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

[getfeldsparred]

They hear the unclicking of the buckle and turns slightly, looking at Kent as his hair rises on end. "Brittle Hollow dead-ahead," they answer. "North and South poles are both snow-capped, and has these flat rocks, almost like plateaus, scattered across the surface. The volcanic moon is on the other side of the planet right now, but it occasionally spews these large ball of flames out towards the surface."

Feldspar pulls their gaze away from the screen and unbuckles their own belt. "Give me your hand, I'm going to give you a twirl."

[videointhenoise]

Kent immediately reaches for their hand. "Yeah, we definitely can't tell them we danced in here," he says, perfectly willing to do it.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar kicks off the seat and pulls Kent into the center of the ship. “What a pilot does in their own ship is nobody else’s business.”

Even if it’s an innocent little dance in zero gravity. They grab Kent’s other hand and gently kick the interior wall of ship, giving them both enough propulsion to spin about.

[videointhenoise]

Kent follows their lead, though there really isn't much to it. Not here, in zero-g.

This is much better than the cave. He feels his heart rising and falling, his skin flushed for reasons he doesn't want to get into.

He hums softly, then starts to sing a little Celine Dion, laughing all the while.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar tries to stop them from spinning too much, slowing them with a hand to the short ceiling so they can sort of twirl about lazily. “What’s that? Song of your people?”

[videointhenoise]

"Nah, just a really good singer who is very popular right now," he says, holding on to them so he doesn't go flailing and knocking into instruments.

"We have a lot of songs."

[getfeldsparred]

"Well sing me something good. Something about the stars, huh? I bet you've got a lot of songs about the stars."

They try to spin Kent around independently of them, grinning a bit as they bump into the wall behind them.

[videointhenoise]

He laughs, spinning away from them and taking their hand again to pull close. "Okay, well - this one's a classic." And Kent, who had been playing before, croons out Frank Sinatra now.

"Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me..."

[getfeldsparred]

Kent has a nice, deep voice, so Feldspar expects him to have a pretty good signing voice, but it's a lot more melodic and sweet than they could have ever guessed. They grin brightly as he sings, enjoying the clever lyrics as they continue to twirl around with him. If they took out their harmonica they could probably play along...

They're distracted from their own thoughts when Kent starts singing about kissing. Oh. It's that kind of song. They laugh a little, glad Kent's blind and can't see the purple and red blush in their face and on their ears.

"So you humans kiss too, huh?"

[videointhenoise]

He stops abruptly and, flustered, laughs a bit. "Yeah, I didn't know that was something you did, either."

And now that he knows that, it's - hard not to think about.

[getfeldsparred]

“Oh, yeah, sure. A hatchling of a certain age’s favorite pastime, aside from stealing the sap wine.”

They’re equally as distracted by the thought - many thoughts, in fact, like just how do humans kiss? Is it similar to the way a Hearthian kisses? Would his lips feel the same? Taste the same?

The ship rumbles slightly and Feldspar slows them down so they can float towards the pilot’s chair. “Ah, strap in, Kent. We need to adjust the course.”

[videointhenoise]

He leaves those thoughts out of his head. They're on a mission. There's no point in getting wrapped up in his head.

He floats back to the chair and pulls himself onto it so he can slide the seatbelt on.

"How far off course did you get?"

[getfeldsparred]

“Not too far off, thankfully.” They do grumble a little as they try to punch the coordinates back in, only to be met by a small spark on the exterior of the cockpit and then a fizzling sound in the machinery. Feldspar frowns - that’s probably not great, but everything still seems to be working.

“I think our flight log’s short-circuited. Not a big deal, but Hornfels’ gonna be pissed.”

But so it goes with most Outer Wilds trips - something breaks, someone’s mad, but everyone’s secretly relieved no one died. Hornfels can be as angry as they want, but they’ll bring Kent there and back in one piece, so they can’t really complain.

[videointhenoise]

Kent sucks in a breath, crinkling his nose as the smell.

"I'm sure they'll forgive you for breaking the ship," Kent teases. "But uh - what's in the flight log for you?"

He reaches up and ties his hair back with a bit of string so it doesn't get in his face.

[getfeldsparred]

“They have to, I’m the only one stupid enough to fly these things. Gossan waits until I’ve done the test run before they’ll even step foot in them.”

They frown softly as they ease the control back into a turn towards Brittle Hollow. “Flight log’s just useful for after the flight - if I crash or the ship suddenly stops working.”

[videointhenoise]

"Oh god," he laughs. "Then let's hope you don't need it."

He leans back, closing his eyes. "Fels was telling me how close the planets are. I can't believe they haven't sucked each other in."

[getfeldsparred]

Fels. Close enough to have a nickname. Best not to think about it.

“Weird, isn’t it? But the nearest star is far enough away that we’d never be able to reach it in a lifetime.”

[videointhenoise]

"It is," he answers. "But our solar system is so vast that - " He pauses. "It would take years to get from one side to the other," he explains. "But your star is - old. They were talking about an expected supernova in the future. That doesn't usually happen for billions of years into a star's life cycle."

[getfeldsparred]

“About a hundred thousand years in the future, if Hornfels guess is right,” Feldspar nods. They do pay attention when Hornfels talk. Sometimes. “Still have a bit of time, so I don’t lose too much sleep over it. I guess it would make our solar system really old though, if it takes billions of years for it to naturally occur.”

[videointhenoise]

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The Nomai might have been around when the sun was a little hotter," he remarks. "And a little smaller."

[getfeldsparred]

“Would the solar system have been more spread out, or is that like millions of years timeline rather than thousands?”

[videointhenoise]

"Ah, the planets don't tend to work like that. They would still be the same distance apart," he explains.

[getfeldsparred]

Well, now they feel a little stupid. Hornfels would definitely know that.

“Must be nice, having a science-type to talk about this stuff with. Hornfels seems happy to have a friend too.”

[videointhenoise]

Kent laughs. "They are," he laughs. "I have a friend at home like them. We call him Fish."

[getfeldsparred]

“Fish, huh? That’s a funny name.” Says the being most directly related to a fish.

“How are you doing with…with all that?” Homesickness, they mean. It’s hard to say that part out loud though, worried as they are about upsetting Kent too much.