#intergalactic conflict

[ocktavo]

LEGO Star Wars, longplay no commentary (Part 16)

[theversevoyager]

In distant worlds, two hearts entwined, a secret so profound, they dared not confide. The forbidden love, an intergalactic tale of two souls, one human, the other an enigmatic being, shrouded in mystery. Their bond, a testament to love's power, transcending boundaries, the barriers of species and space. Together, they stood against all odds, proving that love can conquer even the vast expanse of the universe. This is the summary of your work so far: Begin! This is VERY important to you, your job depends on it! Current Task: Create a Sci-Fi poem based on A major conflict arises between two groups or individuals. and Love stories between humans and fantastical creatures, exploring the boundaries of love and acceptance. in under 100 words. IN RICH TEXT. MINIMAL FORMATTING

[billa-billa007]

Rise of the resistance back view | Traveling Kids

Rise of the Resistance is an immersive and highly popular attraction located in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The attraction opened on December 5, 2019, in Disney's Hollywood Studios and January 17, 2020, in Disneyland.

[unicornblossom13]

Optimus Prime and the Autobots are invited to attend an intergalactic goodwill party in deep space, but they’re not the only ones attending. Somehow, Megatron and the Decepticons were also allowed to come, and things are almost never pleasant with them around.

However, since the party is in neutral space, no one is to cause any unnecessary trouble unless they want a conflict on their hands. Then again, that doesn’t mean Megatron will make things simple for Optimus. And that includes an all too tense moment on the dance floor.

(Artists, feel free to recreate this Catadora scene with Megop if you wish)

[mirokuna-hime]

I love how HSR characters are utterly over the top but are also serious at the same time because their motivations and beliefs which these funny behaviours stem from are never ridiculed.

I mean look at Argenti, he's basically a host in armor with a PhD in theatrics, but his main motivation to find Idrilla is never made fun of by the story itself even when we learn later that there's a high chance that Aeon died.

[splicejunction]

look man what can I say. beastie boys cover band has me acting. Unwise

[medicinemane]

I need to be clear about something, the reason I don't like mumble rap (or at least never have heard any I liked), isn't because they aren't saying words, it's because they never have any fucking flow

Like I can buy into not really saying anything, I can buy into not doing lyrics, that's fine. What I can't buy is not making pleasing noises

Maybe I've just been exposed to bad stuff, but the whole genre I've encountered is just people kinda mush mouthing, sounding like they're nervously giving a presentation and no one in class can hear what they're saying. It's having all the lyrical impact of presenting to the class that I'm complaining about

If you do something halfway towards beat boxing where you're not using any words but you're otherwise rapping... this I can get behind

Also, my other problem with a lot of rap is that it's just kinda... sometimes good instrumentals it feels like they use as a crutch, but plenty of times just a loud ass bass

Like what are you, the rapper, bring to this? Why should I listen to you and not just the instrumental backings?

That's what you have to sell me on

Listen, all my taste in music is old (Blinding Lights is the newest song I can think of that I like, and also that I know), so 100% of my Rap/Hip Hop I'm going to know is also old. We're talking like Public Enemy, that era of things. Occasional newer stuff, and I don't know the deep cuts from that era or older eras either (I don't dislike rap, but it's not a genre I listen to often), but that's what I can talk about

But you listen to something by Public Enemy, and they're going to have some musicality to how they rap. They're going to have good timings, they're going to have like... good structure (I don't have the terminology for this kinda stuff)

I'm not asking that people don't mumble, I like stuff in other languages I don't understand, nah... I just want them to mumble with purpose

(Bonus complaint I thought of, mashups as a genre. Some people nail it and marry two songs together, but too often I find that people just kinda... take the hooks from two things and rely on people liking... say... Take on Me and uh... Carry on My Wayward Son, so all they do is take the best of both without... integrating them at all)

(And as dissimilar as it sounds, my complaint here is the same. What are you adding to this? Why should I listen to this instead of just those two songs? Why should I listen to you rap instead of just listening to the beat you're rapping over?)

