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

[nell_of_soulwood]

Nell shook her head. "No, I never did, but I'm interested to try one." She itched to do some cooking, but most of the equipment and many of the foods were outside of her experience. Give her a wood stove and she'd be right at home.

"Can anyone cook in the kitchens or only assigned people?"

[blitzcheer]

"Cook as much you like!" Which is to say: Anyone can. "Why, you wanna cook up something yourself? Won't stop you." If that's what she wanted to do.

"You're gonna find all the food in the car next to the kitchen, if you haven't been in there already."

[nell_of_soulwood]

"I have to figure out how to use all the cooking things," Nell said. "Back home I only have a wood stove. But I'd like to try. I'm a fairly decent cook."

She was actually an excellent cook, though many of the available foods here would be new to her.

sorry, i never got the tag for this!

[blitzcheer]

"I can show you there," he offers. "It's pretty easy, once you see it! Most of it's just turn a few nobs-" and he even makes a twisty motion in the air. "And you've got it! Even lets you set the temperature you're cooking at."

Which will make a lot more sense once they reach the kitchen, but Tidus isn't too bothered about the vocal preview of what's waiting for her. After all-

"It's all like...a wood stove, except you don't have to put together the fire. And you decide how warm everything is." Aha. "If you had to make a fire for everything, you're gonna love an electric stove!"

No worries!!

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Hmmm... yes, I've read about other stoves, of course, and wondered..." Nell smiled up at him. "Yes, if you can help me figure them out I'd be glad to cook something special for you."

[blitzcheer]

"Ohh, nice!"

Tidus grins. With all that said and done, it doesn't take long to reach the kitchens; right through the dining carriage where some people are sitting with their morning drinks, and over through the next small passage between carriages, they arrive. A large space, with plenty of cookers to use, even with anyone else in the room.

Tidus walks them to the closest one available, beckoning her to follow him. Standing in front of it with an easy grin, a hand ready to wave in gesture over the stove rings.

"Alright! So, it's simple, see? These are where you put your pots and pans." He points down over the different rings. "And these-" Now he takes a step back, points to where the line of dial knobs are. "These are the things you twist for heat. See the pictures beside them, the circles? And one's blacked out? So this one works this one..."

He shows her once or twice, how the pictures coordinate to which ring operates which.

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Oh my," Nell said, as she took in the entirety of the kitchen space. She'd eaten on the train, obviously, but it had been such a short time between arriving and being swept off to the illusion place that she hadn't really explored this part of the train. "I can't even imagine... I could cook for hundreds of people here without even thinking about it!"

She watched and listened carefully as he explained. "And how long does it take before the stoves get hot enough to cook things? Or to bake bread or something like that?"

[blitzcheer]

"No time at all!" Tidus answers, and he starts to go to twist a knob, but nods his head at them instead. "Try it, stick one on. You're waiting about ten seconds or so... but for bread you'll want the oven. That's a lil' longer 'cause you wanna make sure it's warm first, right? So this is an oven-"

And behold, as he opens the oven door and makes some room so she can have a look inside there, too. He gives her some time before he taps his finger by the oven knob.

"And that... see those numbers? Those're temperatures."

[nell_of_soulwood]

Nell turned the dial and was shocked at how quickly it went from cold to throwing off a large amount of heat. She turned it back off considering, then looked in the oven as Tidus opened it up before pondering the temperature dial. "That might take some experimenting. I know about how hot it needs to get - how much of what kind of wood - with my wood stove. Or maybe there are recipes?"

[blitzcheer]

"Sure are! There's boooks..." He drags it out like he needs to need, but he's looking behind them, over to where the silver counter is, motions for her to follow him over. Utensils hang from the wall, but it's the drawer that Tidus is going for, opening it and bringing a few out.

"They're from different worlds, but your head does that thing where it translates the measurements? Kinda handy, huh." There's a card-holder too sat next to the wall, and he scoots that over.

"There's some here too. Or the ICPs got recipes for the food we've got in this month-" He points a finger over, then, with a short laugh:

"Plenty to do some homework with, right?"

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Oh my..." Nell said and then she was lost in flipping through recipes, barely managing to nod when Tidus asked if her head translated the measurements. She'd never seen so mnay different things in her life and part of her wanted to try all of them at once!

She finally managed to drag herself out of the books for a moment. "What do you most like I could try and make that for you."

[blitzcheer]

He couldn't deny he was touched, but he grinned, waving up a hand.

"Why don't you make me something you love to make? I love new food! And you sound like a whiz in the kitchen."

And in the garden, and all sorts. She couldn't just come up with jam preserves out of thin air, but anything involving an oven and stove?

"I'll help you out, as you need it," Tidus offers - just so she had a hand using all this new technology. "And unless you like a hot drink in the morning, I could make us a smoothie? I'm good at those."

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Hmmm..." Tidus was somewhat forgotten for a few moments as Nell rummaged through cabinets, checking to see what ingredients were available, then looking for the right pots and pans.

She looked up briefly. "A smoothie? I've never heard of that, but I'm happy to try one."

She went back to pulling out ingredients and was mixing something up in a bowl after carefully checking a recipe and preheating one of the ovens

[blitzcheer]

Well, she was in her zone! He wouldn't want to interrupt her, and he doesn't immediately, pulling out the blender and figuring what ingredients they had. But he does eventually call from where he is, asking:

"Nell! Favourite fruit or veg, worst fruit or veg!"

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Oh, I most never met a fruit or vegetable that I didn't like," Nell said. "Most any kind of berries are prob'ly my favorite - strawberries or blackberries. And I'm not particularly fond of, say, artichokes or brussel sprouts 'less they're cooked just right."

