#and i was a third smaller star orbiting both of them

[powdermelonkeg]

Cybertron's Location

Okay so Alpha Centauri is named as Cybertron's star system in multiple continuities.

Easy, right? Just make up a planet for Cybertron to be. Plausible enough that there's one out there we don't know about.

NOPE. I found a spot for it.

The Alpha Centauri system has three stars in it. These are Rigil Kentaurus (α Centauri A), Toliman (α Centauri B), and Proxima Centauri (α Centauri C). I'm going to be calling them by their non-ABC names for distinction.

Alpha Centauri, as we see it, is Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman's lights being indistinguishable from one another. Those two are a binary star system of sun-like stars, so their orbit intersects and they look something like this:

Meanwhile, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, and orbits at a pretty far distance, like so:

It's still part of the same star system because it still orbits around a common point, but in any planet that orbits Proxima, Rigil and Toliman just look like exceptionally bright stars in its sky.

So the question THEN is, which star does Cybertron orbit?

Proxima's the most obvious candidate. It even has a full planetary system:

Proxima Centauri b is in Proxima's habitable zone (the area where water could feasibly exist as liquid), and it's just a little bigger than Earth.

Generally speaking, Cybertron is depicted as larger than Earth, so let's set that aside for this post.

Proxima Centauri d is a tiny planet that's closer to Proxima and no smaller than a third Earth's size.

Proxima Centauri c is either a super-Earth or a gas dwarf, about 7 times Earth's mass, which is disputed both in its nature and whether or not it's really a planet (it's complicated). Regardless, it's outside the habitable zone.

So it could be Proxima c. That's our default option. The biggest problem is the lack of a habitable zone, because, while giant robots don't necessarily need comfortable heat to live, there's the whole "acid rain" and "sea of rust" deal that'd be hard in a planet that far from its sun.

Granted, sometimes Cybertron is seen hurtling through space without a sun or any of those features to speak of, but I'd like to account for it.

So what about the other two?

Toliman was claimed to have a planet orbiting it in 2012 (α Centauri Bb), but by 2016, it was more or less conceded that said planet didn't exist.

Rigil Kentaurus, on the other hand...

Meet Candidate 1 (α Centauri Ab).

It orbits within Rigil's habitable zone, has a period of about a year, and has a mass between Neptune and half of Saturn, with possible habitable moons.

Does it exist? Maybe.

The thing is about Candidate 1 (yes that is its real name) is that it wasn't observed for long enough to confirm its existence. It COULD be a planet. It could also be dust that got captured, or an artifact of the observational instruments.

THIS is my proposal for Cybertron.

TLDR: There's a (possible) planet that orbits the brightest star of the Alpha Centauri star system in its habitable zone and it's bigger than Earth.

[weaponizedducks]

hey

so i saw that you made a post about the tale of magis series, and so, i know this is odd, but in the next two weeks, could you get back to me about how deat, in the end of tale of witchcraft looked like, acted like, what the land between life and death looked like? im writing a fic with them, and i need to be as close to canon as possibnle.

i know this is a weird thing to ask, but i need to know, since i have no copy on tale of titchcraft.

thank you and ahve a wonderufl day! :)

hey sorry this is so late im not sure how i didnt see it! its absolutely not a weird thing to ask and im happy to help!

death: when he arrives there is an eclipse and the shadows sort of collect to form him. ten foot tall, face and body completely covered by a black cloak described as 'made from darkness itself'. brystal describes him as 'should have been frightening, but she didn't feel an ounce of fear looking at him'. he never speaks, is calm, and talks either through his daughter or through some form of telepathy.

the land between life and death: BOOK QUOTES: 'temperature wasn't too warm or too cold, just comfortable. everything was so comfortable'. there is a gray field with a 'perfectly smooth surface'. the field stretches for miles, covered in tall white trees engraved with names with silver pocketwatches hanging from the branches. there is one large clock in the trunk which shows the persons time of death, or if they havent died yet the clock is still ticking. there are smaller trees that have not yet been planted, and their clocks havent started yet.

brystals tree has quite a lot of watches but other trees have less, and some trees have none at all. what brystal thinks is the sun and moon are both in the sky (when she asks about them death shrugs and waves it away so we never find out quite what they are), and are very large, and in the sky there are 'hundreds of orbiting planets, thousands of spiralling galaxies, and millions of twinkling stars'. 'brystal could hear the starts as much as she could see them'

again sorry this is so late, this is all i could find, and i havent read the third book so im not sure if it is in it. hope i could help and could you send me the fic when it is finished? it sounds interesting!

[skilopsaros]

Okay, so here's the thing: Polaris, also known as the North Star, is not a single star. It's a triple star system, with two stars (Polaris Aa & Polaris Ab) orbiting each other, and both of them in a distant orbit of a third one (Polaris B) What we see as “the north star” is actually all 3 of these stars, as the naked eye can't differentiate between them

Now, the ages of these stars aren't exactly as well known as we would have hoped. Specifically, Polaris Aa is a very weird star which our stelar evolution models Still Can't Explain. Yet we have our best guess.

Now, the most recent estimation I found comes from a paper by Hilding R. Neilson and Haley Blinn, published in 2020. In this paper, they have created new models and they state that the most likely scenario is: Polaris Aa is between 50-70 million years old (so indeed younger than sharks). Althouth there is a small chance it's actually a merger star, meaning that two other smaller stars collided and made a biger one, in which case the component stars would have ages in the billions of years. Polaris Ab is more than 500 million years old, and is probably falling somewhere in the 1-2 billion year old range (so definitely older than the sharks, maybe as old as the concept of multicelular organisms) Polaris B is most likely 1.5 billion years old, although there is a small (~1%) chance that it's actually 10 million years old (99% chance older than multicelular organisms with different cell types, 1% chance younger than apes) So the most likely scenario according to what we know right now:

The north star is very old, not as old as our sun or life on earth, but older than sharks. But when the first sharks came about, if there was anybody who could look at the sky and see the north star, it would be very different than it is today, a binary instead of a triple star system.

Fun fact of the day

[demonstars]

hai ^^ what do you know about those stars that are very close together?? important -eras

idk iif you mean binary stars in general or alpha centauri but don't evenworry I'll talk about both

like first binary stars are set of two stars that are gravitationally connected and in orbit to one another. this means that they have a point of gravity to circle around together basically, which is as connected as you can be to another object in space before becoming simply one.

there's discussion surrounding about how exactly binary stars form, though we do know that due to a variety of reasons its not like two stars find each other in the space and decide to look in THO WE CAN'T BE SURE YET. so far the most likely theory is that in the process of star formation (like when the nebula compacts before ignition) the two were standing too closed together and likely bonded. funny enough we have records of three stars forming but the third star not holding it's grsvtionsl weight and thus being ejected (dnf+sapnap. In my mind. tho binary systems with three STARS do exist)

if tthe stars are connected closely enough they can even exchange mass and thus evolve to highers steps of the h-r spectrum, aka, the bigger star may borrow energy (mass) from the smaller star to continue its progression and keep producing elements in its combustion. as said there's generally a bigger and smaller star (a and b) and it's generally the a star we can see without a telescope, though it'll be noticeable there's a companion based on the redshift from that star (redshift is like the waves of light we can notice from our place in the universe. when the star gets 'away' (it's in orbit) the waves' length changes and we can measure that to determinate there's another star among other things) <- thus is the case of alpha centauri, a famous two star system that actually has three stars but two of them are engaged in toxic yaoi (super close) while the other just chilling. it is also our closest star

ummn there's classification of different binary stars but idk I don't think much of it. its just a really beautiful thing to be created and that we can bear witness to, and while I find poetry in it it's also super useful for astrophysics so I love that for them. anywsy THIS is love to Me (from the wiki)

[zukoandtheoc]

keep having weird dreams where I'm in a love triangle with an otp

[random-thought-depository]

I think I'll do an updated version of this: description of the Earth-twin world orbiting Alpha Centauri A in my own sci fi setting (names are placeholders):

The Alpha Centauri A system:

Alpha Centauri A has three planets and an asteroid belt.

The innermost planet is a small, hot, cratered, airless world, similar to Sol's Mercury, though maybe somewhat larger (perhaps comparable in mass to Mars).

The next planet out is the biggest, maybe 1.6-1.7 Earth masses, and resembles a more extreme version of Venus. Its atmosphere is hundreds of bars, mostly carbon dioxide, and its surface is extremely hot, quite possibly so hostile that crewed landings have never been attempted. From space, its surface is hidden beneath a layer of high-altitude sulfuric acid clouds. However, it has a large moon that's much less awful. This large moon is a hot desert world perhaps 10-30% the mass of Earth, with a thin dusty atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide; it rather resembles a hot version of Mars. It's too hot for much if any ice to exist on it and its surface air pressure is too low for liquid water to exist, but it has subterranean aquifers of liquid water, in which some indigenous life (single-cell organisms only) actually manages to survive. This desert moon orbits its Venus-like superterrestrial primary at an altitude of around 100-150,000 kilometers, at which it has a revolution period of about 3-5 days. The two worlds are mutually tide-locked to each other, so the moon's revolution period is also the rotation period of both worlds. There is also a second moon farther out; this one is just a captured stony asteroid a few kilometers across. Actually, I might just give this planet a whole swarm of little captured asteroid moons or something. Note: an alternate possibility I'm playing with is having the superterrestrial be a hot high-pressure ocean planet instead; it wouldn't be very habitable to humans either way; the ocean planet concept is probably less plausible, but might be more interesting.

The third planet out is the Earth-twin world, and beyond it there's an asteroid belt at around 2 AU where the gravity of Alpha Centauri B has prevented that material from consolidating. Beyond that, stable orbits are impossible due to the gravity of Alpha Centauri B.

Alpha Centauri B has its own system of planets, including its own Earth-twin planet, but I'm not sure what it'll look like. It may actually be somewhat more impressive, due to Alpha Centauri B being dimmer and therefore not driving away as much of the icy material within 2 AU; between 1 AU and 2 AU it may have a cold icy superterrestrial planet and a sort of "failed" giant planet that for all practical purposes looks a lot like a smaller, warmer Uranus/Neptune. Proxima Centauri also has planets (we know this from real life astronomy!), but none of them are very Earth-like; the nicest one is a desert planet with a thin, dusty, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere (though there's an extensive water ice cap on the side of permanent night, it being tide-locked to Proxima).

Possibly I shouldn't develop this system this much because it's pretty likely we'll find real planets around these stars in the next twenty years or so and I'll have to redo a lot of this or shrug and go "guess it's an explicit AU now," but for now I'll just have some fun.

The third planet:

The third planet is the Earth-twin planet. It is a somewhat bigger planet than Earth, with about 1.3 Earth times Earth's mass, 1.2 times Earth's surface area, and 1.1 times Earth's diameter. This gives it a surface gravity of around 1.1 G. It has somewhat less land than Earth (maybe 120-140 million square kilometers), and since it also has more surface area, it is a substantially more oceanic planet (however, more of its land is good land). It orbits Alpha Centauri A at around 1.3 AU, an orbital distance at which it gets a little less energy from Alpha Centauri A than Earth gets from Sol, the difference compensated for by it having more dark light-absorbing ocean, less highly reflective ice, and more greenhouse gasses in its atmosphere. The axis obliquity is somewhat higher than Earth's, and the climate is similar to Earth's but warmer and with stronger seasonal contrasts; both poles are open ocean, and the polar oceans have only seasonal ice caps, becoming ice-free in summer. With a 1.3 AU orbit, the planet has a year lasting about 500 days. Its rotation period is similar to Earth's, but a little bit faster, maybe 23 hours or so. This is a world rich with life, its biosphere at the time of human settlement being comparable to Earth's before humans started to change things. Alpha Centauri is likely about 1-2 billion years older Sol, so this planet's biosphere is significantly older than Earth, but this doesn't make much of a difference; evolution isn't progressive, life doesn't automatically get "more advanced" just cause it's been around longer.

Tentatively, I am thinking this planet has three moons. The outer moon is by far the largest. It is about 3-4 times the mass of Luna, so similar in mass to the planet Mercury, and orbits at around 5-600,000 km; at that distance it raises tides somewhat larger than Luna raises on Earth, but not very much so, and its apparent diameter from the planet's surface is maybe a bit bigger than Luna's. Aside from its bigger size, it's not all that different from Luna, being an airless dry cratered world, but significantly it is substantially more metal-rich, and therefore a much better prospect for mining operations. It may be a captured proto-planet, rather than having been formed by an impact like Luna. The inner moon orbits maybe around 150-300,000 km and is much smaller; it's big enough to maintain a spherical shape, but it's only maybe a hundredth to a twentieth the mass of Luna and half to a quarter of Luna's diameter - from the planet's surface its apparent size is smaller than Luna's despite it being much closer, and the tides it raises are probably pretty small. Finally, there's a captured stony asteroid a few kilometers across orbiting within 100,000 km of the planet; its orbit is probably rather elliptical and strongly inclined to the equator, and it'll probably crash into the planet and make a real mess in a few million years, but for now it has minimal effect on the planet and offers a convenient low-gravity anchor point for a space station and a convenient source of water in the form of hydrated minerals.

Geography:

The planet has five continents and a large number of islands:

Landing: This was the site of the initial colony. Landing proper is about 7-10 million square kilometers, but it is actually a highland region of a much bigger ancient continent that has mostly sunk below sea level over millions of years as a result of geologic activity. There is a major coastal mountain range in the east and, as an ancient highland region, much of the terrain is rather rugged, though the mountains are mostly low and there are also expansive plains. Landing stretches from around 20 N to north of 50 N, with a large land mass in the east and a large temperate subcontinent/peninsula in the west. Cut off from eastern winds by the mountains, most of Landing is cool-temperate in the north and desert in the south, with some regions of Mediterranean climate as well, and a small pocket of warm humid climate on the southeastern coast.

Landing is surrounded by an extensive archipelago of islands, some of them rather large (comparable to medium-sized European countries). The islands of this archipelago are in fact simply smaller highland regions of the submerged continental platform. To the north and northwest, these islands are cold or cool-temperate. To the immediate southwest, they have a Mediterranean climate. Others are rather arid due to being in the rain shadow of the southern desert. To the south, they have humid tropical or subtropical climates.

The largest island marks the southern boundary of the archipelago, and is in fact a classic subduction mountain range; on a more conventional continent it would be a coastal mountain range. It is essentially a long thin spine of high mountains erupting from the sea and runs northwest to southeast, from north of 20 N to south of 20 S. The eastern coast of this great island has a basically humid tropical and subtropical climate, while the western coast, where the mountains block rain-bearing winds, is an extreme coastal rain shadow desert, like parts of the west coast of South America.

Bigland: By far the biggest continent, comparable to Eurasia on Earth. It's to the east of Landing. It is a supercontinent, formed from the collision of two smaller (but themselves quite large) continents, which were in turn formed from earlier continental collisions. In the north-south axis, it stretches from around 70 N to around or south of 10 S. The primary active collision boundary of Bigland is marked by a huge spine of mountains and highlands running north-south along the center of the continent, a mountain range geologically similar to the Himalayas but on the scale of the Andes. The tallest mountains on the planet are found here (none quite equal Earth's highest peaks because of the higher gravity, but many are over seven kilometers tall), and there is quite a lot of geologic activity in the center of Bigland, with some regions rather reminiscent of Yellowstone but far more rugged. There are also a number of lesser mountain ranges, but these were never as impressive as the great central range to begin with and many of them are rather old and worn down. Rising air over the great central mountains and their associated highlands creates a powerful monsoon system, comparable to Earth's Asian monsoon, which draws moist air from the oceans onto Bigland during summer and makes the continent wetter and more fertile than it otherwise would be.

The northwest of Bigland is wet and cool-temperate. Travelling south along the coast, one then encounters a region of Mediterranean climate. Travelling farther south, the coast turns southeast, and here begins a large coastal mountain range, formed as oceanic plate subducts as Bigland is being driven south over it. These mountains block rain; the southwest coast is humid subtropical and humid tropical, but on the inland side of the mountains it is arid and the landscape quickly gives way to Bigland's vast southwestern desert, perhaps the biggest desert on the planet. The eastern side of Bigland has no such obstructing coastal ranges, and is substantially wetter, partly because of that and partly because of how the Bigland monsoon system interacts with the rest of the planet's climate. Sailing north along Bigland's east coast one would see uninterrupted forest from the equatorial jungles at 7 S to the polar taiga at 70 N (or at least one would have if one did this before extensive human settlement), and in most places these forests stretch(ed) hundreds or thousands of kilometers inland. The interior of Bigland, however, is relatively dry, with extensive "grasslands" (technically not grass, but a convergently evolved organism) and arid regions, though in some regions (the northwest and southeast) the forest extends right to the foot of the great central highland complex and climbs its lower slopes.

Southland: The second biggest continent. It’s presently separated from Bigland by a narrow straight near the equator; in 10 million years or so Bigland and Southland are going to collide and complete the assembly of a truly huge supercontinent. There is a coastal mountain range running along the north coast. Southland extends from near the equator to around latitude 60-70 south. The northern part of Southland may be rather dry because the Bigland monsoon system blasts it with dry air during the southern hemisphere summer (what would otherwise be its rainy season). However, the southern, temperate part of Southland at least is quite nice.

Northwestland: A small continent to the west of Landing, about 7-10 million kilometers in area, comparable to Australia. Like Landing, Northwestland is actually a highland region of a much bigger continent that has subsided to mostly below sea level over millions of years. Northwestland stretches from about 30 N to about 60-70 N. Northwestland's terrain is relatively flat; it has some mountains, but they are mostly old and heavily eroded, like the Ural and Appalachian mountains on Earth. Before human settlement, Northwestland was almost entirely covered by forest.

Redland: Another small continent, Redland is part of the same mostly subsided continental platform as Northwestland. Redland is rather reminiscent of Australia. While Northwestland has retained some geologic activity, Redland has been almost geologically inert for hundreds of millions of years, and is heavily eroded. As a result, its soils are mostly poor. Redland lies in the southern hemisphere, stretching from near the equator to around 40 S; this makes it a mostly warm to hot land and puts much of it in the most arid latitudes, and eroded mountains and highlands block some of the rain that would otherwise reach much of its land mass. As a result, a substantial part of Redland, at least half or so of its area, is an arid region reminiscent of Australia's Outback. Much of the surface and near-surface rock of Redland is very ancient, rich in iron oxide, and reddish in color. However, Redland is significantly bigger than Australia, and somewhat wetter and nicer. Its northern region has extensive tropical jungles, while its southern region has extensive zones of Mediterranean and humid warm-temperate climate. The low, flat, eroded terrain means much of it is rather swampy; in its wetter regions there are extensive swamps and seasonally flooded forests, as well as extensive salt-tolerant tidally flooded forests in some coastal regions.

The Northwestland-Redland continental platform was once a truly huge continent, comparable to the supercontinent that will be formed when Bigland and Southland collide. Over many millions of years a combination of subsidence (similar to what IIRC happened to Zealandia on Earth) and erosion lowered most of that land to below sea level, turning most of the vast continental platform into shallow sea. Redland and Northwestland are surrounded by a vast archipelago of islands, in fact other highland regions of the continental platform that remain above sea level. Many of these islands are quite geologically inert, like Redland, but others have some remaining geologic activity and some are even highly active volcanic regions that have remained above sea level because of the geologic activity occurring there. Many are no more than small coral atolls, but some are quite respectable in size. Many of them are largely built up of limestone, and some of the larger islands have extensive karst topography, including extensive and fantastic flooded cave systems. The shallow seas of the greater Redland-Northwestland continental platform are biologically rich, with extensive coral reefs (or rather, technically, colonies of convergently evolved coral-like organisms).

Other islands: As well as the major continents and their associated archipelagos, this planet also has its share of microcontinents, hot spot volcanic islands, and so on. In fact, though extensive, its global ocean is mostly shallower than Earth's, and therefore richer in islands, as undersea mountains and highlands mostly don't need to be as tall to poke above sea level. Its larger mass, hotter interior (due to lower surface to volume ratio of a larger sphere), and hence higher level of volcanic activity also lends itself to more islands.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Insurgency Part 1

Planet: Sepher III Status: Conquered Industrial Capacity: Limited - Reconstruction in progress Agriculture Capacity: Limited - Reconstruction in progress Orbital Capacity: 5 orbital platforms - 2 require minor repair, 1 requires extensive repair and overhaul Population:  753,682 Humans                        35,321 Mentas                        125,873 Menta Colonists enroute. Military: 0 Human                    175,946 Menta Soldiers                2,653 Naval Personnel                3 Moltak Destroyers Leadership: Military Governor Galvin Zecks                        Sub Commander Cobal Oft ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +1 To: High Council of Menta From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks To my honored leaders I bid you well, I wish to once more thank you for your confirmation of my stewardship of our latest conquest from the humans. Already I have put to work the remaining population of humans that did not flee at rebuilding this planet and preparing it for the coming colonists. Within a few months of their arrival I will have turned this war torn world into the lynch pin for our future conquests in neighboring sectors.

I have just seen off the remaining military forces which left to continue the campaign. I have no doubt their victories will resound through the hallowed halls of the seven suns for ages to come.

May the eyes of the seven watchers gaze upon your deeds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +1 To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

Per your instructions the remaining humans in the surrounding area have been put to work rebuilding the capital and space port.

Our initial strikes on both locations was deep and the damage is extensive. It will be some time before they are operational again.

In the mean time I have had our ground forces establish their base around the capital building. They have begun work on fortifications along with several barracks and depot buildings have already been constructed.

From here we have been able to launch extensive patrols around the surrounding area.

I have also dispatched several dozen garrison forces to occupy other cities and smaller towns. Once the capital is secure we can go about setting up additional garrisons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +66 To: Cobal Oft From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks The first batch of colonists should be arriving within the next few days.

Finally we can get this dirt ball feeling like a proper Menta world. It will be refreshing to see the streets filled with our people instead of these dirty human rabbles.

To that end I want you to establish exclusion zones around the start port and capital. Expel all humans within and remove them to the outer quarters of the city. The use of lethal force is prohibited at this time for such implementation, much to my displeasure. We can not have our new colonists thinking this world is savage and unhospitable and if word gets out of executions or deaths among the human work force it could reflect badly and dissuade others from coming.

If such methods are required in certain cases make sure that they are properly contained.

After the humans have been relocated establish checkpoints at each of the entrances to the star port and capital. No human is to be allowed in unless with proper authorization. papers.   It's time to remind the humans of their new place on Sepher III. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year 2743 Formal Occupation +153 To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

Security of capital has been officially handed over to the Sepher police force. They're a bunch of green jackribs if you ask me but at this point there's no need for military units to be acting like this is a live combat theater.

In the mean time I am dispersing the remaining forces to the regional capitals now that they're finished. All twelve should have substantial reinforcements to support local enforcement which has become a problem since humans fled major cities to minor towns.

Speaking of troop deployments, I heard a rumor that we are about to lose a majority of our standing occupation forces. Can you confirm? If this is true then it might shake up our redeployment considerably. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +153   To: Cobal Oft   From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks You heard correctly, but in the future I would encourage you to dissuade yourself from gossip. The war with the humans is taking a larger toll than first projected. Reinforcements are being called up from all of Menta space and shipped to Vergo Prime and since Sepher III has been classified as pacified the military leadership has decided such a large force is no longer required.

We can expect transport ships to be in system within the next few days to collect roughly a third of our ground forces. Have the finest soldiers ready on the landing pad before then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +247   To: Cobal Oft   From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks I am hearing disturbing reports from one of our mining camps at Golden Peaks. Some sort of violence against one of our guards by a human prisoner.

This came at a rather embarrassing time as I was meeting with several industrialists from the home world about their expansion to our world.

I was able to downplay the event as nothing serious but I want it under control now.

Dispatch several squads and make some examples of the human laborers there. Then go have a word with the mines foreman and express my displeasure with his lack of control.

Be enthusiastic when it comes to telling him how disappointed I am. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +262   To: Cobal Oft     From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks I feel my previous message may have been unclear in what I wanted done with the mining base at Golden Peaks.

To be clear, I wanted the soldiers to publicly execute one or two human agitators and then beat several dozen more including the foreman.

What I did not want to happen was the destruction of the entire mining operation!

My office is still getting reports of damages and loss of life after the explosives went off.

Consider yourself fortunate that the industrialists had already left or I would have your head on a platter.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +263   To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

I have had my men combing the area and we believe we have pieced together what happened.

Several squads arrived just as you requested two days prior and began the process of making examples.

The day before the explosion one of the soldiers executed a human female from the camp and displayed her body at the main mine entrance as a warning.

Later that night a series of explosives went off destroying not only the mining facility but the stationed squads as well.

We believe the humans were able to get their hands on some of the mining charges and wired them to detonate.

Officially I have been stating that the incident was a result of human negligence with improper storage of explosives and the cover story is working. The only problem is the final body count does not add up. It's true because of the blast several more bodies may be buried in the mines, but security footage shows several dozen human workers fleeing the mine before the explosion went off.

I have three teams combing through the surrounding area searching for them.

They will be recaptured and made an example of.

[bankaqlota]

Writing idea: The World.

Just a thought I had and needed to get out there. Please be kind with comments!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a final gasp, The World was created. Alpha took another shaky breath before finally looking over his creation. The entire group behind him looked at the creation Alpha made and were in awe.

It was on the smaller side as creations go, with 8 planets on a focal star orbit with lots of smaller dwarf planets, asteroids and meteors. Each planet was quite unique (one was completely red!) However, the star of the show was the third planet that had a strange blue and green patchwork to it.

“What’s going on with that one? It looks strange.” A soft voice brave enough to dare ask what was on all of our minds.

“Which one are you on about? They all are strange; I mean some have hoops around them!” came the booming voice soon after.

“I believe you’re asking about Earth, Zeta. Those aren’t hoops Beta, they’re planet rings made of ice and planet dust and I think they suit them. Especially when the planet’s gravity is that strong.” Alpha's airy reply came to them.

“Rings on 4 of your planets? Really?”

“Well I like it.” The group turned in stunned surprise at that bold statement. “It suits them as it suits you.”

Eta's statement was both expected and not, it’s quite the oxymoron. Eta and Alpha were known by the group to have something towards each other, hate or love is still undecided. Her flat out admission of liking Alpha's creation all but assured everyone that Eta would be involved in this World.

“What’s Earth, Alpha?” Epsilon's timid voice asked again.

Alpha absolutely beamed at Epsilon and launched in explanation about Earth, the Humans, the Animals, the other planets, the orbit of each planet and so on. For Omega, Alpha was beginning to get boring in explaining everything.

The group have seen it all. They’ve always been and always will be. There is nothing they can’t do for they have tried everything and never missed anything. Omega thought back on his first eon and the creations they had done and undone, the forms they made and broke, the unbridled joy and achievement each creation brought in the groups heart. After an eon of eons, it was all faded to be so terribly boring.

This World of Alpha is definitely different to their other creations. Certainly limited in diversity compared to the Gaal of Eta's creation and yet more substance to it as opposed to the light and breezy M’nik’en of Beta's creation.

“... and I thought it would be interesting if this time we join this creation and become Deities. Now I do have some guides for us that I thought would be of help but I am open for suggestions if you have any. Questions before I explain my guidelines?” Alpha's abrupt suggestion gave everyone pause, even Omega was pulled from his musing at this odd phrase. Seeing all the confusion, bewilderment and outright intrigue pointed at him, Alpha thought it only appropriate to ask, “What?”

“I think I’ll start first with what do you mean be part of this creation? We create and observe. That’s what we collectively have been doing all this time. I don’t understand what you mean by your statement Alpha.”

“That’s what caught your attention Delta? I want to know what a Deities is and if it’s another creation that links to this one.” Eta's excitements at the odd phrase seem to be contagious as the next moment came Epsilon's comment.

“What if it was a mirror point creation with a parallel to this? Is it a complete or partial inverse, do you suppose?”

Alpha watched the group dissolve into questions and squabbles about theories with no end in sight. He blew a soft sigh of slight exasperation before looking to Omega for aid. He caught his eyes easily and clearly pleaded for help without a word. A slight nod of his head and Omega clapped his hands once for silence. The World, now behind Alpha, gave a small shiver at the sound while silence descended once more.

Calmly Alpha proceeded, “To answer you Epsilon, this is only a single creation, no mirror, points or parallels. As for you Eta, a deity, or deities for the plural, are supernatural beings considered divine or sacred by Humans and can be called god or goddess. They would worship us, pray to us and give offerings to us while we in turn do what we want. We can walk among them as long as we don’t tell them who or what we are and do not mess with their lives. Isn’t it an interesting idea?”

Omega scoffed, “There’s no balance in that Alpha and you know it. We already know what happens when it becomes take, take, take. We will have to give something back in return should we become Deities on Earth.”

“Why? Why should we? I made them and I can destroy them just as easily. I don’t understand your constant need for balance Omega. It’s fine if we take without give.”

“That’s not what we do this for, Alpha, and you know it. Without give we all wouldn’t be here, we’d still be in non-existence with no start in sight.”

“We would have existed even without any give!”

“No we wouldn’t!”

“Yes we would!”

“That’s enough you two!”

The eerie silence after the final explosive was deafening to the group. The anger was thick and both Alpha and Omega were so close to each other they could have touched had Eta not stopped them.

This was an argument often visited between them. When their existence came to be, there was a give in the Creation of things. This give came in the form of Creation itself giving them separate conscious thought, but because Creation split itself into their individual consciousnesses, none of them knew why. Each had a thought, a belief of what happened but even in the eons together none of them could figure it out. The one and only mystery left for them to discover was the very one with which they came into being.

“Neither one of you will concede on this so stop. I believe we are all interested in giving Alpha's thought of being deities a chance, however we do believe Omega has a valid point in stating there has to be a give and take or the humans won’t make it.” Eta continued, thoroughly frustrated at the two for once again starting this nonsense.”I believe in exchange for the worship and praise the Humans may request aid from us. Not direct aid but our aid could be a passive kind, something within our means of control.”

“But why even bother?” came Alpha's frustrated plea. ”Why? It won’t matter what they do they will never be more than what I created so why care what happens to them?”

“What if they could be more?”

The muttered question came from Delta who seemed in thought. As if realizing he spoke aloud, Delta raised his eyes to the others and asked again, “What if they could be more? Achieve a higher level than present?”

“So, we would collectively try to aid the Humans to reach a higher level as a give from our side? Is that your great plan, Delta?”

“Why not? We have not tried that yet. In our eons we have discovered 2 full ideas we have not tried yet and I dare any of you to deny the excitement under your skin at the thought of something new.” Eta's words cut the indecision clean through. All present showed excitement at the idea of new.

“I motion ahead as long as the guides remain that we aid the Humans passively as they in exchange give us worship and offerings.” Omega moved towards The World, clear in his intention to participate but also appearing as a guard in case someone were to disagree.

Alpha's eyes narrowed at Omega. Displeased at the nerve of Omega but eager to try his plan out he answered Omega, “I motion forward with the amendments accepted.”

Cheers and joy burst from everyone at that, eagerness to start boiling up. At once all rushed forward and Alpha directed the flow into establishing what constitutes a prayer, worship and offering. Once all were agreed they ventured to form themselves onto Earth.

From there everything changed.

[thelordofdarkreunion]

The Misty Planet

Here we go.  By request, a story (or, in this case, story line) where the Scoundrels meet Deus from the Empyrean Iris stories by starr-fall-knight-rise.  Things play out a little differently here, because this time, the Great Game has begun, and there are now more players...

“The game is afoot.”  -Sherlock Holmes

The view from the starship’s bridge was quite the sight to behold.  A massive red star, glowing with power, shone from outside.  The windows were tinted, of course, to allow the individuals inside to see without damaging their vision.  But, mighty as the star was, it was another structure that the individuals were examining.  The second star.  Smaller, but no less beautiful than the first.  This one, though, had strange, alien structures orbiting it.  Which was why the group was here.  

“So.  We’re the bloody universe’s problem solvers, I suppose,” muttered Thomas Drake, itching his nose with the edge of a black-gloved finger.  

“Well, we were the first to make contact with each other and the other galaxies after the… time-screwy thing.  We also prevented the attack on the Citadel, and found out who was behind it,” replied Shepard.  “Still working on finding the Shadow Broker and why he… or she, possibly, would want to kill the members of almost every government in the universe.”  

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.  We’ll figure that one out later.  One problem at a time,” sighed Krirk.

“I’m good with that,” said Drake.  “Now.  On to business.  Admiral Vir.  Why the hell are we here?”  Vir walked up to the viewing glass and let out a low sigh.  

“Well, basically, here’s the deal.  My crew and I came to the Polaris star, which most of you ought to recognize as it exists in all of your galaxies except one, and saw this weird, unknown structure on Polaris Ab, the smaller star of the two main ones.  We have also discovered a planet nearby.”  Vir went to a console and pulled up an image, taken from the ground of a strange looking alien wasteland.  He let out a deep breath before going on.  “This was a picture taken on a very similar planet that my crew found in the past.  The two seem to be related.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” muttered Solo.  Cooper gave him a blank stare.  

“Do you ever not?” 

“Occasionally,” huffed Solo.  “When we aren’t going to mysterious planets covered with red mist and big black pillars.”

“I agree.  The whole thing is rather… ominous,” said Shepard.  

“Well, if in doubt, we nuke the whole thing and be done with it,” said Drake.  Vir gave him a long-suffering side glance.  

“No.  We are not going to nuke it,” he said.  “There is too much information at stake.”  He sighed again.  “On that planet, we, or some of my crew and I, received visions of an entity called ‘Deus.’  What Deus is or what it wants we do not know.  However, we believe that these planets are somehow aligned.”  The holographic image changed, showing the Polaris system interlinked with the other strange, red planet, the Drev homeoworld, the Celzex homeworld, and Earth.  “What this place is, who created the massive structure on Polaris Ab, and why these systems are all interlinked is what we are here to find out,” finished Vir.  

“Visions?” asked Cain.  Not good.  Most definitely not good.  

“Yes,” replied Vir.  “Not harmful or long lasting, though.”  The group was silent for a moment, as they decided on how to approach this.  Throughout his career as a ship’s captain, and later, admiral, Vir usually operated on his best judgement.  While occasionally shaky at times, it usually won the day.  However, when wasn’t sure what to do, he usually asked himself one question: what would Captain Kirk do?  Well, Kirk was now here, in the same room, and apparently he didn’t have any clue either.  Might as well find out what he thinks, I suppose.  “Captain Kirk?  You seem to be in these sorts of situations a lot.  What do you think we should do?”  Kirk looked over with a frown.  

“We should investigate,” he said finally.  “I don’t particularly like it, never have, never will, but we have to see what’s going on all the same.”  The group nodded to each other.  

“Cooper and Solo, you stay up here in case anything… funny goes on,” ordered Vir.  The two nodded their consent.  “The rest of us… prepare.  Meet you on these coordinates on planet in 45 minutes.”

Aboard the Apocalypse   

“Right you sorry lot!  We are going planetside to investigate a bunch of alien architecture.  There may or may not be hostiles, but this place gives me the creeps,” announced Drake.  The Third Squad of armsmen looked over to him.  Lucky them.  They drew duty rotation when we’re above disturbing planet central.  “I’ve been around long enough, seen enough, heard enough stories, and watched enough horror movies to know what’s probably going to happen.”  As he said this, a pair of robotic arms locked his armor in place.  The armsmen were gearing up and checking their weapons, but still listening intently.  “You are going to bring full combat gear, full weapons, the works!  The whole works!  Everyone is going to be wearing fully sealed armor, and carry an extra respirator on hand, just in case.  You are also bringing provisions, again, just in case.”  Drake grabbed his plasma rifle and double, then triple checked it.  He then keyed his comms.  “Richter.  Ordelphine.  If for some reason we do not make it back, you are not to send any more soldiers down.  You have full authorizations for Genesis 19 protocols.  Use your best judgement.  I trust you two more than anyone else in this fleet, so do not allow them to override you.  Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”  On the other side of the comms line, Richter and Ordelphine winced.  Genesis 19 was code for the complete nuclear annihilation of anything on a planet deemed to be a threat.  Drake wasn’t taking any chances here, it seemed.  

Aboard the Normandy

Shepard took up a heavy machine gun and checked the ammunition.  This place reminded him too much of old Prothean planets, and the beacons located on them.  The massive black pillars and the visions Vir and his crew got from being near them were too much like the beacon he had touched on Eden Prime…  He still had nightmares about that mission.  This time, he was taking no chances.  Instead of taking a full team with him, he decided to go with what he normally did, and take three ground crew members.  All were carefully selected.  Garrus, because he wouldn’t trust anyone else to have his back as well as the Turian sniper.  Samara.  An ancient Asari biotic.  None more powerful or calm in a crisis.  Lastly, Mordin.  A Salarian scientist.  The only expert he had at the moment who might be able to figure out what these ruins were.  He hoped it would be enough.  

Aboard the Enterprise

Kirk, Spock and Master Chief stood next to the cylindrical grey transporters of the Enterprise.  The two Starfleet officers stood, checking their phasers and respirator masks, making sure nothing would go wrong once they got planetside.  Alongside them were a group of low ranking redshirts (hopefully they wouldn’t die this time, though Kirk was less than hopeful)  and the massive, green-clad figure of the Chief.  Said figure was currently looking over all of his weapons, making sure they were all there and battle ready.  Out of all the Scoundrels, it went without saying that he was the most physically powerful.  It would be his duty to eradicate anything particularly big or nasty they found on the planet.  If, of course, there was actually anything there.  The fleet’s scanners had picked up no life signs, but everyone was still on edge.  Kirk nodded and the group stepped into the transporter.  

“Beam us up, Scotty.”

Aboard the Omen

Commissar Cain leaned against a shuttle in the Omen’s massive hangar bay.  Of course, as the regiment’s champion of all things strange and alien, he had been chosen to lead the surface party.  He couldn’t say no.  How would it look to refuse to partake in a mission of this calibre in front of not only the Valhallans, but the Omen’s crew as well?  He would lose his status if he did.  So, it was with a very heavy heart that he warily donned his tattered set of carapace armor, strapped on his weapons, and made his way to the hangar.  Sargent Grifen was already there, along with her squad.  At least it was Grifen.  Cain had gone through a necron tomb with her squad and lived.  If he trusted anyone in the regiment with this mission, it was her.  And, of course, Jurgen.  Cain’s aide stood by his side, his ever present smell lingering in the air.  In his hands he held his melta gun, a weapon that had saved both their lives on numerous occasions.  Cain was sure Jurgen had other trinkets hidden in his pouches, in addition to the las rifle slung across his back.  Jurgen was ever prepared for anything.  

Cain looked up and over to where Admiral Vir entered the hangar.  He was backed up by a full contingent of marines and members of the Drev clan, followed by a few of the ship’s scientists.  Vir was wearing his suit of Iron Eye armor, fully insulated against the outside atmosphere.  Inside it, he was one of the group’s resident super soldiers, able to perform feats no ordinary person could ever aspire to.  Vir nodded as the Drev came to ease, resting their spears on the floor, and the marines checked their rifles one last time.  

“Let’s get going then, shall we?”

On the Planet

The Omen’s shuttle had landed in some sort of marshland, brackish water reaching up to the group’s shins.  Red mist stretched as far as the eye could see.  Black plants and a few totally black, dead trees littered the ground.  The Milano was parked nearby, on a larger solid stretch of ground, and Quill lounged outside it while his crew looked merely bored at the lack of action on this strange planet.  The Valhallans filed out of the shuttle, looking apprehensive in contrast to the Quill’s boredom and Vir’s excitement over exploring new planets.  A tiled black road led to some sort of black mass in the distance.  A city, if Vir had to guess.  How exciting!

A high whining sound rang out, and Kirk, Spock, and Master Chief teleported in alongside a contingent of Starfleet red-shirts.  The Chief stood statue still, weapons ready, as the Starfleet operatives joined the crew of the Omen in examining the black plant life that dotted the ground and the spaces in between the road tiles.  

The roar of shuttle engineers pierced the air, and the Normandy’s sleek shuttle made its descent alongside the Apocalypse’s heavy gunship transport.  Shepard, Garrus, and two aliens Vir and Cain didn’t recognize stepped out of the first, while Drake and a full contingent of armsmen.  

One of Shepard’s crew, a Salarian, by the looks of him, made a b-line to the scientists examining the plants, while Shepard and the other two greeted Quill.  The Apocalypse’s armsmen disembarked quickly, weapons at the ready as if they were on an active battlefield.  Drake made a circular motion to the shuttle pilot, who gave a thumbs up and immediately took off.  Drake approached Cain and gave a curt nodd.   

“This is your galaxy, Vir, so you’re in charge, but I don’t like the looks of this place.  I don’t want to spend a second longer here than I need to.”  Cain nodded.

“I agree.  This reminds me too much of some of the… stranger things I’ve seen.”  Vir pointed to the buildings on the horizon.  

“I understand,” he said reassuringly.  “Plus, we need to investigate that way anyway.  Let's move on.”  Vir made a motion to the scientists still crouched along the beginning of the pathway.  Dr. Wilson, one of the Omen’s scientists, looked up and held out a vial of the black plant.

“These are all dead.  But they’re remarkably well preserved…”

“Wilson is right.  Planet is dead.  Was once alive, but now everything here is lifeless.  Strangely well preserved, though,” rattled off the Salarian, almost without any breaths.  

“I’m liking this less and less,” muttered Cain.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group had walked the long titled road in silence, the red mist swirling around them.  At one point, there was a rain storm, and Vir had ordered everyone inside one of the decayed buildings they had finally reached.  Everyone had taken it differently.  Shepard and his crew looked apprehensive.  The crews of the Omen and Enterprise were looking over everything with curiosity.  Master Chief, Drake, Cain, the Valhallans, and the Apocalypse’s armsmen were fanned out, weapons raised, clearing corners and rooms as if they were expecting something to pop out of the dark any minute.  Quill and his Guardians merely looked bored.  Again.  

They had moved on further since then, into the city itself.  Huge black buildings, in varying states of decay, loomed ominously through the fog.  The scientists were all muttering to each other as the took readings, while the soldiers had all unconsciously moved into wedge formations.  Drake’s gunship whined overhead, ready to provide close air support at his request.  Some might have called it overkill and over-caution, but Drake hadn’t lived this long by not taking such measures.  

At this point, Vir was starting to get creeped out.  Everything here was… wrong, somehow.  It was like a faint childhood memory that one knew they remembered, but couldn’t actually remember.  The place was… familiar.  Sacred, somehow.  In addition, it was a decayed city with no signs of life, and no signs of what had happened to it.  

“Anyone know what might have happened here?” he whispered to the rest of the group.  Somehow, it felt wrong to raise his voice.  

“No.  Not the Borg’s style,” replied Kirk.  

“Reapers would have been more thorough,” whispered back Shepard.  

“I have no idea…” trailed off Cain.  In actuality, he had a few ideas.  None of them good.  None of them he could say, either.  

They came to a central spot, the roads all branching into what looked to be a main square.  A large building rose up in front of them, looking distinctly human in style.  

“Should we investigate?” asked Shepard.  

“Yes, and no,” replied Drake.  “I think some of us should stay here, outside, to make sure no one attacks our rear, while others go inside to investigate.”

“That makes… tactical sense,” replied Vir with a nodd.  “Alright.  Quill and Chief, along with some of the Enterprise’s crew and Valhallans, stay here.  The rest of you, follow me.”  

The building, as it turned out, was some sort of massive laboratory.  There were test tubes of strange, glowing liquid, some form of massive, incomplete mech hanging on calves, and endless rows of filing cabinets.  There were huge factory floors, complete with conveyor belts, all decayed and rusted into ignominy, and rooms filled with rows upon rows of vats of sludge.  With every passing room, the entering group got more and more apprehensive.  What the hell is this place?  What were they doing?  Vir wanted to yell.  It was all so very strange.  So very… creepy.  

This went on for some time, the invaders of this strange sanctum touching nothing, until they got to a central room.  The heavy blast doors that should have protected it were open.  Not a good sign.  In the center of the room was a pedestal, and upon the pedestal, a glowing white ball.  

“Safeties off,” hissed Drake.  “If there’s an ambush coming, now’s as good a time as any.”  Vir, Wilson, Kirk, and Shepard walked up to the ball. 

“What the hell is this?” asked Shepard warily.

“I don’t know,” replied Vir.  “Maybe… some sort of artifact?  Communication device?  No clue.”  Wilson reached out.  

“Don’t touch it!” screamed Cain and Shepard as one.  It was too late.  As soon as Wilson’s skin made contact with the glowing ball, a blast of pure white energy rang throughout the room, knocking everyone off their feet.  Soldiers flew in tangles of weapons, and scientists stumbled and knocked into walls.

Cain slid on the floor, and shook his head a moment to clear it of the force the ball had unleashed.  He looked around.  The Valhallans stood up, checking their weapons to make sure they were still working.  Shepard’s team stood up, Garrus bringing his rifle around and Samara glowing with blue energy.  Kril and the Salarian scientist stood up.  Rigaldis, leader of the Apocalypse armsmen, pushed himself to his feet.  All of the aliens were fine.  All of the Imperial humans were fine.  But the rest, the other humans…  Cain checked Shepard’s neck for a pulse.  It was there.  They were all alive, but completely unconscious.  

“What the hell was that?” asked one of the Valhallans.  

“Don’t know,” murmured Cain as he studied the unconscious humans.  With a suddenness that caused the medic checking him to recoil, Vir’s one organic eye snapped open.  It looked straight ahead, completely unseeing, and seemed to have an incandescent white glow about it.  The medic waved his hand in front of Vir.  He didn’t blink.  

“Deus…” he murmured, before falling once more into unconsciousness.  Everyone looked around uneasily.  

“What do we do?” asked one of the red shirts. 

“Don’t touch that,” Cain pointed at the white orb, “But bring them outside.  We can’t leave them here.”  

Outside was calm, or, as calm as a planet filled with roiling red fog could be.  Quill and Master Chief walked up to the group, noticing the bodies flung across many of the soldiers’ backs.  

“What the hell happened?” asked the Chief.  

“One of the scientists touched some sort of strange white orb,” replied Cain.  “It knocked them all unconscious.”

“We noticed some sort of burst of white energy,” said Quill.  “Didn’t know what it was.  Now we do, I guess,” he added with a shrug.  

“What do we do now?” asked the Chief once more.  

“It’s a strange, alien artifact, and they seem to be… possessed,” replied Cain.  He didn’t want to say it, but there was no avoiding it.  All of the unconscious humans had a white glow around their eyes.  

“Hmm,” muttered Quill.  “Possessed… I think I know someone who might be able to help us here,” he announced after a moment’s deliberation.  “I’ll send a message to him.”  

“I need to send a message too,” said Cain.  “We need to call in the experts.”

Stay tuned, because next time, the experts will arrive, and things are about to get pretty cool...

As per usual, none of these characters except Drake and his crew belong to me.  If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, requests, or concerns, please, feel free to ask!

