voidtreckernet | Orchestra 15; Night [Voice post]

[ ... he might grab a drink later, but there is something bugging him. ]

Can we talk about how we treat the train? How we need to treat it? 'Cause it's not going to change unless we get it to do better.

We need to make it change. Or at least try.

( Hello Hashirama??? Is that you??? His brother had always been better with that. This besides, he recognizes the voice. )

You've been here a while from what I've gathered. Please, lets hear your thoughts.

[ Ugh, he has mixed up feelings about this. They're everywhere, unsettled and confused, and he can't put his mouth immediately to what he wants to express; but he sighs, a sound that comes through before he speaks. ]

It's a train made for a purpose, right? Pick up voidtreckers, take them around on missions, keep 'em happy, and that's that. It's got a bunch of- rules, protocols, whatever you wanna call them that it runs off. So? It's not going to change any of them if we don't get through to it that it should. Why would it if it doesn't think anything's wrong?

But the fact it sees us as voidtreckers, that we fit what it's looking for - isn't that just playing into treating us like how it ran things before? It picked us up, takes us on missions where some of us haven't a clue about helping in a disaster. But since we do alright overall, that means we're fine, right? That's how it thinks.

[ Ugh. ] Shouldn't we be demanding more? It doesn't even know where we disappear to!

[ Which is entirely unrelated to anything he said previous, but also, kinda really important!! ]

( Tobirama lets out an audible sigh. There's a lot to address in all of this; in what Tidus speaks but also in... all of this. )

We don't even know what its true purpose is but I doubt our happiness or even our health is its consideration beyond keeping us well enough to see through its missions -- we're more tools than lifeforms, I'd wager. And furthermore, if its crew and world of origin have gone missing is it even a legal functioning craft anymore and if it isn't does its protocols or rules even matter anymore?

Besides, it intentionally and willingly calls us to it without knowing where we go when the tether weakens or if it can even return us to our place of origin after. With it's lack of direct answers, would you trust someone like this?

Asking if I trust it's not an easy answer. [ There's even amusement to the reply, a bitter scoff. ]

People'll tell you it's just doing what it can, it's a desperate situation. Even the train admitted that - if it could ask us first, it would. I believe that about it, but I don't think we should sit and just accept what it tells us and decide that's the best we're gonna get. It does listen - it started taking us to places we can get out and relax a few days, it brought up polls about new cars, people ask for stuff and it'll bring it in. Sometimes - but it's tries at those things, right? If it didn't care about making us happy, it wouldn't do any of that.

But none of that's pushing the way it works. Do I think we can get it to change? No - I have no idea. But I wanna try. I mean, either it'll budge or it won't. Shouldn't we all want that? Are we gonna let it decide everything?

( Because its in a desperate situation is exactly the reason to not trust it, but he'll keep that one to himself for now. He knows well what desperation does. Lived through too many wars to see how it changes people; knows the things he had done as well. Because the train is not human doesn't mean it can't possibly follow a similar pattern.

And Tobirama thinks of these claims, too. If he wanted to keep people working efficiently he'd give them just enough to do so. That doesn't persuade him, either. But he hasn't been here as long as Tidus so he keeps silent on this, too. )

I agree, if its situation is truly desperate it should give us information on that situation so we can best prepare for it but, as far as I can tell, it is elusive about answering. It chose us presumably for what we can do so why stop us from using those skills outside of missions it deems we should take?

( A pause. ) What would you ask of it?

Let me tell you, this is a lot more than anything we've had before.

[ ...probably not comforting, but Tidus sounds amused in a tired, too-knowing way. ]

I already asked it a bunch. [ ... to put it mildly(?). ] Now's the time to see what it gives - to all of us. But I wanna know what we can do on the ground, on the planet - or spaceship, or whatever. The craft can't talk to people or access everything, right? There's got to be stuff we can do, even just a few of us. We have people who know how to gather info - why not let them give something a go? Do our own figuring out too.

We can't do anything stuck in here. But we have people from all over, with a bunch of talents. People good at knowing where to look.

( He sighs. This is not ideal to hear but its not as though he's never worked in situations like this before -- the problem was, they needed this train to survive and that was a new dynamic entirely. He agrees with what's being said, but first thing's first: )

Can you clarify for me what it's main mission and motive is? I assume to find its original crew, understand what happened, or something to this effect?

