voidtreckerexpress | Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

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Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

They are on world world#27462947582 for about five hours, helping, ushering people out of the city, fighting monsters, keeping guard. All seems well in the city itself, peaceful even except for the slight panic of people being told to move south.

Wherever they are, north in the desert, travelling through the countryside to the south or still in the city itself they will notice from their peripheral vision a darkening of the sky. Looking up they will see clouds. Strange clouds, appearing in the blue sky out of nowhere.

Their SCA’s start beeping, rapidly, flashing red. The clouds are too weird to be clouds, dark shapes in the sky. It might be that the Voidtreckers heed the warning and tap their SCA to evacuate to the train. It might be that they do not.

If they don’t then there is a moment, a moment of absolute stillness as those around them notice the shapes. A confused pause. Children stop their chatter, people stop their complaining, even the monsters seem to sense something and pause in their attacks.

The remaining voidtreckers are yanked away, even without pressing their SCA, they glow gold and disappear.

They all appear in the luggage carriage and not even a second later, with no warning the train lurches, flinging everyone off their feet as it enters the void.

It’s not really easy to tell speed in the void, but they will get the sense that they are moving fast. Faster than before, leaving that world and whatever those shapes were behind.

(OOC: Information on this event is here and part one is here)

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"Lord Gyousou..." His voice was barely a whisper as he half fell into Gyousou's hold. It's probably not dignified but his legs had given up on him a good while ago and it had only been some odd sort of stubbornness, a desire to follow the ouki, that had carried him this far.

Now he is at his goal he has no strength left and his eyes flutter shut as he leans against his king.

He came back. Taiki had barely wanted to let himself hope, it had seemed such a slim chance. Random in who returned and who left. He and Gyousou so rarely had chance on their side. Yet Gyousou was back, he was really here.

It is, all things considered, not particularly polite to gather the young man in his arms before rising and almost fleeing the carriage, but given the overall strangeness of the last few minutes, the reek of blood and sweat, and the kirin's fading consciousness... Well, he decided that it was justified in this case. If they offended anyone in the speed of their departure, he could deal with it later.

He kept Kouri's head tucked into his shoulder - being trapped in an enclosed space at least had made him confident that his clothing was as clean as it had been on the station, and he didn't trust his muscle memory not to jar him against the narrow doorways of the train otherwise.

What happened in the time he lost? It must have been more than a day, for the kirin to have gotten this bad. Even with the corpses in that room.

"Did I make you wait?" He said lowly, in place of a more searching question. "My apologies."

He finds himself for the second time since being pulled back from the world by the train, picked up and carried out the luggage carriage. Except as awkward as the first time was, this is his king and so it is nothing but safe.

Alright he feels guilty for having Gyousou burden himself like this, when he had just came back from wherever he had been. But dizzy with blood sickness and still reeling from the horror of the implications of what had just happened, safe in his king's arms was a wonderful place to be.

He burried his face in Gyousou's space suit, letting himself ignore the confused and frightened voices and the ever present smell of blood.

He shook his head slightly when Gyousou spoke. "Don't apologise. I vanished too but I came back. They... Sorry they said, some people don't..."

And he had been so very scared that Lord Gyousou would be one of those that did not return.

Neither confusion nor a mild but growing anger towards the situation in general precluded Gyousou from noticing the expression on Taiki's face before the kirin hid against his suit. It decided him, and he changed destinations from the cabin - enclosed, but less private, if the ladies Wen and Kisaragi were present - to the greenhouse, which at least had the merit of space and a more pleasant atmosphere.

(He stopped briefly, however, to duck down and retrieve the extra blankets from where they had remained folded at the foot of his bed.)

When they reached the shaded alcove by the Kaihaku's small planter, he shifted Taiki to one arm, and placed several of the blankets down before he finally deigned to set down the kirin himself.

"Not knowing the reasoning behind our disappearance, I won't make a promise I can't keep... but I can certainly swear that I will never leave of my own accord. Did Inigo and Lady Wen look after you?"

