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

Does he look strong? Perhaps he does to someone Romeo's size. Or perhaps the kid is just being kind. Wen Ning has never been particularly muscular, and his height didn't do much for him when he spent so much time trying to make himself look small and unnoticeable. Things are different now, though. He's more confident. His physical strength might come from being a puppet, but it always helps when he knows he can rip someone's arm off if he has to. That probably helps with the strong appearance.

"Thank you, but there are other people who have expended more energy than me." He'll eat when those who look like they might collapse have been taken care of. "What about you? I hope you kept yourself safe during the fighting."

"I got lots of food, so it's okay if you want some, I'll make sure everyone gets some so no one goes hungry!"

It's important to make sure all the food is shared. "I was helping getting everyone out of the city to safety!" It hadn't been as scary as fighting demons, that was for sure.

"So I didn't get hurt or anything."

"Good. That's good, I'm glad." The blue team wouldn't be doing their duty properly if they couldn't keep their weaker team members safe. He'd been focusing on protecting Wei Wuxian and he didn't want to think he'd left children behind unaccompanied with all the demons around.

He should have more faith in his team not to do that.

As for the food, he almost refuses again but stops himself. Even if he can go for a while without food, being what he is, he's not undead. Nourishment will help keep his strength up. There's no reason to go without it if there's plenty available. "You have that... lunch box, right? Miss Madoka mentioned it."

"Yes." He nodded, instantly glad that Wen Ning knew Madoka, Madoka was a really good person to know!

He dug the lunch box out of his and opened it. "It's frogs today!"

He held it out so that Wen Ning could try one.

Wen Ning stares at the offered food and his eyes practically sparkle at how ridiculously adorable it is. Unfortunately that same adorableness makes it difficult for him to actually reach out and take it from the boy. How is he suppose to eat something that cute?? It seems tragic. The little frog should be preserved forever.

"I-it... it has little eyes..." He points helplessly, making no other move toward the food.

What else is he supposed to do?

Did he like them? He was staring at them like he had never had frog food before. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he came from a place without cute lunch boxes. That was a sad thought but at least it was remedied now!

"It does! But it's not real. It's just all made of rice."

Just in case Wen Ning thought they were real cute frogs!

There were times when Wen Ning had tried to make some cute lunches for little A-Yuan back in the Burial Mounds. It had been difficult to accomplish with limited supplies. Sometimes he could cut the vegetables into little shapes, but it was probably hard to tell what they were. Not that the boy had ever complained.

He never would have been able to manage something this adorable. A-Yuan would have loved this for sure. Though in his case he probably would have played with a lot of it until it became inedible.

"I-I know! It's just. I would hate to ruin such a thing..." Even if time inevitably will if he doesn't.

"I know." He nodded, he could understand that at least. "They do seem almost too cute to eat!"

It was tricky sometimes, "But they taste even better than they look and this box is magic so once we eat all these frogs we might get bears or penguins or other cute things!"

"It's this cute every time? H-how do you stand it?" Even as Wen Ning says this he's smiling. He knows he's being ridiculous about the whole thing, but he can't help it. This is really something he's going to have to try out on his own. If the kitchen can provide him with some decent ingredients.

At last he reaches for the box. Is he suppose to just take one? It replenishes itself, the boy said. So there's little point in saving leftovers. "I-is this a snail..." He cuts off his own distracted wonderings. "Have you eaten yet? Are you having some too?"

He nodded, "It's very hard! It almost feels bad to eat them but then they taste so good that you just gotta!"

He nods encouragingly as Wen Ning reaches out for some and picks up a frog himself, it was nice to eat with friends after all! "It is a snail!" Even the snail was cute!

It takes another moment of Wen Ning staring at the adorable snail in his hand before he finally pops the whole thing into his mouth. He needs to get past the idea that taking a bite out if it would seem cruel. It's not alive, after all.

His eyes brighten at the flavor. Not only does it look cute, but it tastes good too. Whoever designed this magically refilling lunchbox deserves to be commended. Not wanting to be impolite, he waits until he's done chewing to react.

