middleofsomewhere | Conclusion

Conclusion

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.

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Let's be real, these two probably evacuated out of there at the same time, since there's no way they'd leave the other behind while going first.

Which means there are now two tiny people with the same problem over in the luggage carriage. It doesn't help that apparently proximity in the mission world doesn't translate to proximity when you're back on the train, which means Madoka is frantically looking for the other girl between the group of people gathered in the carriage.

So the moment she actually spots the other trying to squeeze through a spot nearby her, she suddenly latches onto Ple Two's hand.

"There you are..! Thank god.." For a moment she was worried maybe one of them hadn't made it back!

And Ple Two isn't waiting for anyone else. They can handle themselves, right? Not that Madoka is helpless but she's still... soft.

Now they're squeezing through to find each other, and Ple Two can fully exhale. "Ah... you're unharmed too. Good..."

She glances around nervously for a moment, before leaning in rest her forehead against Madoka's. No one's paying TOO much attention to them, surely. Nothing embarrassing.

Clearly nothing embarrassing.

Although it is something surprising. Surprising enough to make Madoka stop trying to move through the crowd for a moment. Instead she freezes up as she feels the other's forehead move against her own, her cheeks heating up a tad.

"Ah.."

It's nice. And warm, and affectionate. And so her surprise slowly melts into a smile, not caring who else may be around at this point.

"O-Of course I am! I wouldn't let you worry about me, you know..!"

It's only for a moment, of course. Ple Two lets it linger for a moment, but not so long that anyone around them sees it, because that might be a little too PDA.

"I... still worry." Madoka's gotten pretty good at taking care of herself, but it's still so dangerous. "I'm always glad to see you safe when we get back."

"Then I'll try to keep safe.." She softly says, like the words are just meant for the other girl, despite them being in a carriage absolutely full of people right now. Madoka may - by default - be a bit reckless when it comes to keeping other people safe and throwing her own safety away in the process, but she's trying to be better about it. If not just for the people who care about her.

Her voice trails off for a moment, and she looks at the rather full luggage carriage.

".. it would have been nice if the train had just picked us up this time, huh..?"

It sure would have saved everyone being all cramped up in here!

They can't be overheard easily here. Excellent. The two of them are, of course, both liable to get themselves hurt, but nothing terrible has happened to her yet, somehow.

Ple Two snorts at the observation. "It's a bit of a mess, so it's a good thing we're smaller..." Sometimes, it's an advantage. Of course if she wasn't she'd just push people around to make a clear space for Madoka anyways.

The people of the train are once more saved by the fact that Madoka and Ple Two are the most compact couple ever...

".. Maybe we should go somewhere else though? Um, before more people arrive.." The last thing they'd want is for some much bigger person to appear right on top of them after all, right?

"Maybe we can get something to eat? I am a little hungry after all that.."

Ple Two nods. "...let's go." The most compact couple here, unless they get fairies or something. The two of them don't want Piccolo to land on them though.

"I could use food." She could eat ice cream, but she should get real food first.

"What do you want to eat?" Because of course Madoka is going to ask it like that first. Sure, she isn't too picky herself (although she sure does like sweet things..), but she'd prefer eating whatever would make Ple Two the happiest anyway.

Hopefully this will end in some responsible food choices, rather than them eating ice cream.

But while they're heading out of the luggage carriage like this, Madoka is sure to keep holding onto Ple Two's hand, even when it's no longer necessary to guide each other through the crowd.

The answer, if Ple Two just blurts out what's on her mind, is indeed ice cream - which is why she pauses for a moment as they walk. Holding hands. Holding hands the whole way. Now that's distracting her from her answer, even if it's also giving her warm fuzzies.

"Ah... well... what do you... want, though?" she asks awkwardly, putting off using her brain for another moment.

This is an endless loop.

Clearly these two need someone else to be present at all times. Someone who can sort out who they should think of first here, rather than just going back and forth in this loop of only thinking about the other rather than about themselves.

In fact, Madoka's initial reaction is even an: "I asked first!"

Though it doesn't sound insistent. Since it's Madoka, and she hardly ever is. Instead it just sounds like she's seeing the humor of the situation.

"Well, I guess we should have something filling.. And maybe something nice and hot? We could make some soup.." Especially since it's simple, and they've exhausted themselves enough already while working on the mission.

They could spend hours on this conversation. Imagine if they were in a restaurant with a huge menu like a Cheesecake Factory or something. Please, any adults, come make these kids be decisive.

Ple Two just laughs softly at Madoka's insistence, though. "You did, you did..." But Madoka still comes up with an idea, so that's a win!

"Soup sounds... nourishing." Depending on what they've got hanging around.

"Hmm, and we can just find something to throw in there!"

She doesn't mean it in the awful 'let's put something into soup which definitely does not belong in soup kind of way either. Madoka actually does know a thing or two about cooking. She's just saying they can improvise with whatever ingredients they can find!

.. Maybe not avocado though. She's not too sure about avocado soup just yet..

Madoka squeezes the other girl's hand.

"It'll be yummy."

"Just anything, huh?" She laughs softly. "Let's find vegetables and a carbohydrate at least." Rice or noodles or potatoes or... something like that.

No avocados. Not in soup. They could just chop them up on the side and it'll be fine.

"We'll make it work out."

"That's the fun of it!" Madoka can't help but remark. Though she does agree with Ple Two, really - they should at least put some nutricious stuff in there. And a good balance of ingredients.

"It's all about the surprise of what you'll find. Especially here on the train, right?"

Since they're kind of at the mercy of whatever the train decides to give them during any given month. And the kindness of some other passengers in sharing food they've bought or gathered.

"I wonder how surprising we can make it and still have it come out good..." She shrugs. "But we won't know until we try."

And see what the main ingredient is next time. Hopefully it's something versatile.

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Conclusion

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