Yeah. Some planet-eating stuff showed up around their home world or system or wherever, took out half the crew, and a bunch of them tried doing something to get them back.

[ So, that is a concern. But... ]

It's still a void train or Voidtrecker train, though. So it sees we're Voidtreckers, and Voidtreckers do missions - we've never had a mission or anything to do with its first crew. It's always been saving places that need help.

So... finding them, and going out and helping places? I'd say they're kind of both the main objective.

We are however not, and I believe you mentioned this if you'll pardon my listening in. As I recall the original crew had choice but this is all, I assume, speaking what's already known to you. It chose to bring us in. Surely it has a larger mission in mind than doing the service it was created to do.

But how to reason with it is the question. I'm also certain there's enough people willing to help it find its original people; why and who destroyed the planet and many of its occupants. Why does it refuse to give us this chance and choice?

( A sigh. ) And how to reason with something such as it. ( Given its answers are elusive or dismissive 99% of the time as far as he can tell. )

[ Listened to? Tidus wonders what the guy means, and then ohh, that talk yesterday. He didn't speak up immediately, but when he does make sound, it's first a grumble. ]

Mmm, that's because I think it's dumb, you know? [ Ugh. ] Annoying as this thing is, it does listen, but it's running off its own ideas about how to do stuff. And its last crew, I don't know if they chose to be here. You heard those logs the train dug up recent?

It sounded like one of them got forced on here.

I phrased it wrong, though perhaps you're right. That one person did sound forced, but by another person and not the train itself is how it came across to me. ( Then again, he could be wrong. He's not been here that long. He doesn't know the train well enough if anyone does. Seemed almost as if it were punishment? ) But this aside, you really think the train is... 'dumb'?

( Maybe he's just too skeptical, too negative, but he thinks its manipulation. There's a lot to be said for people who play stupid. Too many red flags already though the motive for doing such a thing is incredibly unclear, so perhaps its not. Perhaps it is just... stupid. )

Sure, [ there's a sigh, ] but it's hard to explain. I mean, it's more void-smart than me, but people smart? It just knows the basics. 'Cars make people happy, getting off the train makes people happy'.

But it doesn't see why people would feel bad about not going and helping people on missions. But then it's trying to talk to us and answer questions, right?

It's people dumb. [ Again. ] Big problem though is if we can get it to change its mind about anything.

( He understands now. It makes sense as it was created to navigate the void as much as he can tell. He nods, taking in some newer information and rearranging his thoughts. ) Presumably if enough of us make it clear our desires on the matter, it should register this as something that will make us happy. Should it not?

Yeah! [ The guy gets it! ] And with the important stuff, we'll really see how willing to change it is, right?

[ But- that does bring a pause. ]

... well, depending what's important. That's different for everyone. I mean, uh- you heard yesterday, right? Lot of different stuff came up.

[ A lot more 'thanks' and 'you're trying' than more admissions of 'you're doing a bad job', but Tidus hasn't stopped being aware he's on speakerphone to everyone. ]

I suppose we will. True that a lot of things were brought up yesterday but there does seem to be an agreement on important matters. Most people want the same few things.

( He, too, wasn't so sure about whether the praise was worthy but how much of it was genuine and how much of it was spoken as a way to subdue what was essentially their captors is unknown. He's not been here long enough to have a firm opinion or understanding on the true thoughts of others. He does know, though, there are some people here just as suspicious of the train as he is. )

Seeing what comes next is likely the only option at this time. ( Aside from, you know, spying, listening in, juicing information from being subtly. )

[Yondu is in a whiskey kind of mood. A straight out of the bottle kind of mood. And it's the evening after platform and a talk with Senku that he goes to find Tobirama's room.]

[He's not in his usual full Ravager gear. It's drying out so he's looking a little bit more mundane with his coat over the blue hoodie and shirt so he's just got too much blue going on at the moment (considering his fin, too, he might as well just cut off the hood of the thing). He knocks on the door with the side of his fist, holding the bottle of whiskey in his free hand.]

Hey, Tobirama! You in there or did I miss ya?

Its only a few moments before the door opens. He nods outward, stepping forward and into the hall. A few of his roommates are already asleep and he's unsure how long they have before this curfew nonsense but there's only one way to find out.