His guilt intensified as they continued on from the room to the greenhouse. Lord Gyousou had just returned and must be tired and confused, yet was taking the time to carry Taiki and see to him.

He can't find the strength to protest though and soon he was lay on the blanket, as close to Gyousou as he could manage without reaching out to touch him.

He was thankful for Lord Gyousou's honesty, not giving him childish promises. He nodded, "They were both very kind."

The air in here is cool and pleasant and being away from the smell of blood makes his head clearer, enough that he propped himself up onto one elbow.

"I'm sorry... That you came back into such confusion."

He nodded back, satisfied at the confirmation of what he had hoped - that Taiki had made himself two very suitable companions of good calibre. As usual, the kirin's nature attracted defenders as much as those who would abuse it.

He sat more sedately, though he paused to pull on one of his hoodies and drape a blanket across his lap, uncomfortable with the spacesuit's fit now it was no longer the required uniform. He would change later.

"There does seem to have been an upset," he agreed. Even now, people would pass through the greenhouse on their way to the living areas; he imagined the exodus would be underway for some time, given that it felt like most of the train's inhabitants had been in the end carriage with them. "A mission, was it? Has it been a month already?"

He felt guilty that Lord Gyousou hadn't even paused to change, the flight suits were not the most comfortable.

"No, only a week or so... It was unusual." At least people had said so, that before there had only been one mission a month.

"The world seemed peaceful, at least the city were we were had not seemed any war or harship in a long time. It was hard to persuade people to evacuate."

He pushed himself up, so he was sat properly. He is still a little dizzy but it fading. "There were shapes... In the sky. I don't know what they were but these," he touched his SCA, "Started beeping. Then we were back on the train..."

He looked for a moment terribly sad, "I can only imagine something horrible has happened there."

And his capacity for imagining terrible things is very high indeed.

The beeping indicates danger: he recalled that being part of the explanation on their arrival, and it had happened a few times after that. Primarily aboard the station. He nodded in the appropriate places of Taiki's explanation, and when he sat up, rested a hand briefly against the side of the kirin's head.

"Has anyone asked after their fate, or our reasons for retreat?"

"No." He doesn't think so. "I... Sorry I don't know, your majesty."

He wouldn't know who to ask. The train perhaps? The SCA? Would they get answers? WOuld anyone know?

It doesn't matter. The point is he didn't try. "Someone might have, we haven't been back very long."

That was right - they must have only just returned.

"There has been no time, I was merely wondering," he assures. "We can find out together, in time, but for now... Hm. Tell me of your week?"

Right. He nodded, still feeling guilty but accepting Lord Gyousou's words. He sat crossed legged, comfortably.

"It was uneventful until this morning. I returned after we had picked up new arrivals and things had settled. I spent much of it with Lady Wen and Inigo."

He raised an eyebrow, sure that his taiho hadn't just sat in silence during that time.

"Doing...?" He prompted.

"Me and Lady Wen explored the game carriage, she was interested in the games there." It seemed such a childish thing to admit to, he hadn't exactly done anything useful or productive in his time from waking in the luggage carriage until going on the mission.

"It was uneventful until this morning."

"How were the games?" Gyousou wasn't going to let Taiki off with such a lacklustre report. He'd had enough of not knowing what was going on in the kirin's life. "Did you win any?"

He hasn't had anyone this interested in his day to day life since... Well since Gyousou rode off to deal with the rebellion. He blinks at him silently for a moment before nodding.

"Some. They were new to her but Lady Wen is a very good game opponent. Once she got the idea I had no chance."

He smiled sheepishly.

"You can practice against me," he suggested, with a smile of his own. Less sheepish and more amused. "Clearly our honour is at stake."

He looked down, though there is a smile on his face still. "You would want that?"

He wouldn't want to waste Lord Gyousou's time with something as trivial as games, but at the same time any excuse to spend time with his king is an excuse he will gladly take.

"I wouldn't want to bring dishonour to us."

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Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

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