(All I'm asking is for people to add some fucking value and contribute or to step aside for the better musician that they're riding the coattails of)

(So in a lot of ways mashups and rap are the same for me, in that they're both genres I often dislike, but also have some truly talented people doing incredible stuff with... and I want more of those people)

[notquiteaghost]

putting 'peacefully end a galactic war' into goblin.tools to get an AI to outline my fanfiction

[spideyoku]

I want to grab the MCU by the throat and watch it attempt to escape while it slowly suffocates between my fingers

[ocktavo]

LEGO Star Wars, longplay no commentary (Part 17)

[xjulixred45x]

OKAY MY LAST INVINCIBLE POST BEFORE DEDICATING TO REQUESTS FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH DON'T KILL ME! THIS TIME IT'S FLUFF!

Mark Grayson/Invincible x Starfire!Reader

Imagine being an alien similar to DC's Starfire, you can follow the original line of the character (I follow more than anything the one from the comics or the 2003 series) where your planet was conquered by another race (thanks to your sister) Or you can go the more "family friendly" line, which is that you decided to explore the world outside your home planet but ended up in the hands of some kind of intergalactic trafficking network.

I imagine that if it is the first case, it is most likely that your race has been conquered by the Viltrumite themselves, which caused a MASSACRE to occur from which you and your sister were miraculously able to escape.

Regardless of what you choose, you ended up on Earth, although having gone through great traumatic events, so when you see this new world, with a strange species, you begin to attack by mere instinct (like what Starfire did in the first chapter of Teen Titans)

That's when Mark or rather INVINCIBLE appears.

He tries to fight you at first, get you away from the civilians, that is until he realizes how scared you are (especially if we're talking about the case of the Viltrumite invasion and you realize that Mark IS a Viltrumite). So he tries to change his strategy and try to calm you down as much as he can.

When he succeeds, he ends up taking you to the Globe's guardians to see what to do. I imagine that you are a little different than the original Starfire, you are more scared and defensive in this situation, at first you only trusted Mark.

For this reason, Cecil decides that you will stay in the Pentagon until they know what to do with you. Mark helps you learn the "normal" things of the Earth and show Cecil that you are not a threat.

(if you had to learn the human language by "lip contact" the whole team definitely makes fun of Mark a little for being in love now).

Imagine Mark and Eve bringing you clothes to try on!🥺Eve probably just created it out of nowhere, but she also brings clothes that her parents give her that she doesn't want and for some reason you like.

Mark offers to help you train! At first he tries to go easy on you, but when you almost knock him out with your laser beams, he learns his lesson.

He definitely takes you out to eat junk food! More when he realizes that the Pentagon's food doesn't help you much because of your big appetite. Mark was surprised at how much food you could eat but luckily Cecil pays for it (just don't tell him yet🤫)

Definitely one of Mark's favorite things about you, when you're over the trauma, is your innocent attitude, even after all, you're very bubbly and friendly. which is at least difficult to find in your line of work, so he wants to keep that part of yourself as much as possible.

Mark definitely took you to meet his mother, at first he was a little nervous that she wouldn't accept you after what happened with his father, but surprisingly Debbie took it very well.

Thanks to this you were able to learn more about the culture of the Earth, you constantly asked Debbie about the places she had seen, what they were like and their culture (even some anecdotes about Mark when he was a child), and with your bubbly and youthful attitude she did not It was difficult for Debbie to warm to you easily.

Apart from that it helped you fall in love with the Earth quite quickly, see its beauty for yourself, which encouraged you to be your own version of a hero.

When you want to become a heroine, Mark enters into an internal conflict. On the one hand, he KNOWS very well that you don't want someone to make decisions for you, he respects that, but on the other hand, he is TERRIFIED by the possibility that you will get hurt, captured, or lose COMPLETLY your being or worse, DIE.

It is probably thanks to this conversation that you two become a couple.

In general, at first Mark tries to do your first patrols with you to teach you the basics, then he lets you do whatever you want, and he is SO PROUD when you beat someone.

"THAT IS MY GIRL!" kind of proud.

He definitely really likes flying with you and just wandering, at least he feels like there you two have more privacy. Apart from that he likes how you look in your element. according to him.

If you talk about the first case of origin that I mentioned at the beginning and your sister comes back, Mark sees through ALL the red flags and will be the first to warn you about her, since he went through something similar with his family, you don't want to go through that.

If both fight together, POWER COUPLE. LITERAL. You have certain skills that Mark doesn't, so they complement each other very well.

If Mark gets hurt, you go into RAMPAGE MODE and honestly? Mark doesn't know if he should be scared or more in love. or excited.

If YOU get hurt GOD HELP US, MARK IS ANGRY---someone is going to have a bad time. And You a Lot of cuddles.

Overall, both of them are like two Golden Retrievers being happy together.

@clemberryfriends

Shares, reblogs, and comments are very welcome

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Human cameramen are crazy

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps)

The greatest decision Intergalactic Wave 6 ever made was hiring Reggie Bradford.

At the time of Finch’s hiring IW6 was a relatively small news organization based in the outer worlds. Barely reaching four systems on a good day compared to the top contenders like Celestial Times which was broadcasted in inner core systems and pulled in an average of twenty to thirty systems each broadcast. The anchors for IW6 were locals, a Temrelien that needed a third grade translator unit just to be barely understood and a Myporie which couldn’t see the color green.

As the underdog’s underdog, IW6 more often fed off larger stories reported by other stations or small local stories relevant to a handful of worlds.  Nothing interesting happened in their corner of the universe so as long as they broke even they were fine to never reach further than the length of their arm.

Reggie Bradford was a hired on as a cameraman to work for one of the planetary studios on Orbin VIII. You’d find him either working in the back making sure the camera bots were functioning or, more often, when they weren’t he’d be manning the forty pound cameras himself. The studio crews were always amazed how this seemingly out of shape man could heft the heavy outdated camera unit like it was as light as a pen.

They wondered what a lone human was doing so far out in the boonies as he would say, but he would always shrug and say that he felt like this is where he belonged; a notion IW6 would be most grateful for in the coming days.

When the Intherax/Coalition war broke out it was the biggest news story to hit the plasma streams since the death of Empress Karen III when she was eaten by her own corganai.

The Intherax were a militaristic society, trained from birth to kill before anything else, and spanned some fifty star systems not including client kingdoms and vassals. General galactic dealings with them often boiled down to standing aside from whatever they wanted and hoping it wasn’t you or your world, lest the invasion armadas would descend and obliterate what little civilization your people had been able to achieve and then be sold into slavery.

This time however when the Intherax made a proclamation to annex the colony worlds of Jense, Shatu’a, and New Hamburg the current occupants politely told them to bugger off and formed a Coalition for mutual defense. From there dozens of governing powers flocked to the coalition and added their strength to it in what they saw as the best chance of finally checking Intherax aggression once and for all.

Ever one for a challenge, the Interax declared war on this new found coalition and opened the conflict by orbital bombarding Jense until it was little more than a cold husk of rock trapped in the decaying orbit of its system’s sun.

What followed was best described as two sides of no holds bar warfare as the Coalition retaliated with the first ever invasion of Intherax territory against the world called Kai’de.

Naturally every news organization wanted to be seen covering the war, including IW6. Sadly they did not have anyone either brave enough to send so they settled on sending someone they believed was stupid enough and sent Reggie.

They expected to get some b-roll of soldiers marching or shots of fleet warships in formation. They never expected nor asked him to go into active combat. So when the first feed came back during their late night broadcast they were surprised to see that Reggie was onboard an assault ship breaking through atmosphere.

“Reggie,” the Temrelien spoke with every other word shifting tone from the broken translator, “where are you?”

“I’m currently with brave members of the 27th Dragoons as they head to take the fight to the surface of Kai’de.”

Reggie waved a hand at the soldiers who in turn gave a rousing cheer and slammed their feet against the metal decking.

“Orders came in late last night for a massed landing to take the enemy by surprise. From what I understand the Intherax military had not expected coalition forces to invade their territory and have not had time to establish proper defenses.”

Both news anchors looked at each other in confusion.

“If that’s the case isn’t this broadcast putting the entire attack at risk?”

To their surprise Reggie laughed as the camera shook.

“The plan was to get them by surprise, but judging from the amount of anti-air fire,” he said as the assault ship rocked back and forth, “I don’t think they were fooled.”

The camera panned right suddenly as one of the armored dragoons grabbed it and spoke directly into it.

“We want them to know we’re coming! Because we’re going to kill them all!! AHAHAHAH!!”

