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

"You should be proud." Smiles like that are infectious. Wen Ning is reminded of Wei Wuxian when they were all teenagers.

Though it sounds like this young man comes from a world that might have night hunts like his. Demons and other evil creatures don't only come out at night, but that's the time when you're more likely to come across them. "Are you a Cultivator?"

The answer is likely no, but he feels the need to ask all the same.

"A Cultivator?" Prompto repeated, looking a bit confused. "Uh, I don't think so. I mean, we don't have that in my world." He explained, still cheerful. He was naturally the optimistic one.

"I'm a Crownsguard though!" He grinned. "Which means I protect the king."

It's not surprising to hear the first response. Cultivators don't seem to be common in worlds outside of his own. He's only seem a couple unfamiliar individuals using similar techniques but he hasn't talked with any of them.

At the mention of protecting the king, though, Wen Ning momentarily sets the tray aside and gives the man a proper bow. "My apologies, my lord. I-If I'd known you had such an important position I would have been more courteous."

Not that he knows who this king is and he doesn't live in the region he's in charge of, but a position like that still deserves the proper amount of respect.

"I-I...w-what?" Prompto blushed darkly looking flustered. "I, I mean, um, no no, don't- you don't have to do that!" He squeaked.

"I'm not like, uh, I'm just an ordinary kinda guy who- well I mean we were best friends? Before all that stuff happened so Noct invited me to be in his retinue and just-" He was definitely flustered.

"The other two guys are nobles, I'm not though! I'm like totally ordinary."

"You still have an important position, even if you started ordinary." Though Wen Ning does stop with the formal bow and gives him a small smile instead. "He... he sounds like a good king if he wants to have you as a friend and bodyguard."

He doesn't want to say someone like you because it makes it sound like he's insulting his upbringing rather than praising his cheerful nature. Everyone should want to have someone so upbeat along with them. It's good for morale.

"And if you can fight you're not that ordinary, right? Not everyone has the skills to... to look after royalty."

"Yeah. He's a good king. He cares about everyone." To Prompto, that was what mattered. He wasn't sure Noctis had grown into the role yet, he was still adjusting, but he had faith. He believed in him.

"I mean, yeah! I get lots of fighting practice." Prompto chuckled a bit. "Eos is kinda dangerous, but he fights too. We just watch each other's backs." They couldn't get Noctis to stop doing that.

"I didn't have to be hired for that, I'd have protected him anyway."

"Eos? Is... is he here too?" There are many others here from Wen Ning's world, but he knows this isn't the same for everyone. He wants to show he's interested without prying into things that might sadden this otherwise positive individual. The way things are here, he can never know what he might say wrong.

"I would do the same for my friends." Not that Wei Wuxian could ever have afforded to pay him to begin with... "I've been fortunate enough to have them here." Them and then extra copies of them, apparently. It has to be some sort of weird phenomenon among the train's occupants.

"What style of fighting do you use?"

"Yeah, actually." Prompto grinned. "Noctis, but you know, he just prefers Noctis." He wouldn't take that away from his best friend. He had enough problems and this wasn't Eos.

"Eos is the name of our world. Our country is Lucis." He explained.

"I use guns." Prompto grinned. "And some of the Niff tech. I'm kind of a sharpshooter." He mimed with his finger, a gun going off.

"Oh. Oh, I got confused." Wen Ning looks apologetic. There are so many names and places to keep track of among all the passengers. "World, country, person. I have them in the right order now, I think." Though everything ending in 's' isn't going to help him keep them separate in his mind at first.

At the mimed motion, he can only stare blankly and try to look like he understands when he clearly doesn't.

"I-I'm not... sure what that is. It's... a ranged weapon?" That's about roughly what he can get from the translation the train offers him and context clues. "I used to use a bow, but I didn't do much actual fighting with it."

"Uh huh." Prompto agreed. "It's a ranged weapon only it's bullets and not arrows. It's got gunpowder. A lot more force, I think." He shrugged, he wasn't a science whiz, per se.

"I had a crossbow too but I don't have it here. Mostly I provide cover. Everyone else I fight with fights at close range."

Once again Wen Ning finds himself nodding without knowing what's being said. The automatic translations provided by the train can only do so much. Translating a word helps very little if he has no context for it either way. He can only guess. Bullets? Gunpowder? All lost on him.

It fires something different than arrows. That's all he needs to know. It's likely a different shape too in order to accommodate for that. "S-so you're particularly useful to your team, then. Fighting from range while having to avoid hitting your friends takes a lot of skill." He would have been too nervous to do anything like that himself. There would have been too much of a chance he'd mess up - and an even greater chance once his anxiety kicked in.

"Uhh, yeah you could say that!" Prompto smiled. "I mean, if I shot Noct or something that's totally against my job description." He chuckled lightly. "Also I'm pretty sure he'd be annoyed with me. We did some training with paintballs awhile ago until I got used to him warping around."

Training had been important. It wasn't that Prompto didn't have good aim, he just needed to get the timing of hitting around three other people.

Paintballs. Warping. Always these words that don't translate into anything he knows. Though one of them is close, so he finally decides to pry. If only to feel less in the dark about things.

"Paint balls?" Is it literal balls of paint? How do those work for training? It sounds like it would just make a mess. It could be dried paint, he supposes. That would be more rubbery, wouldn't it? It's an odd choice for a practice projectile, though. Or is it balls of some sort simply covered in paint?

What a silly thing to be so curious about.

"Oh yeah! So it's like a gun that shoots little balls of paint and if you hit something it bursts into a splatter. So for me to hit the targets was okay, but if I hit my friends, it was the kind of thing the Marshal scholded me for." Prompto explained. With good reason, really, because if it was a bullet in Noct's shoulder he'd be in trouble.

"Paintballs are messy, so you can see if you've hit something you shouldn't, but they're not too painful, they won't hurt someone."

Wen Ning gets the general gist of what Prompto is saying, and for now that's probably enough. Maybe one of these days he'll have a better idea of what all these future words mean. The train has already introduced him to many technological wonders he wouldn't have seen otherwise. For now he's still learning and doing his best.

"If I ever have the opportunity to take up the bow again one of these days, perhaps we could have a friendly shooting competition." After Wen Ning gets some practice, anyway. It's been a long time since he's picked up a bow.

"That could be really fun!" Prompto said enthusiastically. "I think I can use a bow too, it's just not the thing I use the most."

There was nothing wrong with a friendly competition after all.

"I should... probably see if they have any here to practice with before I go making any promises." Wen Ning chuckles lightly. It would be just like him to get excited about a competition they couldn't actually have. Perhaps there would be more of a chance of them having access to weapons while they were on a mission. They could put something together before the train left that location.

It's just something to keep in mind for later, as long as the situation allows for it. "I don't even know if the bows here would be like the ones I'm familiar with." They could be built differently or made from different materials. That would go along with everything else here.

"Yeah, I don't know, since I just got here." Prompto said with a chuckle. "First mission and everything but if you find some, let me know. It could be really fun." At least, he thought so. It would be a bit disappointing if they couldn't in the end.

"I will!" Wen Ning gives a short nod. Even if he can't find bows for them to use at the time they want, he's sure they can figure out something. Even if they just end up throwing rocks at a painted target.

He clasps his hands in front of himself. "P-please look forward to it."

"I totally will!" Prompto gushed a little bit. Wen Ning seems to be very...polite. It's a bit weird for him because he wasn't used to it.

"Kay, I'll see you later, but I hope we can do that soon!" Prompto said with a bit of a wave as he took off to see how else he could help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject