openmisc | Kent/Feldspar

And off they go! Feldspar doesn’t even get to enjoy the little moment they were sharing, because Slate comes bounding in asking about the discoveries on Brittle Hollow and how the new thruster was working.

“I’m going to change your life, Slate.”

They pull off their helmet and hand Slate the gravity crystal with a grin.

The rest of the day is spent recounting their stories and sharing the artifacts collected on Brittle Hollow. The five of them are practically stuffed into the small cabin that serves as ground control, but no one really seems to mind.

“What was it that you had to get, Kent?” Hornfels finally asks.

Kent is happy enough to take over talking when Feldspar falters or pauses, and he helps to take out the artifacts for them all to pass around.

Only when there's a lull does Hornfels ask the question and Kent laughs, shaking his head. "One part is for later," he says to them. "There's something I have to make first. That's from the officials. But the other part is from Ellie and me. It's less official."

He reaches into his backpack and takes out a large, heavy book - a scrapbook Ellie had picked up at a craft store. Something simple. He brings it up and he can almost smell the lotion from her hands. "We have pictures of Earth."

The room holds its collective breath as Kent pulls the book out from his bag.

“Pictures from Earth,” Hornfels gasps, immediately moving to sit right beside Kent as close as they can. The rest of Outer Wilds seems too stunned to move, including Feldspar, who almost doesn’t want to see these things.

What if it makes Kent sad to talk about it?

“Open the book, Kent! We want to see!” Gossan finally exclaims, leaning forward with their hands on their knees.

Kent is nothing but smiles as he turns it around for them to see. He opens the front page, to a picture of Ellie and himself and the Braille above their names. There are also pictures of his friends, the radars, and Ellie insisted on one of Palmer.

Kent slides his fingers under the pictures, explaining them as he does.

"This is Ellie. And me. And the people we worked with. Fish is there." He smiles. "These are our radars, what we used to listen to the stars."

“Woah, look at those radios! You have so many of them!”

“He has yellow fur - I mean…hair. Right? Hair. Wow.”

“I think it’s ‘she’.”

“Oh, oh right, she. That doesn’t look like a fish though.”

“Fish is their name, Gossan.”

“Oh - weird?”

“Nickname!”

“Right! Okay! What’s this though, these bumps? Your language?”

The chatter continues, with Feldspar staying quiet as they look at Kent standing with his friends in the color picture.

"That's how I read. It's not our written language. That's - I'll show you that some other time."

He turns the page. "We organized this into biomes. Earth is huge. We have deserts, here..." He shows them a cutout from a NatGeo magazine, though most of what they have are NatGeos. "Oceans with so many different animals." He turns the page and reads the words. "Oh, jungles. Savannah. Tundra." He pauses to let them see.

More excited, albeit confused, chatter. Feldspar looks at the biomes a little closer and feels a sudden pang of regret - they’d never get to see these places for themselves.

“Your planet is beautiful,” Hornfels says, voice awed and slightly hushed.

Kent smiles. "I've always thought so. We'd go fishing in the ocean sometimes. Swimming, too."

He turns the page again. "We have billions of people on Earth. They all live in different places and each place has their own culture. It's like - having different species sometimes. That's how different we are."

“Billions,” Feldspar finally says, though it’s under their breath. Billions of humans!

“I can’t even imagine that number,” Gossan admits. “A hundred Hearthians would seem like a crowd, let alone…let alone anything that big.”

“Is that where you live? In these tall buildings?” Slate asks, pointing to a picture of a large clump of densely-packed buildings. “They look huge!”

"God no. That's too many people. I like living away from people, but I didn't really have a home. Ellie and I would travel all over the country, so we didn't really buy anything," he explains.

"And buy as in...we didn't trade or barter. We used money to exchange for things. I'll explain the concept better later but - that's it, yeah."

The concept of a country isn’t one Feldspar understands, neither is money, and it’s hard to really get a sense of the scope of Kent’s people or their planet without their head hurting. So many of them, so many of them and it was Kent who was sent onto the ship…

“Show us more pictures,” they say quietly, interrupting the questions and talk between the others.

Kent smiles and turns the pages. "This is the shuttle we took to our moon. The different kinds of crafts. This is the space station that we will start launching next year."

Slate starts oohing and aaaahing the designs, the rockets, the other visual components they can identify by sight alone. Gossan admires how sleek the designs are, then asks Kent cheekily if there are restraints aboard.

"Tons," he snickers. "Restraints so tight, you need another person to do it for you."

He laughs, turning the page. "Okay, here are some animals." He names them as he goes, from jungle creatures to farm animals, and describes each one as best he can. The plants are next, and he can only show their pictures, and he and Ellie are not plant experts.

They’re all interested in the pictures of the unusual plants and animals, and Feldspar finds themselves moving closer and closer to Kent as he continues to show off his photo album.

“So much diversity,” Hornfels mumbles. “We should turn this into an exhibit or something, for all of the village to enjoy. Uh. That is if you don’t mind, Kent.”

"Not at all. That's why I brought it."

The last few pages are about the scientific discoveries they've created. Telephones and light bulbs and cars. "A truck," Kent mutters to Feldspar, then lets the others look at it.

He moves back and digs into the pack to take out a few other trinkets for himself. His pajamas are placed on his bed, his adapted watch on the nightstand, and...a small tape and player.

As the rest of Outer Wilds Ventures discuss the inventions, Slate in particular (”I’m going to build that, and then I’m going to try that), Feldspar follows Kent to his bed and looks over his personal items.

“What’s all this?” they murmur, standing close enough just for Kent to hear.

He starts a little, not expecting anyone to follow. He'd think Feldspar would be too occupied with the photos, but - he's comforted by them here.

"Uh, pajamas. My favorite ones. My dad's watch and his ring. There's some candy here that I think I'll let the hatchlings try. And - uh, this. I don't know what it is. Ellie probably put it there."

They repeat the unfamiliar word - pajamas - and look over the device that his friend had apparently stashed into his things.

“Looks like an audio recording,” they tell him. “Who’s the green person on your pajamas? They look…ill.”

He chuckles. "That's not a person. He's a puppet. His name's Kermit and I - really liked listening to him as a kid. He has a mind of strange voice like..."

He clears his throat and does his best Kermit impression. "Kermit the frog here..." and then starts to laugh.

That’s not what Feldspar expected to hear, not at all, and they burst out laughing and shake Kent’s shoulder, their combined laughter drawing the attention of the other Outer Wilds Ventures members.

“What’s so funny?” Gossan grins, sliding their arm around Kent’s shoulder in a buddy-buddy sort of way.

“Hey Kent,” Hornfels adds, moving to the other side of Feldspar. “We want you to join Outer Wilds!”

Feldspar had heard a little of the debate, but they must have all decided to formalize it the second Kent decided to get into the ship with them.

“Whaddya say?” Slate adds, still looking over the inventions. “An official member!”

Kent raises his head and the laughter continues, even as he slings an arm around Feldspar's shoulders.

"Oh, so all the work I've been doing before was just out of the goodness of my heart?" he teases, but theres a swelling of pride and happiness and even belonging. "Of course I will."

“We needed to make it official,” Hornfels laughs, trying to speak over the excited whoops and shouts of the others.

Feldspar’s thrilled, of course; this is exactly where Kent belongs. He’s a dreamer, just like the rest of them, head towards the stars thinking about what’s out there.

“And that means you and I can work on the observatory proper. It’s going to be great - ground control and our headquarters…”

Hornfels goes on with Gossan chiming in, Feldspar pulling back to look at the book again with Slate.

Kent tries to keep up with all of the overlapping conversations, but soon just enjoys the noise for what it is, feeling comfortable and safe and even happy.

He sits on his bed with his pajamas and feels the familiar fabric. They won't last here, the cotton will eventually wear out and no amount of patching will make it better, but - he thinks he might be alright with that. There's no reason to cling to the past. As much as he misses it, as much as he wants to go home sometimes, there's is far more here than there ever was there.

He doesn't believe in god or fate, but he can start to let himself believe that he was meant to be here.

And when the noise dies down to excited chatter amongst themselves, Kent stands up. "I promised the hatchlings something when I came back," he tells them. "So unless you want them all crowding in here when they find the ship out there, you better scoot."

The hatchlings! They love the hatchlings, but can take the hint, as do the others. They start heading to the door.

"We're going, we're going," Feldspar laughs, waving their hand over their head. "C'mon, Slate, I wanna show Gossan that crystal I showed you."

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