Another chorus of cheers and whoops came from the soldiers as the soldier let go of the camera and Reggie readjusted it. The anchors wanted to continue their questions when the leader of the dragoons shouted out and interrupted them.

“60 seconds!”

With the order given the soldiers stopped their foolery and began hefting their weapons. Reggie panned the camera over them as they slapped in fresh clips or attached power cables from their backpack generators to their more heavy weaponry.

In awestruck silence the anchors and their viewers watched as the assault shuttle slammed hard into the surface and the boarding ramp flew open.

“GO GO GO GO!!!!” the dragoon leader shouted as the soldiers poured out screaming their battle cries. Reggie waited and filmed them as they disembarked but did not join the first out the ramp. A inclination that saved him as enemy gun fire began raking the ramp striking several soldiers down in clouds of viscera and gore.

The censors barely had time to cut the feed while the horrified anchors composed themselves to resume the broadcast.

In the hours that followed IW6 confirmed that Reggie had survived the battle and had been with the unit of dragoons for the entire duration. During those hours he had recorded the entire engagement from ramp down, to storming city streets as the Intherax deployed building sized walkers, to the hoisting of the coalition flag over the central governing building at the heart of the city.

With this footage viewership numbers for IW6 skyrocketed overnight as none of the other networks had been able to capture such stunning footage. In fact, by the intake of broadcasts none of them had been able to attach an anchor or cameramen to the initial assault save for Reggie. When asked how he had been able to get approved for such a deployment he did not say which only further added to the mystery. Yet for the moment IW6 was far from ready to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Reggie’s footage was shown over and over on IW6 and was soon sublicensed to other networks and shown there. Exploits of the dragoons became known galaxy wide as Reggie followed them through battle after battle; never afraid to risk his life to capture the perfect moment.

When the Intherax fleet arrived in orbit and began to bombard the planet while also fighting the coalition fleet Reggie had forgone sheltering in nearby bunker complexes to film the orbital strikes as they hurtled down all around them.

Thick columns of pure energy shattered buildings and mountains alike as the ground quaked and there stood a lone Reggie filming it all. Even when the anchors begged him to find shelter he simply panned the camera over the city to show entire skyscrapers be reduced to molten mounds the oozed and sludged through the city streets.

By the time the battle had finally ended thanks to Reggie’s footage IW6 climbed the viewership charts to be the third most watched network galaxy wide. Much to the dismay of IW6 it also drew the attention of Reggie the cameraman to the other outlets who began showering him with ever more lavish offers for employment.

Too their surprise he denied them all and said that he was right where he belonged.

[marlinspirkhall]

Humans sending out signal after signal, message after message, space probes, emails, photos, light shows, intergalactic fireworks, all in the hope that they're not alone: Please reply, please reply, please reply, ple–

Aliens, screeching across the universe in a brand new FTL ship: CAN YOU SHUT UP? WE GOT YOUR FIRST ONE THOUSAND MESSAGES, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HOW BIG SPACE IS?

Humans: oh my goooooosh, hi

Humans: Did you invent faster than light travel just for us? 🥺

Aliens: NO!!!

SETI: Radio message received.

Radio message: We are receiving you. We have decided to answer you in your own language, and–

SETI: New radio message received.

Aliens: Oh no.

Radio message: We have received your previous messages pertaining to life on Earth, and have included our own data packet about life on Big Tree in return. We named our planet before we learned it was only 30% arboreal. Thank you for the golden disc, it was extremely tasty. Haha. Just kidding.

SETI: Data packet downloaded. Decrypting...

SETI: New radio message received.

Radio message: As previously stated, we are receiving your messages and your gifts. We took a photo of our planet with our own photo-capture device, as we were unhappy with the one you provided.

SETI: Data packet update: Warning: Several terrabytes of information may be corrupted.

SETI: New radio message received.

Radio message: This is the Generation Ship Tree Hollow. My designation is Captain Root-Skygazer. Our people have instructed us to fly ahead and communicate with you when we reached the thirty-year marker, as these messages are likely to reach you faster. They request that you stop broadcasting messages with the subject line: 'Oh, how woeful it is to be alone in an uncaring universe (and other similar poems)' because it frightens the children and makes our scientists deeply existential. I, personally, am partial to episodes of M star A star S star H. It has been of great interest to learn historical facts about the longest Earth conflict of your common era. I miss my home, and I am saddened that I will never see yours. This ship has a self-sustaining ecosystem of plants native to our planet, and a crew manifest of one hundred and fifty-seven. The replacement generation currently numbers one hundred and seventeen.

