middleofsomewhere | Not with a Bang: Conclusion

Not with a Bang: Conclusion

The base camp is a mess by the time the fight is over. The heavy rain alone would have been enough, but the battle has churned up the earth itself. The previously peaceful clearing is pockmarked with craters and dark puddles where ash has mixed into rainwater, along with oil and blood that swirl unpleasantly through the shallow pools. The trees are bowed outwards with the force of the powers that waged through the area, trunks shattered and torn, boughs hanging haphazardly or draped with the remnants of tents and equipment.

Perhaps all that can be said is that it gives the Voidtrecker Express a decidedly clear landing spot. The train snakes its way through the jungle, coming to a stop in a familiar, though now lopsided, coil around the clearing, and opening its doors to allow injured to be carried on, or anyone from the train to disembark.

It’s clear that there are indeed people aboard - as the doors hiss open, activity is already visible inside, as well as voices audibly going back and forth over the tinny speakers of the ICP.

Now that the saboteurs are dealt with, the final repairs can be made to the damaged stations and the shields locked into place. By the time they are done, nothing and no one will be able to enter the planet - from space, anyway.

The train will remain in the clearing through the night of Imagination 12 and the morning of Imagination 13, until all the stations are prepared, the pandas returned to their rightful place and everyone has rejoined the train.

By midday of Imagination 13, the train is ready to leave. Everyone gets a message on their SCA to return to the train, if they haven’t already. Once all are onboard the doors shut and the train begins to snake through the jungle.

“Re-entering Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

The train rattles and shakes as the greenery around them (and the purple of a few farewell pandas) fade into the colours of the void.

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Eight herself isn't getting much sleep, instead busying herself in whatever work she can muster. While still getting used to Senku's... everything... there were still things that she wasn't going to abide. Among them, his health.

No, she couldn't force him to sleep, but the one thing that she could do was provide him with some food. To that end, Eight will be bringing him a tray with honey-soaked delicacies to hopefully give him some renewed strength.

And maybe to pay him back that favor she owed, a little.

He was kind of sitting in the dining area, a bit spaced out with some coffee which was something.

When he was given a plate of honey soaked food he blinked a few times.

"What's this for?"

"For eating." Eight returned Senku's bluntness.

"You've been only drinking coffee since we've gotten back. You need to eat something."

"Ah, that's because I'm so tired." Senku answered, sipping his coffee again. He was tired because he'd been injured and healed and probably needed to be in bed. He was just stubborn.

"This looks very uh, sweet." Senku observed. "Not really something I'm inclined to eat. Gen would like it, though."

"Oh." She looks down on it. Yeah, the honey would make it very sweet.

Still, she learned from the dance that Senku was... particular. "Can you not eat sweet things, too?"

Particular and strange was probably a good way to put it, but at the same time, even if he wasn't going to like it, he picked up the fork.

"I can eat them, I just don't like them. It's alright though, can't let it go to waste."

"I can make something a little less sweet if you like." The idea was to get him to eat, not to suffer for her worry.

"It's fine." Senku answered, shaking his head. If Gen was around to pass the food off to him, he'd have done that, but they were quite serious about not wasting things. It didn't matter so much if he didn't like it.

"Thanks." He said after a moment's thought. He remembered that, albeit a bit late, but sometimes he was a bit all over the place in his mind. He sipped his coffee again.

Eight nodded and motioned to the seat next to him. "Mind company?"

There was no particular reason for it, and she was willing to accept his wishes for solitude if he desired it.

"I don't mind." Senku shook his head, gesturing she could sit.

"I'm a little more coherent than yesterday. Had a concussion and I was pretty muddled from what I hear." Senku informed her, sipping his coffee again.

The way he ate was full of compact, but quick movements. He was at least a quarter of the way done already. He was just in the habit of eating fast.

"Was that before or after the near explosion of the control tower?" Eight laughed, sitting next to him. She noticed the speed of his eating the food, and wondered if sweets only bothered him because he ate so much of it so quickly. Talk about a sugar rush!

"Ha, after. Hit my head when there was a smaller explosion. At least the biggest one was avoided. I've been healed, that's a trip, I'll have questions later when I'm more awake." Healing didn't magically restore his stamina, or the blood loss, or anything else.

It was one of the more relaxed times he's eaten, he's managed to eat a full meal in less than three minutes before, during a discussion. He just worked and ate at the same time a lot.

"It's fine, I'll recover and I'm not hurt anymore so I'll take it. Did lose my SCA though, that's..potentially a problem." He didn't know how to fix said problem though. "Gen looked for it, but he couldn't find it."

Damning Senku, why did you take the damn thing off ag--wait. That brought an interesting topic. "So you couldn't understand me when you took that off int he tower?" She was curious, wondering in some ways what he would sound like without having a device translate for her.

Looking at her phone she set it a distance away to see if he could hear what Senku really sounded like.

"Ah, that's right, we don't speak the same language at all. I don't know what you speak." Senku answered her. On the train that wasn't a problem though, something else was at play because he could understand her now, even with bare wrists.

"I typically speak in Japanese."

Darn. She could still understand him. Well, it made conversation easier at least. One day she'll have to remember to try to hear this "Japanese."

She brought her phone closer to her, not wanting to lose it like Senku lost his SCA. "I speak Octoling. The language of the Octarians." That if the statement suggested that Senku had any sort of sociological interests.

"Interesting. It's not surprising we speak different languages, it's more surprising that a lot of people are actually speaking Japanese, apparently." Senku hummed, he was nearly finished eating already, how leisurely of him. At least it was a way to guarantee he had eaten before Gen bullied him into it.

"I would be surprised if any human languages existed in my world." Eight kicked her feet out. That was a shame, really. The humans so far reminded her very much of the population back home. A little emotional. A little curious. Always varied, but also looking out for each other.

It was a shame they all died out.

"I'd be equally surprised if Octoling language was in my world." Senku pointed out.

"It sounded...well very different to what I'm used to, but I imagine it would be possible to learn somehow." If he wanted do, but he wasn't sure how to go about doing that with the translation going on. He wasn't opposed to learning new languages, he always needed things to keep him busy.

"Hmm... maybe someday. Give your world a thousand years and one day the ocotopi will rule the world." Well, along with the squids, but those can be ignored from now.

It was a shame that he couldn't... ...wait.

She turns to look at Senku. "Veemo."

He chuckled slightly, and smirked. "If that happens, I do not intend to be there to witness it."

He titled his head, she'd said that before, he was sure of it. "Veemo?" He repeated, but really, he couldn't be sure how close he was to saying it right.

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Not with a Bang: Conclusion

Imagination 13

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