She poured her mixture into a set of muffin tins, checked the book again for the right temperature before sliding them in, and turned to him. "There. Just enough time to whip up a delicious omelette while the muffins bake. Speak now if there's something you don't like before I just get down to it."

[blitzcheer]

Strawberries, was it? Tidus just had the idea, a "Gotcha!" said and the mystery of what he would pick left in the air - unless she saw him coming back from the stores to grab the fresh strawberries and a container of coconut milk and the yoghurt. Some ice cubes as well, walking over to the blender with it all when Nell speaks up.

"Oh? Hmm- the yellow peppers. I just don't like the look of them."

They're so...yellow!

[nell_of_soulwood]

Nell nodded and went back to whisking and grating and chopping before adding a little butter to a large frying pan on the stove. It really was a wonder how fast it had heated up!

Some time later she slid a perfectly cooked omelette onto a large plate, then cut it in to uneven pieces, and slid those onto two smaller plates. The fresh baked muffins went into a basket covered with a cloth napkin and she brought the plates, the basket, and some butter over to the table. The omelette was fluffy with small pieces of bacon and red pepper showing through the yellow. The swiss and cheddar cheeses in it would give it a little extra tang.

"There," she said, smiling and feeling content at having successfully navigated the stove and oven. "A nice omelette and my Meemaw's honey muffins. Nothing too fancy, but tasty and will get your stomach ready for the day."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus had less work to do. Slicing up the strawberries wasn't necessary, but he does anyway, getting rid of the green leaves and deciding, with a why not?, to go and get the slice of coconut he remembered seeing in the fridge. Grate that as an extra, but popping the fruits, milk and yoghurt takes no time at all.

There's a thrum as the ingredients are blended, and then again when Tidus adds in the ice to crush in. Large beakers come out along with a spoon for taste testing, an approving hum that leads him to take out the drinks with him as they set up their own small space.

But really, Tidus is smelling those foods Nell is whipping up before she even presents them! The washing can wait, since he's down to tucking in.

"This looks delicious, Nell!" Tidus compliments, and oh boy, he hopes his addition to their breakfast is as half as scrumptious as hers looks. "Thanks! Hope you like mine - I grated some coconut if you wanted it,-" and he nods to the small dish of the white flakes. "But, whatever you want!"

Do as you want, etc etc. Regardless, Tidus picks up a fork. "Time to get to chowing down?"

[nell_of_soulwood]

Nell nodded, "Yes, time to eat." She took a quick bite of the omelette and was relieved to see that it tasted just as it should, even with the fancy stove. Then she took a sip of the smoothie, eyes widening at the taste.

"Oh, that's delicious!" She tasted a tiny bit of the coconut and then added some to the drink. "This is quite good as well. But what a different texture!"

[blitzcheer]

Tidus's first bite went for the omelette too, and he smiles at the taste, pleased. She could cook alright, no doubt about that. Chewing, he was cutting up another slice of the eggy deliciousness with the side of his fork when Nell spoke.

He beams, even with the food in his mouth, waiting until most of it was swallowed before he spoke, with a touch of embarrassment but a lot more glee. "Yeah, right? Smoothies are great if you're busy in the mornings but you want everything to start your day. I had them whenever I went running, or for an easy lunch." Especially since he had to deal with exercising in water.

Tidus points his fork at the omelette. "And this is great too. You won't need my help in that kitchen - you got the hang of it quick!"

Considering how self-sufficient she sounded the first day they met, that's no surprise.

[nell_of_soulwood]

"That blendy machine thing scares me a little," Nell said with a smile. "But I'll give it a try.

She tucked into her much smaller portion of omelette and nodded. "It did come out well and the muffins are good, but they're very basic things. I'll have to experiment for cooking a chicken or making soup or a stew."

[blitzcheer]

Tidus does notice the omelette size, but he doesn't want to say anything straight away. Helping instead, "There's chicken, in the freezer. Don't know how much, but I remember that and a lamb being on the recipes? Plenty of soup and curry recipes too."

Some real bizarre ones, all to make coconut work.

"Oh yeah, and if you read those recipes and it asks for coconut milk, that's not the liquid in the coconut. That's like, the white stuff-" he takes a second to point to the white flakes in the dish. "--when you pulp it up. There's tins of it. I got confused by that the first time I tried making anything on there."

[nell_of_soulwood]

"Hmmm," Nell said as she continued eating. "I'll have to do some exploring and see just what I have to work with here. I know different teams are assigned cooking at differnt times, but I don't suppose anyone will object to another cook."

She took a pinch of the cocomut flakes to try on their own and nodded as she considered it. "I'll have to try the milk before I know what I could cook with it."

[blitzcheer]

He chuckles. "Nah. Everyone's always skipping their team job to come over and do cooking. Which, fine by me! Better the people who know how to cook be around for that, you know? It's a bigger disaster than being bad at cleaning."

Especially if they're meant to eat it.

Tidus takes another bite of the omelette, swallowing first before- "So- weird first mission, huh? They don't usually go like that. How...did you feel about everything? 'specially at the end there?"

[nell_of_soulwood]

"I don't mind cleaning," Nell said. "But I do like cooking more sometimes, so it's good to know I can cook when I want."

Her fork went still for a moment as she considered what to say. "It... It's a little hard to think about because up till the end it was such a good thing. I was happy. I had a job I loved. I had friends and a family... I haven't had those things in a long time. I didn't really want to let it go."

She set the fork down and clasped her hands together under the table. "And then when I knew it was all an illusion I really hoped that meant that the whole train thing was part of it and when I woke up I'd be back home."