middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

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So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

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.

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Oh shit! Koumyou jerks back out of the way, and immediately asks, "Are you okay?!"

"Ghh--" He swings his head over towards the priest like it takes an effort. "Koumyou--?"

Hang on, he's buffering. And when awareness loads a little further his face crumples and he reaches out, grabbing up handfuls of robe to either side of the breastplate his Sanzo's still wearing. He hauls him close and buries his face against his neck.

"Don't leave me alone," he begs, still half-caught up in a too-vivid dream.

"I won't," Koumyou promises, cooperating with the hauling and laying back down, partially curled over Devero as if to shield him from something.

Physically, that is.

"I'm right here, my sweet Devero. We're both okay."

Well. As okay as either of them ever are, but he's not going to split hairs on that.

Under his Sanzo is even better than against him. Trembling and dream-addled, Devero curls himself as small as he can in Koumyou's embrace. "Okay," he whispers shakily, his breath coming in harsh pants, on the verge of panicked hyperventilation.

But as he wakes up, he realizes that he's
--not trapped in a oubliette narrower than the span of his arms, walls of concrete and stone seeping water from myriad cracks, bars set overhead and above those are faces he recognizes around the rim of the pit, looking down at him--
--Doc Nat's expression sardonic, Adís distant and calculating, Ále watching with grim satisfaction as he scrabbles up to the bars--
--water reaching hungrily after him, Entrapta shaking her head sadly, Rich with disappointment on his face, Trunks turning away with a scoff--
--breathlessly Devero is begging, apologizing, promising to do better, be more, change whatever he needs to change, his hand thrusts as far through the bars as it will go but he can't even reach the lip of this hole much less the people standing above--
--Koumyou putting his arms around a solemn boy and a haunted man with identical piercing eyes and golden hair while the water rises to Devero's knees, his hips, buoying him up to the bars then crushing him against them as every single person turns and quits the edge of the pit--
--choking as the water laps against and over his face, begging the only person left to him as she watches him drown with her ice chip eyes and shark's smile--
on the train.

He's on the fucking train and Koumyou's holding him and that was all, "A dream." Raspy and hoarse, still gulping in air but at least starting to calm down. "It was a dream."

He twists under Koumyou, now feeling smothered by the priest's weight, and pushes himself up gasping. "Rust and fucking ruin," he swears breathlessly.

Koumyou does, of course, move off Devero as soon as he starts to twist and push. He sits up onto his shins on the bed, a concerned expression on his face.

"Do you want to talk about it, or just let it fade?"

He knows how shitty dreams can be, after all.

Devero mirrors him, folding his legs beneath himself and sitting back on his heels. He scrubs a hand across his face blearily. "I-- I was--" he starts, almost automatically, but then he realizes that he doesn't want to talk about it. All of the desperation and fear and hopelessness he'd felt are lurking around the edges of his heart as if waiting to be invited closer.

He looks up at his priest, his partner, and reaches that same hand out for him now. "Don't think I've ever had a dream that-- that vivid," he says instead. "Felt absolutely real. Thought I was going to drown."

Koumyou takes his hand, rubbing it between his. A little extra warmth, a little extra sensation that's real.

"Do you think you're up for a trip to the kitchens? I can make some of the fish."

Devero's shoulders relax a little, noticeably, when Koumyou takes his hand and chafes it like that. A little extra real sensation is good right now.

Reluctantly, Devero shakes his head. "I-- I don't feel so hot just sitting here," he admits, looking anywhere but at Koumyou. He rubs his free hand up his hair and through his hair, and grimaces. "Think I'd rather shower anyway, I feel gross."

And as Koumyou knows by now, Devero's fairly fastidious. He doesn't need to be scrupulously clean at all times but he doesn't like feeling dirty, and right now he's coated in grime.

Koumyou almost offers to join him, even goes so far as to open his mouth--

Then shuts it for a second. "I can make the fish while you do that, if you like. I'm not as worn out as you are, I didn't do nearly as much."

"Please?" he asks quietly, looking sidelong now at the priest through hooded eyes. It's that look he gets when he feels like he's asking for too much, being a burden.

Nor is that helped by having to further request, "Can we meet back here?" He's not sure he can make it to and from the bathroom at the end of the carriage, much less all the way to the other end of the train.

"That's what I thought we'd do, yes," Koumyou smiles, and reaches up with a hand to ruffle Devero's hair. It probably can't get much messier right now anyway!

"Want help getting to the shower?"

Devero tips his head into the hair ruffling, and then slumps further from there. "Yes, please," he says, covering his face with both hands.

And so Koumyou slips off the bed and then holds his hands out for Devero.

Come on, big guy!

"I'll look for you in here first but if I don't find you, I'll know you need rescuing from the hot water," Koumyou tells him with some gentle amusement.

Devero finds energy from somewhere to chuckle at Koumyou, although it lasts about as long as it takes him to climb down off the bed. He groans like he's the old man of their pair as his muscles, sleep-stiffened, protest.

He definitely needs Koumyou's assistance to hobble to the bathroom, but once there he insists that he's good and sends the priest on to the kitchen. Indeed, the walk has loosened up some of those protesting muscles, and his very hot shower helps soothe the aches of over-exertion even further.

By the time he's finished, though, he feels heavy, a smothering lassitude having tagged along with the relaxation. Clutching a towel around himself and using the wall for support, he shuffles all the way back to the room-- before realizing he's left his ticket in the bathroom with the heap of clothes he had totally forgotten to scoop up. Rust and ruin.

He stands there for several long moments, trying to find a second wind to get back down the car again. Then he sort of sways into the wall, leaning a shoulder against it for support. Then he feels his legs start to tremble, so he slides down to the floor and sits heavily, back to the wall. Just a minute of rest and he'll get up again...

Yeah, he's still sitting there when Koumyou returns. "Hi," he greets his partner groggily, peering up at him. "I don't have my ticket."

Koumyou has cleaned up somewhat, though he hasn't taken a proper shower yet. He's down to the base layer of his uniform, which only has minimal bloody spots, and he'd cleaned his face and hands before starting the cooking.

Naturally, the fruits of his labor are tucked into the ARMs band where it can't spill or get cold.

Such a handy thing. He'd thought he was just buying it for camping equipment back when the bands had still been available in the shop... and now look at how much it gets used!

"You don't, huh?" Koumyou is, of course, amused by Devero's plight. He eyes Devero critically, rubbing his own chin as though in thought. "I don't know if I can let you in the room without a ticket, mister."

This is entirely jokes, of course. A few tendrils of sutra unfurl slowly from behind Koumyou, and move to scoop Devero up. Slowly, so he doesn't freak the fuck out. Hopefully.

Don't freak the fuck out, Devero.

Devero does not freak the fuck out. His eyes do track the approaching extensions of the sutra closely, but he lets them pick him up without even a flinch. He even manages to jokes right back at Koumyou: "You're not going to put me in train jail, are you?"

It might help that the holy paper just sort of scoops him up. No winding around, no sudden movements.

Koumyou seems to consider that almost seriously.

"Too tired to move and wearing just a towel... I think you're a low flight risk, so I'll let you out on bail. Just this once."

He boops the door with his ticket and goes in ahead of Devero, the ends of the sutra linked to him just sort of... vanishing into his back. Like wings, almost.

The priest gives himself enough room to change the bedding to a clean set, then floats Devero on in and deposits him neatly onto it, sutra tendrils disappearing back into thin air. Clean Devero, clean bed! Gotta achieve maximum comfortableness, here.

"I made fish and rice, and tea. Up for having some?"

"You're too kind," he says with a single soft laugh.

He rests quietly in the tendrils of his partner's sutra, watching Koumyou's back as he works to change their bedding. Mostly he's just kind of staring at the way the tendrils of paper nebulously emerge from his back, but he's also kind of admiring the way Koumyou's muscles move under that tight black shirt of his.

What? He had to be circumspect while they were trapped in Jinnjar!

