Domino Day 18 [Video]

[so_dark_a_road]

Good morning! As you probably already know by now, Eva Iden'no has departed from the VoidTrecker Express. She was a good team leader, a good friend, and a thoughtful train companion. I think we will all miss her. I know that I will.

But on to business matters. Tony Stark has asked me to replace her as Orange Team leader. I'd very much like to take on that responsibility, but I'd like to hear what the rest of Orange Team has to say about that. I'd be proud to be be your leader, but let me know what you think.

If by some chance Eva returns, as the departed sometimes do, I will give her back the team leader's job, if she wants it.

[ OOC: Passengers who are not on Orange Team are welcome to comment as well. ]

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

You've managed to communicate with the train in some rudimentary fashion, then? Hmm. Maybe it answered you when you asked it if it was safe to go into the engine room in order to scare us off. I heard that my father Fëanor actually tried. I think he had help from Tony Stark. Singed their eyebrows, I think, with a blast of energy that hit the engine room door but didn't blast it down, as they had hoped. That's if I have the story right.

Interesting, that you could feel the train listening. That must have been a little spooky.

Sometimes I get so impatient, I want to solve these mysteries, and I don't see any way to do it at present. Frustrating.

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita nods - though the look on her face turns wry again at 'scare us off'.]

Force probably isn't the way to go. Will mentioned seeing all those cases, too, when he tried to see the wall's history.

[After that, she shakes her head.]

Really, at this point I'm pretty used to things like that. It was just on the more laconic end of things.

[Some machines can get chatty, as both Dairine and Kit can attest.]

Oh, I definitely get that! S'all about opportunity, though, isn't it? If you force it, you're less likely to make it work for you.

[so_dark_a_road]

Wait a minute, what did Will see when he tried to see the wall's history? I've met him and I know he has some ability to see visions of the past.

If you can sense the consciousness of things, I suppose maybe you wouldn't be surprised. I have some ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of others, but it's never really worked with machines. I can fix a machine, but they don't talk to me.

Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe an opportunity to understand the train will just occur one of these days. [ Smile. ] I suppose that trying to blast the door down would count as trying to force an opportunity?

[unfavorableinstigation]

Everyone's interactions with the wall, it sounded like. Past and present.

[Not future, though. Will couldn't do that yet.]

Maybe there was something important about the last person he saw? The train did kick him out after that.

[Nita hums in commiseration.]

I'm better with growing things, too; Kit, my partner, he's the one who's good with machines.

[Which didn't necessarily mean Nita couldn't, just that she had more difficulty.

Then she laughs.]

Oh, yeah! Talk about making an understatement...

[so_dark_a_road]

Oho, so Will must have seen my father's and Tony's attempt. And he must have seen me standing in front of the steel bulkhead and wondering if I could drill a hole through it with my steel drill bits. Unfortunately, I don't have an electric drill, so I set that idea aside for the time being. [ Smile. ]

The train kicked Will out and wouldn't let him keep seeing whatever he was seeing? That's odd. Maybe you're right, maybe the last person Will saw was on the right track. [ Train pun! ] Maybe the train didn't want Will to know what that person was up to, and pass the information to the rest of us.

Yeah, I guess I was making an understatement. Blasting the door down doesn't seem exactly the most diplomatic way to make an opportunity. [ Grin. ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

A drill?

[It does make sense, but Nita's reaction is still one of bemused disbelief.]

Or just part of a group that it doesn't like thinking about, maybe?

[Though, again, that's just conjecture on Nita's part.]

You wanna go for a wrap on this one, and catch up somewhere in the future?

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Yes, a drill. Curufin brought his tool kit with him when he first boarded the train, and that included a set of drill bits and a hand-cranked drill brace, such as carpenters used before the age of electricity. Probably wouldn't work well for drilling through a foot-thick steel wall. ]

Yes, maybe the last people to try to punch through the engine-room door belonged to a group that made the train nervous! And maybe that wasn't any of this train full of passengers. Maybe it was some other group from long before we came. [ Interesting thought! And maybe that prior group discovered something the VoidTrecker wouldn't want the present passengers to know? Interesting thought. NIta and Curufin can conjecture, of course, because what else can they do? ]

Works for me! We do have that pre-station thread, if you want to keep that going.

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita nods.]

That's what I mean - if this train ever picked up Voidtreckers who did have their training in advance, maybe they screwed things up for the rest of us somehow?

[... All things to consider in the coming weeks. Short of the train volunteering information, perhaps they can never truly know.]