openmisc | Kent/Feldspar

Kent/Feldspar

"Just once more," they had said when Ellie's team petitioned for it. She was busy with Palmer, falling in love with science while he fell in love with God, and Kent was left to pick up the pieces. He wanted another damn go at it. The Machine had a pricetag in the billions; it was begging to be used again.

But they wouldn't let Ellie go. They wouldn't let just anyone go. They wanted someone who knew how it worked, who had been there from the beginning, but someone who isn't completely taken in by Ellie's words.

That leads them to a dozen people and they end up with Kent. He's blind, but that's not what decides it. They claim that he wouldn't hallucinate the way Ellie did. That he has a unique perspective.

And, he's already proven himself steady and loyal.

He experiences it all the way that Ellie does, but something goes wrong on the other end. Maybe another terrorist attack. Maybe not. All he knows is that he's in the sphere and then, suddenly, he's floating, unable to find his footing until a great crash and he slams into the bottom of the machine.

He groans, pulling his helmet on with a grunt and a wince.

"Fuck this," he mutters, finding the edge of the sphere with his hands. There was a door there somewhere. He just - has to find it.

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Lapis continues to make happy little snuffling noises, still wiggling their little limbs as they try to grab onto Kent’s hair. “Of course they missed home.”

They grin lopsidedly and walk into the kitchen to happily pick at the delicious-looking breakfast.

"Hey, watch the hands," Kent says and pries their little fingers from his hair. "I need to cut it, I know." He brings them to the table and sits, placing them in his lap so he can feed them properly.

"How is it?" he asks both of his loves.

Feldspar narrows their eyes as Lapis tries to grab at their plate next, playfully grousing at them. “If they’re greedy their hands grabbing for my food is any indicator, it looks really good.”

They stick out their tongue and pop a piece of fish into their mouth, then quickly offers Lapis a tiny bite to appease them before they start crying.

Kent snickers. "They have their own food," he assures Feldspar and finds their bowl and spoon.

"You better eat, though. Slate will kill you himself if you're late."

“I can share,” Feldspar chuckles, taking another bite as Lapis stares them down. Their mouth eventually finds the food on the spoon and they’re sufficiently distracted, leaving Feldspar to enjoy their own breakfast.

“Yeah, yeah. I ain’t afraid of Slate. They’re just anxious because we’re testing out the new retro rockets.”

"Hmm," Kent grumbles. "Well, the math checks out, so I won't complain too much."

He taps Lapis' little mouth and feeds them more. "I'm working with Hornfels this afternoon for a bit. I think some of the elders were having the newest clutch together at the bonfire tonight, so Lapis can go with them."

Lapis gobbles down the spoonful and attempts to grab at said spoon, Feldspar watching with a broad grin on their face.

“Mm? Oh. Right. The bonfire.” They nod, a little distractedly. “Yeah, that’ll be good for them. Gneiss was asking when they can see them next, so I’m sure it was their idea to begin with.”

They pause, picking up a saucer to sip at their tea. “What’re you working on with Fels?”

"A way to put the soundscope on the ship," he explains. "Slate thinks it's useless, but I know it will help."

Feldspar scoffs. “Slate doesn’t think anything aside from rockets or boosters is worth their time, don’t take it personally. I think it’s a great idea.”

"Don't worry. I know better than Slate," he says and then pauses, as if expecting them to show up at their door at the sound of him.

"And yes, I know it's a good idea."

Feldspar doesn’t look in the least bit concerned. They’d happily badmouth Slate to their face.

“Can’t wait to test it out,” they grin. “Finally, something that won’t explode!”

"If it does, it's not supposed to," he laughs. "I'd like to put someone else on another ship and see if you can find each other in the solar system woth just the ships."

“Makes sense to me,” they nod, “we all play some kind of instrument. Easier than creating entirely new channels to listen for us on the radio.”

They smirk to themselves. “Do you listen for my harmonica when I’m away?”

"That or Esker's whistling," he teases. "I do prefer that sometimes. I don't think they even know they're doing it."

“They don’t,” they laugh. “They don’t have any idea when they’re just zoning out. There are worse habits though.”

Kent chuckles. "You should visit them more," he suggests lightly, but doesn't push it any more than that.

Lapis starts to fuss and Kent stands up, pacing the kitchen with them.

“Yeah,” Feldspar says quietly, looking out the window. “Yeah, I should. Always a good time at the lunar outpost.”

They smile to themselves a little wistfully, thinking of that night in Esker’s spare bedroom.

After another moment or two they sigh and clear their plate from the table. “I should get going. Bye, pebble.” They give the wriggling Lapis a little kiss, then one to Kent on the cheek.

"I'll meet you at the bonfire," Kent tells them and leaves no room for argument.

He clears the rest of the dishes before he starts out, leaving Lapis with Gneiss again so that he can work with Fels.

Feldspar nods obediently and then heads out for the day, eager to work on those retro rockets with Slate. If Slate could get them to work then traveling would be so much easier!

But they’re still just as finicky as ever, and Feldspar crashes far enough outside of the village that there’s only a column of smoke visible from the crater. And it’s a good thing, because Feldspar really isn’t all that hurt, just a little battered in the usual ways.

“Better luck next time,” they say as Slate pries them out of the cockpit with a large pair of two-handed pliers. The metal’s all twisted and they have to wriggle to free their legs, but again, not that hurt this time.

“Yeah, yeah,” Slate grumbles. “They didn’t even fire this time.”

Slate hauls Feldspar up and walks them over to a fallen log, giving them the standard recovery kit of water, some roots to chew, and some gauze on their open wounds.

“Kind of a step backwards, sure, but you’ll figure it out. You always do,” they grin, then close their eyes for a little nap before the bonfire.

Kent and Fels work throughout the morning and the afternoon, though Kent is noticeably lagging behind his normal work effort. He takes several breaks to simply sit and listen, rubbing his forehead as he does. "If we mount it on the side, it might skew the trajectory. We'll have to compensate with a different triangulation," Kent mutters. "But - if we mount it at the top, it's going to be way too close to the oxygen tanks."

He groans.

“And we know Slate’s already finicky about moving any of their pieces around,” Hornfels mutters, flopping down on a chair beside Kent. “We can mount it underneath the cockpit. I know Slate’s been wanting to work on an auto-pilot system, but we’re years away from that kind of technology and-”

Hornfels pauses and looks at Kent as though finally actually seeing them for the first time that day. “You look exhausted. Surely Lapis isn’t that needy still.”

"Auto pilot!" Kent laughs. "They've gotta get the ship to work with the pilot they've got."

He scrubs his hands down his face.

"And no, they aren't. They were with Gneiss last night anyway. It was just me and Feldspar."

“Just you and ‘spar? And what’s the matter with them? Did you get into a fight?” calls a voice from behind them. Gossan comes causally strolling up the stairs, food in hand to feed the busy (and forgetful) pair.

“And I heard that thing about the auto pilot. Slate’s gotta stop trying to explode us before they can think about an automatic guiding system.”

Gossan gives Hornfels a cup and slides one into Kent’s hand. “So, what’s going on with you and Feldspar? Do I need to beat ‘em up?”

Kent hears the gentle clatter of bowls and turns back to the table properly, reaching out to pull one closer. It smells delicious and he's remembered that he has to eat. So. That's a good sign.

"Nothing, no. We're fine. Better than fine," he remarks. "But uh - " He blushes a little and shakes his head. "Nevermind. It's probably nothing."

Hornfels picks their head up from their bowl, which they had already been happily munching on, to share a look with Gossan.

“What is it? You can tell us,” Gossan presses, joining them at the table. “It’ll stay between us, promise.”

Hornfels nods in agreement. “Absolutely. If there’s anything you need to ask about you probably should. You haven’t lived with us for all that long and Feldspar…is…uh…”

“They’re Feldspar,” Gossan nods.

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