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

Garden car

[lanxichen]

From somewhere further along in the car, there begin soft sounds of a flute - a xiao - that seem to bring with them peace (and encouragement to grow). Oddly enough, the melody itself seems a little sad.

Lan Xichen has returned to the train as well. This mission did not seem nearly as difficult as the one before, but. That does not mean it was easy for everyone. Or for the plants who probably missed their usual company.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos has to admit that he didn't think about his poppies at all while on the mission. He always feared that he'd kill the plant, and now that he's back, he wonders if they'll ever sprout. How long does it take for a seed to become a seedling? Is the pot of dirt still viable? (Can Death possibly cultivate life without outside intervention?)

It's just another thought among too many troubling ones as he watches the water. Thanatos is puzzled by the flute at first, partly expecting a lyre. He lifts his head to locate the source. When did the other passenger get here?

[lanxichen]

In all fairness, there were enough people who stayed behind from the mission that plants in the garden car would be taken care of for the duration, or at least that has been Xichen's experience. It should be enough to care for them while he is here, he would say.

As he is doing, himself.

And - he might have been here from earlier, sitting cross-legged and meditating silently until he needed the comfort of the music.

Xichen catches the motion and turns his eyes that way, to see if the person would like to talk with him or keeping on playing would be better for now.

[controlsthedie]

Far be it for Thanatos to interrupt a musician by talking to him. Orpheus would play his harp and sing at intervals, and he hated to be interrupted.

So, Thanatos returns his attention to the water. It's not like either of them have any claim to the garden car. They can co-exist peacefully.

[lanxichen]

Lan Xichen is no Orpheus, but the music is sweet, if melancholy. He accepts the choice and finishes the melody, before unfolding and gliding a little closer, even without the flowing robes he is used to.

Not too close.

"Excuse me - it would be fair to ask. Would you like privacy, or company?"

[controlsthedie]

The grace of which the other moves catches Thanatos's eye. Mortal? Divine? Something in-between? He's not sure, but he has realized that it doesn't matter on the train. Just like death.

Thanatos shakes his head at the man's question, though that is hardly a good answer. "It doesn't matter to me either way. Am I disturbing you?"