Ongoing: All Teams

[voidtreckermods]

The first few days are taken up with solving the problems in the various sectors, all the while getting closer to their goal. The Great-Winter, Great-Summer, Great-Spring and Great Autumn.

On Day 9 of the month of Jelly they will see on their map a clear indicator of where to go. As they draw near it will be obvious what they are looking for.

The Overseers

In the centre of each of the sectors there is a large metal tube, hundreds of pipes lead from it, spanning up to the ceiling above and down below, creating a field of pipes and tubes to clamber over and crawl under to reach the central tube. On the tube itself there is a panel, wrapping around it in a circle. The SCA's of the Voidtrecker show an exclamation mark, if they click on them they will see the message.

Reach the panel, enter the inner systems and give your aid.

As Voidtreckers step towards the tubes it will seem as if the world shifts around them. Instead of metal and wire they will see trees. The Great-Spring is a tree in blossom, pink leaves spreading up across the canopy. Great-Summer has strong green leaves, Great_Autumns leaves are brown and falling and Great-Winter has no leaves at all.

The panel is still there, the only part of the scene that doesn't look organic. As the Voidtreckers move towards their goal the tree begins to move, branches fighting against those trying to get through the roots. The aim seems to be to push intruders away, going as far as flinging them back with higher branches.

The branches aren't the only security measures in place. As they push forwards they will find creatures coming at them from the trees.

Strangely the creatures look like creatures from their own worlds, any creature they would expect to see in a tree. Regardless of species they attack with claws and with lazers from their eyes. They don't move far from the branches, but try and stop invaders from getting close to the trunk.

For those that get through they will find that as they draw close to the 'trunk' the attacks stop, as if they have reached an eye of a storm.

Going Further

The panel is a simple glowing screen, there are no instructions but their SCA's will beep softly and if they press their SCA to the panel they will find everything vanishes, the trees, branches and weird animals.

Or perhaps it is they themselves that vanish as they find themselves in a large white room, everyone is together here. No matter what sector they had travelled through and which overseer they entered through.

There are four tubes filled with liquid, pink, green, orange and white towering over them.

"Our systems have been compromised." The four voices ring out. "Heal what has been harmed, destroy what should not be here. Find the source and purge it from our world."

The overseers and the room vanish and the voidtreckers find themselves in a forest, a forest that is slowly being choaked by red sickly vines.

The Voidtreckers themselves will find themselves looking different, almost like the hard-light holograms of the Helpmates though they certainly feel like themselves. They are carrying a sturdy stick but nothing else and depending how imaginative they are will quickly find they can alter their appearance to fit their wishes.

Heal and Destroy

The voidtreckers will find themselves drawn towards the vines, if they touch them they will be able to soothe, a glowing blue light from their hands that runs down the vine before it fades away, freeing the trees that it held in its chokehold.

There are many pathways, many vines and it will be a long task to clear it all. It is not long also before the first threats find them. Threats that look like mongeese, small creatures that will lunge at them, teeth bared and claws out.

Luckily the Voidtreckers will quickly learn the ability to soothe is not the only power gifted to them.

On the Outside

For anyone who does not enter through the panel it will seem like their fellow Voidtreckers have entered a deep trance. The area they are sat around the tree is calm, no threats enter there. But outside that area there are still threats, the branches attack, the animals attack and sometimes Helpmates try to evict those they see from the area, claiming it 'restricted.'

Comments

[its_dad_sanzo]

When the kiss eventually breaks, Koumyou stares up at Devero with an expression on his face that can only be labeled 'loving'. Flushed cheeks and squinting eyes, a smile free of any mischief.

"I--" it almost makes its way out of his mouth, too. So close!

"I'm very glad."

[subcircuits]

It's okay, Koumyou. Devero can say it for the both of you. "I love you." His own smile is just as tender. "And I love who I am around-- aw fuck. Incoming."

He springs away from Koumyou and braces, bringing his batons up to block the first of the incoming handful of creatures.

"Really starting to not like these damn things!" he snaps as parries the leap of the first one, redirecting its momentum to send it tumbling away over his shoulder.

[its_dad_sanzo]

What a wonderful, beautiful moment.

Until, you know, reality (non-reality?) re-asserts itself, and Devero has to spring away and defend himself from attack.

Koumyou can't help but laugh at the almost predictability of it.

"They're very rude!" he says in agreement, turning to blast water into the trees. A few mongeese fall from branches at the spray. "It's like they know when we're having a moment!"

[subcircuits]

Devero steps up beside him, shoulder to shoulder, and adds his own blast of water, sweeping blasts of water through tangled branches and clinging vines. More of the creatures fall from the trees, though most of them hop back to their feet right away and charge towards the two men.

