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!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"... Honestly that's the way to go in my opinion. People don't react well to being told what to do a lot of the time." He sure didn't. "Just... give yourself times when you put some of the weight down. Or try to. You're going to hurt yourself from stress if you carry so much around all the time."

"I know I'm not required to do that here, but I..." He pressed his lips together. "I worry about people." He murmured.

"I guess that's a rough habit to break."

"... Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm the same way, a lot of the time. ... And I worry about people worrying too much." He was aware it was due to a number of things, especially traumas, but he wasn't going to get into that at the moment.

"Sometimes my friends have to point out that I'm worrying about things I don't need to worry about. If you need a check, hopefully you've got someone around who can do that. Or I can, if you want."

"I guess Gen would do that, but he's never stopped me from that." Senku said with a bit of a shrug.

"It doesn't bother me. Right now I'm just...mad at myself for missing a variable in my experiment. A costly one."

"... I mean, isn't that part of how the scientific process works? Even if it's a mistake it's something you learn."

And write down, according to Thorne.

Senku exhaled. "Yes it is, and I did learn a lot. The problem is that I had no way of knowing this being a potential problem and less way of knowing a solution to said problem. While I'll take the blame for being...reckless, which we were, the actual effect, the fact that magic could come into play didn't even enter my calculations. If someone stopped breathing, or something to that effect, I could fix that." Senku frowned.

"Yeah, magic can complicate a lot. Maybe... I don't know, have someone on standby next time? Even if you don't think you'll need it. There's lots of people here who would be willing to help." Not just him, Senku.

"I've tried to limit the scope of the experiment so as not to endanger too many people." Senku explained. "I can't ask people to do something I'm not willing to do myself." That was something he believed in.

"Gen and I...usually spot each other. We didn't do that this time. It was clearly a mistake we won't repeat."

"... That's fair. I just worry. ... Sorry if I'm being too pushy. I've kind of got the mother hen instincts sometimes."

As much as his dad had been... professionally sympathetic if not emotionally sympathetic, Casper had been the one taking on a lot of the emotional labor with clients.

"It's fine. Everyone else tells me what they think, I'm not scared." Senku said honestly, not too worried about Casper worrying over him.

"People complain to me all the time."

"Okay." He eyed Senku critically for a moment before putting his hands on his hips. "Yeah, you might have done something done and yeah, you know better for the future... but I'm glad you were safe. That's what I think."

It was nice that Casper wasn't too mad at him, at least not the kind of mad where people yell at him, he's looking forward to those conversations.

"I...that's..." It also wasn't what he expected. "Yeah, we'll be fine." He was rattled, he had a lot on his mind, he'd forgotten things for a period, that bothered him, but he was essentially alright.

"Good. ... I'm here to back you up, okay? I don't mind, really. You won't be bothering me by roping me in." Honestly he could use a little direction in this place - too many people, too overwhelming, too much new stuff.

"Ah, well, careful if you ask Gen I'm a very harsh taskmaster you know." Senku chuckled lightly. "Next place we go you can definitely help if you want."

"As long as Purple doesn't need me on something, sure thing." As long as it wasn't guns.

"Not to worry, I have friends on purple who do their thing from where they are." Senku said agreeably, and Casper would be glad to know he was a non-violent person. There would be no guns. "I want to get out of here. Not because of anyone, but I just have so much I should be doing..." He sighed. "And I don't trust this." He held up his wrist with the SCA.

"Yeah. I... don't, either. It's useful, but..." He frowned and looked around them. "in the void, at least, I should be able to open a portal, at least back to Liminal Space. I don't know why it's not working there. I tried opening a portal here, but when I looked through to check it was the luggage car. I didn't want to abandon mission, so I didn't hop through."

"I can't speak to that, I don't have some kind of teleportation ability." Senku said, although he was considering if he could come up with one every time he walked the length of the damn train.

"What I can tell you about this, aside from the obvious mind control thing here, and the translation abilities, is that it's definitely attuned to the user. It goes haywire when I get near urushiol, which I'm severely allergic to." Senku explained. "Which indicates to me, it's probably doing more than I think it is."

"It's just strange, it should be easy to get out of here, but there's something blocking it. It's really annoying."

... Okay that. Didn't translate. "Uh. What's... that?"

"Urushiol?" Senku repeated. "Ah, it's a chemical compound found in certain foods, lacquer, poison ivy and poison oak, that kind of thing. I have a fairly severe reaction, but I usually just ignore it."

Casper should not take notes on how to treat one's allergies from Senku.

"You just - if you're going to have a severe reaction you shouldn't just ignore it, Senku! I don't know if it causes breathing problems for you or not, but even if you don't mind putting yourself in danger there's no reason to handle that stuff if you can find someone who can handle it for you!"

He hesitated, clearing his throat. "... Sorry. Didn't mean to launch into a lecture. I just... got worried."

"It doesn't, it's just a skin reaction where my entire body puffs up. I don't really think it's getting worse." Senku mused. That may not have been Casper's point.

"It's probably fine, besides I don't always have time for that."

"That's still not okay..." Even if he understood the sentiment. "... Just be careful. And don't say something like 'I always am'." They both now knew that wasn't true.

Senku returned an amused smile. "I'm not prone to lying." He quipped easily enough.

"I do my best to not lie, either. ... I just want you to be alive, even if you're not always 'safe'. Dying's no fun." He sighed and gestured to Senku vaguely. "I don't need to be told how long it takes to bleed out. I already know. I don't want you to have to go through that."

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cw: mention of death