"It's delicious, Young Master Romeo. I appreciate that you're willing to share it with me."

Romeo grinned at him, it was clear from his face he liked it and that was good! It made Romeo happy to share his food like this. Tasty food was always good to bring peoples spirits up.

"You're welcome sir! You can have more if you like!"

Wen Ning carefully reaches over and picks up one of the frogs. He cups it in the palm of his hand as though it might fall apart if he isn't careful. With his other hand he gently prods at one of its eyes, fascinated.

Then he breaks off the eye and eats it. There's an instant where he feels bad, then the whole situation becomes funny to him. What is he doing? It's just cutely shaped food. He's acting like a child.

Laughing a little, he eats the other eye too. "I've eaten actual frog before," he admits. "They're not this tasty. B-but then, I didn't have much to season it with."

"You have?" Frogs would be funny to eat he thought, but lots of things could be cooked and they tasted okay even if you thought they wouldn't!

"I bet it wasn't as cute as this either." You couldn't eat real cute frogs, that would just be bad!

"I don't think I ever had frog before!"

"It definitely wasn't as cute," Wen Ning agrees with a nod. "And I don't really recommend it. Not unless you know someone who knows how to cook them real well - which I didn't."

It had been a particularly rainy week and they hadn't been able to go into town as much for supplies. He'd attempted to cook some of the many frogs that had started to appear around their caves with very little success. Frankly he's just glad he hadn't accidentally poisoned anyway.

"I much prefer this frog-shaped food."

"I don't think I know any frog chefs!" Though he did know lots of people who were very clever at cooking. Maybe one of them knew how to cook frogs!

But frog shaped food was probably better than real frogs. "I'm glad you like it sir! Cute food is a good way to keep people's spirits up!"

Frog chefs... the idea of a chef whose soul purpose in life was to cook frogs is an amusing one. Wen Ning decides not to correct Romeo on the subject. Who knows? Maybe there's one somewhere out there in the multitudes of universes this train goes through.

"I agree! The train should supply its passengers with cute looking food all the time. For morale." He would request it himself, but he doesn't want to take any focus away from his frequent requests for his sister.

Edited 2021-04-19 01:53 (UTC)

"Yes! It should. I think that would help people's spirits a lot!"

It would cheer everyone up definitely. Especially after missions like this when everything got really scary!

"O-or at least something cute. Something... cheerful looking." People might get tired of having frogs all the time (though he's not sure he would). It would preferable to break things up and add more options. Though he wouldn't want to push their luck.

"You've at least lifted my spirits today, Young Master Romeo." And he can always use a little optimism.

"I'm glad mister Wen Ning!" After all he had looked a little lonely sat out here alone so Romeo was glad he had lifted his spirits with cute food!

"Maybe we can try and figure out how to cook some cute food together sometime, so we can cheer everyone else up!"

Keeping peoples spirits up was something that was far too often needed on this train.

"Ah! Yes, we should do that. I've never cooked for quite this many people before, but we some help we could do it." There were only around fifty people or so at the Burial Mounds, and he'd had help when he cooked then too - aside from those rare times when he insisted on doing everything himself.

"A lot of the passengers would like that, I'm sure." Aside from the few that insisted on being spoilsports by default.

"I think they would! It would make everyone smile."

Some people might be grumpy, but he bet they would like cute food really even if they felt they needed to grump about it!

"There's lots of people but I bet people would help us too!"

"It's a promise, then. At some point we'll cook a meal together for everyone."

Wen Ning's smile becomes a grin and he holds out his hand for the boy to take.

Romeo's grin grew even larger and he took Wen Ning's hand. "A promise! Do you know how to do pinky promises?"

Because that was the only real way to seal a deal like this!

"Pinky...?" Like the color, or...? Wen Ning blinks in momentary translation confusion before slowly holding up the pinky finger of his right hand. "Like... this?"

He has most certainly never made such a promise before. He vaguely recalls younger kids doing something like it, but he'd been kept away from many other kids his age for a lot of the early part of his life.

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

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