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

Oh, right. She's a demon. She can't go into the city.

Well that's a big ol' ball of shit for her, ain't it?

He's got some food from the train and a few questionable drinks from the city in his rucksack, so he pokes his head into the tent.

"I'd offer ya somethin' stronger but you seemed like sugar type." He holds out a bottle of juice he'd snagged in the kitchens. "How're ya holdin' up?"

He didn't sleep well at the best of times, he usually had more energy too. He'd been about to ignore her calling his name or at best offer half a wave of acknowledgement but puzzles.

Senku turned his attention back to Entrapta then, blinking once to get out of his head. "Oh that. Didn't go well." He held out his hand. "Let's see."

To be fair, it's more a fabric flappy noise, but he didn't want to just walk right in.

"... No. I'm guessing you're having problems with them? ... Do you want to talk about it, or do you want distraction, or do you want me to leave you alone?"

Senku didn't really want a break. He didn't particularly think he deserved one, he felt entirely too guilty for a lot of things.

He wasn't usually so open about his distress though. Most people read it as passion, but this wasn't science, it was just punishing physical labour.

He did pause and accept the water. "Thanks."

"That sounds unpleasant. Sorry to hear that. What did you learn?"

She offers him a couple of pages with numbers scrawled in stacked and divided shapes, with one piece 'missing' that's meant to be figured out via pattern.

"The originals had images with items, you had to count the items to figure out the number. I didn't really have time to draw them, but the spirit is there."

"You're welcome. ... Are you okay? I know that battle was... a lot." He had a feeling Senku wasn't the type to talk about feelings, given their few interactions, but there was no reason to not leave the door open anyway.

"... How's Gen?"

Choices, choices. She's pretty sure she could force her way into the city given time - she's seen that book on the wards, she's got a good idea of how they work by now - but that's kinda.

Against the Orange team spirit, you know?

Sigh.

"Nah, come on in."

He wasn't the type at all, although usually he looked a bit more neutral and less like he was frowning. He was definitely frowning. He considered his thoughts.

"It was, I mean, not so much for me. I didn't accomplish what I set out to do." He pointed out. "I've had better weeks in general."

He exhaled slowly. "He'll be fine. I appreciate you healing him."

Her question was the type of question Senku appreciated because it was how he thought. No matter how horrible the experience, he'd learned something. He wasn't going to lose sight of that, at least.

"I can tell you the SCA protects from more than physical ailments. I didn't take potential magic effects into account which was a detriment in this case because it was exactly that. Whatever magic that captivated the villagers took over both me and Gen before I knew it and I lost days of valuable time." He frowned.

"But, a data point is still a data point." He said with a hum. "Once under the illusion's spell, putting the SCA back on wasn't enough to shake it. The exact conditions for breaking the spell, I can't be sure." He'd been quite the burden, really.

He looked at the pages curiously, but he was more than engaged in his report for the moment.

There doesn't seem to be much use for puzzle-solving after everything is said and done. At least, not in the typical sense.

But Haibara had the good sense to stay far away from any fighting, so she wants to feel... useful, now that it's done and over with.

So she can be found in the city, trying to advice their people on where to set up medical tents, how to help their own injured. She's not a doctor but she knows the human body better than any layman, and she knows how larger organizations function, how to set them up for success. For fellow trainmates, that translates mostly to seeing her run around the city, finding clear areas with good access. Scribbling down notes, then running off again.

Somebody tell her to get some rest herself, please. Avoiding the final battle won't mean much if she works herself to exhaustion.

After that, though, she makes herself useful by taking on shifts in the Medical Car onboard the train. They surely have enough injured of their own that they'd welcome the bedside manners of a cranky seven-year-old nursing a cup of coffee.

Yep. Everything's back to normal all right.

[ And when Masumi sits down to rest, Ea-nasir will be there, handing off a bottle of water.

Plastic bottle, cheaply made. The water tastes fake. But hey it's water, probably. ]

Having fun, roommate?

"Ooooh so we were being less affected than most of the citizens! Interesting. I hadn't noticed the disparity but that would make sense."

Silly of her, but it is good to note.

"How is Gen?"

Because she remembers how well he'd spoken of his beloved idiot. Like he was his reason for to keep driving himself. She's not exceptionally good about caring about personal details, but that they both made it out is important.

She doesn't scold him for the expirement though, because he did learn something. And though it seems he's troubled, he is alive, and intact, and doesn't seem to be deeply handicapped in any other way. "For the record, I'm glad to know this."

[She's not going to complain, but she does grimace a bit at how the water tastes.]