[the-writings-of-kaos]

Galactic crossing program pt 1

The Vicarious empire had been expanding for a large portion of their recent history, the collective government of their race founded a company made specifically to terraform and colonize planets with multiple colonies for the use of population dispersal and to expand horizons. Space agencies were almost exclusively mobile agencies, giant university ships, dragging trawler ship factories, and even the occasional asteroid miner and ship fabricator docks spaced through out the massive reach of space.  And today, Galactic standard date 12/39/13098, I am setting out to explore the uncharted space!

———

“Welcome abound captain Freyith, it is an honour to make your aquaitance.”

The ship greeted its captain in Retah tongue, as Freyith came abourd.

Freyith: “Salutations to you aswell wing, would you please start up the FTL drive?”

W-I-N-G: “Of course, shall we make haste to the edge of mapped space?”

Freyith: “Yes please. Oh this is so exciting, imagine all the new species we could incounter.”

W-I-N-G: “Unlikly, the nearest area of unmapped space contains mostly rouge or unstable systems at the fringes of the galaxy.”

Freyith: “ohh...”

The young Retah slumped down in her helm nest with disappointment, was this really all her space days would be? Jumping from system to system to scout out uninhabitable planet after planet.

W-I-N-G: “Do not fret captain, it is much more safe to see unique planetiod formations rather then potentially hostile and savage life forms. And what’s more if something did truely survive in this area of space, it would be the closest thing to a walking crieyutt.”

Freyith shuddered at that blatantly poor attempt at humour, the walkers of crieyutt were nothing but an old story told to fledglings to make them grow a sense of danger. No creature would actually survive if they were so violent, the laws of the galaxy themselves say so.

Freyith: “Sure sure wing, I ain’t got this reachers license for nothing. Let’s go have some ventures, shall we?”

W-I-N-G: “Commencing space jump in three, two, one.”

Freyith was thrown back in her nest, she laughed with amazement as the lights of stars glimered past in lines of bright white, blue, yellow, reds, greens, and a rare few purple dashes just before the Feathered festival ship dropped out of FTL space.

Freyith giggled and laughed until her sense returned and she was able to sit up once more.

Freyith: “Wing, system report.”

W-I-N-G: “It would appear that we have dropped approximately sixteen yip lengths from a large red dwarf star, celestial body count of 7 comprised of 4 asteroid bodies. Shall we move towards the furthest planetoid?”

Freyith: “Affirmative, let’s see what this system has in the ways of inhabitability.”

The small ship flew into orbit of the third planet.

W-I-N-G: “Readings indicate small surface pockets, of electrolized metal. Likely caused by the exceedingly dense atmospheric conditions, as well as atmospheric friction. Surprisingly this planets core is very hot, suggesting that there is some form of mineral gas in the atmosphere preventing the planet from cooling down. There also appears to be a record 78 orbiting bodies of natural origin, scans suggest that most of them are solid state hydrogen oxide.”

Freyith: “This planet has perfect conditions for terraformation, with all that electrolized metal it would be more than easy to make this into an active food world. And all those hydrogen oxide asteroids could serve as water for millennia!”

W-I-N-G: “Deep scans suggest that there is some sort of... burrowing lifeform on the planet.”

Freyith gasped with excitement, then paused, and began to feel curiousity.

Freyith: “Wait, if the deep scans picked it up, how large would it be?”

W-I-N-G: “Deep scans say it is around, 60-90 Vep (15-20 meters squared) in size.”

Freyith: “Search for possible locations for new life, if something that big is here, surely there is something habitable here.”

W-I-N-G: “Negitive, the life form was very close to the surface. It may be a rapid magmetic convulsion pressure. We should scout the rest of the system, before setting foot with such a thing on the planet.”

Freyith: “ugh fine, but as soon as we are done we are going back to see it.”

The ship cruised along

W-I-N-G: “Planet 2 contains heavy amounts of solid state nitrogen deposits. No atmosphere, scans suggest a strong abundance of sodium meteors in the asteroid rings around the planet.”

Freyith: “Fun, next.”

W-I-N-G: “please refrain from not documenting these planets captain.”

Freyith: “Right sorry, it’s just like the orbital bodies back home. It’s nothing interesting.”

The ship moved along, as the captain had a fight with the ship ai.

W-I-N-G: “Planet number 1 seems to have dense- captain, we have an impact warning in 6 wop. Get up, we need to document this!”

Freyith: “Who in the burning blunder is out here?”

W-I-N-G quickly moved the ship out of the way, then further out of the way as another impact warning played out.

Freyith sat with baited breath in front of the vid screens, as the odd six sided object came hurdling through space. It flew by the ship with a multitude of other objects of the same shape, as all of the swarm of them ignited a bright yellow fire at their bottoms and flung towards the third planet.

Freyith: “Wing follow them to the planet, and I won’t say I told you so.”

W-I-N-G hurled the ship back to the third planet, as they watched the odd ships rain down into the dense atmosphere and crash straight into the under ground tunnels the life form had made.

Freyith: “Wing What is happening?”

W-I-N-G: “It does not compute, there doesn’t seem to be a obvious reason as to why this is happening.”

With astonishment Freyith watched as the planets atmosphere began to clear and thin out, as the odd ships flew through it. The odd shapes having been switched out for the megnitised surface deposits, as the metal was pulled out of the atmosphere and placed in a visible pile.

Freyith: “Wing, land us planet side. As close to that massive deposit as you can.”

The ship did as commanded and flew down to the surface, putting on a atmosuit Freyith hopped out the airlock to look around. The pile of metal was amazing, the small grains of black dust stuck to the magnetic deposits was absurd as more of the odd ships flew over head.

A loud howl like noise suddenly erupted behind her, before she turned rapidly to face the new foe. A small adorable creature stood just a little ways away, it wore no pressure suit, it wore no atmosuit, all it wore was a small patch of fur atop its head and synthetic garments.

The sense of fear and sense adoration were so much, she had no idea what to do. Run back to the ship, or stand her ground to meet the small cute creature.

It began to walk towards her, its clumsy looking bipedal stride mixed with the frail looking limbs made her want to help it towards her as if it was helpless living on a world that was in the dooms day of all doomsday not a few moments ago.

It stood next to her, and outstretched its stumpy grasping appendage towards her. She didn’t quite know what to do, so she reciprocated the gesture. The small creature took her grasping in its and shook them up and down before letting go, and gesturing back to where it came.

Freyith was shocked with how calm the creature was, and the virtually no aggression seemed to be good indicator. Ignoring wing yelling in her ear she followed the small clumsy creature over the flat land, past large metal structures taking atmosphere in and changing it before releasing it out the top. The small creature lead her towards what Wing had thought was the large life form diggin close to the surface, but in actuality it seemed to be a surface miner. What it was mining for was unknown, the small creature gestured that she went inside the living quarters inside the large miner.

She peered inside for any form of threat, all that was inside was a small rectangular nest. On one side a surface with various food items was spread out, and on the other was some sort of sleeping set up. And down a set of platforms was the pilots helm. The small creature followed behind her and went over to the food surface, it opened a compartment from the supporting wall and removed what looked like... meat! The creature was preparing food for her and it!

Just as she was enveloped with curiosity over the small creatures actions, it suddenly placed a metallic bowl with a special handle over top a circle built into the food item surface. It placed the dehydrated meat onto it before adding liquid water, it sizzled as the new smell of cooked meat wafted through the small nest.

The creature paused to looked back at her, and she noticed the two small forward facing eyes. So it was some sort of predator, hmm, yet it appeared completely docilen if not friendly. She looked around the nest a saw photographs embedded in viewing compartments, placed throughout the nest. One had a picture of the creature with another of its kind, and a small predator of a different species sitting in front of them. It looked rather shaggy the smaller thing, big dopey golden coloured ears with a small red live stock collar around its neck. As she puzzled over the picture, the creature grabbed back her attention. It had cut the meat with a sharp metallic utensil, and had placed the two portions on small platters. Only on its platter was some form of stalky green plant matter, and on hers a small bowl of seeds. So they were omnivores, that’s new. Most species they encountered only ate one form of food, and left the other in peace or to be used some other way. This creature seemed to eat both, and likely based off the act of peperation she was showed they ate a multitude of different foods.

The creature was using a different set of metallic utensils to eat as it sat down on one of two circular soft platforms around a surface. She sat down on the empty soft platform, and was handed her own set of utensils. Not wanting to be rude she tried them, it wasn’t a bad way to eat if not a bit safer then the regular. This way she didn’t have anything stuck in her beak, and she didn’t have to wait between bites for her food to properly settle.

The meat was delicious, some how this creatures people had a way of preparing food that made it taste better and more easily digestible. Once she finished she looked at the stalky green plant matter the creature had taken, it picked up one with its stumpy graspers and chewed it between its back jaw bones.

It was finishing the last one before it looked at the small bowl of seeds it had set out for her, it looked concerned. She wasn’t an omnivore, so she had left them alone. She pushed her finished platter towards the creature, hoping it would understand. To her surprise the creature picked up the bowl and simple swallowed all the seeds in one go, so they had multiple ways of eating, interesting.

The creature put the dirtied platters and bowl in a different compartment then they had come, maybe that was a to be cleaned compartment. The creature led her to one of the embedded viewing compartment. She recognized it as some sort of map, as the creature set it on the eating surface. It gestures to her, then to itself before gesturing at the end of a line segment on the map.

So that’s where they were, she gestured to the large circle on the map. The creature brought up a data pad and after tapping on it a few times, it showed her a collection of photos. First was a picture of the large metallic deposits landing on the surface and attracting the black dust, next was the odd shaped ships picking them up and flying them around and clearing up the atmosphere, next was a picture of the creature coming out from a buried shealter and taking down the shell of it to reveal the miner, next was a picture of the map with a swath of multiple line segments leading to the large circle she had originally gestured to.

So this was some sort of terraforming process, so this creatures race had come from an as of yet undiscovered species! And they were capable of terraforming like this? Unbelievable. She held her breath as she examined all the started lines and the few lines on the map that had come to the circle, there were hundreds of these creatures on this planet. Only hundreds, that’s so little for this massive task.

She paused and held her hand up hoping to pause the creature ramblings

Freyith: “Wing are you seeing this?”

W-I-N-G: “Yes!!! We found a deathworlder species and you are in its den, and you are vastly unprepared to face a deathworlder!!!”

Freyith: “I think I’m going to travel with them until they get to the redevue point them have shown me on their map.”

W-I-N-G: “Are you crazy!?! Have you gone savage!?! What if they eat you? What if it takes a few hepta?”

Freyith: “Thats fine, at least I can learn about them. Fly the ship over here so I can load up supplies and other sorts.”

W-I-N-G: “Does the deathworlder know you are doing this?”

Freyith paused as she looked back to the deathworlder, with its adorable patch of fur and its stumpy and clumsy looking limbs. She gesture to what she thought was a resting around, then to herself. The creature tapped on the data pad again as another surface folded out above the first one, the soft material there aswell. The creature then gestured to her and the top sleeping pad.

Freyith: “they seem happy to take me.”

Authors note:

Hey everyone, I know I still have a series on the bench but I’m going to start this one while I work on the final piece. As always thanks to my fellow authors, prompters, and commenters for the inspiration for this piece. Hope you enjoyed, have a good one.

[scribbles97]

Gunshot Wound

All I’m saying is these space bros don’t get enough time out together. 

@kenzie-running-free​ I believe you requested John and Gunshot Wound ...

It had been intended as some down time for him, as a break from being in space and fielding calls day in day out. For Alan it was meant to be a chance to be a kid again, and have a day with no responsibilities that he had so often missed out on when he had been younger. For them both it was meant as some brotherly bonding time and a chance to reminisce about days gone by. 

Alan had always loved trips to Kennedy Space Centre, he and John both had never grown out of that sense of awe at those first explorations beyond the confines of their atmosphere. Even as adults and both astronauts in their own rights, there was still something humbling about visiting the museum. 

Unfortunately, being Tracy’s came with a certain level of recognition. It was with good reason the pair rarely visited the corner of the third floor devoted to the first Mars landings. Whilst Alan barely remembered the occasion, both knew enough about the mission from the direct source without needing the reminder of the father that was still missing in their lives. Both got fed up with the whispers and second glances they received through the rest of their tour, and neither felt up to the task of answering questions from over-interested visitors. 

“Dad used to love answering questions in there.” Alan commented as they passed the exhibit in question, “Do you remember?”

John did remember. He remembered people interrupting his day out with his dad for autographs and photos, asking questions that John himself knew were answered on the plaques across the walls. He remembered fading into the background as big bold Jeff Tracy soaked up the attention in the same way that Scott always did. 

“Yeah,” He sighed, ducking his chin deeper into his scarf, “I remember.” 

“Wanna go and see what’s new in there?” 

It was simply a question of courtesy, lacking any of the youngests usual enthusiasm. For once, John hardly felt any guilt for shaking his head. 

“Hey, you two!” 

Midweek, midwinter, the centre was hardly rammed with visitors, so it was instinct for both to look back towards the exhibit as they had begun to turn away. 

“You’re Jeff Tracy’s kids, right?”

John straightened, something about the woman dressed in dark jeans and a too big black hoodie sending a slight tingle down his spine. 

“We are, yes.” He nodded politely, “Though we are here on a personal visit today, and don’t have time for any questions.”

Her smile was sweet, pink like Penelope’s against equally pale skin. Jello green hair was tucked up under her beanie, only a few strands escaping out to frame her face. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Her hand waved vaguely, “I wasn’t here to ask any questions.”

“Look lady,” Alan sighed still edging away from the exhibit, “I dunno what you want but me and my brother are just here for a break, so can you please just respect that?”

She snorted as her smile turned bitter, “There’s no need to be rude, kid.”

John glared, stepping towards her, “Hey, he made a perfectly reasonable request. I recommend that you respect that.”

Her head tilted as her smile dropped, “Or what?”

“Or I’ll file for harassment.” 

“Oh, I think harassment is going to be the least of your worries.”

Before John could ask what she meant, her other had was out of the pouch on the front of her hoodie, a gun brandished towards him, a finger tensing on the trigger and a crack splitting the quiet air. 

“John!” 

He barely registered Alan’s yell as the world tipped sideways and his shoulder hit the floor hard. 

He’d never been shot. Scott, Kayo, and Penelope had, but he was the quiet brother most frequently in orbit, hidden away safely from the dangers of idiots on earth (At least mostly). 

From what he had been told, it was meant to hurt a hell of a lot more than the sudden ache from where his body had crash landed. 

As his brain caught up, he realised that it wasn’t the shock of being shot that had sent him down, a much greater force had hit him in the side. 

“Alan.” He gasped out as he pushed himself up, eyes immediately finding the smaller form of his baby brother. 

And the pool of blood under him. 

A curse might have slipped from his mouth as he shuffled the small distance between them. 

“Ow.” The younger breathed, eyes screwed shut, “That hurt.” 

“Hold still and focus on staying awake.” John told him, trying to focus on the fact that at least he was awake despite the hole in his chest, “That was a stupid move.” 

“Heh,” Alan grinned, “Saved your life, di’n I?”

“John!” Eos exclaimed, her hologram appearing from his watch as John pulled his scarf from around his neck, “I am receiving reports of a firearms discharge at your location. Report.”

“Alan’s been shot.” He stated as he pressed the blue-green wool against the wound, “I need EMT here now. Unknown female assailant has fled the scene, green hair, black hoodie and hat.”

“Emergency services are on their way, as is Thunderbird one.”

Alan grunted at the comment, his face screwing up further as he sucked in a slow breath, “Scott’ll kill me.”

“Too right.” John uttered under his breath, “You stay awake Allie, hear me? I’m not getting the blame for this.”

Blue eyes met his as a smile spread across the youngers lips, “Was your idea.”

“My idea was for you to come up to Five.” He corrected, “I say next time we stick with that.”

A sound that was meant to be a laugh broke off into a gargled cough, red the colour of Alan’s baldric splashing against his lips. Glee shifted to fear in his eyes as he looked up to John. 

“Hey,” He snapped, demanding the attention, “You stay with me, okay? It’s gonna be fine, you’re going to be alright.” 

Because it had to be fine. He couldn’t let it be anything else, least of all there right outside their Dad’s exhibit. 

Tears glistened as bright as the blood in the fluorescent lights, the bright baby blues as afraid as they once had been of thunder. John had been there then too, reading books about the stars until the younger blond fell asleep on his bed despite the storm. 

Except this time Alan needed to stay awake. 

“Talk to me Allie,” He pleaded, “Just stay awake, okay?” 

His lips trembled as he gave the smallest of nods, “‘m sorry J’hn.”

He forced a scoff, tried to sound as brave as Scott always did, “You can apologise to Scott for all those grey hairs.”

There should have been a response, some sort of laugh and a comment about their big brother dying his hair again. 

There shouldn’t have been eyes that closed and a soft exhale. 

“Alan.” He demanded, “Alan open your eyes. Alan? Alan!”

No, he couldn’t lose him as well. He couldn’t lose his baby brother too. 

Hands on his shoulders pulled him back as uniformed EMTs stepped in, “Alan!” 

[honourablejester]

Since I’m apparently on the subject of bioluminescent mermaids again, I went back and dug up some worldbuilding notes for the story I originally had the idea for, and which basically never actually got written. It was essentially going to be a sci-fi/horror/noir set on a maritime planet (Lemuria), starring an eldritch abyssal mermaid nightclub performer and her nightclub-owner human partner (in all senses), dealing with industrial sabotage and race relations in a submarine city run by geothermal power.

If you want to see what my worldbuilding notes for stories often look like, this is (sometimes) it. Sometimes. Actually, this is quite organised for me. Normally I just wing it on the day.

Lemuria Notes

Contents:

Planet Lemuria (geography, inhabitants, language)

Major Nations/Peoples of Lemuria

Interplanetary Issues (Galactic Ruling/Judiciary Bodies)

Actual Story Idea

Planet Lemuria:

Lemuria has a very slow rotation around its own axis, especially compared to its solar orbit, with one full Lemurian day lasting two thirds of a Lemurian year. Planetary nights last for four months at the equators. The planet is primarily oceanic at this phase in its geological history, with two small continents still in existence, both largely on the same ('continental') side of the planet, and a series of many occupied island chains in the vast oceans on the other ('oceanic') side of the planet. Lemuria is home to a significant human colonial population on these landmasses, being gradually settled over the past 300 galactic years.

Lemuria is also home to what are called the demimondaine, which is a (human) collective term for the two or three loosely connected species of semi-humanoid aquatic beings (‘mermaids’) who are the original and continuing inhabitants of the planet. Demimondaine are broadly divided into three main types: surface or island demimondaine (warm-blooded, amphibious, very humanoid surface or upper water column demimondaine), ocean or deep water demimondaine (cold-blooded, amphibious, semi-humanoid mid-column demimondaine from the deeper oceans away from the islands and continents), and abyssal demimondaine (semi-humanoid, biomorphous, non-amphibious demimondaine from the sea floor and abyssal plains/trenches). The demimondaine form several major nation states on the planet, and have a (mostly) friendly and cooperative relationship with the human colonies, having granted permission for human settlement on their planet three hundred galactic years ago.

A note on languages and names: as most of the demimondaine languages are unpronounceable and largely unintelligible to humans, owing to the difference in vocal construction, most of the names given in this document are the human names for places and beings. Communication between humans and demimondaine is largely text-based, as demimondaine have several glyph-based writing systems (most language groups have one or two) that are translatable to human systems. Electronic text-based translation is the standard, though there are also several pidgin sign-languages in use, particularly in trade cities like Jasconius, Zaratan and Ys, and in the Island Union, since hand-shape is largely similar between species.

(Further note on all of this: I am bullshitting to the max, having no scientific background on any of it at all)

Nations/Settlements of Note:

Zealandia: the largest continent and surface nation, located in the southerly continental oceans and generally enjoying a very warm and humid tropical climate. Lemurine, its capital city, is the administrative colonial capital of Lemuria. The continent hosts 54% of all colonial residents and off-planet visitors to Lemuria. Zealandia is the main surface agricultural production area, and it boasts a significantly different and human-orientated diet to much of the rest of Lemuria. Baralku, the primary Lemuria-to-orbit spaceport, is located just south of Lemurine City.

Kerguelen: the smaller continent, located to the north west of Zealandia on the continental side of the planet. Kerguelen has a colder climate than Zealandia, and is primarily home to forestry and ore mining, with a small agricultural zone. It is the other main colonial settlement and nation state, along with the Island Union on the oceanic side of the planet. Kusu is the capital for this landmass.

The Island Union: a nation state comprised of several of the largest island chains in the central and southern oceanic seas, controlling much of the territory west of Deep Mu and east of Zealandia on the oceanic side of the planet. The Island Union has the most integrated mixed human and demimondaine population on Lemuria, with both species represented in its ruling body. It also has the widest range of both human and demimondaine languages in current use.

Kibu Island/Spaceport: the main Lemuria-to-orbit spaceport and atmospheric transport hub on the oceanic side of the planet, Kibu spaceport and arcology complex is built on a large semi-artificial atol island chain in the equatorial ocean, with the main spaceport tower complex on Kibukuth island.

Bohol: one of the main island chains in the southern oceans of Lemuria, it's the third largest land-based and colonial settlement on Lemuria, and the largest single non-Jasconian demimondaine surface settlement. Considered the capital and administrative center of the Island Union, and a significant point of contact between humans and demimondaine.

Jasconius: a large demimondaine floating city complex and independent city-state, inhabited primarily by deep ocean and surface demimondaine. Jasconius famously circumnavigates the planet on a slow, continuous basis to keep itself on the daylight side of Lemuria, with regular excursions to the following dawn-twilight zone. It's always morning in Jasconius. The city's heart is sixteen hundred Lemurian years old (equivalent of twelve hundred galactic standard years), making it the oldest continually-occupied demimondaine settlement on Lemuria's surface, a very popular tourist destination, and a primary human-demimondaine trading city.

Zaratan: a smaller floating city complex, located exclusively on the oceanic side of the planet, Zaratan is essentially a floating market city that travels along trade routes in the Island Union and several outlying micronations in more northerly waters. Largely inhabited by island demimondaine, and also considered an independent city-state, though it has strong trade and political ties with the Island Union.

Deep Mu: Largest and most powerful of the two known deep nations, located in the vast western abyssal plains between the Zealandia continent and the Island Union, Deep Mu is home almost exclusively to abyssal demimondaine who rarely come to the surface. Its capital is unknown to the surface, but there are rumours of a vast cave complex in the wall of the Zealandian continental shelf that serves as the main Muean city. Owing to large geothermal activity at several points on the sea floor, Deep Mu is the producer of around 60% of Zealandia's energy supply, which is a serious political bone of contention between Deep Mu and the surface.

Ys: an independant deep ocean city habitat and power station located just on the edge of the Zealandian continental shelf, Ys is the primary connection point between Lemurine and Deep Mu, and a major trading hub for deep water demimondaine in the continental oceans. It's one of the few places where humans, deep water and abyssal demimondaine intermingle.

Vaalbara: the other known deep nation, located in the colder northern waters to the east of Kerguelen. Vaalbara has two main cities, an abyssal city deep in the Cipactli Trench on the eastern edge of the territory, and the deep water city of Sedna on the Imap Umassoursa submarine plateau about four hundred miles off the coast of Kerguelen. Vaalbara is to an extent isolationist in relation to humans. The abyssal city again has almost no contact with humans, although Sedna does have a limited trade relationship with Kerguelen, mostly conducted via coastal settlements on Kerguelen itself. Surface fleets from Sedna also have some contact with Zaratan on the extreme north-westerly loop of Zaratan's circuit, and Jasconius makes a stopover above the city itself roughly every year-and-a-half when taking its northern circumnavigation route.

Interplanetary Issues:

Galactic Systems Alliance (GSA or the Alliance) - Interstellar Governing Body of which Lemuria is a member state.

