Kent/Feldspar

[videointhenoise]

"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.

Comments

[videointhenoise]

"Lapis mentioned those. But they can't be - tell me what they look like," he says, leaning forward.

[getfeldsparred]

Makes sense that Lapis would encounter the giant anglerfish and it be a footnote and not the whole story. They laugh quietly, proudly, and reach for a jar of water.

“As big as a mountain, Kent, and I’m not exaggerating. They can swallow up a ship three or four at a time and still have room in their maw for more.”

[videointhenoise]

"We have anglerfish on Earth," he laughs softly, his hand on Feldspar's arm for a moment as he settles himself.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar stops themselves from flinching at the touch, but just barely. “Y-yeah, I remember you saying so. They probably weren’t giant though.”

[videointhenoise]

"About the size of my hand," he laughs. "But they're - not aggressive towards people, I don't think? And not huge. How did they live in space like that?"

So many questions.

[getfeldsparred]

“Couldn’t say. I doubt they were actual fish, but the Dark Bramble’s atmosphere wasn’t exactly normal. It was all foggy, and the vines had these nodules that warped time and space.”

[videointhenoise]

Strange, and Kent can't help but be intrigued by it.

That's for later. Or Lapis.

"How did you end up there, Felds?"

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar exhales softly, their shoulders drooping. In the dark, if they squint their eyes, they can almost see the long teeth that surrounded their camp, the little lights sitting in the fog. The campfire crackles, their head spins from hunger.

“I wanted to see how far I could go,” they finally admit. “Our ships had only ever gotten past the ice field, and after riding cyclones I was feeling pretty invincible. I flew inside the center of the Bramble and that’s when I ran into one of the anglerfish. Wasn’t expecting it - definitely not one that big. It chased me down and I crashed.”

[videointhenoise]

Of course they did.

And maybe, once upon a time, Kent would have been angry. If they had come home, Kent would have been furious. But he's not anymore. Time has given him perspective. He touches their arm again.

"Sounds like an adventure," he says and he means it.

[getfeldsparred]

They blink softly as Kent touches their arm. Every time Kent so much as brushed up against them it used to light a fire in their belly, but now they don’t feel anything at all.

“Yeah,” they say with a laugh, eyes completely hollow, “greatest adventure of my life.”

[videointhenoise]

"I didn't mean it like that," Kent chides them gently and pulls away, hands in his lap. "Do you need to get some rest? I'll stay if you want."

[getfeldsparred]

As much as they should probably be alone right now, they don’t want Kent to leave.

“Will you? I just…I’ve been waking up not knowing where I am. It’d be nice to have you here.”

[videointhenoise]

"Of course," he says with a relieved sigh. He doesn't even realize he's doing it.

He hums softly.

[getfeldsparred]

The humming is nice after only having their own music for ambient noise. Feldspar lies themselves back down and closes their eyes, huddling back under the blankets as they feel another chill seep into their bones. They fall asleep quickly though fitfully, and start to violently shiver after an hour or so.

[videointhenoise]

Kent stays, the hum turning to a nonsense song. But when they start to toss and turn, he stands up quickly, using his hand to navigate through the room to find Gneiss.

[getfeldsparred]

Gneiss is never too far away, and quickly enters the room with a brief touch to Kent’s arm. “They’ll be alright,” they reassure him after a moment spent tending to Feldspar, “this one isn’t so bad. Stay for a while. I’ve given them some herbs to help them sleep.”

[videointhenoise]

"Oh don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," he whispers to them and finds his chair again, large as it is.

[getfeldsparred]

Gneiss stands up when they’re through tending to Feldspar and nods. “I’ll bring you something to eat, and a blanket.”

They figure Kent’s be camping out in this room for a while.

[videointhenoise]

He makes himself comfortable in the chair and nods, thanking them with a sigh as he leans over and rests his head on the bed beside Feldspar.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar sleeps off and on for the next few days, or what passes for days on the ship, sweating and groaning through the fevers until they finally seem to break for good. Though weak they wake with a start, grabbing at their head in search of their helmet. Their breath quickens and they start to panic, not understanding where their camp in the jaws of the anglerfish went.

[videointhenoise]

Kent can hear the panic in their breath and he sits up, his hands on the bed. He hasn't left their side since they went to bed and he found himself staying up to just tell them stories as they sleep. Sometimes Lapis comes and holds his hand through the hours and sometimes Kent feels just so tragically alone. But either way, he stays.

"Hey," he says softly. "You're awake. You're alright."

[getfeldsparred]

“Kent?”

Feldspar blinks in disbelief, reaching out to grab one of his hands in both of theirs.

“What are you doing here? How did you-”

But then they remember. They remember the days running into each other and catching condensation from pine needles and eating the bugs they’d caught. They remember the crash and the screech of the anglerfish.

A son catches in their throat, and then a scream. It all comes racing back to them, all the loneliness and guilt and horror, and they sob and yell and shiver, everything hitting them all at once.

[videointhenoise]

Kent flinches just once and then he's crawling onto the bed immediately, his arms around Feldspar to hold them firmly but without suffocating them. He just wants to protect them from whatever it is that's going on in their mind.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar can’t stop themselves, making noises they don’t even realize are coming out of their own body. They claw at their ears and their face, their body they haven’t fully seen in years. They sob and moan and lose their breath only to choke and start breathing once again.

They don’t even realize that Kent is there holding them, not at first, but then they start to lean against him, body calming enough to accept the embrace.

The door opens and Gneiss rushes into the room. “They can hear them. The others. I couldn’t lie to them anymore.”

[videointhenoise]

He holds them tightly. "It's alright," he tells Gneiss. "They can know. They can't see them yet but they can know. Its' alright."

And he doesn't know who he's talking to anymore.