So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

Time to leave!

There is not much of the city left, but the park is holding together as those anchoring help those who are not voidtreckers through back to where they belong. Monsters continue to attack and a little further out there is a battle of hearts and minds being fought with the mass of colours and chaos.

Eventually, after the bulk of citizens had been evacuated everyone with SCA's on would hear Jin-Roh's voice after a few frantic beeps, as Chiff aligned everyone's SCA's. "We are almost done here, if you are with anyone not tethered to a voidcraft get them to the evacuation point, as quickly as possible."

Anan pulls out of the anchoring point to call out to any defenders in the park. "Come on! Anyone who isn't a voidtrecker! It's time to go."

Luckily those off fighting the entity headed the message and made their way to the park as Jin Roh spoke again.

"Everyone else get ready. When we call it you need to leave. If you don't have your SCA on then get to someone who does."

As the last people rushed to the park Anan calls out again, through her SCA and outloud to the park. "You need to unanchor, before you can evacuate. Everyone be ready."

She goes in again though, because there are some last people, those from the large battle, getting through as another message was called.

"Almost there. Be ready. On my command..."

Anan unanchored again. "Quick everyone unanchor."

"NOW" Jin Roh's voice came through strong on their SCA's. Hopefully those with SCA's would grab those without.

There is some outside help as well, the train pulls anyone who is unconscious or still under the entity's control, forcibly evacuating them. This includes Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and Zagreus.

Luggage Carriage

There has been a mass evacuation before and that was crazy enough but since then the population of the train has almost doubled and now it is an extremely tight squeeze as everyone crashes into the luggage carriage at the same time.

The train jerks and rolls as they enter into the void at breakneck speed and again as they seem to slow, rather than speeding off though the void.

There's a crackling from their SCA's. "Voidtreckers? Voidtreckers come in!" Anan's voice. "Please tell me you made it..."

There's only a few moments of signal and soon they are flying though the void again, away from the strange non-world, the entity sealed for now. To new adventures, but first hopefully some time to recover from all that has happened.

Comments

[jingyeets]

The conversation can only get more intense from here! By more intense, we mean Jingyi sort of lists toward Ryo, so he can peer down into the mug, like Ryo had.

He has no idea what he's looking for. He has no idea what this tea should look like, properly steeped. It does, however, feel weirdly loaded. Like something's supposed to happen. Not something magical, but sacred, solemn.

Point being, he's so tired he leans in, and in, and in, only to murmur:

"Is it ready yet?"

Nevermind. The conversation still could go downhill from here.

[fivemilesdeep]

Jingyi. Jingyi please don't fall in his tea. He can't deal with that today. Jingyi please.

He moves the mug a little closer. "No? I'll drink it when it is."

[jingyeets]

Hey, he'd gracefully faceplant to the side of tea, okay, he's not a heathen. Tea is sacred, even if sometimes boring and thus less desirable than alcohol. For a guy drunk in two cups, that's... just life.

He stops leaning over at least, slowly shoving himself back up with a long, long sigh.

"I finally figured out the time it takes to drink a cup of tea." Seemingly out of nowhere, he comes up with that statement, holding up a finger as if this is an amazing point. Which it is, when his time telling is different. "It's the same as an eighth of a shichen. Or fifteen minutes!"

He smiles at this. He's exactly tired enough to find this important information to share. To Ryo. Who has never asked, and probably never heard him refer to something taking the amount of time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

[fivemilesdeep]

Ryo has never seen anyone gracefully faceplant, but you do you, friend.

The fun fact comes seemingly out of nowhere, and it's only Jingji's enthusiasm for it that holds what little brainpower Ryo can spare at the moment as he slowly but accurately does the math. "So a shichen is...two hours?" Nevermind that he has no idea what a shichen is, or why it would be two hours, or how a cup of tea wouldn't be cold or at least unappealingly lukewarm in fifteen minutes - Jingyi is happy, and Ryo can be here for that.

The fact that the amount of time it takes to drink a cup of tea has indeed come up between them before is something neither of them are going to remember right about now.

[jingyeets]

Later, later they can remember this conversation like a fever dream, and realise good gracious were they tired out of their minds

"Yeah, it is! Though I don't get why people want more of them."

More hours. The fact his day back home fit within twelve with shichen named after the zodiac; so more hours was just splitting the same time further down.

It's where that thought ends, too, since he's slowly turning his head to the wall. "What time do you really use?"

The train won't answer, it never does, but especially tired as he is he's just here to talk to it for the sake of saying whatever silly thing trips off his tongue. Ryo has the dubious pleasure of being in his company at the same time.

We all apologise.

