“If someone’s riding on the train, they might not be able to tussle with a Chaotic.” Rush pointed out.

            “Unless you’d maybe like to hire one for security?” Kur cut in, downright sardonic in tone and not at all appreciated given that he was roundly glared at by nearly everyone in the room except for maybe the Wanderer and a few others.

            “We can work out how to keep the cars shielded and allow for de-coupling, my main concern is properly crafting the reliquary’s personality.” Hephaestus spoke up in the resulting quiet, something that Pater was grateful for as it got things back on track.

            “We’ve already gone over some good traits, just stick with those?” Wanderer replied, looking to the Forge god with visible confusion in her blindfolded face and body language.

            “It’s harder than you think. When making the personality, you have to gauge how it’s going to change over time, with the different obstacles it encounters. And a worker on the train will have to deal with the public. They have to keep in mind the various timetables the train will be subject to, and deal with the chaos that is the In-Between and all the dangers out there. And I know,” Hephaestus addressed this specifically to the Wanderer as she opened her mouth, “they will not be handling it alone. But the responsibilities we are putting on this being are not small ones. They are the backbone of this train, and we can’t rotate the personality out every so often if and when it wears out. It has to be a reliquary guide that is in for the long haul.”

            “…Perhaps more than one?” Wanderer suggested with a note of hesitance.

            “Excuse me?” Hephaestus’s surprise was joined by half the gods standing around the table, the Wanderer now the subject of several bemused and questioning stares.

            “Why not try more than one reliquary guide? That way they can share the load and rotate duties so they don’t get too overwhelmed.” The Wanderer’s words had everyone looking between each other as they sunk in, though Hephaestus looked back to the plans with careful consideration.

            “That could be something to consider, though I want an exact estimate of what we will need before I start. It is best we have them all together before integrating them with the train.”

            “Why not three?” Viracocha spoke up from his corner of the room, getting the attention of everyone else.

            “Why not? Three’s a good number, and lucky too!” Wanderer said with a smile, Hephaestus murmuring to himself with a grin peeking through his beard.

            “Yes, I suppose this venture will need some luck…”

            “What about the tickets? I agree with the notion that they are a kind of…homing beacon?” Drove’s questions came from out of left field, turning the conversation to him. “Homing beacon, for the train itself. But how will they be distributed, and how will they work?”

            “I…honestly hadn’t thought about distribution too much. I figured we could just start going around with tickets, particularly in the less well-off areas, the parts not in the cities. As for how, it would be something that the reliquary guides themselves would have to be intrinsically connected to, but not to the point where if a ticket gets lost or destroyed it would cause a backlash onto the reliquaries.” Wanderer spoke, clearly thinking aloud as she gestured her way through her words.

            “So, similarly to the link in the coins, but tying it to a reliquary? Or, reliquaries, excuse me.” Drove’s slight correction was punctuated with a gesture, not that the Wanderer seemed to mind as she cheerily answered, rocking a little on the balls of her feet as she did.

            “That would be a good analogy!”

            “Exactly how big are you planning on making this train? How many cars?” Hunter broke in again, voice brusque and to the point.

            “U-Uh, I didn’t have an exact amount, it would probably have to be substantially long, right?” The Wanderer’s words were not sure, but thankfully Hunter didn’t seem to mind for the time being as he replied.

            “Not necessarily. It would depend on how many people are riding and how well those cars are built, if there is only a few.”

            “Yes, but you can only compress so much into a little area. Too much and…well, you get a black hole. Speaking from partial experience on that one.” Teller spoke up, looking a little sheepish at the last bit. That…was something that Pater had not heard about but at this point he felt like he could go through the rest of his immortal life not knowing too many details.

            “…At least we learned?” Wanderer’s words were punctuated with what seemed like the appropriate amount of sheepishness, Teller quickly answering her sister’s hesitant question.

            “Learned we did, and we’re not repeating it again.”

            “Perhaps start with ten cars, and work from there?” One of Orochi’s heads suggested, poking down from above to be a part of the conversation.

            “Why ten?” Wanderer asked.

            “Ten is a good number, and you can add some variety!”

            “You really want that bar, don’t you?” Hina spoke up, throwing a faintly amused look up at the eight-headed dragon.

            “Yes. Yes, we do.” A different head of Orochi’s spoke up, nodding with a completely serious look.

            “…Has someone been keeping notes?” Kur’s question had the gods and goddesses briefly looking between each other, before the Librarian broke in from where he’d been sitting to properly answer.

            “I have! I’ve been copying down what we’ve been discussing since the plans were brought out. It seemed appropriate.”

            “Thank you.” Wanderer chimed in, grinning in the order deity’s direction.

            “We have the mention of a bar in the notes, right?” Orochi’s head directed this question to the Librarian, who matter of factly replied,

            “Yes, I put it in twice when it was mentioned.”

            “Good, very good.”

            “You planning on making this train a second home?” Drove’s somewhat teasing question got a faint sniff from one of Orochi’s heads as he replied in a calm, if not halting tone that fooled no one.

            “Some people might want drinks. When they’re traveling. It’s a perfectly reasonable thing.”

            “Of course. Though you can’t be looking to get away from the rest of us, are you?” Hina leapt on the bandwagon of teasing Orochi once again, though there was that familiar casualness that hummed with ‘I don’t really mean that’ that was characteristic of all close friendships. And to Pater, it was hardly surprising. The moon goddess and the dragon were two of his most regular customers, when Hina wasn’t helping with any new arrivals in the bar.

            “Absolutely not. Pater knows my order when I walk in.” Orochi’s reply was laced with that same easy-going, faintly teasing tone, though now with the somewhat serious question of the bar car resolved things were looking to wrap up. But, just as Wanderer was gathering up the plans, another voice spoke up from inside the ring of people surrounding the table.

            “Well, this could be interesting, but if you want my opinion, you’re gonna need some more minds on this.” Rush’s words were laced with a characteristic, devil-may-care smile. “Think I can hook you up, just give me a few days.”

            “Who were you thinking of?” Wanderer asked, pausing in her motions to give the younger god a keen grin.

            “…Some of the tech gods might want some input. Also my boys would too, honestly.” Well, considering that Rush was the Cosmic Mechanic, servicing the gods of aeronautics and automobiles, it stood to reason that his “boys” probably would have some interest in the development of a brand-new cosmic machine. It wouldn’t be the same, not being a deity, but it would be an intelligent vehicle, and that was probably close enough.

            “Alright! We’ll get the details of where and when we’ll be setting up done before I leave, and work from there!” Wanderer’s reply was edged in a thousand-watt smile, her hands gathering up the rest of the plans before anyone could blink. “I have to take care of some things, but I’ll be free to talk tonight if you’re staying. If not we can work something else out!”

            It was barely moments after Rush had returned the terms with an easy “alright” that the Wanderer was gone, vanished from the room seemingly as quick as she’d arrived. As Pater looked around the room, he couldn’t help noticing that the Teller had vanished as well.