He grasps the curls of paper supporting him as Koumyou reels him into the room; he's smiling and unafraid as he's deposited back on the bed. He tries to pat one of the tendrils, anticipating that they'll withdraw rather than just disappear, and ends up swishing his hand through empty air. Whoops.

He brings his attention back to Koumyou. "What service," he says. It probably would have been a teasing exclamation if he had more energy; as worn out as he is, it just comes out gentle and appreciative. "Please. Don't feel that hungry but I know I need to eat."

"I try," Koumyou says with a gentle smile. Dev may have been trying for a joke, but Koumyou's relatively serious.

He digs into the ARMs band, not hidden up a sleeve for once, clamped high on his wiry bicep at the top of an arm-warmer. He produces a bed tray, sets it up over Devero's lap, and then starts pulling hot food and tea out to set on top.

A very generous amount of both. He knows the demands Devero's big body makes of him, and he's pretty certain once he starts eating he's going to realize how badly he needs to refuel. It's the 'tasty fish' from the water world, prepared over some fresh, fragrant rice. The tea is something light and herbal.

"There. I'm going to go get cleaned up too, so I don't make everything dirty again. I'll find your ticket while I'm at it."

You know how Devero's just said he isn't hungry? Yeah, as soon as he inhales the first whiff of rice and tea and moist fish, his stomach growls. Audibly.

"...Maybe I am hungry after all," he says with a sheepish grin. "This smells divine." He glances up at Koumyou, brow creasing a little at the priest's intention. "--Do you need to eat first?" he asks. Too tired to move, in the middle of being catered to, and but still can't help but try to caretake himself.

Perhaps understandably. He knows what you're like, Koumyou Sanzo.

"I will after I'm cleaned up," Koumyou promises, and blows Devero a kiss before turning to leave the room in search of a shower.

He's not gone for too terribly long. It's not like he isn't tired, after all, he's just not any more drained than after any past mission. Certainly, he's a lot less drained than he had been after the demon world.

Physically, mentally, and magically -- going into a chi deficit was not a normal problem for him!

But regardless, he doesn't linger in the hot hot shower lest he end up falling asleep in there. Everything gets his usual post-mission scrub-down, and when he comes back to the room he's in his clean set of sleeping clothes and robe, with his hair down and currently being squeezed inside a towel over his shoulder to pull the water out.

"Still awake in here?"

"I'm going to hold you to that!" Devero calls after him, eyes sparkling despite his fatigue.

He doesn't wait to apply himself to the food. Any intention to eat slowly crumbles after the first bite, because now that his appetite is awake it's powerful. He starts to wolf down the fish and rice like he hasn't eaten in days.

It's not until nearly two thirds of his generous meal is gone that he's able to slow down and actually appreciate what he's eating. He's still lingering over the last of it when Koumyou returns; there's a little more life in his face as he looks up from the tray.

"'Course I am," he says with a crooked grin. "I've got to make sure you eat too, haven't I?"

"I said I would!" Koumyou whines for effect, but he's glad to see Dev's perked up with the food and tea. Lady Wiggles walks in at his heels -- looking suspiciously damp. Someone had miscalculated and gotten into the shower. And someone is pretending that did not happen.

Koumyou pulls Devero's ticket out of his sleeve and offers it over, and then climbs up onto the bed, taking his usual spot between Dev and the wall without jostling anything too much along the way.

Edited 2021-08-01 02:18 (UTC)

Luckily for Devero, he knows well enough by now to make absolutely no outward acknowledgement of Lady Wiggles' ignominious condition. In fact, why not play it safe and not make any eye contact with Wiggles at all? That seems like a good plan!

He holds still as Koumyou clambers over him and settles down, and then lets his full weight tip into Koumyou's shoulder, squashing him deliberately into the wall. "I just wanted to be suuure," he whines back. "I know how you can be about food!"

"I forget! It's not that I really avoid it or anything!" Koumyou protests, be-squished. Enjoy smushing into his bony, knobby shoulder, Dev. The priest knows he's about as comfortable to lay against as the katana he'd loaned Devero recently, and he has about as much give to him, too.

"Hunger's just sort of background noise, you know?" After his upbringing.

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cw drowning imagery

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