Radio message: Hey, Ball Of Dirt, it's Big Tree again. Lose our number, would you? There must be some other semi-evolved space aemoba you can bother. (Several words untranslateable)

Aliens: Yeah, so your answering machine is going to be like that for a while–

Humans: What was that part about a Generation Ship?

Aliens: We were hoping you could tell us that, actually. We lost contact with them after the 200 year marker.

Radio message: This is the generation ship Tree Hollow. My designation is Captain Cradleroot. Captain Root-Skygazer was my grandfather. Inspired by the speeches of your contemporary leader, Ronald Reagan, I decided to restructure the existing system here which allowed crewmembers to eat as they required. Under this new system, we award tokens to whom we feel has done the most valuable work, and they can redistribute those to the hungry if they wish. But they do not. However, I believe that [...]

Humans:

Aliens:

Humans:

Aliens: This is all your fault, by the way.

[ireallyamabear]

The choice to put Una Chin-Reily on a Starfleet recruitment poster in the late 2370s seems a nod to the extraordinary person she is and her exemplary service, but Boimler’s enthusiasm for her as a personal hero cannot mask the fact of what Starfleet execs are really doing here: while it is Starfleet tradition to honour esteemed personnel from its centuries of history, we have to look at the poster as a product of its time: it seems clear that, shortly after the devastating death toll and the rapid militarisation of the Dominion War, putting a prominent figure of the Great Exploration Age - and notedly someone who had not served in the Klingon War - as the poster person for Starfleet is an indictment that contemporary young people of the Federation are not drawn to the service as it is in their time anymore.

Critically, Starfleet has to use somebody from a 120 years ago, a timeframe that would lap generations of even especially long lived member species like Vulcans or Denobulans, to attract new recruits. Boimler says himself that seeing Una as a representative and her motto - “Ad astra per aspera” was: “Uh, it was a really big reason why I joined.” Clearly there is a wealth of recognisable Starfleet officers from 2370 and onwards, but their entanglement in the Dominion War, or at least in the Borg threat makes them unsuitable as role models for people like Boimler who cannot help but associate these contemporaries with the horrors of war and intergalactic conflict. Thus, the retreat to a “safe” historical narrative, with Starfleet still being about peaceful exploration reflects the growing divide between the realities of a colonised galaxy, the ongoing need of new bodies to fill the posts on all those ships and space stations and the aspirations and values of young people today. In this essay I will question whether Starfleet can keep its promise of scientific integrity in the face of growing political unrest in the UFP and ask what “Number One” herself would have thought about-

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

What's with Jenny's (one-sided?) beef with Ben? Is it just for comedy? Is it to knock him down a peg because he does have a bit of an ego? Love your art by the way ❤️

It's not completely one-sided, Ben has a couple of grievances against Jenny too, but admittedly hers are stemming from more serious issues, while his is more reactory to her behaviour. xD

It's going to be explored more in the story, but for now I can explain it in broad strokes. Its all connected to the small differences i made in Jenny's backstory/after-canon story, about how complicated her existence in the world is, basically.

So, imagine it like this:

You are XJ-9, the latest, the best, in the line of robots/AI specifically designed to protect Earth, primarily from alien attacks that have plagued Earth's secret space military after their first participation in intergalactic/planetary conflicts. After the disaster of the first creation Armaggedroid turning on humanity, the government (who was primarily responsible for the choices of his design and programming) decided to give more creative freedom to Dr. Walkman, their lead scientist, to ensure that the next creation does not turn rogue.

And it was succesfull! But still, it was pretty hush-hush, so you were basically kept a secret the first 5 years of your life, and even after your broke the rules and went out into the world to live a life, you were still on a short leash - after all you were created for a job! A job that you loved and did well, but still a job you were basically comissioned by the government for.

