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

[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?"

[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."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Whose specialty is it, I wonder?" Koumyou muses, because no one on this train is particularly great at emotional stuff from what he's seen. Himself included.

Or for that matter, back on his original world. Maybe Tenkai, which was probably why he'd died so early in his tenure as a Sanzo. It wasn't a position that favored a big heart.

"...Unfortunately, I'm not going to be the best for advice either. I spent the last few decades dealing with grief by trying to embrace the concept of 'hold nothing', and I certainly can't recommend following in my footsteps," Koumyou explains casually, with a sigh, "It didn't work."

[bakegarasu]

"... I'll figure it out." All of this feels dumb, but that's part of the process, isn't it? Ugh...

"Being human is complicated." He's practically pouting when he says it. "But... better being a human than a weapon, I guess." He's trying he's doing his best on this. It's just hard.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I suppose you have a lot of things to figure out, then," the priest nods, "but there's plenty of time here for such things, from what I've seen."

[bakegarasu]

"Yeah. ... People have been... helping. It's... all of this feels like it's taking forever, but I've only been here a few weeks." He chuckles quietly, looking up at the ceiling. "... And I've got nothing but that, even at home. For myself, at least." The city? ... Different story.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Then there's really no rush, is there? You'll figure it all out eventually, I'm sure."

At least someone here's confident in that!

[bakegarasu]

"No one figures it all out, Mister Spiritual Master." He flicks a little water at Koumyou, smirking a bit.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Well, not with that attitude!" Koumyou says with a laugh, and actually flicks some water right back!

[bakegarasu]

He laughs and uses his arm to make a wave to splash it at the priest. Now he's just being childish.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oh no!" Koumyou gasps dramatically, "You're going to get my hair wet!"

It's already super wet, of course. That's the joke. He's very funny.

To himself.

[bakegarasu]

He snickers and dives down under the water, reaching over to grab his friend's leg.

If he can't be silly around Koumyou, who can he be silly around?

[its_dad_sanzo]

And Koumyou's grabbed, and dunks himself under to shove at Otoha with both hands. Excuse you!

Though he's amused by it all, as evidenced by the way he laughs even below the water, bubbles racing for the surface.

[bakegarasu]

He's clearly laughing, too. He surfaces and keeps laughing before he finally manages to calm down a bit.

This is what firends are like, right?

[its_dad_sanzo]

"My hair!" Koumyou says upon surfacing, "I'll never recover!"