The Will to Fight: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

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!)

Comments

[yondu]

Well, I didn't say I didn't enjoy it. I've rigged some machines into bein' good for other work. Turn a loader into a team transport. That kinda thing. Sometimes you pick up somethin' you have to an' it becomes yours.

[Though after that shortened answer, he absently finishes off his beer and sets the bottle on top of one of the poles, wondering if he said too much.] Sorry, uh... I dunno, I get used to people knowin'. Most people at home'd know. [He almost gestures to the scars on the side of his face as explanation, the punishment scars in their pattern that makes no sense to be from fighting, and then decides Siebren probably wouldn't want to think about where those actually came from.]

[So instead, he reaches into his holster.]

Well, I'll show ya somethin' from a little further than the moon. My homeworld's got a metal alloy that can only be formed there. Responds to vibrations in such a way we can guide it after targets. Hunters use it all the time, but I'm rigged up to make it go exactly where I want it to go so long as I talk to it right.

[He holds it out towards Siebren to see.]

'Scalled 'Yaka' in Centauri. My whole arrow shell is coated in it. [And he lets it go midair with a wavering whistle, letting it float loosely in the air with a red trail.]

[namethattune]

It is alright. [He waves the apology away easily.] We all have parts of our lives that others might find troubling. [It is both an admission that he has his own and a sidestep of the issue entirely.]

[He watches, interested, as Yondu removes a single arrow from his holster. He's ready to ask a question, when Yondu whistles and the arrow floats on its own. His eyes go wide, and a moment later his expression breaks into sheer delight.]

Incredible!

[He watches the arrow as it floats, inspecting it from what angles he can manage (though he doesn't step in front of it - he is excited, not foolish).]

And this is a natural property of the metal?

[yondu]

[Yondu plucks the arrow from the air and holds it out to him.]

Yup. We call it the 'livin' metal'. Go ahead. Hold it. It reacts to sound, any sound. We say it listens.

[And when he whistles again, it vibrates gently. And it moves, but in the way one looking at a series of straight lines sees them move if they stare too long, or the way a bed sinks too deep a moment before sleep. It's subtle about it, perhaps a trick of the nerves or actually real. It even does it when someone speaks near it.]

Centaurians tip their normal arrows with it. [His is absolutely abnormal.] Wear ornaments of it. For some reason it only turned up there. Hard to redo in a lab. No one knows why.

[He doesn't want to pry too much. Not out of lack of concern, but he doesn't want to run him off. He knows how he feels when someone gets too close to the underbelly of his thoughts, and you never know who has a knife. He's terrified of that shit, all the time.]

Y'know uh... You ever wanna talk about it, I'm the last guy to judge. A bunch of my business was up on wanted posters for ever'body to see, so I'd keep it.