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]

Staying alone on an alien planet in a house that he doesn't know how to navigate, next to a waterfall...

He's not thrilled about it, but he certainly isn't going to turn it down.

But the mayor is good about explaining almost everything to Kent on the way to the cabin. They are patient as Kent explores the small area and gives him a place to rest. They tell him about the campfire, where he will be introduced to the society as a whole, and they answer all of Kent's questions.

The people of Timber Hearth take to Kent almost immediately. The others keep the people from crowding Kent, hut he's happy enough to answer questions.

And when he's seated at the fire, someone hands him a stick for his marshmallow.

"Marshmallow?" he exclaims. "We have these!"

[getfeldsparred]

The hatchlings are absolutely beside themselves with the news of the alien’s arrival, and it’s all Feldspar and the other older Hearthians can do to keep them from bombarding Kent with a thousand questions and wanting to see his two eyes and five fingers and hair up close. Riebeck is exceptionally excited, so much so that they burst into tears when they first see him and have to spend the rest of the evening being comforted by Esker.

Feldspar wants to spend time with Kent, but so does everyone else, so they spend a little of their time hanging around the outside of the campfire playing the harmonica. When it finally looks like there’s a clear spot next to Kent they quickly jump to their feet and take their spot beside him, grinning slightly in disbelief.

“You don’t! Really? Do you roast them over fires too?”

[videointhenoise]

"We do!" he exclaims, taking one and tasting it, pre-roasted. "Oh my god, they're exactly like this. Shaped and everything. You don't have chocolate, do you?"

What a weird coincidence. He leans against Feldspar a little, gaining a little grounding from them.

[getfeldsparred]

They shake their head and reaches for a marshmallow from the can. “No, we don’t have that stuff. But that’s so weird that we both have marshmallows. Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should hop from solar system to solar system, does it?”

Feldspar clicks their tongue. “Weird,” they mutter again to themselves.

[videointhenoise]

Kent holds out a stick to them. "Here. I trust you with my marshmallow roasting," he says with a smile. "Unless you like burning them. In which case, I retract that statement and you have to sit elsewhere. I refuse to smell burned marshmallow."

[getfeldsparred]

"I'm not insane," Feldspar scoffs, taking the stick and holding it the right distance over the fire, like the pro that they are. "One perfectly-toasted marshmallow coming up!"

[videointhenoise]

"Thank you," he tells them with a smile. "And - thank you for the cabin. Whatever you did to it; it's perfect now."

[getfeldsparred]

They roll their shoulders a bit. "Rutile and Gneiss did it all."

They'd moved some of the furniture out of the way, put some rocks along the side by the waterfall, but nothing really important like supplying the cabin or the food or anything else in the first place.

"But you're welcome. We'll take care of you, best we can. Hatchlings all adore you."

[videointhenoise]

"I used to give tours to kids," he says with a laugh. "I thought I was pretty good with it." He smiles to himself.

"I'm glad they like me, Feldspar. I don't know what I would do otherwise."

He'd be stranded with people who were hostile. With people who hated him. With people who were afraid.

[getfeldsparred]

"In that case it's a good thing you found us, huh?" They give him a little nudge with their elbow. "Maybe that's how it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just luck. But I'm glad I found you, y'know? I'm glad I was there for it. Seems too well-timed to be anything but fated, but can't say I really even believe in fate."

[videointhenoise]

"I don't believe in fate," he says with a sigh and then reaches over for the stick, his hand over Feldspar's for a moment. "I believe in science. But the math doesn't check out here."

[getfeldsparred]

“I don’t know what to believe in,” Feldspar admits, staring down at Kent’s 4 fingers over his. “Maybe if I sleep on it it’ll feel less like a dream.”

They sigh. “How’s the marshmallow?”

[videointhenoise]

"Maybe. I'm still not sure how I can sleep."

He pulls the marshmallow off the stick and tries it.

"It's - god...Feldspar, it's like home."

[getfeldsparred]

It’s like home. Feldspar smiles; at least there’s this for him, a marshmallow and a taste of home.

“We’ll just keep you up until you’re too tired to think! We haven’t even gotten to the sap wine yet.”

[videointhenoise]

"The sap wine?" he laughs. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Do you do this every night?"

Kent doesn't drink much, especially here, when he had crash landed only hours before. But he's so curious.

[getfeldsparred]

“No, no, stars no,” Feldspar laughs. “Sap wine’s usually for special occasions. There’s a new hatchling or someone comes of age, usually some kind of celebration.”

[videointhenoise]

"Oh good," he laughs. "Because even if I don't sleep, I think I might be ready to just - sit in the quiet for a while. Would it be rude to slip away?"

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar shakes their head. “Nah, not at all. Come on, I’ll take you back to the cabin.”

[videointhenoise]

Kent sighs in relief and pushes himself up. "Here. I'll show you how to guide me."

He reaches a hand out. "Give me your arm. A little above your elbow."

He's mapped them out enough to at least know that they have elbows!

[getfeldsparred]

They do indeed have elbows, and Feldspar has very nice elbows indeed. They stick out their arm and listen for further instructions.

“So you’ll hold me right there?”

[videointhenoise]

He slides up close to them. "Yeah. About a half step behind. You can tell me what obstacles are ahead or what's going on. My friend - Ellie, the one who went first? She was a great gossip."

[getfeldsparred]

“There’s a tree to your right that sticks out in the path, so I’m going to swerve,” they warn, hoping that it’s what Kent has in mind.

Feldspar knows that Kent has friends and a community back on his own planet; he’s mentioned Ellie before, but he’s friendly and knowledgeable and doesn’t seem like much of a recluse. It’s hard to think about though, how he might never see any of them ever again. Really sad and tragic, in a way.

“Gossan, my friend who founded Outer Wilds Ventures with me and Slate and Hornfels? Has an awful crush on Porphy, our wine-maker. Porphy’s younger than us all, and one day sprouted up to be about your height, all strong and strapping and charming. Gossan doesn’t know what to do with themselves around them.”

[videointhenoise]

Kent laughs a bit to himself. He doesn't feel sad yet, can't let himself feel that yet, but he knows it's coming. Soon.

Instead, he keeps his smile. "Oh, does Porphy know about that?"

[getfeldsparred]

“Oh, yeah,” they laugh, “Porphy knows. It’s pretty funny actually. They’ll deliberately flirt with Gossan just to see them squirm.”

[videointhenoise]

"Oh no," he laments playfully. "Poor Gossan."

But that does set him on another line of questioning. "Do your people have monogamous relationships?"