Not with a Bang: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

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.

Comments

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I didn't mean to!" Koumyou whined into his hands, like someone who was a quarter his actual age. Or maybe less.

[namethattune]

"And yet, here we are." It's almost like actions have consequences!

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou put his head on the table again, fingers knitting together over it. His face was turned slightly to one side so that the raised, blood-red chakra on his forehead wouldn't dig into the furniture and give him a whole new headache.

"Don't be mean!" Yes, still whining.

[namethattune]

Siebren is not the type to believe in karma or divine retribution, but this conversation is making him severely question that stance, as well as wonder what he did to deserve this.

"I helped you with your self-inflicted issue and yet you still call me mean." He huffs. "How rude."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"But you are!" Koumyou whined into the table, muffled, "It's very early and you're being very grumpy!"

[namethattune]

"And you are being very annoying," Siebren replies flatly. It's rude, definitely, but he has not been awake long enough to be polite. "It seems that one begets the other."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"...That's probably true," muffled into the table, still.

Look, Koumyou knows how he comes across. He just doesn't care.

"Does ice cream always do that? It didn't before..."

[namethattune]

The last thing he had been expecting from his breakfast companion was acknowledgement of his own behavior. It seems today has been nothing but surprising so far.

"The potential is always there," he explains, a bit more patient but still wary, "though the headache generally only occurs when you eat too much cold too quickly."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"A lesson in restraint, is it?" Koumyou gives a deep sigh, and then sits up from leaning his face on the table, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "Maaah... something something, moderation...?"

[namethattune]

"Or patience, or caution," Siebren points out, taking a sip of his coffee. "Take your pick."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Too bad I'm terrible at all those things!"

Well, not patience. Koumyou is exceedingly patient... when he wants to be. When he gives a crap. And that's the trick, isn't it?

The rest, though. Yeah, no, automatic grade F over here.

Case in point, the priest picks up his spoon from the bowl and finishes off the last few globs of semi-melted ice cream. Surely that much won't smite him?

[namethattune]

Siebren just shakes his head slowly and goes back to his coffee. This person has been warned and may do as he wishes. If he fails to learn from his own mistakes...well, it is hardly Siebren's fault.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Look, it may have hurt his head, but he wasn't going to waste ice cream...! What kind of monster do you think he is?

Don't answer that.

Koumyou gets up from the table with his bowl and spoon in one hand and his empty tea mug in the other. "You want a refill while I'm going that way?"

[namethattune]

That is unexpected.

"No, thank you."

This may have been the only vaguely normal part of this entire exchange.

[its_dad_sanzo]

So Koumyou just waggles his fingers around the handle of the cup he's carrying, in his usual parting wave, and goes off to do the proper dish things. And then... probably go back to bed.