"Didn't their caretakers teach them any manners?" Devero demands. "I want to talk to the management of their creche about social basics."

He's getting better with this water power of his, his aim definitely improved as he starts to pick off the ground runners. And if his blows aren't deadly, at least he's stunning the damn things, and making some of them seem to think twice about pressing the attack.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Honestly, playing whack-a-mongoose with water jets is kind of fun!

"This isn't even making me tired like chi would eventually!" Koumyou says cheerfully, after laughing at Devero's quip about talking to management.

"Depending how the rest of this mission goes, you might get to have a word." After all, they seem to be in some kind of... mindscape? for the planet?

That indicates, to Koumyou, that there's a source.

[subcircuits]

"Guess it's not our own energy we're using," Devero says. Which would make sense, if they are avatars in a digital representation, or minds powering hardlight constructs.

"--Could be right about that," he continues thoughtfully, picking off another mongoose or two. "Something definitely brought us here. Maybe it'll oblige us with an audience once we're done doing what it wants."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"It certainly explains the limitations," Koumyou agrees, because yes, to him, just being able to shoot water...?

Generating the water out of nowhere is novel and new, but otherwise, this is limited. He can't even do anything fun with the water! It shoots in a straight line! And forget about charging it with electricity, or shaping it into anything.

Pretty soon, any of the enemies in their immediate area have either been dealt with or spooked away. "I imagine this will get worse the further in we get."

[subcircuits]

Even if this ability is a lot more novel to Devero than it is to Koumyou, he's starting to treat it with less giddy awe and more like another tool in his arsenal by the time they clear their patch of forest.

Even though it's not draining his energy the way chi-magic might, the battle-alert high is taking its toll on a man who's grown unused to the rigors of combat. This time when he leans back against a tree, it's just to catch his damn breath.

"Yeah," he says, checking his SCA. There's definitely a point deeper into this 'forest' that they're supposed to be aiming for. "Makes sense there'd be more defenses the closer we get to whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for." Some generating source of harm that needs to be either healed or destroyed, he assumes.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Indeed," Koumyou wanders close to him, but continues to eye their surroundings just in case. "Are you okay?"

He's pretty sure nothing had reached either of them, but. Hey. May as well use his words and ask?

[subcircuits]

Devero waves a hand while shaking his head. "Just beat. I'm way out of condition." The first day of the march had been rough on him for the same reason. "Nothing got you, right?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"All strength and no stamina, huh?" Koumyou can't help but tease, "I guess we really will need to go on those morning jogs you suggested."

You know.

Before they'd, uh, broken up.

Let's just step around that particular, fresh wound, shall we?

"Nothing touched me! Though it's harder to tell with the lack of blood." Pain alone doesn't tell him much, most of the time!

[subcircuits]

"Remember, most of the time I'm more than just the wetware," Devero says. "I don't usually have to haul my own gear when I'm out in the field!" Babysitter does that for him! It's hard with just a soft body!

He does push away from the tree, making a little face as he does. "...I'm... kind of glad there's no blood," he admits sheepishly. "This is hard enough as it is."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Bleeding tells us we're alive," Koumyou tells him with a kind of gentle cheerfulness, "It's when it stops that things get... unsettling."

He's bled to death once before, after all.

This no-blood thing is unsettling.

[subcircuits]

Koumyou's blithe words give Devero pause, and then if anything he gets more sheepish. "You would know," he says, gentle himself. "Wouldn't you, my Sanzo?" The comment's not meant to prod any scars, just as an acknowledgment of just how much blood Koumyou has in his past.

[its_dad_sanzo]

The priest blinks over at Devero and smiles a shy little smile at that 'my Sanzo'. Feeling daring at the end of that little battle against all the mongeese in their immediate area, he closes the gap and goes up on his toes to try to kiss Devero, free hand against his chest for stability.

Koumyou... still doesn't initiate this sort of thing as often as Devero, but...

It does happen sometimes!

[subcircuits]

This is the first time since their fight before the mission that Koumyou has leaned in to him for a kiss, rather than vice versa, and Devero's breath actually catches in his throat a little. A tension he didn't even know he'd been carrying eases itself; there's an almost-giddy smile on Devero's lips as they descend to meet Koumyou's.

[its_dad_sanzo]

It's not just a little pack, either, Koumyou lingers, wrapping his arms around Devero's neck and staying up on his toes to meet him.

And before he can lose the nerve, he says so, so quietly, up against his lips-- "I love you, my Devero."

Even though the fear knotting in his throat immediately after those words escape is considerable. He can't help that. It's a terror that won't go away easily.

[subcircuits]

Okay, forget caught breath-- those little words make his heart stop. He'd put his own arms around Koumyou some time during the kiss and he squeezes the monk fiercely close, now.

Just a little dip and he catches Koumyou's lips again, as if sealing the precious, dangerous words just between the two of them. Over this kiss, though, he doesn't linger. "Thank you," he breathes, almost reverent as he breaks away. And though he's just said it himself only recently, he repeats the words: "I love you too."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I'm sorry I don't say it more," Koumyou whispers once they break apart, and even now Koumyou has to glance around at their surroundings, fully expecting some horrible evil to loom out of the jungle and murder Devero right there in his arms.

"I always feel it. I just..."

He's just so fucking scared by those words.

[subcircuits]

"I know," Devero hastens to assure him. He releases the priest so he can frame his face in both hands for a moment, dipping to bring their foreheads together.

He doesn't hold Koumyou long; he'd seen the nervous way the other man had been scanning their surroundings. His hands fall away to his shoulders instead, settling in and squeezing. "I understand. Even when you can't say it, I feel it. I know."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou searches the area again, and then locks his eyes up at Devero's, searching him, too. "You... you believe me, right? Even though I can't-- s-say it much..."

Koumyou rarely stutters, but he's just...

So wound up. With fear, with love, the two are so intertwined for him that he can barely tell them apart, sometimes.

And there's that fresh, seeping wound he can't close, way down deep in him. If Devero had believed him before, could he have believed what he had said, during their fight?

If Koumyou had been able to say it more, would it have held more weight?

"I..." literally can't say it again so soon, so Koumyou drops a hand to Devero's chest, flat over his heart.

[subcircuits]

Devero covers Koumyou's hand with his own, looking down at both of them resting over his heart. Then he looks back up, his eyes meeting Koumyou's.

"I do," he says, and he sounds maybe a little incredulous. Wasn't this the same man who'd scared him so badly just a few short days before?

What happened the other night on the train has sat between them, huge and weighty and by unspoken mutual agreement carefully avoided, the whole time they've been on this mission. But it hasn't been forgotten, and it weighs on Devero now. What Koumyou had done with that knife was possibly one of the most terrifying things Devero had ever experienced, and yet here he was, laughing and flirting with that same man only a few days later. Deep down in his gut, he's wondered and worried-- is there something wrong with him, for forgiving Koumyou so quickly? For getting this close again, this fast?

What Koumyou had done to himself for Devero's sake had been horrific. But Devero can also see now his own-- his own fearful stubbornness, his own desperate refusal to own what had happened to him. He can see the logic behind what Koumyou had felt forced to do, all to try to get through to him when he wasn't really even capable of hearing what the priest was trying to say. It had been--

It had been an act of love, hadn't it? Performed by someone for whom love was a threat, to try to get through to someone who been taught he was unlovable.

He's much more serious as he cups Koumyou's cheek, caressing the priest's cheekbone with his thumb. "I believe you," he says fervently. "I believe you, because-- be-because no one has ever tried as hard as you to-- to-- to get through to me. You-- you see me, you see me more clearly than I've ever seen myself, and you-- you're still here despite that! You still want me, want to be mine, even though you know everything I am.

"I can't see what you see. But you keep trying to show me anyway, even though I've been f-fighting you like a goddamned idiot--" He has to stop, to rein himself in a little.

He takes a deep breath before he continues more evenly. "How could I do anything but believe you?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou blinks a few times and is surprised to feel tears roll down his cheeks. His thin chest feels tight; his heart feels like it could burst with all the affection contained in it, boiling over.

And the relief flowing through him is like nothing he's ever felt before.

So there's tears, but also a tender smile, and then a nod.

"I'm glad," Koumyou's voice is even choked, but he's not-- he's not upset! And he lunges in close to bury his face in Dev's shoulder, arms looping around his waist and squeezing so that the priest can pick him up by a few inches.

Muffled into Devero's shoulder, "I'm so glad!"

[subcircuits]

Devero laughs in startled delight as Koumyou lifts him up off the ground, and he doesn't loosen his instinctively clutching grip even after he's set down again. He lays his cheek against Koumyou's head and tears of his own roll free, over his rough cheeks and into the priest's hair.

"I want to be able to see myself the way you see me," he murmurs there, his voice thick. "And I want to help you see yourself the way I see you."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I'm not sure I want to see myself in such a light," Koumyou admits honestly, into Devero's shoulder. "But it... it sounds like a fair trade."

So, okay. They'll lift each other out of the dark, somehow.