Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

Thank you.

For those inside the system the voices of the Great-Seasons ring out around them once the red mass has vanished and the blue plinth it was smothering is freed once more. They don't have all that much time to reflect on that before they find themselves waking up once more in their bodies around the tree trunks.

Or at least, around the tube that is the Great-Season they entered through. All illusions have vanished now, all that is left are pipes and metal.

The Great-Seasons allow them passage out from the centre, no sentries or pipes attack them this time. Everything seems to have been put to rights, the walls in the Autumn sector have stopped moving, there is no strange weather effects in the Summer Sector, no engineering problems in Winter and all the camaloid creatures in Spring are calm. Any Helpmates they come across are doing their jobs and no longer malfunctioning.

After a small amount of time, enough to check that all is well, their SCA's light up. All Passengers are to return to the Voidtrecker Express.

Considering the vast distances involved it is probably best that they use the evacuation function to return to the Luggage carriage.

Once all Voidtreckers have returned the train returns to the Void once more.

Comments

[worthallthis]

"Sorry." They sag again against the counter and scrub their face wearily. "Post-mission recovery. It's normal. And I'm not great with people touching me. When I don't see it coming. You're okay?" They don't think anything actually connected, but better to ask than to assume.

[fivemilesdeep]

This is worse. This is so, so much worse. This is the answer to most of Ryo's questions, in perfect, horrifying clarity. Evidently his world had tested it at some point, locking Thanatos up- in a box- when he was small-

And as if that's not enough, Thanatos is blaming himself for his friend being in pain-

He's out of his seat and around the table before he knows it. Persephone may not be able to hug Thanatos, but Ryo has made no such promise. He takes a seat next to Thanatos and wraps his arms around him, not too tightly but enough to get through. "This isn't your fault," he says, as firmly as he can manage. "None of this is your fault." That is the important part; the details can wait.

[emerald_mirror]

Xander would agree with that--both the train bit and the kids part, too--at least if he could read the former. But a telepath he's not. (And really, he's actually quite okay with that. Being an empath is a pain in the ass in and of itself. Though Soldat seems comfortingly neutral, as that goes...)

"Yeah, there are. But we gotta do our best to look out for them, right?" What would one expect from him? He's got a bunch of adopted younger siblings back home, even if they're not blood sibs. Xander would very much protect them all, as often as he could.

[flatteries]

Inigo exhales. The topic of Tidus in combination with what happened during the mission still feels a little Difficult, but that's actually why he'll gladly drop it for a moment. The less said about it, the better, probably.

Instead he shakes his head.

"I could do it again next time." Even though it's dangerous. Even though he was well aware of exactly that in the moments before he took off his SCA back on the mission world. "If you think that'd help, that is. Or if it'd give you more to work with."

Inigo isn't the one who can draw conclusions very well from those kinds of things, after all. He's just here to help Senku in ways he can.

"I'm not afraid."

[happyends]

"No!"

The volume of Madoka's voice rises a little. Usually she'd be too worried to do that. Too worried about who may overhear, about who may be passing by and feel unsure about why it seems like the two of them are arguing, or why something emotional is going on.

But right now Madoka's thoughts are entirely taken up by Mami instead. This feels so much more important than whatever impression a third party may get of them.

"That's not true! You're alive!" She thinks back to Sayaka's body, lying there on the ground, lifeless-- "You shouldn't say something so cruel about yourself, Mami-san..! Does knowing that change anything about you? Does it change anything when you've already been living this way for so long?"

Maybe she's a little too desperate - in her tone, in her eyes - but what else is she supposed to do in the face of Mami snorting like that? Of Mami making light of her own life, as she usually does - as if she's not a person who's just as important as everyone else? Someone who's really important to Madoka?

[irrationally]

"So you caught a cold," she summarizes. As if that wasn't obvious yet, from the way Rich is shivering and sneezing like that. At least she won't blame him for being stupid and catching one, since it does seem like it was just an after effect of genuinely trying to help out.

Still..

"You should get up and get to the medical carriage. If a cold starts spreading in a space as small as this train, it could easily incapacitate the entire group of people aboard."

