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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Devero beams happily as he's smooched, and slings an arm around Koumyou's shoulders to keep him close. "I might be willing to date a prune as long as he was happy and comfortable," Devero says with an exaggerated air of contemplation. "They'd whisper 'There he goes,' as I walk by, 'the man with a prune for a boyfriend'."

Koumyou giggles at that, because as per usual, these two are disgusting together.

"Maaah, so accommodating!"

It's Devero's turn to smooch, pressing his lips to Koumyou's temple. "I just want you to be happy," he says.

"You really are the sweetest," Koumyou sighs with contentment, and moves to rest the side of his head on Devero's shoulder.

He very well might doze off like this if he's not stopped.

If Koumyou feels safe and comfortable enough to fall asleep on Devero's shoulder, he's not going to do a thing to stop him. Closing his eyes, he settles in and dozes a little himself as he lets the heat soak into the bruises he'd collected over the past few days.

But soon enough, the complaints of his shoulder drag him out of that peaceful haze. He shifts a little and gives Koumyou a squeeze. "Arm's falling asleep," he says apologetically as he wakes him back up too. "...Probably because we're falling asleep."

"Hmm?" Koumyou yawns into one hand and straightens up, before reaching to take Dev's arm down and start rubbing it between his bony hands under the water.

He's actually pretty decent at massage, even half-awake.

"I've always been bad about dozing off in the water," the priest tells him as he works, "Kouryuu was always worried I'd drown when I took a soak."

Oh. Oh. That feels quite nice. Devero lounges right back against the edge of the pool, humming a pleased sound in the back of his throat.

He cracks his eyes back open to watch Koumyou. "He was worrying after you? That's..." He about to say really adorable, but before he can, the memory of how upset Rich was with him that... that night... intrudes.

The pause is noticeable before he says, "What a good kid."

"He was always fussing over me," Koumyou confirms, noticing the pause but not sure what to make of it. More awake now, his massage actually just improves. Knowledge of pressure-points and how tendons and ligaments move is useful for this, too, and he doesn't really have to think about it.

After all, seiho is just another aspect of goho and juho.

"He was the best kid, but I'm very biased."

That's all right, Koumyou, Dev doesn't know what to make of this yet either. Something for him to chew over.

"Of course you are," Devero says. "If I had a kid I loved as much as you love Kouryuu, I know I'd think they was the best kid too."

If Devero had thought he was relaxed before, Koumyou is rapidly proving him wrong. His arm is going limp in Koumyou's hands in the very best way, and he's definitely making the occasionally involuntary little sound of pleasure as the priest's strong fingers work his muscles.

Koumyou... hesitates for a second at that word. But only for a second, and then he's back to digging his callused fingertips in just so. Here and here, press and rotate and drag. Without having to think about it, the priest finds a knot and digs a knuckle in to release it.

"...Yeah."

Not gonna deny that word, even if he can't... use it so freely.

And he finally notices Devero's reaction to his work with an amused, fond chuckle. "You're turning into putty, Dev-chan."

Good thing he's got Devero around to say it for him, as often as it needs to be said. Devero just smiles, as if satisfied with that response.

"Mm, and you're the one doing it to me, Hoshi-kun," he says, opening one drowsy eye back up a crack to watch his boyfriend as he experimentally drops that last bit. "I had no idea massage therapy one of the skills you learned at Sanzo school."

"Goho is hard technique, like punches, chops, kicks. Juho is soft technique, like grapples, pins, throws. And Seiho," Koumyou emphasizes the word as he digs a knuckle into another knot, "is the use of those very same skills in healing technique. Same pressure points, same tendons, same muscles."

Context is key!

"If they didn't teach us how to do this, too, we'd have been too crippled by training to do anything at all."

"Goho, juho, seiho," Devero repeats. Koumyou's told him a little about the first two, but seiho is a new one to him. And just like everything to do with Koumyou, he wants to know and understand it.

He actually groans as Koumyou digs at the knotted muscle in his forearm. "I think I like seiho the best out of the three," he says, letting his head fall back against the tile rim of the pool. "Makes me want to start training in the martial arts you know, just to pick this part up."

Edited 2021-01-30 05:46 (UTC)

Koumyou's quiet at that. But his hands haven't stopped moving, and it's a thoughtful quiet.

"...Do you really want to learn the kinds of things I know?"

Hey, Dev's happy to close his eyes and enjoy the massage. His quiet is that mindless, pleasant quiet of someone who's just enjoying ~~being taken care of~~ himself.

The limb in Koumyou's grip does go tense, though, when Koumyou asks that, and he sits upright in the water with a splash. "I wasn't asking!" he protests quickly. He pulls his arm away so he can put his hands up, palms out. "I'm not, I promise.

"You're just so-- amazing," he continues helplessly, lowering his hands back into the water. "Can you blame me for wanting to be a little bit like you?"

"I know you weren't!" Koumyou assures him just as quickly, reaching for Devero's hand once it lowers. "That doesn't mean I'm not..."

Considering it.

Somehow.

He uses both hands on Devero's upturned one under the water; slotting his pinkies through the bigger man's fingers. One between thumb and hand, and the other between pinky and other fingers. Then he turns his hand outwards a little, spreading Devero's palm open for his thumbs to knead into, other fingers behind his hand for support.

"If I were to teach you one thing, what would you want?"

Devero's silent and uncertain as Koumyou returns to work on his hand, watching the priest through half-closed eyes. Did he... just imply.... After what had happened between them before the mission, surely not.

He almost doesn't want to answer the question, lest it put undue pressure on Koumyou. He doesn't want to be the guy chipping selfishly away at the priest's clear boundary. He catches the tip of his tongue between his teeth and chews on it a moment, thinking not about his answer-- he knew that immediately-- but rather on whether he should answer at all.

Ultimately, the desire to be honest and straightforward, especially with the person who's so important to him, wins out. "Magic," he admits. "Being able to-- to shoot water, in the central system, and to heal just by touching, was-- incredible. It didn't--"

He pauses as he realizes what he's about to say, eyes going wide. "...It didn't matter if I had my hardware or not." He laughs, the sound a little strained, and shakes his head at himself. "Some hitek I am," he adds, as if he can't help putting himself down.

"You seem hesitant," Koumyou points out gently, and then with hesitation of his own, "...is it because it's me? I can't exactly blame you, if it is."

The incident before the mission looms large in his own mind, too. He'd frightened Devero so badly, and hadn't had a clue he was doing it.

"I'm not going to push you," Devero says, a somewhat oblique response. "I respect you too much to try and pressure you into teaching me something that I-- that I could probably learn from someone else. Or that isn't even my place to learn!"

He wraps his free hand around one of Koumyou's, stilling the massage for a moment as he meets the priest's eyes. "I don't ever want to force you to do anything you're not comfortable with, okay? I promise."

"You're not pushing or pressuring me," Koumyou returns, "I promise."

Look at these two, so concerned about each other that they're tripping over themselves.

"You know the entire reason I don't teach. If you can handle... me, I..."

That does seem to relieve Devero, and he lets his grasping hand slip away. "Okay," he says.

He doesn't respond right away, thinking back again to their fight and the reconciliation after it. He remembers another promise made back then: If I ever start to scare you again, just tell me, as plainly as you can, and I will stop.

As far as Devero's concerned, the question isn't can he handle Koumyou. The question is whether or not he'll be able to speak up when he needs to, if he even realizes he'll need to before it's too late.

He looks down and away, ashamed. He knows what it must be costing Koumyou to even think about offering this, and here he is, turning it down. "...It's probably not a great idea," he says quietly. "I don't think I can trust myself to be able to-- stop you, if things go too-- too far."

"...I see," Koumyou just goes back to the massage, digging his thumb into a tense spot at the base of Devero's.

"I don't see how it wouldn't be your place to learn it, from... someone. Or how it would make you any less of a hitek. I can fight with a sword, a gun, a spear, a staff, unarmed -- that doesn't make me less of a chi-user, or a priest. People can be many things."

His first reaction is to try and tell Koumyou how that sentiment doesn't apply in his case. He keeps his mouth closed and lets that first tide of response wash up and then recede again.

"I've been a hitek almost since I graduated from creche," he says. "Always pursuing the next upgrade, the newest Interface-- I have a full neuromuscular biofeedback rig! They don't implant those into just anybody. I've been lucky enough to work with and learn from the leading minds in their fields for years. Geniuses, really brilliant scientists and engineers, you know? Getting to contribute, in even the tiniest way, to advancing augment tech has been the most worthwhile thing I've done with my life since... since my discharge.

"And now I'm here." He gently disengages his hand from Koumyou's and clasps it with his other under the water. "I've been here for-- for weeks now, for almost a month, with nothing, and what have I done to rectify that? Bought a few books, and thought about maybe doing some tinkering."

He shakes his head. "Morraine would have a proper network up and running in this train if they'd been pulled here instead of me. Ioleya would have-- have hacked the ICP and SCA system and taken it for her own.

"Did you know Entrapta was building robots on her first day here?"

He lifts both hands out of the water and runs them through his hair, pulling his fringe back hard from his face. "What have I done since I got here? Fucked around! And now I'm sitting here thinking oh, maybe I could learn magic-- yeah right. That's not mine to learn when I've done jack all with the skills I already have!"

"You have chi whether you learn to use it or not," Koumyou points out gently, "it's already part of you. It has been since before you were born."

He sighs and settles back against the edge of the pool, letting his hands semi-float in the water in front of him.

"Would there be a purpose to you setting up a network the rest of us wouldn't even know how to use? To interfering with the ICP and SCA systems? To building random little robots? Or is that just the sort of thing you think you should have been doing this whole time?"

"I have a living body that passively generates electricity and potential energy, just like any living body," he says. "That's all it is." His voice is unwontedly bitter. Where is this coming from?

"It would make things better!" he insists. "Imagine if we had a way to send and store information that everyone can access, that doesn't just disappear when a conversation's over. Imagine if we had 'bots to take over the cleaning, the laundry, the drudgery, so the rest of us could focus on real work. Imagine how much we could accomplish!"

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