About as much fun as I can have. How are you doing after all that?

[While she's not sure what Ea-nasir was doing for most of the mission, Masumi did see the fighting while she was busy fixing the guide stones on the wall, and she knows that a lot of people were directly involved in confronting the demons, so the concern is valid.]

The biggest (well, most relevant) downside to evolving into an Arachne is that her human section acts as a righting mechanism - she just can't lie on her back anymore. It's a real shame, but she's gotten the hang of just sprawling out and tucking some pillows under her chest to still get some decent lounging. It's fine, as long as she doesn't think about what her spine's even doing down there.

It's in that position that Yondu finds her, and she's perking up before he even flourishes a gift. Hey, it's her bodyguard! Mr. Dragoncoat McCoolArrow himself! And he has presents!

"M'alright," she manages. Nothing a bit of holy magic can't fix, you know? Hey, city, you sure are-- well, whatever. She reaches eagerly for the juice. "You?"

"That would appear to be the case. They firmly believed the city was safe, there was no way to come to harm here and that the demons had already been vanquished." Senku explained. "I'm glad to know it, I'm just frustrated that it escaped my notice as a possibility, and also that I don't know how to counter it. I need time to think." He needed to research and understand it all too. He'd never taken 'I don't know' as an acceptable answer to anything, and he was too stubborn to start now.

"Gen is..." He sighed. "He followed me when I was trying to help get at the machines in battle and he got hurt, but he's been healed so he'll be fine. I would've been a little mad at him if he went and died on me." He grumbled lightly.

[ Ea-nasir gives an over-the-top grin in response. ] Worried about me?

Well, as you can see, I'm in tip-top shape. I wouldn't do anything too dangerous! Gotta look out for number one.

Well, it looks like she manages to get comfortable somehow. Looks like she could use some special furniture. But he's a dude whose crew kind of slept wherever so he can't give any opinions on that. He'd slept in the floor more often than not, and when he did have his own bed it wasn't much more than a thin mattress on metal.

"Actually could be a hell of a lot worse." He says outright, coming in and moving one of her comics so he doesn't end up crunching it.

"That dragonscale number you did probably saved my arm. And if you hadn't done whatever that water thing was... Well, I was kinda stuck in my own head an' I needed to get out of there." In fact if he hadn't been in the catacombs for days? He probably would have ended up killing at least one of his allies with that arrow. He recognized his head was being fooled with. But the illusion? He couldn't get out on his own. He needed help badly.

"Owed ya some thanks for that."

"It escaped mine as well. I think because my experiences with mind control weren't gradated in any fashion. They were control chips implanted in people- at one point we had to destroy the transmitter because they'd become so integrator. I feel like the same principle happened here.

"There are a lot of loose ends but... I will leave it to the city to deal with. Give their council whatever information I've accumulated."

She moves from her 'chair', trotting down from her rubble pile. "How bad were the injuries? Will he have long-term damage?" She doesn't think to ask about psychological damage. She wants to know if he's been reliably physically repaired. But if he's not, she's willing to help where she can. Senku's her friend, and by default what's important to Senku deserves her help.

[Camp]

Casper came out of that fight relatively uninjured, thankfully. Nothing that a little food and taking it easy can't handle. That said, he doesn't take it easy for long - he bustles around helping people pack things up, volunteering to carry heavy things for people... it's a relatively different persona than the fierce combatant some might have seen him as on the battlefield.

He's around lending a hand to pretty much anyone for anything, whether it's healing small injuries or hauling giant piles of tents.

[City]

Casper quickly finds that his 'purifying water' trick only goes so far. Specifically it only goes about a cubic foot far, and while that's a lot of water it's not enough to sustain crops. People come up to him on occasion and have him purify some containers full of water, which is easy enough to do. At least they can have drinking water.

The more pressing task is dealing with clearing out ruins and helping rebuild. Casper is actually very handy, helping with everything from hammering boards into place to helping the local blacksmith start to forge simple tools and nails. Even if he's covered in dust and dirt, he seems happy and willing to lend a hand.

[Music]

No one's going to be in here right after a mission, are they? Casper's gotten himself cleaned up, and once that's done he heads into the music room. He downloads some music onto his SCA - super handy, that - and heads up to the upstairs performance space. He doesn't stand on the stage so much as sit on it, letting his SCA play a few songs and singing along to them.

He's actually really good, and even though he can't always match he seems to be enjoying himself. As he sings, colored lights float around him, weaving into lines like neon signs, shaping into various things - animals, people, spinning globes, buildings... it's almost like a laser light show without the lasers.

