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

[namethattune]

[As someone who had found the violence at the latter end of the mission to be overwhelming, the rather blase approach to it all is...certainly different.]

[That said, it is Alice.]

I am certain there will be other monsters to slay, likely on our next mission. Perhaps you will find them more entertaining.

[irrationally]

[ Apparently it's not quite the reaction she expected from him, considering Alice's eyes momentarily grow wider in surprise, before her look almost turns faintly amused as she glances at the cow next to her - as if sharing a 'look at this guy' sentiment with the animal before she turns her attention back to Siebren himself. ]

I doubt it. Most of these missions end up rather monotonous. [ Judging by her tone, that at the very least seems to be a more serious and meant sentiment once more. ] We are just being sent out to clean up other people's trash.

[namethattune]

[Ah, the silent commentary. He takes the opportunity to make sure the gate is latched and stable; the last thing they needed was for the cows to escape again.]

[Alice's opinion on the missions, however, gives him pause. His tone, when he speaks, is mild - his is a differing point of view, but not an argument.]

You may be right. That said, some years ago, my world was on the brink of destruction itself, and it is no small miracle that we survived. [An unorthodox team-up, a desperate plan, had been needed to turn the tide of the Omnic Crisis; regardless of their fall from grace, Overwatch was responsible for humanity's survival, and Siebren rather doubts anyone on his world will forget it.] We would have gladly welcomed outside help such as the train provides, and I cannot begrudge the places we go for needing it. I would much prefer to clean up their trash than leave them to drown in it.

[irrationally]

Then why these worlds?

[ There's much less of a pause this time. If anything, Alice's words follow almost too quickly after what he's saying, like she doesn't even have to think about it. She even looks directly at him as she's saying them. ]

Like you said, there are so many worlds out there that could use help. [ His world, for one. And Alice has heard the same thing about the worlds of many people on this train. Even Wonderland. Why had nobody helped her when she was a teenage girl having to face an entire army all by herself? ] Why does the train thinks it can play god and pick which people deserve to be saved and which have to fend for themselves?

[namethattune]

I do not know.

[The words exhibit a calm he does not otherwise feel. He's questioned the train before - its abilities, its methodology, its very existence - and never managed to find a satisfactory answer. It bothers him, in a way he's never been able to assuage.]

It may be an algorithm, or an individual decision, if you believe the train to be capable of making its own decisions; regardless, I do not have that answer, and I do not believe any of us will find it anytime soon.

[Not the most encouraging of answers.]

That said, it does have feedback capabilities; if you know of a world in need of assistance, perhaps it will take a request.

[Slightly more encouraging. He wishes he had more to offer.]

[irrationally]

[ Of course Alice has no idea what in the world an algorithm is, but thankfully she can still more or less get what he's trying to say here through the context of what she does understand about it. The girl won't even disagree with him. She's cynical enough to believe that they won't get answers that easily either.

If only it was as easy as threatening someone. ]

Do you think it would?

[ It's a simple question, but the underlying question is bigger than that. Do you truly believe this thing has good intentions?

Her hand lands on the cow, gently patting it, as if it's a way to keep her frustration with the situation under control. ]

I'm sure multiple people must have requested to be brought home by now. And it doesn't exactly seem eager to grant those requests.

[namethattune]

It may not act on the request, but I do not doubt that it would listen.

[The train must be aware in some capacity, and there is evidence for decision-making capabilities and for compassion - the addition of the triage car after a number of passengers returned from a mission grievously injured is what stands out in his mind, though there are other instances.]

Though I dislike its practices in that regard, I can understand its reasoning. If it granted every request to return home, who would be left to help?

[irrationally]

It could ask for help. Voluntarily.

[ Her tone is almost dry as she says it, like it's the obvious solution to her. She's met the people here on the train. She's spoken to some of them.

While she thinks that some people have unfinished business to attend to first, Alice guesses that a good deal of people captured by the train would gladly fight for it on their own terms. ]

Instead of enlisting actual children for its own purposes.

[namethattune]

It could. It could also - and should also - be a bit more discerning as to whom it selects.

[She does have a point, and it is well worth acknowledging.]

Though I do have to wonder how many people would willingly put their lives on hold to help an unknown, unmanned train accomplish missions across unfamiliar worlds. If the train required recruits to replace its missing crew, it may not have had the time or wherewithal to search for volunteers.

I am not saying that it is correct; I am only saying that desperate people do not always make the best of decisions.

[Whether the train counts as a person is debatable; there is, however, no denying that it is indeed desperate.]

[irrationally]

[ The personhood is so much more debetable for Alice, but it doesn't feel like it'd bring forth anything fruitful to actually start about that now. ]

I've spoken to people on the train. There were some who said they would have done this even if it had been voluntary. And if this train didn't treat us as prisoners, then I can't say I'd mind it all that much either.

[ Just give her a decent room to sleep in. Places that she doesn't have to share with so many other people. Ugh. It's an antisocial girl's nightmare. ]

Desperate or not, it really ought to have thought things over more. But it's not as if telling the train that will change a thing.