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

[bakegarasu]

Otoha stares at him blankly. "Okay, I know you can go from one to the other and it's not the same as crossdressers, but what else would there be?"

[worthallthis]

Ah, well. Not everyone has a handy tablet with a clock in it, they suppose. "We all wake up at exactly the same time every morning," Soldat offers. "Pick a number of hours after that. Or a certain amount of hours before bedtime. It doesn't have to be exact."

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos is big for a human but oddly small as a god. (Though not as small as Zagreus. He's still half a head to a head taller than him.)

"I have. My abilities from being Death Incarnate, hovering, and shifting locations have all returned." Thanatos doesn't know for who's sake he strains to keep his voice steady. Just that he does. He sweeps an arm out, and his large scythe appears. He gives it a small spin before letting it vanish again. "My proper weapons as well."

[bakegarasu]

There's a faint part of him that wants to cry, but the static is drowning it out. "... Just gonna get hurt. Shot, or something else. I'll fail at protecting you, too."

That's what he did, he failed. Just like he expected, just like he always does.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos doesn't reply at first. He presses his lips together into a thin line, and he seems to stare off to nothing.

"It was. My performance will improve before the next mission," he finally says as if he fears a reprimand for how poorly he did. Raven will be able to sense how shaken he is and tell that he's putting up a front.

[controlsthedie]

They all have people and homes they miss, and once they lay it out like that... Thanatos almost feels guilty. He's not the only one who feels like this, even if his world has the extra complication of Death's absence. Shouldn't a god be able to--

No, that's not what Persephone and Ryo are trying to say. They don't fault him for how he... feels. The two of them tell their experiences not to shame him but to relate.

Thanatos closes his eyes and holds Mort close. What would Zagreus want him to do? What would he do?

Exactly what Persephone and Ryo suggest. Do what he can for the people he comes across while finding a way to escape. That heavy ache in his chest doesn't hide from Thanatos, and the similarities don't go unnoticed. Can Thanatos do that? Can Death truly find a way to live? Despite it all?

"... All I can say is that I'll try."

Maybe for now, that will be enough.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Well, there you go, then," Koumyou smiles his usual squinty smile, and relaxes a little more back against the edge of the pool behind him. "I would say something like 'I don't know why someone thought Sanzo robes should be white, when we're tasked with protecting such dangerous artifacts from every greedy idiot on the planet', but I know why."

This is absolutely not a mystery to the youngest Sanzo of his era, or to the first and only Sanzo to protect two sutras... and to do so for longer than many lasted protecting one.

The singularly most hunted man on the planet for most of his life.

"...It's because everyone who hasn't had to do it themselves, assumes we Sanzos, who are so very holy, why... we must defend our sutra with stern words. And maybe by shaking a finger here and there," Koumyou illustrates by shaking one bony finger at Otoha, "It's like one big, shitty joke."

It's a violent world, and violence requires violence in turn.

[bakegarasu]

"Artifacts? Huh." Well. Interesting. "In my case it was because it was very expensive and a power move... and to keep it clean and white it took a lot of expensive dry cleaning. My brother might have been the one who gave me these...

He gestures to the small round burn scars on his right arm. "But I was still the younger brother of the group's boss and I was expected to look like it."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Why did he bother with that if you can't feel it?"

Like, it would have been a shitty move either way, but it seemed kind of... extra pointless? To torture someone who couldn't feel pain?

Koumyou, as per usual, has no issue with revealing what the paper always on him is. Usually draped across his shoulders, and now stuck in scroll form by his hip in the waistband of his swim trunks. He reaches under the water and produces the scroll in one hand, lifting it for Otoha to see.

"This is the Seiten sutra. It's one fifth of that which made everything and nothing, life and death, good and evil, and everything in between."

The priest lets go of the scroll, and rather than dropping back into the water, it... hovers in the air. "To say it's tempting for those who crave power is an understatement. But to claim a sutra, one must kill the Sanzo protecting it, and I'm much better at murder than those who have tried me."

[bakegarasu]

"Oh, it wasn't for me, it was to make other people laugh." It always took the new people by surprise. "And to prove I'd do what he said, so they'd know that if he told me to kill them right there, I'd do it."

He's spent some time thinking about it, especially recently.

The explanation gets a tilt of his head. ... Huh. "Well, good thing they picked someone who's not shitty at it. I know at least one person who probably would have loved to get his hands on it, and I don't mean anyone in the yakuza." If Eko'd had access to that kind of power, even Otoha probably wouldn't have been able to stop him.

Also... "Oh. Wait. Sanzo's your title, not your family name."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Ah, a power move." What a piece of shit. But Koumyou's not terribly surprised by that revelation, with what he already knows of Otoha's... 'family'.

The priest reaches back up and takes the scroll from the air, and tucks it back down against his hip. It's rarely ever out of arms reach, and never in another room from its protector.

"Yes. 'Koumyou' is my homyo, or holy name. So using it with Sanzo is basically just being specific, like, 'that Sanzo in particular'. Just calling me 'Sanzo' is kind of vague, but still accurate. There's never more than five of us alive at once -- four, in my time -- and we're rarely ever in the same place."

So, it's rarely a problem.

[bakegarasu]

"Oh. What's your given name?"

Wait. "Or is that rude to ask?"

[sizedoesntmatter]

"I don't know..." He paused, he was going to regardless but he wanted to at least let it linger for a moment or two first.

"It would at least be a good idea, but maybe not too much. A couple of laps at best."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I don't have one anymore," Koumyou says with some of his usual, gentle cheerfulness.

And it's true. Houmei had been... essentially, metaphorically, sacrificed to create Koumyou Sanzo.

The position of Sanzo demanded everything, and often took more.

[bakegarasu]

He sits there and stares at Koumyou before sighing. He tilts his head back and chuckles. "... You got taken and made into a weapon, like me. Just a shield rather than a sword."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I suppose that's accurate, yes," Koumyou can't exactly fault that comparison.

And, because he's rarely beyond making jokes, "...A shield who's supposed to wear white."

How ridiculous.

[bakegarasu]

"There's some white metals out there. I think. Pretty sure." He has no idea.

He looks back at Koumyou and then sinks down slightly into the water. "... I ordered a picture of Reiji. Well, a pair of them. One for me, one for... whatever memorial I end up doing."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou smiles at the suggestion and shrugs one bony shoulder. "I don't actually mind. I've gotten very good at scrubbing the blood out over the decades."

That last comment, though, gets a moment of serious thought from Koumyou. "...Yeah?" And he tilts his head to one side, a little. "I'm still willing to help with that, if you want."

[bakegarasu]

"I don't know how to do laundry by hand, I've always used machines. The suit had to get special treatment, though."

He submerges himself for a moment, blowing frustrated bubbles. When he resurfaces he flicks his wet hair out of his eyes. "I don't know what I want to do with it. I'm still thinking about it. ... I think Ryo said he was willing to help, too. I just... don't know."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Well, such things are really for the people who remember who was lost," the priest says with another easy shrug, "so it's good that you're taking the time to figure out what you want to do with it. If having a Buddhist priest involved is helpful, I'm willing. If not, then that's fine too."

He's hardly going to be offended. Grief is an intensely personal thing... and not something he has a ton of experience with handling in a healthy way, himself.

Lots of experience handling it in shitty ways, though.

[bakegarasu]

"Nothing but time here, and all." He'd rather be busy. Dealing with feelings is stupid. "I don't really want to end up talking to my roommates about it since we're all either on the same team or stick to red anyway and I don't think emotional stuff is our specialty. But I don't know if I want it public because I don't want someone to take it down or to ask weird questions."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"It's okay. There's a lot to deal with, in this kind of situation." Raven reassured, despite her deadpan tone. "I wanted to see how you've been doing, besides on the mission."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Why does everyone think she's gonna yell at them about their mission performance?

"I wasn't worried about your performance on the mission, so much as I wanted to make sure you're alright. Settling in okay, and all that."

[firewalled]

"I guess you have a point. I just didn't want anyone to catch what I have. Especially since this would spread pretty fast in a tiny train car..."

It's just a cold, sure, but it's annoying.

[bakegarasu]

"Yeah. ... I could go back and get one of my hoodies if you're still too cold." It's not like he's using them anyway.