Look, that's just the easiest thing to say here - just something that's objectively true. And it's the easiest way for her to say 'hey, get some help' without seeming concerned about him as an individual. Because openly being concerned for others is vulnerable and therefore icky.

[magicurls]

Luckily, Mami's not too far gone. She's discovered this at a relatively calm time, and there's enough of her left that she can keep herself from spiraling further.

She looks up from her hand to Madoka.

"I'm sorry, Madoka. I know I shouldn't. I'm just...surprised, is all. How I didn't feel anything..."

Soft, shuddering breath. She thinks back on what little she knows of Madoka's journey after her death. If she'd already known, then someone else had...Miki-san. Akemi-san. Had Kyoko ever known? Was she the only fool to die in ignorance?

"Why would Kyubey do that?"

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Raven blinked, a bit surprised by the answer. "Not that it should encourage you to take risks, but you know that as long as you're wearing your SCA, you come back right? While a passenger of this train?"

soak it in

[subcircuits]

The thing about the spa car is that it's never empty for long. Otoha has it to himself for less than half an hour before the door opens and Devero sticks his head inside. Seeing just one other person, he enters; recognizing that one other person (even if they've only officially met in a virtual world), he lifts a hand in greeting as he comes inside.

He does opt for trunks when he changes, each item removed revealing more ink. His tattoos are on full display as sits on the edge of the pool and puts just his legs in.

"Hope you don't mind if I join you?"

Cassie Cage | OTA

[nutkrusher]

Pre-Evacuation

Cassie's patient. You don't survive in the Special Forces unless you learn discipline. So she'll be one of the last people to evacuate to the luggage car. Until then she'll be making sure the coast is clear, that her loved ones are okay, and above all else trying to make sure that Team Purple paces themselves teleporting back to the car.

She certainly isn't the type to find it exciting, though. Maybe you could spice things up with a little conversation?

Onboard

This mission wasn't as hard as the last one. It was, however, almost inarguably more annoying. So she'll be looking for avenues to unwind as soon as she gets back on board. As well as looking for a certain someone she hasn't seen in the flesh for a few days.

Trunks should find her right away, of course. But anyone else can find her in the spa or gym.

Onboard--Luggage car

[light_of_willpower]

She won't have to look too long, as someone has missed her. Even if they've been busy with a mission, Trunks has missed her, so he's waiting in luggage until he catches her return. Hasn't even changed out of his orange coat over the armor.

II - standard car

[subcircuits]

There's almost always a few people hanging around in the standard car, and Devero generally tries to maintain the polite fiction of privacy when he passes through one way or the other. Of course, if someone looks like they might need something, he'll stop--

And Soldat looks like they need a bed.

He does stop, and leans against the backrest of the seat in front of the one Soldat's in. "Hey," he says, hopefully quiet enough not to startle while being audible enough to register. "We have bunks, remember?"

[deductiongeek]

Well, he had been looking for a distraction. Teaching someone how to play his favorite game was as good as any. (Maybe not quite as fun as rereading Holmes again, but it was close.)

"Sure!" he says brightly. "People usually start with learning how to control the ball with their feet. I can show you some of the drills."

[bakegarasu]

"It's... not?" He looks genuinely confused. "She can be kind of abrupt sometimes, but I think I've talked more in the two weeks since I got here than in the last... three years."

So, you know. Not big on conversation on his end, either.

"I don't really care that she took my memories. I'm glad I got to clean things up, but -" He holds a hand to his chest. ... He'd have lost all of those memories of Reiji. He doesn't want to forget his friend, but... that feeling of something squeezing his heart is back.

He wheels around and punches the carriage wall at full force. There's a resounding crack and the metal around them shakes for a moment before it settles. He pulls his fist back and there's no damage to the wall.

... It doesn't help. He's starting to feel like he can't breathe, and he clutches the lip of the counter desperately.

[subcircuits]

Though they had only interacted relatively briefly during the mission, and then only inside the artificial arena of the biosphere's-- core?, Devero's been thinking about Thanatos.

How could he not, when the other man had looked so... so lost, in there without his powers?

So when he spots him in the garden, he veers off from the main path and cuts across to where Thanatos is... hovering. He really had meant that literally, huh?

"Hey. Thanatos, right?" he calls as he approaches.

[bakegarasu]

Eh, it doesn't bother him. He blinks at the tattoos - not the sort he's used to seeing - but he shrugs.

"'s a free pool. I can put on swim trunks if me being naked's weird. This is the closest to an onsen we've got."

[nutkrusher]

Cassie's been waiting long enough. She isn't waiting longer, or wasting time with any sharp remarks. She comes as close as a human can get to Instant Transmission-ing over to the other side of the car to embrace him.

And maybe try and pull that dumb jacket off while she's at it.

[fivemilesdeep]

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Gods, but Otoha has been hurt throughout his life. And if he'd been treated as a weapon instead of a person-

Well. There's someone out there who hadn't had a godsforsaken clue how to treat a weapon or a person well.

But they're not here, and Ryo has priorities. Multiple wounds means central contact. "You know how this works," he says, placing one hand gently on an uninjured part of Otoha's chest and reaching around to place the other on the back of his neck. "Don't break the connection." He gives it a moment to settle - someone like Otoha probably isn't too happy with these points of contact - then reaches out, finding Otoha's life and easing into it. Skin knits back together, burns ease, and bruises fade, and Ryo eases the connection and pulls away when he feels his magic start to double back on itself. "There. How do you feel?"

[light_of_willpower]

Good thing he can take a hit--she was practically sprinting. But Trunks had his arms up and ready for her, and held her close. With a laugh as she started trying to get the orange coat off. "Easy there.." With a smile, and a blush. "We're in public after all..." He might've been teasing her too.

TWO MEN ENTER THE SPA OF FEELINGS....

[subcircuits]

After a check-in with each other after the 'evacuation', Devero had parted ways with Koumyou. He'd mostly been prowling the luggage car and the train, trying to do a headcount on his class account for all the blue team kids. Only once he's satisfied that all of them (and Rich, and Buttercup, and--) had made it back to the train does he let his attention turn to other things, like returning all his borrowed mission gear, and taking a shower himself, and if he says any of the folks he's close to, stopping to have a word with them, and--

Anyway all this to say, it's a while before Koumyou's big boyfriend shows up in the spa car. "Thought I might find you here," Devero says as he's entering, regarding Koumyou with an absolutely fond smile on his face.

[nutkrusher]

"You've got me all wrong," Cassie says, grinning. "That jacket just fuckin' sucks."

But, ugly, clashing jacket or no, she leans in to kiss him anyway.

[bakegarasu]

He flinches slightly, but doesn't pull away. It's... fine. He's not being hurt or attacked. He lets out a long breath and watches the wounds close. It's okay. He's safe.

Once it's done he reaches up and puts a hand on Ryo's shoulder. It's safe contact. It's fine. "... I'm all right. I... uh. I don't take my shirt off around most people, even when it's warm. Scars kind of put people off."

jaws theme returns

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou cracks both eyes open once he sees that it's Dev who just walked in. His returning smile is just as fond, up to his chin in the water. "I'm nothing if not predictable in some ways, huh?"

Makes up for all the chaos he sows in other ways, perhaps.

[light_of_willpower]

That just makes him laugh more, into the kiss and hold her tighter. Still blushing, but he's missed her too. It had been a few days after all, and a bit of a wild-emotional ride before that.

After holding it for several moments, he'll still be blushing, but rest his forehead against hers. "Okay, I get the message. Jacket comes off."

in the dark; or, dadero incoming

[subcircuits]

The more aware of the children on this train Devero becomes, the more children he seems to find!! He's on his way through the greenhouse car when he spies a kid-- this one an unfamiliar kid, but still a kid-- tucked away as if she's trying to hide from something. Like a big soft moth drawn to a tiny flame, he approaches, going down into a crouch in front of her.

"Hey. You all right, kiddo?" he asks, keeping his deep voice as gentle as he can.