middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

He nods and closes his eyes. "You need to rest, too. I saw that you got hurt. I know you probably healed yourself but that doesn't mean you don't need rest."

He'll bring up the burn marks later. For now, he doesn't want to push it or ruin the moment.

Hmph! There are plenty of others who didn't just turn into... into a... [ uhm. she huffs, because isn't it ridiculous to imagine a mythical being is standing in front of her? But no, there are dragons here, why wouldn't phoenixes also...? ] You're a phoenix, right?

"There's something I still want to see to, but it shouldn't be especially stressful. You might recall we found evidence of another Void traveler trapped here, and I'd rather like to find out if anyone knows what became of them. After that, however..."

He stretches his free arm with a light wince. Both the muscles and the skin are sore after the week's exertion.

"We can go get ourselves cleaned up and see about some food that isn't cooked over a campfire at best."

He hums some to her deduction, an 'Oh yeah?' in nature. Hey, what does he know about spirits?? The array of (two!!) questions she follows up on does get a short laugh from him, though.

"What, don't the spirits you know make stuff appear from nowhere too? 'less you're asking to see it." Is that how he should take this, an offer in his tone? But he doesn't forget the former question, explaining sympathetically, "And you try running 'round playing games with people bigger than you. They've got tiny feet."

They're trying their best, a-Qing.

[She's entirely unsurprised that a-Qing has figured this out, what with her transformation on the battlefield earlier, and there's no reason to hide that anymore with people she trusts. She's sure she owes her an explanation for that kind of shocking reveal.]

I am, yes. [She tries to give a smile but it ends up looking guilty because of the huff.] My apologies for not telling you sooner, there was no time.

He hadn't meant to make it a big mystery about what he was going to be doing. It's still in that state between day and night, where the night is visible, but the darkness may change that at any minute. Tidus turns, the camping gear ready and hanging from his shoulder, Inigo's guess easy to make.

"Persephone's really done this place up!" he says after a moment, looking around, as if it's so inviting to want to camp where there's new trees and fresh life around. But- "We're gonna be stuck in that train again soon - be a waste not to enjoy the last night."

Without having to worry about demons jumping them, and all. Some of the ground around them was still dry and dirty, the splotches left by the demon corpses now gone still leaving a ghastly residue. Gotta find a better place than the not-so-long ago battlefield.

Oh, that's--!

"Me!" He raises his hand again, finger out but then turning to point at himself. He then looks to the other pair, gesturing to each as he says in introduction.

"This is Inigo, and this is Roland. He's the guy who... wait," wait, "You know what it's saying? Just like that?"

Roland sure wasn't translating that bot thing just like that!

Hm. Wormmon's favorite game to play requires a monitor, so that won't work for cheering up this girl. But there's something else that makes him happy. "I liked the card game that Ken-chan played!"

Duel Monsters....

Oh!

Ken removes his pack from his back and begins rummaging through it. If memory serves, he'd hurried out here to assist, and had unintentionally included...

There. He opens the deck case and removes a card to show the girl. "See. Some monsters aren't scary. They fight as your friends."

The girl crowds over to look. Wormmon, catching on to what Ken-chan's doing, nods to Kaiba. They've got this! Go get the cards.

Okayokayokay, I got this...!

[ Look at Tidus, he's here with a nail! A hammer! Please continue to hold that bro, and don't get distracted as Tidus puts a nail daintily in place, brings the hammer awkwardly waving as he tries to line it up, and...

tap. He just delicately tapped that nail. Gonna delicately tap it again...

...is it in yet?! ]

[ Madoka, do you really want to help shift rubble to clear the roads that bad?? ]

Eh? Don't strain yourself - leave the bigger ones to me, alright? Watch your fingers.

[ But that's fine. There's enough mess to be collected into the wheelbarrow, debris of stone and wood too. Tidus is happy to see the girl too, not really pausing for long after he approach, grabbing at the bricks to chuck with the rest of the mess. ]

How you feeling? You and the Blues keep out of trouble at the end there?

"Whoa, that's a face you got going, Senku. You feeling fired up?"

Tidus comes to a stop where Senku is with his own debris, a wheelbarrow of some mess he's been helping to collect in his own. That's a face maybe closed to 'pissed' or 'deep in thought' to some, but then, he knows a few people who're feeling determined about helping out.

No one here is really the 'sit and rest' type, apparently (or not many).

"But what if it CHANGES again?"

The girl has no idea what has happened to the city, Ken realizes. And - huh - neither does he. The illusion shattering had seemed to be tied to the demons' defeat, but was it? So many things had happened simultaneously.

This girl's troubles take priority, however. "Well..."

[ Wormmon looks down and fidgets. Ken-chan doesn't have his Digivice, so Wormmon's not entirely sure what he got up to during the fight counts as "assisting"....

But Ken-chan is answering! ]

As we could. [ In what small, limited ways were possible. And that satisfies Ken. What he can do is more important than what he can't. ] I'm glad the wards returned.

[ The world is going to be full of darkness no matter what. That's a fact. But people need to stand up to it, over and over. ]

"O-M-G a demonic pillow fort! Suck it, ingrates!"

Beetlejuice flopped down and began stuffing his face with snacks. Because, what are introductions?

Edited 2021-03-28 14:31 (UTC)

Not until I'm sure you're all right...

[ Mami's a little tired, but she's still going. She's carrying trays of food to the passengers and survivors, and angles herself to let Madoka take one of the plates. ]

Here. Everyone needs their strength if we're going to work all day, right?

