Wings of Wonder: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

A Grateful End

---

Once. the Storm has been defeated all of those who fought on the West Island are taken by the airship back to the South Island where those Sali who could not go to fight are waiting for them. Those Sali fighting in the East have also returned, likewise victorious.

For a few hours everyone rests, injuries are seen to. A few patrols go out, which Voidtreckers are welcome on, to take out the last few birds but it seems that this really had been a victory. The storm is gone and with it the birds. The Forever Ones are pleased, even those who are not in tune with such things will feel a hum of satisfaction in the air.

The atmosphere turns to one of celebration. The Sali fight hard, they are a strict and proud people but when it is time to rejoice they do so.

By Firelight

---

As. night falls the Sali build a fire and food is prepared and cooked. The Sali keep a close eye on things but will give tasks to any voidtreckers who seem restless or as if sitting idle will not be good for their thoughts. Small sali skip around, keen to share the stories and songs taught to them by the voidtreckers who stayed on the West Island with them.

Food is cooked through the night, meat is roasted, served with vegetables and the Sali share stories, talk of the fallen and speak highly of those who fought with them, both sali and voidtrecker.

As food and conversation flows some of the young adults in the Sali will grow in confidence, asking the voidtreckers to share more tales, of their adventures and will swap them with tales of their own, of hunting and life on the islands. Their tales get pretty boastful but everyone is in good spirits and the Sali are as good at listening to tales as they are telling them.

Gifts

---

The next morning one of the older Sali call for any voidtreckers and Sali nearby to gather. Some stay working at their tasks but there's a general sense of ceremony as she steps onto a small wooden platform.

"We would like to formally thank those who came to our assistance at this time. We thank you for sharing your skills with us and for aiding us in our efforts to rid out land of the red storm.

For you, at the behest of our Forever Ones, we bring gifts."

A group of sali bring the gifts into the centre of the gathering. Storing pots of meat, vegetables and fruit; some raw, dried, fresh and pickled.

A set of ceramic tools and a few sets of chisels.

Two baskets of yarn with metal knitting needles and spindles, clearly made from their metal trees. Another basket of grasses clearly made for weaving with as well as some rope made of the same fibres. Another basket of fabric, this time more hessian in feal with metal needles and embroidery hoops.

Finally they bring out twenty short wooden bows each with a quiver of wooden arrows, ten wooden spears and finally twenty small throwing axes.

"We hope that these gifts aid you on your journey and you can share them with others that you meet on your travels."

Finally. after another hour or so the train arrives, a message to their SCA's asks All Voidtreckers to return to the Voidtrecker Express. There is a dot on their map where the train has landed, off to the side of the island, away from the village.

Once everyone has boarded once more the train counts down before flying off into the void, leaving this land of floating islands behind.

Comments

[yondu]

"That is not an answer to what this even is 'cause I'd like to understand what just happened.... But yeah, probably got a bruise or two. But I got more respect for ya than to tell you to kiss my ass just to make it feel better."

He finally starts to get up and... welp, there are now tools on the floor. So he'll just go about picking those up. Luckily they weren't in positions to impale themselves on. Unluckily they scattered as wide as possible.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"It's a poncho!" Koumyou tells him, even as he helps with finding and picking up all the little tools that scattered around in the narrow hall. "Made out of hands! But not real hands. Choochoo-chan gave it to me when I asked for random clothes!"

And it certainly had done 'random' well.

[yondu]

You know what? That clarification is necessary because he doesn't want to think of the living puppet genocide that might have occurred that would lead to the creation of a hand poncho.

"...So it's the train that's got into somethin'."

That is the conclusion that he's drawn here. He piles everything together in a jumbled way, worrying about organizing later.

"Okay, so... are ya cold or was is just good scootin'-shoe attire?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oh, I'm always cold, but this is for fun," Koumyou lets him know, holding out his hands -- his real hands, in offer. "Want me to help carry some stuff?"

[yondu]

"Remind me to get you a sweater or somethin'. I'll make it pink. Just not..." he gestures to the hands, not quite knowing the word for 'felted body horror'. It's a particularly difficult thing to describe.

"Yeah, sure. I's headin' for the lab 'car just to try these out."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Pink is good," Koumyou agrees, picking up a bunch of the tools to carry. "But you have to at least admit Choochoo-chan did good at the 'random' part of random clothing."

Once they've got all the tools gathered and in hands, he starts down the hall in the direction of the lab car.

"I got this a while ago, but I usually wear my uniform all the time."

Even now, he's got his uniform's base layer on under this monstrosity.

Changing my gift so changing this tag to reflect it.

[yondu]

"Yeah, I gotta clean up my gear every few days or so. Then I just wear my train uniform until it's done." Which he always feels (and likely looks) out of place in. The fabric is light and airy and theoretically is good to move around in. He's just very fond of having a nice protective shield of leather between him and the people around him.

"Thought I'd try my hand at some making somethin'. I'd made somethin' for Soldat a while back and I figured, 'hey if I'm gonna get this stuff, why not'. I was able to work with yaka before, figured this might make it easier. If it's beyond me I'll just leave 'em there for someone else to figure out later."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"What are you going to make 'something' out of?" Koumyou asks, looking at the tools in his hands as they walk. He knows nothing of art or crafting or... making things, in general. That's more Dev's territory than his own.

[yondu]

"Yaka. It's a metal found only on my homeworld. It's what makes my arrow fly. Sound'll make it move in the arrow. Current'll make it make it give up on gravity."

He offers one of his last thin slices of it for Koumyou to look at it.

"It's called the 'livin' metal' because it listens do ya. Speak to it and you'll feel it."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Um, okay, sure. Koumyou holds the slice of metal up near his face and says, "Hello, yaka metal!"

He's done way weirder shit. Like wear a hands poncho.

[yondu]

Most metal picks up vibrations, but it does feel as though the yaka moves under his fingers when Koumyou speaks to it. like the smallest ripple, felt more than seen, in the flat surface.

Yondu whistles at it musically and it does it even more.

"Not too bad, huh?" He says with a big smile.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Curious, Koumyou hums a few bars of something at it, too, to see what it does.

No matter what it does or doesn't do, he offers it back over. "So what are you going to make? Or do you know yet? And why does your arrow only listen to you?"

So many questions!

[yondu]

Yondu taps the fin on his head. "It doesn't make me just look cool. My arrow still hears ya, but everythin' that chooses direction and makes it go as fast as it goes is up here. But say, you cap normal arrows in this kinda thing and you can whistle at 'em and make 'em turn in the air."

He takes the metal back, and he looks down at it sadly. He frowns.

"I gave Kumoko a piece of it." He gave a few people pieces to build his little tribe. What shit that turned out to be, through some circumstance or another. Soldat was the only one left that had understood the magnitude behind it.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"So the fin is like uh... an inter...face?"

He's utterly uncertain about if that's the right word for this.

"Like, Devero has a bunch of wires and sensors and stuff inside him that lets him 'talk' to the big robot he drives around back on his world. Like that sorta?"

[yondu]

"Yeah, the way it works is when I'm usin' it? It kind of gives me a new sense. I can see all the area around me. Think like sonar. I can make out rough shapes even if they're behind walls. So then I activate the arrow and it registers on the fin too. I whistle commands to change its speed an' sharp directions. So I aim an' chased down what I wanna hit."

He reaches up and touches the scar tissue around the base of his fin with a frown. Not really upset, though, it's just what his grumpy face is doing.

"But yeah, my brain is full of wires. They've been there a long time, though."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"You have a sixth sense basically?! That's so cool!"

Koumyou... either knows or suspects the implanting wasn't by Yondu's choice. But the end result can still be cool.

He moves all the tools he's carrying to one hand and arm, and holds his other hand where Yondu can't see it with his eyes. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

It's three.

[yondu]

Unfortunatly, Yondu, the doofus that he is? Actually looks. Then sees what Koumyou was meaning with his actual eyes and goes, "Oh! You meant to- Hold on. I'll do you one better."

He closes his eyes then and his fin lights up, and he pulls his coat open on the holster side. Then with some shrill, whistled commands the arrow zips out and whirls around Koumyou, leaving red streaks in the air and even if he moves it doesn't hit him.

Yondu catches it out of the air with one hand and tucks it back into its holster. "Like that."

[its_dad_sanzo]

And Koumyou is another kind of doofus, and gives Yondu moving targets to avoid, waving his arms around with no particular concern about getting got.

Once it's re-holstered, Koumyou confirms his earlier assessment; "That's so cool."

[yondu]

And Yondu looks pretty proud of himself because of it. He's glad to have it.

"Thank ya!" He's outright cheery, just because someone called him cool and sometimes, you know, it's the little things that make you happy.

[its_dad_sanzo]

That's adorable.

Once they're moving again, Koumyou asks, "So, what are you going to make? You didn't say earlier."

[yondu]

"No clue. I was just gonna fuck around." Not much he could think of. But there's not much to do lately. He's read all he was interested in. Did all the normal damn bored guy things.

Yondu's just bored and if he doesn't find something to do with his hands he's just going to drink again.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Well, I know nothing about metalworking, but I'm sure whatever you make will at least be shiny!"

Shiny counts for a lot, you know.