Alliance Planetary Justice Commission (APJC) - Alliance justice body which investigates and regulates primarily intra-planetary/intra-system interspecies incidents from a supposedly neutral outside perspective. May be called in by system authorities and/or sent in by the GSA if reports are made to them of gross injustices in defiance of galactic law.

Story Idea:

Yes, all this was basically random worldbuilding for a single story, which wound up not being written, though bits of it still live in my brain. The original idea was for a mermaid vampire story, which morphed into a maritime sci-fi/noir/spy story in what became the city of Ys. It featured APJC agents being sent to investigate terrorist/industrial sabotage threats aimed at the Mu-Lemurine geothermal power conduits, and ending up getting involved with Yssian protectors in the form of an abyssal nightclub singer/secret agent/femme fatale and her human nightclub owner/handler/detective partner.

Serene, the abyssal singer, is strongly inspired by the black dragonfish and similar creatures on Earth, and is basically a shapeshifting black bioluminescent nightmare with glass-like bones and needle teeth who hunts in pitch darkness using self-generated infra-red light, on the grounds that if you're trying to sabotage a deep-water geo-thermal industrial complex, this is exactly the kind of nightmare you really, really don't want coming after you. She also uses the bioluminescence to perform underwater glass tank lightshows at the club ('Last Light', incidentally, for a variety of fun reasons) as a cover, as suggested by her human partner Eshe (who is also black, but in a human blazing-sun-and-light sort of way, as opposed to alien product-of-a-lightless-abyss type way). It takes the poor Apjacks a while (and some minor friendly fire) to get used to working with the Yssian ladies, but by the time the case has headed towards threatening citywide structural collapse and interspecies war levels, they've caught on well enough.

That was the idea, anyway, before I basically got distracted spending two days researching mythical island names, real and mythical sunken continents/cities and random sea deity/monster names in order to do some rather random worldbuilding, and then the story just sat there for five years doing nothing. (Yes, most of the place names are one of the above, with a couple of afterlives and ancient supercontinents thrown in - it does make in-universe sense as well, though, since they're all human names for places on an alien marine planet where native placenames are largely unpronounceable). Behold, one of the dangers of worldbuilding. Heh. Sometimes, you do too much worldbuilding, you never write the actual story.

It's an awful lot of fun, though ...

[alchemist-shizun]

Seirios

Read on Ao3!

Check out the wonderful artwork by @jajathelivingmeme !! She’s a delight and a talented friend 💜

Word Count: 22,331

Characters: Roman, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Logan, Patton, Emile, Remy, Thomas

Pairing(s): Prinxiety, Loceit, Remile

Warning(s): minor character death and death mentions, implied bad parenting (minor), slight violence, not physical, unrequited romance, kissing, crying, panic attack, ptsd, blood, face and eye injury, scar mention, knives mention, hospital mention, very slight gore (just in an emotional description), insomnia mention, Passing out, apparent major characters death (tell me if I missed anything!)

Summary: It's hard for kids to fall asleep. It's especially hard for Remus when he can't help but stare at the night sky, mesmerized. That's why his guardian and uncle Janus decided to tell him a bed time story about two stars' lives and adventures along with the Sun and the Moon. Janus surely didn't expect for the storytelling to lead them to meet the local astronomer, Logan, not to mention develop a stronger bond with him. The best bit? All of his stories were true. Meet Janus Hydra, a fallen shooting star become human, and come listen to the events he witnessed while in space.

A/N: This is my entry for @ts-storytime ! A big thank you to @i-am-overly-complicated for the moral support and some suggestions, and to @crazydemigod666 for beta reading the fic, love ya bud. I worked super hard on this, I hope you all enjoy! Taglist will be added in a reblog.

✾

❝ It's you, it's you, it's all for you,

Everything I do.

I tell you all the time,

Heaven is a place on earth with you. ❞

He knew nothing of the sky.

He would look out of the window at night and glance up at the starry empyrean, wondering how it was possible that his mother had been part of those celestial entities.

And maybe, now that she was gone, he hoped she was part of them again, the stardust she had left behind now scattered across the universe.

« Remus? » his uncle Janus knocked on the door to his room and peeked inside. « Ready to settle down for the night? »

The kid sighed and stepped away from the window he was resting his arms and head on; sleeping was the part of the day he hated the most, there were so many things awaiting him, ideas in his head he wanted to get out in the real world, how could he simply lay dead doing absolutely nothing for eight hours straight?

Resting was too boring and Remus could think of more than a few things to do in its place.

Janus took a couple of steps in his nephew's direction and held out a hand to him like he was doing a grand gesture.

« Is the little duke in the mood for his sleeping duty? »

« Don't think so. » Remus shrugged and glanced at his bed with disinterest.

He pretended he didn't notice his uncle's small sigh and that expression that always seemed to show veiled compassion whenever the kid wouldn't comply.

Janus thought that Remus was a wonderful child, probably the strongest one he'd ever met, there was nothing he was not grateful for when it came to him: only a couple of years had passed from Angy's death, along with his father leaving him behind right after, and there wasn't a day in which he had let himself feel defeated.

After all, Janus had realized that he was the one to really need the other during that period.

Yet there was that one little detail Remus couldn't get himself behind, which was the need to lie your body down and prepare yourself for the following day. He could struggle all he wanted, but there was no way for either of them to find a solution.

Until Janus posed that fateful question in his mind: what would Angy do in this situation?

He raised his eyebrows as the best option surfaced.

Remus watched him tap his finger on his chin, looking around the room for a seat until he brought one in himself, placing it next to the bed the eight-year-old was now sitting on.

Anguis Hydra had been a shooting star in the sky and a writer on Earth when she fell along with her brother, and if there was something her brother knew best was that the finest solution to any problem she had found was storytelling.

Her readers had given her the nickname of “Angst Hydra”, for how much pain they felt thanks to her books.

Little did they know the stories were real: stories based off of other stars encounters they had had during their travels, her memory her sharpest tool.

« Did Angy ever tell you about the most luminous star you can see from the Earth's sky? »

Janus saw Remus's little eyebrows furrow, sign of a notion that was new to him. He brought his legs to his chest as he leaned on his pillow.

« It's actually a binary system, which is composed of two stars orbiting around each other. »

« Is it the … Sirius system? » Remus seemed to recall, his eyes narrowed in uncertainty.

Janus nodded. « Good job. So, all earthlings know about them is astronomical details, the usual research stuff, right? »

The kid made an agreement noise, curious to where that was gonna land.

« They call them Sirius A and B, but as you may expect there's a lot more into it. » he leaned in, his voice barely above a whisper. « Your mum and I had the occasion to meet them and witness their life events. » he could already notice the excitement growing in Remus's eyes. « So, want to listen to their fairytale? »

« Will there be chaos? »

« You have no idea. » both of them grinned as the kid settled in the only right way he knew: wrapping himself up in a blanket burrito and using his pillow as a seat.

« I'm ready! »

« Keep in mind that it's a long story, so we won't be able to cover all of it tonight, alright? »

Remus nodded despite defeated; Janus, on the other hand, knew that if he managed to get him hooked on the tale, he could have made his nephew look forward to bedtime and made things relatively easier.

A win-win situation.

The man turned off the room's lights only to switch on the bedside lamp with green LEDs.

« Alright little duke. » he moved in a comfortable position. « It's time for you to learn of the dance of the stars during the sunset, the moment the sun and the moon meet to leave each other's place to one another. »

Remus had never heard of such a thing, it was a simple tradition his mother and his uncle never took part of as their star selves happened to be constantly moving around with no time for grand events.

« But let's start from the beginning: let me introduce you to our beloved protagonists. »

✾✾✾✾

There were two notions stars were born with: the concept of the moon and the one of the sun.

They were aware there were multiple ones depending on which solar system they were close to, which planet they were taking into account.

But if there was a third piece of knowledge Virgil was certain of, it was that ever since he'd seen him from his little spot, he had been in love with the sun.

Such a titanic star shielding his own much smaller one.

When he was little, he'd look up at the sun and find a hero, a role model he had always been eager to follow: now, whenever he did that, he longed for contact and the revelation of his gorgeous self he wasn't yet able to meet from afar.

Casual passerby stars or nebulae narrated their encounters with the sun, encounters of which Virgil only grew jealous.

His admiration could only grow as much as he couldn't even fathom the grandiosity of those meetings, as he still wondered what was the intensity with which the sun's eyes glowed, the warmth of his protection and his benevolence.

« You want me to tell you about Emile, little one? » Patton was one of those nebulae that had been already circulating for a while and were old enough to attend a very important event that a myriad of stars took part in.

He hadn't quite realized why Virgil was so eager to meet the sun, but hadn't questioned it once since he'd met him.

« Well there are quite a few tales I can tell you about him! »

And so he did and Virgil found himself hanging onto every single word that escaped the other's mouth.

The little star could do nothing but wait for more stories as he grew along the space around him, hoping that maybe one day his orbit would find him.

Everything was going to change once he'd reached stability and joined the

Sunset's Ball.

✾✾✾✾

« The what? » Remus's sleepy eyes questioned Janus.

« One thing at a time, Rem. » the adult brushed some locks from Remus's forehead. « I'll get there later. But first, there's someone else you need to acknowledge. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman had always been aware of his star title: Sirius A. Thanks to that, he had also always known how he was part of a binary system.

Ever since then, he had been more than eager to meet the other star of his system, dreaming of one day finally finding a friend in them, like he had found in Patton, who would always bring news of Virgil.

He had learnt his name thanks to the nebula and mentioned it in his thoughts and conversations like he was a lifelong friend.

Roman's star was bigger and brighter than Sirius B, greatly shielding its vision.

He felt lonely during his growth and stabilization, anyone would have been intimidated by his star dimensions, therefore the visits paid to him were far less than the ones reserved for Virgil.

Yet he would spend his days trying to get someone's attention and, eventually, he'd stop to look down at the other star and wonder when their meeting would come.

Would it come at all?

Star dances were commonly known, but many happened during the day, so one wouldn't be sure of who they were going to end up with until their very first Ball.

That type of dance was the only one performed by stars, it occurred daily and it was a celebration of either sunset or sunrise, the moments in which the Sun and the Moon met and exchanged greetings, only to swap places with each other.

Only the most important stars could participate, once  stability was reached and they were certain that they would've caused no harm to others: the floating palace in which they took place had been the same for millennia and not a single wrong move had been done to endanger it, it had now become a pillar in their history.

Reaching that place was kind of a rite of passage for the stars and proof of respectability for Roman since, compared to the Sun, he and some other stars were far bigger.

Yet, humans had praised the Moon and his partner as actual gods in various religions and cultures, along with other planets they had acknowledged.

So the bigger celestial objects resonated that their importance still varied and wasn't related to how they presented, but rather to who they were, thus they learnt to stand their ground.

And even so, Roman's true goal had always been a different one.

He was going to meet Virgil, one way or another.

✾✾✾✾

Remus's head hit his uncle's arm lightly, a tiny bump against Janus's sleeve; the man took a break from his storytelling after noticing that the boy's eyes were closed, having finally resigned to the heaviness of sleep, smiled to himself and tucked his nephew in bed.

He followed his nightly routine as well which consisted of watching tv until he passed out and woke up way too early for his schedule, only to go back to sleep in his room for a couple more hours.

If only that night had gone exactly like that.

Janus had touched his mattress at around the same indecent time he did normally and fallen asleep minutes after.

Flashes happened and now hands were on his face, twisted and disappeared, turning into a pair of green eyes that were looking fondly at another woman. They laughed and held hands and he had a knot in his stomach as he hugged him a little too tightly. And Janus was breathing, then not, then sobbing, then he knew her happiness came first because the world was so cruel to him. Then Janus smiled, then he didn't, he held his breath as she stopped altogether and then the green-eyed man left. And he?

He woke up.

Barely three hours had passed and he was already sitting up, hugging himself and resting his face on his knees, his expression contorted in a multitude of unpleasantries.

That was not possible.

He was over that, he was over him, there was no need for his subconscious to resurface the majority of his life's regrets so far.

There was definitely no need to remember, to say the least.

What he was gonna do now was going back to sleep and never think about that dream ever again.

Of course, he actually laid awake to stare at the ceiling blankly until his alarm went off, which he turned off automatically, solely moving his arm.

He had looked into the mirror once he had gotten to his bathroom and forced a smile on, but the usual sparkles stars emanated when happy didn't surround his skin.

When he had gotten Remus to school, the kid had pointed out how darker his eye-bags had become lately.

« Can I get matching ones? »

« No, lil duke, better not. » you're gonna end up like this eventually as an adult.

Janus was sick of the constant pitiful glances he got from his co-workers when he had a bad day, the whispers they passed between each other, the fake respectability they kept when he was in a low mood.

None of them personally knew Janus on a close level.

So, as he thought, none of them could have felt entitled to initiate a conversation on a low-key personal topic.

Yet, there a man was, sliding a card on his desk.

« He's a good therapist, I've heard. If you … you know, have any troubles or if your nephew- »

Not even a glance at the name and Janus's insides were revolting. « We don't need it. » a tight-lipped smile set on his face. « Thank you anyway. »

The man almost ran away at that, embarrassed and frantically looking back at his own work position.

Janus took the card in his hands.

Those same innocent and achingly beautiful green eyes stared back at him; Clyde Davis had been his brother in law for as long as Anguis had been alive, once on Earth.

He didn't mean for his memories to overcome him yet again, but here he was, almost blinded near the day of the death's anniversary.

His eyes fixated on the nothingness right above the floor as thoughts flew by his mind: Angy and him had just fallen on Earth, somehow adjusting to the humans' costumes in no time.

They had some slip-ups when it came to ethics and morality, that was why when it came to the realization of feelings the two brothers had different experiences.

Who would've thought humans were so idiotic to banish certain natural forms of love such as the ones not stereotypically between a man and a woman? (the issues on gender identity and sex were also introduced to them on that planet, as stars lacked the concept despite their anthropomorphic forms)

Who would've thought Janus had to find out from the news right after realizing he had gotten a crush for the same man his sister had fallen in love with?

Sure, it was easier to let her happiness come first that way, but it didn't mean his feelings were hurting any less.

If anything, he was constantly mixing joy and guilt, some sort of bittersweet ending that didn't sit right with his emotions, but it did with his conscience.

Wrong wasn't how he felt at Anguis and Clyde's wedding, but maybe more relieved as he was sure that way his love could've dissipated.

At least he hoped so, especially since he was going to live alone from then on.

He thought distance had worked, but then Remus happened and he visited more often than ever, especially since the boy resembles the two people he loved the most.

The circumstances didn't help him, but he had learnt to disguise how he felt better.

Janus thought nothing could've shattered that nice picture.

And then Anguis fell ill.

Some kind of immunodeficiency, a state that saw her body shut down as a star that slowly died and stopped lighting up the night sky.

He had seen her eyes turn black, he had known all along what it meant, but he did not want to accept it. Only deny it to himself as he was now living at her place, helping out when he could.

When the fatal day occurred, Janus, Clyde and Remus were standing by her as her skin got almost colder than the bed she was in.

It hadn't sparkled in too long.

She knew what was going on, she had intimated them to say goodbye as much as they didn't want to; she looked unfairly defeated.

As the time struck, her body stiffened and everything left of her was stardust that emanated its final glow.

Janus's memory had blocked out everything that came after, especially the funeral.

Of course, he couldn't have forgotten the day Clyde came to him, his eyes now dull and distant, He wanted to leave, start a new life and leave behind everything else because he could not bear to look at Remus or him and be reminded of Anguis.

Clyde asked him to take Remus's custody and for the first time Janus had wanted to punch his face rather than kiss him.

But he had instead accepted, not out of empathy, but because he had become so lost that he wasn't sure his reality was so truthful anymore.

Remus had been a blessing, saving him from negativity more than he could with himself. He was a wonder, that kid.

Janus had zoned out for so long that he came back to Earth only as he was sitting on an armchair at home, while his nephew played with some toys right behind him.

« Hey. Did you know you're a wonderful kid? »

« I thought that was obvious. Also, gross, I'd rather be called stinky! » he hadn't even looked up from his creation.

Janus snorted. « Of course. » he made to get up and make dinner.

Later in the evening, Remus had climbed onto the counter and stared at Janus, who was leaning against the furniture while drinking some warm tea.

« I'm going to the astronomy museum tomorrow! »

« I know. »

« Don't you think it's time for a story then? »

The man giggled. « Are you bribing me? »

« You've been brooding all day, uncle! » he jumped back down, and hugged his waist only to pull him out of the kitchen.

Janus did his best not to stumble. « Alright, alright, we need some time-out time. » he picked his nephew up and in a minute they were settled for their storytelling.

« So- »

« Did dad show up? »

He fell silent, baffled by the sudden question. He gave Remus a puzzled look.

« You always act absent when something related to him happens. » the kid explained.

Who gave an eight-year-old the right to be that smart?

Janus opened and closed his mouth several times. « Well- Not exactly. » he scratched the back of his neck. « They talked about him. I think I might have gotten … triggered? » he wasn't sure whether or not that was the right term to use. But he did feel numb for the majority of the day, despite the flashbacks.

« Well, fuck him. »

« Rem- »

« No, fuck that guy. » Remus raised his voice more, but Janus didn't find it in himself to stop him. « he just dropped his burdens on you and left like a coward! Fuck that bullshit! » his face was red with anger.

« I know. But dear, you're not a burden. »

« I don't even care if I am for him. »

« Let me finish. » Janus used the calmest tone possible to balance out the other's upset. « As much as you don't agree with what he's done, you have to remember everyone's got their own way to cope. »

He sighed, eyes fixed to the floor. « In his case, he could've probably been a bad parent for you and decided to trust you with me rather than himself. He knows I love you just as much, so he wanted you to be in a certainly safe environment. »

Remus wasn't still entirely convinced.

« The thing is, he feared not being able to raise you the way you deserve. You still have all the right to be angry at him, of course. But you need to know that you didn't do anything bad for this all to happen, okay? »

The kid bit the inside of his mouth. « Yeah, I know. You've told me plenty of times. »

« Repetita iuvant. And honestly you've been of help more than he would imagine, so … yeah fuck him. »

The duo snickered and gave each other a matching mischievous glance.

« But seriously, no swearing like a sailor until you're older, okay? At least not in front of other adults, you know how they get easily impressed. »

« Ugh, they never let me do anything fun. »

« Capitalism. »

« What? »

« Nothing, let's carry on with the story. Tonight, Virgil and Roman are going to finally meet. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman was ecstatic.

He had been accompanied by Patton and they had now made their entrance in the ballroom.

The space looked fancy and highly decorated, white, gold and blue themes coloured every object, glistening with a bit of purple here and there. It felt like being in the gods' lair, high columns sustained a roof for a space much bigger than its guests.

A pompous environment that suggested any trait related to space and stars.

Everyone was dressed up for the occasion, he felt like he was in the middle of one of those royal dances humans had to entertain themselves.

They all had a mask covering part of their face; it was a way of respecting the Sun and Moon as they had yet to arrive and would wear it as well until they took it off alongside everyone.

Clothes and masks were pretty much the same for everyone, changing based on the type of star you were, only the colours changed for everybody.

Roman was wearing crimson items; they often recalled the color of a star's eyes, like his case.

« Feeling nervous? » Patton was leading him toward their designated spot, he had previously offered his arm to Roman after showing off his sky-blue outfit.

« Kind of. Don't wanna mess up. But also what if they're not here? » Roman was already pulling at the hem of his sleeve.

« I'm sure they are. Normally binary systems are put together. I'll help you search! » Patton gave a warming smile that ushered the other not to worry too much.

« Should I go find a dance partner? » there was literally no etiquette to follow until the two main protagonists arrived.

The nebula noticed the initial discomfort in him. « That, or you can stay with me for now. »

Roman was about to reply in gratitude when he saw everyone move to the centre of the room, where he got by taking Patton's hand.

Alright, here we go.

The first part of the dance had the stars already dancing around the room while waiting; none told Roman there would have been partner changes.

He and Patton had just turned, their backs facing, when suddenly his hand touched another one and there he was spinning slowly with a stranger.

Roman had a pair of purple irises fixed in his own, on a stoic face they were decorating, his head slightly tilted.

« Hi. » he had tried, but he only saw the star's eyes look down, ignoring his greeting.

That made Roman feel defeated, little did he know the stranger's goal was another and that he couldn't lose time on uneventful conversation.

One of each star's hand was intertwined with the others'.

Should have Roman been stoic as well? Could they talk during the event? Was he being judged by the other guy?

Still, after seemingly searching into Roman for some sort of hint, the other star kept looking behind his shoulders, especially on the front door, which was decorated with complicated bass-relief motives.

Was he more interested into the room's details than meeting new people?

Roman glanced around for clues and his eyes met smiling and chatting couples, giving him the impression that he had been doing something wrong.

Until he met Patton's look again and he noticed the signals he was giving him.

“It's him”, his lips mouthed and it finally hit Roman when Patton motioned towards the other with his eyes.

Roman blinked in bewilderment and turned back to his partner only to see him let go of his hand, his back already facing him, without a single chance for him to speak some last words.

His focus shifted again when a different light glowed into the room, he heard the door starting to open and everyone was pushed at both opposite sides of the room.

A path was now created, like a little temporary corridor.

Finally, from either door, two figures started walking down the path, making it very clear on their identity: the Sun and Moon had made their entrance.

Gold and silver shining like they were the only things in existence, the two met halfway and joined hands, making the whole audience restart their own dance.

Roman's companion had changed and it was now a lady part of a system, her name was Zeta, but he couldn't help but think back at how close he had been to his discovery.

Everytime he caught a glimpse of him, he lost it, happening so often that Roman had been closer to interact with the Moon instead.

Patton had told him his name was Remy, while the Sun's was Emile and they were part of a particular solar system which contained planets such as Jupiter, Mars, or his favourite, Saturn.

He had also been told there were rumors behind the two's different clothing; Emile was rumored to wear gloves so he could protect others from his burning touch, while Remy was never seen without his sunglasses, probably because he would have gone severely injured if he had directly looked at the Sun.

Busying himself with the search for his system's second star, he almost didn't notice it when people started scattering and some went back to chatting.

Emile and Remy took off their masks alongside everyone and respectively put on glasses and sunglasses.

« Hey there! »

Roman turned. « Holy stars, Patton! I can't believe I almost had him. »

« Well, at least you know he's here now, right? » the nebula started looking around from his spot to search for Virgil again.

« Yeah, I hope it'll be easier to- »

« Found him. » Patton pointed at a few feet next to them, where their object of interest was sitting, attentively staring at something or someone.

Roman felt something in his chest click as soon as he was able to see his face clearly: he didn't know how to describe it, but he loved and absolutely loathed it at the same time.

He realized he had been holding his breath only after he deeply exhaled, making Patton raise an eyebrow.

« Are you going to say hello, or …? »

That was not ideal.

That was actually utterly terrible, how he felt drawn to the other and yet terrified at the same time, the intensity making it a seemingly impossible goal.

Despite the other being the infinitely smaller star, Roman was in awe, like he couldn't compare to him in any sort of way; the aura he gave off was too strong, so much that he seemed to know the secrets of the universe before anyone else.

Roman couldn't explain it, but he had to talk to him or else he would've probably combusted.

What had gotten into him? Did the realization of actually having the possibility of making friends with the other half of his binary system just hit him? … Would the other really agree to such a friendship?

He was afraid to answer that. They barely knew each other, anyway.

Roman started approaching him and felt his legs as heavy as lead, his tongue tied and all the conversations that he had prepared basically gone from his mind.

So many years of longing for this meeting only for it to go into shambles.

Yet, there he was, at last standing next to him.

« Greetings, the name's Roman. » he achieved a single apparently annoyed glance. He looked still … in search of something. « I was wondering whether you were the star entitled as Sirius B. »

Roman finally got a reaction out of him, a slick turn of the head in an impressed expression. « How would you know that? »

Roman grinned and moved one hand from behind his back. « Well, you see, » he started, theatrically bowing down just that necessary to still look him in the eyes. « It just so happens that I am Sirius A. »

✾✾✾✾

Janus was mimicking Roman's gesture as Remus watched in awe.

« Who knows what Virgil will say? »

« Hold it- What do you mean? » Remus sluggishly said with his cheek pressed against the pillow.

« I mean that it's late and you should rest before your little school trip, alright? »

The kid didn't look very convinced.

Janus tried again. « Also, I'm going to give you a mission for tomorrow. »

Remus's eyes lit up again. « What is it? »

« You're going to have to find the stars I've been telling you about. There's going to be a dark room full of projections; it's gonna be fun. »

His nephew let out a “Ooh” of understanding and admiration, already picturing what it could have looked like.

« Come on now, » Janus helped him set into bed and kissed his forehead, at which, like any other night, Remus commented with a “gross” and wiped at his skin.

It was their little routine before Janus himself started preparing for the night.

He was pacing around the living room when he could have sworn he had heard something moving right outside of his apartment's door; he stood there for a second, simply staring at the doorknob, expecting it to twist at any second.

Nothing came through and thus he went to sleep.

He really needed a relaxing bath first.

Janus knew something had been off as soon as he had woken up; the uneasiness from the night before still lingered, pressing down on his stomach.

He could not deal with this.

It was six a.m. again and he was staring at the cupboard in the bathroom.

No, it was fine. He was fine, he could do it on his own.

He breathed deeply and exited the room only to find a perky Remus already up and excited for his trip.

The kid smiled up at him. « Is breakfast ready yet? »

Janus forgot all about how he had woken up.

Merely an hour and a half later, Remus had been dropped off at the school bus after making sure he had everything he needed and that he was under the supervision of all the class' teachers.

He was still going up the stairs of the condominium, when he noticed a figure fidgeting and standing by his door.

Brown curls, green eyes and still impossibly gorgeous.

Janus's stomach did a triple flip and he didn't know if it was for delight or bitterness. Of course, his mind blanked as soon as Clyde acknowledged him.

« Hey, J. » the tone was unsure.

None had been allowed to call him that in years.

« It's been a while … »

« Indeed. » he responded sternly, almost petrified as he waited for the other to state the reason for his visit.

« Uhm, I … needed to get a thing I left here. »

« Here. »

« Yeah. »

Clyde was trying his best not to make everything awkward, but Janus was making it godawfully impossible.

The star didn't talk any further and simply turned the keys to unlock the door, stepping in and aside to let the other enter.

« Get what you need and leave. » he didn't make eye contact, or else he would have been fucked.

A distraction.

Janus went into the kitchen, busying himself with getting things ready for lunch, while Clyde headed for Remus's room; there was a photo album he needed to get after all, there was no way Remus would have wanted to keep pictures of a dad that had given up on him.

He picked up the album and turned the first couple of pages. Then more and more.

Remus had cut out Clyde's face from any picture in which he had appeared.

It was a hit to his heart, a well deserved one, but a hit nonetheless; he put the album back and headed for the door, but something pulled him back to Janus.

The star eyed him warily.

« Did you get it? »

« Not really, but- I figured it doesn't matter anymore. »

Janus made an uninterested noise without looking back up at him.

« If there's anything- »

« We don't need your help. »

Clyde's eyes fell to the floor, but he insisted and came closer to the other, standing at his side.

« I know it's kind of hypocritical but were you to find yourself in a difficult situation- »

« Hypocritical? » Janus scoffed, finally turning to him and glaring at him.

He wanted to drown.

« The only time my situation becomes difficult is when you are around. » he could feel his insides heating up.

« Listen I know you hate me now- »

Oh, was that guilt tripping? That was guilt tripping.

« That's the issue. Everytime I see you, I get reminded of the fact that I just … I don't actually hate you and it sucks, so please leave. » he felt like he was on the verge of either tears or a crisis out of exasperation.

« Janus … » Clyde dared to lift a hand as the other tried to focus back on cooking.

« Don't touch me. »

« Listen. » the man took Janus's wrist anyway with the sole purpose of trying to put some sense into him.

Janus tried to wiggle free from his grip. « I said- » until … « Ugh! » he did.

But his hand had jerked back right onto his cheek, causing the knife he was holding to leave a deep cut through his eye and cheek.

He dropped everything and held his head as a luminous substance flowed out of his cut.

Star's blood.

« Oh my- Oh god, I- »

« Get out! » he yelled one last time and could only hear Clyde's steps as he hurried away from him.

Now there was something interesting about stars: they had a really peculiar way of healing, so much that hospitals wouldn't understand their ways. So Janus ought to help himself.

He quickly washed the blood out of his hands and ran into his room before he could pass out, closed the windows and turned every light off.

By memory he found the little box he had hidden in the bedside table, a secret drawer.

He opened it and a blinding light illuminated the room. That was the light that belonged to him as a star; once you disguise yourself as a human you get to keep it in case of emergencies.

Janus felt heat coming back to his body and pain retreating from his brain.

When he closed it everything felt normal again, despite the tiredness from what had just happened.

Then he looked in the mirror.

A terrible scar ran from above his eyebrow, down his eye and onto his cheek, still so fresh and yet … It looked like a childhood one. And he could still perfectly see.

He didn't want to deal with that right then: he went back to work on his meal and decided on a relaxation day as he didn't have work and really needed a rest.

All he wanted to do was scream and probably cry, but he decided on staring at the ceiling from the living room's couch.

By the time he woke up, he had to go pick up Remus from the school trip, which now required him to put on concealer on his face.

His nephew didn't mention anything about it around others.

But he wasn't certainly stupid.

Once in the car, he spoke up. « What happened to your face? »

« Can't a man wear make-up? »

« Yes, but you've never done It before. And you're not in love so there's none to make yourself pretty for. »

« Ouch, now I'm not pretty? » Janus chuckled.

Remus pointed a finger at him. « You're insecure! »

When will children stop being so brutally honest?

Once home, Janus went straight for the bathroom to wipe the concealer away. « You see, little duke, » he called from there. « Sometimes you don't want to explain things. Sometimes you can't. » he then went back to him and showed his scar.

« What happened? »

« An accident. I recovered quickly with some remaining starry powers. »

The kid seemed to accept it, despite being skeptical.

« Can I get one too? I want to be like a dragon! »

« Dragons don't have scars, kid. » Janus tilted his head.

« They do! It's written in books, they have them all over their bodies. »

« Sweetie, those are scales. »

Remus considered for a second, his eyes fixated on a random spot.

« Uncle, I think my life is a lie. »

Janus finally laughed for real and they decided to leave the corridor for the more important conversation to happen in the living room; the kid started going on about the astronomy museum and all its wonders.

« And then there was that big constellations projector like you mentioned and it was beautiful. » Remus mimicked how he would've showed him in the room, as if the projections were in their apartment. « The scientist knew everything about them, he answered every question, uncle Jee I want to go back! »

Janus smiled the entire time, especially at how his nephew was now looking at him with literal sparkles in his eyes.

« Your birthday is around, isn't it? We could go back then. »

The kid started jumping around in excitement. « I want to visit everyday! I could sell lemonade like they do in cartoons and pay my ticket everyday! »

He giggled, while Remus kept coming up with different ways to assist himself. « I don't think that's likely, but we could visit often if that's what you'd like. »

« But Logan … » the other murmured sadly. « The star man ... »

Janus theatrically scoffed. « Excuse you, am I not enough of a star human myself? »

Remus stuck his tongue out at him and started running around the room only to flee from his uncle's vision in order for him to try and chase him; Janus sighed in a “not this again” manner and walked towards his general direction.

The scar had already been long forgotten.

✾✾✾✾

After days of non stop talking about that one astronomer and the museum, Remus's birthday finally came around.

It didn't seem such a peculiar or important day for that same one astronomer the kid kept talking about, the intelligent and cool one that he wanted to celebrate with.

Logan was walking up the stairs to the museum, his beloved workplace he wouldn't have traded for any kind of amount of gold.

Thankfully, its location had been accessible to a great number of tourists and curious citizens ever since it had been founded, so that every worker could be easily secured in their position.

He waved at his colleagues as he headed to his little office where he often stayed late to do research along side other devoted astronomers; his afternoon shift was about to start, right on time to run through a couple of papers of the previous night before meeting his first group of the day.

Being a tour guide around a museum whilst assisting in astronomy research all the while had its perks and downsides.

Mostly for Logan, it was his insatiable need to let every single thought that ran in his mind directly out for others to hear and obtain as information. It had always been hard as a teenager, especially during high-school.

It wasn't that he studied irregularly – well, maybe sometimes – but he, unlike the majority of his classmates, had to do extra work on training his speech method. The bits of info that stuck to his head while he studied were far too many and growing with each passing test, which made it harder to form connected sentences.

Talking was even worse than writing, he had no time to re-formulate what he had said a minute earlier, he couldn't go back to check what was his initial point, making his oral tests a complete mess.

Despite this, knowing what he wanted to do in his life in the long run, he kept practicing, finding great treasure in info-dumping people about his special interests.

Getting to discuss this kind of matter with university colleagues was a far better help than feeling like you were talking to a wall when your interlocutor kept nodding and smiling, clearly ignorant of whatever you were talking about.

It had also helped to understand how exactly you should modulate your speech depending on the audience, making it all a perfect experience for a soon-to-be guide.

Logan left the room and finally met his momentary students, ready to prepare their minds for the bliss of knowledge.

He briefly glanced through them, multiple people all different from one another, proving the world that education could be for anybody; he moved through different topics with ease, basically dancing between different rooms as he caught glimpses of other interested visitors, such as curious middle schoolers, or a man with bright yellow gloves talking softly to a small excited kid next to him.

It was his place, he felt at home, that strange and rare belonging sentiment.

The satisfaction of leaving the last group of people whose minds wandered in the deepest parts of space, now devoid of questions.

Who he didn't expect to still be wandering around the various exhibits hours after their entrance was that same man with yellow gloves and … supposedly his kid?

Logan leaned on the wall of the room's entrance, still out of sight, trying to catch what kind of conversation might have kept them around for so long.

Not much to his surprise, he heard the man talk of stars with an impressive accuracy, pointing up at the big white and blue projector.

It felt like he had met them personally and conversed with them.

He found himself smiling involuntary as he recognized his own enthusiasm in the boy.

And then …

« It's almost closing time, so, are you ready to hear what Virgil had to say? »

Remus's eyes lit up impossibly more and yelled a convinced “yeah!” before sitting on his uncle's lap and pointing up towards the binary-star Sirius.

« There. »

… he was brought elsewhere.

✾✾✾✾

Virgil always thought they'd have looked the same.

Either some sort of twins or really similar, differently aged bodies, something as weird as that.

Now a gleaming figure stood before him, completely different from how he had imagined him, so much that he almost distrusted that information.

« Patton told me about you. » Roman added later, as if he had just read his mind.

After the initial awkwardness, noticing the blunt disinterest, he tried again.

« So, what would be the name of my system companion? »

The other star raised an eyebrow at the unusual title and looked away before he could respond, making his answer muffled by the music echoing in the room.

« Virgil. »

« Well then, a pleasure being your friend then, Virgil. »

That finally got a reaction out of him, as the smaller star snorted sarcastically. « I don't really think meeting one time is what it takes to be someone's friend, Roman. »

He laughed lightly. « My apologies, I don't actually know how it works, » still with a smile on, he looked down. « I don't really have friends. »

And there it was, something Roman had never seen before, but that he could've caught on Patton's expression sometimes, briefly.

The pitiful glance he would've learnt to recognize.

« Oh. » was all Virgil mustered to say. He had never faced that kind of situation.

« It's the big and terrifying thing, or some envy of sorts, I'm not sure … But I still have Patton! » Roman concluded, bright as before. « And it's also why I've been eager to meet you since I got to know about you. »

Virgil tilted his head as he quickly glanced between him and the dancing couples.

« Did he tell you about me? »

« A little. He wanted it to be more of a surprise for both of us, he was as excited as I was! »

Unlike you, it seems.

Roman frowned and brushed off the clear indifference of the other, instead trying to find common ground.

« Would you like to dance? »

Virgil finally looked at him properly, but it was as though he was trying to make a tough choice, whether that was a useful option to his goal, the same way he did the first time they met. His hand moved and almost reached Roman's, but hesitation got the best of him, his eyebrows furrowed, arm almost shaking.

Roman didn't understand; what was the issue? They had danced earlier. What was so different about it now?

« I- »

They were interrupted by a swarm of people coming their way, clearing up a path for the Sun and Moon to return back to their respective places, outside of the palace.

Which meant it was time for everyone to part ways.

« … I will go. »

And just like that, he was gone.

Roman repeated the events in his mind once he got back, immediately requesting Patton's presence. Just what in the planets had he just witnessed? There was nothing of the sweetness he'd fantasized about, nothing about introducing each other like old friends, nothing of that electric buzz in your chest, the one that makes you so sure that you do belong exactly where you are.

All he felt was dread, awkwardness and uncomfortable silence, loss of words. Stupidity.

That's what he was, so ingenuous to think both of them would've been happy to find each other at last.

Had Virgil ever even cared about all of this? Did Roman simply impose his dreams on the other?

« So that I'm sure I did not hallucinate, » the star huffed, an arm over his eyes as he laid down. « I did meet him. »

« That you did. » Patton said, sounding more certain than Roman himself.

« And … »

« And? »

« It sucked. » he got up. « We barely even talked! My mind was racing and going blank from agitation and he didn't even try to interact with me, Patton. He obviously doesn't want to be my friend! He definitely thinks I'm annoying at this rate. »

« Hey there, little sparkle, slow down with the all too quick affirmations now. » Patton's form outside of the palace made him almost look like he had wings for arms. « You see, we're not all the same. You met me, and I'm very energetic and mostly aligning with your extravagant character- »

« You think I'm extravagant? » Roman let in some fake disbelief.

Patton chuckled. « In the best way possible! What I mean is, it's easy for us to get along, but Virgil is pretty much the opposite of you, which makes it a bit difficult to immediately get along. You only need to give it some more time. »

The binary-star did feel reassured with his words.

Not completely, though they made sense, yet there was always something in the back  of his mind that made him doubt those kind of words. The nebula could tell everytime Roman grimaced for seemingly no reason.

« Are you … » Roman calculated his words. Surely he didn't want to appear more doubtful than he was after his “defeat” at the ball earlier. « Are you sure it's not … »

« Roman, believe me, he'd be the last to care about the fact that you're … » he scrambled for examples. « A bigger star than the sun itself! Star systems share a deep intrinsic bond. Just go at his pace, he might only be distraught. »

« I heard someone talk about big stars. » a voice called over their shoulders. « So I couldn't help but stop by. »

A feminine body loomed before them, familiar almost spirited eyes checked Roman out from afar, until she was close enough to inspect both of them.

« Zeta. » Sirio-A called out unenthusiastically. « What brings you here? »

« Didn't see you dancing. Was wondering what kind of unforeseen event kept you from shining your true beauty upon those little kids. » they grinned. « But I see you're already hooked up. »

« Patton's always been a friend. » he replied in annoyance.

« I don't really do romances, thank you! » Patton offered right after with a bright smile.

« Oh. I apologize for assuming. » she said, before composing herself « Anyway,  I'd appreciate it if you came to chat with me and Canopus instead of running around in search of a random dude. »

Zeta Ophiuchi had always been … an eccentric type of star, basking under the knowledge that she, Roman and Canopus were the brightest ones of the night sky.

She managed to enthrall Canopus in her own thinking, since the latter showed a less strong character than her friend; Roman, though? He'd never really been eager to feed the fire of greatness.

He had come to terms with the fact that all those acts of superiority didn't matter, since nothing really changed in their hierarchy.

« Why do you guys insist on keeping your title as names instead of choosing your own? » he derailed from the conversation.

« A little nosy, aren't we today? »

« Says the one who barged in uninvited. »

Zeta chuckled. « Touché. » she sighed afterwards. « It's because we want to stay true to our origin, partly because it also gives you a grip on your essence, your reality. It's empowering, Sirius. » she put much more emphasis on Roman's title.

He hated it with a burning passion.

Zeta lowered down at his eye-level. « Don't you think? » he wanted to wipe her grin away with a single death glare.

Patton muttered a “not again” under his breath; that occasion happened at least once a month, Zeta would pick at Roman's most sensitive spots and try to get past the thick walls he placed between himself and his insecurities.

« Well it's been a nice sunset! Why don't we go before it gets too dangerous for you to stay away from Ophiuchus, Zeta? »

She stared intently at Roman for a while longer before turning to the nebula and offering a fake smile and a nod. « Of course, Seagull. »

He breathed deeply, then waved sadly at his friend as Zeta followed quickly behind.

Roman understood how she and Canopus had been admitted to the same group as his, yet at the same time he couldn't believe how he had to deal with Zeta's teasing even in the palace.

Working towards his goal was going to be harder than he thought.

✾✾✾✾

« Zeta's a bitch! » Remus abruptly commented, causing his uncle's sudden laughter. « I like her. »

Janus tried to gain his breath back. « Yeah- » he chuckled. « She's going to be rather interesting in the future. »

« Well that was quite the story. »

His eyes widened and he turned towards the entrance of the projector room: there stood a man, probably around his age, with the usual formal outfits and the museum worker plate stuck to his shirt.

« I'm so sorry I- »

« Logan! » Remus sprinted to his feet and ran up the stranger like he was an old relative he loved and hadn't seen in ages.

So that was who Remus would always mention.

Janus walked up to them, trying to hide the embarrassment behind a polite smile. « Come on duke, we should get going now. »

« But he's the star man! »

Star man? Logan thought, low-key impressed.

« There's no need to rush actually. We'll be closing the exhibit rooms in an hour, but most of us tend to stay the night. » he smiled back, then looked down at the young boy. « How do you know my name? »

« I came here two weeks ago! » Remus excitedly said. « With school! There were two of you, you were the cool one. »

Logan recalled a school class and a co-worker helping out with timing.

« We came back for my birthday, but I thought you weren't here today. Can we celebrate together now? »

Janus let out a laugh between exasperation and amusement, then looked up at the astronomer. « He's grown fond of you. » he tried to explain.

« I can see that. » Logan crouched down to converse with Remus easily. « What would you want me to do? »

Never before an occasion like that one had occurred to him, plus an offer to spend time with people with his same interests other than his colleagues, thus less programmed to spit out information in any given situation, would have definitely been a breath of fresh air.

« Let's get ice cream. » Remus turned to his uncle. « Can we? »

Janus nodded. « If Logan is able to, I don't see why not. »

And Logan could afford leaving early every once in a while, so …

« Alright then, » he stepped aside from the entrance to let them exit. « I will let them know I'll be going out. » he pointed towards the offices and left.

About half an hour later, Remus was walking around the park, doing his best not to make the ice cream fall from his cone as he inspected all the bugs and insects he could find.

« I hope we're not wasting precious time. » Janus was walking alongside Logan not too far behind from Remus.

« Not at all. I have been actually told I could have used some free time every now and then. »

« Ah, are you the stay-in-late type? »

Logan moved his head from side to side in half agreement. « Sort of. It is mostly part of our job to carry on with research. You could say my work could be divided into day and night jobs. I do not mind it a single bit, to be fair. »

« Oh! » the star stopped dead in his tracks, realization hitting him, while the astronomer looked back at him, blinking in confusion. « How rude of me. » he extended his arm to the other. « My name is Janus Hydra. »

Logan gladly shook it. « Pleasure to be here then, Janus. »

The star smiled, then they went back to walking. « And the one who's trying to catch a butterfly is my nephew Remus. » he giggled as he watched the kid almost stick his cone into a tree.

« It was very thoughtful of you to bring him to the museum for his birthday. »

« Yes, well, he wouldn't stop mentioning it day and night. It would've been rude of me not to do so. »

Logan caught an odd detail in that sentence. « You live with him? » he asked, trying to be as cautious and considerate as possible.

Janus nodded and, for the first time, he wasn't asked why. He was silently grateful for, objectively, a stranger not trying to peer into his personal life as much as others would do.

« So, what about you? I haven't seen you around my workplace, yet you seem to be knowledgeable about stars. » he thought back at the moments in which he pointed up at the constellations with impeccable precision. « Is it a simple personal passion? »

« You could say that. It's something like a family thing. As you may have noticed, my surname comes from a constellation, by which I could deduce that probably one of my ancestors decided it was going to be our legacy. »

Logan could … honestly see that.

« Very peculiar. I can imagine the- »

« L, look! » Remus ran up to them with a butterfly in his hand. « Which one is this? »

Logan cupped one hand under his. « I suggest not to take it by the wings, » with the other, he instructed Remus to drop it gently on his palm. « Touching them damages them as it removes the material on them which permits butterflies to distinguish and disguise themselves. Furthermore, your risk to damage or even completely break the wings. They're pretty fragile. » the little insect walked up to his fingertip. « Here. » he offered as he gestured for Remus to carefully let the butterfly walk on from Logan's to his hand.

« This one is a Morpho Menelaus, also known as blue morpho. »

« I read they can drink from puddles. » the kid said as he lowered the insect next to one on the ground.

« That's true, they have a varied diet. Did you know some can drink blood as well? »

Remus jumped to his feet, a wide grin on his face. « They can?! »

Logan made a diverted expression at the difference between Remus's reaction and Janus's unpleasant disbelief.

« There's a moth species in Asia with this ability, if it pleases the butterfly of course, it's rare but not undone. »

Time seemed to dilate as Remus kept asking for more facts to the “cool man who seemed to know everything”, the small talk between the latter and Janus to slowly get to know each other more and the general pleasant aura made them forget it was almost time for dinner.

« Wait. » Remus, once again, caught everyone's attention. « What about my birthday gift from Logan? »

Janus wanted to intervene, but Logan seemed way ahead of him already.

« How inconsiderate of me, you are absolutely correct, I should have prepared for this important event. » he pretended to think about it. « How about you can come to the museum whenever you want without the need of a ticket? »

Remus beamed, that was the best t-

« No. »

And his heart skipped a beat for a moment. He turned to look at his uncle with disappointment, but Janus's glance was fixed on Logan's.

« I refuse to not support your job. We will pay, like any other visitor. »

« Let's make a deal, then. You can come whenever you'd like and stay later than closing time, while I get to hear the story you were telling earlier as well. »

That was entirely unexpected. What was so charming about events he had witnessed? It didn't sit completely right with him, but who was he to deny saving money for the sake of his nephew's happiness?

Janus looked down at Remus who had assumed the “cat with the boots” adorable pleading face.

« Alright, you win this one, but I still owe you. » he warned Logan.

« Completely fine with me. »

« Are you sure it's okay to do, still? »

The astronomer had no doubts. « I will find a way, no need to worry. I'll be expecting you two tomorrow? » he asked, tilting his head almost imperceptibly to the side.

The other two agreed to come say hi after Remus had been done with school and thus they parted ways.

As Janus drove home, he realized he hadn't felt the all too familiar dawning of anguish a single moment of the day.

Was that going to be the eagerly awaited turning point?

Ever since they started visiting the museum, Remus and Janus took their time to explore every room and all the documents the exhibit had to offer, which made it really effective to tire Remus out in anticipation of bedtime.

Thus, the storytelling would often get postponed, especially since they wanted Logan to also be present, though he had to run important experiments during the first few weeks. They so decided to change it from a bedtime story to “their thing”, under the faint light of a constellations projector.

A month had now passed since their first encounter, and they finally managed to all sit down together in the almost dark room.

« Here's an apology gift. » Logan pushed a box in front of Remus who immediately wrapped off the paper encasing it.

« Apology for what exactly? » Janus asked with an eyebrow raised. « You're already letting us stay here for free. » it had become like a second home at that point.

« I know, but I have been around very briefly and I had to sneak you in late to cut out some time for you. »

« We aren't expecting you to be here every single time, Logan, you work here … »

« And you're also forgiven! » Remus exclaimed showing the little glow-in-the-dark stars stickers he already couldn't wait to put up in his room.

Janus chuckled under his breath. « You still didn't have to. » he made himself comfortable against the room's wall.

« If everyone's ready, I shall begin. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman felt like Virgil had been missing for most of the sunset dances.

He hadn't caught a glimpse of him in weeks, he felt as if he had been playing hide and seek all this time; Patton told him not coming wasn't possible, like stars were literally just teleported fully dressed to the ballroom the second it begun.

He had also been pretty busy avoiding Zeta and Canopus – not that the latter was any threat to him, actually she would've been easily persuaded to not tell on his location – that time ran out before he could meet up with Virgil.

All hope had been lost as he laid against a column and turned away from the dancing couples.

And he saw Virgil, a few meters away, sitting on a marble sort of parapet like he was ready to jump on his feet and leave. He was surrounded by a lack of other stars.

« Hey there. » Roman waved from his spot and his system's partner turned to him with the quickest neck movement he'd ever seen.

He looked as tired as someone who'd been dancing around all night.

… trying to … avoid someone …

Okay, they were both tired as hell.

Virgil gave the most effortless wave he could muster.

« Haven't seen you lately. » Roman pointed out. « Still, would you sit down with me? I don't think I can handle standing a minute longer. »

« I concur. » Virgil responded, grateful.

They slid down to the floor in almost perfect synchrony, simply watching what was going on before them: Roman was able to catch Patton's eyes and smile at him.

« Remember when you said I'm not a good judge of what is and isn't a friendship? »

« Didn't phrase it like that, but sure. »

« Does someone who's constantly bothering you and generally poke at your limits seem like a friend? »

Virgil took a silent but deeper look at the other and noted in his mind how exasperated he sounded.

« That sounds more like someone's been annoying you non-stop. That's … not exactly friendship either. »

Roman sighed, trying not to spiral into hysteria by the end of the night; he could hear Zeta's imposing voice in every corner he tried to escape.

How to break into silence?

« What do you think about going to the balcony? »

Virgil didn't hate the idea, but worry got the best of him. « Isn't that section of the palace reserved to the Sun and Moon only? »

His acquaintance displayed a mischievous smile. « Not if we get back before anyone notices. » he pulled himself to his feet, offering his hand to the other confidently.

Virgil couldn't help but take it and venture into unexplored areas; the hallways decorations were pretty much the same, if not less sumptuous, of the ballroom. He watched as Roman pushed glass doors open and revealed a terrace with a view of the Earth's sunrise on the sky above them.

They must have been on the Sun's wing. He felt suddenly more agitated about his presence there.

« Finally, » Roman took large steps to the parapet and leaned on it, closing his eyes to the gentle breeze caressing his hair. « A moment of silence. »

Virgil mimicked him. « I hadn't felt this peaceful nothingness in a long while. »

The other opened one eye to give him a sideways look. « You have visitors? »

« People have been fussing over me for some reason ever since we made our debut here. »

That explained the ever tired look, the staying behind as stars danced and had fun, and especially the unwanted attention.

« They say they find me cute or whatever, only because I'm the smaller star in the binary system. It's … really annoying. Kind of offensive, if I can say. »

« Here we are, » Roman chuckled to himself. « Both socially exhausted because everybody's patronizing you, while I'm being picked at constantly. »

« It's our system's fatal flaw. » Virgil confessed dramatically, which made the other snort, surprised by the sudden burst of confidence with joking around him.

They spent some more minutes in silence, the music from the ballroom was barely audible, like they were slowly being taken away.

Neither of their situations were desirable, but Roman really could've used some positive attention every once in a while, instead of laying in the dreadful awaiting of being ridiculed, as whoever else passed by him tried not to make eye contact.

He didn't realize he had progressively lowered his head to rest on the parapet's rail, his eyes half-lidded. He dared to take a quick glance at Virgil, standing tall as he observed the morning sky: every movement of his purple irises looked like a stroke of a brush on an expensive painting.

There, he looked much bigger than the universe they were in, some sort of irony against his usual small perception, which caused other stars to nickname him as “the pup”.

Roman's face portrayed an amused smile as he imagined Virgil being one of Earth's small dogs he had been told about.

It quickly faltered though, as soon as he shook the thought away, the sorrowful reality of his loneliness hit him and he couldn't stop himself from murmuring his belief to the sunrise.

« I really have only one friend, huh? »

The quiet around made it possible for Virgil to hear clearly, so he turned and looked at him from above, pondering whether or not it was appropriate of him to console Roman in some way.

At the end of the day, they really were alike, as distinct as they still could appear.

« You can have me? Two isn't much higher than one, but it isn't as bad. »

Roman averted the sky to disperse his bewilderment directly into Virgil's eyes, all fluttery eyelids and raised eyebrows.

« That would be so much better. » Virgil was glad to be the cause of his smile for once. « Thank you, Virgil. »

« You can call me Virge. »

Roman started cooing mockingly. « Aw, you're opening up to me. »

« And already regretting it, thank you very much. »

The other genuinely laughed and his expression softened, letting silence set one more veil above them.

« I wish I could visit you. » Roman then said after admiring the landscape. « We'd make sleepovers along with Patton- »

« Stars don't sleep. »

Oh, damn it. They had gotten so lost in their conversation that they hadn't noticed the music fading out completely.

As they turned, they noticed Emile at the entrance of the terrace, a warm expression set on his face, some sort of understanding as he had his arms folded over himself and sparkles of light all around.

He wasn't hostile, yet he knew they didn't belong there. Still, he wasn't one to reprimand.

« You should hurry back, friends. » he suggested, leaving one of the two doors free for them to pass through.

The two quickly made their way towards the hallway, but for Virgil it felt like an eternity: the moment he locked eyes with the Sun, it was as though his body refused to acknowledge its own movements. He didn't realize Roman had been tugging him by the sleeve as Virgil walked right past Emile, never leaving his glance.

Roman turned back to him as they half-ran towards the ballroom, noticing Virgil still hadn't turned his head from the balcony's entrance.

« Are you alright? »

« Huh? » Virgil quickly moved to look forward and find Roman's curious face.

The bigger star noticed the glimmering lights on his cheeks: a common feature which meant a star was happy or feeling intense emotions.

He saw Roman furrow his eyes, like he was trying to connect the dots, but rapidly ignoring it as they had made their way through the ballroom.

This time, Roman had a different tale to tell Patton.

✾✾✾✾

« So- uh? »

As Janus had been stroking Remus's hair absentmindedly, he hadn't realized the kid's breath had been slowing down to an evenly repeated movement: as he looked down, he saw his nephew biting through his glove in his sleep.

« It really sounds like an effective bedtime story. » Logan commented as Janus carefully placed Remus's head on his shoulder. He helped him stand up without losing balance and they quietly made their way towards the exit and, subsequently, Janus's car as, like Logan said, “it was the least he could do for them that night”.

« Are you going to go back in? » Janus whispered as he kept an eye on the backseat of his car.

Logan checked his watch, noticing time had flown by rather quickly, no wonder the kid had already fallen asleep. « I think so, yes. »

« Okay. » the other nodded. « Don't stay too late, Remus is not the only one who needs sleep. »

« I am fully aware of what a healthy circadian rhythm consists of. » he threw in a slight, non-harmful piece of sarcasm in his voice.

« Oh, I know you do. I was just making sure you knew you aren't elected to ignore it either way. »

Logan was delighted by the atmosphere: it was always pleasant to realize the exact moment in which you got closer to someone, the caring feeling hidden under friendly banter.

He was glad someone was looking out for him in that way.

« I'll theorize about what's going to happen next in your tale to help myself, then. »

« Hey, » Janus pointed towards him. « Don't you dare use that excuse to stay up later, though. »

« Will not do. » Logan chuckled. « Seriously, though, you needn't worry. »

« Fine. » he said, realizing that maybe his “mother-hen” senses had been activated the moment his nephew had fallen asleep.

He looked back at his little duke, and took a step backward, moving to his car.

« Well- »

Janus raised his arm to wave, but was interrupted by his friend's sudden words.

« I was thinking, » Logan was tapping his fingertips together before stopping altogether and making eye contact, like he had forgotten what he was doing. « If you'd like to and if you have time, we could hang out? It doesn't always have to be my workplace, or be a rushed thing. »

« That would be lovely! I can't really leave Remus alone nowadays and I always work when he's at school, as I imagine you do as well, but you could definitely come visit when you're off. »

Both of them were thrilled of the thought of spending quality time with each other for once.

« Oh, right. I could pick you up from work and you could have dinner with us! »

« Sounds excellent. » Logan moved slightly and a speck of street light hit part of his face, lighting up one of his eyes.

It was there that it was clear how the dark of the night made everything seem more mysterious and grim.

They waved each other goodbye, deciding to agree upon the day of their meeting via text.

Janus heard Remus shuffle in his seat, he was gripping tightly at the door's handle.

The moment he looked back ahead of himself he noticed an unusual glimmering under his eyes: he quickly checked on the rear-view mirror, finding the same sparkles he had described in his story.

He in-took a deep breath and braced himself for whatever was going to come in the future, while all he could think about were sharp looks and a poised personality.

That sure as the sky was going to be interesting to witness.

For example, it was deeply interesting when he received a call from Logan, the latter insisting he couldn't be able to sleep; the sound of the phone ringing had also woken Remus up, whom unceremoniously plopped onto his uncle's bed right beside him as soon as he heard Logan's voice.

Now he had two restless kids to put to sleep.

« This isn't an excuse for both of you to stay up later is it? »

« I wanted to talk to Logan too! »

« And I forgot to get melatonin on my way to work. »

After arguing to get him to make a physical note to leave on his table for the morning after, Janus allowed the man to stay on the line and Remus to get comfortable under the covers, while only the bedside table lamp was on.

✾✾✾✾

The terrace scene had replayed in Virgil's head for weeks.

Ever since the start, his goal had been the one to be able to reach the Sun, the one childhood hero he had grown to love, now he had him at his fingertips and yet, he was still so distant.

He danced with strangers to gain courage to get as close as possible to him, but he couldn't find it to touch his hand, let alone when he had to speak a single word to him.

The Sun seemed kind-hearted, he was for sure as well, he knew he wouldn't have been the target of insults for his deep admiration.

Despite all of this, he was still scared.

He was going to explode if he didn't speak up about it anytime soon.

« Are you alright? »

That question again, while the same thoughts circled in his mind, ones he couldn't keep in anymore.

« I think I'm in love with him. »

Roman battered his eyes. He had been spending most of the dance time with him, venting to each other about whoever came to visit or simply relaxing in the quietest spot they were allowed to reach.

They hadn't danced together once yet.

« Care to explain further? »

How could he when he couldn't even say his name?

« The sun. » Virgil hardly let out any voice. « I just- » he felt all the tension wash away as he looked into Roman's red irises, willing to gather more knowledge on the situation. « I'm happy to come here only because I have a chance to see him, but every single time someone else sweeps him away before I can even reach him. »

That would've been Remy, Roman thought.

« And even if I had the opportunity … I couldn't take it. It's stronger than me and it's eating me alive at the same time. » his breath was heavy with emotion.

Roman made space to a new feeling as well. There was only one way he could explain it.

Daggers.

Daggers piercing through your chest and stomach, multiple of them slowly and attentively burning holes in every vital organ, becoming sharper the longer Roman breathed through it.

It was because of empathy, right? He felt awful for Virgil's incapacity to interacting with the one he loved.

So why would the thought of helping him deepen the sharpness of those knives?

« I just … need to at least talk about it with someone. I only ever really have this opportunity with you and then again, staying alone with my thoughts- »

« It makes you want to scream. »

Roman wanted to yell the pain away.

« Like your organs are contorting … »

And twisting and looking for a way out of your body.

« … And your heart is in your throat, trying its best to escape. »

Virgil nodded, an aching expression displayed on his face.

« Why don't you just go? Next time, you just throw yourself in. Be yourself. It's always what they tell you to do. Let it happen, be natural and respect his boundaries. A path will slowly be open to you. »

What was he doing?

Virgil let the information sink in and, slowly, that pained face transformed into a warm smile.

That. That's what I'm doing. That's what I always want to do.

It was also how they tended to spend the sunset and sunrise dances ever since; Roman would sit down with Virgil in the corner and psych him up for him to be able to, eventually, open up to the opportunity of meeting Emile for real.

And, at the same time, he watched himself struggle and fall down, masking himself for the sake of the other.

On a particular night, he was walking away from the room alone, a myriad of thoughts surrounding his mind.

He didn't even have what he wanted.

« No, I do. » he retorted to himself, stopping dead in his tracks.

Virgil was his friend, that's all he had ever wanted ever since he found out about his existence, so why was it just not enough yet? Why was it so doleful, the idea of the friend he craved being so happy with someone else?

Why couldn't it just admit his emotions to himself? Why was there always a wall between him and how he felt?

« Would you please like to get moving? » he felt a hand push him from his back and the sight of Zeta and Canopus at her side obscured his mind from whatever he was thinking.

He didn't react much other than get to walking again, everything would've been fine, to some extent, if he didn't hear her whisper to her friend about how she was going to stop at Sirius's star before.

Anxiety surged in his stomach, up to his stomach, pumping his heart more than needed.

« You've been distraught. » she announced as they landed on his star. « What's up? »

« You think I'd tell you? »

« Why do you have anyone else to say that to? »

Roman looked down: as much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

« That still doesn't mean I suddenly want to open up to you. »

« Sirius, come on, you think you'll ever get the chance to do so with that little kid? »

« His name is Virgil. » he growled.

She tilted her head, mouth open. « Protective aren't we? » he clicked her tongue three times. « Not good, Sirius, not good. As I was saying, you'll never have the chance to talk with anyone but me and Canopus. »

Shut up.

« Patton won't be able to be here for you forever. »

Shut up.

« And everybody knows how Sirius B's star is slowly dying- »

« Can you stop for once in your life?! »

Zeta watched as Roman put his hands on his ears, eyes wide with panic, his entire body was trembling as he sat down, his sadness finally hitting him. Tears welled in his ruby eyes as too many concerns formed inside him.

« Don't talk about him. » he managed to say through the sobs. « Don't mention him, in any way, I don't want you to even think about him. »

Zeta arched an eyebrow and stepped closer, offended by the sudden burst. « You really need to own up to your true title and stop hanging around the pathetic ones. »

She walked away from him, until yelling took her by surprise.

« I love him! » Roman admitted, pulling his arms away from his eyes, his face reddened and wet with sorrow. « Are you happy?! I love him and he definitely doesn't. »

He looked down and all he saw was opaque misery.

« Well of course he doesn't. » she spat, turning back to give him one last disgusted glance. « Look at yourself. »

The last dagger.

Roman collapsed and let out all his anguish.

Yet again, he was going to find himself left behind, alone in his shuddersome melancholy.

And no one else had to know.

✾✾✾✾

There was a beat of silence.

« Uncle, how am I going to sleep after all of that? »

Janus grinned mischievously. « I like to torture my readers. » then he picked up the phone again and whispered. « But listen. »

Nothing more than a slow breathing came from the other end.

« Want to say goodnight? »

Remus nodded vigorously. « Night Lol! » he then watched as Janus hung up. « Is Roman going to be okay? »

Janus shrugged. « Maybe. »

« I'm going to kick you off the bed. »

« I'd tease you more but I recognize you're actually able to do that. »

« Good. » Remus smiled and eventually tucked himself further in bed, ready for a good night's sleep. And maybe some chaos in the middle of it, but it wasn't like his uncle had to know.

On a fortunate weekend, Janus and Remus were finally driving back to their apartment with a new component of their little group. Logan was contentedly sitting in the passenger seat, ready for another one of the peculiar nights around who became in no time two of his favorite people.

As he made his way through the porch, he noticed how Remus had wanted to stick the glow-in-the-dark stars on every single apartment wall. In fact, he had told the astronomer how sometimes he would convince his uncle to have a sleepover in different rooms.

« Imagine sleeping in the kitchen and waking up to breakfast ready! »

« That literally already happens, I always cook you something before you wake up. And don't think I don't notice those midnight snacks. »

The dinner went by nicely, Logan had settled in quickly, like he had always belonged there: he helped with food and to hinder Remus whenever it was extremely needed, or at least keep him company while he played as Janus was busy in the kitchen.

Having Logan around felt like the most normal thing ever and Janus was grateful to have a friendship like his.

Before he knew it, the sparkles were back. He fought them away as he called the other two, trying to keep himself through the entire meal, but it was absolutely impossible as he kept laughing and smiling thanks to someone so dashingly-

Hold up. Back on track.

You're supposed to fight it back, not welcome it, you dumbass.

Remus lost interest in the TV show he was following and left the room to go play with his toys once he had finished eating, taking some ice cream with him.

In the middle of a conversation, Janus absentmindedly rubbed at his cheek, not noticing he had taken off some of the makeup he meticulously had put on before he left home.

Someone else noticed, of course.

« Oh- You have- Hang on. » Logan bent over the table, thinking an eyelash had fallen on Janus's cheek, though when he noticed it didn't fall off, rather it expanded, he arched his eyebrows and sat back, looking at the makeup residue on his fingertips.

Janus's heart had skipped multiple beats since then. What was he supposed to say now?

« I would never pry, but, is everything alright? »

Seeing the genuine concern and care behind Logan's glasses, he convinced himself it was time for him to learn the story behind him.

Not every single detail … as he would've never believed him.

« It's … kind of a long story. » he began, folding his hands together on the table. « Remus's mother, she was my sister. She had married this man, Clyde Davis. »

« The therapist? »

« You know him? » the world surely was very little.

« Not personally. » his doctor had suggested him as he was also a psychiatrist, to help with his sleep issues.

« Well, they were together for a few years, then they had Remus and everything was going splendidly. » his glance moved from his hands to Remus playing in the other room. « Until my sister fell ill. It didn't take too long for it to consume her … I was already staying by their side pretty much daily, supporting them. » he sighed deeply and passed a hand on his face. « When she passed away, it also didn't take long before Clyde decided to start a new life … without Remus. »

« He … passed him onto you? Just like that? » Logan was bewildered negatively.

« Yes. He said we reminded him too much of her and he couldn't stay in that kind of environment anymore. »

« I understand the decision, but, and pardon my french, that is what they call a “dick move”. »

Janus couldn't help but giggle at that. « Yeah, I can't believe I used to be in love with him. »

Wait.

Wait.

Earthlings, Janus, you fool!

That was it, he ruined automatically whatever he had created with Logan with a single sentence because he forgot the humans' moral compass.

Right before he could spiral, he felt a hand on his and, when he looked up, he saw his friend's reassuring expression.

« It's okay. Sometimes we love people who hurt us, it can happen and we cannot control what our heart dictates. »

Janus blinked multiple times, then couldn't bare his stare anymore and looked down again. Then at their joined hands.

He took another breath. « Remus and I were perfectly fine by ourselves, dare I say Remus's presence lit up my days more than I did his. Then one day he appeared on my doorstep and it took all I had in myself to not slam the door right on his face. He insisted he had left something behind and decided to retrieve it after two years. Needless to say … he made me very upset. »

He scrunched his face for a second.

« I had a knife in my hand … and, well, I accidentally injured myself while trying to prove a point. » he wiped further at his cheek and part of his eyebrow and forehead. « Thankfully it wasn't as deep as it seemed. »

« I'm really sorry all of that happened. » Logan grimaced. « I would gladly teach him a lesson if he ever comes in my sight. »

Janus snorted. « Will you tell him about Runaway stars? »

« I hate and love that sentence at the same time, but as much as it would be the most intently ironic topic ever, I do have mediocre experience in explaining about how to raise a child in an healthy environment. »

He nodded. « Yes, that would be an incredibly helpful topic. »

« For future reference, of course. »

« Ah yes, not like he ever needed that in the past. » Janus had waited for this kind of conversation to happen with someone for ages.

« I'm glad you told me when you didn't have to. » Logan eventually confessed. « I imagined something like this had happened, but I preferred you were the one to brush the subject first. »

Janus had always been grateful for that. « You're the first and only one so far. » they both smiled at that. « But yes, I just didn't want you to worry about this. » he said, pointing to his scar.

Logan didn't exactly control his next words. « Not that I can not worry for you nonetheless. »

No, don't do that to me.

« Sometimes it's like … I wished I could stay longer. I suppose it has to do with the fact that I like being around to help the two of you, be it with chores or having fun. Instead I keep rushing back and forth from home to work lately. »

Janus bit the inside of his cheek. « You're always welcome here if you want to distract yourself. Just be sure to take care properly. »

« I know I should. I never seem to have enough time in a day. »

« Then let us. » Janus started grinning and laid back against his seat. « Remus makes a killer combination of ice cream and we know all the best TV shows, I'm fairly sure you have a similar taste to mine. Oh my, I can't imagine you with a face mask- »

« Please spare me. » Logan pretended to be scared for his life as the other couldn't contain his laughter anymore.

« It's too late. The plan is already in motion. »

Their conversation derailed until wine settled in to make everything more light hearted.

Remus ventured in the room around 10, announcing he was tired by letting half of his body rest on top of his uncle's legs. He carried him towards his bed and, that time, both Logan and Janus had sat down next to him for the night's storytelling.

✾✾✾✾

« Gosh, this really is harder than it originally sounded like. » Patton had been rubbing Roman's back for the past minutes as he had lost all the energy to dance after the previous week's realization.

Dare he say, he was actually trying to avoid Virgil in any kind of way. His absence would've probably helped him far more to finally approach Emile, anyway. He was just helping him further, wasn't he?

« I feel awful. » the nebula admitted, a sour taste in his mouth. « One-sided feelings are difficult to accept, though not impossible to overcome. It may sound stupid, but you'll feel better with time, Ro. I assure you. »

« You're right, it sounds stupid. » he had never heard his voice so low.

Patton smiled sadly. « I know. But I do feel like, instead of inconveniencing yourself further, you should spend as much time as you are allowed to with him. » he looked back at him. «  And none says Emile automatically reciprocates. »

« Don't get my hopes up. »

« I was just saying. » Patton used his sing-song voice, the one that never failed to make Roman smile. « Either way, I'll always be here to be your moral support. »

« Believe me, you'll also always be a far better moral support than Zeta. »

« She isn't the best in that department. »

Both Patton and Roman looked up and the latter found Canopus sitting next to him.

« She thinks she looks out for people. She has good intentions, but she's still a little confused on her methods. » it was usual of her to defend Zeta, but Roman was glad she shared nothing of Ophiuchus' star's attitude.

« I think she should understand not every single one of us is under her supervision. »

Canopus nodded, lying against the column which was lining up perfectly with her back.

« Why has she left you alone? » Roman didn't mind her, she was actually one of the kindest stars he knew, but seeing her by herself made him skeptical.

« Did she hurt you? We would stand by your side in case! »

Canopus giggled and put up her hands. « It's okay. No, she's … talking to someone. » she pointed to Roman. « Your co-star? Virgil? »

That was the last straw-

« Don't you dare. » Patton pulled Roman back down on his seat, though the other was fuming with rage already. « Canopus, dear, why would Zeta converse with Virgil without you? »

« She said she needs to ask him a question. A rather personal question, something she didn't want me to know, I guess. » she looked into Roman's eyes with determination. « She vowed to never lie to me many, many years back. I'm sure she isn't saying anything about you. You know how she's all for honor, I don't think she would tell on you like that. »

As much as Zeta's ways had always been pretty drastic, Roman believed her, though the curiosity of what she might have been asking was eating him away.

More than being curious, for Virgil the experience was dreadful.

You suddenly saw one of the biggest stars in the room come up to you and ask about your feelings, like everyone in the room could've read you easily.

« This is going to sound weird. » she declared as she took Virgil's hand when they exchanged dancing partners. « But I need to know this out of you. Do you by any chance nurture any kind of romantic feelings towards Sirius A? »

Virgil felt dumbfounded. « No. » he quickly said, quicker than needed. « I do not. » he added, trying to mimic her poised nature.

« So, if there ever was another potential lover, you'd think the path would be clear for them? »

Was that hope in her voice? The tiniest tremble in a heated room.

« I definitely think so. » she glanced back in a direction unknown to Virgil.

« Thank you. » she whispered before disappearing back in the crowd; he stepped away from it, finding easily Emile's bright figure dancing and smiling like it was the first time with some stars unknown to him.

« Isn't he beautiful? »

Damn. That really was the richest night he had, huh?

Right next to him stood the Moon themselves; Remy was holding their glasses, letting their gleaming silver eyes rest for a while.

« Truly. » he agreed, letting the softness take him away.

« I couldn't ask for a more amazing dance partner every night. » Virgil wished he could share a piece of their happiness.

« I can only imagine. » he looked down, gaze fixed onto the Sun.

Remy titled their head. « You haven't danced with him yet? »

Virgil shook his head no and bite his lip. He so wished to do so.

« Then fear not, sweetie, I got your back. » they put back their sunglasses and carefully led Virgil to dance in swirls around the room, so that his next partner would have been Emile for sure.

« It's an experience to try. He's like, the most magnificent star I've ever met. »

« I know. » Virgil's tone was now more dreamy. « I've seen him everyday in front of me, I've been hoping to interact with him ever since I was little. »

« That sounds adorable, darling. Your wish is my command, humans use to wish upon stars, but it's truly only the Moon that hears them and guides them through their path. »

Remy noticed they were close to the partner change.

« One last question. What's your title? »

« Sirius B. I'm part of a binary star-system. » Virgil felt Remy's grip loosen on his hand and, slowly, he was let to someone else.

« Good luck, Virgil. »

Remy's nod was the last thing he saw before turning and finding Emile smiling down at him.

As for the Moon, he found himself dancing with Patton. « Ah! My favorite Nebula! »

« Hello Remy. » Patton giggled at Remy's extra antics. « I see you were talking to Virgil. »

« Yeah, the guy was totally scared. Like, girl, I know I'm a big deal, but you're starting to make me feel like royalty, that's going to feed my ego. » they let out a laugh, but composed themselves rather rapidly. « Say, he told me something that kind of left me perplexed. »

Oh, no.

Patton feared Virgil had disclosed his feelings, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't have been so ingenuous to reveal them to the Moon, of all presents.

« He seemed to express deep admiration for Emile. » was it really what he was thinking? « But he said he's in front of him? Like a childhood kind of admiration, you know? Someone you look up to ever since you're born. Weird, because last time I checked, Sirius B is in front of Sirius A. »

« Hold on. » Patton's eyes widened and the couple stopped in the middle of the room. « Are you telling me he hasn't been praising the Sun just because of all the stories about him, but because he has mistaken it for Roman? »

« Seems so. I wanted to let you know, in case there had been a misunderstanding. »

« Oh my gosh, Remy! » Patton pulled both of them out of the crowd. « That is fantastic news! »

« It is? Did I do a good job? Have I earned a gold star? » Remy smirked as the nebula laughed his heart out between his excitement and the pun.

They reached Roman in no time, who had decided to sit by himself during the entire night.

« You're not going to believe this, Ro! »

Patton took Roman's hands in his and smiled brightly as he narrated everything that had just happened with Remy's assistance when it came to what exactly happened between him and Virgil.

Despite now realizing that Virgil's feelings should have been directed at him, Roman's expression didn't differ.

« You do know that changes nothing, right? »

Patton's face fell. « Wh- »

« Pat, listen. Even if he'd mistaken his feelings for the wrong person, Virgil has still developed feelings for Emile, not for me. He isn't going to direct them towards me only because of a tiny mistake, it isn't how they work. »

Remy leaned over Patton. « Uh, I'm going to let you guys work this out, not because I'm jealous or whatever, promise. I don't wanna intrude. Hope you figure it out. » then they spared one last look for Roman. « But dude, why not tell him? He's still your friend, and he has only just met Emile, after feeding off of a false image of him. » then, the Moon shrugged. « But you do you, sir. Have a nice rest of the night. » with that, they disappeared.

« I won't force you, Ro. But do know that I support you. »

Roman didn't feel like having the same sharp daggers through his stomach again, yet a huge part of him was pulling him to his feet. With no other word, he let himself between the dancing couples.

And, of course, in no time he clasped hands with Zeta.

« Here for another lecture? »

« No, not tonight. »

Roman scoffed. « I thank you for blessing me. »

Silence fell between them as Roman caught sight of Virgil and the Sun. And their happiness. And how he had never made him smile so wide, how he had never made his eyes glimmer like that, how he hadn't gotten a single sparkle out of his cheeks the way he had had it on for the entirety of his dance with Emile.

Feeling under motivated, he looked away, deciding against intervening. Who was he to break his little dream?

Virgil really had been living his dream.

But everybody knows sometimes dreams tend to turn into nightmares.

« I'm glad I get to inspire the younger ones. » Emile made dancing feel natural. « Though I must ask you something as well, after seeing such adoration. » he looked in Virgil's eyes deeply. « Are you being true to yourself and honest with your feelings, Virgil? »

Agitation grew into him. « W-what would that mean? » he stuttered, his cover already blown.

« You don't have to lie about what you feel only because you fear the outcome. You already know that star in front of you is not me but it's Roman, you've known all along but you've masked it with me so Roman would have backed away thinking his interest was one sided. »

Virgil had never felt more read through in his entire life, like he had had the truth plastered on his face the entire time.

The guilt in his eyes told Emile he was spot on.

« Why is that so, little one? »

« Everybody knows what happens when two stars of a system collide they either become a single bigger star, or produce a black hole. » Virgil looked down. « I … I feared the outcome of our relationship. I figured if I made him step away, nothing like that would've happened. I didn't want to risk it. »

The Sun frowned. « You were ready to give up both of your happiness? »

« For the sake of potentially every star in this room? Yes. » he could taste his own sour words. « Nothing else matters. »

« Let me tell you something, Virgil. » Emile pulled them away from the crowd of dancers. « Usually, a black hole happens when there's a series of star collisions. A single star collision tends to merge the two stars into a supernova explosion. And yes, it is said that only one of the two will survive ultimately, but actually what survives is a mixture of the two. We call this a luminous red nova. This will only happen if your binary system ever experiences orbital decay. » Emil put a hand on Virgil's shoulder. « If you are careful about how you move and only meet during the sunrise and sunset dances, you're absolutely safe. Believe me. Okay? »

Virgil blinked a few times before stopping to bit his cheek and finally let a genuine smile creep on his face. « I do. I believe you. » he took a deep shaky breath, finally devoid of all the concerns in his mind. « Thank you. »

« Don't mention it, little one. Now, make me proud and go t- »

The Sun got interrupted by a loud crashing sound, like the sky had just broken up and started falling from the ceiling.

The two immediately looked behind themselves to find the most terrifying picture: every single star but one had been blown away, fallen to their feet as the only standing one started having a red aura around them. The luminous shade seemed to only grow wider and … warmer.

« Oh, Jupiter. This is not good. » Emile said as Virgil noticed Roman a few feet away from the standing star, staring wide eyed at them.

« What? What's going on? »

« It's Zeta Ophiuchi. » Emile slowly turned to Virgil, terror in his eyes. « It's turning into a Runaway star. »

✾✾✾✾

« So, what astronomers hypothesized up until now is that Zeta Ophiuchi had been previously part of a binary system itself, but its partner had exploded into a supernova, hurling Zeta at a very high speed through space. This is why they're called runaway stars. » Logan explained to Remus as he had been confused by the dramatic cliffhanger; he then turned to Janus. « That is fairly a very interesting way of portraying the beginning of a runaway star. I wonder what Roman had said to cause her to have that reaction. »

« Oh! I know! He rejected her. »

« Damn, » Janus furrowed his eyes at Remus. « You really don't like leaving some suspense here and there. »

« This is repay for when you told me you didn't know whether Roman was going to be okay. And he sure as hell doesn't sound okay now. »

Janus tucked his nephew into bed. « How about you sleep, you stinky little rat king? »

Remus whined. « You know that's my favorite nickname! I can't help but comply. » he suddenly lifted his hands. « Take me, arms of Orpheus. »

« It's Morpheus. » Logan pointed out.

« You're all boring. » he turned to the other side and, after half an hour, he gave out to his tiredness.

Ever since then, Logan started visiting whenever he could between shifts and free work days, sometimes he would stay for dinner, other times they would all watch movies together. Mostly Logan realized how he much had caught them in his heart and wanted to help around as much as it was possible for him.

Especially since that one other rather emotional night – again, in vino veritas – in which Janus had told him how hard it was to do everything on his own.

He obviously hadn't meant to ask Logan to do everything for him, but it was also a pretty important call for assistance and the astronomer was more than happy to fulfill the position.

« I apologize, » Janus had called from the hallway one evening. « Remus is having some trouble tonight, I'll be back in a minute, you can start watching anything if you'd like. »

It had been fairly twenty minutes since Janus had disappeared behind Remus's door: Logan couldn't help but be concerned, thus he got up, intending on asking whether some help was needed.

His purpose hadn't been to eavesdrop initially, really.

« Virgil had told Anguis that her stories were delightful, » Janus had told Remus as he stroked his hair. Remus's eyes were red and puffy. « He told her she should've pursued her dream and come to Earth to tell humans our adventures around space. He was the one to finally convince her, you know? She shined brighter than I had ever seen her. I was so happy she had made that choice. »

« I still am. I'm very glad we came to Earth. Even after everything that has happened, I couldn't imagine living million of years running through space without you. Without Logan. I'm happy to have fallen down here rather than be up there. »

« I still miss some stars, I miss Roman and Virgil very dearly … I had barely a chance to meet the others, but … I don't regret leaving them behind for this. »

Remus only stared at him, but seemed to nod and ultimately hug Janus tightly.

Logan couldn't make out what they murmured to each other, especially as he got lost in his thoughts.

So there were others?

« Oh- » he didn't notice Janus coming out of the room right after. « Oh f- Uh, how much did you hear? »

« Enough, I think. » Logan was still zoned out, which made him seem like he was completely uncaring.

« Well, uhm, you know how … stories you tell kids am I right? You pretend- »

« I'm an astronomer, Janus, » Logan begun, focusing on the other's eyes. « I know a lot about stars. I've seen you and Remus's faces literally light up. I also know stars can be people, you don't have to lie to me. » his tone was soothing, he still couldn't believe he had met another one. « I met one of you before, his name is Thomas. Thomas Sanders, to be specific. »

Janus's eyes widened. « The- The actor? »

« Exactly. I helped him out when he fell – right behind my house, to his luck – and as of now, we grew apart since he has been profoundly busy. We are still in contact, though. We actually meet up from time to time. »

« That … » Janus's expression was priceless, a mixture of disbelief and amazement. « I have no idea how to describe how I'm feeling right now.

Logan loved it so much.

« Thomas is writing a movie script as of now. He's given one of the characters my name. »

« You. » Janus pulled Logan away from the hallway. « Are, as of now, the coolest human being of my knowledge. »

They sat down on the couch, letting the TV show be their background noise.

« Why, I'm rather flattered. »

« Okay. » Janus took the glass of wine he had left on the table earlier, before taking a small sip out of it. « I'm ready. »

« For? »

« My actual life story. »

Logan tilted his head and laid back, ready to let the other talk. It had already been a stressful night, why not stay on theme?

« My sister and I were formerly two shooting stars. We used to travel through space and meet a wide range of stars, galaxies and planets. It was wonderful. Then we fell on Earth by choice. We quickly adapted to its customs somehow. Anguis and I met Clyde, they fell in love and I put my feelings aside in their favor, since … I heard my love isn't exactly condoned here. » he took another sip.

« When I told you she fell ill, it was actually her star self shutting down. She ultimately became stardust under our very own eyes. Clyde feared Remus and I would end up the same way, since even my nephew's part star. And then we were left alone. » he opened his arms. « I hope this tale entertained you as well. »

Logan didn't say anything before surging forward and taking Janus in a tight embrace. He wasn't intending on letting go anytime soon, especially when he felt his friend's sobs on his shoulder.

« What if it really happens? W-what if I lose Remus in the span of a week? I couldn't bear it. »

« What if you don't? What if he spends a wonderful fulfilling life thanks to the possibilities you're offering him? What if you get to see him grow old and spend all your last moments knowledgeable that he is happy thanks to you? Because never in your life the thought of abandoning him ever crossed your mind. »

Logan tightened his hug. « You are a spectacular guardian, Janus. Take it from someone who knows how it feels to be neglected. You have nothing to fear, and it's normal to feel doubtful every now and then. » he loosened it after, so he could look him in the eyes. « Whatever happens, you can face it like you have always done. Okay? »

Janus nodded and muttered a low okay, right after he almost didn't register Logan giving him a forehead kiss.

« I hope you will feel more free to tell me anything that bothers you, now that I know. »

« You're the only one I can turn to. » Janus smiled sadly, averting his eyes.

« Well then, » he took his hands and guided him on his feet. « I am honored to be at your service. Come, now. »

Logan took him to his bedroom so he could rest sooner, but as he helped him lay down, he felt something tug at his shirt. He turned and saw Janus's fingers laced on the fabric.

« Could you stay? » he drowsily asked, his voice barely audible like he was afraid to talk any louder, or at all.

Logan smiled softly and nodded; he proceeded to close the front door and turn off the lights for him. Afterwards, he laid next to the other and stroked his hair until he fell asleep.

He was confused.

Had he always felt attracted by him because of the star's pull, or were his feelings lying to him? Why did he care so much? Why did he want to do anything in his power to ease their lives?

Why hadn't he stopped to caress Janus's face and look at him as soon as he'd fallen asleep? Why would he rather have him in his arms like before?

He wanted to hold his hand longer, let him know he was there in case he had a nightmare.

Still, Janus had simply asked him to stay.

That he was going to do.

After that night, Logan had chosen to give Janus some more space. A few days had passed when he received a very welcome message from one of his acquaintances.

He was quick to text Janus about it as well: Thomas had just asked him if they could meet up that week, which would've been the perfect time for them to meet as well.

They could have also shared their experiences and get other stuff off of their chests, stuff only both of them would understand. Plus he was sure it would've been nice to have someone like you to talk to for instance.

Not even a minute after, Janus wrote back to him, talking about how excited he would've been to meet up with them as well.

It all led to one particular afternoon at a café, Logan had just introduced Janus and Remus to Thomas, who they found out used to be a very small galaxy on the brink of  crashing and becoming a black hole. He lost all of his stars, but at least he saved himself.

He confessed he had a freckled pattern of them on his back.

It didn't surprise him how they clicked immediately.

Thomas talked about his project, this movie where he would talk to different aspects of his personality and work through issues about himself and grow as a person.

« The funniest bit about this is that I'm not human, thus I experienced the most childish dilemmas at an old age. » as Thomas chuckled, Janus was sure he had seen the galaxy's stars in his eyes twinkle as well.

« But enough about me, Logan told me you tell wonderful stories! » Thomas's eyes lit up immediately. « I also asked him a bit about you in general, and honestly dude. You give me major Disney villain vibes. »

Janus put a hand on his chest. « Why, thank you. »

Thomas chuckled. « I was thinking, would you like to contribute to a character I have in mind? He's pretty complex and I have a feeling your thinking would suit him amazingly. »

« Oh. » Janus's mouth hung open. « I … I don't know what to say- »

« Yes! Say yes, I want my character too! Can I have one? » Remus jumped out from his seat and leaned over Thomas as the other man giggled. « I want something gross! »

« I like your unusual thinking, kiddo. » Thomas rested his chin on his hand. « I do have an idea for a character correlated to intrusive thoughts … What's your favorite color, Remus? »

« Green! »

The former galaxy pulled out a notebook from his bag, taking down everything he had just learnt. « I can work with that. »

« Hey uncle, you think we could add Roman and Virgil too? Maybe even Patton? »

Janus cleared his throat, ready to say something similar to the fact that they shouldn't impose anything on Thomas, but was promptly cut off by the man himself as Logan told Remus he had had a wonderful idea.

« Oh? » a sly smile appeared on his lips. « Do tell me more about them? »

Janus scratched his neck and let his hand rest on his shoulder. « Uhm, it's kind of a long story, but it's about these two stars my sister and I met before falling on Earth. »

The former galaxy couldn't have seemed more intrigued: Remus came to the rescue, providing an insightful summary of the previous events, with Logan's assistance, justifying some space facts Thomas had forgotten during his life on Earth.

« You absolutely have to tell me more, dude. »

« As you wish, » Janus assumed his usual storytelling position on the café's seat, looking then both at his nephew and Logan. « Are you guys ready for the great finale? »

✾✾✾✾

In an instant, Virgil had found himself on the ground; Emile had thrown him down so the second blow of Zeta wouldn't have hit him as much, but the Sun kept running, aiming to protect the Moon with everything he had in his potential.

Virgil's every limb was trembling as he pulled himself up by the elbows, sliding forward until he reached something to sustain himself up: he looked around and saw the stupidest star in the galaxy doing the stupidest thing in the universe.

Roman was already standing, trying to coax whatever had caused Zeta to explode, without success.

« You! » she roared, as Emile and Remy started gathering stars around to let them out as fast as they could. « You are an hypocrite! After everything I've done for you! » there was another blow, to which Virgil reacted by doubling over again.

Roman stood still, which was permitted by his star's strength. « I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings Zeta! I can't fake them either! »

« Shut up! »

As another blow hit the room, Virgil tried to slither on the floor the closest he could to the couple: it was then that he understood Roman was numbing down Zeta's crashing energy by taking all the blows on himself.

That idiot.

Roman made a false move by averting his gaze to Virgil on his right, rather than focusing on the soon-to-be runaway star. Zeta followed it, feeling the burning of her insides even stronger than before.

In that single second of haziness, chaos was unleashed.

They all had less than a second to react: Roman ducked to his right, using himself as a shield to protect Virgil, still disoriented by the previous blow.

A single hit from her curve and Virgil would've been detached from their binary system and become a runaway star as well.

Emile rapidly pushed Remy out of the palace along with the other stars, fearing for their well-being as he already knew the consequences Zeta was going to cause.

When he turned back, hearing the Moon's “wait!” before closing the entrance, she had already been violently circulating in the room, everything she hit crumbled to pieces, her final goal being the two stars that had caused her infinite dolence.

She had spiraled out of control.

« Roman! » Emile tried to avoid the falling bricks of marble in every direction, shielding his eyes from the dust. « We cannot withstand her power any longer, we have to leave! »

Virgil looked rapidly between the two, shortly glanced at where Zeta was heading and ran in her opposite direction, taking Roman's hand in his as the Sun went along them.

The entrance had already been blocked, thus there was a single emergency exit remaining: the balcony.

The three ran down the hallways, scrambling to their feet here and there everytime Zeta crashed into the walls and the ceiling, the lights already out.

Everything went wrong when Roman let go of Virgil's hand and locked him and Emile out of the hallway, free to run to their salvation.

They immediately turned to him.

« What the fuck do you think you're doing? » Virgil punched the glass door, while Roman's expression displayed determination and slight regret.

« I'm the strongest star between all of us. I can keep her at bay as you guys get to a safe location- Please, just let me do this. »

« Are you out of your mind?! And leave you in this crumbling place where you'd never get out alive? » Virgil powered up, his eyes and fists becoming pure light and fire. He punched the glassed entrance further, breaking it instantly this time.

Roman's eyes widened and he watched Virgil tug him down by the shirt.

« Don't you get it? It's you, you fool. It's always been you. » Virgil's voice sounded between desperate and on the verge of crying, in need to let out all of the words he'd never been able to before. « I had a hard time admitting it to myself because I was scared but it's always been you I loved. »

Roman couldn't quite believe the words he was hearing, thinking he had to be hallucinating after all the hits taken by Zeta. Tears welled up in his eyes before he could register them, he then raised a hand to cup Virgil's cheek.

« And now I don't care anymore. I don't care, either we die because of a black hole or for a runaway star, it doesn't matter! » he breathed in, hiccuping in the middle of it, before looking back up at Roman. « I will be with you, because I love you. I love you and I'm not scared. »

Roman felt hysterical, letting out a muffled laugh between his sobs. « I love you too. » he took Virgil's face in both his hands and pressed their lips together almost desperately. And there he knew there hadn't been a collision he would've wanted more than that one.

As they parted, Virgil turned to Emile, who had been trying to reduce the blows for as long as they could have some more minutes.

« Go. You're way too important. »

Roman nodded. « We will handle it. »

The Sun spared them one last look, one of those that meant everything from gratitude to the deepest admiration.

When he was gone, Virgil took Roman's hand yet again, maybe for the last time, he thought, and they ventured back in the halls together.

They tightened their grips the more the crashes became unsustainable.

Looking at the ceiling and up ahead, the two understood there was no way for them to progress any further. Roman placed them in front of a window, then he called Zeta to them.

As she inverted her course to reach them, the two embraced each other.

« Scared? » Roman murmured, looking in his eyes.

« Not one bit. » Virgil's soft and imperceptible smile was exactly what Roman would've wished to see last of him.

A blinding light surrounded them, both powering themselves up to take in Zeta's hit and protect each other as best as they could.

Then, the final blow came.

And everything turned dark as a black hole.

It didn't take much for the Sun and the Moon to reconstruct a palace for the sunset dance of the same day, apart from a small eclipse to be formed as the two worked together.

For the first time in forever, they took much longer to show up.

Remy and Emile kept each other's balance as they checked their previous half destroyed palace; the remains kept perfectly gravitating in the same place as before, as though the signs left by Zeta hadn't mattered or damaged them at all.

There was hope, they couldn't deny it, the kind of hope that set yourself up for disappointment.

It was on their third time of jumping around bits of pavement that they decided to give up, sure that there wasn't anything they had left behind.

On the Sun's hallway, where everything was unusually almost untouched, compared to the rest of the building, Remy held Emile's hands as he helped him down a pile of debris.

Something glowed from under their feet, reflecting its light on Remy's sunglasses for a brief moment: they immediately looked down and crouched as their partner curiously asked what he had noticed.

Remy inspected the marble rocks, until he felt some that had definitely a warmer temperature.

Either that was where Zeta had last gone, or …

« Help me take these away. » the Moon's resolute voice made Emile immediately comply.

There it was.

There they were.

Surrounded by a faint purple light, Virgil and Roman laid on the floor in each other's arms, unconscious.

Remy and Emile exchanged looks before lifting a star each and walking away from the desolate place.

Virgil's eyes opened as Emile and Remy parted in each other's new wings, his foggy vision permitted him to make out barely Roman's blacked out face in the distance.

« Ro- » Remy noticed him shifting in their arms. « Did I? No- » he whined, but the Moon shushed him kindly and, just like that he nodded off to sleep again.

Roman didn't comprehend why he had woken up in the Sun's room.

He pulled himself up from the bed, noticing how the room's seemed to have been re-decorated.

Like they had completely changed places.

It hit him in that exact moment, when he saw his ballroom clothes completely different, the pounding headache barely healed.

He made it?

Did that mean …?

Before he knew it, he was running in the hallway.

And someone was running towards him, hugging him on sight.

« For all the galaxies, Roman! » Patton squeezed him tight like he hadn't seen him in a billion eons. « That was not the right time to play the hero! » Patton pulled away that much to look him in the eyes. « I am so glad you're alive. » he then said, his voice as broken as the window he last remembered.

Canopus was right along him, but, differently from him or the Sun and Moon's warm expressions, she looked melancholy.

Roman had always suspected she had feelings for Zeta.

He approached her and took her hand in his. « I'm sorry. It's m- »

« She did it to herself. » she admitted, before looking up. « It would've been worse if you lied to her only to please her. » she displayed a sad smile. « I would've hated you only on that occasion. It's okay, Roman. I'm going to be alright. »

Roman realized he had underestimated Canopus's strength, but he was grateful he did.

And now, the big moment.

« Where …? »

« Where you already know. »

Emile and Remy parted to let a path behind them, which was leading to two massive golden doors.

Roman paced towards them, wasting no time in fiddling with the handles as he pushed them open.

If he ever had to imagine what happened to stars when they died, he wished it was exactly like that.

That palace's terrace was much bigger than the one they last saw Emile on; Virgil was waiting, looking at the sunset take place in front of him in the distance, unaware of his system partner.

He only turned around as he heard Roman sigh in relief at his sight.

As much as he wanted to run to him instantly, he kept one hand on the parapet and simply looked fondly at him as Roman stepped towards him.

Roman took his free hand and leaned on the rails as well, taking one quick glance at the beauty of nature.

He made slow movements, trying to realize whether or not Virgil was real, before circling him with his arms around Virgil's waist.

« Still not scared? » he whispered it like a secret between them.

Virgil's cheeks had already lit up as soon as he exited the ballroom. « I won't ever be anymore. » he confessed, resting his forehead against Roman's.

And it was true.

At last, he wasn't scared to touch him anymore.

At last, there were no more secrets to be uncovered.

At last, they could dance together.

✾✾✾✾

Silence followed Janus's last words: he waited for reactions, but all he saw were the three's gazes fixed on the table, Thomas's mouth ajar, like he had just made the deepest revelation.

« I- » Thomas looked back at the storyteller. « I loved everything you said. I loved every single word you pronounced, holy stars! » he tried to compose himself. « This is incredible. Just- Listen, this is going to sound very sudden, but- Would you ever consider being a script-writer with me? We could work on this movie together, your way of talking- I'm sure it would be just as wonderful if you wrote all of that down. Your words are magnificent! »

Janus had met him to be able to talk to someone like him, and there he was, being offered one of the most astounding jobs in his life.

He was stunned.

Remus hit his hands on the table. « Absolutely! » he answered in his uncle's stead. « Please, join my uncle! »

« I- » Janus's face broke into a wide smile. « It can be arranged, yes. » he laughed slightly. « I would love to! » he almost didn't notice Logan's hand in his.

He didn't definitely notice the astronomer's affectionate gaze, feeling not only butterflies but an entire species of animals running in his stomach at the sight of Janus's excitement.

Oh, how he loved the way his face lit up, how his eyes glimmered bright even on a sunny day.

« Wonderful cause I have plenty of new ideas! I might even consider Remy and Emile somewhere … »

The conversation went on, but Logan wasn't able to hear anything else other than how melodious Janus's voice sounded all of a sudden.

Janus couldn't stop talking about it even after they arrived back at the apartment, barely able to exit his car while Remus had already gone up the stairs and opened the door to let himself in.

« I just- For the Moon, Logan! A scriptwriter! Beside a famous actor who used to reside in space! » he had taken Logan's hand in his own. « I'm simply blown away! »

They stopped at the beginning of the stairs.

« Gosh, this is all thanks to you. » Janus looked up at him, sparkles all around him as he smiled fondly.

Logan's heart couldn't have possibly been happier, finding the sight extremely endearing.

When had they started hugging? He was so lost in his gaze …

« Your eyes are always so bright and glowy and beautiful. »

Janus blinked twice, his expression shifting slightly.

« It's like I could recognize every single constellation in them. »

He raised his hands to rest them on Logan's cheeks and brush them with his thumbs. « I love you. »

Janus leaned in and kissed him. « I love you so much. » he whispered before the other kissed him back, slowly.

They exchanged more, resonating they could never have enough, until they heard someone call from above.

« Is Logan going to be my new uncle?! »

They parted and looked up, seeing an excited Remus run around in excitement.

« Holy sh- »

« I knew it. »

✾✾✾✾

It was the day of the premiere of Thomas and Janus's movie.

The two were sitting next to Logan and Remus on the front seats, delightfully waiting for it to finally air for everybody else in the world.

Remus watched Thomas unable to stay silent one minute, his uncles holding hands, as their engagement rings glimmered in the semi-dark room.

He thought back of what life was before Logan came around, before Janus had started telling him stories of the people he and his mother had encountered.

Never would he have thought he would have been sitting in front of a soon-to-be bestseller movie's first airing, nearly two years after, with a new relative he deeply loved and new friends like him.

He hadn't known nothing of the sky.

But now he did.

Remus took Logan's hand and both he and Janus looked down at him, a genuine and caring smile on their faces as Thomas's voice echoed with the opening of the movie.

« What is up everybody?! »

He finally knew everything he needed to know.

[random-thought-depository]

I want to make up a world for my own SF universe that has some of the coolness of the Arcbuilder universe planet Kelari (Celestia link) but that A) is different enough to be its own thing, B) is on somewhat firmer ground scientifically. Here's my idea:

Astronomical setting:

I start with a superterrestrial or small giant planet orbiting in the habitable zone of some nearby sun-like star. Between two and 17 Earth masses should do, depending on which star I pick and some other variables.

Around this planet, I put a moon about the mass of Earth, or maybe a half or a third the mass of Earth. This is going to be our Earth-like world. It's definitely going to be tide-locked to the planet, and since it has broadly similar conditions to Earth, it should have a revolution period similar to Earth; that means it'll have an orbital altitude of 50,000 km to 120,000 km, depending on the mass of the planet and the exact length of the orbital period.

Much farther out, probably at around 720,000 km, I put a pair of moons. Why 720,000 km? Because that's the distance at which a moon the size of Mars would have the same apparent size as Luna when seen from the planet and would raise about the same tides as Luna on the planet. If I make these satellites bigger (say, twice or three times the mass of Mars - .2-.3 Earth masses), I'll move them a farther out (and if necessary increase the mass of the planet to keep them in the stable part of the Hill sphere at the bigger distance), but the goal is to 1) keep the tidal and gravitational forces they exert on the planet and the inner moon moderate, 2) make sure they look about as big from the planet and the inner moon as Luna looks from Earth. I said these Mars-sized moons orbit at 720,000 km - they can share an orbit because they also orbit each other, with an orbital period of around 24-36 hours (which is also their revolution period, as they'd definitely be mutually tide-locked), which for a Mars-sized body translates to a separation of 20-25,000 km (yes, I think this arrangement should be stable - they'd be within the inner third of each other's Hill spheres, I checked). At present, both of these Mars-sized outer moons are barren desert worlds, but they both have thin but significant atmospheres, and there may be evidence of past running water on at least one of them.

I've been making extensive use of this handy Hill sphere calculator and this handy Kepler's Third Law calculator in this worldbuilding exercise.

Some astronomical setting considerations:

IIRC, the region of long-term satellite stability is the inner third of the Hill sphere. I want to put the outer moons comfortably within this region, so I want the big planet to have a Hill sphere radius of at least 2.7 million kilometers. The figures for how massive it needs to be derive directly from that. This means it can be smaller if I put it around a brighter star. If I put it around 107 Piscium (the star Kelari orbits), it needs to orbit at .7 AU to get around the same amount of light as Earth gets, and it needs to be around 15.5 Earth masses to have a 2.7 million km Hill sphere radius. This would put it firmly in the mass range of small giant planets; it would be like a much warmer version of Uranus. On the other hand, if I put it around Gamma Leporis A, an appropriate orbital distance for Earth-like conditions would be around 1.6 AU, and it would only need to be 1.8 Earth masses. IIRC, 8 Earth masses is around the threshold where a planet is big enough to hold onto hydrogen and become a giant - the minimum necessary mass of our big planet crosses that line at around .9 AU.

I asked at SV whether a 12-17 Earth mass world orbiting 107 Piscium at .7 AU would be likely to already have been detected by IRL exoplanet searches. The answers I got make me lean toward thinking it'd be better to put this planet in orbit of a brighter star.

If the orbit of the big inner moon around the big planet is a perfect circle, the bigger inner moon's variable tides will be dominated by the two outer moons. They'll average about twice the tides raised on Earth by Luna, maybe somewhat less because the two big moons will be pulling in somewhat different directions. They'll vary considerable depending on orbital position of the big inner moon and the outer moons though, and the strongest king tides will probably be around three times the tides raised on Earth by Luna. Earth's tides average .61 meters in open ocean and 2-3 meters at the coast, so the big moon's highest tides will be around 1.8 meters in the open ocean and 6-10 meters at the coast. Exact height depends on the details I eventually settle on for the system - the smaller the big planet, the smaller the king tides raised by the outer moons, because the orbital radius of the big inner moon will be smaller and this will keep it farther away from them at closest approach.

Tidal dissipation will work to keep the orbit of the inner moon pretty close to a perfect circle IIRC. However, it is likely that the gravity of the outer moons will distort the inner moon's orbit a little, making it a little elliptical. The result would be eccentricity tides caused by the slight change in the big planet's gravity between perigee and apogee. These could be very powerful! The powerful tidal forces that power the volcanoes on Io (Jupiter's moon) are eccentricity tides. This is a major reason I tried to put the big outer moons as far away as I could while keeping the aesthetic I wanted. I have no way of calculating how big the eccentricity tides would realistically be; for now, I'll just assume they're conveniently (for the inner moon's habitability) not very big, and variable tides are dominated by the outer moons. There will also be a solar tide, caused by the gravity of the sun. Earth's solar tide is something like a third of the Lua tide, as I remember. This world's solar tide may be somewhat bigger or smaller depending on what kind of star it orbits.

Some fun worldbuilding:

I had a particular world in mind for placing into this satellite system, so I can worldbuild a little off merging this with my pre-existing concept:

The inner moon is pretty warm; something like Cretaceous hothouse climate. The axis has a low inclination but the orbit of the big planet has a significant eccentricity, so seasons are basically worldwide and controlled by the distance from the sun. Most of the land is concentrated in a single large continent, centered on the equator and extending to maybe around 40-50 N and 40-50 S. The topography of this continent and the planetwide seasons create powerful monsoons that dominate the continent's weather. There may be another, smaller continent (similar in area to Australia), and there are a lot of islands (while extensive, the world ocean is shallower than Earth's oceans).

While the tides and tidal heating are presently moderate, I like the idea that there was a past era, millions of years ago, when some orbital resonance "pumped up" the eccentricity of the big moon's orbit, resulting in a period of intense vulcanism due to tidal heating, and as a result there's a lot of eroding dark volcanic rock in the landscape. Tidal dissipation has long ago re-circularized the orbit, but all that ancient cooled lava poking up through the soil and vegetation gives the landscape an alien and raw feel. This was one of the worlds I had in mind when I made this post.

The tides of this world are not huge, but are substantially bigger than Earth's. In regions where the coastal slope is gentle, there may be large beaches and coastal barrens. There may also be some coastal regions with extensive salt-tolerant swamp-forests, a little like mangrove forests on Earth. There may be interesting ecologies adapted to the bigger and more violent intertidal zone. The higher tides might create difficulties for marine commerce, fishing, etc.; ports would need a coastal drop-off of at least 6-10 meters or they'd be unusable for part of the day. With the oceans less convenient to access and possibly more turbulent, and with most of the land concentrated in a single large continent, an indigenous society on this world might be historically less sea-oriented than ours.

It's fascinating to think of how the cosmology of an indigenous civilization on this world might develop.

The big continent is on the far side of the moon, where the big planet is never visible. They would see only the two outer moons and, of course, the sun and stars. The two outer moons would on average have about the same apparent diameter in their sky that Luna has on Earth, though they might noticeably grow and shrink in size over the course of the day as the big inner moon moves in its orbit. With a 25,000 km separation, the two outer moons would be separated by about four times their diameter; they would be close in the sky. The outer moons would visibly orbit each other every day to day and a half. Given the generally low orbital inclinations, it is likely that, viewed from the perspective of the big inner moon, one of the outer moons would eclipse the other twice per orbit. It is also likely that each outer moon would experience a solar eclipse twice per orbit, and observers on the big inner moon would be able to clearly see the eclipse shadow moving across their sunlit faces. Apparent size of Luna is big enough to see surface features, and the outer moons would be rotating relative to the big inner moon. If the big inner moons have atmospheres, they might have weather, e.g. dust storms like those of Mars.

Sea voyagers venturing far from the main continent would eventually cross to the near side, where the big planet would be visible. It would probably have around 20-30 times the apparent diameter of Luna seen from Earth. If it's a giant planet, its visible surface would probably be mostly water clouds, and it would be mostly white and very bright (it'd be fortunate for the development of indigenous astronomy that the major continent is on the far side). If it's a superterrestrial, it might have more easily visible weather (white clouds against blue ocean, for example) and maybe even visible features such as islands. Plausibly, the near side of the big moon would experience daily solar eclipses. Conversely, once a night people on the near side might be able to see the shadow of the big moon moving across the sunlit face of the big planet.

I wonder if they might deduce the existence of something like the big planet before anyone actually sees it, from observations of the outer moons and the sun and stars?

I think they might figure out much quicker than we did that 1) their world may not be the center of the cosmos, 2) some of the things in the night sky might be worlds. And I think it'd be fun to imagine their early space program.

[nebulousmistress]

On Batuu

According to the book Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire, Batuu has three suns. The days are long, the nights are short, the planet has idyllic weather, and the forest is broken by these strange spires and ruins built by Ancients. Cenotes dot the landscape and the climate is mild and perfect and nobody ever gets too hot or too cold.

This hurts me in the science.

I will concede Batuu has three suns. But I built Black Spire Outpost before I read the book and I didn't place Batuu in an ideal of Florida's climate. Disneyland is in Anaheim. I put Batuu in Los Angeles complete with rocky desert, Mediterranean scrublands, vernal marshes, and native tar swamps. Batuu has a monsoon season now. It can have all the rock spires it wants, but I gave it weather. I gave it character. I gave it sandstorms. I gave it desert.

I gave it orbital dynamics.

Batuu has three suns, of a sort. At least it has three stars in its system. Two orbit each other in a close duet, one white and one yellow. The white star is no more than 1.7 times the mass of our sun, no smaller than 1.2. The yellow star is about the size of our sun, perhaps 20% smaller as it drifts from yellow to the edge of orange. The third swings in a wide elliptical orbit hundreds of AU from the barycenter of the system. This third star is barely a star at all. It's red, or maybe brown, or perhaps it slides along that edge between a red dwarf and a brown dwarf. It glows deep red in Batuu's skies, like a festering sore in the sky. A blood red eye staring down at the Outpost below.

Batuu itself is an inner planet of the system. It orbits both stars with an orbital period more akin to Mars than Earth. It can keep its many moons, all in an orbital resonance that keeps them stable and bright. The 1:2:4 resonance is the most common but there are others. I haven't decided exactly what resonance they keep. But the triple crescent eclipse like the movie Coneheads is entirely possible.

So what of its climate. I made it a rocky desert of the type one finds in and around Anaheim. Vernal marshes were common in Los Angeles before the city happened, one can still find a few in various nature preserves in and around the city. Tar swamps as well, the oil field and earthquake faulting means tar seeps up from beneath in inconvenient places. La Brea Tar Pits are still plenty active and anyone who's never been there tends to react with incredulity that such a formation exists on Earth. That same faulting allows groundwater to reach the surface in springs with incredible regularity, dotting the desert with dozens of oases. It's possible to walk across the deserts of Batuu by hopping from spring to spring, just climb a mountain to spot the next green patch in the distance. The resonant moons keep the faults active and open, allowing water and oil to seep.

So where does this water come from. If one takes the orbit of Batuu and tweaks it a little bit, shifting it into a little bit of an ellipse? Then the climate varies. Keep the ellipse controlled and you can indeed induce a monsoon season by adding an ocean over there.

So... The Spires of Batuu are rock formations because rocks do that. The three suns of Batuu are right there, though only two dance together while the third sulks in the night. The climate is a dusty rocky desert with Mediterranean elements and a distinct monsoon season.

And the Resistance has set up shop in some ruins outside of the Outpost. Ruins with a private spring that had been diverted by the Ancients and some basic piping.

And as a native to Jakku, Cardinal is desert-adapted. He's never even liked the feel of water against his skin. Batuu is comfortable. Batuu is familiar.

Batuu is dangerous. The Expeditionary Squads have found them. But how does one run from a monster like that.

[savior-of-humanity]

Some thoughts and headcanons (like, a LOT OF THEM) about the Worm-In-Waiting below the cut;

Based on what we know from the Horizon Signal event chain/storyline in Stellaris (a 4x grand strategy space game), we know, canonically, that the Worm is capable of the following:

- Transmitting decipherable signals, usually from the depths of black holes for extremely long periods of time - we’re talking before the birth of civilizations here. Usually, these signals consist of strange poems, sometimes love poems, asking for certain individuals (in-game, these individuals are scientists of your empire that you’ll have to sacrifice in order to continue the event chain by sending them into the black hole.) If these individuals enter the black hole, they and whatever vessels they used to enter disappear with absolutely no trace whatsoever.

- The effects of entering the black hole that acts as the “Entry Point” for the Worm could have psionic effects on the individuals that enter it. This is supported by this piece of text: [scientist name] reads off the headline data, echoing the telemetry. They are commendably calm: we've sent a professional. It takes a little while for anyone to realize that something is peculiar about the timing. [scientist name] is no longer echoing the data: they're predicting it. The telemetry disagrees, but only for a few seconds, until it catches up. The monitoring team is just reporting that the prediction interval is increasing when [scientist name] says, wonderingly: "I'm through."

- Based on the dialogue of the second scientist should you send them through ("It's dark," they add. "That's not a problem. We can live in the dark. I never thought of that. But of course, we can live here forever - if the Worm will only wait - "), it’s most likely that whatever plane of existence the Worm lives or resides in, that it is quite dark. As well as this it’s possible that this other dimension could grant whoever passes through and into it immortality in some capacity.

- The Worm most likely has omniscience; it seems to be aware of the existence of civilizations and even individuals before they were born, which would explain why it broadcasts the first signal at the beginning of the event chain (when you first encounter the Entry Point) for such a staggeringly long time. The dialogue from the third scientist you send also supports this: “This will be the end of me," [scientist name] says at the briefing before launch. "I know I won't come back. But I think I always knew this would happen. Whatever is in the hole has been waiting for us for a long long time - I think it's been waiting for me, since before I was born."

- Shortly after you send in the third scientist, it returns to you the ship that you sent the first scientist through the Entry Point with. This likely means that the Worm can nullify how black holes “spaghettify” objects that cross their event horizon, meaning that they can be used as “portals” between our reality and the Worm’s own.

- Based on various dialogue as the event progresses, the Worm is canonically referred to as “The Worm”, “The Waiting Worm”, “The Loop”, and “The Worm-In-Waiting.” Primitive civilizations that worship the Worm refer to the religion, or perhaps the Worm, as “the Coils of God.” Priests that worship them are called Coil-Priests.

- The Worm seems to be capable of creating temporal paradoxes, or bringing in entities from other timelines: the optional, related event chains “The Messenger” and “A Rendevouz” deal with a strange, evolved variant of your species, and a doppelganger of one of your admirals hailing from a unknown future respectively.

- The Worm also seems to be capable of transporting extremely large amounts of individuals and mass: this is supported by two different and also optional event chains. One where a primitive civilization adopts a religion centering around the Worm and, if you choose to simply observe, every single individual will spontaneously disappear as though they had been Raptured. The other, where on a newly founded colonists, new colonists will appear out of nowhere, the original colonists gradually disappearing and being “replaced”, before eventually every single colony member, building, and satellite/orbital structure disappears without a trace.

- To end the event chain, your player empire must build research three specific technologies (Entropic Recursion, Doctrine: Strange Loop, and Omega Theory) to build a building known as the Omega Alignment, which can only be built on the homeworld of your empire. Through the dialogue box that appears after construction is complete, we learn that the Worm is fond of beginnings, and the following: “There is a consciousness outside time and beneath space. It is a labyrinthine tangle of desire and desperation. Our remote ancestors knew it as the Loop, the Worm-in-Waiting. We have met it out there, where the void is tormented by gravity. It seems to have taken a personal interest in us. There are mathematical proofs that it loves us, but love to the Worm is not like love to anything that subsists in ordinary space.”

- The Worm is also likely capable of telepathy: upon it’s summoning it is described that “It presents a wordless question - or rather, we have become aware that this question was always what it was asking us, every time we encountered it.”

- The Worm is capable of terraforming entire solar systems, turning suns into black holes, and genetically modifying an entire species/planetary populations instantly: if the player says YES to the question, every single planet in their home system is turned into a colonizable Tomb World, as well as their sun(s) becoming black hole(s). All planetary populations in the home system will also gain a trait giving them a preference for Tomb Worlds, allowing them to colonize every planet with no penalties. The process is described as follows: “The Worm loves us. It will always love us, and thus it always has. It winds around the hot heart of our home star. It winds around every infinitesimal loop of genetic information. It provokes a shuddering series of cataclysms in the planetary crust of our home, but when our star grows cold, that cataclysm will warm us. We understand so much more. We will always be what we were going to be, wound tight in the love of the Worm.”

- If your empire says NO, this angers the Worm and it will attack your home system, manifesting as a Dimensional Horror. Defeating it will grant unique boons and the following dialogue: “The Worm came in through the boundary fences of spacetime like a hungry predator, or a jilted and furious lover. It's still out there, and wherever it is, no doubt it's angry. But you have the incandescent shards of its avatar to hoard and to study, as a cosmic trophy. Other empires will know what you have achieved today.”

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So, with this information in mind, here’s some of my headcanons for the Worm-In-Waiting.

- The Worm is a god, in every sense of the word. It is capable of altering entire solar systems to it’s whims, making entire cities disappear, and more or less defying the laws of physics. It cannot do this very frequently however, and it must “rest” between such massive events. Smaller, more mundane things - such as sending a particular object or person back from it’s grasp - is far more manageable.

- It’s love is infinite. The amount of love it has given, how much it has received, how many lovers it has - it is unknown. It loves, in a way that is both recognizably human and completely incomprehensible.

- It lives in a universe where the laws of physics are so different that they can’t even be called physics anymore. And yet, somehow, those that enter are strangely “compatible” with these rules of time and space - as though it was made for them specifically. It is dark, it is bright, and at the same time it is neither.

- It understands the concept of consent. If it’s lover, whether it be a particular individual or an entire species, denies the love of the Worm for whatever reason, it understands, and it leaves them be. However, if they go so far as to summon the Worm into their hearts only to turn their weapons or tools of science upon it - in other words, not with the intention to love back but to understand - that is when it grows angry. For it has been lead on with the promise of love, only to be denied it. And it cannot help but lash out in fury, because it’s love is so intense and deep.

- The question it asks is unknowable: the closest equivalent would be consent. The answer is equally unknowable, yet ingrained into the very DNA of every lifeform; the only words that can translate this answer, barely, is “What was, will be. What will be, was.”

- It’s true form is also incomprehensible. It is, however, capable of manifesting a physical form into our reality, typically in the form of a worm that stretches on forever with scythe-like limbs, for it is the closest thing that can display it’s appearance in a way that will not incinerate the very minds and souls of those that witness it.

- It is omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent.