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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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?"

"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."

"...Sorry," he starts; for a life she had, that she wanted, but that wasn't really real. And there wasn't anything he could offer or suggest in place of it - the train wasn't a place of stability.

"Wei Wuxian though... he asked me to come see you. I would've anyway," he adds with a shake of his head, a small smile. "--So I think you don't have to worry about losing everything you got out of it. He seems like an okay guy."

"S'okay," she said firmly. "I got a lot of good memories from then, even if they weren't really real."

She smiled at him, "He said he would still like to be my kind of father. He says he's my 'spare dad'. I can call him Wei-qianbei."

It wasn't quite what she wanted, this life here, but it was something. And something wasn't nothing.

Tidus laughs at that. "'Spare dad'? I'd call him that! Tell him if he doesn't do a good job, you'll replace him with another dad! Tell him he's gotta be on his toes."

But it's sad with a grin, joking, a fun threat.

"If you want a spare little brother too, I know the kid. Perfect little guy. Ever met Romeo?"

Time to adopt half the train, Nell.

Nell laughed. "He's already better than -" she stopped herself, not wanting to say it even if it wsa true, "better than I could ask for," she finished a little lamely.

"Anyway, I think I'll keep him," she said lightly.

"Oh, Romeo! Yes," Nell said. "He's such a nice boy. I didn't think about him being a spare brother, but he's certainly a young friend."

Nell had no objections to adopting half the train if the occasion arose.

Tidus doesn't question the small stumble, just smiles and nods his head to her decision, and moves on easily to Romeo. A small laugh let out.

"Oh, just wait. I mean, I'm not an adopting guy, but even I wanna ruffle his hair and show him how to play a ball game or five. If only he'd stop calling me Mister Tidus! Can you believe it? He makes me sound old!"

It's feigned complaining though at this point, even if he does die, a very little amount, each time he hears 'Mister' before his name.

Nell giggled. "Well, as a respectable widow-woman, it's only right he be respectful to me. Might be if you were more respectable it wouldn't bother you so much," she teased.

Romeo was adorable and Nell was very grateful that she seemed to have sort of adopted her.

"One," he says, a forefinger coming up playfully, "I'm plenty respectful. Two-! ...You were married?"

Because either that's the case, or 'widow-woman' means a very different thing to her than him.

"Not respectful," she said with a chuckle, "respectable. Not that you aren't, but you can be a bit of a rogue, I think."

Nell smiled at him, but there was a hint of something there that didn't quite make it to her eyes. "I was," she said. "Got married when I was twelve. My husband, John, died about five years ago when I was eighteen. He and his other wife, Leah, saved me from what would have been a bad situation. Been livin' alone since he died, in a big empty house meant for several wives and their children, so being here with all these people is a bit overwhelming."

Well, he can't say there isn't actually something very complimenting when she describes him that way. But there's no room for saying anything as Nell answers, explains her - previous? - situation. Tidus is too stunned to really show much of anything at the reveal of a twelve-year-old bride.

It's...far from what he was expecting though, and it takes him a second to speak, but-

"What...happened to Leah? Did she move?" Move, or die too? He isn't sure how to feel, at any of that. At her being left behind, on her own.

"Leah died just before I turned fifteen," Nell said, feeling that lump in her throat that just never seemed to go away when she thought about Leah. "I took care of her the last couple of years before she died. She and John were much older than me. I took care of John, too, before he died."

She hesitated then decide to just say it. "It may be un-christian of me to say, but I think it was hardest to lose Leah, even though losing John left me all alone."

He can't really say how he feels about what he's hearing, understanding of it, but more important than what he feels about certain details - he sees Nell's sadness, no matter how much of it might be contained, pushed down. And this is a breakfast table (or, breakfast time).

...really, it's Nell herself that matters, and the pinch of his mouth comes with a sympathetic dip of Tidus's brow.

"I don't know anything being christian, but you feel what you feel," he says, eyes on her, the hold of his lips turning to a small smile. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It sounds like you were thankful for them both. Just...you got along with Leah better, right?"

She nodded. "She was almost... The marriage wasn't a love match or anything. They saved me from something much worse, but in the process I, well, I haven't spoken to my family since. So Leah..."

She'd almost been a mother figure to Nell. Much older than Nell, a bit sharp-tongued, but kind in a way that John had never been. Not that John had been unkind really and perhaps he had loved her as you come to care about a member of your family, but when Leah had died and Nell took up her wifely duties she'd felt very alone.

"She was kind to me," Nell finished. "John was a good man, but it isn't a husband's job to be kind."

Tidus would disagree with that - it's not a husband's job to be kind - but he thinks he gets it, what's she's saying. He didn't do more than he had to.

"Sounds complicated." To say the least; but Tidus shows Nell a smile, small and sincere. "But... I guess this is a lot more lively than being back in the house on your own. Know what's a shame? We don't have 'get to know each other' get-togethers. Bet it'd be fun for people who haven't got to get out and hang out much, just relax!"

Like a certain miss busy gardener.

Nell wasn't sure how she felt about a large gathering, but a small one might be nice. A way to learn more about this place and the people she lived with.

"That sounds like a good idea. To be together and relax and get to meet new people - at least people who are new to me." She paused for a moment. "Or people I met when I was the other Nell and don't actually know here."

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So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

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