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

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos looks up, recognizing the newcomer from the final battle on the mission. However, the recognition ends there. He gives her his full attention, or as much as he's able still trying to deal with the guilt and worry he's had since arrival.

"Hail."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"uh...hi." Raven blinked, pondering how to do this. "Are you doing any better, after the mission?" She thought she'd heard him exclaim some kind of curse and that he 'hated this place'.

[controlsthedie]

"I've returned to how I'm supposed to be." Thanatos knows that it's the most he can say about being better. He still isn't where he's supposed to be. He hasn't solved the problems which resulted in his removal from home. He doesn't know how he's supposed to fit into this whole thing as Death Incarnate.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"That's a very specific answer." Raven murmured, deadpan tone unclear if she was serious or sarcastic. "That was your first mission right?"

[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.

[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."

[controlsthedie]

Again, Thanatos pauses as he thinks. He tries to order his thoughts and words in a way that doesn't sound like he's not worrying all day or night about his world back home.

"I'm still getting used to the technology. There aren't trains where I'm from."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"You're worried about what's going on back home. That's understandable." It was a leap of logic, but it was one Raven felt confident in making. Especially considering her Empathy was backing it up. Just with what he'd been feeling unshielded and unguarded. "This is a lot to deal with."

[controlsthedie]

"My absence from my world causes chaos." A lack of Death in the world does not bring about an everlasting paradise. It ruins the natural order and causes additional hardship on those already suffering. Thanatos's thoughts on the matter run dark as Night but without the beauty; he's seen the aftermath and felt the pain during. It's bad.

"To fix one world's problem while allowing my own to fall into ruin is concerning."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"I suppose my saying there's nothing you can do about it, while on the train, wouldn't help." Raven's calm voice was serious, sympathetic. "I wish I had answers for you."

[controlsthedie]

"How long have you been on this train?" He's heard that there is nothing he can do, and she's right. It doesn't help.

"Are all the missions about saving where we stop?"

[azrthmtrnznthos]

It was a good question, and Raven had to stop and think. "About 6 months, maybe more? There was apparently a time I wasn't here, but I don't have any memory of leaving." That was the best she could do for the first question. As for the second...

"So far yes. Some worlds are void-aware, some aren't. All seem to need us for some reason."

[controlsthedie]

Six months... He can't imagine what... no. He won't imagine. If he does, he won't be able to function. Thanatos swallows, an all too human reflex for a god to do.

"And void-aware means knowing of the train's existence or what it travels through, I assume. Regardless, I still don't understand the train's reasoning."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"In bringing us here? you could try asking it." Raven offered. "There's no guarantee it would be answered, but you could try." Giving a small sigh, she continued. "Look. I'm an Empath. I can tell you're extremely distressed, and you have been for a while. I wondered if I could help."

[controlsthedie]

"... There's a way to speak to the train?" Thanatos looks at her puzzled. "Is there some special ritual needed?"

He doesn't know of any way someone could possibly help. Death needs to return home, to stabilize the cycle of life and death. Maybe he could try explaining his situation to whoever is in charge, get them to understand.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"It's a message on the ICP, when it tells us about what month it is, and the chore list, and stuff. It asks for feedback. You could try using that. No special ritual needed."

[controlsthedie]

Message on the ICP... That sounds like one of the strange technology things. Thanatos looks at his wrist. It was called some three letter name, wasn't it? And Persephone and Ryo had talked to him using it...

Thanatos pokes it, trying to get it to display the message she speaks of.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"That's not the ICP. That's your SCA. Safety Control Appparatus. It's what allows us to understand each other if we speak different languages. It beeps when you're in danger, and while you're wearing it, if you die on a mission you reappear in Luggage." Raven wondered if anyone ever got a proper explanation on their first day anymore.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos was too busy panicking up and down the entire length of the train, trying to find a way out, to get a proper explanation. He also hadn't thought about the fact that he could understand everyone, likely deciding it was some nature of his divinity than the device. He looks at it again.

"I knew the train interfered with death, but I didn't realize this was what did it."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"We still don't know a lot about our SCAs. Or the Train in general." Raven replied quietly. "I can show you where you can ask, on the ICP, if you want."

[controlsthedie]

"Might as well. The worse that can happen is that I don't get an answer." Thanatos doesn't seem very hopeful. It's feels dangerous to hope, and honestly, Thanatos isn't sure how much more he can take in such a short period of time.

And then Zagreus arrives.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Raven gave a soft sigh. He likely wasn't even aware he was radiating very little but gloom and despair. And normally, she wouldn't mind except he'd been doing it for a while and it wasn't just like the usual 'background noise'-type emotions she could tune out.

"This way. What were you pulled from, when you arrived here?" Because she might as well ask, while leading him to one of the ICPs.

[controlsthedie]

"I was leaving the Underworld to collect my next assignment on the surface." Thanatos assumes he radiates gloom on a good day to mortals. They tended not to like being near Death, even the God of Gentle Death.

"The train pulled me mid-shift."

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"What did you do for the Underworld?" Raven didn't seem surprised at this concept at least. She did want some more details though.

[controlsthedie]

"I am Death Incarnate, and I also bring the souls of those who have died peacefully to the Underworld," he says it so plainly. He's not trying to intimidate or impress. It's just a fact.