[fivemilesdeep]

Look, Ryo still thinks a shichen is an actual thing - an event of some sort, maybe - that takes two hours. The fact that it's a measurement of time in and of himself has completely passed him by. But evidently people on Jingyi's world want more of this thing he doesn't understand? He guesses?

He's about to ask, when Jingyi comes up with another question, and as long as he's completely missing things, Ryo might as well miss that the question wasn't meant for him, so he tries to answer it anyway. "Hours?"

The fact that this disaster of a conversation is harmless so far does not, in fact, make it any less of a disaster.

[jingyeets]

He blinks in slow surprise, looking back to Ryo. Wait, had the train told him that before? Mostly he's seen no evidence of the train being sensible in how it communicates, only taking on his complaints.

"Really? How consistent..."

Because that hadn't been answering the question he asked, but he thinks it was, and then things: is it the same amount of time, or the same word in translation? That thought gives him such a headache that he groans, twisting around to plant his face on the table.

Which when he was sitting around backward, makes for a very... twisted... dramatic... burying of his face in his arms on the table.

"Too much thinking." It hurts right now, friend. It hurts.

[fivemilesdeep]

Those are some very crossed wires, though Ryo isn't quite aware of that yet. He watches Jingyi twist around and put his arms and face on the table. "Okay?" It's all a little weird, but honestly, Ryo isn't too fussed about the thinking right now. Nothing's too complicated? He's just talking to Jingyi and making tea-

Oh.

He looks into the mug, judges the color, and nods. "Tea's done," he says, mostly to himself. He takes a moment, mostly to steel himself, then picks up the mug and downs the tea in one very long drink, as quickly as he can. He puts the mug down, pauses, and makes a face. He'd known it was going to taste bad, heavily spiced nearly to bitterness, but he'd forgotten just how bad.

Well, hopefully it'll help.

[jingyeets]

He manages to have just enough of Ryo in his periphery that he can tiredly glance his way at the announcement of tea being done, certain it'd taken perhaps ten years for it to fully steep. Or ten minutes. Or ten eternities. Time is presently so loose a concept, he won't attempt to pin it down.

Seeing Ryo's face, however, after he downs the mug like some people drink alcohol (or other decoctions), has him snorting. Then laughing, in a low, tired, cackling way.

"That tea-rrible, huh?" No, probably even better. He keeps laughing, further burrowing his face into the crook of an elbow trying to stop. That was a horrid pun. It's not even funny? Not at all? But he turned off thinking, so this is where he's at.

[fivemilesdeep]

Yes, thank you Jingyi, the tea is terrible, and Ryo turns that drawn expression on Jingyi.

And then he hears that pun.

It takes it a moment to sink in, and then his expression cracks and he groans, flopping over into a lean against Jingyi. "That was as bad as the tea!"

[jingyeets]

Jingyi keeps laughing, but given how tired he is, it's more of a full bodied shudder with each laughed exhalation. At the addition of Ryo flopping into a lean against him, he shifts just enough to be better support, and less strain on himself in present position. Not that he bothers to do more than that, still with his face buried in his arm.

"I know!" He gets out between wheezes of amusement, "Can you teach me any better ones?"

[fivemilesdeep]

He can feel Jingyi laughing under him, and Ryo can't help it - he starts laughing too, breathy and a little helpless. This is ridiculous, they are a mess, and honestly, it's the best he's felt in days.

He groans again at the next pun and, in a flash of inspiration, responds in kind. "No! Leaf me alone!"

[jingyeets]

It's cathartic, which crying can be too, but Jingyi's tears have different triggers, and amusement like this is so much like tumbling into something easier to breathe through the tired feels less like it's gnawing into his marrow, just for a while. Not that it helps he's learning he's more prone to hysterical laughter when tired to these extremes. Learning experiences all around, but the pun trade-off hits as something comfortably familiar.

"Why, already pre-o-cup-pied with something else?"

[fivemilesdeep]

Unfortunately, that flash of inspiration has come and gone, and Ryo isn't going to be getting much more from the single functional brain cell that isn't completely subsumed by exhaustion. "No," he whines, "I'm just out of puns."

Somehow, that's even funnier, and he's still laughing helplessly against Jingyi. He may be tearing up a little bit. It's fine.

[jingyeets]

Totally fine. Jingyi finds this hilarious, too, especially when Ryo is whining, because that means...

"I win," he says, around short bursts of shuddering laughter, "The tea-rd pun war." His laughter trails into a breathless sort of whine, and Ryo's not the only one with teary eyes. "Ryoooo," he says, whine very evident, "Why am I still laaaughiiiing?"