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 breathes out as they approach, laughing a little at Feldspar's interpretation. "I...yeah. I think that's why I like the Prisoner so much," they say over their shoulder. "They were strong enough, brave enough, to speak out. To fix the mistake."

And they were isolated among their species for their point of view. No wonder Lapis saw a kindred - they were both lonely. It was partially why they and Kent had found each other, both were a little on the outskirts, bigger dreamers than the rest of their kind.

“How many times have you spoke with them?”

That feels like a question Kent would ask, but since he’s not here he has to do what he can to represent him.

"Uh...three times."

They shake their head. "It's hard to get to them and - and it always ends too soon."

Feldspar lets out a quiet laugh. “Love at first sight, huh?”

They roll their eyes. "Shut up. Come on. We're almost there. Do you need to take a break?"

It’s good to be able to tease them again. They grin to themselves and shake their head. “Nah, I’m okay, let’s keep going.”

Lapis takes them inside and to the room with the lights which are, thankfully, all on. Lapis points them out before going through.

"That's their homeworld," they explain. "The one here, with their ringed planet...that's the one with the mechanism." And to demonstrate, he pulls the lanterns from the sill and leave the painting in darkness. There's a soft click.

"Come on."

Feldspar hasn’t seen the portraits before, so staring at the paintings now is the first time they’ve actually seen these creatures. They glance from painting to painting, feeling a chill creep up their spine at the quiet movement of a wall in the dark.

They press on with them, stepping up into the doorway and on through the pitch black stairwell. It winds down further and further, and Feldspar continues to grow more and more unsettled as they see a soft green glow in the distance.

“What…Lapis….”

In front of them are a ring of mummified alien corpses, all of them holding still-lit lanterns.

“What the actual fuck.”

Lapis turns around and picks up the artifacts. "Oh. Right."

They wince. "I should have warned you. Sorry."

Well, there are all the alien corpses, guess that solves that mystery. It’s eerie though, looking at all that leftover flesh on their grimacing bodies.

Feldspar creeps over to one of the bodies and looks it up and down as Lapis does whatever it is behind them with the lanterns.

“You weren’t kidding about this dreaming part,” they mutter. “Are the lanterns part of it?”

"Sort of. Okay, come here. Take this." He holds out the artifact that has the green fire from the middle of the room shining in it. "You're going to...go to sleep, holding this. Like they are."

They take the artifact with a skeptical stare, but they’re willing to follow Lapis’ lead. They’ve done all this before, and over and over again at that. Feldspar nods and sits down in front of the fire in the center of the room, trying to make their heart slow down from all the anticipation of what’s to come.

“I don’t know if I can sleep.”

"Is it the dead bodies?" Lapis intones dryly.

“I mean…” They look over their shoulder, the corpse directly behind them looming forward. “It’s not not the corpses. But I did live in the mouth of an anglerfish for seven years, so I can handle it.”

They exhale through their nose. “It’s the sleeping on demand thing. I’ll try though. Just don’t wander off without me if you fall asleep first.”

"I'm not going to sleep. Gabbro taught me how to meditate and it's...the same thing. It works just as well. And I can do it on demand. So - take your time."

They sit down and take a marshmallow from their pocket.

“Impressive.” And completely unsurprising that they learned it from Gabbro.

Lapis brings out a marshmallow and once again Feldspar smirks to themselves. That hatchling was never going to turn out completely normal so long as they were being raised by them and Kent.

“Alright, I’ll try it. See you on the other side, eh?”

They cross their arms over their chest, lantern still awkwardly in their hand, and close both sets of eyes.

"Don't...go anywhere," they say softly. "I'll be right behind you."

And they stick the marshmallow at the end of a stick to roast it while they wait.

“I won’t,” they reassure them, exhaling slowly and counting stars in their head. It takes a bit for them to forget where they are, but once they do they feel themselves start to doze. Immediately the lantern in their hand lights - so suddenly in fact that they don’t realize they’ve fallen asleep at first, and it takes them a moment of confused blinking to realize they’re alone, corpses included.

Oof. That’s even creepier.

Fortunately, Lapis is almost immediately there behind them, tilting their head. "Oh, I've never seen it like this before. Whoa. You alright?"

Feldspar frowns, more bewildered by Lapis’ statement than the lack of corpses. “What do you mean, you’ve never seen it like this before? Is that a bad sign?”

"I mean seeing another Hearthean," they explain. "That's just - it's weird." They adjust the artifact in their hands. "Okay, before we go out there, just please, Mapa...follow me, okay? You can go and explore all you want some other time, but I want to just get through this, okay?"

They know Lapis is serious about this - as tempted as they’ll be to explore, this is about their pebble. Being called ‘Mapa’ again just solidifies their dedication to them.

“I promise.” They get to their feet and squeeze Lapis’ arm with their free hand. “I’m here for you and nothing else, Lapis.”

They nod and gesture to the light. "They use light even more here than they do in the real world. Try not to extinguish any of the lights or - uh, they might get mad."

And they lead the way up the stairs.

Get mad?

“How mad are we talking here?” they whisper, creeping up the stairwell. “I can’t believe they’re still alive in here. Riebeck and Hornfels would lose their minds…”

Lapis clears their throat.

"I - uh, well, they'll wake you up. And then you have to start all over again."

That's really all they are going to say about it for now.

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