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!)

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"No, he did not." Thanatos shoots Mort a look normally reserved for Zagreus or Hypnos when they are being especially difficult. Mort stops squeaking, and one can almost picture Mort trying to present the image of innocence.

"How did you bring me here? Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't strike me as the type to be able to carry someone larger than you."

"Mort, please." Normally, Mort is helpful; today, evidently, not so much.

"You were floating. I just...pulled you." It sounds a bit ridiculous, but when it comes to godly matters, Ryo has long since realized that a bit ridiculous is the baseline. He sets the tea and cookie down in front of Thanatos. "Drink this. It doesn't taste great, but it should help."

Today, Mort is providing distraction, or maybe he's also upset over Thanatos passing the hell out and getting his squeaky revenge.

"Ah, so I was sleep floating again." He thought he grew out of that, but then again, how would he know? He doesn't sleep often, and when he does, he's asleep.

Again? "Do you normally float?"

Wait. Wait. "Thanatos. Drink this before it gets cold." It is not better cold.

Thanatos makes a face when he tastes the drink, and he looks almost betrayed. (Ryo did warn him though.) Still, he drinks more from the mug before setting it down. If this could help him recover, it'd be worth it, but he can't tell if it's doing anything besides tasting horrible. Probably too soon to tell. He's not like Zagreus who can eat and feel better instantly.

Mort decidedly does not drink from the mug.

Honestly, he's like a child sometimes. "I did warn you," Ryo says flatly.

...but everything else he's brought Thanatos has been a gift - something good he'd thought Thanatos would like (the exception being that potion yesterday, but that had been desperation and potions go down easy, from what he's seen). This has been the only ill-tasting thing he's brought Thanatos on purpose - of course he feels betrayed, even with the warning. Ryo sighs. "Let me be clear: this isn't a gift from a friend. This is medicine from your healer." He pauses, then gestures to the cookie. "This is a gift from a friend, and you can have it once you're done with your tea."

Look, he has spent most of his life focused on his work, existing mostly for it, and Mort is more than just a plushie.

"Then, I suppose I should listen to my healer." Thanatos picks up the foul-tasting concoction and tries to finish it as fast as possible. He suppresses the urge to make another face. Nope. He does not like this at all, but he won't be bested by a drink. Once drained of its liquid, Thanatos sets the mug down again. "Does mortal medicine always taste like that?"

Edited (Better? lol =P) 2021-03-29 21:06 (UTC)

His glib reply - I suppose you should - is completely forgotten once Ryo fully processes what Thanatos had said: my healer.

Thanatos's healer.

Had Thanatos-

No. No, and he couldn't have known what it means anyway. But if Thanatos hadn't, that means-

This is medicine from your healer.

...he'd done it. Ryo had made the claim himself, without thinking about it - without realizing it until Thanatos had repeated it back to him.

Oh.

Oh.

...he probably can't even heal Thanatos himself - not without consequences - how could he possibly make that claim-

But Thanatos has finished his tea, and Ryo puts a stop to that train of thought. He can worry about it later, when he has the time and energy to put towards it. "Not all of them, no. For medicine, if it tastes terrible, it's generally good for you, and if it tastes good, it's usually very dangerous."

"..." What tastes bad is good, and what tastes good is bad. Apollo... what the hell? Thanatos sighs and shakes his head. Olympians really like to make things unnecessarily complicated. Or whatever god is responsible for medicine in Ryo's world.

"Have you made any for yourself? You must be tired too." Even if Ryo wasn't on the frontlines fighting, he still had an important job. Thanatos also, unknowingly, will give Ryo another topic to focus on. "... Did you see Otoha when he arrived at camp with Soldat?"

That would be the Supporter, and they're more concerned about whether it works than how it tastes. Turns out the god of healers has priorities.

"I didn't. I'll be alright." He nods to the mug. "That's more for muscle fatigue - it's good for treating the exhaustion that comes with magic overuse." It's not the same as divine powers, but hopefully it's close enough to help.

He goes silent as Thanatos continues on. Soldat... "I did." His voice is quiet, and he doesn't quite meet Thanatos's eyes. He's had a hard enough time dealing with this; he doesn't need to put the burden on Thanatos as well. "Thank you for the warning."

That's not exactly what Thanatos meant, and he doesn't know if Ryo is one of those sacrificial types or not. (Then again, Thanatos didn't realize the full of extent of that about himself either.) Ryo seems to be more responsible but... there were a lot of hurt people.

"Otoha went on his own. I was afraid that I'd have to force him, but he didn't argue." Otoha did threaten Thanatos, but he's used to people speaking to him like that in anger. Thanatos reaches for the cookie, breaks it in half, and offers a piece to Ryo. "Thank you for being there for him."

He wants to refuse the offer - he brought that cookie for Thanatos, to offset the medicine - but if this makes Thanatos feel better, he may as well. He accepts the cookie piece but doesn't eat it yet. "Of course. Otoha is my friend. And...so is Soldat." At least he can talk about Soldat in present tense.

"I didn't know the train could bring people back until you told me." It had made handling a friend's corpse a less harrowing experience, at least.

~~Don't reject the bonds of sharing a cookie, Ryo!~~

"I didn't realize you knew them..." Thanatos looks down. Maybe he should have realized it. They are next door from one another, and Soldat is a helpful person in general. As is Ryo.

What was an attempt to show worry but also Otoha's growth compared to the last mission has gone wrong. Well, maybe it's time to explain himself, how he ended up on the battlefield when his powers were so limited. "... I felt it when they died. That's why I ended up in the battle instead of continuing to transport people. Help was needed, and I decided to fight in their stead."

"They've been teaching me to cook." Far more than he'd initially known how to do, at least.

Thanatos's explanation makes sense - filling a gap when one appears - but it still leaves Ryo a bit uneasy. He'd only been near one of the battles, and that had been chaos enough; he'd heard the other ones were equally as bad, and Thanatos throwing himself in the middle of everything, knowing his powers wouldn't work, is... "I'm glad you made it back." Injured and exhausted, yes, but still alive. It could have been so much worse.

He is curious, though. "Did you feel it when the demons were killed too, or is it just...us?"

"I felt Zagreus and Soldat's the strongest. Zagreus most of all, but that is nothing new. I could also tell when the demons died." Thanatos takes a moment to bite and chew his cookie to get rid of betrayal medicine tea taste. Mort squeaks at him, and a bit of his own cookie half is broken off for Mort to enjoy.

"They... there was so much death in general that they faded more into the background, though I was still aware on some level. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it to a mortal."

Zagreus had died?

He can't keep the surprise off his face at that revelation, but Thanatos doesn't seem to be too worried, and Zagreus had definitely been there when the battles had ended. Is- is that how Thanatos had been helping Zagreus, back home? Keeping him alive when he shouldn't have been?

...that would make sense, actually, if Thanatos has power over death in his world. Zagreus is from his world, so why wouldn't he retain that same power over him?

Or he could be completely wrong, but he doesn't ask before the conversation continues. Ryo is probably the best mortal Thanatos could have tried to explain this to, because he's got a frame of reference. "So you have a Sense too - it's just attuned to death." Right?

Zagreus had died three times, and Thanatos knotted back his thread three times. At the end of the mission, there wouldn't have been enough to tie together for a fourth time.

"Yes, I sense death. This world has been seeped in it, more than mine, which... I hadn't thought possible given how bad things are. I can also tell who has died before and if their soul is located somewhere else instead of within their body like normal." There are at least four different people who have their soul outside of their body. Only one of them had said so before he realized it.

So Thanatos does have a Sense for death. It makes sense, given his role in his world, but it also sounds exhausting. His eyebrows raise at the mention of multiple deaths and misplaced souls. "Is that normal in your world?"

"Not at all. Someone wouldn't doing their job if mortals were coming back to life or having their souls places where they shouldn't be. Death is inescapable."

Thanatos stifles a yawn and then seems embarrassed that he yawned in the first place.

"I tried to figure out what was going on when I first arrived, but there is no making sense of it all." He settled on thinking everyone else's Underworld is being managed very poorly for the sake of his head.

He hides a smile at the yawn. Thanatos's exhaustion isn't funny, but the timing was perfect. "Everyone's world works differently, I guess," he says instead. "Which means it's not your responsibility." Even though Thanatos can sense them.

"... Perhaps. But I took responsibility. Or tried to. For Soldat." He nibbles his cookie a bit more before putting the rest before Mort. Thanatos knows that the next time he looks at the mouse plush, the cookie will be all gone. "I don't know if it worked, but I didn't want to chance it."

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The Will to Fight: Conclusion

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