Back on the train, Mami jumps right into cooking. She thinks she fed everyone, but she wants to leave some more stock in the kitchen. Orange is on meal prep this month and most of them weren't involved in the fighting...but she still wants to help!

So she does. And once the last tray comes out, she emerges into the dining car. She should be headed back to her room by now, but...oh, there's a free bench here. If she rests for just a moment...

Her head slowly droops, and soon enough she's dozed off at an awkward angle.

"I see."

And he does. Ken swallows back just how much he recognizes all those emotions - the need for utility, the carelessness with one's own life - the feeling of wanting to throw it away. The way others have prodded that vulnerability, or propped him up.

"The normally useless boy is awfully fired-up today!"

"So just be Ken-chan! You're fine the way you are!"

"LIVE."

Wormmon, watching something perhaps only he can see on Ken's face, starts to rear up, but with a gentle hand his partner quiets him. Ken-chan? Ken-chan is....going to do this himself? He's in the position other people normally fill for him, and he's going to try to do that for Amada-kun?

The Digimon's eyes fill with tears, not quite falling, just glistening in place. Ken-chan......Do your best.

Ken remains with his head bowed, for a moment. Thinking over everything he could say. That he wants to say - everything that he feels. It would be better if only he had to experience things like this. It would be better if only he suffered. It tears at him that other people know this pain.

But that also means the pain can be shared. A burden is lessened when you aren't carrying it alone.

Still looking down, he clears the lump from his throat. ".....Thank you."

No, he needs to meet the other Ken's eyes. His head lifts. "For making it back."

Look, just because he took that elixir earlier in the day does not mean he isn't feeling tired. It's been a tiring mission, and just relaxing here on the steps, hearing the city even mimic a portion of the sounds one would hear in a gathered community? Maybe he's enjoying the simple things in life! Letting the kids enjoy a ball and the higgledies, he's like, a pro even when he's resting!

"Huh?"

--Was resting, until that ball comes walloping him in the face as his head lifted, making direct contact. Scooooree!!!

A few of those kids aren't above laughing, even giving Madoka a clap, and Tidus is looking around, seeing the ball and then the plaza where the kids and Madoka are. Good thing that ball isn't hitting hard, though Tidus still rubs his face where it was knocked, before waving out his arm.

"Hey! You gotta warn a guy better than that! Your aim's too good!"

"Don't have one, apparently." It's an automatic response, at this point. She waves her ticket on its lanyard, with its damning unnamed spider text. "Or, I have a bunch...? Kumoko is fine."

Or Arma, or Charlotte, or Ede, or Webs, or Stinger... but they were all names from specific people, really, even if a few of them aren't around anymore. 'Ms Spider' seems the most appropriate nowadays.

Well, whatever.

"Nice to meetcha, Casper."

[ With a casual shrug, Ea-nasir leans back against a wall. ]

It seems like you're the one pushing yourself. You're only human, I think, so don't go pushing yourself past your limits.

After getting a little bit of rest of her own, Willow is up and at it again to check on others, as well as get herself some food. Only to find Mami dozed off at one of the tables. This mission was long and tiring for everyone, she doesn't blame the girl one bit for passing out in a random spot.

Though it would be more comfortable in a bed, she thinks, as she goes to gently shake the blonde's shoulder.

"Mami? I don't think this is the most comfortable place to sleep, do you?"

Hold on one moment.

[Kyoko grabs Madoka's arm and pulls her aside.]

Look, there's a difference between dancing in front of friends or on a DDR machine, and dancing in front of total strangers. I'm not gonna do it, it'd be super embarrassing!

It's a force of habit that when he's worried about being rejected (though saying that was, essentially, to put the ball in Soldat's court about whether or not he wanted to keep talking to him), that when Soldat makes eye contact Yondu looks away. Down, off to the side. Something burned into him from a young age when he worried about getting in trouble to just to turn to an object and avoid engaging when things might go bad.

"Just sayin' if I ain't too good with it sometimes, that's why. Honestly not had much reason to here, though."

And Ego had played to his lesser demons. That surely he could talk it into being a loophole with the other captains. That as a slave he should understand what it meant to get a lost child back. That he could finally have all the wealth and respect he'd always wanted. "Nobody ever managed to convince me of nothin' like that again, didn't matter how mean I was. Figured out bein' a blood relative meant nothin'."

Just to assure Soldat that if he did stick around, he'd already put himself in a position where he knew better.

Inigo looks worried for a moment, though it fades a bit when Senku continues to say that Gen has been healed. That's one problem solved, at least.. but he can still understand feeling bad all the same. About it having happened in the first place.

His gaze softens a little.

"Was it during the big battles at the end? Or did something happen with the orange team?" The idea of the latter makes him.. more than a little nervous, considering he did send two very important people with that team.

He definitely needs help. Madoka sees the way he bows his head like that - that's not something someone who doesn't need any help does!

And so she decides to Intervene. Because otherwise this is only going to escalate more rapidly, and the last thing Madoka wants is for half of the town to go on a Wormmon hunt..

Madoka approaches the girl and the creature, bending down a little (not much though, Madoka is so tiny..) at the girl and smiling.

"Don't worry. Even if you think he may look scary, he's actually really nice!"

She turns her head to smile at Wormmon. "Right, Wormmon?"

Please, Wormmon. Please cooperate here. She is trying to be diplomatic!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 12 of 100

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ruins tag order

no subject

🔪

a

ii

no subject

no subject

no subject

a

dessert doze (closed to willow)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject