Crashing Down: Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

Time ticks down, five hours turn to three hours, turns to one hour, turns to mere minutes. All the while the Voidtreckers rush to tether people to void craft. All efforts are now on reaching the furthest communities.

The effort is monumental, an evacuation that was improvised at every stage and yet was successful. The planet quietens as its citizens vanish off into the void, villages emptying, creatures gone too.

By the final half hour they can be pretty confident that on Osiga at least the only people left are those who have chosen, for whatever reason, to do so. Even now it might not be too late to save them, the right word in the right ear could change everything.

Minutes tick down, and the question becomes: Do the voidtreckers evacuate, or do they stick around to try and convince that last person? Do they save lives by force? Leave them to their chosen fate?

Whatever their choices, time is rapidly running out.

---

CRASHING DOWN: CONCLUSION

---

HOUR ZERO

As their timers count down into the last two minutes, their SCA's begin to flash amber. Danger is approaching.

Some of the remaining citizens hunker down, awaiting what comes. Others gather, weapons in hand to face this foe they have been told to flee from.

Danger is indeed approaching. In their peripheral vision they will see a darkening of the sky as strange shapes begin to fill it; too weird to be clouds, nothing that can be accurately described. For those inside, even those with Anan in a space station, they will sense this shadowing. Almost as if shapes are crowding in on reality itself. An extremely unnerving experience. The shapes fill the sky, fill the system, and their SCA's flash red.

It is time to go.

It might be they try and fight, just to see if they can. It might be that they scramble to tether the last couple of people, people who have just rapidly changed their mind about staying here. The train lets them. Anyone who doesn't evacuate themselves will be allowed to stay until the last possible second, as their countdowns click down from 00:01. Then their world glows gold as the train yanks them back, landing in the luggage carriage with barely time to draw breath as the train lurches into the void violently.

For the first time, anyone looking out the window as the train enters the kaleidoscope of the void will see other void craft. Trains, ships, planes, weird orbs. Just for a few moments these craft fill the space, and then they move, the train as well, bringing colour back to the void once more.

OOC NOTES

OOC Post ~ Questions ~ Shenanigans ~ Tasks Check-In & Rewards

This post can be used for any last minute rescues as well as their return to the train and any reactions and debriefing that characters need!

If your character wasn't wearing their SCA during the very last second, please notify us of their death over here.

Art Credit: Header

Comments

Najaran - The final stand

[najaran]

Najaran didn't have her SCA, so she didn't see the time ticking down. But she saw the change in the sky. She was ready.

Well no. But she wasn't going to be any more ready. She hopped onto Thunderbeak's back. Knight was armed with a Longsword and shield. Wall of Stone was ready to serve to give a place to anyone who needed something to duck behind. She'd never met a creature with a higher defense stat. She wished she had items to buff him further, but she only had part of her Book. Besides, she could only maintain so many Cards at once, and with Woodfolk on the train and all the creatures out now, she was pushing herself to her limits as it was.

Cait Sith was perched in front of her on Thunderbeak's head, ready to eat any spells that came her way. Goligan was in her hand like a sword, ready to do what little he could. Gremlin was on Gargoyle's head, in case any of the attacks used items he could break. She left Eidolon in their Cards for now. An ace in the hole, if needed. But also so she could have enough reserves to summon Magus Mirror if there was too much spell power for Cait Sith to eat, or... if she needed to risk a spell.

If all else failed, if she had no other hope, she would. She would risk Windcutter.

Well, her Master always said her spells would be the death of her. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

She forced her shoulders still. They wanted to tremble. She'd never been so afraid. Part of her regretted staying, but seeing and hearing the people around her shut that part of her up. They needed her. How could she run away when they couldn't...?

And then... it was too late.

[wewillwewill]

I. Grotto Gathering
Some of the portals Elidibus maintained are no longer available. The places they led to are completely empty. Keeping them up would be inefficient. He hovers in the sky somewhere close to the concentrations of those who refused to leave, seeking the wisps of aether, or the small trace spell he might have tagged some of the villagers earlier in the evacuation.

"I will be pulling as many natives as I can sense to the Grotto. I ask for anyone free to help with assigning SCAs."

It's a short, to the point communication over the SCAs. There are still some portals up to make use of those but there's no guarantee he will be able to 'reach' the natives of an area. This won't happen often if there's Voidtreckers in the area though.

Some portion of the last hours have been used to set this up; to gather from Osiga the aether needed to save the star's people. And thus when it's executed, those who would sense such things as magic or spiritual energy or the living force within most everyone... well, to tall it 'flashy' would be an understatement.

Elidibus can't save everyone. And there's a good chance that everyone forcibly teleported to the Grotto won't be assisted in time. But there's a chance.

[OOC: Please use this as a place to put prompts related to this if you like. Elidibus will not be immediately in the Grotto but at some point probably in the sky and closer to the more concentrated areas of villagers too stubborn to leave.]

II. 0.01

There's golden light, and then the familiarity of the luggage carriage. A glimpse of other voidcraft in their myriad glory; a sight that may be awe-inspiring. This many people came together to rescue a world. That many were saved.

Elidibus closes his eyes and grasps a sturdy part of the carriage as the train lurches violently into the void. He is rejuvenated and more importantly did not thin himself again simply to pull off what he did. But he had been a conduit that took aether from Osiga and set it into motion to save lives. The tired feeling is from hours of constant spellcasting and preparation.

...And the emotional strain.

Well it's not as if he won't start to act to help people begin to leave the typical luggage press. Try to get him to stop if one likes, or catch him before he leaves; or perhaps later when he's lost in his thoughts over a meal.

II

[backwaterimperial]

Eli feels exhausted and drained after today. That mission was very different than the ones he's used to, where an entire world's population was one the line. But, he feels good. He saved people, he saved pets and zoo animals, and he even took charge of the situation at one point. It felt rather good to flex those leadership skills.

As he makes his way through the luggage car, he spots the man from the library last month.

"That was really somethin', wasn't it?"

II

[monkeyinthewrench]

"Well, fuck."

There's Jake. No hint of his usual smile today, just a grim expression locked into place. He'd been with them all in the final fray, desperately pleading with people to listen, offering last chances---but there wasn't enough time, there was never enough time.

He's just going to lie on this suitcase until the more restless ones leave first. How does Elidibus just keep going like the Energizer bunny? Truly, it is a mystery. But he does have to say something to the man...

"You covered a lot of ground. Thanks."

Train (ota)

[sevenyearsasleep]

Of course Link had expected the sudden pull back to the train. That didn't make it any less frustrating.

No. Frustrating wasn't the right word. He felt a sense of failure. He wanted to reset the timeline and try again, and again, until there was some outcome that didn't involve such immense loss.

Link bit his lip and chided himself mentally. He wasn't the only hero. He wasn't the only one who had been tasked to help. It was selfish of him to feel this way. He should be grateful they had managed to save so many people and animals.

Still.

He rested his forehead against the wall briefly. "I'm sorry," he murmured softly.

[happyends]

Of course it's not easy on Madoka either. She doesn't think any of this was easy on anyone - though she, at least, has the experience of having seen all of this before. Of having done all of this before, except last time they couldn't save anyone.

It at least makes this attempt feel a little bit better.

Or better enough for Madoka to be able to focus on other people, rather than turn anyone inward. She scans the train, looking for people who seem upset, and that's when she finds Link like that, leaning against the wall.

"Um.." She speaks up, trying to softly gain his attention without startling him. "Do you maybe need someone to talk to..?"

Re: Train (ota)

[guru_clef]

As soon as they were pulled back, Clef went to look for his son. He had a feeling this would be harder on Link than most. Thankfully floating over people's heads made it easier to move, and to spot the boy. He descended nearby, Bending up a spit of ground he could stand on to be of a height with Link. He wrapped his arms around his son. He knew no words to offer, all of his magic couldn't fix this.

Words would come later. With Clef that was a given. But for now there was whatever little comfort he could offer.

Re: Train (ota)

[longforgottenpromise]

"Hey."

It seemed the best help he could be right now was to help the others who were trying to deal with this terrible thing.

Many on this train were used to difficulties, death, pain. But still something this momentous was hard. Knowing that not everyone had been saved, that there were people who had perished on that planet and the wider universe...

It was hard. He put a hand on Link's shoulder. He doesn't know him well... But he wants to help.

[persona_non_ratta]

Bruno would freely admit that the scale of what they'd just been through was well beyond him. In fact, there were a great many things about it he didn't understand and wasn't sure he ever would. One thing he did know, though; of all the people on board, this had to be roughest on the young. For better or worse, as one got older, he'd found that the fact that a certain amount of loss was inevitable tended to settle into the heart. Cold comfort or not, young people didn't have even that to cling to.

So when he saw one of the young men who'd helped him looking especially distraught, he stopped, going over to rest a hand gently on the boy's shoulder. "You OK, kid?", he asked gently. "I mean, OK considering... everything? I don't think any of us is really OK, but..." Ugh, why was he fumbling this so badly? Get it together, Bruno! "What I mean is, I'm not really good at talking to people, but if you need to talk or anything, I'm a pretty good listener."

[another_moon]

Usagi is not giving up without a fight. She can't. She won't. She got all she could out, but now it was her time to shine.

She was going to hold her ground until the last possible second, transforming into Sailor Moon. She set up her Moon Stick, armed with the Silver Crystal and flanked by the remaining Crystals holding the destructive power of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Pluto. This wasn't the full power she used on Beryl and Metallia, but it would be deadly.

"World destroyers! Your rampage ends here! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" she shouted out. The crystals glowed brightly, launching beams of energy into a focal point above Usagi's wand.

"MOON COSMOS AWAKENING!"

The Silver Crystal glowed brightly before firing a burst of energy at the focal point, unleashing a massive wave of energy at the swirling forms. Once the lights died down, Usagi waited... and waited...

...and nothing.

"N-No...!" Usagi stammered. "No, it can't...!" And then, her world went gold as she was sent back into the train for her own safety. Landing in a heap in the luggage car, Usagi fought to get back on her feet.

"LET ME BACK OUT! PLEASE, LET ME GO!" she shouted. "What happened out there?! Why didn't they stop!?"

[redmeguca]

Usagi...

[Kyoko had been waiting here, ever since she learned that Usagi was staying behind.]

...This happens sometimes. You run into something that's too powerful for you to stop, and all you can do is try to make sure as many people survive as possible. Every Puella Magi that's been around long enough to learn about Walpurgisnacht knows that. We did what we could.

[mtsilver_conquor]

1 - Luggage
Eva helped where she could when she could right up until to the last second, head down and ruthlessly, pragmatically focused on the mission. Princess's Sing had been useful with animals -and sometimes people, too. 'Nona had been good with herding, given Eva had some experience with it, being from a rural town, and having worked on the Oak ranch. That sort of thing.

But the pokemon are recalled with five seconds to go, and then she's back on the train and still very much wearing her Champion-persona like a cloak as she looks around. Gods--. "Everyone alright?"


2 - Lower Dining
Later she can be found in the dining car, hands wrapped around a mug of tea in an effort to mask the faint tremors as she started to de-compress from the mission. She's fine. Honestly, she's faced worse in her own world (no she hasn't and she knows it). Just ignore the Obviously Concerned planti-creature pressed up against her legs, or the way she's drawing comfort from Skeeta.

She offers a half-smile to anyone who sits next to her. "... Rough mission, huh?"

2

[backwaterimperial]

Eli isn't sure he can eat anything, not having much appetite after the events to today. He settles for just grabbing a cup of coffee for now, and sits down at the nearest table, only vaguely noticing the small leafy creature down below.

He looks up after taking a sip. "You can say that again," Eli offers a faint smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

Wash | Villages/Outskirts & Train

[unrecovered]

0. Confirmation (Narrative - No Replies)

The timer on his SCA hits two minutes and starts flashing amber. The pressure around him drops. Wash looks to the horizon.

It's...he doesn't know how to describe this. It's a storm. It's shapes that his mind refuses to process. It's...well, it's probably what Lovecraft thought non-euclidean geometry looked like. It skitters around his thoughts, denies description, evades explanation - all he's left with is the knowledge, deep in his bones, that it is bad.

...and some small, traitorous part of him that feels relief. It's not the Hunger. It's a different incomprehensible reality-devouring nightmare, sure, but at least one of them knows to stay down once it's fucking killed.

Now they just have to figure out how to take this one out. Not right now - not the priority in this moment - but still. There's a direction now.

1. The Literal Last Minute (Villages/Outskirts)

The shapes in the sky appear, and Wash snaps into action - namely because he can hear screaming. There are lot of regretted life choices among the people who'd decided to stay, and a lot of changed minds, and not nearly enough time to save them all before the planet itself goes under-

But it's not nothing. It's two minutes. Whatever he can get done in two minutes is going to need to be enough.

Are you fast? Great. He's tossing you a fistful of SCAs. "Get these on them! I'll tether!"

2. Aftermath (Train)

The clock counts down the final second. His world flashes gold. The next thing Wash knows, he's in the luggage car, pressed against a wall with Athena clinging to his shoulder for dear life. He stays where he is - he's familiar with rough takeoffs, and he's not about to interfere with the train getting the fuck out of Dodge before Dodge ceases to exist entirely.

...they hadn't gotten them all. There was no way to get them all - he'd known that much going in - but it still doesn't stop the cold weight from settling in his chest.

They'd restored everything the Hunger had eaten when they'd finally managed to take it down. Maybe it's the same for these nightmares. Maybe there's a chance for the people of Osiga who got left behind.

But there's no Lucretia here, with the (carefully kept, hidden, lied about) answers. There's no information. There's no guarantee. He can't lean on that. Either way, there's nothing to be done for it now.

Not long after the train reenters the void and settles back into its normal pace of travel, he starts doing the rounds, approaching anyone who looks like they're having a rough time of it. "Hey. You okay?"

Or maybe you catch him much later, in the dining car, seated with his arms on the table and his head in his arms, Athena perched next to him. If you're a kid, he'll try to wave you off - "I'm fine. I'm just tired."

If you're an adult, his tone is completely different. "Is there anywhere on this train I can get a fucking beer?" It's not going to take the edge off. He knows it, and he doesn't care - he still wants one.

1--Tethering

[light_of_willpower]

Trunks can hear the screaming too, and feel anger in him and a wish to fight rising. But that won't help anyone and it'd just get him killed. It's all happening so fast!

But Trunks nods as wash tosses him SCAs. "On it." Dropping any masking of his ki to push for extra bursts of speed, and he's a blur. Grabbing arms and slapping SCAs on people's arms. Making certain only enough that it was secure, before he's moved to the next person.

It might've seemed like teleporting, although it wasn't; Trunks just could move that fast and the left was up to Wash and their tech.

[closed to rezo]

[invigorates]

It was over. The world was gone. And they had not saved all that lived there. The screams and begging; pleading she had heard in the final moments upon the planet still echoed in her mind. Or were those the cries of so many others she had abandoned in her life? She honestly could not tell at this point.

She had dragged herself from the luggage carriage and out, through a trans gate because even if she didn't much care for them she just wanted to be somewhere else. Her leylines were so dim they barely glowed, her eyelids drooping. She didn't make it to her cabin - collapsing instead just inside the greenhouse car where she promptly started sobbing into her arms, folding them where she lay on the floor.

[redprayer]

It takes a while for Rezo to find Lioriley- not only because of the chaos of the reboarding, but because he’d assumed she wouldn’t take the transgate, so he’s methodically gone through each car looking for her. If he can’t find her by the time he reaches the storage car, he’ll just have to… call her cabin. And if she isn’t there or doesn’t answer, then…

It turns out he doesn’t have to plan that far, because when he enters the greenhouse he can hear someone crying. These aren’t the first tears he’s overheard since reboarding, but the sound is familiar to him. Only, right now it’s far less restrained than it's been.

He hurries towards the sound, sidestepping raised beds of soil along the way, and nearly trips over Lioriley herself in his haste. He stops, swaying slightly, not really sure what to do next; in the end he drops to his knees and places a tentative hand on her shoulder.

[cureofmanyworlds]

Final Minutes

“Go! Go! C’mon, hurry!” Nozomi called out. Two minutes left? Where did the time go? This wasn’t good at all. The Ministry was trying to get people set up as fast as they could, but time was running out.

One last dive through, try to see if there were others she might have missed.

Please, train, just a few seconds more…

After the Fall

It would be an hour or so before Nozomi would finally climb out of the Luggage Car and back to the others. She headed for the Kitchen, not caring she was still powered up as Cure Dream or that her melancholy attitude was causing her costume to glow.

Pulling out a seat, she sat down in it and pulled her legs up to her chest so she could cry. Give her a chance to mourn those she couldn’t save.

Honestly, she could use someone right now…

after the fall

[happyends]

Madoka has been out of the luggage car for quite some time now. Maybe it's because she's been through this once before, but back then with even less ability to save anyone, but she feels like she's been able to recover from this a little better than certain people, especially since she's seen so many sad people since returning from the train.

And it seems like this moment right now is not any different, when she spots Nozomi - still looking like she's in the middle of a fight, considering her changed appearance - sitting there.

She lets out a soft noise - maybe the scraping of her throat - to see if she can pull the other's attention without startling the other girl.

"You're.. sad after all, huh..?"

Rezo Greywords | Red Team | OTA

[redprayer]

The Collapse cw: suicidal ideation

The last two minutes arrive and with it comes a crushing sense of claustrophobia and the frantic beeping of Rezo’s SCA. This isn’t Ruby Eye Shabranigdu- he’s sure he’d know if it was, would be able to recognize the Dark Lord- but the overwhelming dread and sense of awe-inspiring power in the air is similar.

Will the train really be able to save him from this? And if it can’t… Is that such a bad thing?

He’s already dead, after all. And he’s passed along his system number, so he can trust Zelgadis to take care of himself. If this threat can destroy an entire world system, then perhaps it can destroy Rezo, and the dark force that may or may not be lurking within his soul.

So for the last minutes of Osiga’s existence Rezo will slow down, walking aimlessly along, fiddling with the clasp of his SCA, debating whether or not to try removing it.

(In the end he won’t- he knows it likely won't work, and besides that, there’s someone expecting him aboard the train.)

The Ascent

Rezo comes back to a luggage compartment crushingly full of people, followed almost immediately by a sharp lurch that nearly sends him falling into someone else.

It’s noisy, it’s crowded, and it’s too hot, coming into this only a second after the chill of Osiga. He can’t hear anyone else he recognizes, and he probably wouldn’t be able to spot them even if he wasn’t blind.

As soon as the train stabilizes Rezo joins those hurrying to filter into the rest of the train, opting to walk through the triage car instead of the transgate. He stops at the dressing car to strip off gloves, hat, and scarf, and toss them into a random spot; someone can deal with those later.

He can hear other voidtreckers crying, every now and then, but Rezo doesn’t share their grief, or their guilt.

What he feels, as he patrols restlessly through each car, is frustration. It’s an emotion that is quite familiar to him, although what is experiencing right now is duller, less red than the frustration that he’d felt almost daily for the last ten or so years.

Still, it’s frustration nonetheless, at how little he knows and how little he’s able to do, that dogs his footsteps as he stalks from one car to another.

closed to lo;

[irrationally]

The end of the mission hadn't changed much for Alice's mental state - though not for worse either, necessarily. Everything had happened pretty much as she expected. And while she had been trying her best during the mission, it hadn't exactly made her feel more mentally tired, since it was mostly exhausting in a physical sort of way.

It means her mind is still heavy, even as she finds herself back on the train, but not necessarily with thoughts about what happened back during the mission itself.

It's just everything else. All the thoughts that have been weighing on her for weeks now.

One of those thoughts is relatively more new though. Alice can't help but think of the way one particular girl stomed off before the mission. And while the thought of talking this out makes her feel even more tired, Alice knows she values her relationships on the train too much to lose them. They're just about the one thing she still has by now.

So after wandering the train for a while, Alice finds the girl sitting at the dining table with food. She slowly walks up to her before sitting down at the table opposite from the girl.

".. Seems that we both made it through."

You know, since the girl was saying Alice might get eaten and all.

Re: closed to lo;

[knifewithnoname]

She had thought of Alice quite a bit through the mission but never for long. Always pushing the other girl violently out of her thoughts. It was stupid. She didn't understand and she definitely didn't have time to try and understand right now.

She had wondered though, how she had gotten on. Since she was so... Feelings-broke. But since returning to the train she had focused on getting washed, changed and eating, avoiding everyone who looked leaky eyed.

She is staring moodily at her food when she sees Alice, she half expects the older girl to go elsewhere. After all she had made it clear in her anger what she had thought about her attempt to help.

But instead Alice sits next to her, gaining a nose wrinkle from her. "Yes. It do be seeming so."

[healerscorned]

[Nia went with the train when it left. It was the best move she could make, she thinks. Somebody needed to keep the civilians calm, and while she never really subscribed to the notion of "bedside manner," she always was good at keeping herself together.]

Anyone who's still got the shakes, come here. I haven't quite got enough Craggle Leaf salves to go around, but it should still be enough.

Thomas Price -- OTA

[thepriceforalife]

Last Five Minutes

As the crowds of people thin, Thomas shifts his effort to observation. Anything they can find out about these World Eaters might help the next planet. He has a notepad and pencil out, and his normal senses, and whatever awareness he has of various sorts of magical energies.

He's also trying not to panic because he has no idea if the device on his wrist will actually pull him back in time, or that it will work at all. This might just be an expensive way to commit suicide.

Post-Mortem
Thomas Price was sitting in the library, writing.

It's been a while since he's written up anything, let alone something that other people might read. Paper was a luxury that he hadn't had in decades, and for his last decade on Earth, any notes he left were for Alice and their children, the same way Alice's grandparents were meticulous in documenting what they could for their progeny. He'd edited, but only to organize his thoughts.

Now he was trying to write what he'd observed for the Void Ministry, before he forgot it, because it was easier than trying to sleep after witnessing the destruction of a world. By all accounts, the emergency rescue had been a success, but... someone had to be proactive about making sure an emergency rescue wasn't needed next time, or that they had more warning or evidence to convince more people.

(He also wasn't thinking about what it would mean to evacuate the bottle world he'd been trapped in. Asking people to leave their own bodies behind and live on as... whatever they all were now was a lot. It was something you could do when they were literally hours from destruction and no one knew enough to stop it. Harder when the destruction was coming at some near-but-indefinite time in the future due to the world's life-energy getting too scarce to support life.)

post-mortem

[happyends]

After having seen so many people react badly to the end of this mission - and with good reason, really - Madoka can't help but wander around the train and see if she can help people.

Even people who don't necessarily seem like they might need help, like Thomas over here. But on the other hand, Thomas is her room mate, and he's also new enough that Madoka is pretty worried about the impact of this having been his first mission on the man..

So she can't help but slowly approach him, even though he seems to be writing.

"Um.. sir..?" She softly speaks up.

Lea | OTA

[hotheadwarmheart]

Two minutes. His SCA flashed amber as he determinedly ignored it, tethering one last family of stragglers. A grandmother, mom and dad, and three kids, one of them still a baby. No time to make sure they all get on the same transport; the Ministry would have to sort them out later.

One minute. A few other individual stragglers. SCAs slapped on them, tethers hastily completed.

20 seconds. There was no one else immediately around him, and no time to reach anyone else. But there was still something he could do. He whipped out his gummi phone, turned on the camera, turned the zoom up to maximum, and pointed it at the dark shapes in the sky, snapping a few photos. Maybe the Ministry would be able to use them. But there was no time to see how they turned out.

Abruptly his world flashed gold, and he was in among the crush of people in the luggage car. And he knew as well as anyone else what that meant.

He'd ended up near the door, so it didn't take him long to get out of the luggage car. He saved the photos and turned off his gummiphone without really looking at them. He didn't want to look at them just then. Then, without really thinking about what he was doing, he made his way forward to the kitchens, and began, somewhat mechanically, to prepare a pot of soup. Something he could make without really thinking and something people who had the stomach for it could eat with little effort.

They'd done everything they could. Saved everyone they could. He knew that. So why did it still feel like a failure? Anyone who came looking for him would find him there, working, and pondering a question he knew he'd likely never get an answer to.

Re: Lea | OTA

[nobodys_puppet]

Xion blinked from under her hood, disoriented when she arrived back in the luggage car.

Disoriented and overwhelmed. Waaaay too many Somebodies. She looked for either Axel or Taiki. Wasn't surprised that she saw Axel first. Taiki was small like her. Axel was... Axel.

She squirmed her way through, getting out a little bit behind him. She could have called out but then the Somebodies she left behind might hear also. So she followed him.

The mission was over, so she figured she knew where he was heading. To get them ice cream. She could come carry her own, at least.

So she followed. She was sure he knew she was there. Because where else would she be? And because he is Axel and there was no way he didn't know. She wasn't surprised when they wound up in the kitchen. But when he wasn't making ice cream she frowned, confused.

"That's.... not ice cream..." she said, frowning a bit. Or was he doing something new that would somehow become ice cream...?

kaiba makes poor decisions | ota

[blue_ice]

luggage car

Kaiba had promised to stay until the last moment possible and learn as much as he could. The time came, and he did just that---he helped one last person to tether, and as the sky darkened, he lit his duel disk and stepped forward. Anything they could get would be useful...right?

He braced for impact, felt the dread course through his veins---and then he was crushed into a corner of the luggage car, belly-flopped onto a suitcase, with his duel disk pressed painfully into his stomach. Ouch.

The train is already zipping away, and he needs a few moments to recover his breath before he even tries to move. Ow. He'll...just stare at the wall until it's time to exit.

lab car

Kaiba takes a stool in one of the lab compartments, and anyone passing through the car will see an eerie glow. He's laid a small black arm bracer device on the table, his laptop in front of it, and he's watching a holo-projection of Osiga's last moments in front of him.

He stares. Rewinds. Tries to write something down. Rewinds. Tries again. He angrily taps at the laptop, trying to get any kind of reading...but his video's too incomplete and his brain is too fried to make heads or tails of it.

Kaiba's head starts to droop as he works, but he doesn't seem to notice. There has to be something here he can use.

lab car

[fivemilesdeep]

Hopefully Seto likes hot chocolate, because a mug is plunked down in front of him like it's punctuating a sentence. It was a rough mission, sure, but that doesn't mean Ryo likes to see people obsessing over it. There are better ways to cope. "I think you're done for the night," Ryo says firmly, tone making it clear that there is no room for negotiation on this one.

Leia | OTA

[motherofresistance]

Luggage

She'd stayed until the last second. Until she was forcibly pulled away and into the crush of people in the luggage car. The train jolted, people jostled into her, but she was only somewhat aware of it. There was a magnificent display of arrayed voidcraft outside the windows for a brief moment, but she hardly noticed.

All she could feel was a profound sense of loss. A metaphysical gutpunch that she'd been dreading since they'd gotten the announcement. Because she knew what it meant. She'd felt it before. Osiga was gone, all life remaining on it extinguished in the same terrible instant. A scream of terror from many voices... that was abruptly silenced. And it was the silence that was the worst part.

It wasn't as bad as the Hosnian system. She wasn't in danger of blacking out from the shock of it this time. But there was one loss in particular that cut deeper. One scream among many that had pierced her clean through. Naja's. And just like with Han, she knew that Naja was dead. Swept away with Osiga after pointlessly throwing herself into the storm.

Even as the luggage car gradually emptied out, Leia stayed behind for awhile. She sat on a trunk in the corner, trying to gather herself. Once she stepped out into the train proper, people would need her. No time for sorrows. As usual. But every once in a while, even she needed to make a little time.

Around the train

The Leia that emerged from the luggage car was solemn, but collected. There were people here who were far less used to this sort of thing than herself. People who were far younger. People who felt truly lost and may not have anyone to turn to.

People, in short, who needed Leia. Leia the mother, Leia the leader, Leia somewhat Jedi, or any combination of them. And she would find those people. Or they would find her. Either way, she would be there. Once again, still standing.

Luggage

[unrecovered]

Is Leia expecting company? Because that sure is fifteen pounds of fluffy gray cat taking up space in her lap. It's not hard to miss someone staying behind when everyone else wanted to get out of the luggage car, and she looks pretty upset on top of it, so Athena is doing her best to help her feel better.

Wash, for his part, is also waiting for the luggage car to finish clearing out. There are things he could - should - be doing, but they can wait for ten minutes and a few deep breaths. Plus, Athena has decided to be a comfort cat, and he's not about to pull her away. Not yet.

Ryo | On the train

[fivemilesdeep]

He stays until just before the last moment. He stays long enough to get a look at the creatures - the monsters - the entity devouring the horizon and everything in their path.

Then, with three seconds left to go and no way to complete a tether in that time, he evacuates.

1. Aftermath

That several second lead time is just enough for Ryo to get out of the luggage car before the mass evacuation. He stops in triage instead - most people will need to pass through here anyway, and he can keep an eye out. For the most part, he lets people pass; if you look particularly injured or distraught, however, he may pull you aside. "Here, let me take a look at you."

2. Evening

Trying to hunt people down individually for care gets exhausting and is inefficient, so Ryo decides to encourage them to come to him instead. He spends some time preparing coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, and moving it to the dining car, before he turns on the ICP for a brief message.

"I've made hot drinks, if anyone would like some. I can also heal you if you're hurt, or listen if you need someone to talk to. I'm in the dining car."

(He knows he should be resting himself, but he can't - there's something buzzing in his chest that he can't put a name to and hasn't addressed just yet, but it's enough to keep him up and going.)

Evening

[bruiserprincess]

Molly had basically fallen asleep on the floor of the luggage car as soon as they made it back. She'd known she was pushing herself well past a sensible limit but there was no pacing herself when they only had a few hours to save a whole world.

Someone must have gotten her out of there, but she's still pretty shaky when she wakes up so she goes looking for something.

"Can we skip the part where we say I'm too young for coffee?" She really needs the caffeine right now.

[dnaofahalfa]

Last Moments
It was never a question. Razzy was going to stay until the last possible second. She didn't care if it was risky, she didn't care if she got hurt. She would take the risk, each time, every time. There was no time to argue, it was a simple yes or no and she was off and she tried to forget her horror for the time.

Focus on the goal. Just keep going, just keep going, just keep going.

She's done it before. She's sure she will do it again. Flying from person to person, getting a yes, getting a no, moving on, tethering and transporting everyone she can, quick, thankful for her strength of will and focus in survival.

There is a thought to fight-

But no.

Not when there's lives to save.

Then the last second clicks down.

And Razzy slams into the wall of the luggage car because she was pulled mid flight and she hits the ground, still for several long moments.

And then a sob rips itself from her throat.

Coping
Its the first time she's dropped ghost since the evacuation began. She's in the gym now, with a training dummy. Not fair is Gabriel, and her notebook and water, which was all she bothered to gather.

She should be exhausted.

But her mind isn't slowing down, so she'll continue until she can't.

Which is why she's doing her level best to break the training dummy while in human form.

Coping

[silver_eyes_rose]

“Razzy?”

Ruby had went into the gym herself to do something to get her mind off of everything before seeing Razzy there, punching away at the dummy.

“Razzy!” She called out, trying to get her to stop for the moment.

[shadowcourage]

Shadow knows how people are in disasters. He has seen how often people can act like they're strong, they're sure, in face of danger, only to confront it, and crumble like a bag of bricks.

And he knows Link and Sheik. They wouldn't leave a second before the last.

So he stays as well. He knows what to look for, where unknowing arrogance turns into recognizing fear. He knows who to give the SCAs, to get maybe just a few more efficiently without wasting time to those who would remain stubborn.

And then he's pulled back and he's quick to turn to a shadow, shifting away from the pile of people who arrive.

He breathes keep, lets himself feel the motion, and lets it out.

And then he looks around at everyone else and he decides where else work needs to be done.

[wisdominshadows]

In a hush between stragglers, he'll see Zelda standing off, Lens of Truth in hand, looking at the sky.

"I was hoping to see if there were any signs, this time. If there was some forewarning we just didn't see in Egret."

She shakes her head, "Nothing."

Masumi Sera | OTA

[tactlesstantei]

1. Evacuation

[Masumi's on the space station with Anan when the world destroyers turn up. She senses the arrival, sees the way her SCA is flashing, and knows that time is up.

But she doesn't evacuate, not when there's still people to save. So she works to the last second, scrambling to anchor even just one more person.

Then time runs out, and Masumi is evacuated back to the train, packed into the luggage car with everyone else.]

Damn it! [Even knowing what the outcome of this was going to be, even with all the lives that were saved, it still doesn't feel like a successful mission.]

2. Aftermath

[After getting out of the luggage car, Masumi finds her way to Dining, where she's been writing down everything she knows about the world destroyers since the evacuation back to the train. How much time there is between when the world destroyers arrive and the actual destruction, the oppressive feeling that accompanied them, what Chaos showed her, anything that comes to mind. Beside her, a cup of tea sits untouched, slowly getting cold.

Care to contribute?]

aftermath

[blue_ice]

[ Seto's still largely walking around in a daze, but he sees this note-taking and finds it familiar. He's done the same thing lately, and so...he drops into a nearby chair. ]

I have video footage if you want it. But you don't have to push yourself to watch right away.