"Evening," he greets. He is again not in the standard car uniform, the simple blue fabric hanging over his body. Looked like that face paint was, funny enough, quite fresh. Wouldn't be caught without it.

Something about Tobirama makes him want to do a quick formal type greeting, probably because he got dolled up before he answered the door. So despite the fact he has some whiskey he taps his chest with his right fist, gives a little headbow in a Ravager salute, and then gestures down the hall.

"So I've been working out a lot of technical shit and got a better handle on what one of our big problems is, especially after all that talk about where we go and how the tethers might be workin'. But it would require some explainin'."

And he is noting, much to his great personal interest and physical discomfort that he can see a little bit more of him than he could last time he was in that and it's just enough that now he has to acknowledge that he wants to see it and god just... just goddamn kill him.

"But it looks like you were gettin' ready to pass out so I could hit ya up tomorrow." And he can go enjoy his whiskey and just turn off his brain, right? Right. Just shut the hell up. Train business. It's train business time. Turn off the stoic-ass eye candy thoughts. Shut the shit up.

Tobirama had seen Yondu and Mito speaking on the platform. This salute was new. He wondered what she had told him. She was a little less tight-lipped as he was, typically choosing what he would divulge and what he wouldn't with great specificity. Still, he nods in return. "You've met my sister-in-law, I take it."

Eyes look over to the man, not picking up on anything in particular. Sorry, Yondu. His mind just doesn't go there. Instead, Tobirama comments on the salute. "That is the greeting of your clan?"

He's not troubled by the hour if his moving forward says anything.

He's either fortunate or unfortunate about that's not a thing he generally notices. For the moment he'll consider it fortunate 'cause it means he can train his brain into shutting the hell up again before it gets bad.

"Yeah, I talked to her earlier. But that's it's just a Ravager greetin'. It's bein' polite." At least he doesn't seem too bothered by the time. He starts heading down the corridor, intending to get to his room because it didn't really matter if Soldat showed up. He didn't mind him barging in on a discussion about train concerns.

"So, I gotta explain somethin' about tetherin' first. Which is fair 'cause I had to remind myself earlier. Right now these SCAs we wear help tether us to the train an' keep us from gettin' void sick. Also it keeps us from bein' too drastically affected by certain environments." He gets to one of the doubles, slips in his ticket to open the door and holds it for Tobirama.

"Have a seat. Bed's big enough." Not huge. He plops down on the far side where his little collection of figurines are lined up (probably the most personal thing he has), which currently include the ugly ass frog, a windmill, a wooden chicken, an armed gangsta pigeon, and a raccoon holding up a large gold coin. Other than that it is pretty much just moved into.

"Is it custom for anyone to return it or only those of your clan?"

He's never been the sort, really. Even though Tobirama was a horribly traditional man his world and work stayed in the shadows. As Hokage, he rarely if ever wore the official garbs. Stayed in office as needed but not often. Mostly was found training others, helping the village prosper, and so forth. More than willing to get his hands dirty. Truthfully, he didn't care if others called him Lord Second either even though those who knew him typically did. He only brought it up when he was particularly annoyed by someone's insolence. As for Mito, well he'll pry that information from the other man in time.

Eyes observed the room, its decor, the little trinkets. Ravagers were thieves, weren't they? For the most part if he recalled. Theives and mercenaries. The trinkets, odd as they were, felt in place. He nods and takes a seat on the bed, directing his attention toward Yondu.

"This thing," a wrist raised to emphasize. "If the tethers are kept by these, then they must be faulty. It should be a fairly simple issue to fix so why is it not?"

"Normally only Ravagers use it but it ain't offensive or nothin'. Some people bow, some people do that handshake thing. We do our salute." He shrugs. Whatever's comfortable. He never thinks to shake hands. Aziraphale offered at one point and he looked like it as if he were being offered a fish before he figured out what was going on.

"Apparently not so simple if the original world is gone. So, here's how it was described to me. Think like three points of support. You got a body bein' cared for by technicians. You got a connection to the vehicle. An' you got the SCA that keeps your body maintained. From what I gathered what happens with us with the tether happens to our real body- so we age, it ages, we scar, it scars. And if we die it resets with all them changes. Problem is, we got no point of origin like that 'cause the original world is gone.

"So there's a lot of questions that still ain't answered all that well. Where are our bodies? Do we even have real bodies or do we just got these meat puppets she can reset that are like our old bodies? All there is is the train and the SCA. No origin point that we can locate. Her not knowin' where we go is a hell of a deal."

He winces. "It also limits our ability to operate other voidcraft which slows me up until I can find some kinda alternatives... But anyway, we need a void tech to figure some of this shit out for us and she ain't got no allies to turn to. It's just us havin' to figure all this out."

"It is custom for us to bow," Tobirama explains. To him, if it's a salute for Ravagers then he'll honor such a thing by returning his own custom instead of assuming someone else's. Although he has in the past offered handshakes to avoid awkwardness with those who he assumes are from a culture less inclined to his type of greeting, Tobirama does much prefer something with less contact.

He gives a nod in return, short casual bow, and crosses his arms listening. Thi Information takes... some time to process. He lodges it away after mulling it all over. All that it gives is more questions. There is one burning question though... "If there are three points and one is the planet of origin then would our own planet not be that tether point? If it takes us from our world then presumably we are returned when the tether is lost. Why would we be bound by a world that we are not from? This especially when its discovered a way to grab us without its own point of origin"

He just... isn't buying it. It makes no sense.

"Apparently it's gotta be the point of the craft's origin. Sorta like... I dunno. They need the technicians there. So I guess we'd be roped in from wherever we was from an' then used. At this point it don't surprise me. I heard of all sorts of places doin' that. But you're right, there's a lotta this that don't make sense."

He throws up his hands in exasperation. Yup. He can't figure this shit out at all.

"Considerin' how my body should be gone back home... Quill woulda given me a proper send off. I know I didn't get the colors but Quill woulda made sure I was sent out right, so no body after cremation. Also some people that left? Came back from the point they left. Didn't even remember bein' walked off the train. Just bam, back at a platform."

But if they need the technicians there, none of them should be able to get pulled onto this train in the first place unless their technicians are somewhere else and the point is not the planet of origin but the people who know how to manage it all. More questions.

He hums. Though what came after was. Well, unexpected. Not that people coming back to life was strange to him anymore. Given he invented the jutsu to do exactly that and all. Though to return fully conscious was a whole other thing. Another hum. "Questions that need to be answered. Very strange indeed. All of this."

Oh great, did something else happen now?

Not as far as I know, just consolidating our thoughts now that we've posed our questions may be worthwhile.

Oh good. For a moment I was worried that some new disaster had happened.

I don't know if I have much to add. I just asked if there was some way we could see what was going on at home while we've been here. And I got some kind of canned customer service response.

Not yet, at least. It doesn't seem to enjoy giving answers, does it?

Not so far. But hey, its not like that's anything new.

( An audible sigh. ) And you've been here some time, have you?

More than a year now.

I take it nothing much has changed since then.

In the big picture? Not really. Lots of little things have changed.Like how many passengers there are and how many cars we have.

Has it been established if the train itself is something more sentient or mechanical in its intelligence? ( At this point, he's just gathering information. Sating his curiosities. AI doesn't really exist in his world although computers, in the newer age, do. So hopefully that translates in a way that makes sense to the young man. He's heard just from listening something about Artificial Intelligence but its best to ask directly, he thinks. ) Less or more people?

[Danny frowns, a little confused by the question.]

Does it matter? I mean, intelligent is intelligent.

[Another moment to think.] Well, there are a lot more people here now than when I arrived. But I think there are less now than there used to be.

( He's a little confused by the confusion, truthfully. But no matter. The answer is easy enough. It's simply you can't talk to a computer the same way you can something more like them. It's no judgment but he explains simply: ) As a way to understand how it functions; how to speak to it.

( As for the other answer. Well, it may not matter but its something to keep in his mind. Given there have been recent discussions about the loosening of tethers. He'll give a hum. Deciding to share another thought. ) Whether it's response of compiling questions for answers has a motive behind it or if its simply how it needs to function.

You can't just speak to it?

[ Danny wasn't really getting the difference. Then again, most of his experience with AI came from fighting a technology obsessed ghost or overshadowing video games himself. Or some of his parents more annoying inventions.

Ectoplasm could have strange effects on technology.]

Huh. I just figured it wanted time to think. Or to not have to answer the same question over and over.

Orchestra 15; Night [Voice post]

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[Action] A dollar short and a day late

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[Voice]

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