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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Madoka really seems to be thinking here! She's frowning a bit, hands pressed to her mouth, looking like she's trying to summon absolutely every last brain cell to help to try and figure out this thing.

"I think it may have been that." It doesn't sound unfamiliar, at least! ".. Or maybe vinegar? But even if we narrow it down to those two, I don't want to accidentally say the wrong thing.. What if it ruins your clothes?"

She'd never forgive herself!

"Oh it can't be that bad. Why don't I start with vinegar, then work to baking soda? OR both?"

Doesn't that make it fizz? Fizzing action might be needed to lift the char? Or not needed.

"Besides, if it doesn't work, I'll chop off the bottoms and make shorts. We go to some warm worlds, right?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" Not that Madoka views Persephone as someone who gets angry or scolds others easily. Not at all, really. She thinks the other is very kind, but that's exactly why she doesn't want to disappoint her in the first place by accidentally getting her clothes all screwed up!

"Wow.." It's said more quietly, like Madoka really is - if not just a little bit - in awe about something. "You always deal with these sorts of things in such a cool way.. I really admired that, you know."

A flush starts up on her cheeks as she plays with her hair, curling a little wisp around her finger. It's both awkward and nice to be admired. She never really expects it, let alone to be treated like the cool older sister or something. She's barely got her life together.

"It's not a big deal--I mean, I just know I wouldn't want to waste them. And they're kind of pretty ruined already. It'll be a miracle if I can get back to wearable as it."

Sorry, Persephone, but it seems like the admiration is here to stay. Madoka's feelings on the whole matter don't seem to change much, anyway - that same look is still in her eyes, with a smile around her mouth.

"Well.. in that case, let's hope we can save it." Even if it's through a guessing method where they just use two things since they can't tell which of the two is the tried and true method.. "It's already hard enough to get clothes on this train to begin with, right? Since without paying points, all we have are our team colour train clothes.."

And while Madoka doesn't mind wearing those, she also realises it kind of ruins individuality.

"Tell me about it. I'm thinking of buying a new set from the random clothes thing."

She heads on towards the laundry room, chattering back at Madoka. If she follows at least.

"Though, my results have been a little--off. I'm no fashion expert but it kind of feels like I keep getting the weirdest things. A whole big dress that would take up the entire hallway, for instance." She brushes her hands against each wall, "Kind of hard to make that sort of thing work here, you know?"

"Really..?" Madoka is following right along. Especially since she's invested in this conversation now! She's trying to think whether she ever used the random outfit option.. If she has, it must have been a long time ago, and really not recently. So she can't be sure of what kind of clothes it usually gives out.

"Maybe it's since it's the train picking clothes for us, and it doesn't really know what people usually wear..? Um, since it's a train and all." The default clothes it provides them with are very plain too, after all. Very standard. "I think you can pick outfits yourself too, though it's probably a little more expensive. But that way you know you'll get something you'll like."

"I'm kind of cheap, I guess. If my whole trying to fix a ripped part of pants didn't give me away. So I thought, hey, I'll try the random option, it can't be that bad. And I usually gets bits of outfits that I like? Just...not usually all of it. I should ask around if someone wants that big dress, maybe they can make it into something."

It probably doesn't make sense for someone who likes to save to keep getting things she doesn't really like, but there's also an element of chance to it. The items are so varied, the styles so strange, it's almost more interesting to get four outfits worth of things that she can pick through than one outfit she'll know she likes. Though she wishes Eros was here to help her make sense of them.

"Maybe miss spider can do something with it?"

The suggestion is a little unsure. Mostly since Madoka doesn't know how exactly the spider makes all those clothes in the first place, and she's also not entirely sure if she wants to know in the first place. So it may be possible that the spider only knows how to make clothes, not how to do something else with already existing clothes.

"Or.. there are also some really big people on this train, right? Maybe one of them could use it to actually have something in their size."

"Oh I guess so. Maybe Orisa could do something with it?"

She is quite large, compared to the rest of them. The conversation pauses as she passes through a door, holding it to make sure Madoka passes through too. Then, she tilts her head and looks back, suddenly unsure.

"Do...Do robots wear clothing? We don't really have them at home. Maybe Charlotte herself could use it? She has a kind of human body now?"

There's a soft 'thank you' when the door is being held open for her, so Madoka safely passes through without accidentally hitting her head against it. Though Persephone's words immediately make her sink back into thought again.

"The robots we have at home are.. um, well.. very different than the robot people here."

Certainly different than Orisa, that's for sure.

"But sometimes when people imagine the way robots may look like in the future, they do wear clothes! So maybe you could ask her about it..? You never know if she might enjoy it, right?" Leave it to Madoka to try and view things from an optimistic angle.

"Ah, you're right. I should just ask. It's no harm if she says no, after all."

Besides the fact that this pretty but impractical dress might never leave the locker she's shoved it in. Annoying but not the end of the world.

"Someone has to want to do something with it, right?"

"Yes! And you'll be doing a good deed if you make someone happy with it!" Especially if Persephone doesn't seem to be doing too much with the dress herself. It'd just be a waste.

"You know, I actually have a really cute dress too.. But it just doesn't feel right to always be walking around in it here, you know? It feels like something I should save for special occasions, but they don't have a lot of those here.."

"Aw--why not? I got a really cute dress from Charlotte, I wear it at platforms with an orange belt a lot. You should just make your own occasions. We don't have a fashion police here. If we did, more of my outfits would be marked as travesties, I'm pretty sure."

Some of them in particular.

Madoka blinks up at her.

"You really think so..?"

Maybe Persephone is just brave enough to wear cute outfits, Madoka thinks. It wouldn't surprise her, considering the pretty idealistic view she has of the other.

"M-Maybe I'll try wearing it around the train sometime then. I just don't want anyone to judge me for it.. That thought is a little scary."

"Then wear it for platform. It's an occasion right? You're wearing something nice to welcome everyone, so no one can judge you for that, and the people coming on won't know what you normally wear."

This is not exactly why Persephone wears her nice outfit to the platforms. It's cute and makes her feel good and she's needed that boost the past few platforms, with no one she knows ever coming aboard. But that's not what Madoka needs to hear.

"Or don't, if you don't want to. It should make you comfortable, you should do what you like. But you shouldn't let what others think stop you from wearing it. Is that contradictory? Maybe." She presses a finger to her lips in thought.

It is a little contradictory. But rather than finding any fault with the person she's talking to, Madoka does the typical thing of not blaming anyone. No, if she's going to blame anything, it's apparently the Great Societial Situation, since the girl lets out a small sigh and just says: "So it's difficult, huh.."

The world always seemed so much more simple when she was younger!!

"Or maybe I'm just a little too self-conscious? Since I have a hard time not worrying about that kind of stuff.." Apparently she feels comfortable enough with Persephone to admit as much, eyes nervously moving from the other's face to the carriage walls they're passing. "Back home I spent a lot of time each morning even just picking what ribbons to wear that day."

"Ah...Can I tell you a secret? This is the most shopping I've ever done in my entire life. At home, our clothing was just sort of--basic. You could add details or different ways to do the sleeves and top but it was all basic white and sleeveless. I went shopping with a friend when I moved out but he picked everything out for me."

She shrugs, "So I get being self conscious. Though, for me it's more 'does this look good together' than 'do people judge me to wearing this'? Though I guess it's kind of the same thing?"

".. I think it's kind of similar.."

But there's a slight pause before Madoka says it. Because that secret? It definitely surprises her. Enough so that she's still lingering on it for a moment after she's already spoken up. Enough so that she has to actually address it-- though she's keeping the volume of her voice low, like Madoka is taking this whole 'secret' thing very seriously. She doesn't want anyone to overhear!

"But.. you really haven't gone shopping much before? I.. I mean, I don't know if I can speak for anyone else.. But I think your outfits look really fashionable on you! I thought you were used to putting together outfits like that back home too!"

"Nooo, never. Well, like I said, once. I mean, I've gone shopping once or twice with my mom for things to wear while visiting Olympus and once with my friend who bought everything. But I'm not really used to putting together outfits. Even most of what I wear here is things that came in an outfit, or I'm just guessing. Matching colors."

It's kind of cute, how serious Madoka takes it, so she lowers her voice in response, "Back home I was just wearing whatever outfits my friend bought me. It was mostly dresses so it's not hard to match them and they were usually white or pink so it's not like--like all the colors in these outfits."

Listen to that lowered voice! Madoka is all caught up in the other's response. It really does feel like they're sharing a secret here, and for a moment Madoka's hands are pretty much just pressed to her mouth as she listens, entirely at attention. Just soaking up all this secret knowledge Persephone is giving her.

"I see.." It's odd, imagining a place where clothing is so simple that there's no matching to be done, but then again.. Madoka has heard of much weirder places on this train by now, hasn't she. "Your friend sounds really nice if he went out of his way to buy clothes for you. My friends never bought clothes for me!"

.. Madoka pauses, seeming to only now realise how that sounds. The girl gasps, and quickly continues.

"N-Not that it's a bad thing! They're really nice to me..! Um, it's just.. buying clothes can sometimes get a little expensive, right.." And Madoka, being a middle schooler, obviously only has middle school aged friends. Not exactly the types who have a lot of money for that.

"Oh--no it's okay, I don't think badly of your friends, really. I was sort of shocked when he did it, but I think he just wanted me to have things that didn't stand out, so that I fit in and looked good."

And that's part of why she misses him. He knows her secret, the thing she hid, and he cares about her. Not for romance or as a project, just because he's a friend and he likes her and he wants to see her succeed. Setting her up to succeed, in life, romance, so on--that's just how he does friends. She shakes her head.

"I kind of tried to insist he didn't, but you know how some friends are. They want to treat you, regardless."

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