[Spa] [CW: missing limb]

He waits until late at night to try out the spa. Ichigo had told him to do it, but he still feels self-conscious. When he's sure no one else is in the car he changes into a pair of swim trunks and sits by the edge of the pool, hands on the ivory-colored metal of his prosthetic leg. Slowly he unstraps it, eventually getting his leg stump out. He shoves the leg into hammerspace and slips into the pool.

It's... weird, feeling the warm water on the end of his stump. He keeps his prosthetic on almost continuously, so it's sometimes weird to feel things without it. And hopefully if anyone does come into the spa, they won't notice his lack of half a leg.

[Wildcard]

[???]

"This was my first and hopefully only brush with mind control." Senku said, rubbing the back of his neck idly as he was wont to do since a few years ago.

"It's not a thing that exists in my world. Magic, illusions...all of that is fantasy to me." Senku sound a little pained, actually, because he desperately wanted to understand. He was trying.

"I'm...honestly not attuned enough into the mission to know what this city needs, so I was just...helping. No matter how inept I may be at moving rubble."

Senku shook his head. "It was pretty serious...gashes down his back. He bled a lot. Both Casper and Willow healed him so I think he's okay. I just think he's needing to recover from the blood loss. I don't even think he got a scar out of it." He chuckled lightly. "Not that he needs another one. It's not his first brush with serious injury, although it is since we came here." He exhaled. It had terrified him for the moment. "Clearly all the medicine I know is rather inept against these magical types."

Really? I wasn't even involved in the fight and I'm exhausted. Are you sure?

[Just running around the wall and repositioning stones, followed by her efforts to help out post mission, have worn Masumi out and she can see that many others are tired too. The idea that someone is just fine after all this is a bit on the doubtful side.]

"I don't know, in my experience it happens pretty often in mixed environments. Luckily I've not encountered a situation where it's permenant. One of my friends used to keep trying to mind-control her former best friend and then the former best friend would turn murderous and start attacking people. She stopped doing that and now they're dating. Kind of strange."

At least she thinks they're dating? Who is Entrapta to question unorthodox relaitonships? Not the best person by a long shot.

"One day there'll be a situation where conventional healing methods will be essential because powers will be nullified. That's an even bigger risk than mind control. Your skills are still essential."

Which might be meant as a comfort and might be meant as a warning that she's concerned about being too reliant herself. But you know what? It's good to be prepared for everything. That's just facts.

"A few days was enough. I forgot everything while I was under the illusion." Senku breathed. "Not...not the stuff on the train, I thought we'd just come here, to stay here after our mission concluded. I forgot my home. My life." He murmured. "My goals. My responsibilities."

It annoyed him to no end. It was the most annoying thing about it.

He let out a weak chuckle. That actually was reassuring. No matter his bluster, he was actually feeling a little bit inept. He had a lot of skills, he was also a man who knew an extraordinary amount, but that didn't mean much in this situation.

Entrapta was right. If for some reason they couldn't do their magic, Senku could handle it. "Ah, that's true. Fortunately, you can stick me in the wild with nothing, not even the clothes on my back and I'll make you a civilization." He grinned.

"I would like to think that if I had to stick you in the wilderness I'd allow you to keep your clothes, but I'll keep that in mind."

The last time she was abandoned somewhere there was robots, so it was alright. There was also a powerful illusion, though, so that part wasn't terribly convenient. She can't imagine she would have faired much better than Senku.

"To be honest, I'm not really good with illusions. Even with a reduced effect this one nearly got me. If my roommate and Kaiba and Jack hadn't helped me, I might have not been able to break its effects."

She worries that it has something to do with how she thinks. How when presented with data her brain wants to interpret literally rather than figuratively. She can find anomalies, sure, but for some reason her mind wants to accept things at face value and if missions keep having illusions...

"Yep, that sure would've been nice the first time, unfortunately over 3700 years there's no clothing that can survive in the elements that long." Senku joked lightly. Oh, he can joke about that now? That was good to know.

Maybe talking to her was getting him to realize just how exhausted he was and he happened to sit on some of the debris. It was an accomplishment sometimes to get him to sit down.

"I was seeing the illusion before I took my SCA off, but I didn't know that." Senku explained with a bit of a frown. "And coming out of it was rough. I was in and out, which means I knew I was being controlled while I was lucid, and I was getting more annoyed. Gen too. We did it together." It was only supposed to be five minutes.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 2 of 100

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Ai Haibara

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Casper | OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject