you couldn't laugh regardless.

"But you did be laughing today, so there do still be being some things."
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-26 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
...

You know what? The girl is right. Alice hadn't even really considered as much herself yet, but her saying it this plainly makes it clear that it's just true. Even after all that happened to her, Alice can still laugh.

She hasn't totally been broken or ruined.

"I suppose you're right," she even admits, not ashamed of it. "Though I do hope there are still plenty of things you can laugh about as well."

As odd as the other girl can be at times, Alice would never wish anything but the best for any child.
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-26 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"I do be knowing how to be laughing." She nodded.

She didn't find stupid things funny like the riddles the boy at the Halloween party tried to tell her but there were other things that were funny, that made her laugh.

"My face do no be being stuck yet."
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2020-12-27 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Good." That's the way it should be, especially at the girl's age. "Make sure to let anyone who tries to make your face get stuck get what they deserve."

Read: a stabbing. At the very least. But Alice is pretty sure the girl knows what she means without her having to say it out loud.
knifewithnoname: (laugh)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-27 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"I will be being." She grinned, a wicked grin, showing teeth.

"I do be promising."

After all it was practically an order, and she's very good at following those.