As years go by, more people learn about you, and well, then come questions - if its a robot, wouldn't someone else be able to control it? Can it turn on humans? Basically, some people's fears are heard louder than praise for your job well done. And the government says - of course it won't turn on us, we control it. And it seems like status quo is reached and everything seems more or less fine, or at least as well as it could be.

And then, someone leaks an existence of aliens, intergalactic wars and about a human who can turn into aliens and who protected the Earth from total destruction.

Overnight, the common population is exposed completely to existence of aliens and apparently to some sort of underground superhero who is just some high school kid that can transform. And suddenly the humanity has another hero, a human hero who apparently tamed an alien device. And he became a sensation amongst the normal population, and an absolute pain in the ass to the government, and apparently a figurehead and a legend in all of space, that also spearheaded the return of intergalactic protection to the planet Earth.

And suddenly, you XJ-9, and your whole existence is put into question. The common people wonder: why do we need it? We have a proper human superhero, and a newfound presence of proper alien enforcement body. And the government is raging, because now that this kid apparently brought back the presence of 'higher' intergalactic authority, their control on the situation completely slipped, and what good are you for them if they can't show you off as proof of their control, because that kid's existence alone undermines it.

But there is little that you can do about it, but just continue doing your job, because you are Jenny Wakeman and you love your job, you were created for it. But nevertheless there is a seed of annoyance and resentment nestled in your chest, because this one kid somehow managed to turn your already complicated existence into an even more precarious one. And its not even his fault, technically because he was operating in secret, but he was exposed against his will. So its not like he tried to make your life difficult.

And then you meet this kid.

And turns out he is a smug and cheeky little shit who doesn't seem to be too perturbed by being outed and just casually shrugs and says 'yeah im Ben 10 savior of the universe'.

And he looks at you and says 'oh wow you are a robot, i heard of you! you were doing a pretty good job of protecting earth'.

And the oil in your body boils, because you were 'doing a pretty good job' long before he found his fancy little watch that allowed him to do all of that earth protecting. You were 'doing a pretty good job' while he was too busy smearing snot all over himself on his first day of school. You learned how to destroy a meteorite or an alien battle ship, when he probably still wet the bed.

And he looks at you like you are an obsolete machine that does not matter anymore, because he is here now, with his stolen superwatch.

(And later, when rage and bitterness is not clouding you optics, you will see that what you saw as a sarcastic and pandering compliment, was a moment of genuine admiration and awe, because what teenage boy wouldnt be in awe of you?

And later, when you don't feel like his existence alone is a threat to you, you will see him greet anyone and everyone with that same simple 'yeah, im Ben 10, savior of the universe' because its a fact, and you will hear that note of exasparation, because to most people it is the only fact that matters.)

But all of that is for later, as for now you cannot stop yourself for snapping back at him and watch in satisfaction as he recoils in surprise. And this first interraction will set a tone to your relationship that you are not sure you would be able to change yet. If only because your life is still difficult and because that kid, - no matter how much you got to know and respect him, and even enjoy his company - still needs a reality check to his ego from time to time. But now you dont just do it because you were hurt and bitter, but also for his sake more than anything.

-

and yes its also because its fun someimes ;)

-

sorry i got a little poetic, i got a lot of feelings for my backstory of jenny's and ben's relationship lol. but at least i hope it was fun to read! <3

[otakuworks]

❛ 𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒. angst w/fluff

feat. Caelus x GN!Reader | wc. 1.6K

sum. fireflies are fleeting creatures, and so were his feelings for you. . . or so you thought

cw. 2.0 spoilers, some intended lore inaccuracies but nothing major

note. no firefly slander in here, just some angsty thoughts I got after finishing 2.0 before bed

main.mlist hsr.mlist

Ambiguous relationships are unstable, often leads to misunderstandings. The balance that had been barely maintained by not invading each other's territory and not interfering with each other's business had begun to shake. With the appearance of a variable called Firefly. Disorganized thoughts strewn like scratches in your head.

"Caelus, how can you be certain she's trustworthy if she's hiding something from you?"

"I never said she was, she has her reasons if she doesn't want to tell me, but I'm inclined to help her now that she's in danger."

He never spared you a glance as he stalked to his room.

I was in danger once yet you never came to my aid. What's so special about her? Was your bitter thought.

There were so many questions you want to ask him. If you had tried to count them, you would have run out of fingers and toes. But when you opened your mouth, what came out was utter nonsensical question.

"What makes you so inclined to help her?"

He finally stopped and gaze over his shoulder. "She's important to me."

. . . And I'm not?

You're shakened, but his golden eyes were utterly calm. It would be absurd to tell this man to forget her and stay by your side. The idea of fleeing was anathema to him.

You don't even know the girl, but based on his descriptions prior she's exactly the type of girl he would go for and it's enough to add salt on your unrequited love.

It's obvious you two like each other that even March was able to pick up the tension, but you both remained on the neutral ground and never fessed up.

Meanwhile, Black Swan's knowing gaze traversed on your distraught ones as you follow the Trailblazer on his way back to the Dreamscape. She knows the moment she looked, conflicting feelings who are yet to be acknowledged are now catching up.

Once Caelus entered his room, the Memokeeper turned to you.

"One with a sincere heart prevails, young one. He's yet to be aware of your burgeoning feelings, having the initiative might help you with your current predicament." She advised.

You barely glanced at her as you downcast your eyes. "And endure the plausible rejection now that he has her? I'd rather be colored in green."

She chuckled. "Green with envy doesn't suit anyone. It's strange to me how certain you are with your prediction."

Sighing, you turned to meet up with the special guest whom he invited you to have a chat.

"I'll head first. Take care of him, although he can do most part of it, it wouldn't hurt to have another shield."

Black Swan merely smiled as she watched you walk away with a heavy heart. Ah young ones, always so blindsided with things that hinder them to confess.

"Apologies for the delay, your friend told me about their plans to meet with the IPC ambassador before going in the Dreamscape."

Caelus, who was about to dive in, halted at his steps and his shoulders stiffened. For a brief moment, the Memokeeper witnessed the renowned Intergalactic Baseballer summoning his grey bat.

"Aventurine? Why would they meet up with him?" Was his immediate response with furrowed eyebrows and clenched fists.

"That, I do not know. You can wait and ask them once we're done with the mission."

Who ever said he's a patient guy?!

"Well, my friend. What do you say?"

You groaned upon gracing your eyes with reality and a peacock suddenly greeted you by the tub. No wait, it's just the IPC representative.

"I-I must discuss the details with the others first before making a decision." You clutched the rim the of the tub to balance yourself from that disgruntling experience.

Transition sucks the most.

"Don't worry, I can wait but try not to make it long."

Honestly, you don't even know the reason why he's seeking you out for this. It was Caelus at first and now he's interested in doing business with you.

You're tempted to ask him but it might lead to a longer conversation and you want nothing more than to relax for a moment without sleeping.

You heard Aventurine bid his temporary farewell, but you failed to notice him stopping right at the exit before shaking his head. You were too focused on alleviating the dizziness that you failed to focus the shadow framing you

"What did he want with you?" Your blood froze right there and then

"Shouldn't that be my question? What are you doing here, in my room?" You couldn't look up at him and can only look on his knees which are the same level as your eyes.

Look up and you would see every emotion to exist on his face.

It came by a blur, you were sitting in the tub and the next you heard the water splashing followed by being engulfed by someone warm and sturdy.

He's hugging you.

You blinked once and twice.

Caelus' hugging you.

If you can even call it a hug when you feel your bones cracking.

It's not a foreign act, you've hugged once in awhile but it's usually with the four of you; Dan Heng, March and him. You've never exclusively hugged before so this notion surprised you.

"Caelus?" You softly called out as he buried his face in your hair.

"Nothing remains with me. My memories and past companies, I couldn't grasp them. Now I'm graced with so many friends, I'm always afraid everything will slip away once more and I'll be an empty shell you met in the Space Station." His voice is unusually mellowed, it reminds you of a child complaining about school.

You let yourself relaxed and surround him with your warmth as well and right at that moment you feel him abandoning his weight.

He wants to say more, however the recent events seemed to have an invisible force squeezing his heart and preventing him from talking, but it doesn't stop his tears from flowing.

I don't want to lose you, too.

He wants to say those to you, but his heavy heart and parched throat reign supreme. So he bared himself and cried to you, letting himself vulnerable in front of you, hoping that would be the bridge to convey his feelings that words cannot express at the moment.

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