openmisc | Kent/Feldspar

Feldspar nods. “Yeah, sure. We date and fall in love and all that. Sometimes we get together without the love part…I mean, everyone gets urges, I guess?”

Feldspar less so, as they always have their eyes on the skies and little else, but they’re aware when someone’s trying to flirt with them.

"Sounds like home," he agrees. "We have marriage, a bonding ceremony that sort of differs by culture, but generally, that's how it goes."

A bonding ceremony. Feldspar can’t say they don’t celebrate when two of them commit to each other, but it isn’t some big to-do. A new hatchling or a hatchling becoming an adult usually creates more of a big deal than anything between two Hearthians, but a bigger celebration doesn’t sound terrible.

“That sounds nice,” they say quietly. “Did you ever try to find someone? Ellie?”

Kent smiles, shaking his head. "No. Ellie and I were just friends. And I have preferences that Ellie doesn't meet. Plus, she fell in love with a preachy asshole. Do you have religion?"

“Considering I don’t know what that is, I’m guessing not. But we do have preachy assholes, so I understand that part!”

Loooots of preachy assholes abound.

"Religion is - just a way of explaining things that don't make sense immediately. Usually it involves some sort of higher power, an omnipotent god or gods or goddesses." He shrugs. "But - Palmer is one of those. A preachy asshole. But it's who she loves and I'm not interested in interfering with that."

He pauses a little as he stumbles on a rock. "But uh - no. I don't have anyone like that at home. Never really was interested in it."

Whoops - probably should have looked out for that rock. Still new at all of this, but he makes a concerned effort to focus on the path and keeping Kent safe.

"There's no accounting for good taste," Feldspar says with a sage nod. "Religion sounds like what the old Hearthians believed in, once upon a time."

It's dark and it was a small rock. Kent is most definitely not paying attention to where his feet go. "I think every civilization has to go through that phase," he explains. "Some grow out of it. Some don't."

"It probably helps that there aren't too many of us...and maybe knowing about aliens at the start of everything. It makes the universe seem a lot smaller and tangible."

He smiles as the sound of the waterfall gets louder, as they get closer to the little cabin. "Yeah, it does. I'm - interested in seeing how close we are. Or how far."

“I’m interested to hear more about your solar system.” And hopefully they’re not too far away from Kent’s home world, but Feldspar knows it’s a slim chance.

“We’re here. Come on, I’ll take you up the stairs.”

He nods, following him up the stairs. He's counted them already, fortunately enough, so he's able to let go once they've reached the top. "I can take it from here, I think," he says, though he finds that letting go of him is harder than he thought it would be.

Feldspar doesn’t really want to let go. They can’t remember the last time they’ve been this touchy with someone - maybe Gossan or Slate, but never to this degree. It’s kind of nice.

But they do step back, wanting to make sure Kent has their autonomy.

“Alright. Do you want me to…I dunno, come get you in the morning? Bring you breakfast?”

"No," he answers honestly. "But if you can show me how to make it or where to get it, I'd like that."

He refuses to be a burden.

The no makes them feel a little rejected, but they have to think a moment before they understand the sentiment behind it.

“Or I could bring things and we could make it together, if that works too,” they suggest.

Kent brightens considerably. "I'd like that. Bring something easy, though. I'm not a great chef."

Feldspar feels themselves grinning again. “I’m not either. Definitely something simple.”

They step back a little, arms moving behind their back. “Well. Goodnight, I guess. Try and rest up.”

Kent laughs softly. "Goodnight, Feldspar," he tells him, slowly making his way over to the rustic little bed, sitting on the edge so he can take off his shoes and try to sleep.

"Goodnight, Kent."

They wave a little before they realize how stupid that is and quickly shove their hands into their pockets to turn away and walk to their own little cabin. They whistle a little as they walk down the path, tired but excited still about all that they'd experienced this day.

Tomorrow will be a new one. Hopefully when they sleep they won't wake and it will have all been a dream.

Kent waits until they're gone before he curls up in bed, smiling when the sound of the whistling comes to his ears.

He doesn't sleep for a while, but when he does, he sleeps hard. The world falls away around him, and he dreams of being weightless and the sound of Ellie's voice.

He wakes quickly, with a gasp.

Timber Hearth mornings are typically peaceful. Some of the older Hearthians wake first, stoking fires and starting on their day's work, the hatchlings bounding out of their shared cabin to play games of chase and splash around in the water, a banjo in the distance being plucked. The birds chirp and the waterfall gurgles and churns outside of Kent's windows, the smell of carefully-tended fires and something roasting floating into the cabin.

Feldspar has things to do later that day, but they want to keep their promise to Kent and comes by with a basket full of ingredients to make a meal.

When he wakes up, he wasn't sure where he was. The world around him is - quiet. For a moment, he can fool himself into thinking that he's back in the rainforest, the sound of the waterfall soothing him to sleep.

But that dream doesn't last long. He remembers where he is and the fear finally hits him. The grief. The anguish. It hits him all at once and he sucks in a breath.

Feldspar will find Kent on his knees on the floor, bent over as if in pain.

Feldspar knocks and waits, because this is civilized society so they don’t just barge in wherever they like. Out of sheer curiosity they peer in through one of the windows, thinking maybe Kent had moved to another room and didn’t hear the knock, and sees the huddled form on the floor. It takes a couple of beats before they realize what the form actually is - Kent. Oh no, oh no no no

Forget being polite - they push their shoulder into the door as they twist the knob and practically fall into the cabin, basket by the door as they stumble towards him.

“Kent, Kent, are you okay! You’re not sick, are you?”

Feldspar kneels on the floor by him, hand raising tentatively before they gently set it onto his back. No, Kent’s not sick, but he isn’t well.

Kent hears them coming and quickly reaches up to rub at his face. "Shit, sorry...sorry. I'm alright. I'm not sick. I - just...woke up and this wasn't a dream and I'm never going home."

He laughs at the absurdity of it. "I knew that might happen, but I - I guess I didn't really realize it until this morning."

He leans into their touch.

They were right, this is worse than being ill. Kent’s realized that he’s never going home, he’ll never see his friends or family again, his people, his community. These aren’t even his stars.

Feldspar’s at a loss for how to comfort him, as though anything they could really say would make a difference. The grief has to come; it’d be weird if it didn’t.

“You needed some time for it to sink in,” they say quietly, hand still on his back. Again they think about if they were in Kent’s shoes - the excitement of something new wouldn’t diminish the fact that they wouldn’t have anything to connect them to that world.

“I’m sorry. Maybe…there’s still a way for you to get home.”

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