middleofsomewhere | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's a pause, the closest thing Thanatos has had to expressing an emotion as of late. He bows his head to Eldibus. "I was not myself during the mission. Please disregard how I behaved. It will not happen again."

Thanatos will not let himself get in such a state. The only thing that matters is doing his job.

It's interesting to observe. Surely it's not too different from his first encounter with this particular God of Death. But there's something not quite right about it.

Something the Ascian himself is almost... sympathetic to.

"Few were themselves, so it's understandable. But I would be remiss to disregard it, as it seems to be related to the conversation we had."

Sympathetic perhaps. But Elidibus is also curious. It was not something he pursued at the time it happened and not without reason. The amount of calls that were made coupled with the risk of authorities being notified?

"If it's something you'd prefer more privacy to speak about, we can find another location."

"I don't know what you speak of," and Thanatos truly doesn't understand what Elidibus is referencing. The panic he felt had overridden a lot of what he remembered. That Thanatos never figured out what about the words over the phone made him, and then later, he didn't reflect much on who he had been in that illusion world. Other things demanded his attention.

"When did we talk?"

There is a short pause accompanying a stillness. "...Near the beginning. I called several numbers in the phone book."

Quite a lot actually, choosing both familiar names and a representative sample. But that doesn't need to be mentioned. Elidibus can hardly dismiss the notion that Thanatos has literally forgotten their brief conversation. Besides the reaction, they were all influenced in varying degrees by the illusion.

"You were on the other end of one such call. We spoke briefly and you panicked. The most likely cause was the conversation itself, as you had no desire to talk afterward."

There is another option of course and one the Ascian now acknowledges. "I suppose it's possible I spoke with an alternate self. You recall nothing of our conversation?"

Thanatos remembers with that context, and he starts to piece together the memory and connecting it with his own truth. It's troubling picture. He didn't know why the words terrified him while under the illusion, but now they echo in his head.

To think a God of Death would be so easily shackled.

He goes eerily still. His face remains impassive, but the air begins to feel heavier like that in a crypt. The lights seem to darken. "Why do you want to know?"

Elidibus doesn't look around, yet he is well aware of the change in atmosphere.

"A few reasons," he answers without hesitation. His tone is calm and as polite as before. "My intention at the time was to shake the memories of those I could reach and attempt to stir them free of the illusion's grasp. Sending you further into its grip was against that goal. I would like to avoid it again by knowing the root cause."

They are going to fight the entity Chaos again. There will no doubt be mental attacks and illusions involved. The Ascian's reasoning here is clear. Elidibus continues.

"Speaking with you know also made it clear this is appears to go beyond the false story of your life in the illusion. Your reaction at the time and now. And the suppressed memory. The way you now... guard against it. Those are not traits oft found with false memories recently planted. That is a hallmark of something far older."

These statements, calm as they are, are spoken by one who has experience, either in observation or such memories of his own.

"Would you not agree, Thanatos?"

Thanatos isn't even consciously changing the atmosphere around him. The churning emotions buried deep under this blank façade cause his powers to manifest in such a manner. Thank the Fates that none are at risk from it.

"I would agree," Thanatos finally admits. He could lie, but it would get him nowhere. It would also put the mission at risk; Thanatos cannot let his shame and fear get in the way of his duty to the train.

"I do not like being grabbed by the wrists or restrained." That much people have learned already, and that is usually enough of an answer to satisfy them.

Truth be told, it's enough if one just wants to know the surface of the story. Elidibus frowns momentarily, but it seems a quirk of his musings; not any sense of disapproval for Thanatos and what he implied.

"Ah, someone restrained you before." There is a pause while the God of Death is studied. "But that is not all of the matter, is it? Something so basic could not invoke such a primal fear."

He has some experience in the matter.

"Would you be willing to share more details? Perhaps in a less public environment?" They are, after all, still in the carriage. Quiet though they may be speaking, that doesn't mean there won't be interruption.

"No," he says without much of a pause. "I have things to do."

Thanatos shifts away abruptly. He's not concentrating on that time or the end of Jinnjar. There's nothing more he needs to think on about either of those. He just needs to do his job, whatever that is on this train.

"Hm," comes a thoughtful noise after Thanatos transfers himself... elsewhere. Though it is the truth there are still many things to take care of, the interaction has garnered the Ascian's attention.

"How interesting."

There'll be no pursuit. He'll finish attending to cleanup in the carriage and then move on to the kitchen. But Thanatos will be watched. If nothing else, to make certain the hidden details of this trauma does not hinder any plans in the future.

And maybe a spot of personal curiosity.

So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

No worries. Things happen

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