voidtreckermods: (train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-05-09 06:48 am

What their Eyes See: Start

"Good Morning Voidtreckers, today is day five of the month of Llama." 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 and Arrival

As usual they have a couple of hours before arrival to ready themselves for the mission ahead. As promised the dressing carriage is open for them to find suitable clothing. Trench coats, a lot of leather, a lot of black with neon colours thrown in here and there. There is a lot of choice in a variety of sizes so everyone is bound to find something to fit. Hopefully something they like, though some passengers may be more comfortable with the fashion choices than others.

A couple of hours after the announcement of the mission the voice speaks again. "Shortly arriving in system #93426194992. Arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train shakes as it leaves the void, colours fading to be replaced to a grey thick smog outside the windows.

The train bumps slightly as it hits rails, snaking its way towards the city before entering a tunnel. A few moments and they come to a stop, the doors open onto a platform. Stepping out into the station the first thing to hit them is noise, it sounds like there are ten different advertisements blaring, someone or something is playing loud music. There's a lot of flashing signs, screens with advertisements, bright lights that change colour for no real apparant reason. Heavy on the senses as they make their way to the gates.

They will find that their SCAs allow them through the barriers and into the wider train station, which is somehow even louder. It is busy as well, people hurrying from place to place. There are signs declaring this to be Tier Three, Home of Manufacturing. as well as signs pointing the way to lifts, to take them to other tiers.

Tier One

Mapping

For those travelling up to tier one the first thing they will notice when they leave the lift is, it is a lot quieter up here. Peaceful even, there are people around, all looking official and busy. None will pay the Voidtreckers any mind unless they are acting particularly suspicious.

The air feels better here, probably because the whole tier is encased with a dome that they will be able to see as they enter, coming from a lift near the edge of the tier. The buildings are all harsh dark metal, almost uniform in design. The streets are clean and there has been an attempt at greenery with some shrubs and simple plants.

The buildings all need to be accessed using their SCA's. Their SCA maps show them where the buildings are but give no information about them, nor do they have maps of inside. Once the voidtreckers enter they will find that their maps fill in as they explore.

There are plenty of different buildings, offices, labs and meeting rooms. There are also a lot of security staff and anyone acting too suspiciously will be approached and questioned. Hopefully they have a plan, blend in or sneak around.

Flickers

Sometimes though that is a little harder, they might enter a room to find themselves on their old street, in a world they have visited before on the train or somewhere else that is decidedly not here. These illusions get more common as time goes on and people will begin seeing the illusions of others or find the two scenes merging together.

Voidtreckers who are immune to illusions will not see these strange visions and those who are particularly strong willed will be able to fight them off. Once people know they are illusions they can focus through them to see reality even if it is overlaid with what their minds want to see. It will take a lot of concentration to stay focused and get an accurate map.

Tier Two

A Mystery

The lift here brings them out into a glass covered corridor. Outside the glass the air is thick with smog but the filtration systems means that the air seems fine inside, especially with their SCA's helping out. Outside the tunnels they will be able to see the lights of hovercars zipping around and the silhouettes of buildings. Office blocks and large houses make up this sector. Large billboards blare out advertisements at all hours, neon lights shining through the smog.

The atmosphere of the sector is one of fear, people hurry about their business, keeping an wary eye on their surroundings. The newcomers won't get too much scrutiny but people are likely to be very wary if approached or questioned.

But they will talk once they guage them to not be a threat. Murders. Six people dead, from inside their own houses. Locked doors, security systems, all for nothing. Is it a serial killer? But the reports suggested an animal attack? From what animals?

Getting access to the houses will take some negotiating or breaking and entering. The bodies themselves have been cleared by law enforcement, caution tape still up to keep out any nosy public.

The rooms the bodies were found in were all rooms that used holograms as decoration and the voidtreckers will realise when they enter them that these holograms seem a lot more realistic than some of the others they might have seen in their stay in the sector so far.

Creatures

As they talk to people, or overhear gossip they will hear more about animal attacks. Someone swears they saw a lion prowling the streets. A hovercar crashed and the driver swore they had been attacked by an eagle. Neither of those creatures live in the city. Neither of those creatures exist on this world anymore.

But the Voidtreckers will quickly learn there is something to these rumours, especially as dark falls, the feeling they are being hunted. A paw tread, a tail disappearing around a corner. As days go on they may get attacked by a bear, a tiger or perhaps a creature from their own world, one that should not exist here at all...

Tier Three

A Crisis

Leaving the station brings them into crowded streets, air thick with smog, Up above them is the floor of the plate above, set with bright lights to offset the lack of natural light getting through. Billboards and screens blare advertisements, traders yell their wares. Life is fast and swirls around them as they step out into the streets.

Here also there is an air of worry. The talk is all of Spectura, kids unconcious after playing video games, hospital overflowing. Spectura's fault, there are calls for accountability, claims of sabotage. No person gives the same story and it becomes clear that most people don't know what has happened but almost everyone knows someone who has been affected. Fear, blame, tensions are high.

But life must go on, the factories never stop, people can't not work and with so many people unconscious people have to pick up the slack. The whole sector feels at breaking point.

If they try and buy Spectura systems they will not be stopped though they will need to sign a waiver, to take on all responsibility for what might happen to them if they go into the system.

Spectura


There are a whole range of games to look through, though the two most popular ones where the majority of players can be found are an open-world farming MMO called AgriTopia VI Ultimate, with bright landscapes and calming diegetic music, and Aegis Force, a tournament team shooter with short battle scenarios and smaller maps.

Those entering the system will fall unconscious in the real world and as they enter the problem will be pretty obvious straight away. Red vines, covering everything, tangling trees, creeping up buildings, coming straight for them to attack.

Anyone who gets overwhelmed by them will be stuck, unable to move or progress. It is possible to fight them off and for those voidtreckers who have faced the vines before they will find their soothing powers will work here as well.

People are tangled throughout many different games and once they are freed will need some help to find the next save point or exit. They need to help plant the final hundred potatoes, or team up to take down the level boss or solve the next puzzle, keep the vines away and free as many people as they can.

Tier Four

A Way In

As they leave the lifts they will find this tier is dark, dim lighting barely penetrating the smog. Homes are makeshift and all on top of each other. The streets are crowded, loud and people don't stop to chat. It is incredibly claustrophobic, with large support columns, exposed wires and large pipes running alongside and over the 'roads'.

Here there are plenty of stores selling anything and everything, certainly not above board. Credits are sometimes accepted but more often store keepers will prefer to trade in barters, food is popular. Anything that isn't nutri slime or the even worse unbranded basic version.

Bars and other seedy establishments are open all hours, neon signs beckoning. It is here that they will find the entry points to the fighting rings.

People don't talk about it openly but you look big enough, mean enough or dramatic enough then it will be slipped into conversation. Have you heard? Winners get a dream come true.

The fights are a mix of one on one and group fights. All terms are negotiated before hand with an overseer and fights are to the yield. The crowd wants a show and so dramatics are encouraged.

What was that?

The rumours about people going berserk are spoken in whispers. No one really knows what has gone on. A few fights have gotten out of control, a couple of fighters broke down after fights, at least one has quit for good. Most spoken about is The Crimson Fist. The best fighter in the ring who two days prior just left. Left the city with no protective gear, no word to anyone. No one knows what happened to them.

As the voidtreckers get further into their fights they will begin to realise something strange is going on. That opponent you are facing? They now look like your worst enemy, or perhaps your best friend, your lover. Sometimes you're no longer in the city but in a place of fond memories or your worst nightmares. Fights can very quickly go south when your opponent believes you their greatest foe.

Advancing the ranks now seems like it might be more difficult than first it appeared.
miseris_socios: (Default)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-16 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's not much we can do. It's 'sad and scary', but you can survive that." He did, so they can. "It's not like we're leaving them to die. We've got to figure out a plan, and it's not going to happen with just two people."

Especially when he can't do much about the vines, himself.
happyends: (that closed in on me)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-16 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Madoka tries to tell herself he's right. Because she knows he is. It's not like they'll die - because if they'd die in that situation, they would have done so already. There would no longer be any alive person left for them to save.

But something about it keeps feeling wrong. So much so that Madoka grows silent as she walks, listening to him, but then..

"S-Still!"

Her voice raises a bit in volume. She isn't angry - when does Madoka ever get angry? - but she does seem desperate to get this point across. She seems more upset in the direction of sadness than anger, really.

"How would you feel? If you were in that position, and you knew people just left you there like that because.. because it was more efficient? Wouldn't you feel so upset?"
miseris_socios: (not so innocent)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-16 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
He stops and turns to look at her. "... I'd understand. And it's not like I'd be expecting to rely on anyone else, anyway. The only person you can rely on for sure is yourself. Don't tell me you're older than me and haven't already realized that?"
happyends: (saved me)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-16 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"T-That's not true!"

She shakes her head. It feels oddly familiar. It's like when Kyoko had first appeared. It feels like ages ago, but Madoka still remembers it. How she said all sorts of things like this too, just how agitated it had gotten Sayaka back then.

Madoka definitely agreed with her friend's sentiment back there though. She understood why it had irked Sayaka so much.

"I know that there are other people here I can rely on. For sure. That they'd help me if I'd need it. And they'd help you too!" Even if they may not know Ken personally. Because they're just nice people like that, and Madoka knows it.

"And right now, these people need our help!"
miseris_socios: (hey!)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-16 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"... You're an idiot." He shakes his head and looks back at the tangled web of vines.

"You probably think everyone is selfless and willing to help out if you only can convince them. That people being mean are only doing it because they don't understand, or some crap like that. You probably haven't even tried to think of what the train's getting out of us being here. ... You're wrong about all of it."
happyends: (for hope i'd give my everything)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-16 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
She shakes her head.

"I.. I don't trust the train either." Not fully. Sure, there are some good things to what it's doing. They really are helping people, and Madoka thinks that's a good thing, but.. the way the train goes about things is just so wrong. "But that doesn't mean I can't trust the people on it."

That's a different story entirely. None of those people are the ones who kidnapped her. Who hurt people by separating them.

"You must have noticed it too. There's always so many people willing to help you on the train."
miseris_socios: (Default)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-17 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
"... There's some people. But I've... it's risky to trust people. You don't know if a stranger is going to hurt you for no reason." Aragaki was a stranger, and yet he'd destroyed Ken's entire life.

He crosses his arms and just stares Madoka down. "People are always going to hurt you."
happyends: (down around you)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-17 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"I've been on the train for almost a year now."

It feels weird, putting it that way. Madoka never thinks about just how long it's been until she says it out loud like that, but she tries to not linger on it right now. That isn't the point.

"And in all that time.. no one on the train has hurt me." Not intentionally, anyway. Which is exactly why she has so much faith in most of the people on the train - even though he obviously seems determined to do the exact opposite of that.

Which does rather stand out, doesn't it.

".. Why are you so afraid to let yourself trust people?"
miseris_socios: (ugh...)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-17 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not being 'afraid', it's being sensible. I've had plenty of people lie, cheat, steal from me... I've had people hurt me, I've had a building collapse on me. You can't trust someone until they prove to be trustworthy, and even then..."

Even then, he always has a healthy amount of suspicion stored away for them. "People will hurt you. There's no heroes... that's only something that exist in TV shows and video games, not real life."
Edited 2021-05-17 16:38 (UTC)
happyends: (my loving heart lost in the dark)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-17 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
She can't deny that all those are awful things to have happen to you. And that it makes sense why it'd make Ken wary.

(Though she'd still say it's something born from fear, first and foremost, afraid that someone might hurt him all over again if he'd let them in-- but she doesn't want to push that, considering Madoka thinks it'd only make Ken push back even harder.)

"Has anyone here on the train done that to you though...?"
miseris_socios: (suspicious)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-17 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"No. But that doesn't mean that they won't. And it's not like... being careful doesn't make sense. If you expect the worst, then anything else is better, right?"

'Expect the worst and hope for the best' has been his operating principle for a while, now.
happyends: (i won't get)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-17 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"It does make sense, but.."

Madoka's face trails off. She knows what she wants to say, but it's harder to figure out how exactly to say it. Her hands nervously fidget a little as she tries to think about it.

"Being too careful.. can be bad too." Gosh, it sounds really dumb as she says it, even to her, but she's really trying over here. "If you're too careful, you could pass up on a lot of chances for happiness.."
miseris_socios: (Default)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-05-17 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"... Being happy... only really works if you're not fighting for survival. And you don't have to as much here, but the train's food stores were running low before... we don't know what's going to happen. We can't just rely on the train to take care of us."

He turns and starts walking - it's up to her if she wants to follow him or not.
happyends: (and walk on)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-05-17 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe she should follow him. Because she still thinks there's a few things wrong with his point of view, and they mostly make her worry about him. About what his life on the train is like.

But Madoka remembers what they started to talk about in the first place, and she remembers the people behind the vine wall.

.. she can't abandon those. She can always talk to Ken about this some other time.

So Madoka turns to work on getting rid of those vines, letting him leave for now.